Phil Welcome to The English we Speak, with me Phil…
Feifei And me, Feifei.
Phil We have an expression which means ’tell lies’ – it’s ’tell porkies'.
Feifei ‘Tell porkies’. Tell us a bit more about this Phil, and no porkies!
Phil Nice example there. The meaning is simple - it just means ‘say something that isn’t true’.
Feifei That’s right, it’s got absolutely nothing to do with food, or pigs. But what is important to remember about it?
Phil Yes, it’s slang and it’s very informal. We’re most likely to use this expression in a light-hearted way, and not in a serious situation.
Feifei So when you said that you were going to tidy the store cupboard, and I saw you sneaking out to get a coffee, you were telling me a porky?
Phil I’m not saying anything about that! Let’s listen to these examples:
Examples You said you weren’t going to get me a present - and now you bring this! You were telling porkies all along.
I think one of you is trying to trick me - who’s telling porkies?
I know that’s not true, you’re telling big fat porkies again, aren’t you?
Feifei You’re listening to The English we Speak from BBC Learning English, and we are learning the expression ’tell porkies’, which is an informal way to saying ’tell lies’. Where does this come from?
Phil This is an example of rhyming slang, where people use something that rhymes with the word they actually mean. Now, what makes it complicated is that then they don’t usually say the bit that rhymes.
Feifei What does porky rhyme with?
Phil Well, that’s it - the full expression is ’to tell pork pies’ - because ‘pork pies’ rhymes with ’lies’. We just usually leave out the ‘pies’ bit - and that’s what can be confusing.
Feifei We’re not telling porkies when we tell you that English can sometimes be a bit strange.
Phil Very true. Make sure you come back to learn another surprising English expression next time. Bye!
Feifei Bye bye!