Speaker 1: Listen. I'm not trying to butter you up, but I
do want to say that I appreciate you listening to
this podcast each week. Maybe you can learn something or
just crack up from what I'm saying. In any case,
buckle up, because here comes another podcast English lesson just
for you.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast Episode eight fifteen. Casual
Phrasal Verbs with Up. Thanks for joining me for another
episode out of the Happy English Podcast. I'm your English
teacher Michael, and I'm so glad you've decided to tune in.
Today we're looking at some casual phrasal verbs that use
the word up. Now, up is a small word, but
when you put it in a phrasal verb, it can
totally change the meaning. And the phrasal verbs we're talking
about today. These are casual phrases that you'll hear in
everyday conversations, especially with friends or coworkers. So grab a coffee,
buckle up, and let's get into it. Let's start with
a pretty rough one. Bang up. To bang something up
means to hurt someone or damage something pretty badly. You
can bang up a part of your body or get
banged up, Like if I say Jason really got banged
up in that car accident, that means he got hurt,
maybe cuts, bruises, maybe worse. Or if you're hiking and fall,
you might say I banged up my knee. Even stuff
can get banged up. Hey, your bicycle looks banged up.
Did you crash it? It's like saying it's in bad shape.
Now here's one for party people. Booze it up. You know,
booze is a slang word for alcoholic drinks, So booze
it up means to drink a lot of alcohol, usually
when you're out celebrating or having fun, like we really
boozed it up at the wedding last night, sounds like
the open bar was popular, or it's Friday night. Time
to booze it up a little, be careful, Okay, too
much boozing it up and you might end up banged
up too. Next up is one you've definitely heard before.
Buckle up. It literally means to fasten your seatbelt, like
don't forget to buckle up before we hit the road.
But buckle up can also mean get ready for something
intense or challenging, like buckle up. It's gonna be a
crazy week at work. If you're a student, this might
sound familiar. Final exam start next week, so buckle up
and hit the books and in the office, the boss
just scheduled back to back meetings all day. Buckle up,
it's gonna be non stop. In other words, hold on tight.
Things are about to get really intense. Now let's talk
about butter up and nope, it's not about toast. To
butter someone up means to flatter them, you know, like
say nice things because you want something. Little kids often
try to butter up their parents when they want something. Ge, Mom,
you sure look pretty today. Is that a new dress?
Do they really think mom doesn't know what they're doing?
Or like one of your coworkers is always telling the
boss his ideas are amazing. He's just trying to butter
up the boss to get a promotion. Or if someone
says something unusually kind to you, you might say, you're
buttering me up? What do you want? Teachers, bosses, yeah,
even parents we've all been buttered up before. All right,
let's switch it up with something a little more fun
crack up. To crack up means to laugh really hard,
usually suddenly or without control. Like that movie was hilarious.
I cracked up the whole time, or I always crack
up when Kevin tells stories about his cat. It's the
kind of laughter you can't hold back. She cracked up
when she saw the meme I sent her. Yeah, memes
tend to do that, don't they. All Right, now here's
one that sounds kind of funny, but it isn't go
belly up. If you see a fish in a lake
floating with its belly facing up, well it's probably dead right. Well,
with this image, we use belly up or go belly
up to mean to fail completely, especially when a business
goes bankrupt or a project totally fails. That new coffee
shop went belly up after just six months ooh, or
Donna's startup almost went belly up during the pandemic. And
if things don't change, you might hear someone say this
business is going belly up. It's a bit dramatic, but
it's very common in business talk. So there you go.
I hope some of this lesson helped you crack up.
Keep in mind, the best way to remember English like
this and any other word or phrase in English, is
to take that word or phrase, write it in a
sentence that's true for you or true in your world,
and then memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know you
can get more practice using your English when you join
my podcast Learner's Study Group. There you can make new
international friends join us for live group lessons every week
where we practice these podcast lessons together. It's a fun group. Plus,
you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio download
for every Happy English podcast in the past and in
the future. And on top of that, each episode has
exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking
and writing checked by me. To learn more, well, just
visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson eight fifteen. Remember,
learning in other language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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