Have you ever had anyone call you a duck, a dog, a cat, a fox, a bear? Well, you might
think that they are trying to insult you but that is not always the case. Let me tell you
that the names of animals also mean some other things, some different things in English and
that is exactly what we are going to learn today.
Well, hello and welcome to today's lesson, my name is Rima and on the board I have for
you the names of different animals but did you know that these animal names also mean
something else in English. That is exactly what we are going to learn today.
The first one is Duck. Now you do know that a duck is a bird that lives in water and has
webbed feet, okay? So what does duck mean in English? Now imagine you and your girlfriend
have had a very bad fight and she decides to throw her hairdryer at you. What would
you do? As a reflex you will dodge it or you will go out of its way to protect yourself.
That means you will duck, that is right. So duck means to dodge, okay. Another meaning
of duck is if you use it as a sitting duck. Now what is a sitting duck? A sitting duck
is someone who is a helpless victim or target. So if you have to use it in a sentence you
could say something like.. okay so if you park your car in a no parking zone, then I
assure you that you are sitting duck for a parking ticket, which means you are the most
obvious, most helpless victim or target. I hope you understood the usage of duck as a
verb which means to dodge and sitting duck which means a helpless victim or target.
Now let's move on to the next animal which is my favorite animal, a dog. I'm sure you
have a dog at home but did you know a dog does not stand only for the animal; it stands
for different things in English. So if I say to a guy especially, “Stop being such a
dog." What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say stop being such a wicked person or
stop being so not nice. So when someone is behaving badly or not being nice or being
wicked, you can refer to that person as a dog. Another way of using the word dog is
in the verb form that is to dog. So if I say Susan keeps dogging me or continues to dog
me about my shopping. It actually means that Susan continues to question me or pursue me
about my shopping. I hope you have understood the different ways in which you can use the
word Dog in English. Moving on, after dog there is cat. Okay, so
for all those cat lovers out there, if you see a very stylish lady, who is very cool,
very stylish, has a great personality, you can actually refer to her as a cool cat. That
is right, a cool cat is someone who is very, very stylish. Now imagine if you have a friend
who likes to talk about other friends in a slightly witty, clever manner which means
she is kind of criticizing them but doing it in a witty and clever manner or way, okay.
Then you can call that friend catty, which is an adjective and it actually means witty
and clever. So that is the different ways in which you can use the word cat.
Now coming down to bear. Have you ever heard a man being referred to as a bear? He is such
a big bear. What does that mean? Does that it mean that he looks like a bear? No, it
doesn't mean that, it means that he is basically a big built, hairy, burly person, that is
right. So if you have any friends of yours who resemble giant bears, you can say, "Oh
you are such a bear." And another one for the word bear could be if you have a friend
who is very huggable, very warm, yet very huge in size, you can also say you are such
a teddy bear. Now trust me most men are not going to enjoy this compliment, but still
it is a valid usage. Okay, so if you call a man a teddy bear, it means the person is
very huggable.
After bear, we have fox. Now men generally like to refer to women that they find sexy
and appealing as foxy. So if you hear a guy saying, "Well Eliza, she is one foxy lady."
It means that foxy stands for sexy that is right. But on the other hand, if you are talking
about a man and you say. "Don’t trust him, he is a fox." It actually means that fox stands
for cunning, somebody who can cheat you very easily or somebody who is not to be trusted.
See such different usages for man and woman. A foxy woman is a sexy woman but if a man
is a fox then he is kind of cunning, he is not to be trusted.
Moving on, bird, now bird is you know what a bird is obviously. Like those people with
wings, those animals with wings that probably fly around. But, did you know a bird actually
means a person that is right. Sometimes you can use the word bird for a person. So if
I say something like, "She is a shrewd, old bird" meaning she is a shrewd, old person.
Actually I used bird for a person. Now if I add the word, bird breed meaning I add breed
after bird, it means somebody who is very dull, somebody who is not very clever because
their brain seems to be the size of bird's brain which is tiny. Okay so that is an insulting
way of referring to a person who is not very intelligent. Another way of using the word
bird is, for a young woman. So let's say you hear a youngish guy who walks into a pub and
he say, “well look at the birds here." Trust me women don't appreciate being called birds.
What that guy might mean is look at the good looking women here, okay. So a bird could
also be a young woman. Who knew the word bird could be used in so many different ways.
Moving on, we have turkey, okay. Now we all know turkey is a bird as well. Now a turkey
is also used for somebody who is not very intelligent again. So let's say if you speak
about a guy and say, “he is such a turkey." It means he is very dim, he is not very intelligent.
Similarly for all those people who believe in dieting. Now imagine if Eliza believes
in dieting and she says, "I have quit chocolates cold turkey." It means, cold turkey means
completely, like there is no half way to this. It doesn't mean that she enjoys chocolate
occasionally. She has quit chocolates cold turkey which means she has quit chocolates
completely. So that is you can use the word turkey in English.
Moving on, tiger. Okay now we all know that tiger has a quality which is fierceness. Okay
we all know the animal tiger is known to be fierce. Now if you are talking to a guy, who
is heading for a big game, say he is a sportsman and he is heading for a big game and you actually
which him luck by saying," go get him tiger." It actually means go be fierce and go win."
That is right, so sometimes a man is referred to as tiger to encourage him to be fierce.
So you could also use the word tiger, by saying, " Well Alex was such a tiger on the field."
This means Alex was very fierce on the field while playing the game.
Moving on, there is horse, another favourite animal of mine. Yes horse has many different
uses in English, okay. Let me tell you the first one. Okay the first one is Horsy which
is an adjective and when somebody has a fairly ugly face, okay. That is when you refer to
that person as horsy or looking horsy. So if I say, “Marie looks horsy." It means
Marie has a long, ugly face. Similarly if I use it as a verb, okay? To horse or to horse
around. Now if I use it by saying the children continue to horse around the house meaning
the children continue to be loud, noisy, very rowdy. So to horse around means to be loud,
silly and rough. Okay so that is all about horse.
Coming to the last animal bitch. Now we all know a bitch is a female dog, okay. So if
you refer to a woman as a bitch. It is considered extremely rude and it actually reflects on
the woman by saying that she is absolutely disgusting or she is a person who insults
everybody or she is not a nice person at all. So when you call a woman, a bitch it is almost
considered an abuse. So a bitch is somebody who is rude, not nice or who likes to insult
others, oaky. So that is the usage of the word bitch in English. If you really like
someone or admire someone make sure you never refer to her as a bitch or any other woman
for that matter in her presence. It is considered to be absolutely rude and almost considered
an abuse. Well those were the different ways in which
the names of animals can be used, you know in different ways in English. I really hope
that you learnt a lot from this lesson and make sure that you do subscribe to our videos
for more interesting lessons. It is time for me Rima to take your leave. I'll catch you
again very soon, till then bye.