Transcript of AE 1374 - 15 Expressions For Being Sick

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 flippin' 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.

Guys, how's it going? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English.

You may notice that I have a slightly croaky and deeper voice than normal. For the last week, I have been battling with a chest infection, so I've had like bronchitis, an infection of the bronchioles in my lung, and then I've had laryngitis, um, inflammation around my larynx, which meant I lost my voice, which was a lot of good fun. But I've been waiting this whole time, the last few weeks, two weeks, to sort of get healthy again, to be able to record some more episodes because we were getting to the end of the all the episodes that I had kind of recorded and had saved up.

Anyway. So I've sort of been rushed to record one today in order to have something for you guys this weekend. Uh, and I thought, you know, what makes better sense than trying to do an episode on expressions related to being sick, in English.

So I have 15 different expressions. We'll go through those quickly and hopefully you will learn a few new ones. Before we get into it, guys, there will be a free worksheet with all of these expressions listed out there, definitions and the example sentence for each of them, too.

So that you can print it out, take notes, follow along whilst we're going through this episode and master all of these different expressions. Let's go!

So, number one, to be under the weather, to be to be 'under the weather'. I am 'under the weather' at the moment. 'Under the weather'. This is to feel sick or unwell, right, 'under the weather'.

"I think I'll stay home today. I'm feeling a bit under the weather." Under the weather, under the weather.

Number two. To 'come down with'. To 'come down with something'. If you 'come down with something', you catch an illness. Something like a virus, you know, a cold or a flu or even Covid now. Generally. Generally, you come down with a sickness, an illness.

"She's come down with the flu and won't be at work this week." To 'come down with something'.

Number three, to 'catch a bug'. To 'catch a bug'. Similar to 'come down with something', they effectively mean the same thing.

If you 'catch a bug', this is to get a minor illness. But it's often also used for stomach illnesses. You know when you get gastro. So, viruses. I guess it could be bacterial as well, but usually they're viral 'stomach bugs'.

I don't know if you would use 'come down with' for that as much. But 'catch something'. 'Catch a bug' "I've got a bug at the moment" is to get a minor illness. Can be a cold, but it could also be something like stomach illness, sickness, food poisoning, that kind of thing. To 'catch a bug'.

"I caught a bug on my trip and spent two days in bed."

'Feeling off colour'. If you 'feel off colour', you're not feeling completely well. You're feeling slightly sick. You may not necessarily be very sick, but you feel somewhat sick. You 'feel off colour'.

So I guess the idea here would be that, you know, you're looking a bit green, you're looking a bit off, maybe a bit pale, because you're starting to feel sick.

"He's been looking off colour all day. Maybe he needs some rest."

Number five, 'out of sorts'. 'Out of sorts'. If you're 'out of sorts', this is the idea that you aren't feeling your usual self. It could be that you are just a little bit low energy or feel a bit strange, but it could also be that you're a bit sick.

"Sorry, I'm a bit out of sorts today. I think I'll skip the meeting." To be 'out of sorts'. 'Out of sorts'.

Number six, to 'take a turn for the worse'. To 'take a turn for the worse'. This means to suddenly get a lot sicker. Or, for something to become a lot more serious, to 'take a turn for the worse'.

So, "His condition was stable last night, but he took a turn for the worse this morning." So if he was in hospital and he was sick, maybe. You know, you're an old man or woman. You've got pneumonia. And all of a sudden it goes from being somewhat serious to being life threatening. It took a 'turn for the worse'.

Number seven, to be 'back on your feet'. 'Back on your feet'. If you are 'back on your feet', you're recovered from an illness and you're well again. So, if this person in the hospital, 'took a turn for the worse', they got really sick. But then they recovered and they were walking around again. They would be 'back on their feet', both figuratively and literally. They have recovered from an illness and are well again.

"It took her a few weeks, but she's finally back on her feet after surgery."

Number eight. To be 'as sick as a dog'. 'As sick as a dog'. I don't know why poor dogs get this expression.

Um, I don't know if dogs are susceptible to becoming more sick than other animals, but the expression 'as sick as a dog' means very, very sick. Extremely sick, especially if you're vomiting. So you've got gastro or something, or food poisoning and you're vomiting. You're 'as sick as a dog'.

"He was as sick as a dog after eating that dodgy takeaway." The 'dodgy takeaway' here would be like, yeah, takeaway that's caused food poisoning.

Number nine, 'a clean bill of health', 'a clean bill of health'. If you get 'a clean bill of health', this is when a doctor has said that you are completely healthy, right? They've given given you the go ahead to leave the hospital, or to go back to work, or to get out of bed.

You've got 'a clean bill of health'. You are all good. You are healthy again.

"After all the tests, she was given a clean bill of health."

'Bedridden'. Number ten here, 'bedridden'. This means to be confined to bed due to serious illness. So if you are 'bedridden', you are stuck in bed. You are unable to get out of bed. You're confined to a bed. To be 'bedridden'.

"He was bedridden for two weeks with pneumonia."

Number 11. To be 'run down'. To be 'run down'. If you are 'run down', you are feeling weak, tired or vulnerable to illness.

It could be that you've been, you know, working too much. You've been overworked. Maybe you've been exercising too much and you're starting to feel a bit weak. You are feeling tired. You're feeling like you're going to get sick. You are 'run down'. You're feeling run down.

"She's been so run down lately from overworking that she caught a cold."

Number 12, 'on the mend'. 'On the mend'. If you are 'on the mend', you are recovering from an illness, right? You are mending. You are mending yourself. Being mended. You are 'on the mend'. 'On the mend'.

"He's still sick. But he's definitely 'on the mend' now." So, he's definitely getting better.

Number 13, to 'catch your death' or to 'catch your death of cold'. This is a sort of more old fashioned one that you would hear. The idea would, I guess, mean that it's like an exaggeration, meaning you'll get very sick if you're not careful. Often because you're outside in the rain or cold weather or the snow or something like that, right?

You're outside. It's very, very cold. The idea is that if you keep staying out there or you get too cold, you will 'catch your death' 'of cold'. Because of the cold, you will die. Because of the cold, you'll catch your death. You'll 'catch your death of cold'.

"Put on a coat or you'll catch your death of cold."

14. To be 'in poor shape'. 'In poor shape'. Not physically well. To be in bad health. In poor shape.

"After the operation, he was in poor shape, but gradually improved." Maybe gradually he got 'on the mend'.

And the very last one here, guys, number 15, for you: to 'feel like death warmed up'. I think this is probably one of the first times I've heard this. I don't really recognise this one, but it makes sense, I get the idea.

To 'feel like death warmed up'. This is to feel absolutely awful, as if you were half dead. Or I guess as if you were dead and you'd been warmed up to be as warm as a living person, right? But you look and feel like you're dead.

"I felt like death warmed up after that long flight and no sleep." To 'feel like death warmed up'.

So there you go, guys. There are 15 different expressions and pieces of vocab related to being sick or getting better. You'll have to let me know which was your favourite. And um, yeah, apologies for my croaky voice. Hopefully I will 'be on the mend'. Hopefully I will get better, uh, in a week or two and we will be back to the normal schedule. Anyway, thank you for joining me, and I'll see you in the next one. Tooroo!