Transcript of AE 1093 - 5 Expressions To Sound Fluent in English

Do you guys know what a wild goose chase is? Or what about a sticky situation? Have you ever been as thick as thieves with someone? If not, today's lessons for you. Let's go. G'day, you mob. Pete here, from Aussie English, today's lesson is all about teaching you five advanced English expressions to sound like a native speaker in English.

If your goal is currently to get your English to the next level, then this is the channel and podcast for you. Before we get started, mate, don't forget to grab today's worksheet. It's in the description below. When you sign up for this, you will be able to download the PDF and you can follow along this lesson, take notes and do all the exercises. And also, I send you all the future worksheets for each episode too. Let's get into it.

Number one, "a wild goose chase, a wild goose chase". This sounds like something a little unpleasant, but I promise you it's not. It's when someone sends you on a foolish search for something unobtainable, something that you're probably not going to be able to find. That's "a wild goose chase".

So, for example, "my mum sent me on a wild goose chase looking for the cheapest camera in the city. My mum sent me on a wild goose chase, I was going from store to store, trying to find this camera not having much luck. It seemed impossible. It was a wild goose chase."

Number two, "as thick as thieves". I wonder if you know this one. "As thick as thieves, to be as thick as thieves". In English, we use this expression to mean that two or more people are very close, so they're sharing secrets or they're very good friends, right. They may get along like a house on fire because they are "as thick as thieves".

So, for example, "every time my wife and her best friend catch up, they're as thick as thieves. So, every time they get together to socialise, they get on like a house on fire. They're great friends, they are as thick as thieves." And a bonus note here, "thick" can also mean really, really stupid. It doesn't in the case of "as thick as thieves", it means very close.

But we can say that someone is "thick". "Oh, man, that guy is so thick." To mean that he's really dumb. He's really stupid. And if you want to use an Australian expression, you could say that he's "as thick as a plank", like as thick as a plank of wood. Or "as thick as a brick", right, a brick that you build houses with. To be incredibly "thick" is to be very stupid.

Number three, "a snake oil salesman, a snake oil salesman". Again, this is the kind of expression where you're thinking, what the hell? Who goes around selling the oil from snakes? And what on earth does that have to do with anything in English? So, "a snake oil salesman" is someone who sells, promotes or is a proponent of something a little bit dodgy, something that may not work.

Whether it's a physical product like, say, some soap or maybe some policies that a government is trying to implement, which are bogus, right, they're not going to work. The reason that we have this expression is because back in the day in the United States in I think the 1800s Chinese people came to the United States selling snake oil, which were actually really good remedies to heal things like arthritis.

And the local population clued onto this and started selling fake snake oil to try and make a buck, right, to try and make money. So, they were "snake oil salesman". So, here's an example, "don't believe everything this guy says he's a snake oil salesman."

So, imagine this guy's come to your house. He's trying to sell you a vacuum or some other product, and he's like, "this is going to solve your life. It's going to solve every problem you have. Just buy this vacuum. Give me $1,000. I promise you the world." And if you were to hear that, you'd probably think, "this guy is definitely a snake oil salesman. He's full of (BEEP)."

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Number four, "sleight of hand, sleight of hand". And I love this word "sleight". It looks like it's said as slate, right? Because it's got the word "eight" after "sl". S-L-E-I-G-H-T, sleight. But here sleight means the use of dexterity, right. Like in your hands "sleight of hand", usually to trick someone. So, "sleight of hand" means to use dexterity in order to trick people, usually using your hands, right, "sleight of hand".

So, who are the kind of people are you going to see do this? Magicians and thieves, people like pickpockets. They use their hands very well in order to separate people from their belongings. So, an example would be, "pickpockets use sleight of hand to make a living. Pickpockets use sleight of hand to make a living."

All right, guys, good job, you've gotten right to the end here. Number five is "a sticky situation. A sticky situation", if you get yourself into "a sticky situation", this is a particularly awkward, embarrassing or precarious situation or set of circumstances.

So, for example, "when the boat capsized, the captain knew he was in a sticky situation." When the boat capsized- Capsized is a verb, meaning for the boat to tip over, right. I guess from going from upright to upside down, "capsized". "When the boat capsized, the captain knew he was in a sticky situation."

So, he probably called the lifeguard and was like, "mayday, mayday. I'm in a bloody big, sticky situation. You're going to have to come and help me."

So, at the end here, guys, I've got two activities for you. If you're watching this as a video on YouTube, I want you to pause the video and go down into the comment section and leave a comment, a sentence that you've created using one of the expressions that you've just learnt. I'll show them on screen here briefly, pause, and then I'll see you in a sec.

Welcome back, I hope you left a good sentence because I'm going to be checking a whole bunch after this video goes live. Finally, guys, before you go let's do a little pronunciation exercise. So, I'm going to read out some example sentences using the expressions from today and we'll go over the pronunciation, the stress and the rhythm, that sort of stuff. Okay, you ready? Let's go.

One, "a wild goose chase. A wild goose chase." Which words being stressed in this phrase? "A wild goose chase." "Wild and goose", to some extent, "a wild goose chase. A wild goose chase. We were led on a wild goose chase. We were led on a wild goose chase."

So, which words are being stressed? "Led, wild and goose chase". Remember, with those kinds of compound nouns where you've got multiple words, "goose chase", it's usually the first word that gets stressed. "We were led on a wild goose chase."

Number two, "as thick as thieves. As thick as thieves". You're going to hear "as" get reduced to just the schwa "əs" and "thick and thieves" get emphasised. Check this out. "You two look as thick as thieves. You two look as thick as thieves." So, "as" gets turned into "əs", and the words that get emphasised in this phrase, are "you, two, look, thick, thieves". "You two look as thick as thieves."

Number three, "a snake oil salesman". Now this is interesting. "Snake oil" is one compound noun. "Salesman" is another. So, which words are stressed in each of these? "A snake oil salesman." The first word, "snake and sales". Check this out. "Don't trust that snake oil salesman. Don't trust that snake oil salesman." Which words are being stressed? "Don't trust and then snake oil salesman". "Don't trust that snake oil salesman."

"Sleight of hand. Sleight of hand." "Sleight and hand" are the words being stressed. "The thief used sleight of hand to pick my pocket. The thief used sleight of hand to pick my pocket." There's quite a few words being stressed here. "Thief, used, sleight of hand, pick and then pocket".

And the interesting thing is now we have a noun with multiple syllables in it, right, "pock-et, pocket". Which syllable within that noun is being stressed? Is it "pock-ET or POCK-et"? It's the second, "POCK-et", the first syllable. "Pocket". "The thief used sleight of hand to pick my pocket."

And lastly, "a sticky situation. A sticky situation." Now, these are two words "sticky", that's an adjective. First syllable stressed here, "sticky. Sticky". And then "situation" is a noun and it ends with a suffix "-tion", right, or "-ation". And when that happens, the syllable before "-tion" is the one that gets stressed. So, you're going to hear "situ-A-tion", it's on the A sound. "Situ-A-tion, situation, situation".

And the secondary stress is actually on "sit-". But we'll just keep it simple, "-ation". "Situation". "The kids got themselves into a sticky situation. The kids got themselves into a sticky situation." Which words are stressed here? "Kids, themselves, sticky, situation". "The kids got themselves into a sticky situation."

And lastly, guys, when I say the word "themselves", which syllable is being stressed? "Them-SELVES", the second one. Weird, right? "Myself, yourself". With those sorts of pronouns, "myself, yourself, himself", it's "-self or -selves" that ends up being stressed. "The kids got themselves into a sticky situation."

Great job. You made it right to the end here, guys. Well done. Don't forget if you would like to listen to this episode as a podcast you can download my podcast for free via any good podcast app, and you can listen to this episode whenever you want.

You can listen whilst your commuting to work, whilst you're working around the house, at the gym. It's a really good way to obviously work on your listening skills, but, too, in order to revise these lessons. If you want to keep learning with me today, check out this video up here and until next time, see you later.