Transcript of AE 1148 - Expression: Take No Prisoners

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 flipping 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 back to another episode of Aussie English, the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English, the lingo we speak down under, our parlance, the way that we talk. So, guys, welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Hopefully you guys won't hear too much... (whipper snipper SFX) ...In the background.

I have a neighbour at the moment who has conveniently decided to start to use his or her whipper snipper. That is the Australian word for, I think, what an American would call a weed whacker or a slasher, something that you- How would you describe this without just saying it's a whipper snipper. It is a motorised, spinning head that has wire, plastic wire.

Some might have metal wires, but usually plastic wire that kind of comes out the head on either side. It spins really quickly, and you use it to chop down grass, weeds, small plants, everything like that. So, it's similar to a lawn mower, but instead you hold it. It's kind of on the end of a pole. Some of them might be electric, some of them might have petrol in them. I think we used to have a petrol one, now we have an electric one.

But yeah, they get into those tight spots, every nook and cranny in your garden. You can use a whipper snipper usually to do all the edges. So, this person's obviously done their mowing, they've used the lawnmower and now they have conveniently gotten their whipper snipper out- I wonder if you guys can hear that. And I can hear that... (whipper snipper SFX)

So, anyway, long story short, I hope it's not too annoying for you guys listening to this episode. So, guys, don't forget before we get into it, if you want to get access to all the transcripts for every single one of these episodes except the Pete's 2 cents episodes. I've had a few people ask, Pete, where are the transcripts for the Pete's 2 cents episodes?

Because sometimes these episodes go as long as 2 hours, and usually I want to get them up, the episodes up as quickly as possible, because quite often they're talking about very relevant topics or I just feel like publishing them immediately, they aren't transcribed. So, treat them as a listening comprehension episode only, member, not a member, either way, there are no transcripts for those episodes, and there's only a handful.

I think I've done like three or four Pete's 2 cents episodes so far. So, you know, don't worry too much if there's no transcript, use it as a listening exercise. You've got over a thousand other episodes with transcripts. But yeah, as I was saying, if you want to get the transcripts for all these episodes, sign up to the premium podcast membership.

You can get this at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast, you'll get bonus episodes, you'll get the video episodes for some of the lessons that came with videos, and you'll get the premium podcast player so that you can listen and read at the same time. It's really convenient if you're trying to study these episodes, pull out new words, new phrases, new collocations, expressions, slang words, everything like that.

Print them out, take notes, highlight things. Again, go to AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast, and don't forget, this is how I earn a crust. So, if you want to support the podcast, too, signing up to this membership or any of the other courses or anything like that is doing exactly that. So, guys, let's get into today's question and it isn't from a specific person because I seem to be asked this question all the time.

Okay, so you guys have been asking me this question usually on Monday, so like today I got up this morning, went out, got my coffee, was sitting in my car enjoying my coffee, pulled out the phone, got on Instagram and created a story saying, ask me anything.

And this is where you guys can submit your questions about anything you would like to ask me about, life in Australia, English, Grammar, Pronunciation, how to collect Pokemon cards. It can be whatever you want. You can ask me these questions and every now and then I turn them into a question that I answer on the expression episode, and this one I always get.

Okay, so here's the question. "How do you pronounce the difference between "weather" spelt W-E-A-T-H-E-R, "weather" and "whether" spelt W-H-E-T-H-E-R? So, "weather and whether". I wonder whether or not you guys can hear a difference in pronunciation between the words, "weather and whether". If you think there is no difference in pronunciation, you are 100% correct. These are both pronounced exactly the same way.

So, we have "weather", W-E-A-T-H-E-R, the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain. If I look out the window at the moment, it's a beautiful day. It is a beautiful day. There are some clouds in the sky, but other than that, it's blue, it's sunny, it's about 20 degrees. The weather is just gorgeous. That's "weather".

But we can also use "weather" as a verb, meaning to wear away or change the appearance or texture of something by long exposure to the atmosphere. So, a good example would be, I was watching a doco the other day on Egypt and- In fact, it wasn't a doco, it was the TV show "Moon Knight". I've been watching that. Anyway, and it's associated with Egypt mythology and the gods. And he goes to Egypt, and you see the Sphinx.

Now, at the base of the Sphinx it is very "weathered". "The rock there at the base of the Sphinx, probably all over the Sphinx, to be honest, has 'weathered'." It is worn away. It has its appearance or texture changed by long exposure to the atmosphere. So, we can use it there to mean "weather". And lastly, we can use "weather" as another verb, meaning of a ship to come safely through a storm.

So, often you'll hear the expression "to weather a storm. To weather a storm." So, "the sturdy boat 'weathered' the storm well." That's a good expression or collocation you'll hear quite often. Like, yeah, sort of like difficult times. You could use it figuratively too. "I hope he 'weathered' everything really well." I hope he's sort of endured. I hope he made it through safely.

Now, the word "whether" spelt W-H-E-T-H-E-R is used to express a doubt or choice between alternatives. So, "he seemed undecided 'whether' to go or to stay." Right? So, there were two options there, to go or to stay. And we use the word "whether" in front to show doubt or a choice between these two alternatives. "I don't know 'whether' to finish this episode now or continue and go to the end."

And you can use it twice. So, you could say, "he seemed undecided 'whether' to go outside or 'whether' to stay inside." Or you could just say, "'whether' to go outside or stay inside." So, hopefully that helps you guys understand how to use these two different words. And ultimately their pronunciation is exactly the same, "weather and whether".

Alright, slap the bird, guys. Let's get into today's joke. So, I'll keep this one quick as we kind of lingered on the previous point, the previous question quite a bit. The joke is, "why did the picture go to jail? Why did the picture go to jail? Because it was framed." Did you get it? The picture was framed. All right, so this is a pun. It's a word joke on the word "framed".

A "frame" is a rigid structure that surrounds something like a picture, a door, a windowpane, a painting. Right. So, you might go to a museum. Many of the paintings there, if not all of them, will have "frames". But we can use this as a verb as well. So, you can "frame" a picture, that is to place a frame around a picture.

But we can use this figuratively to mean produce false evidence against an innocent person, so they appear guilty. So, the criminal or the guy who was convicted of the crime claimed he had been "framed". So, that's the joke there, right. The picture. "Why did the picture go to jail? He went to jail because he was 'framed'." Right, a framed picture.

And because someone or something produced false evidence against this innocent picture, and it subsequently led to the picture going to jail. "Why did the picture go to jail? Because it was framed." Alright, let's get into today's expression. So, today's expression is "to take no prisoners. To take no prisoners". As always, let's first go through these different words.

To "take" something. This is to seize, to capture, to apprehend something. So, "the army has 'taken' the capital. Russia is trying to 'take' Ukraine at the moment. "No". "No" means none, zero, not one. "There are 'no' customers in the store. At the moment, if I look outside, there is 'no' rain to be seen anywhere."

And lastly, a "prisoner". A "prisoner" is a person captured and kept confined by an enemy or criminal. "The army has a lot of 'prisoners'. 'Prisoners' are kept in prison." A "prisoner". So, the definition "to take no prisoners". I wonder if you know the definition of this expression.

It is to be ruthlessly aggressive or uncompromising in the pursuit of one's objectives. So, if you "take no prisoners", you go after something, you pursue some objectives ruthlessly, aggressively, uncompromisingly. So, I went over to dicoz.co, D-I-C-O-Z.C-O, to find out where this expression originally came from, and here's what it said.

It is suggested that this expression was first used in the 19th century in a much more literal sense as a military command, meaning that the objective was to kill everyone. At this time, when a battle was over, the winning side would either kill all their enemies or would take them home as slaves. And this is where the command "take no prisoners" derives from.

It has not been established when the expression began to be used in a metaphorical sense, but it is suggested that this was towards the beginning of the 20th century, so the 1900s. So, let's go through three examples of how I would use the expression "to take no prisoners".

Example number one: Imagine you're a kid who's in year 12 and you've been studying incredibly hard all year in order to do well, get a great score in year 12 and hopefully get into a university that you want to study at afterwards. So, you've been preparing for exams for the last few months and today's the day when the exams begin.

When you leave home to go and start your first exam, your parents or your friends might say to you, "take no prisoners". So, they're hoping that you do incredibly well, that you nail the exam, you do your best, "you take no prisoners". You are ruthless in pursuing a very good score on this exam.

Example number two: I train Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Right, BJJ, Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the moment, as you guys know, I've been off the mats for a few years, but now I've gone back recently, one of my friends was a blue belt with me four or five years ago when I was training, but she's now a skilled brown belt. We rolled the other day -- when you roll in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, this means to fight -- and she "took no prisoners". She was ruthless.

She dominated me. She was very aggressive. She owned me and she ended up submitting me. "She took no prisoners." So, it's kind of like she didn't hold back at all. She wanted to win. She worked really hard. "She took no prisoners."

Example number three: Imagine you are in an army and your army is at war with another country. Both sides are fighting incredibly hard. They're fighting incredibly ruthlessly, trying to win the war. They're fighting until the bitter end. One army keeps capturing prisoners and holding them as POW's. I think that's "prisoners of war", right, P.O.W. Whereas the other side literally is "taking no prisoners".

So, this could mean that they are executing every single enemy soldier that isn't killed during the battle. But it could mean, figuratively, that they're fighting incredibly ruthlessly, uncompromisingly in order to win as well. So, hopefully now, guys, you understand the expression "to take no prisoners". This is to be incredibly ruthless, aggressive, uncompromising, to hold nothing back when you're pursuing your objectives.

So, as usual, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise. So, this is your chance to work on your pronunciation. Listen and repeat these words and sentences out loud after me and focus on things like the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants, how the words link together, where the emphasis and stress is on different words, everything like that. So, you're ready to go? Let's do it.

"To. To take. To take no. To take no prisoners. To take no prisoners. To take no prisoners. To take no prisoners. To take no prisoners." Quick note there, guys. How do you hear me pronouncing the word "prisoners"? Are there three syllables or two? I would say, I can say each syllable clearly, "priz-uh-nuh". But when I speak normally, I actually reduce this to just "priz-nuh. Prisoner. A priz-nuh. A prisoner. Priz-nuh. Prisoner."

So, the "O" there just sort of disappears and that syllable disappears. "Prisoner". Let's keep going. "I'm going to take no prisoners. You're going to take no prisoners. He's going to take no prisoners. She's going to take no prisoners. We're going to take no prisoners. They're going to take no prisoners. It's going to take no prisoners." Good work, guys. Good work. Now, we have "going to" becoming contracted as just "gonna".

"I'm gonna. You're gonna. He's gonna. She's gonna. We're gonna. They're gonna. It's gonna." And then we have the emphasis on the different words. So, "I'm gonna take no prisoners". Where do you feel the emphasis is there? Maybe I'll say that a little more slowly. "I'm gonna take no prisoners". The rhythm is kind of... (Mimics rhythm) ...So, "I'm" the pronoun and the auxiliary verb contracted together gets a bit of an emphasis there.

"I'm 'gonna'" is an unemphasised. "Take" is emphasised. "No" is emphasised. And "prisoners", which syllable in the word "prisoners" is emphasised? It's the first one. "PRIZ-nuhz. PRIZ-nuhz. I'm gonna take no prisoners. You're gonna take no prisoners." So, there you go. All right, guys. As always, I'm going to show you a little clip here at the end. So, today's clip comes from Australia's most famous and iconic film, "The Castle".

And the excerpt for the Castle film is a Melbourne family loves its home, which is located near the Melbourne airport. When Government and airport authorities forced them to vacate the house, they decide to fight for their beloved home.

So, this is an absolutely amazing film, guys. I definitely recommend that you get your hands on this film and watch it if you want to learn more about Australian culture. There are so many expressions that came out of this film that we now use, things like, "that's going straight to the pool room or tell him he's dreaming or it's the vibe". There are so many of these expressions that come out of this film.

Anyway, today the rules of the game are I'm going to play a clip for you two times. Your goal is to listen and write down what you hear being said.

It's a great way to work on your listening comprehension skills and remember, you'll be able to check your answer if you download the free worksheet for today's episode, or if you're a member of the premium podcast or in the academy and you can get the transcript for this episode, the transcription will obviously be in that transcript as well, of what's being said.

All right, so you ready to go? Here's the first playthrough. "This is what I'm getting at. That's my point. It's the vibe of it." How'd you go? How'd you go? Did you get it all? Maybe you heard one of those expressions that I was talking about. It's the vibe. Time for the second playthrough. "This is what I'm getting at. That's my point. It's the vibe of it."

All right, that's it for me today, guys. Thank you so much for joining me. Don't forget, if you want to get the transcripts for all these episodes, go to AussieEnglish.com.au/Podcast. You can also check out all of my courses, just go to AussieEnglish.com.au/courses. The academy will be open in a few more months too.

So, if you're interested in learning inside the academy with me, with a bunch of other teachers and hundreds of students who work hard every single day to level up their Australian English, you can go get on the waiting list at AussieEnglish.com.au/Academy. And lastly guys, if you can, please give this podcast a review, jump on any of the podcast apps that you're using to listen to this podcast through and just leave a review.

Hopefully a five-star review, if you're getting a lot out of these podcasts. And shoot me a message, you know, tell me what you think of the podcast, what you enjoy, and if you have any valid criticisms, don't be afraid to leave that in the review too, or just send me that privately and hopefully I can use it to make the podcast even better. With that, guys, thank you so much and I'll see you next week. Tooroo!