'Going to the dogs' does actually mean things are falling apart. Think about it, only a very small portion of the population actually visit greyhound races. Bill
She had it right first time . `Going to the dogs`, the Google definition is to become ruined or to change to a much worse condition. Whoever told her it was about greyhound racing? 🤣
Agreed, it isn't specifically about dog racing, but I think our British layered society might be coming into the expression as well, posh people go to the best restaurants, like the go to the horse racing, also they eat the best food the peasants can have the next best go to dog racing and each cheaper food, and the dogs are at the bottom of the food chain and have the rotten scraps.
It probably is about greyhound racing. The origin is that dog racing was seen as far lower in the social scale than horse racing and was attended by a lower class of people. Anybody going down in the world was therefore seen as "going to the dogs".
@@TheHicksonDiaries from a northern England perspective., going to the dogs has always meant falling apart, going to wrack and ruin, going to pot, it might have come from going to the dogs when we had greyhound tracks, they all shut down years ago up this way.
I was gobsmacked when I learned Americans don’t use fortnight! I went to the foot of our stairs and reflected that it’s all going to hell on a jet ski mostyn!!
not only do Americans not say fortnight, they use a similar term "bi-weekly" - which i assumed meant "every two weeks" - eg a fortnight it might mean "twice a week", but i normally assume it means "every two weeks" (or once a fortnight, in English)
@@stevesoutar3405 I was in a Francisco tram with my wife and used the word fortnight. A woman leaned over and said, in an Australian accent, "You must be British, for I've not heard that word spoken here for years!
The English language is perfectly formed to express EXACTLY the meaning you wish to express with no misunderstandings. “While” and “Whilst” are words with different usage and each has a place grammatically.
Untoward- easiest way to understand it is as a near synonym to inappropriate Never used with an s on the end Just untoward Another version of spitting the dummy would be Oooh, teddy in the corner Another favourite of mine is if someone's throwing a tantrum is to say "Ooh, someone's tired"
" shut the fridge" , " we'll go tut bottom of the stairs" both exclamations, wherever you travel in this country you will find different and interesting colloquiums that make the language interesting, lively and fun, people are incredibly inventive with the English language. Nice video,
Palaver - something that is unnecessarily overly complicated, though the original historical meaning was where the commanders of opposing forces who spoke different languages would come together to try to have a conference and sort matters out rather than fight. Also a group meeting at a diplomatic level again with multiple languages and overly complicated.
Actually, historically palaver was a term for the negotiation between British merchants and the native Africans with whom they were trading. Such negotiations were difficult and protracted being carried out by a combination of pidgin, mime and hand gestures.
" It's the mutts nuts " is the polite way of saying, " it's the dogs bollocks, " the original phrase. One of my favourite phrases is " I'm going to see a man about a dog "
It started out as a ruder and maybe more impactful version of phrases such as "The bee's knees" or "The cat's whiskers". Being English, we had to make a ruder version. Also, being English, we came up with a way to make it sound more polite when we were done.
@@carolynekershaw1652 Sorry for being a linguistics lecturer but while and whilst are are different as too, two and two. If some people muddle them up, it’s their fault and not the fault of the words. Oh, and when I lived in Manchester while was used to mean until and still is in local speech. I stayed up while nine but he never showed.
@@Joanna-il2ur substituting while for until is regional dialect local to part of West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, not sure it has anything to do with the anachronistic use of whilst rather then while. A Greek friend once asked me when whilst should be used instead of while, I suggested before 1685 . . .
Palaver originally ment just "conversation" = same word origin like the french "parlez" or italian "parlare" or portuguese "palavre" for "to speak" (originally in the past a sailor´s international term for verbally interacting amongst sailors from different nations when meeting on the high sea (might be for trading, or negotiating terms of battles or even terms of surrender) which were at first foremost romance languages speaking nations like the very early medi evil seapowers and City states "Venice + Genoa" then followed in the Rennaisance times by the Portuguese and Spaniards obviously short after also followed then by the English + French= basically all the uprising European´s colonial powers used that term) and it also became then a military term on the continent for the same reasons as well simply because those colonial powers were way more in war than in peace with each other or with someone else.. We in German use the term "Palaver" (noun) or "palavern" (verb) for describing a totally senseless and useless conversation or speech with no meaningful outcome= basically for talking utter nonsense (but when the nonsense talker is not aware of him talking utter nonsense then we make him aware by using that specific terms for his talk...Like saying "That´s just a Palaver" (= the content has no substance) or "Stop to palavern" = "Stop talking shit" although I admit that use is nowadays way more common amongst the older Generation...I personally never heard a young one using that terms anymore)
British English is replete with slang, proverbs and idioms, many of which have regional variations, that have often existed for several centuries. It is part of its attraction and fun. Unfortunately, American English, being a stripped-down pidgin version, retained none of the original's charm. Pity.
Living in America and using British terms I’ve found Americans think it’s hilarious when you call someone a wanker and so many I’ve met have started using the term, I’m afraid I may have started something over here with it
Thank you for this funny video ❤ it made me smile.. in England, we love a conversation to be more like something we call 'banter' .. we also call it "taking the piss," especially when someone takes it a bit too far 😂😂 .. I'm looking forward to hearing more 🙂👍🏻
Speaking as an Englishman, I speak English, and you are a foreigner who claims to speak my language, whereas, in reality you speak a bastardised form of my language due in part to Mr Webster and mainly due to natural shifts in language when a settlement is separated from it's verbal roots by a couple of hundred years.
As a fellow Englishman I find your comments both crass and ignorant. Unless you're wandering about whichever part of the country benighted by your domicile still talking Elizabethan English, modern English usage is as far from the linguistic ( not verbal as you state) common root as modern American usage. If fact modern American usage retains many words used in the early modern period now lost in England, such as 'fall' to mean autumn, 'faucet' to mean tap or spigot and ' sidewalk '. These, and others were once commonly used in England. American English is as valid a variation of the language as the English English - describing is as bastardised is both wrong, and offensive. You might as well describe English itself as bastardised French or Norse.
@@Spiritof1955 How did Mark Twain put it? “Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with their experience.” By your description, Mr. Daniel Webster seems to have done the same with American English. (I say this with tongue planted firmly in cheek. I personally find how languages evolve and change over time rather fascinating.)
In Britain the difference between spitting your dummy out and a Karen is the first is as you say getting annoyed or upset over something usually trivial and a Karen is someone who is expectant of everything to be done the way they think it should and complaining about it if is isn’t
It does mean things falling apart. Going to the dogs means the vicious dogs ripping it apart.. being destroyed. Your right. Although it does also mean going to the dog racing too. Its how you use it.
I remember in school English lessons discussing when one particular word/phrase could the perfect choice, for which the chosen term was the French "le mot juste". I have a feeling that on different occasions, "among" or "amongst" could be le mot juste, but I'm not sure exactly when. It was all a very long time ago.
One Americanism that is spreading to the UK is, when half way through a sentence someone will say : *_"I aint gonna lie..."_* I find that very strange... Another thing is, that 'upwards inflection' Americans use when the say the word *_Vehicle'_* ? It's almost like half way through the word somebody has pushed something up their bottom and they end up pronouncing it : *_""VeHIcle""_* Like they've been taken by surprise. 🤣
Yeah, pronouncing “vehicle” as a three-syllable word instead of a two-syllable word … Yeah, I can hear the difference in my head. Something else I’ve noticed where I live in the US, is the way certain words acquire a “t” at the end of a syllable where there is none. Examples: “WILT-son” for the surname “Wilson” “CHILT-(t)ren” for the noun “children” I wonder if it’s a survival of the “t” in certain words such as “whilst” (“while”), “kill’t” (“killed”), “spill’t” (“spilled”), spoilt (“spoiled”) and other such words. Although … the preceding examples seem to be verb forms, but Wiltson and chiltren are nouns, either proper or general. How did the “-t” migrate from verbs to nouns, I wonder?
More correctly , a "Palava" in English slang means a fuss/lots of talk about essentially nothing "wot a palava about a small accident" etc. It comes from Portuguese word "palavra" meaning "talk/speech" particularly with the African natives and originates from the slave trade.
No it doesn’t mean that at all, it means everything is falling apart, the family, the country, the situation is getting really really bad. Our relationship is going to the dogs.
A palaver is "a lot of unnecessary activity, excitement or trouble, especially caused by something that is not important" It comes from portuguese, apparently.
@@TheHicksonDiaries Yes. Those English people can be pretty strange. You can also use it to inform someone of an event. "Did you see Bruce have that major dummy spit this morning?" With a response, "Yeah. He spat the dummy big time."
Palaver is a word that originates in a gay slang called Polari that existed in the earlier 20th century as a means of identification for gay men, at a time when homosexuality was illegal, & also to exclude unwanted people (like plain clothes cops) from understanding what was said.
Agree going to the dogs does mean things are going downhill or getting worse. The opposite of something being the dog's, which is excellent and short for the dog's bollocks. If someone g to see a man about a dog it is usually said in a public place to mean going to the loo bathroom lavvy bog or whatever you might call it. Heard of the word codswallop? Meaning nonsense or false.
At least we don't add a spurious "s" to "anyway" or say "I could care less" when meaning the exact opposite. "Kneeled" instead of "knelt" among other abuses are i correct in both countries. How typical is this person from the USA to assume that their strange use of words is the basis for comparisons is the proper way to do it. The clip is dull as well!
@@TheHicksonDiaries Yes, and creeping in here too! It sounds like a two year old that is just starting to talk and has a vocabulary of just a couple of hundred words who has just spilt their milk everywhere: "Mummy! Mummy! Me bad!"
I agree with you on this. So much already feels infantilized. God knows we don’t need any more of it. Another idiom that grates my cheese is “No, I lied” when you really mean to say, “Oh wait, I was mistaken [about something I’ve just now said].” I really dislike that idiom. One lies with the conscious/deliberate intent to mislead or hide something and definitely has a crime of moral transgression attached. A mistake is more like a misstep: unintended, accidental, and certainly not premeditated. This doesn’t mean that mistakes never carry consequences-far from it. I’m arguing the case of matching word with the actual intent in the given circumstance. Words have meaning and their meanings have power. Therefore their meanings are important and are one reason why we have so many different shades of meanings and different words to describe them. A well-read/well-rounded vocabulary allows you to understand, discern, and make use of all these differences. A vocabulary that can do this isn’t a luxury, but a necessity. Especially as the times and our cultures get ever more complicated. (Full disclosure: I’m also an avid reader and something of a word freak, so …. take what I’ve said with that information to guide you! ;) )
It's spelt palaver not polava and means a lot of fuss and trouble. 'The phrase "going to the dogs" means to become much worse in quality or character. It is often used to describe a situation that has deteriorated or gone awry.' I'd never heard 'the mutt's nuts'. People usually say 'the dog's bollocks'. Mutt's nutts sounds like someone is trying to clean up the expression. An alternative for 'spitting their dummy out' is 'throwing their toys out of the pram'.
It means things disintegrating completely. One source is "going to the dog races", i.e. giving up completely and going to the lowest form of entertainment, a bit like slot machines.
@@Lily_The_Pink972 Yes, that's actually a more likely origin than my suggestion. Certainly "going to the dogs" is taken to mean going dog racing now, but it makes more sense. We always had a bowl of scrapings and leftovers that would be added to the dog's dinner (another phrase for mess!) the next time.
Going to the dogs does mean what you first thought. I find it hard to fathom that you now think that when someone says something is going to the dogs that that thing is going to a dog race. That does not make sense. It may well have originated in that way but that would be a very.long time ago.
Going to the dogs is a saying that originated in the 16th century,when meat had become unfit for human consumption it was thrown out for dogs , hence the saying ❤️❤️.
Hi there I'm John from East London that phrase jog on is really funny because there was an advert for milk and it was Cravendale milk basically in this advert it has a man drinking milk having milk yeah endeavour Andover Cats sorry there were cats outside all around this man and basically the advert said it's not for cats and at the end the person who was doing the voice over said jug along Kitty the milk was only for humans not for cats because it was really pure
I use 'whilst' every day. It's my chosen word over "while"... Your definition* sounds somewhat "snobbish" ...but, I shall endeavour to withstand it's* bile.
@@alicedell8595 Yes... I say that, too... It was a common enough phrase when I used to work with horses - teaching horseriding and stable management - during the 1970's etc.
You must be very young. I, however, am very old. "Whilst" was commonly used when I was growing up to mean something like, "although". For example, "Whilst I disagree with you, I can understand how you came to that conclusion."
It's not polava, it's palaver. Going to the dogs does also mean going downhill fast. The mutt's nuts is often said as the dog's bollocks. Spitting their dummy out is also said as throwing their toys out of the pram. To be fair you guys say things that make other people laugh like, "The USA is the greatest country in the world". That makes everybody everywhere outside the USA fall about laughing.
If you had a Polish man attempting to change into a sweater while he's driving that could result in a palaver as police pull over the Pole over his pullover.
@@KenFullman there's a trailer on his car with a meringue and cream dessert in it. So the palaver is over the police pulling over the pole over pulling his pullover while pulling a pavlova
If she's never heard the dog's bollocks, she's hanging out with some very posh friends, and the mutts nuts is probably just a cute way to try to be properly coarse!!
I personally love "can't be arsed" it just conjures up the right image when you can't be bothered to do something or have no interest in something.......its a gem of a phrase. 😂
The Mutt's Nuts is said ALL the time! I have been hearing countless people saying it for decades. However, I've rarely heard it abbreviated as "the nuts", it's usually "The Mutt's". I also sometimes hear "the dogs danglies" and "the hound's rounds". These phrases are even mentioned in a British Slang video with Simon Pegg and Henry Cavill (both of whom are as British as can be).
Whilst isn’t a slang/fun/archaic word. Yes it can mean while, though whilst sounds more formal but it also can be a conjunction meaning ‘whereas’ E.g. ‘some people like playing rugby whilst others prefer playing soccer’.
I like some of the slightly older sayings that are sadly now going out of fashion….not enough room to swing a cat….dont spoil the ship for a h’apeth of tar, caught red handed etc. Just shows language is ever evolving…..also shows my age!
Can't understand why "whilst" trips you up! It's a normal word, probably a bit more formal and educated than "while" in some circumstances, but no-one would raise an eyebrow if you used it.
One American word that makes me laugh is when they say "dove" instead of dived. The first time I encountered it was in a novel and I thought it meant the dove bird. Another is when the say "negative one" instead of minus one.
@@TheHicksonDiaries because if you were to undertake a “math test” - would it be that there was only one sum to solve?! Noooo…. Of course not There would a whole page of pesky problems - hence MathSSSSS 😂😂
We have the master wordsmith, William Shakespeare to thank for many words and phrases still in common usage 500 years later. Whilst many may have evolved slightly, he would still recognise them.
This is not a criticism, because I adore your videos, but you should say "older English" rather than "old English". Old English is a separate language, the predecessor to modern English, spoken before the Norman invasion in 1066. For the next three centuries after the invasion, French vocabulary fundamentally altered the language. Old English is closer to modern German than it is to modern English.
I quite get how odd it is when although we speak the same language essentially there are the strange oddities. Particularly how coy Americans are about public toilets: I felt quite giggly when in the USA having to ask the whereabouts of the ‘restroom’, I mean, I don’t need to go for a rest but to pee!
@@jd_jd_jd Hi! "The Cat's Pyjamas" is a term I have met in english/american literature of the early 20th centaury. There is a book called *Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas: Popular Expressions - What They Mean and Where We Got Them by Judy Parkinson* OK?
