Transcript of AE 1128 - Expression: Knock Yourself Out

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. What's going on? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. If it is your first time, brace yourselves, grab a cuppa, sit back, relax. You are about to learn a whole bunch of awesome Australian English. If you are a return listener. Welcome back. It's good to see a familiar face. Let's just get into it, guys. Let's just get into it. So, today we're going to be going through the expression, "knock yourself out".

The normal structure is for me to go through a Q&A where I answer a certain question, tell you a joke, break down the words in the expression, the expression itself, talk about its origin, some examples. We'll go through a pronunciation exercise and then a little exercise at the end, an outro clip where we'll go through a clip from a famous Australian movie or TV show.

Before we get into it, guys, don't forget if you want access to the transcripts for every single one of these episodes where you can read and listen at the same time, you can download the transcripts and print them out, or you can use the premium podcast player to read and listen at the same time on your phone, on a tablet or on a computer.

Be sure to sign up for the premium podcast. You can get this at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast. Let's get into the question. All right, so today's question comes from Michael, who asks, "what's the difference in pronunciation between the words 'late' and 'light'? "Late and light". So, the difference between these words, the only difference here, despite the word "light" being spelt L-I-G-H-T and the word "late" being spelt L-A-T-E.

"gh" remember, a lot of the time it is either an /f/ sound or it's silent, as in the case with the word "light". The only difference is that these are two different vowel sounds. So, in the word "late", like, "to be 'late' to something" you have the diphthong /eɪ/, so the first vowel sound is /æ/ like in the word "cat" and the second vowel sound there is /ɪ/ like in the word "it".

So, /æ/, /ɪ/, /æ/, /ɪ/, /eɪ/, /eɪ/, /eɪ/. And then in the word "light" it's /aɪ/, "light". The first vowel sound there is not used in any other vowel sounds in Australian English, it's just part of this diphthong. And the second vowel sound is the /e/ sound from the word like "head or bed". /aɪ/. So, "late and light".

Remember, if you want to learn to master these different vowel sounds in English, be sure to get my Australian pronunciation course. You can get this at AussieEnglish.com.au/APC. In section two, you will be taken through all the different vowel sounds and all the different consonant sounds in Australian English, and there are loads of exercises with these minimal pairs.

So, words that are the same, except for one sound that differs between the two words, and "late and light" is the perfect example, so go check it out. So, let's get into the joke, guys. So, I wanted to find a joke that would be linked with the word "late". And here's the best that I could do. "What happens when you're late for dinner with cannibals? What happens when you're late for dinner with cannibals?"

"Cannibals" are people who eat other people. Right, Hannibal Lecter was a cannibal. "What happens when you're late for dinner with cannibals? You're given the cold shoulder." You're given the cold shoulder. Okay, so the pun here is on the expression, "given the cold shoulder".

So, if you give someone "the cold shoulder", the expression means to intentionally ignore someone or to treat someone in an unfriendly way. So, if someone at school has been really nasty to you and you don't want to talk to them, you want to ignore them, you don't want them to have anything to do with you. If you ignore them and treat them badly, you're giving them "the cold shoulder".

But obviously here, if we were to think about that literally, "the cold shoulder" would be a person's shoulder that was, say, cooked as food and then cooled down. And if you are given "the cold shoulder", literally, it's that you are handed the shoulder that is cold because you were late to dinner, and it cooled down. So, that's the joke.

"What happens when you're late for dinner with cannibals? You're given the cold shoulder." So, they give you a shoulder that is cold, but perhaps they're also really irritated with you and want to ignore you and treat you badly. So, they also give you "the cold shoulder" figuratively and ignore you. Bad jokes. All right, so let's get into the expression "to knock yourself out". So, we'll break down the words first.

"Knock". "Knock" is a verb, and it means to collide with something or someone, right, giving them a hard blow, "knocking" them. So, you might "knock" into something, or you might "knock" on the door, right? So, your hand is colliding with the door, it's "knocking" on the door.

"Yourself". This is a pronoun and it's used to refer to the person being addressed as the object of a verb or preposition when they are also the subject of a clause. Very complicated way of saying that it is a pronoun referring to the second person, right. You guys will know how to use "yourself". Right.

I take care of myself. You take care of "yourself". He gives it to himself. You give it to "yourself". "Out". This is a preposition. It has many different meanings in English or uses in English, but it's pairing up with the verb "knock" here to create a phrasal verb, "knock someone out". And when we do this, with "knock someone out", it means to punch someone and cause them to go unconscious.

So, "the boxer was knocked 'out' by his opponent. His opponent knocked him 'out'." "Out" here is pairing with the word "knock", and I think my intuition is telling me that "out" here is associated with the fact that someone is going unconscious. It's like "lights out" or that something is being extinguished, like "a fire goes 'out', lights go 'out'". If you get "knocked 'out'", your consciousness has gone "out", it's been "knocked 'out'".

You've been "knocked 'out'". Don't forget, guys, if you are trying to master your use of phrasal verbs, in English, go to AussieEnglish.com.au/phrasalverbs, and you can get my effortless phrasal verb course. You will learn the principles, the concepts behind 16 or so different prepositions, and how they change the meaning of verbs when they pair together.

So, once you learn to master this and you understand the different ways that when the word say "in" is connected with verbs, "give in, hand in, let in". When you understand how "in" behaves, how the concepts work, you can effectively pair all these prepositions; "out, in, up, down" with any verb to create phrasal verbs, spontaneously. So, you don't have to memorise lists of thousands of phrasal verbs, to master them.

You just need to understand the concepts, how they work, and then you can apply this and create thousands of phrasal verbs, spontaneously. So, go to AussieEnglish.com.au/phrasalverbs. So, if you "knock yourself out" or if someone tells you "knock yourself out", literally that would be to hit yourself in the head and cause yourself to go unconscious, which I doubt many people ever do. Or I doubt also that anyone ever asks someone else to do this.

But informally, we'll use this phrase "knock yourself out" to tell someone to go ahead and do something, or to go and have some fun, enjoy themselves. Right, you'll say "knock yourself out". So, if someone asks to do something and you think it's not a problem, you know, you're thinking, yeah, sure, go for it. You can say, "knock yourself out". So, it's a synonym for go for it, be my guest, have at it, get into it. Right.

Inviting people to do something. "Knock yourself out". So, this is how I would use the phrase, "knock yourself out", but there's actually an older version of this expression.

So, I went over to FreeDictionary.com to look at the origin, and here's what it had to say, "to make a great effort, to apply oneself to the point of exhaustion. This hyperbolic expression, alluding to knocking oneself unconscious with extreme effort, and it dates from about 1930."

So, that would be the idea of saying "I 'knocked myself out' working so hard." Right. But actually, today in the mid-1900s a newer slang usage surfaced, "knock yourself out", meaning enjoy yourself, have fun or an invitation to do something. So, I don't think I've ever used the first one there of "I 'knocked myself out' working so hard doing this thing", right, applying a lot of effort to the point of exhaustion.

But the second one I hear all the time, "knock yourself out" as an invitation to enjoy yourself, have some fun or do something. So, as usual, guys, let's go through three examples of how I would use the expression "knock yourself out" on a daily basis. So, example number one, imagine that someone comes over to your house to hang out, right, a friend or a family member.

At the moment, my brother-in-law has been coming over to my house to watch the series called "Boba Fett". I don't know if you guys are Star Wars fans, but we've been watching that as each episode come out every week. Each time we catch up, one of us buys some beers and the other brings some nibblies, right, some treats, some things that you can nibble on, some nibblies. Good Australian slang term there. Something to eat, something to nibble on.

Chips, chocolates, they're nibblies. And so, if my brother-in-law, Rory, comes over and puts the beer on the table as he enters the house, I might ask, mind if I grab a beer? Right. Do you mind if I have one? Can I have one? And he may say, "yeah, 'knock yourself out'." You know, go for it. Of course, you can have a beer. That's why I brought them. "Knock yourself out".

Example number two. Another great example is any time you're seated somewhere and there's a spare seat next to you and someone comes over and asks, "is that seat taken? If not, can I sit here?" You can always say, "nah, it's not taken. 'Knock yourself out'." Go for it. It's free, it's available. You can sit here. "Knock yourself out".

This always happens when I go to, say, movies, or perhaps to the opera or the ballet, which rarely ever happens, or maybe to a concert. Right. If there's a seat next to you and someone says, "can I sit there?" I'll say, "yeah, 'knock yourself out', mate. Go for it."

Example number three, imagine you're at the gym working out, right, you're trying to get toned, you're trying to get buff, you're trying to get big. Perhaps it's leg-day, you know, you want to use the squat rack to do some squats or some deadlifts. And in between sets where you've been doing, say, ten reps of heavy squats or deadlifts, someone comes over and asks if they can jump in and do a set of deadlifts while you're resting.

So, if it's not an issue, it's not a problem you could reply, "yeah, of course, mate. 'Knock yourself out'." Go for it. No worries. As long as you don't hog the machine, and you let me come back in so that I can use it. You know, don't be a hogger. Don't hog the machine. Then, for sure. "Knock yourself out". Get in there, mate. Go for it.

So, hopefully now, guys, you understand the expression, "knock yourself out". It's used to tell someone to go ahead and do something, right. Have fun, enjoy yourself. It's an invitation for that person to do whatever it is that they're asking. "Nah, 'knock yourself out'. Go for it." As usual, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise. This is where I'm going to read out the phrase "to knock yourself out".

And then I'll also say the phrase "I said, Knock yourself out. You said, Knock yourself out." I'll conjugate through the different pronouns so that you can get used to saying these things out loud and get good at conjugating. Although in English quite often the conjugations are pretty easy, especially in the tenses that aren't the present tense, right. Pretty much every other tense it's just standard. It's all the same.

Anyway, let's get into it. "To. To knock. To knock yourself. To knock yourself out. To knock yourself out. To knock yourself out. To knock yourself out. To knock yourself out. I said, knock yourself out. You said, knock yourself out. He said, knock yourself out. She said, knock yourself out. We said, knock yourself out. They said, knock yourself out. It said, knock yourself out."

Great job, guys. Great job. Now, so there's some interesting stuff going on. Let's talk about emphasis. So, if I just say the phrase, "knock yourself out, knock yourself out". Which words or syllables do you hear being stressed? Do you hear being emphasised? "To knock yourself out." So, you're going to hear "knock". It's a verb. It's an important word in the phrase.

You're going to hear "out" the preposition, also an important word in the phrase. "To knock yourself out." And then with the word "yourself", which syllable of this two-syllable word do you hear being emphasised? Is it "YOURself" or is it "yourSELF"? It's the second, right? So, the second syllable "self" in "myself, himself, yourself", all of that sort of stuff.

The second syllable is typically the one that is stressed. "To knock yourself out." So, you'll almost not even hear "your" you'll just hear this "kya" because of the "k" before "your" in the word "knock". "Knock yourself out. Knockya-self out. To knock yourself out." And obviously "to" at the front there, it turns into a schwa and becomes a /tə/ sound.

So, remember guys, if you want to master the pronunciation of the Australian accent, all the different vowels, all the different consonants, you want to learn linked speech, things like the syllabic n and l, consonant clusters linking, everything like that.

Check out the Australian pronunciation course. You can get this at AussieEnglish.com.au/apc. So, for the last section here, guys, we're going to go through a little clip from a famous Aussie film or TV show and practise your listening comprehension. So, today's clip comes from a relatively recent Aussie psychological horror film called "Relic". So, this was released in 2020, and the film is about the following.

Kay and her daughter, Sam, go to her old house to help her elderly and demented mother. So, I guess it's sort of- "Demented" to me, sounds like it's- It sounds a bit impolite. I would probably say mentally unwell, mentally incapacitated mother. But "demented", it's probably the literal sense here. Anyway, let's continue. But they notice something dark in the house as the old woman becomes increasingly erratic and disoriented.

So, the rules of the game, guys, I'm going to play the clip for you two times and your goal is to listen and then write down what you hear being said. It's a great way to work on your listening comprehension, obviously. Grab a pen and paper, sit down. You can listen multiple times. I'll do it twice, but you can obviously pause, stop, rewind if you need.

And if you want to check your answer, either grab today's free worksheet, which you'll be able to get on this episode page on the website. Or if you've got a premium podcast membership or academy membership, you'll be able to access the transcript for the episode and obviously read the words as they're transcribed in that transcript. So, anyway, are you ready to go? Here's the first playthrough.

"My great grandfather lived there. By himself? Yeah, there were all these stories. Apparently, his mind wasn't all there in the end, and nobody knew how bad it was."

Okay, so that was a bit of a long one. There are a few phrases there, so I wonder if you got all of it. Time for the second playthrough.

"My great grandfather lived there. By himself? Yeah, there were all these stories. Apparently, his mind wasn't all there in the end, and nobody knew how bad it was."

All right. Great job, guys. That's it from me today. Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you got a lot out of this episode. Go check out the other expression episodes, obviously, too, if you want to keep learning these different English expressions.

A lot of them can be used everywhere in the world, so don't worry if you're thinking, oh man, these are only Australian ones. The majority, probably 95% or more of the expressions I teach you are used everywhere. Okay. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your week and I'll see you soon. Catch ya!