Transcript of AE 1166 - Expression: Rock the Boat

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! Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. So guys, if it is your first time listening to the podcast, welcome. Grab a seat, grab a cuppa, sit down, relax, enjoy your drink, your cup of tea, your cup of coffee, and get ready to level up your Australian English. And if you are a repeat offender, a return listener, thank you for coming back. It's always good to have the same set of ears listening to multiple episodes.

So before we get into it, guys, what have I been up to this week? I have been sick yet again. You know, it's just been, it's been, I feel like it's all I talk about on the podcast these days, just getting sick constantly. So I had another brutal kind of chest infection, throat infection kind of thing from again, day-care diseases with the kids bringing them home. You pay all these fees to have these people take care of your kids. All the kids hang out together and swap germs like Pokemon cards, bring them home and deliver them to their parents.

And yes, I was sick again like a dog. It was absolutely awful, to be honest. Guys, I haven't had one of these sorts of throat infections where your tonsils swell up so much that it's so hard to swallow, in years. I can't even remember the last time I got sick like that. Like I can remember getting sick and, you know, having a cough or having a headache or being exhausted. But not the kind of where your tonsils are so swollen, your throat is just like almost closing over. Right? It was just insane.

But yeah, just took it easy this week, I guess. Tried to kick back and relax and recover. Although it was really funny, you guys will probably laugh. On Monday, it was still coming on! The sickness was still coming on, and I was sort of feeling like, 'All right, I guess I've got an excuse to do nothing today, so I'll just chill out in my bed sick, hopefully recover a bit and just watch movies'. And my wife was kind of a bit perturbed, a bit irritated. She's like, Well, I have to go to work. You know, you, you know, have fun at home, living your best life whilst watching movies in bed. And I was sort of smug and like, Yeah, this is going to be great. What a day! The kids are at day-care, you know, bringing home more diseases later.

But for now I'm going to watch movies. But within about an hour or so of my wife going to work, I was dead to the world. Like I couldn't lift my head. I was just in bed for the entire day. I don't think I got out of bed for- I think I got out once. Right, to go to the loo and get a drink or something like that, to have some OJ, some orange juice. And that was about it. So I guess ultimately the joke was on me and I did not watch any movies that day.

So that's what I've been up to this week. But as you can tell, I've kind of recovered well, my voice is here besides a small lingering cough. But yeah. Anyway, let's see how long I can hold the diseases at bay this time. So guys, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for joining me. If you want to get access to the transcripts guys, so the PDF files that you can print out, you can read, you can listen to these podcast episodes whilst you read as well. You can take notes, you can learn all the new vocab, everything like that. You can get access to them by going to www.aussieenglish.com.au/podcast and signing up for the Premium Podcast membership. So this costs less than a dollar a day and you'll get instant access to over 1100 episodes. I think it's like 1160 episodes with transcripts and you will be able to read and listen wherever, whenever, and work on your Aussie English!

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So let's get into today's Q and A, Question and Answer. This one comes from Hadrz who asks, "How do you pronounce the difference between the words time T I M E, and the word thyme T H Y M E?"

So if you've just heard me pronounce both those words 'time' and 'thyme', you probably noticed that there is no difference in the pronunciation of these words. They look deceptive, right? The first one, time, as in the indefinite, continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole, right. Time, all of time. This is T I M E and it's said is thyme T H Y M E looks confusing because of the TH at the start, I reckon. Right.

So it looks like it could be 'th-ime', but it's actually a silent H. Well, the H in it is not pronounced as an H, nor does it cause the TH to be pronounced as a 'thhh' sound or a 'thhh' sound. Right, a TH sound. So it's pronounced as 'time'. And thyme T H Y M E is a low growing, aromatic plant of the Mint family. So you might cook with thyme. You might add this to your food whilst you're cooking, and yeah, you might have an amazing 'time' whilst you add 'thyme' to your food. So there you go. Good question, Hadrz. But yeah, both pronounced exactly the same way.

So slap the bird guys and let's get into today's joke! So today's joke is what do you call someone who always spills their spices? Hmm? What do you call someone who spills their spices?

So spices could be cumin, could be, what? Cinnamon, salt, pepper, all those sorts of things. They're spices.

What do you call someone who spills their spices? A thyme-waster!

And that's thyme spelled T H Y M E - waster. Right? So hopefully you guys get that right. Someone who's a time waster, spelt T I M E, and then 'waster', after it wastes time. Right.

So an example might be that you're selling something on Facebook marketplace and someone contacts you and they're just constantly asking questions and then sort of backing out, but they ask you more questions, then lowballing you, right? Giving you a low offer for the thing that you're trying to sell. So they're 'wasting your time'. They are a 'time waster'. The joke here, though, is obviously that if you are someone who always spills spices, like thyme, you're 'wasting the thyme', right? You are a 'thyme-waster'. You waste the thyme, as in the spice T H Y M E.

Got to love puns, guys. Got to love puns. So anyway, let's get into today's expression, which is to 'rock the boat'. To 'rock the boat'. I wonder if you've heard this expression before. Have you ever 'rocked the boat'? To 'rock the boat'?

So before we get into what it means and how to use it and where it came from, let's go through the different words in the expression. And there are only a couple.

So, 'to rock' something, if you 'rock' something, you move that thing gently to and fro. So that's forwards and backwards, to and fro, or from side to side, right? So if you are, it could be that you are literally inside of a boat. If you were to put your hands on the side of the boat and move the boat either forwards and backwards or side to side, you are 'rocking' it, right? Or if you have, say, just given birth to a child, you might be holding that baby. And to get the baby to go to sleep, you might 'rock' it in your arms. Right? So you're moving it gently around from side to side to hopefully get it to nod off, doze off and go to sleep.

'The'. 'The' is the definite article, which is well, it's a definite article, but it is 'the' specific thing, right? So if I want 'the' drink, it's a specific drink that I am thinking of, right? So imagine there's 50 drinks on the table and I want 'the red one'. So 'the red one' is the specific drink that I want.

'A boat'. Lastly, a boat. I'm sure you guys will know what a boat is. A small vessel for travelling over water, propelled by oars, sails or an engine. So you might get in a boat and sail out to sea so that you can go fishing. You get in a fishing boat.

So, the expression 'to rock the boat'. If you 'rock the boat', you say or do something to disturb an existing situation and upset people.

So this is usually used in a negative way. You'll usually say something like, "Don't rock the boat mate", or "I didn't want to rock the boat". We'll use it in the negative. "We do not want to rock the boat" or "we do not rock the boat". Or you'll tell someone, "don't rock the boat". Or Yeah, you could use it in the positive too, though. You could say "I didn't mean to rock the boat". But yeah, it is used to say or do something that disturbs an existing situation and upsets people.

And I was interested. I looked into the origin of this expression and came across grammarist.com's explanation and they wrote: "The origin of the idiom 'rock the boat' is attributed to William Jennings Bryan, a politician and talented public orator." And an orator is someone who speaks publicly. Right? They 'orate'. I guess it's like 'orat-or' like 'oral', as in with the mouth. Right? You talk. You're orator. Orator. Orator.

"Brian was a Democrat from Nebraska who unsuccessfully ran for president three times. In a speech in 1914, he coined the idiom 'The man who rocks the boat ought to be stoned when he gets back on shore.' William Jennings Bryan is probably most remembered today for his role as prosecutor in The Scopes Monkey trial, in which John T. Scopes, a teacher, was prosecuted for teaching evolution in Tennessee." So there you go. How crazy is that?

So let's go through three expressions, three expressions, three ways that we can use this expression. Okay. So, number one, imagine that you're single and you're on the dating scene. You love going out with your friends to pubs and clubs and bars in order to have fun, socialise, maybe have a few drinks and hopefully meet Mr. or Mrs. Right. So one day you're out and someone catches your eye and you approach them and have a bit of a chat, have a yarn, and it seems like you get along like a house on fire, right? You get along very well, you have a lot in common. You seem to be able to chat as if you were long time friends, even though you've only just met.

So when you ask for the person's number, they say they're happy to give you the number, but unfortunately they're already seeing someone. They're already dating someone, they already have a special someone on the scene that they are involved with. Because you're a nice person, you know, a nice lad or a nice lass, you say, "You know what? I respect that. I don't want to rock the boat. I'd still love your number, though, because you seem awesome and I'd love to be friends." Right? So you don't want to 'rock the boat'. You don't want to upset the situation this person has with their, the other person that they're dating. You don't want to upset anyone. You don't want to step on anyone's toes. You don't want to cut anyone's lunch. You don't want to rock the boat.

It's funny I'll mention, guys, if you've seen the movie The Castle, which I recommend that you go check out. There's a scene in there where Darryl Kerrigan is talking about how he met his wife. So the main character is talking about how he met his wife. And he uses that expression: 'to cut someone's lunch'. Right. Which is kind of like 'to rock the boat', to disrupt someone doing something, and sort of taking their food, I guess. But the idea is that he apparently walked up to his wife, did this, chatted with her, got to know her, and then found out she was dating someone else and was like, "You know what, I wasn't going to cut anyone's lunch.", so go check out The Castle.

Okay. Example number two. Imagine you're a uni student who's trying to find a supervisor and a project for your doctorate degree. So to do this, you have to approach a lot of different academics at different universities. You know, email them or maybe go there physically to talk to them.

And you suggest some ideas for potential projects. So you find a great supervisor who you think is going to be an awesome person and you've got a great idea for the project. You meet with them one day and they tell you, "You know what, I'd love to take you on, but I can only take on a single person at the moment, a single student, and I already promise the position to someone else." So you might say, "You know what, no worries, I understand. I don't want to rock the boat, but be sure to keep me in the loop. If anything changes, let me know. Keep me updated if the situation changes", you know. So you don't want to upset anyone by pressing the issue further. You don't want to step on anyone's toes, cut anyone's lunch, you don't want to rock the boat.

Example number three. You get a new job at a big corporation where you're always wanted to work, right? Maybe it's in tech. You're working at Google or Twitter or maybe SpaceX or Tesla. When you first start, they show you the ropes, they show you how to do things. They help you get into the swing of things so that you can do your job well. You have a lot of ideas and things you'd like to try, but when you keep bringing up these things, these ideas to your manager and suggesting them, they tell you, "You know, you've just started here. So it's probably best to not rock the boat." Right? "Take it easy. Get used to your job, how things work. You can be more creative and ambitious in the future, but for now, don't rock the boat too much." "Take it easy, you know, take a chill pill, don't rock the boat and just get into the swing of things." Get used to things and how they are.

So that's the expression 'to rock the boat' guys. This is to say or do something to disturb an existing situation and upset people. So hopefully you understand that expression by now.

Now it's time to go through the pronunciation exercise. So this is a cheeky little exercise where you guys can work on your Australian English, your pronunciation in Aussie English specifically. If that's not your goal, you can still use this exercise to work on whatever accent you're trying to develop. Just repeat the words out loud after me, copy things like intonation instead then you know, because it's going to be effectively exactly the same across all dialects, you know, most of the time. There may be some instances where some words differ, but for the most part, the intonation is going to be something that is pretty much ubiquitous and consistent across all dialects. So repeat after me, guys. Find somewhere quiet. Get away from people so that you're not self-conscious. You can say things out loud and really focus on your speaking skills.

Okay, are you ready? Let's go. To to rock. To rock the. To rock the boat. To rock the boat. To rock the boat. To rock the boat. To rock the boat. You don't want to rock the boat. He doesn't want to rock the boat. She doesn't want to rock the boat. We don't want to rock the boat. They don't want to rock the boat. It doesn't want to rock the boat.

Good job, guys. Good job. Now let's talk a little bit about connected speech here. So when we say the phrase 'don't want to', all of those t's kind of disappear. So you won't hear just hard t's in there. "I don't want to rock the boat". You won't hear people speak like that usually, unless they are, I don't know, particularly strange or enunciating every single word for a specific reason. Usually what you're going to hear is, "I don't want to rock the boat". 'I don't wannuh'. 'I don't wannuh'. 'I don't wannuh'. So the first 't' there at the end of the word 'don't', we mute. So we go into the T, but then don't release it. We say 'don't'. 'Don't' instead of 'don't'. 'Don't'. 'Don't'. And then with 'want to', both of those 't's' kind of merge together and disappear into the 'n', if that makes sense. So instead of 'want to', where you're hearing both those t's being pronounced 'want' 'to', 'want' 'to', you'll hear 'wan-nuh'.

So the 'to' actually becomes like an -uh sound or an -əh sound, the schwa, when used with words after it. 'wan-nuh' 'wan-nuh' or 'wun-nuh', 'wun-nuh'. So you'll hear 'Don't wan-nuh'. 'Don't wan-nuh'. 'Don't wan-nuh'.

Or if it's the word 'doesn't', it's the same thing. Same rules apply. 'Doesn't wan-nuh'. 'Doesn't wan-nuh'. 'Doesn't wan-nuh'. 'Doesn't wan-nuh'.

So work on that, guys. This will really help you with connected speech. And if you want to learn a bit more about Connected Speech contracting things like modal verbs and auxiliary verbs, check out my courses, the Australian Pronunciation Course, which you can find at www.aussieenglish.com.au/apc and my Spoken English Course.

So the Spoken English one will show you how to contract auxiliary verbs. These common verbs like 'do' and 'don't' or 'am' 'are' 'isn't', all of those sorts of things. And when you learn to do this you will sound much more natural when speaking English. You will be able to speak more quickly, more naturally, everything like that. So go check these courses out, guys. They're just on www.aussieenglish.com.au okay?

And I should add, if you grab the Spoken English course, you can actually grab the Australian Pronunciation Course as an extra at a big discount. So that's probably your best option. Go check that out.

All right, guys. So to finish up, let's go through the little Listen To A Clip exercise at the end here. So today's clip comes from the famous Aussie TV show Round The Twist.

I used to love this show so much as a kid. I would watch it in the afternoons when I got home from school and it was filmed along the coast where I grew up, so that's why I really loved it. So the excerpt is: "The wacky and wild adventures of a father and his two children who live in an old lighthouse." Although it's not two children, there are actually three children, so I'm not sure why the expert got that wrong. There are three children, Pete, Linda and Bronson.

Anyway, so the rules of the game, I'm going to play the clip for you two times. And your goal is to get a piece of paper and a pen and try and write down the sentence or sentences that you hear being said. Listen to them multiple times, guys. I will play them twice. But if you need a rewind and listen again, no problem with that whatsoever, do that. And yeah, remember, if you want to check your answer, get the free worksheet for today's episode, which you'll be able to download on the website for this, go to this episode on the website, you'll be able to get that. If you already have the premium podcast membership, you will be able to find the transcription of this sentence in the transcript itself. Okay. So those are the two ways that you can find out if you get this correct. All right. So you ready to go? Here's the first playthrough.

Yeah, I don't know which is worse. Basically sits around and mopes and now he won't stop working.

How'd you go? Did you get all of it? Now it's time for the second playthrough.

Yeah, I don't know which is worse. Basically sits around and mopes and now he won't stop working.

All right, that's it from me today. Guys, I really hope you enjoy this episode. Thank you so much for joining me. And if I could ask you the tiniest little favour. If you could, please leave a review for the podcast, wherever it is that you are listening to this episode. If you are listening to this episode through iTunes, through Stitcher, through Spotify or wherever it is, please just take a minute out of your day and leave a review. You can leave a five star review if you really enjoy it. If you don't really enjoy it, you know, feel free to leave a a different review and then let me know, maybe write a comment. Tell me what it is that you would like to see on this podcast, how I could improve it.

But yeah, I love your feedback guys and it definitely helps show the podcast to more people on these platforms. The more that you guys give these, these podcasts like mine and honest review. So thank you so much, guys. I can't wait to see you in the next episode or speak to you, I guess, in the next episode. And I'll see you then. See you guys.