Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them as well. I’m Feifei, and I’m here with Beth.
Beth Hi everyone, and hi Feifei, how are you?
Feifei I’m very well, thank you, Beth. We’re learning ‘warts and all’ which I heard on a podcast about an autobiography. An actress I like has written about her life, “warts and all”, she said.
Beth Ah, yes – ‘warts and all’. It means that we talk about a person or thing exactly as it is, including flaws and imperfections. And the person doesn’t have to actually have a real wart!
Feifei No! A wart is lump on the skin. So, this actress had some problems a few years ago and she included all the details about that, so when you talk about difficult or unpleasant parts, we can say warts and all.
Beth OK, I have an example for this. So recently I was looking through some old photos of me when I was at school, so me and my friends as teenagers, and those photos were definitely not edited. We were there, warts and all.
Feifei Beth, I’m sure you looked just fine there.
Beth Here are some more examples of ‘warts and all’.
Examples I went away for the weekend with my best friend and we had a really good time, but he does annoy me quite a lot. But that’s friendship, isn’t it – you’ve got to accept people warts and all.
I adopted a cat and I love him warts and all – he’s a bit scruffy, sometimes he’s a big naughty and ruins my furniture but, you know, he’s a great little friend.
I’ve just read this film review – it’s one of the most honest I’ve ever seen. It’s a real warts and all review. You know, it says the film is OK but the acting is terrible, the special effects are unrealistic. They don’t hold back really.
Beth Now, this phrase is really helpful to think about pronunciation, particularly linking, in English. This phrase sounds like one long word even though it’s three – ‘warts and all’.
Feifei When we have words that end in consonant sounds, like ‘warts’ and ‘and’, followed by words that begin with vowel sounds, like ‘and’ and ‘all’, we link them together so that they sound like one word – ‘warts and all’.
Beth And it’s also common in British English to not say the /d/ on ‘and’, but this is optional. ‘Warts and all’ or ‘warts and all’. So, to recap, we’ve learnt ‘warts and all’ which means show everything, including imperfections.
Feifei And we’ll be back next time with another useful English phrase. See you then!
Beth Bye!