**Feifei
**Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them, too! I’m Feifei, and I’m joined by Georgie. And that is an interesting hairstyle Georgie…
**Georgie
**Oh Feifei, I was really bored of my usual hairstyle, so I tried something different today, but it was a really difficult hairstyle to do, and I ended up making a real pig’s ear of it.
**Feifei
**Oh well. You could try again tomorrow. So why would you mention a pig’s ear when you’re talking about a bad hairstyle? Well, that’s what we’re going to learn in this programme. What does it mean to make a pig’s ear of something?
**Georgie
**Well, if you make a pig’s ear of something, you do something badly – you’ve messed it up. So, I tried really hard to do give myself a cool hairstyle, but I made a pig’s ear of it – my hair is a mess!
**Feifei
**This is an informal, light-hearted idiom that you’ll most likely hear in British English. It can be used in a variety of contexts, can’t it?
**Georgie
**Yes, it can. Feifei, when was the last time you saw someone make a pig’s ear of something?
**Feifei
**Well, the other day I saw someone trying to park their car in a tiny space and they tried to come in and out, forwards and backwards about five times. And in the end, they just parked diagonally.
**Georgie
**Wow. Sounds like they made a pig’s ear of that! OK, let’s hear some more examples.
**Examples
**I had to do a presentation at work the other day, but I messed up my words and made a right pig’s ear of it.
So, I made my friend a birthday cake last week, but I made a bit of a pig’s ear of it because I forgot to put the eggs in. Whoops!
Look at those shelves – not one of them is straight. I’ve made a right pig’s ear of them, haven’t I?
**Feifei
**Now, there are some ways you can modify this idiom to add emphasis. You can add the word ‘real’ and say, “You made a real pig’s ear of that”.
**Georgie
**Yes, that’s quite common. Or you can add ‘right’ and say, “You made a right pig’s ear of that”. Both of these variations emphasise and intensify the idea of a total disaster, and they are both common in spoken British English.
**Feifei
**OK. Let’s recap. We learnt ‘make a pig’s ear of something’ which means to do something badly and totally mess it up.
**Georgie
**Thanks for joining us. Bye!
**Feifei
**Goodbye!