Learn Australian English in this expression episode of Aussie English where I teach you to use AS FIT AS A FIDDLE like a native speaker!

AE 353 – Expression: As Fit As A Fiddle

Welcome to this episode of The Aussie English Podcast, guys. The Aussie English Podcast is the number one podcast for learning Australian English. My passion here is making it a lot easier for you to understand Australian English as well as speak English like an Australian whether you come Down Under, down to Australia, or whether you have friends who speak Australian English, are Australian etc., the goal of my podcast and my personal mission is to make learning Australian English easy.

So, a quick announcement. We’re almost at a million listens. One million listens on the podcast, which is just mind-blowing. So, thank you so much for that, guys. We’ve almost passed half a million views on YouTube. I’ve been thinking about the format of podcasts and videos recently, and I’m thinking about sort of rearranging it. Changing the format slightly. So, I’m going to do that with this episode, guys. I want you to let me know what you’re thinking after the episode’s finished. Again, if you want all the bonus content for these episodes, sign up to The Aussie English Classroom, guys. It’s one dollar for the first month, and then it’s $19.99 after that for every month that you decide to continue using it. It’s aimed at teaching your Australian English, to speak it, to understand it, just like I do. So, get in there, give it a go, and let me know what you think.

Aside from that too, before we get into today’s content I’ve released the Effortless Phrasal Verb course as I’m sure a lot of you have noticed. I’ve been doing Monday and Thursday live lessons free on Facebook. So, you can join in. That’s at 7:00 PM on Mondays and Thursdays. 7 p.m. Melbourne time. UTC +10 hours, I believe. So, make sure you don’t miss those. That’s free. But then, the course is the video inset into a, what would you call it, a slideshow with all the information, with all of the example sentences, the phrasal verbs, the example sentences, yeah, exactly. So, get in there, give that a go, if you want to learn phrasal verbs effortlessly.

Anyway. I thought I would start these episodes with a joke from now on. I’m going to try and maintain my use of this format. I’ve jumped around a bit and changed it up, but we’ll try and start with a funny joke. Get through the expression and thcoe content. I’ll give you an interesting Aussie slang word that I’ll use in the today’s episode. So, keep your ear out for that and try and listen out for a few of the Aussie slang words. But we’ll talk about one of them at the end. And then after that, we can go through an interesting Australia fact for you guys. So, I’m really trying to combine all these different things and make these episodes more interesting to listen to.

So, the first one, the Aussie joke that we’re going to start with is, why did the manager hire the marsupial? Why did the manager hire the marsupial? Can you guys guess why? Why did he hire him? Why did he decide to have him at his work, you know, as an employee? Why did he hire the marsupial? Because he was “koala-fied”. He was “koala-fied”. Do you get it? He was “koala-fied”, as “qualified”, but we’ve used the word koala there right. Why did the manager hire the marsupial? ’cause he was “koala-fied”. Good one.

So, let’s just diving guys. Today’s expression is from Duaa. Well done Duaa. She picked this in the Aussie English Virtual Classroom, everyone voted on it, and it got to the top. I think nine or so people decided this was the expression they liked best. Thank you Duaa.

So, today’s expression is “as fit as a fiddle”. “To be as fit as a fiddle”, “to be feeling as fit as a fiddle”. “As fit as a fiddle” is today’s expression.

So, as usual, let’s go through and define the different words, guys.

So, “as something as”. This form is used as a comparison. The word between the two as’s can be anything you want. It’s usually an adjective. Big, tiny, annoying. whatever. So, as big as an elephant, as tiny as an ant, as annoying as possible. It’s used for comparisons. OK? Comparisons. He’s as fit as something. So, he’s really fit.

“Fit”. A few different things. In this sense, today the way that we use it in this expression, “fit”, if something is “fit”, it is to be healthy, to be in good physical condition, to be in good health. If you are as fit as something, you’re as healthy as something, you’re in as good a condition as something else. OK? Fit.

However, it can also mean to be suitable for something or seemly. So, if something is fit for a purpose, it’s suitable for that purpose. This beer is really good. It’s fit to be drunk.

So, I’m going to have a sip. And that’s a that’s a cockatoo in the background, guys. See if you can see it. That was a Sulphur-crested cockatoo. First time I’ve had one of those come into my classrooms.

So, if something is fit, it can be suitable, seemly. So, it’s useful. It’s correct for that purpose. Fit for that purpose.

A politician could be unfit for office. So, he wasn’t fit for office, meaning he didn’t deserve to have the position he had.

I could have a really dodgy car that isn’t really fit to be driven, meaning it’s poor quality and shouldn’t be driven. It’s not fit to be driven. So, “fit” in that case means suitable, and unfit, unsuitable.

“A fiddle”. We went through the verb recently. If you fiddle with something, it’s to kind of play with it too. But, “fiddle” the word as a noun is a colloquial term for a violin. A fiddle. Maybe because you fiddle with the violin, right? Or maybe that’s why we call fiddling, fiddling. So, “a fiddle” is a colloquial term, sort of a slang term, used everywhere in the English-speaking world, for a violin. So, a bow stringed musical instrument. Usually, the smallest. A violin or a fiddle. He plays really well on the fiddle.

So, I looked up the origin… Actually, we won’t get into the origin yet.

The definition of “to be as fit as a fiddle”, the expression, he is feeling is fit as a fiddle or he is as fit as a fiddle, means to be incredibly fit, to be incredibly healthy, to be in incredibly good condition. I’m as fit as a fiddle. He’s as fit as a fiddle. She’s as fit as a fiddle. She’s incredibly fit. He’s incredibly fit. I’m incredibly fit. So, just to be really fit. He’s as fit as a fiddle.

Now, we’ll get into the origin. So, I looked up the origin of this expression, and as I said before the two different definitions of “fit”, although “fit” today in this expression means to be healthy, in good condition, and we use it in this expression to mean that something is as healthy as a fiddle, when this expression was first coined, meaning when it was first created, when someone first came up with the expression, as fit as a fiddle, “fit” meant suitable, seemly, as in “fit for purpose”. So, the expression originates from at least the early 1600s, which blows my mind. That’s, you know, 400+ years ago where it used to mean as… or it used to be “as fine as a fiddle” or “as fit as a fiddle”, meaning as good as one, suitable, seemly. OK?

As usual, let’s go through some examples, guys, of how I would use this expression.

Examples:

1.

Number one. Imagine that my father got sick. So, my father ended up in hospital last year, but eventually he healed up. He got better. He came good. And now he’s as fit as a fiddle. Now he’s incredibly healthy. Now he’s in great condition. My dad is no longer in hospital. He came good. He healed up. And now he’s as fit as a fiddle.

2.

Number two. Imagine I’ve been working out a lot recently. So, “to work out” is to do lots of weights. Maybe I’m doing chin ups, bicep curls, squats, deadlifts, all sorts of different exercises, and I’m using a weight. I’m working out. So, I keep going to the gym four days a week for the past three months. And I’ve worked on my cardio. I’ve also gained a lot of muscle mass. I’ve lost a lot of fat gained strength. Now I feel as fit as a fiddle. I feel as fit as a fiddle these days. I can swim. I can run. I can lift things. I feel as fit as a fiddle.

3.

Number three is imagine that you have a wife or a girlfriend who’s become a bit of a health nut. “A bit of a health nut”, meaning that she’s gone crazy, she’s gone a bit nutty, for health. So, she started watching her weight. She started watching what she eats. So, watching her diet. She is paying attention to her weight, what she eats, and her diet. Imagine now she loves green smoothies, meaning she puts all kinds of veggies into a smoothie. She blends it. She blends it up. So, she puts all these veggies in, you know, kale carrot, celery, all of that sort of stuff. She puts it in, blends it up, drinks it, and has it as her brekky shake. She has a veggie shake every morning for breakfast. So now she could say, “Since I’ve started watching my weight, watching my diet, watching what I eat, I feel as fit as a fiddle. And I am as fit as a fiddle.

So, that’s the expression guys. As fit as a fiddle. To be incredibly fit, to be incredibly healthy, to be in great condition. You can feel is fit as a fiddle. You can be as fit as a fiddle. So, use this one. It’s a really good one.

As usual, let’s go through a little listen and repeat exercise, guys. I’ll just wet the whiskers first. I’ll wet the whiskers, as in wet my moustache with the beer that I’m drinking. It’s Dad’s birthday so I’ve got to celebrate. And look at this as a whale on the beach. How cute is that? A blue whale. Isn’t that nice? I think it’s a blue whale.

So, we’ll go through a listen and repeat episode… exercise*, guys. I’m going to say “I am as fit as a fiddle” and we’ll conjugate through all the different pronouns. Let’s go.

Listen & Repeat:

I’m as fit as a fiddle.
You’re as fit as a fiddle.
He’s as fit as a fiddle.
She’s as fit as a fiddle.
We’re as fit as a fiddle.
They’re as fit as a fiddle.
It’s as fit as a fiddle.

Let’s just go through all of those one time fast.

Listen & Repeat:

I’m as fit as a fiddle.
You’re as fit as a fiddle.
He’s as fit as a fiddle.
She’s as fit as a fiddle.
We’re as fit as a fiddle.
They’re as fit as a fiddle.
It’s as fit as a fiddle.

Good job guys. Good job.

So, let’s talk about the slang word that I used in there. I used a few. Veggies. Did you get what the definition of the slang word “veggies” is? “Veggies” or “a veggie” is vegetable or vegetables. So, if I eat a lot of veggies, I eat a lot of vegetables. If I put a veggie in my green shake, I’m putting a vegetable in my green shake. So, “veggies” means vegetables. Some example sentences. I’m going to have some veggies for dinner. I love my veggies. No one ever eats veggies for breakfast unless they put it in a smoothie. No one ever eats veggies for brekky. Vegos love veggies. “Vegos love veggies”, meaning vegetarians love vegetables. Vegos love veggies.

And we’ll finish up the episode, guys, with an interesting Australian fact. A fact about Australia. I’ll try and do this every week.

Aussie Fact:

The highest mountain in Australia is Mount Kosciusko, and pay attention to the spelling of this word. It’s… I think it’s Polish. And everyone screws this up. Even Australians when they read this. They’re like, “HUH!?”. Mount Kosciusko. So, Mount Kosciuszko is 2,228 metres high or tall. 2228 metres. So not even 2.5 kilometres high. That’s how low all the mountains are in Australia. So, that’s about 7300 feet high. “Feet high”, if you prefer “feet” instead of mountain… instead of metres*. And it’s located in New South Wales in the south east, just north of the border of Victoria with New South Wales. And it’s part of the Great Dividing Range, which goes up the east coast of Australia. So, there you go. Interesting fact for today’s episode Mount Kosciusko is only 2,228 meters tall, metres high, and that’s the largest, that’s the highest, that’s the tallest, mountain in Australia.

So, let me know in a comment, guys, what the highest mountain is from the country that you’re from. I’m sure a lot of you guys are going to put me and the rest of Australia to shame. I hope you enjoy this episode, guys. If you want all the bonus content for it to practice pronunciation, phrasal verbs, grammar, all the slang that I used here as well, listening comprehension exercises, and the vocab, make sure you sign up for The Aussie English Classroom. I’ll put a link in the description. And yeah, let’s start taking your English to the next level, guys. Thanks for watching and I’ll chat next week. Peace out, guys.

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