Learn Australian English in this Expression episode of The Aussie English Podcast where I teach you to use FOR ALL HELL TO BREAK LOOSE.

AE 360 – Expression:
For All Hell To Break Loose

Black Text = Lesson vocab
Blue Text = Idioms
Green Text = Lesson expression
Red Text = Aussie Slang

Welcome to today’s Expression Episode, guys. Today’s expression is going to be “for all hell to break loose“.

I hope you guys have been having an awesome week. I‘m healing up. I‘m coming good. I was sick for the last week. (I) had a bit of a head cold, had the sniffles, I’ve been blowing my nose a lot, (I’ve had a) bit of a sore throat, but I’m getting better. I hope you guys are going well.

Announcements:

A few announcements, a few housekeeping things first.

So, I’m still collecting postcards, if you guys want to send your postcards. I will make sure that the address is sent below, but wherever you are in the world, if you feel like sending me a postcard… oh, I can just tell you can send it to P.O. Box 597, Ocean Grove, 3226, Victoria, Australia.

I’ll make sure it’s in the transcript for this episode. But yeah, I would love to get some postcards and fill this wall up behind me.

Apart from that, obviously, (I’ve been) working away at the Effortless Phrasal Verb course. (I’ve been) really enjoying that guys. Everyone seems to be loving it. If you haven’t checked it out, make sure you watch those videos. They’re all on YouTube. And if you’re interested, you can enroll in the course.

And also, I’m thinking about redesigning The Aussie English Classroom. OK? So, I think I might just chat to you a little bit quickly about it. There’ll be three packages for The Aussie English Classroom.

(Package 1) I’m going to redo the expression episode ones where it’s all online. I’m looking for my phone, but my phone is in front of me here. And you can do all the exercises and read everything off your phone instead of downloading files. So, I want to make that more streamlined. I want to make it easier to use. I think I want to make a few more additions to the exercises as well. So, you would have a one exercise every day. So, like, 1. vocab to work on your vocab, 2. listening comprehension, 3. phrasal verbs substitution exercises, 4. Aussie slang, and then I want to do 5. pronunciation of vowels and consonants and the way that we change words when we speak, and then I want to also do 6. connected speech, rhythm, and intonation, and then 7. grammar as well. So, that would be Package 1 where you would get all that.

Package 2 would be that you get access to a private group with other students, and you would get weekly life lessons like this that are just few guys. Where you can ask me anything. I can help you. We can go over topics. You’d get weekly tasks for like IELTs. Writing tasks. We could have movies that we watch, books that we’re reading together. And yeah, we would all work together in this group.

And then Package 3 would be that you would have several hours a month of private lessons with me as well as the group and everything else.

So, that’s what I’m thinking about for The Aussie English Classroom, and where that’s going in the next year or so. So, if you have any feedback, let me know. We can chat about that later.

Expression:

Let’s get into today’s episode, guys. So, we’re going to go over the expression “for all hell to break loose“, “for all hell to break loose“.

This was voted in by Duaa, or voted in by everyone*. Duaa was the one who suggested this in The Aussie English Virtual Classroom Facebook group. Everyone voted on it. This one got to the top. And, so good job Duaa on picking this expression.

Joke:

We’ll start today with a joke as always, guys. And the joke is, “Why did the wombat cross the road?”. “Why did the wombat cross the road?”. To see his flat mate. To see his flat mate. You get that?

So, a “flat mate” is someone who lives with you in a flat or an apartment. But, it‘s a play on words here, because wombats often get hit by cars, and if they get hit by cars on the road, they get made “flat”. And so, it’s a joke about him crossing the road to see his mate who’s been made flat by being hit by a car. “Why did the wombat cross the road? To see his flat mate”. (It’s a) bit on the nose. Alright.

Definitions:

So, today’s expression is going to be “for all hell to break loose“, guys. As usual, we’ll go through the different words in this expression.

So, I’m sure you know what “for” is and the word “to”.

“All“. “All” can be used to mean everything, the entire thing, the whole thing. So, the entire quantity or extent of a particular group or thing. So, I have all of my fingers, every single one of them. I have all of my fingers. Maybe if I had my entire family here, all of my family is here.

The word “hell“. “Hell”, is a place regarded by various religions as the spiritual realm of evil and suffering. So, Heaven or Paradise tends to be the really nice afterlife. Hell is the really horrible one with Satan and death and brimstone and fire. So, that’s “hell”.

“To break“. If you break something, it’s that you separate it into multiple pieces, usually, in a destructive manner. So, you’re destroying the thing by breaking it. So, keep separation in mind here, though. So, to break something. I might break my arm. If I fall on my arm and my arm snaps, it breaks. I might drop a glass, and the glass breaks on the ground as it separates into little pieces. But keeps “separation” in mind for when we get to “to break loose”.

“Loose“. If something is “loose”, it can be that it is not firmly tightened. So, if I had some pants that I bought and they didn’t fit me very well, they kept falling down, I could say they’re pretty loose. They’re not fitting tightly. They’re not fitting firmly. So, these pants feel really loose.

But it can also be if something is set free or something is free. If it’s released. If it’s unrestrained. So, if I open the cage and the bird flies out of the cage, it’s been set loose. It is loose. It’s free. It’s released.

But “to break loose“, is combining those two ideas of getting free, but doing so in a destructive manner. So, you are suddenly getting free. You’re escaping. You’re releasing or you’re being released from something. So, you’re getting separated from, say, your cage. You’re breaking out of your cage to get loose. You’re breaking loose out of the cage. Or maybe you’re breaking away from your captor, someone who’s caught you. You’re breaking away. You’re breaking loose.

So, those are the words.

Let’s define the expression guys. So, “for all hell breaks loose“, though. This is where obviously this time it’s “hell” that is the thing that’s “breaking loose” and going crazy, getting out there.

“For all hell to break loose“, it’s said when something chaotic or disruptive occurs. So, it’s a chaotic or disruptive situation, especially one that begins all of a sudden. It begins suddenly. It begins unexpectedly.

Expression Origin:

So, I looked up the origin of the expression, “for all hell to break loose“, and it’s actually quite older than I thought. It dates back to the 1660s. So, the year 1667 from a book by John Milton called Paradise Lost.

And here’s a chance for you guys to listen to some middle English.

So, this is English that I don’t understand, that is back from the Middle Ages, and before that there was Old English. So, we have Old English that was like, I think, over a thousand years ago, Middle English, and then more modern English from like the 1700s on.

But here’s the line that uses this expression in Middle English, “Wherefore with thee came not all hell broke loose?“. “Wherefore with thee came not all hell broke loose?“.

If I read that, I have no idea what it means. When it’s translated though, it means, “Why didn’t all hell break loose and come with you?”. “Why didn’t all hell break loose and come with you?”. “Wherefore with thee came not all hell broke loose?“.

So, yeah, (to) give you a bit of an insight as to whether or not English speakers today can understand English from 500 years ago.

Examples:

So, let’s go through some examples, as usual guys, of how to use this expression.

1.

So, imagine the first one. You are dancing at a party and an amazing song that you guys love comes on. Someone starts playing this song. And the song is Men At Work – Down Under (watch the music video here). So, Men At Work is a famous Australian band, and the song Down Under is a really famous song. I definitely recommend you guys look it up. So, this comes on, and all the Aussies in the room go nuts. They go ballistic. They go berserk, (they go) bananas, they go crazy, and all hell breaks loose. So, all of a sudden, everyone starts going nuts. All hell breaks loose.

2.

Example number two. Imagine that Colin Hay, who is the lead singer from the band Men At Work. He’s the one who sings down under. Imagine he walks into a pub where a bunch of Aussies who are fans of Men At Work are having a drink after work. So, maybe they’re having a jug of beer. They’re sharing it. Maybe they’re having a few pots, a few pints, or a few schooners. But they‘re sinking some piss at the pub after a hard day’s work. After doing some hard yakka at work. There’s a bunch of slang in there that we’ll go over today. And they see Colin Hay walk into the pub. So, they see him walk in and they go ballistic. They go berserk. All hell breaks loose. They go bananas. They go crazy. “Wahhh! It’s Colin Hay! Oh my God!!!”. All hell breaks loose.

3.

The third one is, imagine that after everything‘s died back down in the pub. So, everything’s calm down, everything’s quietened down, after Collins left everything’s calmed down, it’s died down, a man enters to try to rob the pub. So, he’s trying to hold the pub up with a gun. He pulls a gun out and he says to the barman, “Open the till. Give me the cash. I want the money, and then I’ll get out of here. But if you don’t give it to me, everyone’s going to get hurt.”. The moment he pulls the gun out, if the crowd goes crazy, everyone starts running around and screaming, all hell breaks loose. So, the moment the gunman brandishes the gun, he pulls the gun out, and says, “Give me the money!”, all hell breaks loose, because suddenly, everything goes crazy. Pulling the gun out was unexpected. Everyone goes berserk. Everyone goes bananas. All hell breaks loose.

So that’s it. The expression “for all hell to break loose” is said of a chaotic or disruptive situation, especially, one that happens all of a sudden, it happens suddenly, it happens unexpectedly. You didn’t expect it.

As usual, let’s go over a listen and repeat exercise, guys. This is a chance for you to practice your pronunciation.

I’m going to say the phrase, “All of a sudden, all hell broke loose”. I want you to pay attention to how I am contracting words in this sentence, and how my intonation and the connected speech is working. OK?

So, practice it a few times, listen and repeat after me, and try and say just as I say it, guys. OK? I’m going to say, “all of a sudden” five times, I’m going to say, “all hell broke loose” five times, and then, I’ll say the whole thing five times. Let’s go.

Listen & Repeat:

All of a sudden. x 5

All hell broke loose. x 5

All of a sudden, all hell broke loose. x 5

Good job guys. Good job. You nailed it.

Alright. Time for some Aussie facts, and then we’ll finish up.

Aussie Fact:

So, today’s Aussie fact, interesting fact about Australia, is the fact that there are more kangaroos in Australia than there are humans. How crazy’s that?

So, the numbers can fluctuate from year to year, but at the moment, this year, there’s estimated to be about 25 million kangaroos in Australia. 25 million kangaroos.

To put that in the context of humans, there’s 24.13 million humans in Australia. So, we’re about 1 million short of the number of kangaroos. And to put in the context of things like cattle, so cows, bulls, there are 26.6 million cattle in Australia.

And when we measure cattle, we say “head of cattle”. 26.6 million head of cattle in Australia.

But the interesting thing that I found out when I was looking this fact up is that only a handful of animals in Australia actually get counted. They get an annual census. Humans are one of the animals. Cattle are obviously another one. But kangaroos, obviously too, get counted every single year to work out what their numbers are doing. So, how crazy is that, guys?

Anyway, remember, guys, if you want to get all the bonus content for this episode, sign up to be a member in The Aussie English Classroom. You can enroll now. You can sign up to get it for one month for just a dollar. Try it. See how it goes. It’s going to upgrade your English. It’s going to take it to the next level. If you go through it, do all the exercises, and work hard. I know you’re going to love it.

Aside from that, make sure that you jump on YouTube, jump on Facebook, send me a message and say, “G’day”, guys. And I hope you have a great week. I will chat you soon. Peace out.

Additional Exercises:

SW = Somewhere
ST = Something
SO = Someone

Exercise 1: Vocab & Writing Practice

Download PDF and print it to complete this exercise:

Find the sentence that includes the word or phrase in the text and write it out.
Write your own sentence using that word or phrase.

A barman – a man who works behind a bar serving drinks
A bit on the nose – (for ST to be) unimaginative, lacking nuance
A captor – a person that catches or confines ST/SO
A handful of ST – a small number of ST; a quantity that fills the hand
A head cold – a common cold centred in the nasal passages and head
A manner – a way in which a thing is done or happens
A play on words – a pun; a turn of phrase with a double meaning
All of a sudden – suddenly; abruptly; quickly and without warning
An afterlife – life after death
An annual census – a yearly count of ST
An insight – an accurate and deep understanding of ST
Brandish ST – wave or flourish (ST, especially a weapon) as a threat or in anger or excitement
Brimstone – Sulfur, especially considered as a component of the torments of Hell in Christianity.
Chaotic – in a state of complete confusion and disorder
Check ST out – examine ST
(for a song to) Come on – (for a song to) begin playing on the radio or a stereo, etc.
Date back to (a time) – originate from a time in the past
Destructive – causing great and irreparable damage
Die back down – become calm once again
Disruptive – causing disruption/disorderliness
Drop (ST) – let go of ST so that it falls down
Enroll in ST – write one’s name on a roll or register to take part in ST, e.g. a course
Estimate ST – roughly calculate or judge the value, number, quantity, or extent of ST
Extent of (ST) – the size or scale of ST
Feedback – information about reactions to ST, e.g. a product, used to improve the thing
Finish ST up – completely end carrying out ST
Fit – be of the right shape and size for ST/SO
Fluctuate – rise and fall irregularly in number or amount
Go nuts/ballistic/berserk/bananas/crazy – behave in a crazy, enthusiastic, or violent way
Go over ST – review ST; cover ST
Heal up – completely get better
Hold up ST – rob ST, e.g. a shop, with use of threats or violence
In the context of ST – considered together with the surrounding words or circumstances
Intonation – the rise and fall of the voice in speaking
Look ST up – search for information about ST
Nailed it! – said when SO has done ST perfectly
Oh my God! – said when SO is surprised or shocked
Pay attention to ST – listen to, watch, or consider ST or SO very carefully
Pick ST – choose ST
Redesign ST – design ST again
Rhythm – the measured flow of words and phrases when speaking
See how it goes – used for saying that a decision about a situation will be made after allowing it to develop for a period of time.
(a number) short of (another number) – (for a number to be) less than (another number)
Snap (ST) – break (ST) suddenly and completely
Streamline ST – make or design ST to be more efficient
Suffer – experience or be subjected to (ST bad or unpleasant)
Suggest ST – put ST forward for consideration
To have the sniffles – to be sniffing a lot whilst suffering from a cold
Tighten (ST) – make ST or for ST to become tight or tighter
Unexpectedly – in a way that wasn’t expected or regarded as likely
Unrestrained – not restrained or restricted
Upgrade ST – raise ST to a higher standard, in particular improve ST (e.g. machinery) by adding or replacing components
Various – different from one another; of different kinds or sorts

Exercise 2: Listening Comprehension

• Listen to the episode again now and answer these questions in your own words.

1. What’s today’s expression?

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2. Was I well or sick for the past week?

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3. List 1 or more announcements I make

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4. What’s the address I give?

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5. Where do I say the Effortless Phrasal Verb videos are that you can check out?

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6. How many packages do I plan on making in the redesigned AE Classroom?

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7. How many exercises do I want to create for you?

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8. What would be in package 2?

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9. What’s in package 3?

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10. Who suggested this expression?

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11. Where did she suggest this expression?

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12. What’s today’s joke?

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13. What’s a “flat mate”

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14. Define: all

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15. Define: hell

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16. Define: to break

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17. Define: loose

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18. What animal do I say flies out of the cage?

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19. Define: to break loose

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20. Fill in the blank – “Maybe you’re breaking away from your ______.”

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21. Define: for all hell to break loose

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22. When does this expression date back to?

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23. What book does it come from?

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24. How long ago was Old English?

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25. From when does Modern English date back to?

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26. What is the line in Middle English?

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27. What does the line mean when translated from Middle to Modern English?

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28. Can English speakers today understand English speakers from 500 years ago?

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29. Briefly describe example 1.

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30. Briefly describe example 2.

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31. Briefly describe example 3.

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32. What’s today’s interesting Aussie fact?

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33. How many kangaroos are there estimated to be in Australia?

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34. How many people are there in Australia?

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35. What word do we use for measuring number of cattle?

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36. How many cattle are there estimated to be in Australia?

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All answers below in the Answers section.

Exercise 3: Phrasal Verb Substitution

• In this exercise, we’re going to practice using the phrasal verb “to break out (of SW)” which means:

o To escape (from SW)
o To get free (from SW)
o To break loose (from SW)
o To get out (of SW)

• Substitute in the phrasal verb “to break out (of SW)” into the following sentences.

• Pay attention to match the verb tense used in each sentence too. Let’s go:

1. She escaped from the room.

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2. I had wanted to escape from here.

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3. You would’ve gotten free eventually.

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4. We got free from the jail cell.

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5. She won’t have gotten out by then.

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6. I’m going to escape.

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7. We’ll break loose, don’t worry.

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8. You’ll find a way to get out.

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9. They broke loose from their cage.

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10. He got out of the garage.

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11. She’s going to get free.

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12. They will have broken loose by tomorrow.

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All answers below in the Answers section.

Exercise 4: Slang

This week’s slang mission is to look up and use the following slang terms.

A jug of beer – a large measurement of beer, (2 pints, 40 fluid ounces, ~1182ml)

E.g. I’m going to the bar to grab another jug of beer.