1 00:00:00,270 --> 00:00:02,616 Australia, what's your favourite sport? Football. 2 00:00:02,617 --> 00:00:03,617 Snack? Pies. 3 00:00:03,750 --> 00:00:04,750 Animal? Kangaroo. 4 00:00:04,950 --> 00:00:05,950 What's your favourite car, Australia? Holden. 5 00:00:07,109 --> 00:00:10,588 Let me see, that's football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars, huh? 6 00:00:10,983 --> 00:00:11,859 Right! 7 00:00:11,860 --> 00:00:13,490 Well, it sure sounds like Australia to me! 8 00:00:13,491 --> 00:00:13,638 We are! 9 00:00:13,639 --> 00:00:17,890 Well, then you better tell me again because I just might forget. 10 00:00:18,799 --> 00:00:19,933 We love football, meat pie, kangaroos and Holden cars. 11 00:00:25,963 --> 00:00:28,266 Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. 12 00:00:28,267 --> 00:00:29,401 That's football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. 13 00:00:29,403 --> 00:00:30,403 Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. 14 00:00:33,550 --> 00:00:34,702 I think you better tell me again! 15 00:00:34,736 --> 00:00:35,891 We love football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. 16 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:46,569 In case you're wondering, this commercial is brought to you by football, meat pies, kangaroos and Australia's own car. 17 00:00:48,069 --> 00:00:52,176 They go together as the southern stars. Football and meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. 18 00:00:53,741 --> 00:00:54,313 Make sense to me! 19 00:00:54,314 --> 00:00:55,314 Football, meat pies, kangaroos... 20 00:01:04,799 --> 00:01:27,470 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. 21 00:01:33,670 --> 00:02:15,479 Alrighty, you mob! How's it going? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, the number one podcast for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. Guys, it is great to have you with me today. Hope you enjoyed that little intro scene there at the start. That was an Australian ad from the 1970s and it's related to today's content, because I will talk a little later about Australian culture and the history of the Aussie pie, you know? With a big dollop of dead horse or tomato sauce on top of it. Hopefully, there's no dead horse in your pie. 22 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:37,577 Anyway, guys! Welcome to this episode, it's great to have you here. It is a late Wednesday night at the moment when I am recording this. It's about 11:00 p.m. at night, so I'm up late, I'm burning the midnight oil, I am working late at night because Noah and Kel are asleep. It's been really good, Noah is about to turn 2 months old and he's getting much more active. 23 00:02:37,680 --> 00:03:05,405 I really noticed in the last two weeks, since about week six, that he is much more interactive. He looks at you, he started to smile, he is not really laughing as such yet, not a proper 'ha ha ha' kind of laugh, more like a... That kind of thing, but yeah he's in control of his, you know, his sounds, he's also trying to talk a little bit to us, every now and then he'll just start making noises, and yeah it's really cute. 24 00:03:05,490 --> 00:03:15,750 So, I'm looking forward to see him develop rapidly in the near future, because it seems to just be accelerating, right? And just picking up pace, getting faster and faster. 25 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:46,332 Before we get into today's content, before we get into the meat of today's episode on pies, get it? Meat. I wanted to talk to you about restructuring of the Aussie English Classroom and what I am now calling the Aussie English Academy. I have decided to get rid of the trial ok, so there are no more one-dollar trials, guys. There's so much content in there now, that it is just the fee, as soon as you get in ok?. 26 00:03:46,830 --> 00:04:16,671 Because I want members who sign up to take it seriously, it seemed like there are a lot of people signing up and then forgetting that they'd signed up, because it was so cheap, wanted to get rid of that and just have it as a flat fee. On top of that, I've divided up the Aussie English Academy. So, now the Aussie English Academy includes the Expression courses, of which there are 80 of them now, like it's a ridiculous amount, guys, it's a ridiculous amount of content that's taken me years to produce, but there are 80 courses just for the Expression episodes like this one in the Aussie English Classroom. 27 00:04:19,807 --> 00:04:46,341 There is the Aussie English Interview course, which has 17 lessons with other Australian speakers of English. There is the Australian History and Culture course, which includes 30 lessons related to Australian history and culture. Then we have the Natural English Conversation course, which includes all the dialogues. There are 23 lessons in there and guys every single week, as I do these expression episodes, I add to each of these courses, right? 28 00:04:46,890 --> 00:05:19,939 So, they get bigger and bigger the longer you're there. On top of this I've included, as you may have seen if you're in there, three speaking calls now per week with Renata. Now, guys, there aren't many of you going to this, so I really encourage you guys, if you're in the Aussie English Classroom and the time works out, go to the 6, 7 and 8 p.m. classes with Renata where you can practice you speaking about a wide range of topics in English, three times a week, for half an hour, ok? Monday, Wednesday and Friday usually. 29 00:05:20,370 --> 00:05:37,961 And then on top of this, guys, in the Aussie English Academy, you obviously have access to all of the Premium Podcast content and I will add that I'm currently investing a lot of money and a lot of time working with my I.T. guy Praveen and his team on the next Academy, ok? 30 00:05:39,000 --> 00:06:07,450 So, we're going to completely redo the website and we're going to turn these into apps for your phone and there's just going to be a lot more in there. It's going to be a lot more user friendly, I'm going to design it with quite a few of the members in the classroom at the moment, they're going to be my beta testers, so I'm really looking forward to working with them, but it's all in an effort to really help you learn as much culture and history of Australia as possible, improve your English at the same time and speak confidently. 31 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:32,078 So, they're my main goals. Lastly, I'll mention that the Australian Pronunciation course, the Effortless Phrasal Verb course and the Spoken English course are now all sold separately. They are not included in the Academy. This was because I found a lot of people weren't using them who were in the academy and I had a lot of requests from people wanting to just get access to that content, particularly the phrasal verb course and the Australian pronunciation course, ok? So, they are all separate now. 32 00:06:36,898 --> 00:06:49,442 The last thing I'll mention, if you signed up and joined the Aussie English Classroom previously, you will still have access to everything, but going on from now in the future, anyone who signs up, this is the structure, this is the way things will be, ok? 33 00:06:50,682 --> 00:07:09,129 So, that's just how it is, I wanted to tell you about it, guys. I'm more than willing to hear your feedback on how I've got the system set up. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing my best to kind of cater to everyone's needs, ok? And there's so much content in there, so many people were getting lost and overwhelmed. Hopefully this restructure will help. 34 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:18,634 Anyway, that was a big intro. I really, really appreciate you sticking with it and being patient, so the Aussie joke, guys. The Aussie joke, and got a good one, I got a pie joke for you. 35 00:07:20,652 --> 00:07:29,614 What do sharks eat for dessert? What do sharks eat for dessert? 36 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:59,440 Octo-pie. Octo-pie. It's horrible. Alright. So octo-pie, Here spelt OCTO-PIE is a pun with the word octopi, which is the plural for octopus, right? The eight-legged mollusc that lives in the ocean. So, what do sharks eat for dessert? They eat octo-pie, right? So, multiple octopus. 37 00:07:59,810 --> 00:08:29,989 So, it's a pun there with the word pie and we're, you know, taking it out of the word octopi, octopi. Hmm pie jokes. So, today's expression, guys, is 'to have one's fingers in many pies' or 'to have a finger in every pie'. You might hear variations on this expression, but this was suggested by Alida, in the Aussie English Classroom. Thank you very much Alida, she's from Brazil one of my students it was a good suggestion and I had a lot of fun putting this episode together. 38 00:08:31,030 --> 00:08:38,720 Alright, so let's go through the definitions in the expression 'to have one's fingers in many pies' or 'to have a finger in every pie'. 39 00:08:39,260 --> 00:09:06,890 So, the verb 'to have'. Now, this has a bucket load of different definitions, but the most common ones are, obviously, to possess something, to own something, to hold something. So, like right now, if I pick up my mug, I have my coffee mug in my hand, right? I possess it, I'm holding it, but in this case, 'to have one's fingers in many pies', have here means to cause to be in a particular state or condition. 40 00:09:07,010 --> 00:09:25,444 So, it's like you have placed your hand inside of a pie and you have your hand there, that is where it is, you've caused it to be in that particular condition or state, right? I've got my hand, I have my hand at the moment in front of my head, ok? Tapping my head, I have my hand here. 41 00:09:25,970 --> 00:09:49,739 'A finger'. A finger is, obviously, one of the ten appendages that you have on your two hands, right? You've got your thumbs, which quite often people say 'oh they're not fingers', but, I mean, come on. They're on your hand, they're appendages, they're fingers. You've got your index finger, you've got your rude finger, your ring finger and your little finger or pinky finger, ok? So, they're the sort of names we use for the different fingers in English. 42 00:09:50,809 --> 00:10:11,119 'Many'. 'Many' as a large number of something, right? So, some people have many more fingers than just the ten, right? There are some people who have six on each hand, maybe even seven. I remember seeing a doco about a group of people in Brazil, a family, that has that gene in their family, where a whole bunch of people have six fingers on each hand. 43 00:10:11,810 --> 00:10:31,361 And lastly 'a pie', now, this can obviously be a dessert as you would find in America, where it is usually a dessert made from pastry, it's sweet and it has fruit inside of it, but in Australia most often if someone says they have a pie or they want to eat a pie, they're talking about a meat pie. So, still made from pastry, but inside it's usually meat and gravy and vegetables, right? A meat pie. 44 00:10:36,654 --> 00:11:01,789 So, if you have your fingers in many pies, if you have a finger in every pie, what do you think this means? It means that you're involved in many, sometimes too many, different things, right? So, you're involved in a lot of different activities or maybe you know about a lot of different things going on, whether it's events or gossip, you have a good sense of what's happening, right? So, you're involved in a lot. 45 00:11:03,050 --> 00:11:31,862 So, the origin of this expression. When we or smell of freshly baked pie, we often have that temptation to taste it, right? So, this idiom probably originates with the idea that someone might sneak into the kitchen, shove their finger inside of freshly baked pie in order to taste it discreetly and if they are especially greedy they might try to put a finger in every single pie, right? If there are multiple pies in the kitchen and the phrase was used by Shakespeare in his play 'Henry the Eighth,' in which Cardinal Wolsey is described as being too involved in other people's business: 46 00:11:41,002 --> 00:11:47,780 "The devil speed him, no man's pie is freed from this ambitious finger." 47 00:11:48,950 --> 00:12:12,862 Alright, so let's go through some examples of how I would use the expression 'to have a finger in every pie' or 'to have fingers in many pies'. So, for example, my uncle has always been a bit of a business man and he's bought and owned businesses, he's grown them and then he tends to sell them and that's sort of been his career. So, he's always been an entrepreneur with a creative flair, who obviously never wanted to work for someone and instead work for himself and do his own thing. 48 00:12:18,024 --> 00:12:46,639 So, he often had many things going on at once, he was spinning many plates, so he might be selling prosthetic knees to surgeons one minute, then the next minute, I remember, he built a business selling premade pizzas to supermarkets like Coles or Woollies. So, because he's involved in a number of different businesses at the same time, he's got his fingers in many pies, right? He's got his finger in every single pie, so he's doing many different things simultaneously. 49 00:12:47,330 --> 00:13:21,799 Example number two: so, at school I was a kid who was never obsessed with one subject. I used to love French, I used to love biology. I also dabbled a bit in maths and chemistry, although they weren't really, you know, my favourite subjects, and on top of this I also loved sports as well, so I had my fingers in many pies. I was interested and involved in a lot of subjects and at school, regarding sport, it was mandatory to train in a winter sport for two terms of the year and in a summer sport for two terms of the year. 50 00:13:21,830 --> 00:13:38,479 This was every single student, they had to do this unless they had an exemption. So, in summer I used to train tennis twice a week and then on weekends we'd have to compete against other schools, and then during winter it'd be the same thing, but it would be soccer. But on top of this, I was interested in sword fighting. 51 00:13:38,870 --> 00:14:04,160 So, I also trained and competed in the sport of fencing and that was extra, I didn't have to do that. It wasn't mandatory to do a third sport, but I was interested and I just liked being an active kid, so because I was involved in so many sports, I had my fingers in many pies. I had a finger in every pie and within fencing too and there were three main styles that you could compete in. 52 00:14:04,190 --> 00:14:21,100 There was foil, épée and sabre. These three different sword fighting types and different swords that had different rules, and I used to like dabbling in all of them, except sabre was my favourite. So, in terms of fencing styles, I also had my fingers in many pies. 53 00:14:21,239 --> 00:14:58,600 Example number three: I used to be studying at the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne where I was doing my masters degree and then I did my PhD as well in Biology. So, while I was there, there were many people whose jobs included many different tasks, so they might have to manage the lab and make sure machines are running and working fine and that the supplies are always full and stocked, but they also might have to teach students and write and correct papers as well as maybe work in the museum collections and make sure specimens are organised correctly for all the other students and researchers that examine them. 54 00:14:59,030 --> 00:15:17,580 So, these kinds of people had their fingers in many pies. They weren't specialised, but instead they had to do many different jobs. They were involved in a lot of different things at the museum, so they had to wear many hats and one moment they might be a lab co-ordinator, the next they might be managing students, they had their fingers in many pies. 55 00:15:17,990 --> 00:15:37,394 So, hopefully now guys you understand the expression 'to have your finger in every pie' or 'to have your fingers in many pies'. You'll often hear these kinds of variations and it means to be involved in many more often too many different things, ok? And you could be doing multiple activities or going to multiple events studying multiple things, you're involved in a lot of different things, ok? 56 00:15:41,759 --> 00:16:07,887 So, let's go through the little listen and repeat exercise here, guys, where you can practice your pronunciation, so listen and repeat after me, guys. If you're working on your Aussie accent, obviously, pay attention to how I pronounce every single little bit here as best you can. If you're not working on an Aussie accent, that's cool too, go with the accent you're doing, just use the words that I'm saying as a prompt for you to practice your pronunciation, ok? Let's go. 57 00:16:08,660 --> 00:16:08,857 To 58 00:16:08,858 --> 00:16:14,370 To have 59 00:16:15,409 --> 00:16:16,409 To have one's 60 00:16:16,763 --> 00:16:17,792 To have one's fingers 61 00:16:19,578 --> 00:16:26,210 To have one's fingers in 62 00:16:30,450 --> 00:16:31,871 To have one's fingers in many 63 00:16:32,495 --> 00:16:40,687 To have one's fingers in many pies x 5 64 00:17:15,404 --> 00:17:43,796 Good job! Now there's a bit of connected speech going on there, so pay attention to that, guys. To have one's fingers in many pies. Now, we'll go through and contract 'I have got my fingers in many pies', 'you have got your fingers in many pies', ok? It sounds much more natural to contract that together. Listen and repeat after me. 65 00:17:45,110 --> 00:17:47,082 I've got my fingers in many pies. 66 00:17:47,212 --> 00:17:49,025 You've got your fingers in many pies. 67 00:17:56,547 --> 00:18:06,170 He's got his fingers in many pies. 68 00:18:06,253 --> 00:18:15,877 She's got her fingers in many pies. 69 00:18:15,956 --> 00:18:25,535 We've got our fingers in many pies. 70 00:18:25,754 --> 00:18:35,746 They've got their fingers in many pies. 71 00:18:42,550 --> 00:18:45,589 It's got its fingers in many pies. 72 00:18:52,430 --> 00:19:14,642 Good work! A little bit more on pronunciation there. You might notice the T at the end of the word 'got', there's a few interesting situations here in terms of pronunciation, so when I say 'I've got my', 'you've got your', I don't actually pronounce the T, it's a stop consonant, so I don't release it, because there's a consonant after it in the word 'my' or the word 'your', right? 73 00:19:14,740 --> 00:19:19,519 So, you'll hear 'I've got my', 'you've got your'. 74 00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:49,766 When it comes to words after it starting with H like 'he's got his' and 'she's got her', you might notice there I don't pronounce the H and the T turns into a T flap. So, it's really 'got his', but because I speak quickly the T becomes a T flap, because it's not on the start of syllable that's emphasized and because the H disappears too and there's a vowel after it, it becomes that T flap, so you'll hear 'his got his', 'she's got her'. 75 00:19:50,960 --> 00:20:14,113 It also happens for 'we've got our', because there's no consonant after the T, so again it's a t flap. Interesting, right? So, anyway pay attention to those things, right? The Ds, the T's, those kinds of stop consonants at the ends of words often don't get released, so you might find it hard to hear them and then letters like H at the start of words can often disappear in the linked speech, ok? 76 00:20:15,300 --> 00:20:28,189 So, I love including that sort of stuff because I feel like understanding it will let you understand native speakers when they speak quickly and also it'll help you sound like a native speaker when you speak using these tips. 77 00:20:28,580 --> 00:20:49,670 Anyway, guys. This has been a pretty long episode. I'm going to get into the Aussie English Fact in the next episode, where we'll be talking about the history of the humble Aussie pie, ok? So, it has an interesting story. I hope to see you in there, thank you again for joining me, guys, and I'll also see you in the Aussie English Academy, hopefully. See you, guys. 78 00:20:54,030 --> 00:21:19,040 G'day, mate! Thanks for listening to this episode of the Aussie English podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. If you'd like to get access to all of my other content and level up your English even faster, go to www.AussieEnglish.com.au, where you can get access to the Premium podcasts, you can join the Aussie English Academy or you can sign up for my other courses. Have a great one, mate and I'll see you soon.