Hiya! Today we'll be learning some British English with the tough boys of Birmingham, the Peaky Blinders. But before we get started let me remind you how our method works. So first you are going to watch the scenes with subtitles And then if there's anything you missed don't worry because we're going to teach you all of the most important vocabulary Pronunciation grammar and more and then finally you'll challenge yourself by testing your comprehension and everything you learned today by watching watching a final time without subtitles and answering some quiz questions. And if you are new here, I wanted to let you know that every single week we help you understand fast speaking natives without getting lost, without missing the jokes, and without subtitles.
So don't miss a single new one. Hit that subscribe button and the bell down below to join our community of millions of learners who have found the most fun way to get fluent natural English. Now why not take a journey with me to the midlands of England, the city of Birmingham, So what do we do now?
Just give the order. There's enough to be like this Kimber. Too late for all that.
You bit off more than you can chew you little toe rag and now I'm gonna take over this shit hole. Oh. We have to use guns.
Let's use proper guns. Sergeant Thorne, reporting for duty sir. You were saying something about being outgunned.
In this scene we saw Billy Kimber and Thomas Shelbylby, who are leaders of opposing street gangs, facing each other before some deadly shooting is about to begin. One of the most prominent features of the Birmingham accent is that they drop the H sound A lot. In fact, we featured this in this lesson all about some of the most important British accents with Andrea.
You might want to check that out next if you're looking to improve your comprehension of British English, and you'll find that by clicking up here or down the description below. Another bright feature is the sound instead of in words such as gun or pub. So just compare how I say it with my standard American accent to how they say it with the Birmingham accent. By the way, all guns and no balls is an abusive, disrespectful expression said by John Shelbylby to you Let's break down the meaning here. So the part all guns means to say that their opponents have weapons.
By saying no balls, John means that Kimber's men have no courage. So the whole phrase is a mockery. Despite being armed, having guns, the men lack the bravery to use them effectively.
In this example from Horrible Bosses, you hear this phrase sounds humiliating too. I would recommend you be thoughtful and avoid using this phrase. Because you have no balls. I see.
Okay. And your father's had no balls. Before the fight starts, Some unfortunate news because the truth of the matter is to get mastery in any skill including a language it really takes time and work. So my advice for you would be take your time.
But on the other hand it doesn't need to be strenuous or inconvenient for you. Even just having short daily conversations is going to do wonders for your fluency. So you can do just that on the Real Life app.
So after you finish this lesson and you've learned all the new words I highly recommend that you use use them right away. This is going to help you to never forget them. It's simple.
Just log in, press a button, and we'll instantly connect you to another English speaker for a fun, dynamic, and short conversation completely in English where you can try to use these new words. And you can do this anytime, anywhere. So that means on your coffee break, maybe while you're having breakfast, or even while you're on the bus on your way home, as long as it's quiet enough. See what Shelbyrshida, one of our app users, has to say about their experience.
So they say, So if you want to go from being a lost, insecure English learner to becoming a confident, natural English speaker that you've always wanted to be, just like Shershida is doing then you can download the RealLife English app now for free by clicking up here down the description below or simply search for RealLife English in the Apple app or Google Play store. So we've broken down most of the pronunciation from this first clip and now let's look at the grammar structure Kimber used here. So as is used to introduce a purpose or reason for an action.
It connects the first part, hold them up in the air, to the second part, they can see what we got, and indicates why the action in the main clause is being performed. The sentence could be paraphrased using so that, without changing the meaning. Hold them up in the air so that they can see what we got.
In this example, For example, the boy explains that they were given some booze in order to fall asleep faster. The phrase so as is common in some dialects and in informal speech, but in most formal contexts you would hear so that more often. Alright, we just saw how Billy Kimber talks to his men, and now let's watch how the Peaky Blinders talk to their leader, Tommymy Shelbylby.
Everyone is waiting for Tommymy, expecting to hear his instructions. You could say that Tommymy is a very good boy, they are loyal to him and would not dare to go against his word. When someone asks to give the order they expect a command or guidance on what they should do or how they should proceed with a particular task or situation. In daily conversation though you might use the humorous idiom with the word order which sounds like it's just what the doctor ordered.
Imagine it's a hot day, you're chilling with your friends and you order cold drinks to enjoy yourselves after a long work week. As you take a a sip from your glass you can say it's just what the doctor ordered. It would mean that it's exactly what you need right now. So it's time to return to the Peaky Blinders. We watched with you how the communication went within the gangs.
Now it's the boss's turn to address each other. Tommymy and Billy Kimber will exchange some phrases and give us a great example of connected speech. There's enough to be like this Kimber. In the word doesn't there's a combination of the letters NT and Tommymy reduces it by dropping the T. Doesn't.
The common reduction of the phrase have to is is hafta, but as I mentioned before in Birmingham they would drop the h sound. So what we hear is afta, two is reduced to a schwa sound, ta. And so we connect all of the three reduced words together doesn't after doesn't have to be like this.
There's enough to be like this Kimber. There's enough to be like this. The response Tommymy receives from Kimber is rude, full of contempt and disrespect. The idiom to bite off more than one can chew is very visual. So it's easy to remember.
Picture your favorite pie. Imagine you take a huge bite and you can hardly chew it. Figuratively, it would mean trying to do something that is too difficult for you. So here, Kimber says that Tommy is attempting to overthrow him. In other words, trying to take Kimber's territory for the Peaky Blinders would be was too much of a challenge for Shelbylby.
There was no chance he actually could do that. The British slang word toe rag is an offensive way to call a person who is extremely unpleasant to you. The word ...be traced back to the early 19th century when it was derived from the practice of wearing strips of cloth, rags, on the toes by tramps and convicts as a substitute for socks. Billy says here he will take over the place. To take over something is to gain control of it.
Both gangs earn money on horse races, so it's about gaining total control of the racing business. It does not necessarily need to be a violent scenario, like taking someone else's business illegally with a fight. Let's say you get delegated a project led by another person before you.
In this case, you are taking over responsibility for that project. Let's review the phrases from the scene that you can actually use in your daily conversation, even if you are not a string gangster. Now let's learn some more phrases you can actually use in real life.
We have to use guns. Let's use proper guns. If you say something is proper, it is good enough or appropriate for the situation. If you're invited to participate in a conference, you would want to have a proper outfit suitable for a formal event, but you probably wouldn't wear it at your friend's birthday party. If you have your guests over in your new house, you would want to give them a proper room tour, just like an owner of the Glass Onion does.
So first, a proper tour of the Glass Onion. Sergeant Thorne, reporting for duty sir. When you say reporting or reported for duty you arrive at some place for your job, duty, or particular purpose. Earlier in the episode, Freddie is released from prison to join the Shelbylby family in their battle against Kimber and now is reporting for duty. You can use it in a new job context.
For example, you have just been hired and your boss says that you have 10 days to report for duty to physically come to the place of work and start your job. Where the hell have you been? Enjoying death. 007 reporting for duty.
You were saying something about being outgunned. You can probably see in the scene that there are many more men in Kimber's gang compared to the Peaky Blinders. Outnumber is a good word to use when talking about having more people on your team for your team. example.
Outgun means having more or better guns or surpassing in power or strength. So if one group of people or things outnumbers another, the first group has more people or things in it than the second group. So to outnumber is to have more people on your team, to be outnumbered is to have less people on your team. What are you doing?
I believe you boys call this no man's land. Ada! Shut up and listen. Have you lost your mind? I said shut up!
I've got brothers and a husband here, but you've all got somebody waiting for you. I want you to look at me. I'll be wearing black for you. Think about them.
And fight if you want to. But that baby ain't moving anywhere. And neither am I.
Shelby's right, you know. Why should all you men die? It should just be them who caused it.
Stop! Get your guns off! Us! Kimber and me fought this battle one on one. It's over.
Through her brave intervention, Ada saves her brothers and husbands lives. Still, as you can expect, the men can't avoid some shooting. The word intervention means interfering in a situation, often with the aim of improving or changing its course.
So Ada steps into professional deaths and save lives. To step in is a more casual way to say intervene. Ada's husband is taken by surprise when she shows up.
Did you notice the connected speech? Freddie doesn't say what are you doing? Instead he links together what are you and it sounds like what are you. Did you hear the CH sound in have you lost your mind?
The CH sound appears when a word ending in T is connected to a word starting with Y. We hear the same in Ada's words later in the scene. Let's check it out.
The T plus Y sound becomes a CH sound again and two is reduced to T. want you to becomes I want you to. Then we have here a stop T in at. Ada doesn't pronounce the T fully and just stops the air without actually producing the sound.
I want you to look at me. And now let's watch a short clip with another example of T plus Y transforming into a sound in I want you to. Now if you have trouble understanding the characters from Peaky Blinders, don't worry. I'm a native speaker and I also had to watch this series with English subtitles.
The Birmingham accent is just that difficult. But I'm curious, what accents in English do you find most difficult to understand? Just to give you a personal example, I speak Spanish fluently but I find the Chilean accent that's from the country of Chile really difficult to understand.
So how about you? Which English accents are particularly challenging for you? Let me know down in the comments below. Think about them and fight if you want to, but that baby ain't moving anywhere. Ain't is an informal contraction of am not, is not, are not, has not, or have not, and can often be heard in songs, for example.
In an informal conversation, that isn't easy may become that ain't easy. Check out this example from the Irishman. Notice how the word anywhere is used in the sentence to avoid double negatives.
In your native language, you may only have one word for nowhere and anywhere. In English though, according to grammatical rules, you should choose between anywhere and nowhere depending on the verb in the sentence, whether it's used in the negative form or affirmative. So both of these sentences will have the same meaning.
I'm not going anywhere. I'm going nowhere. And this rule also works for either and neither. The sentence that baby ain't going anywhere and neither am I means that the baby stays where it is and his mother stays there too. Eta ain't going anywhere.
When you want to agree or add to some negative statement, instead of as well or me too, you say either or neither. Either is used with a verb in the negative, while neither is used in affirmative constructions. Let's check out some examples.
I have never been to Spain. I have never been there either, which means I have also never been to Spain. A more common short response would be neither have I.
Note that you should use the same tense in your response and the same verb to be. Why should all you men die? It should just be them who caused it.
When you say that you or someone else caused something, you mean that you or another person is the reason or cause of what has happened. You can cause problems, trouble, or damage. So, as you see, most often it talks about the negative impact. It may be a person or some natural force, for example.
the heavy rain has been causing serious problems on the road. Are you back in the field? Oh, I've caused a problem.
I think I am getting a text message. Kimber and me fought this battle one-on-one. A one-on-one fight is a fight between only two people.
When you talk to someone one-on-one, you have a private conversation with no one else involved. In this context, you can use one-on-one as a noun. I have a one-on-one with my manager tomorrow. So the way I see it, you're paying me back. We'll get some one-on-one later on.
I hope you learned some interesting and useful phrases today with us. Now are you ready to test your comprehension? You'll challenge yourself doing just that by watching the scene without subtitles and answering some quiz questions. Let's go! Get your weapons out boys and load em up.
Take your time. What does it mean if someone tells you, take your time? It's time to go on vacation?
Be patient and attentive? Time is money, hurry up! Hold em up in the air so I can see what we've got. All guns and no bullets.
How would you describe a person who has no courage? Remember, it's a rather vulgar expression. There's enough to be like this, Kimber.
Heh. Too late for all that. You bit off more than you can chew, you little toe rag, and now I'm gonna take over this shit hole.
Oh. We have to use guns. Let's use proper guns! Sergeant Thorne, reporting for duty, sir. What are you doing?
I believe you boys call this no man's land. Asa! Shut up and listen.
Which of these words are related or similar to the term no man's land? Greenland, Badlands, Wasteland. Badlands are a dry area without plants and with large rocks that the weather has worn into strange shapes Especially in an area like this in South Dakota and Nebraska in the US Wasteland is an area of land that cannot be used or that is no longer used for building or growing things on No man's land is a piece of land that is not owned or controlled by anyone.
Have you lost your mind? I said shut up! I've got brothers and a husband here, but you've all got somebody waiting for you.
Now, I want you to look at me. I'll be wearing black for you. Think about them. And fight if you want to. But that baby ain't moving anywhere, and neither am I.
Kimber and me fought this battle one-on-one. Oh yeah! Awesome work today guys!
So if you are a big fan of Peaky Blinders like I am, then you cannot miss the other lesson that we did with it a while back. Let's check it out! Yeah.
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