10 things people in England say when they argue

Hi, everyone. In this lesson we're going to look at things that people say when they're

arguing; expressions that actually don't mean a lot; they just show that we're annoyed with

someone - and these are all British English phrases; and specifically, I would say I've

heard many Londoners say. So, this is the kind of... When things get heated and you're

having a big fight, we might hear these expressions.

Let's start with: "Having a laugh". So, if you're having an argument with someone, you'd

say this when you're in a situation, like an employee shows up for work two hours late.

Let's say you work in a really busy store; or even better, you work in a pub. And you

can't go home until the other person comes, and you don't hear from them; they don't call

or anything. You don't know if they're coming or not coming. Then two hours later, in they

come and you say: "You're having a laugh!" That means: "Where have you been? Are you

joking? I've been waiting here and waiting to go, and now you just come in." And it has

one... One cross, there, because depending on how I say it with the tone, that shows

how strong it is. With... "A laugh" is like a joke; it's not as strong as these other

examples, which mean something similar.

So, in the next example, here: "You're taking the piss! You are taking the piss!" If I say

that to you, you've done something really awful. Let's say, for some stupid reason,

I let you borrow my car for the weekend. You were going... You were going somewhere with

your girlfriend; you're my friend - I let you borrow my car. But you didn't bring the

car back nicely - oh, no. When you brought the car back, the tire was flat; it was all

dirty - you don't know where they've taken your car to; and worst of all, inside the

car there's all these empty condom wrappers and all this empty alcohol in the back. You

just... "What have you done? You took my car and you do this to me. You are taking the

piss!"

Next we've got: "Taking liberties". So, let me think of an example for this one. This

could be, like, you've got a YouTube channel and some other teacher comes along and just

starts... Just starts copying you, basically. Then: "You are taking liberties! You know

you are taking liberties by doing that. You are. You're copying. You're taking liberties."

Next one: "You're doing my head in! Can you just stop? Can...? Can you just stop? Stop

talking on and on; you're doing my head in." When someone is "doing your head in", it's

too much noise; it's too much speaking; they're going on and on and on; you don't want to

listen; you feel stressed. "You're doing my head in!" Just: "I'm feeling emotional now;

you're doing my head in."

Next is: "You're out of order! You're out of order!" Someone would say: "You're out

of order" when they would... Oh, yeah. You're having a... This is when things get serious,

right? Perhaps you're out in a pub. Things are getting really heated, and it looks like

a fight's... Maybe a fight's going to start, and someone pushes you. They actually push

you or they get in your face, and they're like... They're like this in your face. You

then say: "You're out of order! You pushed me. You got in my face. You're out of order!"

So, "out of order"... When something's in order, it's tidy and good and nice, and the

way it should be. When something's out of order, it's gone way too far; it's way too

far.

Okay, so now we can take: "Taking the piss" and "Taking liberties" and put them into nouns.

So, we can call people: "piss-takers". "You're a piss-taker. You're an absolute piss-taker."

If someone's a piss-taker, they're always taking liberties, pushing a bit, asking for

a bit too much, not doing exactly what they say they're going to do; this person, you

don't want to deal with them because everything they do is not what they say. "You're a piss-taker.

Stop it. Piss-taker."

A "liberty-taker" is the same... Same kind of thing, but it's not... It's not as strong

because we're not swearing. "Piss-taker" is swearing; "liberty-taker" is not as strong.

So, in arguments, what a person might say if they really... If I really want you to

believe me... Let's say I've given you a really big, long excuse: "I'm sorry. I'll never do

it again. You can trust me. On my mother's life, I didn't do it. I didn't put those condoms

in the car. I don't know who did it. On my mother's life, it wasn't me." So somebody

says this when it's just a way of saying: "Believe me. I'm telling the truth." And,

I mean, life experience has taught me that when people say: "on my mother's life", they

usually are lying. They're swearing on their mother's life, but they're actually lying.

All right. That's the reality. But the words... The words mean: "Believe me."

Next we've got: "do yourself a favour". "Do yourself a favour and jog on". "Jog on" I

haven't written there, but "jog on" means, like: "Go away", in Cockney kind of talk.

"Do yourself a favour" is an expression for just to show that you're just stressed with

someone. "Do yourself a favour and grow up. Stop being childish." So, the meaning comes

from whatever you say next, really. "Do yourself a favour and get a job." So you just use that

expression and put whatever's next on it. When you do yourself a favour, you do... To

do someone a favour, it means doing something good for them or helping them. Or... When

you do yourself a favour, it means help yourself. So: "Do yourself a favour: Get a job; stop

being a bum", means: "Do something good for you."

Next one is: "Get over it!" If you want someone to get over it, it's like: "Well, this has

happened now; what's done is done. Stop talking about it now. Can we stop talking about the

same old things all the time? Let's move on. Get over it! Get over it. Let's move on; I

don't want to talk about this anymore. End of... End of; not talking about this more."

Next is: "Get over yourself! Get over yourself! Who do you think you are? Get over yourself!"

Someone who needs to get over themselves thinks they're, like, so, like... So special, and

like, you got such a special English teacher - they need to get over themselves. "Get over

yourself!"

And the last one, here: "At the end of the day..." it means when... Well, it actually

means nothing; it's more of a clich�. When people are arguing and saying what they think

in an argument, they will say... They will start this phrase which means nothing, and

it'll be like: "At the end of the day, I've done everything I can now. I told you everything

that happened, so that's it, really. At the end of the day, I can't pay you back for what

I did to the car because I haven't got any money." So you just take that phrase and,

you know, add whatever the thing is you want to say. It doesn't have a lot of meaning in

itself; it's just used a lot in these kind of argumentative situations.

So, thanks for watching, everyone; and now you can do the quiz on this lesson. And join

me again soon. Bye.