Jiaying Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Jiaying…
Neil …and hello, it’s me, Neil. So, Jiaying, what do you think?
Jiaying What do I think of what?
Neil My outfit. I’m off to a party soon, so I thought I’d dress up a bit.
Jiaying Err, Neil, if you don’t mind me saying, you need to ‘zhuzh’ up your outfit.
Neil Excuse me? Did you just sneeze?
Jiaying No, Neil. I said ‘zhuzh’
Neil Bless you.
Jiaying No! ‘Zhuzh’. This verb is an informal word to mean make something more interesting or attractive by changing it slightly. It’s often followed by the word ‘up’. So, I’m just saying your outfit needs a slight improvement – if you really want to make an impression!
Neil Oh really! Shall we see if we can zhuzh up these examples first?
Examples I’ve tried to zhuzh up my living room with some bright yellow cushions.
Try zhuzhing up your suit with a coloured tie.
She zhuzhed up her cooking by adding a bit of chilli powder.
Jiaying You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and I’m trying to explain the word ‘zhuzh’ to Neil!
Neil You sneezed again!
Jiaying No, I didn’t! When you ‘zhuzh up’ something, you make something more interesting or attractive by changing it slightly. So, Neil, how about a coloured shirt to zhuzh things up?
Neil No thanks, I prefer to wear black.
Jiaying Come on, Neil, how about some fancy shoes?
Neil Black ones are fine. To be honest, I don’t have anything fancy to wear.
Jiaying Oh dear – it looks like you need to zhuzh up your wardrobe, Neil.
Neil No need – this is a horror-themed party, so just black will be fine.
Jiaying If you say so, Neil. Bye.
Neil Bye.