This is where the English phrase 'work cut out' comes from...

38,132 views ・ 2017-10-20

BBC Learning English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:01
Welcome to the City. This area of London is where bankers and stockbrokers work.
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City workers look smart and work hard, but how much do they know about where they work?
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00:16
If I said you had you work cut out for you, what does that mean?
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That I'm very busy and got an awful lot to do in a short amount of time.
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You've got quite a lot to do on a certain thing or a project.
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The traffic's terrible. I've really got my work cut out getting there on time.
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00:33
Where in the world do you think that saying first came from?
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My guess would be that it's from some sort of tailoring and having to cut your work out.
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Would it surprise you to learn that this saying was probably first used on this street,
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just a little bit up that road?
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It wouldn't surprise me at all, no.
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00:55
And what's the name of this street?
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00:56
This is Threadneedle Street.
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00:59
Threadneedle Street was the home of tailoring in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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01:08
Tailors worked with assistants. The assistants would cut out the cloth and the tailors would sew it.
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If the tailor didn't work quickly enough, the pile of cloth would get bigger and bigger;
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01:22
and because his work was cut out for him, he could clearly see that there was a
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lot to do and it was all jumbled up in a mess.
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In other words, he had a really difficult job ahead of him...
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01:36
...just like the modern day Londoners here in the city, many of whom do difficult and stressful jobs too.
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I tell you what… I've got my work cut out just trying to get across this road!
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