1 00:00:06,249 --> 00:00:29,670 G'day guys and welcome to Aussie English. My objective here is to teach you guys the English spoken Down Under. So, whether you want to speak 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. 2 00:00:39,529 --> 00:00:45,250 G'day, guys! What's going on? How are you going? How's your week been? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. 3 00:00:45,910 --> 00:01:11,979 Man, guys, it has been a pretty good week because Noah has finally started smiling, so my son, Noah, has I don't know, how old is he now? He must be... He's almost seven weeks, seven weeks and a few days and he's finally started to interact, you know, to get you in his sight and make eye contact with, he kind of locks on and you can see that he's focusing on your face and then he smiles and reacts to you. 4 00:01:12,010 --> 00:01:48,140 So, that has finally happened and made the last six and a half weeks of no sleep worth it. There was no intro scene there on this episode, guys, because I'm going to try and do something a little bit new today. So, obviously the expression is 'tit for tat', 'tit for tat', and I was thinking ok, 'tit for tat', you know, what can I do in terms of Aussie facts and I started looking into gangs in Australia, you know, like bikie gangs or a lot of immigrant gangs that have come to pass through the years, you know, in Melbourne, in Sydney and then I thought, alright, I'll look more into it. 5 00:01:48,160 --> 00:02:14,889 I found out about a group of people, a group of gangs, called Push Gangs in the late eighteen hundreds and, so I did a whole bunch of research trying to find out about Push Gangs and I learnt a whole heap, but I ended up writing an essay on the stuff that I'll make the second episode about and it was just too long to include in this and the other annoying thing was just how hard it was to find information about Push Gangs online. 6 00:02:15,550 --> 00:02:40,569 There was the odd article here and there, but Wikipedia had barely anything, it had a few references to them and I had to used some of the books that I've bought recently in order to actually learn more about them. So, fortunately, the books that I invested in a few months ago about Australia, Australian slang, Australian history, helped me out here. So, they were a good investment, but yeah we'll talk about Push Gangs in the next episode. 7 00:02:40,810 --> 00:03:09,867 So, anyway, you mob, you guys! Welcome to this episode of the Aussie English podcast. This is the number one podcast for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English or just level up your English in general. It's for intermediate to advanced learners of English and if you would like the transcripts for the podcast as well as the downloads and the ability to use the premium podcast player, this is a player that sort of scrolls through the text, the transcript as you listen so you can follow along a lot more easily, make sure you sign up for the podcast at AussieEnglish.com.au. 8 00:03:14,741 --> 00:03:37,750 If on top of this you would like access to the course material for these weekly expression episodes as well as the Natural English Conversations Course, the Australian History and Culture Course and all of the other podcast content as well, make sure you sign up for the Aussie English classroom, which again, you can do via www.AussieEnglish.com.au. 9 00:03:43,330 --> 00:04:05,149 Anyway, spiel aside. Welcome, guys! Welcome to this episode. As usual I have a joke for you guys and I was thinking ok, how can I talk about or how can I find a joke related to today's expression? And, so I typed in 'tit joke', some of you guys probably know where this is going, and I found this joke, ok? I found it on Reddit it was really funny, so I had to include it. 10 00:04:06,250 --> 00:04:18,841 So a guy says to his friend 'I once met a girl with twelve nipples'. His friend says 'that sounds funny', and the guy replies 'dozen tit?'. 'Dozen tit'. 11 00:04:24,660 --> 00:04:52,907 Man, I swear when I found this one and was reading and I laughed for like five minutes. Alright, I'm going to try and explain what's going on here. So, a guy says to his friend 'I once met a girl with 12 nipples', right? The average person has two nipples. So, 12, that seems like, you know, that's crazy, right? So nipples are..how do you explain what a nipple is? It's that bit of flesh on your breast or on your pec that for women the milk comes out of when they're feeding their babies. 12 00:04:53,000 --> 00:05:33,514 Ok, that is the nipple okay or teat if it is an animal. And, so his friend says in reply 'that sounds funny,' as in that sounds strange or weird or, you know, could be hilarious, funny, and the guy replies with the pun, the play on words, 'dozen tit', right? And a dozen is twelve and a tit means breast. It is another word for, I guess, nipples, right? It is this sort of synonym there, but the play on words here is between dozen tit, like 12 tits, and the phrase 'doesn't it'. You know, so that sounds funny, doesn't it, right? 13 00:05:34,340 --> 00:05:54,652 So, you can say that as a response when someone says 'that sounds funny' you could reply, 'yeah, doesn't it?', right? Doesn't it. Anyway, that's the pun there. I thought it was hilarious, and the best part was the comments on Reddit. This is a website that has all kinds of forums on it and you can kind of comment on different topics when people post things. It's a really good one for learning English, get on there, Reddit. 14 00:05:54,653 --> 00:06:21,382 So, the top comment in response to the joke was 'it's breast if you don't tell this joke anymore. Tits not very funny'. So, the puns there, there's two puns there. 'It's breast if you don't tell this joke anymore', breast, best, it's best if you don't do this, and then 'tit's not very funny', as in 'it's not very funny'. 15 00:06:22,450 --> 00:06:44,660 Alright, so childish humour, childish humour aside, today's expression is 'tit for tat', 'tit for tat' and tit in this sense don't worry does not mean breast, ok? It means something else, but this was suggested by Lima in the Aussie English classroom, good job, Lima. It's a funny expression, it's used quite often. We'll go through what it means, but before then we'll go through the different words in the expression. 16 00:06:45,680 --> 00:07:26,269 So tit. Obviously, as we've said 'tit could mean breast, right? Informal slang for breast or nipple and a teat is a breast or nipple of an animal, ok? Tit, teat, is that minimal pair between those two difficult vowels, right? Like ship and sheep, tit, teat. A tit can also be a small sparrow, so if you live somewhere like Europe in say Britain, you might see tits all over the place when you're out doing photography of birds. And that's because the word tit comes from the Icelandic word 'titlingur', titlingur', which is referring to the bird. It's a small type of sparrow. 17 00:07:27,290 --> 00:07:53,211 And then lastly, tit could be a foolish or ineffectual person. So, in Britain too you might hear slang of 'ah this guy's a real tit', right? He's an idiot. He's an ineffectual person, but in this, sense 'tit' means a blow, a light strike, ok? Tit and tat both of these mean a blow, a light strike. So, if I give you a tit, I give you a tat, it's like I'm sort of punching you lightly. So, when you say 'tit for tat' it means a tit, like a small blow, a small punch, in exchange for another tat or another tit, right? Tit for tat. 18 00:08:04,496 --> 00:08:24,860 Now, the origin of this expression was really interesting, so I thought I would research it and there's a really good website called phrases.org.uk. So, anytime you guys want to look up the origin of English expressions, this is a really good website. Now, they had a really good explanation, which I thought I'd just read out for you guys, ok? Here we go. 19 00:08:25,550 --> 00:08:53,986 So, it's tempting to assume that this little phrase is another way of saying this for that and in a way it is. Tit and tat are both the names of small blows, which originate as tip and tap. These are recorded by Charles Duke of Orleans in a book of poems that he wrote while captive in England after the Battle of Agincourt and first published circa 1466 . 20 00:08:55,284 --> 00:08:57,139 'Strokis grete, not tippe nor tap'. 21 00:08:57,820 --> 00:09:16,920 I've no idea what that means. The widespread unconcern about spelling and pronunciation in the Middle Ages led to tip tap, tit and tat, all being variant spellings. John Heywood appears to be the first to have used 'tit for tat' in the parody 'The Spider and The Fly', in 1556. 22 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:38,209 That is 'tit for tat in this altrication' (and he means 'altercation'). In the 20th century 'tit for tat' was the source of the cockney rhyming slang 'titfer', meaning hat, right? Because 'tat' rhymes with 'hat', 'titfer' means hat. Cockney rhyming slang. 23 00:09:38,750 --> 00:09:44,385 The renowned lexicographer of slang Eric Partridge listed that in 1930 in 'Songs and Slang of the British Soldier': 24 00:09:44,386 --> 00:09:45,142 "Titfer, tit for tat, that is, hat". 25 00:09:45,699 --> 00:10:08,129 This usage was popularized by the British comedian Tommy Trinder, who although he was born several miles from the sound of Bow Bells in Streatham, London, and hence not strictly a cockney, he exemplified cockney style to most people. He was rarely seen in public without his 'tit for tat', his hat. 26 00:10:09,140 --> 00:10:34,304 Most recently still ''tit for tat' has been used as the name of the strategy in the classic logic problem of game theory, The Prisoner's Dilemma. This strategy, which since has been applied successfully in many real life situations, recommends a like for like retaliation as the most rewarding response to duplicity by one's opponent. So, 'tit for tat', guys. Do you know what the expression 'tit for tat' means? 27 00:10:34,940 --> 00:10:54,785 A tit for tat is a blow or some other retaliation in return for an injury or another. A like for like retaliation, a counter strike a fair and equivalent response or it could be the infliction of an injury or insult in return for one that you've received. So, as usual, let's go through the three different examples I have here about how I would use the expression 'tit for tat' in day to day English, ok? 28 00:10:59,232 --> 00:11:31,365 So, example number one. This is a contemporary example, so imagine you've got two nations that are at war with each other and you're probably likely familiar with Palestine and Israel. They're probably a pretty good example as they've been at war for a very long time. So, these guys are always making the headlines in the media for conflicts that seem to flare up every couple of months. So, Hamas in Palestine might launch a rocket into Israel, and then the Israeli army responds by targeting a certain military objective in Palestine and destroying them in return. 29 00:11:31,970 --> 00:11:44,780 And so, they tend to go tit for tat. They tend to exchange blows, every time one of them attacks the other, they respond with an equivalent strike, which is tit for tat. They have a tit for tat exchange. 30 00:11:46,010 --> 00:12:27,799 Example number two: you're hopeless with remembering birthdays and this year you forget your wife's birthday and she loses the plot, she gets really upset and she rages up at you, so hopefully next time you won't forget. To get even with you she responds in a tit for tat kind of way and gets nothing for your birthday when it finally comes by. So, she pretends to have forgotten your birthday and she buys you nothing and you wake up that morning, she's gone out for the day, she's left you at home or by yourself and you realize she's given you a dose of your own medicine, she's treating you how you treat her on her birthday, which is tit for tat. It's an equivalent retaliation. Hopefully, you don't have a wife or husband that's that vindictive, though. 31 00:12:29,340 --> 00:13:02,420 Alright, example number three: bikie gangs. So, in Australia we have a number of bikie gangs and there's violence that's quite often associated with them. So, some of the most notorious biker groups in Australia are say the Hells Angels, the Bandidos, the Comancheros, and if you're a member from say the Hells Angels and you attack another group like the Bandidos or the Comancheros and bash or stab or shoot someone, the group that was attacked is forced to respond in kind and bash stab or shoot someone in a tit for tat reply. 32 00:13:02,810 --> 00:13:12,632 So, this often leads to an escalation in violence and the news might often report on a spate of tit for tat attacks between bikie gangs in Sydney or Melbourne. 33 00:13:13,070 --> 00:13:41,900 So, there you go, guys! Hopefully now you understand the expression 'tit for tat', meaning a blow or some other retaliation in return for an injury that you've received from someone else. So, it's like a counter strike, a fair or equivalent response the infliction of injury or insult in return to one that you've suffered. So, let's go through a little listen and repeat exercise, guys, where you guys can practice your pronunciation so listen and repeat after me. Ok? Let's go. 34 00:13:43,100 --> 00:13:44,100 Tit. 35 00:13:45,220 --> 00:13:46,220 Tit for. 36 00:13:48,170 --> 00:13:49,511 Tit for tat x 5 37 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:11,404 I responded in a tit for tat manner. 38 00:14:12,205 --> 00:14:14,067 You responded in a tit for tat manner. 39 00:14:23,611 --> 00:14:25,424 He responded in a tit for tat manner. 40 00:14:34,941 --> 00:14:36,803 She responded in a tit for tat manner. 41 00:14:46,259 --> 00:14:48,072 We responded in a tit for tat manner. 42 00:14:57,780 --> 00:14:59,691 They responded in a tit for tat manner. 43 00:15:08,954 --> 00:15:10,767 It responded in a tit for tat manner. 44 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:53,569 Good job! There's quite a few things going on there. So, you might hear for example: 'I responded in a...'. There's no real D sound there at the end of 'responded'. Instead it kind of becomes a T flap, right? 'I responded in a...', so that first D kind of said, but the last one after ED kind of turns into the T flap, 'responded in a...', 'responded in a...'. 45 00:15:54,440 --> 00:16:21,037 And you'll notice for 'tit and tat', you can say the final T in these words 'tit for tat'. However, because in both examples here of tit and tat the word following each of them starts with a consonant sound, tit for tat manner. You don't have to say that T at the ends of these words and instead you can mute them, so you'll hear 'tit for tat', 'tit for tat manner'. 46 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:59,139 So the tongue goes into the T position, mutes that T and then you say the next consonant sound. Tit for, tat manner. And the last thing I want you to pay attention to is how the words 'in a' and 'for' get really sped over, right? We don't really emphasize them strongly. So, you'll hear 'I responded in a tit for tat manner', 'in a tit for tat manner', so the words kind of disappear, the vowel sounds get changed to a schwa and you'll hear that kind of emphasis and rhythm change in the sentence: 'I responded in a tit for tat manner.' 47 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:01,940 So, let's go through the phrases one more time. 48 00:17:02,930 --> 00:17:04,694 I responded in a tit for tat manner. 49 00:17:05,260 --> 00:17:07,122 You responded in a tit for tat manner. 50 00:17:15,881 --> 00:17:17,694 He responded in a tit for tat manner. 51 00:17:26,564 --> 00:17:28,426 She responded in a tit for tat manner. 52 00:17:37,527 --> 00:17:39,340 We responded in a tit for tat manner. 53 00:17:48,226 --> 00:17:50,137 They responded in a tit for tat manner. 54 00:17:58,846 --> 00:18:00,659 It responded in a tit for tat manner. 55 00:18:09,442 --> 00:18:17,527 Good work, guys! Good work! So, anyway, that's the end of this episode. Have a look for the next episode where we're going to talk all about push gangs in Australia. 56 00:18:27,205 --> 00:18:46,825 And this was really interesting. I actually spent a load of time trying to piece together heaps of information from different sources and write an essay about push gangs in Australia and a famous guy called Larry Foley, from who the expression 'as happy as Larry' comes, ok? 57 00:18:47,570 --> 00:18:54,430 So, we're going to talk about slang and we'll also talk about that expression 'as happy as Larry' in the next episode. I'll see you there, peace! 58 00:18:58,700 --> 00:19:38,540 G'day, mate! Thanks for listening to this episode of the Aussie English podcast. If you wish to support the podcast and help me keep bringing you content you can do so via my Patreon page. Remember, it's my mission here at Aussie English not only to help you understand Australian English, but to speak it like a native. If that's your goal, make sure you enrol in the Aussie English classroom, guys, where you'll get all the bonus content for today's episode designed to improve your English even faster. Have a ripper of a day and I'll see you in class.