Transcript of AE 1197 - Expression: Until the Cows Come Home

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 Flip and L 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!

All righty, guys. How's it going? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. Guys, I hope you are having a ripper of a week. I hope you're having an amazing week and yeah, I hope you've survived the weather down here in Victoria. If you're down here, we've had, we had a swelter out of a day, a hot day, a scorcher of a day yesterday, at least, when this is being recorded. So yesterday was Tuesday. Today is Wednesday. And yesterday it was- God, it got up to like 38 degrees Celsius. It was insane. But fortunately it started raining in the evening, and it's been raining today. And I think we're down to like 18, 19 degrees today. So you've got to love those cold changes when they come through and they give you a bit of respite, a bit of time to relax, right. You can take it easy.

Anyway, welcome to this episode, guys. Don't forget, before we get into it, if you would like to get access to all the transcripts, for all of the podcast episodes, except for the Pete's 2cents episodes, those don't come with transcripts, but there are over one and a half- one and a half? 1,150 episodes at least that have transcripts if you want access to those.

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Now guys, let's get into the question. Today's question comes from Daniel, and Daniel asks, "Can you give me some examples of how you would use the verb 'to pop' in Australian English? 'To pop'. So I guess that's literally, [makes a popping sound] you know, 'pop', to make a light explosive sound.

So, popcorn can 'pop' in a microwave. If you turn the microwave on, you chuck the popcorn in. Usually it's about, what, 90 seconds, 2 minutes. And it pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop pops. The bubbles 'pop' when they touch the ground, right. My son at the moment is always playing with this- What would you say? He's blowing bubbles, right? That's a little toy that has, like, detergent and liquid in it. And you put it in, you dip it, and then you blow through the hole in the little thing that you hold. I don't even know what you would call that. And you create bubbles, but they pop when they hit the ground.

But we can often use this verb, in Australian English, in particular. I don't know if Americans or British people would do it, but we definitely use it all the time in Australian English to mean 'to go somewhere for a short period of time, often without notice'. So it's kind of like to suddenly go somewhere for a short period of time. So you may hear people say, "Oh, I'll pop over later", or "I'll pop by and I'll say hello", or maybe "She's going to pop out for a bit and go shopping".

And you'll notice there that I used a whole bunch of phrasal verbs. So we'll often use, when we're using 'pop' to mean 'go somewhere for a short time', we'll use a phrasal verb. So we'll combine it with a preposition like 'over' or 'by' or 'in' or 'out'. So, "I'll pop over to your house", "I'll pop by later on", "I'll pop in", "I'll pop out". So, yeah, 'pop'. It's a great little verb to use. Just don't forget to make phrasal verbs using it when talking about going somewhere for a short period of time. So hopefully that answers your question, Daniel!

So now it's time for the joke guys. Slap the bird and let's get into it. Okay, so today's joke. Are you ready for this? It's going to bring the house down. It's going to make everyone laugh a lot.

Why did the two cows not like each other?

So, why didn't these two cows like each other?

Hmm? Because they had beef.

Does that makes sense? 'They had beef.' Ohh!

So, 'beef' literally would be like bovine flesh, right? The flesh of a cow, a bull or an ox that you would eat. It's used as food, and I believe it comes from French. So quite often in English you'll notice that we use words when we're talking about food, meat and food. We will use the French, or I guess they would be the words of French origin, to talk about that food, right? Like, 'pork' is another one. We don't say, "Oh, I'm going to have some pig". "I'll throw some pig on the barbie". You'd say, 'pork', "I'll have a pork chop" or "I'll have some beef".

But if you 'have beef with someone' or if you ''have a beef with someone, you can kind of use either here, it's 'to have a problem with someone'. To have a complaint about ,that person. To have a disagreement with someone or to be dissatisfied with something.

So, in this case, why did the two cows not like each other? They had beef! It means that they didn't like each other because of a disagreement, or a complaint, or some kind of problem that they had with one another. So there you go. The pun is on the word 'beef'. Beef, beef, beef.

Now, we made the joke today about cows because the expression is 'until the cows come home', 'until the cows come home'.

So, as usual, guys, let's go through each of these words and define them. I'll give you the definition. We'll talk about the origin. We'll go through some examples, a pronunciation exercise, and then a little listening comprehension exercise from an Australian TV show. Okay.

So, 'until'. This is 'up to'. Up to the point in time or the event that you've mentioned. "I'll be here 'until' tomorrow", "she's going to eat 'until' she's full", "'until' she's had enough".

'The'. This is the definitive article. 'The' definitive article, right. "This is 'the' home that I live in". It's not just any home. It is 'the' home. "That's 'the' farmers favourite tractor over there." That tractor- "That tractor is 'the' farmer's favourite one."

A 'cow'. I'm sure you guys know what a cow is. This is a fully grown female animal of a domesticated breed of ox. And usually they're used for milk or beef, a cow. So, the farmer likes to milk his dairy cows once or- I think it's even twice a day, right? I think they get milked in the morning and the evenings. "I love going out to farms and seeing 'cows' in the fields."

To 'come'. To 'come' is 'to move or travel towards, or into a place thought of as near or familiar to the speaker'. So, "You 'come' towards me and I'll go towards you", or "We're going to 'come' to his house for the party".

And the last word, 'home', 'a home'. This is 'the place where you live', right? Permanently, usually. Especially as a member of a family or a household. So, "At the moment I am at 'home'", "I'm in my 'home'", "I'm recording this episode in my 'home'".

So the definition of the expression 'until the cows come home'. This is a, it's a strange one. You wouldn't work this out just from reading 'until the cows come home', right? But it means 'for a very long period of time'.

So if you say that someone can do something 'until the cows come home', but it will have no effect, you are emphasising that it will have no effect even if they do it for a very long time. So if you do something 'until the cows come home', it's like, "You can try and do this as much as you want, but it's not going to achieve anything". It's going to have no effect, it's not going to be helpful, it's not going to be useful. "Try it. Do it 'until the cows come home', mate. But you know, it's useless."

So I looked up the origin and I found on www.Grammarist.com, the following: "The idiom 'until the cows come home' has been in use since at least the 16th century and may have originated in the Scottish Highlands, where cows were allowed to graze for months at a time before they would meander home in the fall."

So obviously they were allowed to graze, to eat grass, out in the mountains, out in the highlands in Scotland, and they could do it until they came home, right? So they could do it for a very long time and eventually they would "meander home in the fall", I guess, 'fall'. So, this is written by an American, that would be 'autumn' in Australian and British English. 'Autumn', not 'fall'.

Let's go through some examples of how I would use this expression. So my kids are toddlers at the moment, right? Noah is three and a half, Joana is almost two, and they're starting to whine and cry more and more and more every time that they want something. But their parents, myself and Kel don't allow them to have it straight away. So we might, say, go shopping, and my son will see a toy that he wants. And if we say, "Look, mate, you can't get it right now, maybe wait until your birthday", "maybe wait until Christmas, and then we'll get you this pressie", this 'present', this, this toy.

He'll start whining, he'll start crying, he'll start complaining, he'll kick up a fuss. He'll start potentially throwing a full blown tantrum in the store, you know, having a meltdown. We try to remain steadfast, though. We try not to give in to his tantrums and just allow him to have whatever he wants, whenever he wants. We try and avoid that. So we might say, "Look, Noah, you can have a tantrum all you want. You can do it 'until the cows come home', but you're not going to get the toy today."

"You can cry 'until the cows come home'. You can scream, you can kick, you can smack the floor, you can yell out 'until the cows come home'. But it's not going to change anything. It's going to have no effect. You're not getting the toy today."

Example number two. Maybe you're at high school and you've got a crush on a certain student at school. Another boy, another girl, someone in your class. Unfortunately for you, they've got a crush on someone else in class. And they're not interested in you that way. They see you as more of a friend. They're not sort of romantically interested in you. So, you can flirt with them 'until the cows come' home, but nothing will ever happen. They're not interested in you that way. They don't have feelings for you. They don't have a crush on you. They've got a crush on someone else. So you can pursue them 'until the cows come home'. But it's a waste of your time. They're not going to change their mind.

And example number three. A great example is steroid use by bodybuilders or fighters or athletes or actors. Many of them use steroids. I'd hate to break it to you, but they do in order to get into shape quickly, to get larger than they naturally could. To be bigger than they could ever. Yeah, naturally get stronger. And if you're a young kid who wants to get fit and large, like your favourite stars or famous athletes and everything, maybe, you know, movie actors, like in the Marvel movies, you might start going to the gym to pump some iron, right? To work out.

You want to get swole, you want to get big. But unfortunately for you, you can work out 'until the cows come home'. But you'll never be as big as your heroes unless you start taking the special sauce, right? Unless you get on steroids, you're never going to get as big as them. So you can work out all you want. You can do it as much as you like. You can do it 'until the cows come home'. But unless you do exactly what they're doing, wink, wink, you're not going to get the same results.

So, hopefully now you understand the expression 'until the cows come home'. This is to do something for a very long period of time, right. But it's going to have no effect. So, you can do that thing all you like, but nothing's going to change.

So, as usual, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise, guys. This is where I'm going to read out different words and phrases using the expression 'until the cows come home' and your job is to repeat them out loud after me and work on your Australian English pronunciation. And if you prefer, you've got British English or American English as you go. Just use the words and phrases as I say them in order to repeat them out loud in your accent of choice. Okay. So, you're ready to go? Let's do it.

Until. Until the. Until the cows. Until the cows come. Until the cows come home. Until the cows come home. Until the cows come home. Until the cows come home. Until the cows come home.

I can complain until the cows come home. You can complain until the cows come home. He can complain until the cows come home. She can complain until the cows come home. We can complain until the cows come home. They can complain until the cows come home. It can complain until the cows come home. Good job, guys. Good job.

So, all right, let's talk a little bit about what's going on in the phrase 'I can complain until the cows come home'. So what do you hear happen with the word 'can'? If I say it on its own, you'll hear the vowel sound /æ/, right? 'cæn' 'cæn'.

But when it's in a sentence like this, it actually gets reduced and you'll hear /ə/ instead. The vowel sound, schwa, the schwa vowel sounds. So instead you're going to hear, "I /cən/ complain until the cows come home". "I /cən/ complain until the cows come home". "I /cən/ complain".

And you'll also hear the same thing happen. The same reduction happened, with the first syllable of the word 'complain'. So, you'll hear /cəm/'plain /cəm/'plain. /cəm/'plain. "I /cən/ /cəm/'plain" and it's like this /cən/ /cəm/, /cən/ /cəm/. "I /cən/ /cəm/'plain until the cows come home".

And the same sort of pattern as well happens with the word 'until'. 'Until'. So, you'll hear the /ɑ/ sound or /ʌ/ sound being reduced to /ə/ /ən'til/. /ən'til/. And you can even just hear it as a Syllabic N sound. This is where we're not even opening our mouths, really. We're just going /n/, right. So you, you may open your mouth, but you're going straight to an N sound, instead of saying the vowel. So you'll just say /'ntil/, /'ntil/. 'Complain /'ntil/', 'complain /'ntil/'.

In fact, there, I would actually say it by releasing the N, because there's an N at the end of the word 'complain'. So it would sound weird if you just said /complain'ntil/, you have to sort of release it here, and say /complain'əntil/ /complain'əntil/.

But if it was it the front of a phrase, like, 'until the cows come home', you may just hear it '/'ntil/ the cows come home'. '/'ntil/ the cows come home'. So, that's a cool aspect of Australian English that you may notice from time to time.

Anyway, let's get into the last section here today. I'm going to play you a clip from an Aussie TV show called The Secrets She Keeps. The excerpt is the following: Two women from two different walks of life find that they have explosive secrets in common and fight to conceal the truth as their worlds are set to collide. Hmm. 'Set to collide', huh. So it seems like a pretty interesting TV show.

I must admit, I haven't watched it yet. But I did watch the trailer, and I think it's going to go on the watch list with me and my wife. I think we're going to have to watch this one together.

Anyway, the rules of the game. I'm going to play a clip for you twice. And your goal is to listen and write down what you hear being said. So get a pen and paper and try and write down what you hear being said. And remember, if you want to check the answer, you can download today's free worksheet on the website and the answer will be at the very bottom of the worksheet. But if you're a premium podcast member, the answer will also be inside the transcript.

Okay, so here we go. You ready to go? Here's the first playthrough.

I've decided it's time to let you in on a secret. We didn't plan to have another child. This is our 'oops' baby.

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

I've decided it's time to let you in on a secret. We didn't plan to have another child. This is our 'oops' baby.

All right. Good job, guys. That's it for me today. Thank you so much for joining me. I am Pete. This is Aussie English. I hope you have an amazing week and I will see you next time. Tooroo.