Transcript of AE 1222 - Expression: Waste Not, Want Not

G'day, you mob! And welcome to Aussie English. I am your host, Pete, and my objective here is to teach you guys the English spoken down Under. So whether you want to sound like a fair dinkum Aussie or you just want to understand what the flippin' hell we're on about when we're having a yarn, you've come to the right place. So sit back, grab a cuppa and enjoy Aussie English. Let's go there.

All righty, guys. How's it going? Welcome back to the Aussie English podcast. The number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English guys. Sorry for not releasing any expression episodes recently. I got sick again so I lost my voice because I ended up with a goddamn cold. So I had my, um, my kids go to Day-care and they brought home a disease and I lost my voice. So yeah, it's been a fun few weeks. The good news was, as you noticed with the recent Goss episodes that were out, Dad came over and we got back into it. It's probably been, I don't know, at least six months, maybe even a year since we had been releasing the Goss episodes. So it was good fun to get back into that. And fortunately we recorded all of those episodes in a single day. And yeah, I was able to release those whilst I was sick. So hopefully you enjoy them. You'll have to let me know if you want more episodes like that.

I'll try and do them more frequently with Dad. If you prefer the expression episodes or you've got another completely different type of episode you'd like to hear, just let me know. You know, feel free to message me. Email me you know how to get in contact with me, I'm sure via the website or social media. But yeah, what else is news? So been playing a little bit of guitar recently, getting back into that. I've been taking care of my plants, taking care of my family and we're going to get a new member of the family today, actually.

So my son, for ages, has been asking about getting a kitten because he wants a little, a little friend for our cat peaches. But I think he'd also love a little pal that he can, you know, hang around with and play with a lot more. Peaches is much more of a sit and watch kind of cat. She just sort of sits there and isn't much of a playful entity in the household, if that makes sense. So the kids all want to play with her, but she's not really into it usually. So hopefully the kitten is going to bring a little more enthusiasm out of peaches. I have a feeling that Peaches is probably going to be a bit PO'd, a bit pissed off to begin with. It should be like, 'Who's this new guy on the block? He's on my turf. Why is he in my house?' But hopefully it'll only take a few days to maybe a week or so until she warms up to him and hopefully he warms up to her and they become friends.

But yeah. Anyway, so guys, don't forget, before we get into it, if you want to get access to the transcripts for these podcast episodes where you can listen and read at the same time, I always tell you that's the best way to level up your English listening and reading simultaneously so you can check in real time that what you are hearing is actually what's being said, right? So this is the way that you will really quickly improve your listening comprehension. So if you want to do that, go check out the premium podcast membership. You'll get access to bonus episodes, the transcripts, you can download these transcripts.

You can also use the premium podcast player on the website or on your phone so that you can listen and read at the same time whilst on the go. So yeah, go check that out. It is at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast. Now I'm going to take a drink every now and then because my voice is still kind of failing me a little bit. So hopefully we'll be able to hold out for the entire episode. But yeah, anyway, so let's get into today's question and answer Q And A. This one comes from Frederico who asked, How do I politely ask people what they do for a living? So how do you ask people what they do for work, for a job? How do you do this politely? So it's obviously going to depend on context, right? The situation, you know, if you just walk up to strangers in the street, it's a bit random to do it.

And they may be a little not necessarily offended, but like, 'It's none of your beeswax!' Right? It's none of your business. I'm not telling you what I do. But if, on the other hand, you're at a party or a gathering of some kind, or maybe a conference for work, it is much more acceptable to use it as a way of making small talk with people, if that makes sense. So some really good phrases for you, you know, and it's nothing special saying something like, 'Oh, so what do you do for work?' Or, you know, 'What do you do for a living? What do you do with yourself for work?' Right? And if you really want to make it Australian, you can say something like, 'What do you do for a crust?' Or 'How do you earn a crust?' A 'crust' here is obviously like part of, you know, a slice of bread that you would eat. So if you earn money, you can buy bread, you can feed yourself as a result.

So we use those sorts of expressions in Australian English quite a bit, you know, 'What does he do for a crust?' 'What does he do to earn a crust?' 'How does he earn a crust?' So those are some good phrases, mate. But again, I think it's mainly context dependent. You know, it's never going to really come across as you being rude. It just may be, you know, if you're asking someone in in public a random question that's kind of about their personal life, they may be like, 'Yeah, I'm not telling you that, mate', But obviously, you know, if you are at a conference or with friends or whatever and you're wanting to just have a polite conversation, then there's nothing wrong with it.

The only thing I guess I would mention here is tone is going to matter too, right? So how you ask is going to matter. And this I bring this up because it's important to kind of learn how to intonate. How to use tone in sentences to change the way things are being said. So we can obviously do this when asking a question or when saying a statement, right? You know, what he does for work is and it's a descending tone. What he does for work is he's a policeman. Or if you want to ask a question, you could say, 'Oh, what does he do for work', right? Like it raises at the end.

But we can also do this in a kind of polite, interested, sincere kind of way. So if I use the question, 'Oh, so what do you do for work?' Right? You hear how it pops up at the end there to a sort of higher pitch? 'What do you do for work?' You know, what do you- what do you do for work? So that's sincere, polite. I'm interested in the person. If I want to make it sarcastic, though, or negative, I could be like, 'Oh, so what do you do for work?' Right? And I've even emphasised the word 'you' and I've used a certain intonation over the top of that to 'what do 'you' do for work?', You know, and you can tell just from the tone. It's like, Oh, this person doesn't actually care. They're just kind of being judgmental or sarcastic or rude. 'What do 'you' do for a crust?'.

So yeah, tone is going to matter as well. But if you come across polite and interested, what do you do for work then? I don't think anyone's really going to mind telling you. Hopefully, hopefully so. Anyway, guys, hit that bird, give it a kick, make him squeal. And let's get into today's joke.

So today's joke is "What do you call a conversation between two garbage cans?" Two garbage cans? Hmm. "What do you call a conversation between two garbage cans?" Are you ready for this? "Trash talk."

Trash talk. Ugh. Do you get it? So 'trash'. We can use this to mean rubbish. Waste. Garbage. Right. You throw the rubbish in the trash. It's a kind of an American way of talking about rubbish. I think in Australia we generally say rubbish or garbage, but trash. Yeah, you can say it here, but it's a, it's a very American way of saying rubbish or garbage. I think they probably wouldn't say rubbish, but that's what we would probably lean on more frequently than 'trash'. Right? Trash. I'm going to throw the rubbish in the trash.

'Trash talk'. Now, this is interesting. So trash talk is used to intimidate the opposition, right? So like, if you're in a fight, if you're a boxer or something and you use a lot of trash talk, it's that you are trashing the other person. Right? You are degrading them. You are being like negative towards them. You're trashing them. You're using a lot of trash talk. You're talking trash about this person. Conor McGregor is the king, right? The MMA, probably one of the best MMA fighters of all time, if not the best. He was the king of trash talk. He would trash his opponents viciously before fights, maybe even during fights sometimes. So he would use a lot of trash talk. So that's the joke there. What do you call a conversation between two garbage cans? Trash talk.

Oh, I should also mention, too, trash is such an interesting word. There's so many different ways of using it. If something is 'trashy'- So we put a Y on the end of the word trash. This is when talking about pop culture, things that are generally of poor quality, right? So, you know, those I hesitate to say, but women's magazines, right? You go to the supermarket and they'll be the Women's Weekly or, you know, whatever it is about sort of gossip and rumours in Hollywood, these magazines would be referred to as 'trashy mags', right?

My mum loves to read trashy mags magazines. Means she loves reading these trashy mags, right? They are of poor quality and they're especially about pop culture full of rumours. They're trash, right? They're rubbish. All right.

So anyway, let's move on to today's expression "waste not, want not". I don't know. Is this an expression or a saying or a proverb? "Waste not, want not." This is common in all areas of English. I think you're going to hear this in America, Britain, Australia, you know, probably Jamaica, probably everywhere. Right? "Waste not, want not." Before I go into what it means and where it comes from and how to use it, let's go through the different words in the expression. There's only really three words here, right? 'Waste', 'want' and 'not'.

So, 'waste' here, I think, this is being used as a verb, right? So to use or expend something carelessly, extravagantly or to no purpose, you know, you are wasting something. You could 'waste' your time. You can 'waste' your money, you can 'waste' your energy. You know, "He's 'wasting' a lot of money on ciggies." Cigarettes, right? He smokes. He's wasting so much cash, so much money, so much moolah, so much dough on ciggies. Why would you do that, mate? You're spending so much money- especially in Australia. It's like $50 a pack. Why would you waste so much money on ciggies?

'Not'. This is used as an auxiliary verb. Sorry, it's used with an auxiliary verb. Or 'be', to form the negative. Right? "I do 'not' know who that is." "She says she's 'not' going to be there." I'm sure you'll know how to use 'Not'.

'Want'. This is not the normal desire-something definition here, right? "I 'want' chocolate." "I 'want' some spare time." "I 'want' some more money to spend on ciggies." Here instead, you want for something. It means to not have everything that you need. So if you 'want for something', you don't have what you require. Right? Because you want more. We'll often hear this in the negative. "He doesn't 'want' for anything", and the idea would mean he has everything he needs. "He doesn't 'want' for anything." But it's interesting that it's kind of like a little phrasal verb here you do need to use 'for' after it. If you use an object in the phrase, right, to 'want for something'.

So, "He's so rich, he 'wants for nothing'." "One day, she'll 'not want for anything'." "She won't 'want for anything'."

So okay, let's define the phrase "waste not, want not". "Waste not, want not." If you use a commodity or a resource carefully without extravagance, you will never be in need. Right? So "waste not, want not". If you don't waste anything. You'll never need anything. You'll never need anything extra. You'll never be requiring other things to help you. Right?

So if you're frugal with your money, you will save it up, use it wisely. "Waste not, want not" right. I don't want to waste it because I don't want to be in want. You'll never be 'in want' as a result. So yeah. It's used to say that if a person never wastes anything, he or she will always have what they need.

So the origin. This is interesting. It's a proverb that's been used for hundreds of years in English, and according to thegrammarrist.com the Express. And waste not want not came into use in the 1770s, though an earlier version had been used since 1570. So that's pretty crazy. "Wilful waste makes woeful want" was the phrase that was used almost, what, 450 years ago. That's nuts.

Anyway, let's go through some examples of how to use the expression "waste not, want not". Imagine you're a chef at a restaurant. You love the job, but it's stressful. It's demanding all the time. Right? It can be hard being the head of, you know, the kitchen. You're the head chef. You're in charge of everyone. And whilst also having to deal with customers and complaints and everything like that, you've got to deal with all the staff. So one day you get a meal sent back by a customer who says it's too hot or it's too cold or it's undercooked, it's overcooked. One way or another, they seem to not want it.

But you think it's fine. There's nothing wrong with it. So you accept. "Look, all right, The customer doesn't want it. They're sending it back. So we'll send them something else. But you know what? Waste not want not." "I'm going to put this in a little doggy bag. I'll put it in a container and I'll have this after work." So I'm not going to throw it in the bin because waste not want not. You don't want to be wasteful because then you'll end up wanting for a lot of things. So, "waste not, want not", save it for later, you know. But probably don't tell everyone else at work. You probably shouldn't do that if you're a chef.

Example number two. A great example at the moment is me selling plants as a bit of a hobby on the side. So it's a side hustle. It's a little kind of business on the side. I grow and sell rare plants online as a way of saving money and not being wasteful. I often save all the boxes that I receive plants and other things in from in the mail. Right? So if I buy shoes or I might buy another plant and I get it sent to me, I try and keep the boxes that I receive so that I can recycle them, whether it's, you know, to put them in the recycling or when I sell plants online, I can use those same boxes. Right? "Waste not, want not." I could be wasteful. I could go to the shops and just buy brand new boxes to use and send in the mail and throw out the ones that I receive but waste not want not. I try and recycle what I can.

Example number three. Another good food example is with my family at the moment, so I feel like I've put on a bit of weight over the past few years after having kids. I'm sure a lot of you guys will know what it's like if you've got children at home. Yeah, who am I kidding? I don't feel like it. I know I have. But I feel that the blame partly falls at the feet of my family. Because I'm consistently, I'm constantly eating up the leftovers from their meals. Because "waste not, want not". I hate seeing that my kids have not finished their food and then I end up, you know, saving it for them, but they don't eat it. So I throw it out. So quite often instead of doing that, I just eat it right. I eat the food, I have the extra food because it's usually after I finish whatever I was eating. So, "waste not, want not" right. I don't want to throw it out. I don't want to be wasteful. I want to save it for later.

So hopefully now you understand the expression "waste not, want not". "Waste not, want not." It is if you use a commodity or resource carefully and without extravagance, you will never be in need. And it's used to say that if a person never wastes anything that he or she will always have what they need.

Okay, so as usual, guys, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise. This is where I'm going to read out words and phrases and hopefully you can pronounce them out loud after me to work on your Australian English pronunciation. So are you ready? Let's go. Waste. Waste not. Waste not, want. Waste not, want not. Waste not, want not. Waste not, want not. Waste not, want not. Waste not, want not. I'd say waste not, want not. You'd say waste not, want not. He'd say waste not, want not. She'd say waste not, want not. We'd say waste not, want not. They'd say waste not, want not. It would say waste not, want not. Good job, guys.

Now I've just noticed really interestingly waste not want. Not every single one of those words ends with a T, But when I say these phrases or these phrases, when I say these words together in a phrase really quickly using connected speech, what do you notice happening to all the T's at the ends of each of these words? Waste not, want not. Waste not, want not. I've mute all of them - waste not, want not. How weird is that, right?

So it's a good exercise here if you're working on your pronunciation skills in Australian English or any form of English, I think they would mute the T the same way here. So because there's a consonant that comes after each one of these t's at the ends of these words, right, the t sound at the ends of each of these words because each word starts with a consonant. You don't pronounce that t, you can just mute it in your mouth. So this is just when the tongue reaches up to the top of your mouth, as if you're going to say the t sound and you just don't release the T, So you go sort of hard to do. You kind of have to see it. But 'waste' - my tongue has gone up and stopped the sound, and instead of going /t/ it's just stopped. 'Waste' instead of 'waste'. Waste. Waste not, want not.

So it's the same with each of those words. Cool. If you want to learn more about that, guys, don't forget to check out my Australian pronunciation course at AussieEnglish.com.au/apc. You will learn to master all of the different sounds in Australian English. How to use the international Phonetic alphabet to master these aspects of pronunciation on your own using the course. And then you'll also be able to learn all these advanced things like connected speech and the different pronunciation of consonant clusters, the syllabic N and L. There's loads of lessons in there to really help. You sound much more like a native speaker in Australian English, so go check that out. AussieEnglish.com.au/apc.

Okay, so finishing up today, guys, I've got a little clip here from a trailer from the show Gold Diggers. This is a new show that it's just been released on ABC iView so you can go and check this out. It's free. Just sign up to iView online. You should be able to get a free account. Just sign up with your information and then you can watch it.

The excerpt is "It's 1853 and the wildly optimistic Brewer sisters set out to get lucky. But first they must conquer the lads, lice"- And I think it's 'lechery'- "of the Australian Gold Rush." So it's set in the period in Australia in the 1850s when there was a gold rush in probably Victoria, so Ballarat and Bendigo when everyone was coming here trying to find gold. And it's kind of tongue in cheek, so go check it out. It's kind of funny.

So anyway, guys, I'm going to play this clip for you two times and your role, your goal, what you need to do is listen and try and write down what you hear being said. And remember, you can check whether or not you get this right, by downloading the free PDF worksheet with today's lesson, you can get that on the website. There should also be a link via the podcast episode page and you can also check obviously if you're a premium podcast member who has the transcripts because the phrases will be transcribed inside the transcript.

So are you ready? Let's go. Here's the first playthrough.

Oi, lads! Any of you boys got a nice little shack here in town? Mmm! Hard pass!

All right. Good work. How'd you go? Time for the second playthrough.

Oi, lads! Any of you boys got a nice little shack here in town? Mmm! Hard pass!

All right. That's it from me today guys, thank you so much for joining me. I'm glad that my voice held up. And yeah, hopefully I can record a few more episodes this week and have a few in the bank for next time. Anyway, thanks for joining me and I'll chat to you next time. See ya!