Transcript of AE 1195 - Expression: On Your Bike

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. Now we are finally recording a new expression episode for 2023. Today's episode is going to be about the expression "on your bike". "On your bike". You may hear this as well as "get on your bike", but "on your bike" and saying it with that real "on ya", "on ya".

That very Australian "on ya". "On you", "Good on you", "good on ya", "on your bike", "on ya". So anyway guys, it's been a very busy start to the year. There's been a lot going on with family, I guess, too. It's just that holiday period, right. So you tend to have kids around at home, not at day-care. The wife's not at work at the moment, so we're always trying to plan activities to keep our kids distracted and yeah, go through their daily quota of energy so that they can, uh, go to bed early, hopefully. But yeah, it's been, it's been interesting. It's been very busy.

So before we get into today's episode, guys, don't forget if you want the transcripts for the episodes on the podcast. So for all of the episodes that aren't Pete's 2cents episodes, they have transcripts. I think we've got well over 1100 of them now. You can get access to these via the Premium Podcast Membership. You can sign up for this at www.AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast

And you will get access to all the transcripts, bonus episodes, you'll get bonus Goss episodes; the Goss, where I chat with my father about things. And you'll also have the Premium Podcast player, which you can use on your phone, on your tablet, on your computer, whatever device you'd like to read and listen at the same time.

Anyway, let's get into today's question. So today's question comes from a Fatima who asks, "What's the difference between 'clout' and 'fame'?" So, the word 'clout', C L O U T, clout, and 'fame', F A M E, 'fame'.

So, 'clout' is influence or power, especially in, say, politics or business or, yeah, you could say, you know, fame as well, right? Where you have power, you have influence to cause something to happen. Right? If you've got a lot of clout, you have a lot of influence and power.

So, "He carries a lot of clout in the business world. People believe what he says." "He has a lot of clout." Or, "She's earned a lot of clout online." Right. So, she's got a lot of influence and power. She's earnt it online. She has a lot of clout.

Fame, on the other hand, doesn't necessarily mean that you have influence or power. It's just the state of being known or talked about by many people, right. Especially on account of notable achievements, amazing things that you've done, right. So, Johnny Depp, right. The actor Johnny Depp has a lot of fame. He is incredibly famous. His fame is world renowned, right? He's in all these films. We all know Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. They are famous. They have a lot of fame, but they may not have a lot of clout. So they may not have much influence or power. They may just be well known by everyone around the world, right.

So, what's another one? "I went to the Olympics and I earned myself a lot of fame because I got a gold medal" or "She is an incredible maths student. Her maths skills have earned her a lot of fame."

All right. So let's get into today's joke. I have to try and tie this in with the bike expression. So slap the bird, guys, and let's do it.

Okay, so here's the joke. "Why can't a bicycle stand up on its own?" Why can't a bicycle, a bike, stand up on its own? Stand up by itself?

"Because it's two tyred." Do you get it? "Too tired." Uh, so it's too tired to stand up, right?

So, here "too" T O O would be to a higher degree than is desirable, permissible or possible. Right? Excessively. And "tired" is in the need of sleep or rest or recovery, right. You're weary. So, if you're 'too tired', you are excessively requiring sleep or rest. But the pun here is with that phrase, 'two tyred' and 'too tired'. Pronounced the same way, spelt T W O, as in the number two, and 'tyred' as in T Y R E D, as in the tyres on the bike.

So the bike has two tyres. That's why it's a bi-cycle. It's a bike. So if you just let it sit there, if you let go of a bike, it's going to fall over because it's only got two tyres, it's 'two tyred'. All right. Hopefully that makes sense. Whereas if it was a tricycle, it would stand up because it has three tyres.

All right. So let's get into today's expression, "On your bike". "On your bike, mate". "On your bike".

So, "on". You'll know what the preposition "on" means. This is physically in contact with and supported by a surface. It's 'on' something, right. If you are obviously if you're 'on' a bike, you are sitting on a bike. You are 'on the seat' 'on the bike'.

So, "The meal is on the table". It's sitting, it's resting 'on the table'. Or, "My watch is on my wrist". It's attached to it's supported by my wrist. It's 'on my wrist'.

"Your", the word 'your'. I'm sure you'll know this word as well. This is the second person possessive pronoun. "This is your food." "This is your house." "These are your friends", 'your bike', 'your wristwatch', "your".

And lastly, a "bike", another word that you'll know, is a pedal powered two-wheeled vehicle. So, "I had a bike as a kid." "She loves riding her bike to work."

So, the definition of the phrase "on your bike", like literally it is, you know, 'get on your bike', 'sit on your bike', 'mount your bike', 'get on your bike'.

But we're using this figuratively to mean 'go away' or 'leave'. "Off you go. It's time to go." "It's time to leave", right. "On your bike." As if, I guess you could think about this like this, as if you rode to someone's house, you took your bike, you arrived on your bike, and then they said, "Oh, you know, you better go. On your bike." You know, "Get on your bike and leave." So you have to ride your bike home.

So, let's go through three examples of how I would use this expression. So example number one, imagine you are a man who lives in a neighbourhood, you've got a beautiful family and you have a very, very attractive and amazing young daughter, right? So she's a teenager and she's always now getting the attention of the local boys in the neighbourhood.

They're often coming over, knocking on the door, asking her to come out and "hang" with them, right. "Hang" in air quotations. But you really know it's not necessarily a "hanging" that the boys would like to do with your daughter. It's more closer to probably "Netflix and chill", if you know what I mean. So you're a more conservative kind of parent. And any time these little guys come over to your house, they show up on your doorstep, they give you a rat-a-tat-tat on the door, and they're like, "Hey, where's your daughter?" You might say to them, "She's not home. On your bike!", right? "Get out of here!" "Go home! Bugger off on your bike!"

Example number two. Imagine you're at work and it's Friday night. Drinks, right. So Friday night has come around. It's been a hard work, a hard week working at work. You and all your colleagues have decided, you know, instead of going out this this evening, we're going to stay at the office. We're going to order in a bunch of takeaways. So you guys order a bunch of pizzas. You're in charge of doing it all. You know, you've taken the orders down, you've rung up the pizza joint, you've then put your order in, you paid for it, and now you're just waiting for it to arrive. 30 minutes later, you get a call on your phone and the guy who's bringing the pizzas over is like, "Hey, mate, I'm out the front."

But by this time, you've had a few drinks and you're a little bit tipsy. And so you're sort of not concentrating and you're not paying attention to the fact that the delivery guy is waiting for you out the front. And your colleagues have to sort of, you know, give you a bit of a nudge. And they're getting impatient, they're hungry, and they're like, "Mate, get on your bike!", right? "Go downstairs, grab the pizzas! On your bike, mate!" "Go get the pizzas! Get on your bike!" "On your bike! Time to go!" "Time to leave. Go get them!"

Example number three. So imagine you've got some kids at high school. And I was definitely like this when I was a kid, right? So my parents, every single morning, had to battle with me to get out of bed, had to battle with me to have a shower, to get ready for school and to, you know, eat my breakfast and then get out the door on time so that I could catch the bus and get to school on time. Because if I miss the bus, my parents would be the ones who had to drive me to school. So your kids are always tired, they're grumpy, they're not in the mood for being punctual or on time. And yeah, you're worried that they won't get a rattle on in the morning, they won't hurry up, they won't get a move on, and they'll miss the bus.

So you have to hound them, you have to pester them, they have to get ready. Eventually, you get them ready. They they're still dilly dallying around, though. They're still piss fighting around, wasting time watching TV or chatting with friends on their phones. And you just yell out, "You know what, guys? Get on your bike." "On your bike, guys, it's time to go. It's time to leave. You're going to miss the bus. The bus will be here in, like, one minute. On your bike! On your bike!"

So there you go, guys! Hopefully now you understand the expression on your bike. It is used to mean "Go, leave! Go away." "It's time to go." "It's time to leave.", right. It's an order. "On your bike."

So, as usual, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise. This is where you can practice your Australian English pronunciation. So try and find somewhere where you can speak out loud without feeling too self-conscious right away from other people. And listen and repeat after me. You ready? Let's go.

On. On your. On your bike. On your bike. On your bike. On your bike. On your bike. I said, on your bike, mate! You said, on your bike, mate! He said, on your bike, mate! She said, on your bike, mate! We said, on your bike, mate! They said, on your bike, mate! It said, on your bike, mate! Great job, guys. Great job.

So don't forget the "on ya", "on ya". And remember that in Australian pronunciation, if "on ya" is at the end of a phrase, or there's no word that kind of comes after the 'ya', we'll pronounce it with that /ɑ/ vowel sound. "/ɑ/, good on yɑ, good on ya."

But if "on ya" is in the middle of a sentence and there's a word after it, like "on your bike," what did you just notice happen to that /ɑ/ sound? Instead, this time it's an /ʊ/ sound "on /jʊ(r)/ bike." It's a schwa sound, "on /jʊ(r)/ bike", "on /jʊ(r)/ bike".

So we're just reducing the word "your" and we're saying "on /jʊ(r)/" "on /jʊ(r)/". "on /jʊ(r)/ bike", "on /jʊ(r)/ bike". So that's something that quite often happens in Australian English, that /ʊ/ sound that you may hear with reductions can quite often become a sound if it's in the middle of a phrase.

So, "good on ya", "good on ya", "good on you, mate". "Good on you", "good on your mate". "Good on your mate". "On /jʊ(r)/ bike", "On /jʊ(r)/ bike".

So, don't forget guys, if you want to work on your Australian pronunciation, go check out my Australian pronunciation course at www.AussieEnglish.com.au/apc

So to finish up, guys, I've got a little clip here from the TV show Superwog. And the excerpt for the TV show is "a look at the dysfunctional and misunderstood Superwog family as they navigate life in Australian suburbia." So this TV show is a little crass, it's a little rude, but it's a comedy, it's funny, and I like it because for you guys, it'll have a lot of sort of ethnic pronunciation and accents.

These quote unquote sort of 'wog' accents. It used to be an offensive term that was used quite a lot in the past, but it's since kind of been repossessed by the demographic that were considered, quote unquote, 'wogs'. And they now use it to describe themselves. So you'll see this term all the time for TV shows and movies and books, and you'll also hear people using it quite a bit to sort of define themselves as Australian, but slightly different and usually of a different background, right. Like Italian or Lebanese, you know, they tend to consider themselves that if they've grown up in that kind of interesting Australian ethnic kind of culture. Anyway, go check it out.

Today, I have two little plays that I'm going to do for you, so I'm going to play a certain clip from one of the shows for you, one of the episodes. Your job is to listen to this, write down what you hear and if you need a repeat it, there'll be a second playthrough. But you can also obviously pause it and go back. And if you want to check your answers, don't forget to download the free PDF for today's lesson, and- or get the Premium Podcast membership where the line will be written out in the transcript obviously. So anyway, are you ready to go? Here's the first playthrough.

I want to be a lawyer. Well, you repeated Year 9 three times. What are you talking about? I'm going to work in law! No, you're not! You're going to break the law!

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

I want to be a lawyer. Well, you repeated Year 9 three times. What are you talking about? I'm going to work in law! No, you're not! You're going to break the law!

All right. Awesome work, guys! I hope you enjoyed this episode today. Thank you so much for joining me. I will chat to you soon. All the best. See you next time!