Feifei Hello, this The English We Speak. I’m Feifei…
Rob …and don’t you know who I am?! I am Rob.
Feifei Yes, we all know that, Rob.
Rob But I am THE Rob – Rob of The English We Speak. There is nobody else like me.
Feifei Yeah, yeah, yeah - don’t milk it!
Rob Eh? Come on, show me some respect. Ouch, I seem to have pulled a muscle – ooo, that hurts.
Feifei Come on, Rob. You hardly moved.
Rob Ouch, it’s in my lower back. It’s so painful, I don’t know if I can carry on.
Feifei You are milking it again!
Rob Feifei – what am I ‘milking’ exactly?
Feifei Everything! ‘To milk it’ means to take full advantage of a situation usually to gain sympathy, respect or kindness. Sometimes, like Rob, you fake something to get attention – that’s when we say ‘You’re milking it’.
Rob Are you talking about me?
Feifei Of course I am, Rob. Let’s hear some examples of other people ‘milking it’…
Examples OK, don’t milk it, Sam! You’ve told me a hundred times you’ve got tickets for the World Cup final.
Tom’s had a week off work with a cold – I think he’s milking it now.
Since her promotion, Freya keeps bossing us around and telling us to call her ‘Miss Brown’ – she’s really milking it!
Feifei You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we’re talking about the phrase ‘to milk it’. This means to take full advantage of a situation usually to gain sympathy, respect or kindness. So Rob, have you got what ‘milking it’ means?
Rob I do, and I seemed to have recovered from pulled muscle but I’ve become so… thirsty, I was wondering…
Feifei …if I could get you a drink of milk?
Rob No, Feifei. I was thinking of a cup of coffee. You are so very kind and generous.
Feifei You are milking it again, Rob. Actually, I’ve got just the thing for you. Hold on… Meet Daisy!
Daisy Moo… moo…
Rob A cow!!! How do I milk that?
Feifei I’d start down there somewhere. Good luck.
Rob Bye.
Daisy Moo… moo…