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The first cats were brought to
Australia in 1804. The wild cat
population today is in the tens of
millions. In Tasmania, there are
thought to be twice as many cats as
there are people. Feral cats are also
chewing their way through other
species. Cats eat small mammals,
lizards and insects. Traditionally,
the prey of animals native to
Australia. Everything's interlinked,
so if you take one thing out of that
linkage, you get severe effects
either one way or the other.
Australia has the worst history of
mammal extinctions in the world.
Feral cats remaining at or increasing
numbers are only going to push that
extinction record further and
further.

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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
flipping' 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.

3
00:01:15,450 --> 00:01:27,320
Alright, guys. Welcome to this
episode of Aussie English! I hope
you're going well, I hope you're
having a great week.

4
00:01:29,250 --> 00:01:54,681
I was having a good week, but it has
quickly become an average week and, I
guess, I'll let you in on what's
happened recently. Recently, Kel and
I've been looking at houses and, so
it's sort of a long story and, in
fact, I recorded an episode yesterday
last night with my mate James about
what it's like saving for a deposit
and trying to buy a house here in
Australia, as an Australian, and
hopefully that episode will be out
soon and all the help you guys if you
guys are thinking about buying
property in the future.

5
00:01:58,321 --> 00:02:11,990
But anyway, Kel and I were thinking
about buying a house, hopefully, this
year because we were trying to get
out of the rental market and trying
to spend the money that we would
otherwise spend on rent on paying off
a mortgage instead, right?

6
00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:58,590
So, the money is going towards us and
our future, instead of into the
pocket of someone else. However, a
spanner has been thrown into the
works, so I went in saw the bank and
they had me fill out a bunch of
documents to send off to their
financial department in the city and
I got a call today and it looks like
we can't borrow very much money. So,
I was assuming that, based on my
current income, at least of this
year, that I would be able to get a
certain amount, except the problem
was that the bank requires the last
two tax returns that you've done and
I haven't done this years. And, so
the last two tax returns that I did,
I think, 2017/18 and 2016/17 were
abysmal.

7
00:02:58,700 --> 00:03:18,800
They were very, very low tax returns
in terms of income for those years.
And, so, ultimately, the guy was like
'well...we can lend you about 100
grand, but that's about it. Can you
get anywhere near where you're
currently living for a hundred
grand?' And I was like... The house
we're living in now is probably eight
hundred grand. So, no chance.

8
00:03:19,190 --> 00:03:36,144
Anyway, spanner in the works, you
know, it's a sort of hiccup, it's a
bit of a hurdle that we're going to
have to get over, I guess we'll just
have to keep working hard for the
next few years, you know, work on our
income try and save a deposit and
then hopefully, in a few years, we'll
be able to apply again and get enough
money to buy a house.

9
00:03:40,081 --> 00:03:59,681
But yeah, far out. That was out of
left field. I was... I had high
hopes, but my hopes were dashed when
I had a call today with the, I don't
know what his job would be, like a
loan advisor from the bank, from
Westpac. And yeah, got a dose of
reality. Anyway, guys. That's where I
am currently, a bit down in the
dumps, but hopefully I would cheer
myself up and give you guys an
amazing episode today.

10
00:04:07,536 --> 00:04:26,891
So, alright, welcome to the Aussie
English podcast, guys. The number one
podcast for anyone and everyone
wanting to get their English to an
advanced level through the lens of
Australian English. Obviously, you're
going to learn a whole heap about
Australian English, about Australian
culture, about Australian news,
current affairs and history, whilst
also taking your English to the next
level.

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00:04:29,943 --> 00:04:59,637
So, let's get into this episode. The
intro scene there was a clip from Al
Jazeera English and there'll be a
link in the transcript, so that you
can go and check out that video on
their YouTube channel and watch the
entire thing, but it was about feral
cats in Australia and how they're
proving to be a bit of a problem for
Tasmanian devils. So, you guys may or
may not know that in Australia we
have quite a lot of feral invasive
and pest species, so species that
have come from elsewhere that are
actually a big problem in the native
environment here in Australia for
plants, for animals, for even people.

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00:05:05,011 --> 00:05:27,953
So, yeah the expression today is 'pet
peeve'. And because of pet I was
thinking cats, dogs and then I
thought... I could talk to you guys
about feral pest and invasive species
in Australia because it's important
to understand their role or the issue
that they are in the Australian
environment. So, anyway, the joke
today, let's get into a joke.

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I was thinking pets, you know,
animals. How can I come up with a
joke that's related to this? So
here's the joke and it's about frogs,
ok? Hopefully you like this and, you
know, for anyone who doesn't know,
the cane toad in Australia is a big
problem species, pest species and it
is a frog. Alright.

14
00:05:48,590 --> 00:06:07,556
What happens to a frog's car when it
breaks down? What happens to a frog's
car when it breaks down? Breaks down
is like malfunctions, right? If the
engine suddenly goes kaput , you
know, wheel falls off the, car's
broken down. So, what happens to a
frog's car when it breaks down?

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00:06:08,210 --> 00:06:11,248
It gets 'toad' away. Alright? Do you
get it? It's 'toad' away.

16
00:06:16,115 --> 00:06:27,924
So, it's so stupid. The pun hearing
is on the word towed, right? A toad
is a type of frog and frogs that are
toads tend to have like leathery skin
like cane toads. They are the kind of
animals that witches use in their
potions, right? Toads.

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But the pun here is with the word
'towed' as in a tow truck, tows a car
away when it breaks down, right? So,
it takes that car somewhere, it pulls
the car it tows the car away to be
repaired, right? So, what happens to
a frog's car when it breaks down? It
gets towed away.

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00:06:55,525 --> 00:07:22,103
So, today's expression guys is a 'pet
peeve'. I wonder if you guys have got
any pet peeves? This one comes from
Rogelio in the Aussie English
Facebook group. So, that's open now,
guys. Come and join the group, just
search Aussie English on Facebook.
I'm trying to post a lot in there to
get you guys talking, discussing
Australia, discussing things about
English and to just facilitate your
improvement in English.

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00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:38,325
So, Rogelio suggested this one, it
was a really good one. A pet peeve,
it can also be a 'pet aversion' or a
'pet hate', ok? 'Pet peeve', 'pet
aversion', 'pet hate'. So, let's go
through the definitions in the
expression, a 'pet peeve'.

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00:07:38,840 --> 00:08:03,549
So, 'pet'. Most of you guys, I think,
will know a pet is a domesticated
animal kept for pleasure, right?
Rather than utility, so you might
have livestock or farm animals, but
they don't tend to be pets because
they have like a purpose, they're
there to work, whereas a pet is more
this domesticated animal like a cat
or a dog. It doesn't really work, it
just hangs out with you, you know,
for company.

21
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It can also be used to talk about a
spoiled child, right? They can be a
pet. So, a pampered and usually
spoiled child and this is why we call
children at school who are Goody
Two-Shoes, who are always trying to
impress the teacher and do the right
thing and you know, dob on other
kids, they are a teacher's pet,
right? A teacher's pet.

22
00:08:25,039 --> 00:08:42,911
But in this case, in the case of a
'pet peeve', pet here is an
adjective, it's not a noun and it
expresses fondness or endearment. So,
something that you love, something
that you're fond of, something that
is dear to you is a pet thing.

23
00:08:43,669 --> 00:08:51,705
And a 'peeve' the noun 'a peeve' is a
feeling or mood of resentment. So,
something you really dislike or you
don't like or you resent, right? I've
got a few peeves.

24
00:08:55,385 --> 00:09:20,228
And, so the expression, the
definition of the expression is 'a
pet peeve'. It is a minor annoyance
that an individual identifies as
particularly irritating to them,
right? So, to a greater degree than
would be expected based on the
experiences of other people, so it's
kind of like when they overreact to
something. So pet peeves often
involve specific behaviours of
someone else that are really annoying
and often close people like spouses
or relatives or friends, ok? A pet
peeve, a really annoying thing.

25
00:09:27,538 --> 00:09:42,532
So, the origin of this expression.
So, the noun 'peeve' meaning
annoyance is believed to have
originated in the U.S., back in the
early 20th century and it derived by
back formation from the adjective
'peevish', which means ill tempered,
right? Peevish. And that dates all
the way back to the 14th century.

26
00:09:49,148 --> 00:10:23,154
So, the term 'pet peeve' was first
introduced to a large readership of a
comic strip The Little Pet Peeve in
the Chicago Tribune that came out
during the early nineteen hundreds
and the strip was created by a
cartoonist called Frank King. Now,
King's little pet peeves were
humorous critiques of generally
thoughtless behaviours and nuisance
frustrations of other people. So,
examples included people reading the
inter-titles in silent films aloud or
cracking an egg open to smell it to
see if it had gone rotten, maybe
backseat drivers, so people who sit
behind you in a car and tell you
where to go. Those were his pet
peeves or his examples of pet peeves,
ok? So, that's where it comes from.

27
00:10:32,243 --> 00:11:12,658
So, let's go through now a few
examples of how I would use the
expression 'a pet peeve' in day to
day English. So, example number one:
imagine that you're the boss of a
business and you hire someone new to
a team to take care of a specific
task. So, the person's got really
good credentials, they're definitely
qualified for the job and you hire
them. However, when they start it
turns out that they're almost always
running late to work and this is your
pet peeve. You hate tardiness. It's
incredibly annoying. It riles you up.
It ruffles your feathers, it rubs you
the wrong way, it infuriates you when
your employees show up late to work.
It's your biggest pet peeve.

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00:11:12,724 --> 00:12:09,549
Example number two: imagine you love
to go surfing, you know, each weekend
you go to a local beach at Ocean
Grove or Torquay to catch a few
waves, you know, enjoy the ocean and
distress after a long week's work.
So, there's a certain etiquette when
you go surfing whereby when multiple
surfers catch the same wave, the
surfer who's furthest back closest to
the break of the wave has right of
way and the other surfers should bail
off the wave and give him or her
priority. So, say you're trying to
catch waves one day, you know,
there's a huge six foot wave that
comes in, it's breaking perfectly,
you paddle really hard, you get up on
it and someone cuts in front of you.
So, they're further along the way
than you are and should give right of
way to you, but they don't, so you've
got to bail and it makes you furious,
it drives you crazy, it bugs you
because it's one of your biggest pet
peeves when people don't follow surf
etiquette. That's your biggest pet
peeve.

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00:12:10,660 --> 00:13:00,792
The last example, a classic pet
peeve, probably for most people,
including myself, is when people eat
with their mouths open, you know,
when they do that... That's one of
the most annoying things for me,
especially when it's incredibly quiet
wherever you're eating. So, it used
to drive me bonkers. It used to drive
me up the wall. I remember living in
a house, a share house back in
Melbourne where I had a few roommates
and one of them was a chef and he'd
always come home late at night, and
whilst I was in my own room, right? I
wasn't even in the kitchen, I had the
door closed, I was in my room
watching TV and I could still hear
him eating because he was so loud, he
would be chewing, he'd be burping,
he'd be making all kinds of bodily
noises, and he used to drive me nuts.
It would bother the hell out of me
because it was my pet peeve. It was
really grating. What a pet peeve!

30
00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:18,509
So, there you go, guys. A 'pet peeve'
is a minor annoyance that a certain
individual identifies as particularly
irritating to them, right? Pet peeves
often involve specific behaviours of
someone close to you a friend or a
family member, right? That thing is
so annoying!

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00:13:19,180 --> 00:13:28,195
So, as usual, guys, let's go through
a little listen and repeat exercise
and this will be your chance to
practice your pronunciation, ok? So,
listen and repeat after me. Let's go.

32
00:13:29,260 --> 00:13:30,260
A.

33
00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:38,240
A pet.

34
00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:39,600
A pet peeve.

35
00:13:40,970 --> 00:13:41,592
A pet peeve.

36
00:13:41,593 --> 00:13:42,593
A pet peeve.

37
00:13:45,182 --> 00:13:49,539
A pet peeve.

38
00:13:52,420 --> 00:14:05,272
Oh, there's a few good things going
on there in terms of pronunciation
and connected speech. So, you might
notice when I say 'A', the word 'A',
when I pronounce it by itself, I'll
say that like a vowel, 'A', right?
The vowel sound A.

39
00:14:05,910 --> 00:14:14,964
But when it's in front of another
word, it's a reduced word, right? So,
I don't pronounce it fully. I would
say instead like a schwa kind of
sound, 'a pet', right? 'A pet'.

40
00:14:17,550 --> 00:14:46,498
The other thing that I'll point out
here is that the consonant at the end
of the word 'pet', because it's a
stop consonant a T sound when
followed by another consonant like
the P at the start of the word
'peeve', the T at the end of 'pet'
isn't released, ok? So, you'll hear
that it's not fully pronounced. My
tongue goes into the position to make
the T sound, it stops and then I make
the P sound without releasing that T
sound, ok?

41
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:57,433
So, have a listen: a pet peeve. A pet
peeve. So, the T kind of gets stopped
halfway through and they go straight
into the P sound, you'll see this all
the time with letters like T, D, P,
B. G and K, ok? A 'pet peeve'.

42
00:15:03,750 --> 00:15:10,398
So, now let's go through the sentence
'it's one of my biggest pet peeves',
and I'll conjugate through all the
different pronouns, ok?

43
00:15:10,961 --> 00:15:15,779
So, listen and repeat after me and
try and remember those connected
speech tips.

44
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,327
It's one of my biggest pet peeves.

45
00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,890
It's one of your biggest pet peeves.

46
00:15:35,630 --> 00:15:38,210
It's one of her biggest pet peeves.

47
00:15:44,950 --> 00:15:47,769
It's one of his biggest pet peeves.

48
00:15:54,510 --> 00:15:57,243
It's one of our biggest pet peeves.

49
00:16:04,130 --> 00:16:06,919
It's one of their biggest pet peeves.

50
00:16:13,660 --> 00:16:15,375
It's one of its biggest pet peeves.

51
00:16:15,918 --> 00:16:33,817
Good work! And you might notice there
too, what's happening with the word
'biggest'? Do you hear the T there or
is the T also getting stopped because
of the P at the start of the word
pet, right?

52
00:16:35,140 --> 00:16:45,880
If I say 'it's one of his biggest pet
peeves'. 'Biggest pet peeves'. The T
doing the same thing. It's stopping,
we're not releasing it fully.

53
00:16:46,030 --> 00:16:49,119
Biggest pet peeves.

54
00:16:49,526 --> 00:17:38,192
So, doing that in English, any form
of English, any dialect of English,
especially when speaking really
quickly, makes you sound much more
natural, ok? So, pay attention to
stop consonants like T, D, P, B, K
and G, at the ends of words when
followed by consonants. And notice
the linking between the words 'It's
one of', 'it's one of it's one of',
and then also words like her and his,
the H will disappear there, that's H
deletion. 'It's one of her', 'it's
one of his', and you'll notice it
links with the /v/ sound in of 'it's
one of her', 'it's one of his', and
we also do this for 'our' and 'it's'
because they both start with vowels
as well. 'It's one of our'. 'It's one
of it's'.

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00:17:38,660 --> 00:17:58,639
Alright. So, enough about
pronunciation. I hope that helps you
guys today. Make sure that you have a
listen out for the Aussie Fact
episode where I'm going to be talking
to you about all of the worst
invasive pest and feral species in
Australia. So, it's going to be a
really good episode about animals and
about how they affect the natural
environment here.

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00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:01,285
I hope you have a great week and I'll
see you then.

57
00:18:06,310 --> 00:18:41,369
G'day, mate! Thanks for listening to
the Aussie English podcast! If you'd
like to boost your English, whilst
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www.AussieEnglish.com.au Dot com.
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and I'll see you soon.