Transcript of Expression - Have an Axe to Grind.mp3

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!

G'day, you mob. How's it going? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. The number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. I'm your host, Pete, and I'm back, guys! Forgive me for missing last week's episode. I have had a bit of a croaky voice. I have been under the weather, sick as a dog, for the last week and I lost my voice. I had this terrible cough and I've tried to record this episode multiple times, but my voice just couldn't hold up half way through. So forgive me for that, guys. I really do need to get ahead of schedule and record a few of these episodes in advance so that when I get sick, as I always seem to in winter, we'll have something else to release.

So, guys, if it's your first time listening, welcome. This is obviously the Aussie English podcast. We focus on teaching you guys how to speak Australian English, how to understand Australians, and if you guys are obviously repeat offenders, this is not your first time, it's not your first rodeo, this is your hopefully more than second podcast episode that you've listened to, though it's not a problem if it is your second, welcome back!

Guys, before we get into today's episode, don't forget if you want the premium podcast transcripts, access to the premium podcast player, the bonus episodes and everything like that, obviously you need to join the premium podcast membership. Which is an absolute steal! It is a deal. It's about $1 a day, a bit less. You can go to AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast and get studying there.

You can download the transcripts as PDFs, you can print them out, you can study them, you can use the premium podcast player to listen and read at the same time. So that's going to be your first stop if you are trying to level up your listening comprehension in Australian English.

And if you really are battling with different accents, I would probably suggest starting with the interview episodes that I have. Because you can obviously get the transcripts and listen and read at the same time to multiple people speaking English spontaneously, as tends to happen in the real life, in the real world.

So anyway, guys, let's get into today's Q and A, Question and Answer. So for the last few months, I ask on Instagram, whether or not you guys have questions. And I repeatedly get people asking this question "What Australian TV show or shows are worth watching?" So you guys seem to always ask me this question.

The expression episodes, like this one, are a good place to start. Because as you'll know, if you've heard these expression episodes before, at the end of these episodes, you'll hear a snippet from an Aussie TV show or film. Or something that obviously has Australian speaking English that you can use to work on your listening comprehension. But then you can obviously go and check out the content, right? You can go and watch the series or the movie.

But besides that, I've got eight or so different TV shows that I suggest checking out. Okay, so if you're after Australian TV series, check out Round The Twist. I think you can find a few of the seasons up on YouTube for free. I think they have put them up for free, but with ads on them obviously to keep earning revenue for whoever owns the rights to Round The Twist. But that was a favourite TV show growing up as a kid.

Seachange is a kind of rom-com, right? Like a romance comedy. It's set down the coast here near where I live, growing up as a kid, so it was filmed around there. It's very nostalgic when I watch it, but yeah, lots of great Aussie humour, language usage. Seachange is good.

Bluey is obviously good. If you have young kids, you can show them Bluey. But Bluey is also enjoyable for adults as well. And again there's lots of Australian culture, mannerisms, slang terms, everything like that. So Bluey is awesome. I think you can get that for free on iview if you create an account. A lot of these are probably actually on iview. You should be able to find that if you just do a Google for I V I E W.

Kath and Kim is a good show. Rake is another good show. The Secret Life of Us. I used to watch that growing up as well as Offspring and Home And Away. I think Home and away is still on channel seven so you should be able to watch this for free. If you've got a TV and a standard connection to the different TV stations, it's probably online too. But Home And Away is one that you can watch, I think, every weekday. And yeah, it's just sort of drama, right? Daily drama in the lives of people who live near the beach. And it's been going for about 30 years.

So yeah, hopefully those help you guys. Just get an iView account. You can create this for free. I think if you're overseas, you may need a VPN to be able to sign up for iview. I'm not sure, but check it out and hopefully that helps.

So anyway, guys, slap the bird and let's get into today's joke! Okay, so today's joke is, "How do you get an axe out of an egg?" Hmm. So an axe. This is something you use to chop wood. "How do you get an axe out of an egg?"

Are you ready for this? "You hatchet!"

You 'hatchet'! And hatchet here is spelled H A T C H E T. Okay. So a hatchet, if we use that as a noun, is a small axe with a short handle that you use with one hand, right. It's a hatchet. That's what we call a hatchet.

Whereas if you were to 'hatch' an egg, you 'hatch it', as in two words hatch H A T C H space it, 'hatch it' 'hatchet'. This is to cause an egg to open and produce a young animal. Right? So a chicken might 'hatch' its eggs by sitting on the eggs, keeping them warm. When they hatch, out pop little chickens. Right, guess they're chicks. So, yeah, that's the joke, guys. "How do you get an axe out of an egg?" "You hatchet." Ughh.

All right. So now let's get into the expression. Today's expression is "to have an axe to grind". I wonder if you can see the connection between the expression 'have an axe to grind' or 'have an axe to grind with someone', and the joke that we just went through and what's the connection?

So anyway, as usual, let's go through the different words in the, in the expression first.

So, "to have something". This is to possess something, to own something. "I have a wife and I have two kids." "At the moment I have a bit of a cold." "What are you guys having for lunch?" I'm sure you'll know the verb 'to have' and how to use it.

"An axe". We kind of covered this already. This is a tool that you can use for chopping wood. A hatchet is a small axe. A larger 'axe', you'd use two hands to kind of lift over your shoulder and then bring down onto wood to chop it. "A lumberjack cuts down trees with his axe." "Vikings used to use axes as their go-to weapons."

And then, "to grind". If you 'grind' something, you reduce something to small particles or powder by crushing it, right? So, "Blacksmiths would grind swords and axes and other weapons on a grinding wheel to make them sharp." Right? So they would get that wheel. I think it would be made out of stone and they would cause it to turn. And then they would put an axe blade, or a sword blade, on top of the stone as it was turning to sharpen it. They would 'grind' the weapons. They would 'grind' them on the grinding stone.

And another example would be "My son 'grinds' his teeth in his sleep at the moment and it's very annoying." He does that [makes teeth grinding sounds] with his teeth whilst he's sleeping. He grinds them.

So, if you "have an axe to grind with someone", this is one of those difficult expressions that's kind of like, 'What on earth are you talking about?'.

If you try and translate this literally, you have zero chance of understanding what's going on. But to "have an axe to grind with someone" is to have a strong personal opinion about something that you want people to accept.

And that is the reason why you do something. So it's to have a dispute, to take up an issue with someone. To have an ulterior motive, to have private ends to serve. You have an axe to grind. You have an axe to grind with someone.

So yeah, if you often have a bit of an issue, you've got a problem with someone, you've got a strong opinion and you want to resolve that thing, you "have an axe to grind".

And the weird thing that I discovered while searching for this expression is that apparently 'axe' in British English and Australian English is spelt A X E 'axe'.

But apparently Americans spell it just A X. Didn't know that! So I kept saying 'axe to grind' as an expression, coming up on Google, as just 'ax to grind'. Right. A X ax to grind. And I was sort of like, 'What? Is that misspelt?'.

Anyway, so I looked up the origin. I popped over to the website Grammar-Monster.com. And here's what I found.

"This saying is most likely originating from an essay called Who'll Turn Grindstones, which was written in 1810 by Charles Miner, editor of Pennsylvania's 'The Gleaner and Luzerne Advertiser. His essay features the saying 'to have an axe to grind', quote, "When I see a merchant over-polite to his customers, begging them to taste a little brandy and throwing half his goods on the counter, thinks I, that man has an axe to grind."

So I guess here in the original meaning, it would be 'to have an ulterior motive'. Right? So this merchant, this person selling things to someone, has an ulterior motive for just showing them all this stuff. They're trying to sell it. Right? An ulterior motive.

But yeah, I feel like personally I would use it when I have an issue with someone. I've got an axe to grind with that person I want. I've got a problem with them that I need to resolve.

So let's go through three examples of how I would use the expression "to have an axe to grind" in day to day English.

Okay, so example number one. Imagine you're at work one day and you have to work on a project with a certain colleague. Maybe you're an engineer who has to come up with a design for a new bridge that's going to be constructed in Melbourne. Or maybe Sydney, right? Maybe they're redoing the Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And you're the engineer that's lucky enough with your team, or this other colleague, to have to come up with a plan.

So the issue is you and your colleague are at loggerheads. You're disagreeing about certain aspects of the design. Just when you think it's finalised, you know, you've finally been working together and trying to sort things out, though he keeps changing it. He keeps wanting to start again, add this thing in, do this.

So if you really get annoyed and you've had a huge issue with your colleague, something that you really want to resolve, you're pretty pissed off. You're annoyed, you're PO'd, you might arrive at work one day and 'have an axe to grind' with your colleague, right? You've got a strong personal opinion about the bridge designs that you want him to accept. You've got a big issue that you want to resolve with him. You've 'got an axe to grind' with him. You've 'got an axe to grind'.

Example number two, imagine you're living in a share house in Melbourne whilst studying at uni, right? University. This is what I did when I was a student for probably about a decade. I was living in different share houses, so I know what it's like.

Anyway, imagine you're a girl living with other girls and you start dating a guy in your class and getting to know him better and better. And one day you decide, 'You know what? I'm going to bring him back and introduce him to my housemates at home.' So things don't seem to be moving very fast with this guy, though. And one day you find out that one of your housemates has kind of shown an interest in him and is sort of sending him messages on the sly, right. Sort of working "the Gary groundwork". That's a good expression. "To work the Gary groundwork", or "to lay the Gary groundwork". This is where you kind of like put the foundation down.

So they're trying to work on this guy and kind of steal him from you, right? So they're working the Gary groundwork. They're putting it down. You might get irked by this. You might get upset, irritated, angry, annoyed. And so when you get home from uni one day after you've found all this out, you might "have an axe to grind" with your housemate, right? You might have a bit of an issue. You might be slightly peeved. Slightly annoyed, slightly pissed off. You've got an axe to grind. You've got an axe to grind with your housemate. You've got a problem that's pissed you off that you have to resolve.

Example number three. A great example. The other day I bought some fish and chips with our local fish and chippery, right. A fish and chip shop. Recently, though, they've been less than professional with their work. Right. You think it's a simple job. Take someone's order, cook the food, give them the food. Anyway, they often short change me on my order. Short change. That's to give someone less than they have paid for, or deserve. Right? It would literally it would be like giving them the wrong change. So if you had to pay $55 for something, you gave them a $100 note and they gave you $2 back. You've been short changed. So anyway, several times I've bought my fish and chips. Maybe I've asked for four pieces of flake and a minimum chips. And when I take it home, I open it up and I realise I've only got three pieces of flake and a minimum chips.

So there's four in my family and we only have three pieces of flake. I've been short changed! So I might get annoyed and the next time I go to the fish and chip shop I might 'have an axe to grind' with them. I might 'have an axe to grind'. I might be annoyed, I might be frustrated, angry, pissed off that I keep getting short changed and they keep "accidentally" giving me less than I have ordered! Okay. To have an axe to grind.

So remember, this expression is used if you have a dispute to take up with someone, you've got an issue with someone. You've got a strong personal belief about something, but it's a problem and you want to resolve it with someone. You've 'got an axe to grind' with that person.

Okay, So as usual, guys, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise so that we can work on our Aussie accents. Are you ready? Listen and repeat after me.

To. To have. To have an. To have an axe. To have an axe to. To have an axe to grind. To have an axe to grind. To have an axe to grind. To have an axe to grind. To have an axe to grind. I've got an axe to grind with a. You've got an axe to grind with her. He's got an axe to grind with her. She's got an axe to grind with her. We've got an axe to grind with her. They've got an axe to grind with her. It's got an axe to grind with a.

Good job, guys. Now, I thought we could talk a little bit about grammar today. So grammar wise, notice what happens when we contract the word 'have' or 'has' onto the different pronouns, right? It's common for us to insert the word 'got' afterwards. So to 'have got' something is the same as just to have something, to have to possess something. But it just sounds better. Instead of just saying 'I've something', it's good to say 'I've got something'. But also it's weird if you say 'I have got something', right.

It's kind of like 'got' is only required. You only need to say 'got' if you've contracted 'have' or 'has. "I've got" "you've got". "He's got". "She's got". "We've got". "They've got". "It's got". Whereas if you just say 'I have', you don't need to say 'I have got', right. "I've got an axe to grind with her", "I have an axe to grind with her". "You've got an axe to grind with her", "you have an axe to grind with her".

There's nothing wrong with adding it in if you decide to. No one's going to get confused. But that's just a common little pattern grammar-wise that you may see native speakers using all the time. And probably in most types of English, I think it would be the same in British and American English.

But Australians obviously, myself included, definitely do it. So it's something that when I hear non-native speakers do, when I hear them use this, I'm like, 'Ooh, that's advanced! They sound much more natural when they do that.' Instead of saying something like, 'I've an axe to grind', it sounds a bit posh if you were to say 'I have an axe to grind'.

So anyway, let's get into the final section of today's episode. Today I have a clip for you that comes from the Australian TV show Kath and Kim. Kath and Kim, a dysfunctional mother daughter duo. So that means a pair of women, one who's a mum and the other one who's a daughter, a mother daughter duo. Duo, meaning two. Navigate through relationship troubles, personal issues and life while trying to stay sane. So it's a really cool TV show that's worth checking out, guys.

And yeah, if you know the show, you'll definitely know the accents that they use are very broad and it's kind of a stereotype, right? It's a comedy. They're kind of acting and pretending to have these broader accents, but it's yeah, it's a funny show. Anyway, so the rules of the game. I'm going to play a clip for you twice. Your goal is to listen and write down what you hear being said. Remember, download today's free PDF file. You can get that via the description for this podcast or just go to my website and look up the episode and you can download the PDF and the answer will be at the end of the pdf.

So there's lines on the PDF. You can write down what you think you hear being said and then at the very bottom the answer is there for you. Otherwise, if you're a premium podcast member, you will obviously be able to see the answer in the transcript for today's episode. So you're ready to go? Here's the first playthrough.

Here's your statue, Mum! Oh, what for the love of God is that? It's the statue you wanted! What? No, it's not, Kim. Yes, it is. It's a statue of Little Baby 'Cheesus'. Little Baby 'Cheesus'?! Oh, Little Baby Jesus, Kim. Jesus! Oh, Jesus!

All right. So it was a bit of a long one, but, you know, you can always go back, listen to it multiple times. You don't have to just listen to it twice. Anyway, here's the second playthrough.

Here's your statue, Mum! Oh, what for the love of God is that? It's the statue you wanted! What? No, it's not, Kim. Yes, it is! It's a statue of Little Baby 'Cheesus'. Little Baby 'Cheesus'? Oh, Little Baby Jesus, Kim. Jesus! Oh, Jesus!

All right. Good job, guys. Good job. Hopefully you enjoyed today's episode. Thank you again for bearing with me with such a husky voice after being sick. I really appreciate it. I love you guys and I hope you have an amazing week and I'll chat to you soon. See you later!