Hi there, this is Harry, welcome back to my English lessons, where I try to help you to
get a better understanding of the English language.
How to use it and how to avoid misusing it.
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Okay, so what are we going to talk to you about today?
Well, today we're talking about other ways to say angry.
When somebody is angry, they are annoyed and they have an angry face on them.
Yeah.
Or, as my wife would say, I get a red Monday.
Yeah, don't know why Monday, perhaps but it could be equally red Tuesday, Thursday, or
Friday.
Yeah, so something that really gets your blood boiling.
So I'm going to give you these words that will express anger or how people get angry.
And then I'll give you an example of them.
A lot of them are very similar.
They're just different ways to say it.
And of course, they can be different degrees of anger.
You can be mildly anger, angry, sorry, you can be very badly angry or you can just be
a little bit annoyed.
But there are different ways to express it.
So here they go.
There are 15 of them.
Fed up, furious, fuming, fit to be tied, hot under the collar, enraged, seething, incensed,
outraged, irate, pissed off, infuriated, displeased (very posh displeased), to go ballistic, go
ballistic.
And then finally, to make your blood boil, as I mentioned before, make your blood boil.
So 15 ways or other ways in which you can say somebody is angry, okay.
Let's go through them and give you an example or two, and you can practise them.
And hopefully, you get a better understanding.
And you can try them out and see, do they work, okay?
So, but fed up in a way is angry, but it can be also a sign of a little bit of depression.
You're fed up with somebody's reaction.
You're fed up with always having to wash the dishes at the end of the evening.
You're fed up with the kids not tidying their room.
So that's a little bit of anger.
You might express it in the way of steam coming out your ears but you are fed up and you'd
like to tell them.
Oh, guys, come on.
I'm really fed up.
How many times do I have to tell you pick up your dirty clothes and put them in the
linen basket?
It's simple.
Yeah, pick them up off the floor, drop them in the linen basket.
So your mum doesn't have to do all the work.
So I'm really, really fed up.
Furious.
Well, when somebody is furious, they are very annoyed.
So it's up here in terms of being annoyed or angry.
I'm furious at the government because they haven't tackled inflation.
You know, they constantly put up prices, they don't control things.
I'm really really furious.
I'm going to make sure the next time there's an election.
I'm not voting for this government.
I'd vote for somebody else because surely somebody can do a better job.
So we hope.
So be furious.
Fuming.
When somebody's fuming it's...
A fume is like smoke, okay, if you're sitting behind a car, in the traffic jam, you know
all about fumes because they come at you through the air conditioner.
And you can see the smoke coming out the back of the car.
So exhaust pipe, okay.
So if you're fuming, it's like smoke coming out of your ears or under your collar.
I'm fuming and you know, I'm so so annoyed and you're so angry and you're fuming that
it's hard sometimes to say something.
Oh, let me out of here.
So you clench the teeth and your face gets red.
Yeah, so you're really fuming over something.
What are you fuming about?
oh, this council tax, it's gone up again.
I mean, how many times are we going to see an increase?
We don't get anything for it.
We pay these rates of these council taxes.
What do we have?
We have potholes on the streets, rubbish isn't collected, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So yeah, something to be fuming about.
Fit to be tied.
Yeah.
Well, you know, this is one of these expressions, which, you know, you can imagine that picture
when you're fit to be tied it means you're so angry that somebody has to tie you up to
stop you, you know, running around throwing things.
So like to have a straight jacket on.
So somebody ties a rope around you.
So I'm fit to be tight.
I'm so annoyed.
Yeah.
So you might use it in the following way.
Oh you, you look a bit annoyed.
Annoyed?
I'm fit to be tied.
Yeah, I've put in this order, not once, not twice, three times, every time I go looking
for it.
They tell me it's going to be delivered the next day.
It hasn't been delivered, not a chance.
I think I just cancel it out, go into the shop and I buy it myself.
What's the point of being online if you can't get the package delivered when you want it?
So yeah, I'm really annoyed, I'm fit to be tied, somebody is going to pay for this.
So he stormed out of the room.
Fit to be tied.
Hot under the collar.
Not really, really very, very angry but, you know, when you're hot under the collar, you
move the collar of your your shirt a little bit.
And you know, if it's a warm day, and the sun is beating through the sunroof of your
car or it's coming through the window of your room, then yeah, you'll be a little bit hot
under the collar.
And you... you open... maybe open the car or you stick your fingers in to try and get
a bit of air circulating.
So when you're angry, you're hot under the collar.
Means your neck gets a little bit red and people will look at you say, Oh, I wouldn't
go near the boss today.
He's not in a very good mood.
He's a little bit hot under the collar.
Or if you say something and somebody reacts like, What?
What, what do you mean?
Don't get hot under the collar.
It's... that's not my fault.
I'm only the messenger.
I'm only telling you what happened, you know, don't shoot the messenger, the favourite expression.
I'm only giving you the information.
It's not my fault.
This is what they told us.
So, you know, there's no point getting angry with me.
So somebody is a little bit hot under the collar, they're feeling a little bit angry,
feeling a little bit annoyed.
Enraged.
So another form of anger when you're enraged, you're full of anger to rage like a storm,
a storm rages up.
So when you're enraged, you've got all of this aggression, all of this anger, all of
us annoyance inside of you and you might just boom, explode like the volcano.
Yeah.
Okay.
So to be enraged.
Ah, don't talk to me.
I'm so so annoyed.
I was really enraged by that decision.
It was a stupid decision.
Anybody could see that was a perfectly good goal.
It's cost us three points, and it's three points that we badly needed.
So to be enraged.
Seething.
Another way to describe your anger.
He was seething at the decision.
He didn't say anything.
And usually when you're seething, you visibly are annoyed but you don't see anything.
So you're sitting there.
So somebody announces that the contract has been cancelled.
All the work and effort that you've put into has been... has gone to waste.
You put weeks and weeks and weeks, but they've decided not to proceed.
Nobody came and asked you your opinion.
Nobody asked you how you were feeling about it.
So you're sitting there as the announcement is made.
And people look around and they can see.
Oh, have you seen Michael over there?
He's absolutely seething and he's sitting there and not saying something.
Maybe grinding his teeth a little bit.
Might even be muttering a little bit under his breath.
So he's a bsolutely seething.
So very, very annoyed, but usually when you're seething, you don't say anything.
You mutter, your expression on your face says everything here.
Okay?
So not shouting, not aggressive.
Just see the input.
Okay, like the kettle that's boiling.
Yeah.
But if you don't switch it off, boom, the water just explodes.
So seething.
Incensed.
So we can be incensed by somebody's decision, incensed by somebody's reaction, incensed
enough to write to the the newspaper and complain.
So there could have been a decision by the government or the lack of a decision.
So they've decided to build a motorway 50 metres from your home.
Yes.
What?
The idea of that...
I mean, there's a housing development here and motorway like that, it's going to be constant
noise, morning, noon and night.
I mean, this is a crazy decision, what is it going to do for the value of our home?
So you're really incensed.
The fact that the government didn't take into account the objections of the local residents.
So you decide to take matters into your own hand and you start writing letters of complaint
to the editor of the local newspapers, in the hope that somebody will recognise the
fact that you're annoyed.
So you're incensed to the point that you decide to write but you'll eventually have to stop
because really, it's not going to get you anywhere.
So incensed.
You...
you can be outraged.
Okay, so when you're we had enraged before, but outraged is, you know, by some actions.
So the cancellation of the flight at the last minute.
So you get to the airport, you have your bags packed, you're ready to head off for the...
the family holiday.
And when you get there, you're told, well, the flight has been cancelled.
It may go tomorrow but we're not certain.
So you're absolutely outraged.
Where was the warning?
Nobody told us.
Absolutely outraged.
So your anger comes out, you shout, you scream, you might be a little bit abusive because
this is the beginning of your holiday.
You might be only gone for three or four days and one of the days, guess what, is going
to be spent sitting in the airport or travelling back home and coming back the next day.
So you're outraged.
You're annoyed to the point of being really, really angry, where the anger spills over.
And you use maybe some words that perhaps you might think better of a couple of hours
later.
So to be outraged.
Irate is the the next form of anger.
You're irate when you're annoyed, yeah.
So you can be an irate passenger.
When you know, the air hostess or the cabin crew member spills water on you.
Or worse still coffee or orange juice, that's going to leave a stain.
So you're very irate that they don't offer an apology.
You're very irate that they don't offer to clean the dress or the trousers for you.
So you decide at the end of your journey to lodge a complaint to the airline.
So your write to say that this is a letter from or an email from an irate or a very irate
customer and you explain what happened the flight you were on and the situation.
Okay?
Or you could be an irate customer who comes to complain about the electricity.
You know, he has been cut off twice in the last couple of weeks without any notification.
You know, you lost out on some work on your computer because you didn't have time to back
it up.
The lectures, they just went off.
Or you weren't able to use your washing machine or you got home late in the evening, you weren't
able to cook anything because you hadn't been notified that electricity was going to be
disturbed or this the the electricity supply was going to be disturbed or cut, so you're
feeling very irate.
So this annoyed or angry because of a lack of or a poor or non-existent service.
So an irate customer, okay.
So irate being annoyed and angry about service.
Pissed off.
That's a very informal way of describing how people are.
It could mean to be angry.
It could mean to be annoyed, it could mean to be irate.
It can cover any of the particular words and phrases that we've used in connection with
anger.
So, but it's very, very informal.
The Americans use it a lot.
Pissed off means annoyed.
Yeah, so I'm pissed off with life.
And pissed off with the company.
They... they haven't recognised me in terms of promotion.
I'm pissed off with the kids because they never clean up after them.
I'm pissed off with my mates because they they had a party and they didn't invite me
to it.
So you can be pissed off for lots and lots of things.
Something gets under your skin.
Something gets you feeling a little bit annoyed but it usually doesn't last so long.
Okay, so pissed off.
So somebody might ask, Was he pissed off with you when you... you didn't invite him to the
party?
Ah, yeah, but he got over it.
Yeah, okay.
Was your wife pissed off because you forgot Valentine's Day?
Well, you know, we...
I was in a rush and one thing led to another and the shops were closed.
So yeah, these are the little things in life that generally piss people off.
Infuriated.
So well... so when somebody is infuriated, they... they are annoyed, yeah.
So they can find something in that will be infuriating.
So really gets under the skin.
You know, you know heavy traffic every morning is infuriating.
Yeah, somebody whistling beside you and you're sitting on the bus can be infuriating.
So you can be infuriated by these things.
You know some things infuriate some people more than others.
Little things tend to infuriate us when we...
we hear them frequently.
Somebody tapping their fingers on the table can be very infuriating.
Yeah.
Okay.
As I said before, somebody whistling the same tune over and over again can be very infuriating.
Or somebody's chewing gum, when they're talking to you.
Ying Ying Ying Ying Ying Ying Yang.
I find that very infuriating.
Okay, so different things can infuriate people.
That's not a really bad sign of anger but it can be something that will annoy you.
And as we say, piss you off.
Now, the next one displeased is quite formal, okay?
It's quite a polite way to say that you're annoyed.
I'm very displeased with you.
I'm very displeased with the service.
So it's a little bit lightweight, and it's not certainly going to indicate that you're
really annoyed.
Yeah, how displeased are you?
Oh, I'm very, very displeased.
So the only way to describe it is to use other adverbs to say, Oh, very, I'm really displeased
or whatever it might be.
Yeah.
Okay.
So it's quite polite in a way doesn't always express the... the level of anger that you
have.
But perhaps you're that sort of person who doesn't like displaying their anger too much,
and prefer to use words like displeased, unhappy, okay.
And people who usually use the word displeased will probably never use the word or phrase
pissed off, okay.
Displeased.
Now, the other end of the scale is to go ballistic, yeah.
So ballistic missile is something that explodes.
So when you go ballistic, boom, yeah, you explode.
You're so angry, you get very aggressive.
Oh, wait till you see them.
The guy today, he's going to completely ballistic.
I don't know what happened.
I don't know what news he got, but, wow, he's shouting, screaming, he's banging the door,
he's screaming down the telephone.
I wouldn't go near him for quite a few hours, give him time to cool down.
I think he needs a very cold shower, he's gone absolutely ballistic.
Or you might say, wait till he gets that email, he'll go ballistic, when he hears that the
meeting has been cancelled for the third time.
I mean, I wouldn't like to be in that room when he reads that email.
To go ballistic.
And then finally, something that makes your blood boil.
So you don't express the anger in the form of words, you don't express the anger in shouting
or actions.
But we say to make your blood boil means you can get warmer and warmer and hotter and hotter
and the colour rises from here until your face is completely red.
And somebody says, Well, what made your blood boil?Oh,you know, the usual thing.
Monday morning, boss comes in drops a pile of papers on your...
your desk.
Or you open up your...
your laptop - 22 emails.
Can you do that report again?
Can you have this ready?
You know, just really, really makes my blood boil that people don't give you a warning
about these things.
Okay?
So something that again gets under your skin, something to cause you a little bit of annoyance.
Okay, well, that we have lots of expressions, lots of different ways in which you can express
that being angry or to express anger.
So let me give them to you one more time.
You're fed up.
Furious, fuming, more informal fit to be tied.
Hot under the collar, again a little bit more informal.
Enraged.
Seething.
When you're quiet but you're really really annoyed.
Seething.
Incensed.
Outraged.
Irate.
Pissed off.
Infuriated by something.
Displeased, a little bit more gentle displeased.
Go ballistic, and to make your blood boil.
Okay, so 15 individual ways in which you can say or other ways in which you can say somebody
is angry or you're angry.
So try a few of them, practise them.
Try to put them into sentences, see how you can use them, see if they're appropriate.
If you don't understand them, come back to me.
We'll give you more examples.
But the good thing to do is to try and practise.
As always, I appreciate you joining me.
Join me again very soon.