Improve Your Vocabulary: 24 ways to complain in English

So, in this video, we're going to look at how to moan and grumble, which means

if something is not very good: How do you express that? I might think of how

to do it in another language, like in Spanish: "Qué pena"; or in French: "Quel

dommage". Yeah? But how do we say it in English, and how can we use a rich

variety of phrases to express that? We're going to look both at informal

English in a more social situation, and also in a very different situation in

the world of work, where it's going to be formal language and more serious

situations. Okay. So, here we are, we got some informal phrases to say: "No,

not very good". Okay. Let's imagine that we are at the most English of occasions

— a cricket match; a Village Cricket Match. And we've got two guys who've

just been batting. And Jack says to Ian: "So, how did it go, Ian?" And Ian says:

"Well, I mustn't grumble, but..." which basically means: "I've got a problem

here. I didn't like it." But he's saying it in the negative. "I must not" — this

is short for — "I must not grumble, but..." and then we're going to say what

the grumble, what the complaint is. "I mustn't grumble, but I don't think I was

out." Yeah? "I was standing here. The ball was not going to hit those three

bits of wood. I wasn't out. It wasn't fair. I mustn't grumble, but it was a

terrible decision." Okay.

A few sandwiches... "sandwiches"; not "sandwich" — "sandwich". "A few

sandwiches short of a picnic." A very strong image, there. We've got this

picnic, and it's not very good; it's a bit incomplete. So, dissatisfactory.

Unsatisfactory, sorry. Unsatisfactory. So, at this cricket match — yeah — in

the middle, they're going to have a tea. And if we say: "Yeah, it's a few

sandwiches short of a picnic, isn't it?" then it means it's not very good. "Bog

standard". Now, this is quite... it's quite sort of base. Yeah? A "bog" means

a toilet. So, if something is "bog standard", then you understand that it's

not particularly great. If I asked a friend: "How is your new cricket bat?"

and if they said: "Bog standard", it means, you know... really not very happy

with it. "Bit of a botch job." A "botch" is a... "botched job" is a badly-done

job. It was... it's like what would happen if I tried to do some plumbing —

like, your house would fall apart and water would start spraying everywhere.

So, a "botched job" is a job not done particularly well. If there are any

plumbers out there, then maybe you can take me on as an apprentice. You don't

want to do that. "A dog's dinner". So, we've been talking about this tea at the

cricket. If the tea is a real mess and it looks totally unappetizing, like

there are like disgusting tuna sandwiches and kind of fruitcake that

looks like some sort of person who doesn't know how to cook has cooked it —

then a "dog's dinner". It's a real mess, and it doesn't make us want to eat it.

"A dog's dinner" — a mess. Again, it's got this idea of something done badly.

-"How are you feeling?" -"I'm gutted." Yeah? It means: I'm really upset. Your

guts are down here in the stomach, so when you feel: "That was bad", then

you're "gutted". So, Ian, was out in the cricket, so he might be feeling gutted

that it's all over. "A bit miffed". A "bit miffed" is like: "Why did that

happen? I'm a bit miffed about that." A bit like: "Huh? How? What?" Ian is also

feeling a bit miffed. "What? That wasn't out. Come on". "To over-egg the

pudding." This is a compound word, so these... this is one word, joined. "To

over-egg the pudding" is when you do a little bit too much. Yeah? A little bit

too many eggs in the pudding. It's just trying a bit too hard with something. Okay?

"I mustn't grumble" — we introduce the complaint. "A few sandwiches short of a

picnic." Yeah? It's just... it's the opposite of this, isn't it? This has

been done too much; this has been done too little. "Bog standard" — too simple;

not enough care and attention. "Botched job" — done badly. "Dog's dinner" — a

mess. Feeling upset. "It's all gone a bit pear-shaped." It's kind of quite a

sort of Cockney expression, isn't it? Apples and pears. So, here, we've got a

pear, like it was going well; and then, like... it's gone. It's gone all over

the place. "Shambles" means it's a mess. It's, like, I don't know. Some... it's,

like... what do they say? It's like a sort of a drunk running a brewery. It's

just total chaos. "Bit of a spanner in the works". So, we've got a tool, here;

let's imagine it's a spanner. If I shove that into a bicycle, then the wheel's

not going to keep moving. So, it just... "a spanner in the work" is when you put

something... you... it's an intervention that just causes chaos. "Bit of a

spanner in the work". Yeah, it's a bit of a problem that's stopping us from

maybe buying a house. We've got a useless solicitor — "bit of a spanner in

the works", because, you know... we want to buy the house, but because of him, we

can't. Yeah. There's this problem. "It really takes the biscuit." I love this

phrase; it's an absolute classic. So, there, we're imagining our plate of

biscuits, and we know how many are on the plate. We know that there are seven

biscuits there, and there are eight... no. Let's say that there are four

people. Yeah? So, we know that everyone should at least have a biscuit. We go

out the room; we come back, and they've all gone. Yeah? Someone has taken the

biscuit. They've been really cheeky, and now I'm really annoyed. "Doing my head

in". If someone does your head in, then they give you a headache and you feel

like hitting your head because they are so annoying. "Oh my gosh, that is doing

my head in; that noise is doing my head in." Okay? These are all informal. Now

let's get formal in the business place; at the workplace.

Okay. On to some formal expressions. By the way, if you are learning something

from this video, I'd like to make sure that you are a subscriber of mine, and

I'd like you also to share it with someone who could learn something from

this, too. Done that? Yeah? Subscribe; share. Good. Cool. Right. "To be honest,

I'm not really getting much out of this." I hope that's not true for you; I

hope you're getting lots out of this. I don't know if you watch the program, The

Apprentice — I know it's on in the US and the UK; maybe other places, too. But

in the UK, they recently had this competition between the boy's team and

the girl's team, and the girls were doing this tour of a vineyard in South

Africa. And it was going really badly because they couldn't actually find the

cellar in this vineyard. And they were taking their paying customers around and

saying: "I'm really sorry. We don't know where the room is." So, these are kind

of things that those clients who paid money to go on the tour could have said.

"To be honest, I'm not really getting much out of this." Yeah? This is not

good, is it? Or... I've got to say: This is how we speak; not how we write. Yeah?

And all of these phrases that I've written here, I've written them exactly

how they are used in spoken English. "I've got to say, this is testing my

patience." Yeah. "I am running out of patience. This is no longer funny that

we can't find the cellar. Why do we not know where we are going?" Or, very

similar meaning: "I think I've probably reached my limit now." Yeah. So, I can

put up with this much chaos and confusion; but if we reach this limit,

then... "This experience"— yeah — "it" — pronoun — "just hasn't lived up to my

expectations. I thought it was going to be really good, but it's been really

bad. My expectations were this, and you've come short."

"I have to say, I was expecting a bit more". "I have to say" — this doesn't

really mean anything; it's a filler phrase. "I was expecting", and then we

don't really need the bit for grammatical sense, but we pad the

language out. "I have to say, I was expecting a bit more." Yeah. "I thought

it was going to be good." Again, same root word: "to expect". Again, these

more phrases to say that something has not met expectations. "It's not up to

scratch." Now, the origin of this phrase, here: "not up to scratch" —

"scratch" refers to a starting line, so it's like they hit... they haven't even

got to the starting line. Yeah. They're not even in the arena. "It's just not up

to scratch". It's... it's not good enough. "I'm sorry. I'm not very happy

with this." Yeah. Nice and clear; we all understand that. Let's get the

pronunciation right. "I'm sorry". Yeah. So, it kind of breaks. "I'm sorry. I'm

not very happy with this. I'm not very happy with this. I'm not very happy with

this." Or: "I don't really see the point of..." "point of" meaning purpose. "I

don't really see the point of trying to find this vineyard cellar anyway. Why

don't we just go and taste the wine?" Or: "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just finding

it a bit frustrating". "A bit" meaning a little bit. "Look" — it means... this is

a word that... when we want someone's attention. "Look". "I'm sorry". Yeah?

I'm softening the blow. I'm making myself polite, but I am angry. "I'm just

finding it a bit frustrating." Yeah? This is very polite way of saying: "This

is terrible". "Is that really necessary?" I ended up saying that to my

landlord back in the UK in the summer when she tried to raise the rent because

we have pets. I said: "Is that really necessary?" and she didn't raise it. If

she continued, I could have said: "That is ridiculous. That's stupid. Why...?"

dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah. Okay?

So, in this video, we've had phrases, like: "Mustn't grumble". Yeah. "That

really takes the biscuit". I hope these are things that you're going to remember

and use in a kind of jokey and playful way. And then, when we're in a more

serious context — this is the stuff you need to be using. Do the quiz now. Let

us know how you get on. I'm looking for ten out of ten. Do you reckon you can do

it? I hope so. See you in the next video. Until then, take care.