Transcript of AE 1122 - Expression: Get Out of Someone's Hair

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.

All righty, guys. Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. It is a pleasure to have you guys here with me today, in another expression episode. I have just gotten back from taking my son Noah to his very first haircut appointment, so that was a bit of an adventure. He was bribed with, I think, two lollipops in the end and got to watch The Wiggles.

I wonder if you guys know The Wiggles. If you've been in Australia and you've got small children, you'll undoubtedly know who The Wiggles are. But they are a small- A small? They are a group, they're probably actually really, really big.

They're probably the biggest band to have ever come out of Australia, to be honest. But they are about five or six members, and they all do kids songs and lots of dancing and that sort of stuff, the Wiggles. You'll know them if you're in Australia. Check them out.

Anyway, yeah, so he got bribed and had his luscious locks, his long, luscious locks cut off, snipped. So, now he has a very smart, short haircut and I guess blends in with the rest of the kids. It was just getting a bit unruly, right?

His hair was getting a bit difficult to control, it was getting matted, he'd sleep and move around and end up getting knots in his hair. And so, we had to go and just do something about it to make our lives easier and also probably to make his life easier, too.

Anyway, guys, welcome to this episode. Don't forget if you want to get access to the transcript for this episode, where you'll be able to read and listen to the episode at the same time, you know, you can highlight expressions and vocab that you learn. You can print them out, you can take notes. Sign up to the Premium podcast membership, so just go to AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast.

When you become a member of this, you'll also get access to the Premium Podcast player, which is on the website so that when you sign in all these episodes with transcripts, you can listen and read at the same time, but the text moves for you. So, you don't have to worry about, you know, scrolling with your hands or printing it out or anything like that, if that's what you find easiest.

You'll also get bonus episodes and a hell of a lot more. So, again, go to AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast. So, as always, let's get into a little Q&A. So, today's question comes from Shahab, who asks, "what's the difference between the pronunciation of 'she is gone, and she has gone'?"

And I think Shahab was referring to when this is contracted because you can contract both of these, "she is gone and she has gone" to just "she's gone", and it sounds the same for both of them. But context in the sentence or in the conversation that you're having with someone is what's going to tell you whether it is "she is gone, or she has gone", that's been contracted to "she's gone".

So, some examples, "has your mum left? Yes, I think 'she's gone'." Because the person has said, "has your mum left?" They've used "has"; it would be a wise assumption that the person responding is also using "has". Right. "She has just gone". It could be that "she is just gone", although that's a bit weird and if you were to say, "she's just gone" and you meant "she is just gone", it'd be like she just died as opposed to she just left.

You know, "is she dead? Yeah, she's gone." Right? "She's gone. She is gone." However, there are situations where it could be either "she has gone, or she is gone" when responding to questions. So, for example, "has she left? Yes, she's gone." Could be either. "She has gone, she is gone".

If you said, "she is just gone, she's just gone", it'd be weird, as I just said before, for it to be "is" instead of "has". People often respond to questions using the same auxiliary verb that's in the question being asked, but sometimes the rule is broken as well. For example, "has she just left? Yeah, she's gone." This could be "she has gone", but it could also be "she is gone".

So, you- Just pay attention to this sort of stuff. It's not the biggest thing in the world if you get these mixed up or get them wrong because you'll get the basic idea. It's not going to confuse communication, but yeah, it's part of the fun of Australian English and, well, English in general, where contractions like this often make it difficult for you to know exactly which auxiliary verbs have been contracted.

But the context, the broader context, the grammar of the broader context should hopefully help you work out which one it is. All right, so let's smack the bird and get into today's joke. So, today's joke is "what happened when the famous wig robber was seen in the area? What happened when the famous wig robber was seen in the area? The police started combing the area."

Okay, so let's go through the different words here, and the pun is on the word- I guess it's on "wig robber and then combing the area", these two things are associated to hair. So, a "wig" is a covering for the head made of real or artificial hair, and it's typically worn by judges and barristers in law courts or by people trying to conceal the fact that they're balding, that they've lost their hair, right.

If I suddenly appeared in an Aussie English video tomorrow with hair, you guys would probably be safe betting your life savings on it being a wig and not being real hair because I am bald. For any of you guys who haven't seen my videos or seen images of me, I have no hair on my head, I shave it off. And a "comb". Okay, so a "comb" can be a noun. "You 'comb' your hair with a 'comb'." Right?

So, I've just shown too it can be a verb. "You comb your hair with a 'comb'." But it can also be, as I said, a verb. "To 'comb' your hair is to untangle or arrange your hair by drawing a comb through it." But we use this figuratively to mean if you "comb" an area or "comb" through something, it is that you search carefully and systematically through that thing.

So, police are often said to be "combing" an area when they are searching for, say, a criminal, a murder weapon, evidence. "They're 'combing' the area." They are searching carefully and systematically. So, the joke was "what happened when the famous wig robber was seen in the area?" So, he's a thief of wigs, a famous wig robber. "The police started 'combing' the area." They started searching the area carefully and systematically.

Okay. I think you get the joke. So, let's go through the expression "get out of someone's hair". But first, let's break down the words in this expression. Okay, "get". "Get" has loads of different meanings, as I'm sure you guys will know, especially when it turns into phrasal verbs. But the most common meaning is to come to have something, to receive something. So, "you 'get' a present. You 'get' some chocolate from the shops."

However, here it's in the phrasal verb "get out", right, "get out of someone's hair. Get out". And in this case, it means to move or come into a specific position, situation or state. And it would be from being in something to coming to obviously out of that thing, outside of that thing.

So, if you "get out" of something, we use this phrasal verb now, it is to go from being within something to outside of it. "You 'get out' of a car." Right, you physically exit a car. "You 'get out' of trouble." You avoid or escape being in trouble. "'Get out' of here" means leave this place, move out of this place.

"Someone", this is an unspecified person. Could be anyone, it is "someone". And "hair", lastly "hair", I think you're going to know what "hair" is. It's any of the fine thread like strands growing from the skin of humans, mammals and other animals. Okay. I have very little "hair" on my head, although I do have "hair" on my body in terms of eyebrows, beard, I got a little bit of leg hair and arm hair. That's what "hair" is.

Don't forget, guys, if you were trying to work on your phrasal verbs, and really master the use of phrasal verbs in English, check out my phrasal verb course, the effortless phrasal verb course. You can find this at AussieEnglish.com.au/phrasalverbs, and you'll be able to learn the concepts behind the different prepositions that are used with verbs. Right, "out, in, up, down, on".

Understanding the concepts of how these prepositions work when they're paired with verbs is what's really going to help you master the use of phrasal verbs. Because once you've learnt these rules, these basic concepts, you can now create spontaneously thousands of phrasal verbs, you don't have to memorise huge lists. So, go check out the effortless phrasal verb course.

All right, so let's define the expression to "get out of someone's hair". This means to stop being a nuisance to someone, so it's often used informally to mean that you'll leave a place, you'll let someone get back to what they're doing or to go on with their day. Sort of suggesting that you're disturbing them or you're disrupting them, right.

"I'll get out of your hair. I'll get out of your hair". And interestingly, it seems you can also say to "get in someone's hair, to be in someone's hair", to mean, obviously that you've become a nuisance for that person or you're being a nuisance or causing trouble to them. Right.

I feel that this is less common, though. I wouldn't use to "get in someone's hair" as often as I feel I would use to "get out of someone's hair". And the origin, this dates back to the mid-19th century and alludes to the trouble caused when someone has something stuck in their hair.

So, I remember being at primary school and every single year, you know, you would hear about a girl there that somehow got chewing gum stuck in her hair, and they had all these different ways of trying to get it out, right. You know, they'd be using ice and trying to freeze the chewing gum and then pull it out, or they would ultimately just chop the hair and pull the chewy out. You know, that way.

But yeah, I can imagine if you had long hair, it can be annoying if you get things stuck in it. All right, so let's go through three examples of how I would use this expression in day-to-day life. Example number one, so my folks, my parents live in a town called Ocean Grove, which is about 10 or 15 minutes down the road, right, nearby. We were actually there this morning, showing them Noah's new haircut.

Sometimes I like to drop in with my family. So, my wife comes with me, my kids, Noah and Joana come with me and we say "G'day" to my parents. And in fact, today is the perfect example of that. So, it was unexpected, we just showed up and we were hoping that someone would be home and that we could hang out with them. My mum was home and we dropped in, but usually- Today she wasn't really busy. But usually she's doing things, right.

She's cooking, she's cleaning up, she's planning to go out and see friends or to go for a walk or something. So, she's got plans. If that's the case, when we show up and she has all these plans and we can tell she's pretty busy, we might say, "oh, look, we just wanted to say hello, but then 'we'll get out of your hair'." You know, we see you're busy. We don't want to interrupt you.

We don't want to be any trouble or a nuisance. We'll let you get back to what you're doing. "We'll get out of your hair." Example number two, imagine you're at work and you need help with a certain task. So, you go over to your, you know, colleague's desk and tell them that you've got this issue and you need help from them to sort of resolve it.

So, they load the problem up on their computer, you know, maybe it's coding or something related to IT. They open this thing up on the computer and fix it. Once they're done you could tell them, "All right, thanks for that. Now let me 'get out of your hair'."

You know, you've helped me. It's time for me to go. It's time for me to let you get back to what you were doing. "Let me get out of your hair." So, it's usually associated with you going to someone else or going to another location where someone is, getting help from them or talking to them, interacting with them there and then leaving and saying, "let me get out of your hair".

If, on the other hand, your colleague had come over to your desk for help, you know, or for the help, right. You needed the help, and the colleague came to you. It would be weird at the end of that exchange for you to say, "let me get out of your hair" because the colleagues come to you. So, you might say, you know, thanks for the help. I won't keep you any longer so you can go.

But you wouldn't say, "let me get out of your hair" if the person's come to your place, to your house, to where you are. Example number three, you need to mow your lawn, but your lawn mower has gone cactus, right? It's broken, it's not working anymore. So, instead of waiting to buy a new one or having it repaired, you think, you know what?

I'll just pop over to the neighbour's house, I'll just drop in and ask Bill if I can borrow his mower instead. So, you go on over, you see Bill's in his garage under his car, you know, tinkering around, playing with the car, maybe repairing it. And you say, g'day mate, how's it going? I've got this issue with my lawn mower. Do you mind if I grab your lawn mower and I'll bring it back when I'm done?

He says, yeah, no worries, mate. Go for your life. You know, just borrow it, bring it back when you're done. As soon as you've said that you may notice he's really, really busy, and despite perhaps you want to have a chat to him, see how he's going. Because you can see he's in the middle of something you can say "no worries. I'll 'get out of your hair'. I'll bring the mower back when I'm done."

I'll leave you to it. I won't be a nuisance. I won't cause any trouble. I'll let you just do what you're doing. "I'll get out of your hair." So, hopefully now, guys, you understand the expression to "get out of someone's hair".

If you "get out of someone's hair", it is that you are trying to stop being a nuisance to someone, you know, you don't want to be a burden. You don't want to be in the way. You don't want to cause them any trouble. You don't want to disturb them. You don't want to be a disruption. You want to "get out of someone's hair". So, as usual, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise.

This is going to be where I read out the phrase "to get out of someone's hair". We'll go through this word by word and build it into a pyramid, work on the connected speech, and then we'll go through a sentence. I'll get out of your hair, you'll get out of your hair, etc. We'll conjugate through that. Alright, you ready? Let's go.

"To. To get. To get out. To get out of. To get out of someone's. To get out of someone's hair. To get out of someone's hair. To get out of someone's hair. To get out of someone's hair. To get out of someone's hair. I'll get out of your hair. You'll get out of your hair. He'll get out of your hair. She'll get out of your hair. We'll get out of your hair. They'll get out of your hair. It'll get out of your hair."

Good job, guys. Good job. Let's talk a little bit about the connected speech, now if you go back and listen to when I first start the word pyramid, right, saying "to, to get, to get out, to get out of." Something you'll notice is the pronunciation of the T's at the ends of the words "get and out".

So, we talked about aspiration in the last episode and how if there's a T at the start of a word, you'll aspirate it. So, "to, to". You'll feel a more forceful air coming out when you say the /t/, right. You should be able to feel it if you hold your hand up to your face.

However, when T is at the end of a word, like if I were to say, "to get" and the T is at the end of the word, "to get"- The word "get", it's unaspirated, so it's not as strongly aspirated, the air is not coming out as strong at the end. And you'll notice that it happens when I just say "get" but the moment I say, "get out", I no longer do it at the end of "get", but I still do it at the end of "out" because there's no word after it.

So, what's happening to the T at the end of "get" when I say, "get out, get out", it's turning into a T-flap. And then this happens again for the word "out" as soon as I put the word "of" after "out". "Get out of". Right. So, oh, that's interesting. Two T-flaps in a row, "get out of, get out of". Now, what happens to the /f/ sound or the /v/ sound in "of", right? It's F that is the latter, but V it's voiced. "Of, of".

As soon as I have a word after "of" and I reduce "of", firstly, it gets the schwa sound, the vowel sound that is the /ə/ schwa. "To get out (ə)of someone's, to get out (ə)of someone's." And the other thing you'll notice is that the /v/ sound, the /v/ at the end of "of" disappears. "To get out ə, to get out ə, to get out ə someone's, to get out ə someone's."

So, there you go, guys. Remember, if you want to improve your pronunciation, be sure to get my Australian pronunciation course. It'll take you through how to use and understand the international phonetic alphabet so that you can level up your pronunciation using dictionaries, any time online you see those weird symbols below a word.

You know, you're not sure about the pronunciation of a word, you can look it up and you can see the IPA and you can understand, ah, this is where the emphasis is. These are the vowel sounds. These are the consonant sounds.

You'll then learn to master quickly all the different vowel sounds and consonant sounds in English, and the last section of the course is 25 advanced lessons, teaching you things like assimilation, how sounds change when the next to one another, you know, like that T becoming a T-flap, linked speech, the Australian R Sound.

There's loads of content in there, so just go to AussieEnglish.com.au/apc. Okay, so the final section here, guys. This is going to be a clip from a TV series called SeaChange. This is one of my favourite TV shows ever from Australia. It was filmed along the coast here and in Port Phillip Bay, near where I live, so it's definitely worth a watch.

Remember the rules of the game, I'm going to play the clip for you two times and your goal is to listen to this and write down what you hear being said. So, grab a piece of paper, grab a pen and see if you can write down the phrase or phrases that are being said. Okay. It's a great way to train your listening comprehension.

If you want to check if you've got the answer correct, make sure that you download today's free worksheet and if you're a member of the Premium podcast or the Academy, just open up the transcript for today's episode and you will see the sentences as they're being said in the transcript. All right, so you ready to go? Here's the first playthrough.

"Wouldn't be any photographs lying around, would there? Any bits and pieces you might be able to help me with."

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

"Wouldn't be any photographs lying around, would there? Any bits and pieces you might be able to help me with."

Great job, guys. That's it from me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Remember if you want the transcript sign up to the Premium podcast at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast. For everything else, check out the website. If you've got a question, you can always email me, you can send me a message and I'll read it out in one of these episodes. And besides that, I just hope you guys have an amazing week. I'll chat to you soon. See ya!