Full transcript
0:00Hello and welcome to Lovely English
0:04Stories. Thank you for stopping
0:07by. This story contains lots of British
0:11English slang phrases and idioms. So, it
0:15is aimed at intermediate to upper
0:18intermediate English learners. So, are
0:22you ready? Well, let's get started. B2
0:26English story. Max's big
0:31move. We're going to start with going
0:33through the phrases first and the idioms
0:37so that when we get to the story, you
0:40might understand them better in the
0:43context. So, we hope this helps. Please
0:46let us know in the comments below if you
0:49prefer it when we have the explanations
0:52first or last or during the stories. So,
0:59graft graft means hard work, especially
1:03physical or boring work. Max was tired
1:06of the constant graft in his office
1:10job. Dull as
1:13dishwater. If something or someone is
1:16dull as dishwater, then they are
1:19extremely boring or uninteresting.
1:24Max found his old office meetings dull
1:27as dishwater compared to his new
1:29creative work in
1:32sky. To do your head in you'll hear
1:36English people say this a lot and it
1:38means to annoy or mentally exhaust
1:41someone. The stress at work really did
1:45Max's head in. What does your head
1:48in? To crack on. This means to continue
1:53or to get on with something despite it
1:56maybe being difficult or you having lots
1:59to do. He decided to crack on even
2:02though the job was
2:04boring. Nip to to nip somewhere means to
2:10go somewhere quickly or briefly. He
2:13often nipped to the chippy after work.
2:16You might nip to the shops for some
2:18milk.
2:20Telly. Telly is British slang for
2:24television. After work, Max would stick
2:27the telly on and relax with a cuppper. A
2:32cuper means a cup of tea. Even a hot
2:36cuppper couldn't help him feel
2:39better. Had or to have a right mare
2:45means to have had a really bad day or
2:47experience. A mare is a nightmare. You
2:52look like you've had a nightmare, his
2:55mate
2:55said. Sod it. Sod it is an informal way
3:00of saying forget it or I'll do it
3:04anyway. One day Max said sod it and quit
3:08his
3:10job. Mint. We've got a YouTube short
3:14about this and it is slang for something
3:18really great or excellent. You tend to
3:20hear it more in the north and Midlands
3:23of England. It's mint up here, Max told
3:27his
3:28friends. We drram. Now, I apologize to
3:32any Scottish people watching this video
3:35if I'm pronouncing this wrong. A weed
3:38drram is a small glass of whiskey. He
3:42relaxed by the fire with a weed drram in
3:46hand. To le it. To le it means to run
3:50away or escape quickly. His old job made
3:54him want to le it every
3:57morning. Banter. Banter means friendly
4:01jokes and teasing conversation.
4:04He missed the banter from the lads back
4:07home.
4:09Grind. Grind means the repetitive or
4:12tiring nature of daily work. Max left
4:16the grind behind for a calmer way of
4:21life. Off his rocker. If someone is off
4:25their rocker, it means they are crazy or
4:28making a surprising decision. His mom
4:32thought he was off his rocker for moving
4:34to
4:36Sky. Sound. This is slang for nice,
4:40friendly, or reliable. The people on Sky
4:44were proper
4:45sound. Cozy. If something is cozy, it is
4:49warm, comfortable, and small in a
4:52pleasant way. He moved into a cozy
4:55little
4:56cottage. to fuff about or faffing about
5:01means to waste time or perhaps you're
5:04being
5:05inefficient. He stopped faffing about
5:08with rush hour
5:10trains. Buzzed. To be buzzed or buzzing
5:15means to be excited or happy. He felt
5:18properly buzzed driving through the
5:22highlands. Glenn. A Glenn is a narrow
5:26valley, especially in Scotland. He
5:30swapped the city for the Glenn's of
5:33Sky. Proper Jordi lad. Now, a Jordi is
5:39someone who is from the Newcastle area
5:41of England. So, a proper Jordi lad means
5:45a typical young man from
5:48Newcastle. So, you could also say a
5:50proper London lad or a proper Essex boy.
5:54and it means people from those
5:56areas. Max was a proper Jordy lad who
6:00loved a good laugh and didn't mind hard
6:03work. Having a moan. Having a moan means
6:08complaining. His boss was always having
6:11a moan about deadlines and
6:14targets. Groundhog Day. If something
6:18feels like Groundhog Day, then it is a
6:21situation that feels the same every day,
6:25repeating
6:27endlessly. Every day felt like Groundhog
6:30Day for
6:32Max. Light bulb moment. This is a sudden
6:37realization or a good idea. So, Max had
6:41a light bulb moment and decided to
6:43change his life.
6:46Mental. Mental means wild, crazy or
6:50intense. And it can be used for both
6:53good and bad. The weather on sky was
6:57mental. It was changing every 5
7:01minutes. Sunshine and
7:04rainbows. This idiom means a perfect and
7:07easy situation, but sometimes it's often
7:11used ironically. Not everything was
7:14sunshine and rainbows, but Max was
7:18happier. Joggers. Joggers are
7:21comfortable trousers, comfortable
7:24sweatpants, jogging
7:26bottoms. Now, Max did his meetings in
7:29joggers with a brew in hand. And a brew
7:33is a cup of tea or sometimes coffee. He
7:36sipped a brew during his morning Zoom
7:40calls.
7:42Now, let's think about all of these
7:45idioms and words and phrases. We're
7:47going to read the story and hopefully
7:49it'll make more sense now we've gone
7:52through it
7:54before. Max was a proper Jordy lad from
7:58Newcastle. Always up for a laugh and
8:01never one to shy away from hard graft.
8:05For years, he'd been stuck in a job that
8:08did his head in with long hours, dull
8:12meetings, and a boss who was always
8:15having a moan. He worked in a gray
8:18office, staring at spreadsheets and
8:22thinking it was dull as
8:25dishwater. At first, Max just cracked on
8:30like most people do. He'd nip to the
8:32chippy after work, whack the telly on,
8:35and try not to think too
8:37much. But deep down, he felt trapped.
8:42Every morning felt like Groundhog Day,
8:46and even a cuppper didn't help the
8:48stress anymore. His mates noticed, too.
8:52"You all right, mate?" they'd ask. "You
8:55look like you've had a righte."
8:59One night after another pants day at
9:03work, Max had a light bulb moment. He'd
9:08always loved the Highlands, especially
9:10the aisle of sky, the peace, the
9:13scenery, the space to breathe. It was
9:16the complete opposite of his current
9:19life. So he said, "Sit." Handed in his
9:23notice and packed up his things. His mom
9:27thought he was off his rocker. "Sky,
9:30that's miles away," she said. But Max
9:34stood firm. He found a freelance remote
9:38job that let him work in digital design,
9:41something he actually enjoyed.
9:44And just like that, he was off driving
9:48through rain, sheep traffic, and winding
9:52roads, blasting his tunes, and feeling
9:54more buzzed than he had in
9:59years. The first few weeks were a bit
10:02weird. The weather was mental. He
10:05experienced wind, rain, and the
10:08occasional rainbow, but the people were
10:11sound. He rented a cozy cottage with a
10:14log burner and a view that made his jaw
10:18drop every morning. No more city noise.
10:22No more faffing about with rush hour.
10:25Just fresh air, quiet, and a sense of
10:28calm he didn't know he
10:31needed. Of course, not everything was
10:34sunshine and rainbows. The internet was
10:37a bit dodgy, and getting a decent
10:40takeaway was nearly
10:42impossible. There were moments he missed
10:45the buzz of Newcastle, his mates, the
10:47match days, the
10:49banter, but the benefits far outweighed
10:53the
10:54downsides. He still had meetings, but
10:58now they were done in joggers with a
11:00brew in hand. the stress gone and his
11:05work better than ever. He started going
11:09on long hikes at the weekend, chatting
11:12with locals at the village pub, and even
11:15learned how to make shortbread from his
11:19neighbor. He began volunteering at a
11:22local art center, too, which gave him a
11:26real sense of belonging.
11:29One Friday night, Max sat by the fire,
11:33laptop closed, sipping a wee drram. He
11:37smiled to himself. "This is the life,"
11:40he muttered. "No more pretending, no
11:43more faffing. Just Max, the mountain,
11:47and a job that didn't make him want to
11:50le
11:51it." His mates back in Newcastle
11:54couldn't believe it. "You've changed,
11:56mate. They joked on video calls. You're
12:00all chilled
12:01now. Max just laughed. Skye suits me.
12:06You lot should get yourselves up here
12:08sometime. It's mint. And that was that.
12:12Max had swapped the grind for the glenn.
12:15And found a bit of peace along the way.
12:20We hope you enjoyed this lovely English
12:23story and all the vocabulary phrases and
12:27idiom
12:28explanations. Please do comment below if
12:31you prefer the explanations at the
12:33beginning during or at the end of the
12:36stories. Don't forget to like,
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