Transcript of AE 1207 - Expression: Drag Your Feet

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, mob! How's it going? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. We're doing another expression episode today. My name is Pete. I am your host and if you're listening to this for the first time, welcome. And if you are a return listener, a return offender, a repeat offender, rather, welcome back!

So guys, this is the Aussie English podcast, the number one podcast for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. We try and avoid British, English and American English here, though sometimes we kind of dabble a little bit in those dialects too. What have I been up to today? So my wife was courteous enough. She was kind enough to get up early this morning, deal with the kids and drop them off at Day-care whilst I had a bit of a sleep in. So I had a bit of a snooze this morning whilst my wife was taking care of my kids and dealing with all the action. So she is very kind and does that occasionally when I've had a late night and yeah, need a bit of a sleep in.

So she went off and did that. I got up then whilst she was putting her makeup on and getting ready for work, drove her to work, came back and then I rearranged my plant shelf. I've got like a living wall. They call it a living wall. This is where you have usually plants living on a wall. Right? Who'd figure? Who'd have guessed it? Right. Go figure.

So I have a living wall in my lounge room, and it has kind of been part living wall with plants growing on it. So it's two shelves from Ikea that have a bunch of plants on them, and it is also part storage. So we have all kinds of stuff on there. You know, kids toys, cards, nail clippers, you name it. There's a whole bunch of stuff there. So it's kind of mixed and a bit gross, right. It's a bit unseemly. It's a bit of an eyesore. So I spent most of the day, to be honest, taking everything off those shelves, giving them a good scrub, a good clean, and then putting the plants back on and finding other homes for everything else that was on there. So hopefully now it's a little cleaner, a little nicer. And when my wife gets home, when my beautiful wife Kel gets home, hopefully she'll have a pleasant surprise at the cleaned up living wall that is now in our living room. So, yeah, that's what I've been up to today.

So, guys, before we get into the Q&A, just remember, if you want the transcripts for these episodes so that you can listen and read at the same time, you can do that using the premium podcast player that plays the episode for you, whilst it shows you the text and scrolls in front of your eyes so that if you're on your app, on a phone, on the computer, whatever, you can read and listen at the same time, or you can download the transcripts, print them out or read them on your tablet or phone, whatever you want to do. If you want access to all that stuff, be sure to sign up for the premium podcast membership. You can get access to this at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast. So go check that out.

Anyway, let's get into today's Q&A question and answer. And this one comes from Hamed, who asks, "Are there any other ways besides your podcast to improve my Australian English listening skills now?" Good question. I guess I could take this in two different directions. So you could, I guess, be asking about resources. You know, "Are there any other podcasts out there, YouTube channels, TV shows, any of that sort of stuff that will help me improve my listening skills?" Or, the question could also sort of pertain to "Can I use things that aren't necessarily podcasts, or the Aussie English podcast, to improve my listening skills as well?" So I'll try and answer both of those. There's definitely other content out there besides my podcast that you can use to improve your listening skills.

So, you know, there's loads of different TV shows. There's obviously loads of podcasts by Australians. They don't necessarily focus on Australian English. I think I'm one of the only podcasts out there that tackles teaching Australian English as sort of the main goal of the podcast. But there's definitely other podcasts out there by other Australians that you could use.

My advice would be though, looking for resources, whether they're movies, TV shows, audio books, podcasts, you know, videos on YouTube, whatever it is, using resources where you can also get access to the transcripts. So studies have been done that show if you can read and listen at the same time, you'll actually improve your listening skills much more quickly. And this is because as you read whilst listening, you can literally see what is being said in real time, right? So you can check your comprehension with, you know, is what I'm hearing, what I'm actually- what's actually being said, what I'm reading on the text? So that is the best way to do it.

Because often if we're just listening to content, or having a conversation with someone, we may miss certain words. We may not get certain, you know, expressions or collocations or grammatical things that are used by the speaker. But we can kind of get the basic idea of what's being said. And so we can, you know, get by. But if you are reading a transcript, which has literally exactly what is being said, there's kind of no confusion that's really allowed there in terms of 'did they say this word?', 'did they use this expression?', 'did they mean this?' You know, it's all there for you to to see.

And so, yeah, whatever you end up using, and whether or not you're trying to improve your Australian English, you could be doing the same with American English, British English, South African English, whatever it is. Ideally you would be reading and listening at the same time and doing this in a way that is studying, right? You don't have to necessarily do this every single time you listen to any Australian English, but having a period of time on a regular basis, you know, a daily 30 minute period where you are intensively or intensely studying, right? So you're sitting there listening and reading at the same time. So yeah.

"Are there any other ways of doing this?" Obviously, you don't have to use my podcast alone. I'd love it if you do use my podcast, but definitely complement it with TV shows and movies and other podcasts and YouTube channels and books, audio books, everything like that, you know, that is going to help you.

Listening wise, yeah. So podcasts are obviously a really good way of doing this because they tend to be long form. They tend to often be interviews where you've got multiple people chatting to one another and they tend to include English that isn't necessarily scripted. I mean, there are podcasts out there where it's scripted. But I think podcasts in general are a very good resource to use when they're unscripted. So you get access to real English as it's spoken by native speakers or advanced English speakers. And particularly, interview episodes. So I guess ideally you would have a podcast with multiple people talking to one another at the same time. You know, they're interrupting each other, they're not finishing their sentences, they're talking over each other. It's messy, like real life! And you also get the transcript.

Now, obviously you can do this with films, you can do this with TV shows. You can do this with, I don't know, the radio potentially. You know, there's loads of other resources out there that you can do it with. But if you're trying to improve your listening skills, I guess you need to be thinking about 'what area of listening?' Like is it conversations, informal conversations, small talk, that sort of stuff. Is it conversations about engineering? Is it conversations about family relationships? You know, where are your weak spots? What aspects of your listening need work? And then what resource best helps. So anyway, we've talked about this for quite a bit, so I hope that helps guys. But I know it's a common question that you guys often give me. You know, 'how do I improve my listening? What can I do?' So I hope that helps. But just the biggest thing is just keep at it. Keep practising. All right. Now it's time to get into today's joke. So slap the bird and let's do it.

Okay, so today's joke is. What would you need if you injured your feet in the middle of the road? Hmm. What would you need? What would you require if you injured your foot? If you hurt your foot or your feet in the middle of the road. Okay. Are you ready for this? This is going to be amazing.

A 'toe' truck! Do you get it? A 'toe' truck. Now, a toe truck here is spelt T O E truck. Right. Mhm.

So a 'toe' T O E is any of the five digits at the end of a human foot. Right. Hopefully you have five 'toes' on one foot and five 'toes' on the other foot. That is a 'toe'. But if you spell 'tow' T O W, if you 'tow' something- so, 'to tow', this is usually a motor vehicle or a boat pulling another vehicle or boat along with a rope, a chain or a tow bar. So effectively pulling that thing. They're causing that thing to move behind them. They're sort of directing it. They're taking it, right.

'A tow'. You can use this as a noun as well. If you 'give [someone] a tow', this is the act of towing them, right? So if your car breaks down, you 'need a tow'. You want the tow truck to come to tow you, to 'give you a tow' and hopefully take you to a mechanic's where they can fix your car, right. Fix your vehicle.

So that's the joke. 'What do you need if you injured your feet in the middle of the road?' 'A toe truck.' Mhm. So I guess, a truck full of toes? All right. Anyway, let's, let's get into the expression breakdown, guys.

So today's expression is to 'drag your feet'. 'To drag your feet'. Let's break down the different words in this expression.

'To drag something'. If you drag something, you move something by pulling it along a surface, usually the ground. So, "The student dragged his bag along the ground", right. You might, my son might wake up in the morning and be dragging his pillow along the ground, you know, as he walks from his bedroom out into the lounge room.

'Your'. We go over this every episode. 'Your' is the second person possessive pronoun. 'Your' house, 'your' computer, 'your' toe that's been injured in the middle of the road. 'Your' phone call to the tow truck.

A 'foot'. I'm sure you'll know what 'a foot' is or two 'feet', two or more 'feet'. The lower extremity of the leg below the ankle on which a person stands or walks. So, "I kicked the table and hurt my foot." "I broke a toe, my toe. So I called the tow truck." All right, joke's over.

So, 'to drag your feet'. Literally, the idea here would, I guess, be walking so slowly that your feet are kind of like dragging along the ground.

I guess it could also be that someone's lifted you up and is dragging your feet along the ground for you. But I don't typically think you can kind of drag both feet simultaneously by yourself, right? You'd need someone to lift you up and be kind of pulling your feet along the ground.

But if you 'drag your feet' in terms of the expression, and the figurative sense here, it means to procrastinate, to put something off, to dawdle, to avoid something, or to make very slow and reluctant progress with that thing. 'To drag your feet'.

And I think it is that exact idea of slowly walking somewhere and kind of not being in a rush at all, procrastinating, dawdling, avoiding that thing by walking slowly and dragging your feet along the ground.

So as usual, let's go through three examples of how I would use this expression 'to drag your feet'. When would I drag my feet?

So at the moment, and here is a key example, I'm overdue for a blood test. So I was checking my cholesterol, I don't know, a year or so ago, when I was doing a certain keto diet. So this is eating a lot more fat and I had high cholesterol. I had a follow up blood test like a few months later and my cholesterol had come back down to normal and my doctor's like, 'Go and get another blood test in a year and we'll follow up'. Anyway, to get your cholesterol checked, you have to avoid eating, right? You have to fast in the morning and you can't drink anything with calories in it because it may artificially- well, not artificially, but it may elevate your cholesterol higher than your natural level.

So he wants me to fast. The issue is that I usually get up in the morning and have to take my kids to day-care. I have to take my wife to work. I've got to, you know, do a bunch of other things. And again, these are my excuses. I probably just need to be more disciplined. I usually can't help but have a coffee in the morning. And so it's very difficult for me to fast. And by the time I get home after usually taking the kids to Day-care, taking my wife to work, it's about lunchtime and I'm starving. I'm ravenous.

So in terms of getting this blood test done, I'm 'dragging my feet', I'm procrastinating, I'm dilly dallying, I am delaying it. It's overdue. I'm avoiding it. I know I need to go and do it, but I have to fast. So I am 'dragging my feet'.

Example number two. So you work for a big company, right? And they've just secured a new client. And it's really important that you prepare a meeting for this client. You've got to put together a presentation to show them in this meeting. It's a lot of work and, you know, the day comes and you haven't really done a good job of it. So when the meeting is meant to start, you're kind of slowly heading over there. But you're not in a rush because, you know, "I'm going to make a fool of myself. I'm going to embarrass myself."

So you might 'drag your feet'. You're trying to avoid the inevitable. You're trying to dawdle a little bit, procrastinate. Take your time. You're not rushing, you're 'dragging your feet'.

And example number three, here's a good one about my son, Noah. So when he wakes up in the morning and he did this this morning, my wife was telling me this story, which is why I wanted to include it. When he wakes up in the morning, he's usually full of beans, right? You know, he's running around being crazy, doing small kid stuff. And as soon as he finds out he has to go to Day-care, his demeanour completely changes, right? All of a sudden he'll be whining and he'll if he's having his lunch or sorry, his lunch, if he's having his breakfast or something, you know, he's got food and drink in front of him. All of a sudden he has like temporary amnesia about how to do all of these simple tasks that he can normally do. Right? So he'll be saying to my wife, Kel, I need help eating. I need help drinking. I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to put my clothes on. And really what what this sudden onset of amnesia is doing for him is allowing him to drag his feet.

So he's prolonging, having to leave to go to Day-care. He's trying to sort of stretch it out for as long as possible. He's really trying to milk it and he is definitely dragging his feet. So hopefully now, guys, you understand the expression to drag your feet. If you drag your feet, you procrastinate, you put something off, you dawdle, you dilly dally, you delay something, you avoid something. Or you make very slow and reluctant progress with that thing. So as usual, guys, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise. This is where I'm going to read out words and phrases for you to repeat out loud after me to work on your Australian English accent.

So are you ready to rock? Are you ready to go? Let's do it. To to drag. To drag your. To drag your feet. To drag your feet. To drag your feet. To drag your feet. To drag your feet. I dragged my feet. You dragged your feet. He dragged his feet. She dragged her feet. We dragged our feet. They dragged their feet. It dragged its feet. Good job, guys.

Okay. Let's talk a little bit about connected speech and what happens when I say these phrases quickly. So what happens to the phrase to drag your feet? So if I say that clearly to drag your feet and then I say that more naturally to drag your feet, what do you hear happening? Which sounds change and how do they change to drag your feet? To drag your feet.

To drag your feet. So the words to and your these get reduced and you'll get the schwa sound instead of the /oo/ sound in to or the O sound in your. You'll just get a. /Tə drag your feet/. /Tə drag your feet/. To drag your feet.

And the G at the end of the word drag comes to the front of the word your or yuh, and it becomes like a guh guh sound. /Tə drag yə feet/, /tə drag yə feet/, /tə drag yə feet/.

Now something interesting happens in the phrases "I dragged my feet. You dragged your feet". The D at the end of the word 'drag' /d/ often merges with the following word and changes the pronunciation of that word. So you'll hear it in the example /you dragged your feet/. If I say that quickly, /you dragged◡your feet/ /you dragged your feet/. Isn't that weird? The D at the end of 'drag-duh' merges with the 'yod' the /j/ sound at the front of your or /yuh/ and it becomes G so you don't get a D sound. You don't get a /yuh/ sound, you get a compiled, a combined G sound. /Yə drag yə(r) feet/ /dyuh/, /yə drag yə(r) feet/. And then we have with. He dragged his feet or she dragged her feet. We have H deletion where the H at the front of 'his' and 'her' that /huh/ sound disappears and you'll have /he dragged (h)is feet/. /She dragged (h)er feet. And this is often a T flap sound. So instead of the /she dragged(h)er feet/ it's /she drag(t) (h)er feet/. It's very light. Similar to a T flap. /He drag(t) (h)is feet/. /He drag(t) (h)is feet/.

So hopefully you got a lot out of that. Guys, Just remember, if you want to improve your Australian pronunciation, check out my Australian pronunciation course at AussieEnglish.com.au/apc. So the letters APC for Australian Pronunciation Course. Inside the course you'll learn how to use the international phonetic alphabet. You'll then learn how to pronounce all the different vowel sounds and consonant sounds in Australian English.

And then in the third and final section you will learn the advanced aspects of Australian pronunciation. Like we just went over h deletion. He dragged his feet, she dragged her feet, you know where that H disappears and things like how the D and the Yod can merge, they can assimilate to give you /G/ so you drag /G/ feet. Go check that out AussieEnglish.com.au/apc.

Now finally, guys, we have a little clip here at the end and this clip comes from a new TV show from Australia and I think it's available on Netflix called Wellmania, starring Australian comedian and actress Celeste Barber. So the excerpt is Liv - A human tornado is forced to rethink her live-fast-die-young philosophy after a major health scare. She throws herself into a wellness journey, trying everything she can to reclaim her old life. So definitely check this one out, guys.

The aim of the game here is to write down what you hear. I'm going to play a clip for you two different times. And so your goal is to get a piece of paper, get a pen and try and write out what you hear being said. If you need to listen multiple times, just rewind. And if you want access to the answer, remember you can get this if you are a premium podcast member or if you get today's free worksheet, which you'll be able to download via the link in the podcast description or the podcast page on the website. The answer is at the bottom and in the worksheet too, you have space to write out what you think you hear.

Okay, so you're ready to go? Here's the first playthrough.

Well, you know, I didn't drink much. I went to bed early, did five k's on the treadmill this morning and now I'm eating this, which actually is still very dense. Okay, Miss Clean living. I know right.

Good job. How did you go? Did you get all of it? Time for the second playthrough?

Well, you know, I didn't drink much. I went to bed early, did five k's on the treadmill this morning, and now I'm eating this, which actually is still very dense. Okay, Miss Clean living. I know right.

All right. That's it from me today, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I am Pete, this is Aussie English, and I will see you next time. Tooroo!