He decided to become a full-time artist in 1999, but you're also a really well-known magician as
well. Yeah, you know, I had a lot of years where I performed and I also had the
art in the background, but the music was the bread and butter for me for a lot of y
ears. Skin, studies are the bread and butter of a preparators work.
We have this Brown Goshawk, which was donated to the museum.
What we're going to do with it, though, is have it as part of our museum collection, but it'll
be a skin study.
So, your kind of probably thinking long term about what you want to do, but it might take a
long time. Now around reality TV, which is my main bread and butter, I also do documentaries.
So, I just did a fabulous doco for the ABC called "Keeping Australia
Alive".
Guys, 2021.
We did it.
First expression episode of the New Year.
Welcome to the other side.
Man, it was good to have 2020 over and done.
Before we get into things, I want to give you a bit of an apology.
My sincerest apologies for not being consistent with the expression episodes for the
last month or two.
There's been a lot going on.
There's been a lot in the works.
And you'll hear a bit more about this in an episode that'll be out soon,
where I sat down with my wife, Kel and we spoke about our 2020,
and we sort of recap the year, the good, the bad, the ugly, everything like that.
And we talk about why we have to move house yet again.
Anyone who was listening to the podcast when we were living in Canberra will
understand the issues we've had with moving houses in the past.
Anyway, so apologies for that.
Hopefully this year it's going to be a lot more consistent and you'll be getting a lot more
episodes like this.
So, I'm your host, Pete.
This is the Aussie English podcast, the number one podcast for anyone and everyone wanting to learn
Australian English, as well as get their fair dinkum dose of
Aussie history, culture, news and current affairs facts, everything like that.
If you're an Australiaphile, someone who loves Australia and who is learning
English, this is the podcast for you.
Before we get into the meat of this episode, the content of this episode.
Don't forget, if you want the full transcripts, you can download them by joining the premium podcast
membership or the Academy membership, which includes the premium podcast membership in it
at AussieEnglish.com.au, the link will be down below
or just type that into your web browser.
And if you want the free worksheet, I've started something new this year where I'm trying to
create downloads for you for each episode, that it'll at least give you something to work on for
free. If you want the free worksheet for this episode, which will cover some of the
more interesting expressions that were used in this episode.
And don't worry, members for the premium podcast, it's included for you guys in the transcript.
If you want that free one again, go down below or click on the website page for
this podcast episode and you'll be able to download that for free.
Anyway, let's get into it.
So, to begin with, I have an Aussie joke for you.
They're not always about Australia, but they're a joke.
I'm an Aussie, so it's an Aussie joke, I guess.
Did you hear the joke about the butter?
No, what is it?
I can't tell you because you will spread it.
You get it because you'll spread it.
All right, so the joke there is obviously with the word,
"spread something".
This is a pun, it's a word joke.
It's a play on words where obviously butter is that fatty substance, I
believe, made from cows' milk that you can spread on bread.
And then if you're an Aussie like me, maybe put Vegemite or jam on top of that
butter. But if you spread information or spread a
joke, for example, it is that you tell many people.
Right. So, it's kind of like that joke of when people say, I'd have to kill
you if I told you. Right, so. How did you get so rich, Pete?
I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
It's that kind of thing of like, I can't tell you because you'll tell everyone, right.
So, that's the joke here. Did you hear the joke about the butter? No.
What is it? What's the joke?
I can't tell you because you'll spread it...
And then I'll have to kill you. All right, so today's expression is
when something is your bread and butter, right, one's bread and
butter, someone's bread and butter.
So, let's go through and define the different words in this expression first.
And then after that, we can go through some examples
and the definition, the origin, some
pronunciation, and then we'll finish up with a little fact,
okay. All right. So, the very first word there, "your".
"Your". Right, or one's.
This is the 2nd person possessive pronoun.
"Your butter". "Your bread".
"Your car". "Your bike belongs to you".
"Bread", this is the stuff that is made of flour,
water and yeast.
Probably also sugar at times.
And it is mixed together and then baked usually in an oven, sliced up.
And if you're an Aussie it is toasted and then you put Vegemite on it, sometimes not all
the time. And then lastly, we have "butter", "butter".
Did you hear the T-flap there?
"But-ter". "Butter".
And that is the fatty, kind of creamy,
consistent stuff that is made from cow's milk.
"Butter". "Butter".
Okay, so it's often cooked with, you might put it on bread.
"Butter". So, an example might be, "I love eating
bread for breakfast".
Whereas for butter it may be, "Make sure you spread plenty of butter on your bread before you
spread Vegemite on it".
Man, I've talked a lot about Vegemite today.
So, if something is "your bread and butter", something is "your bread and butter".
I wonder if you guys have heard this expression or know what it means.
It's something that is a vital component of something.
So, bread and butter as in food stuffs, right.
Food that are considered a basic form of sustenance,
"bread and butter".
But if something is "your bread and butter", it can also be a job or tasks that provide
someone with a steady income.
So, this is kind of related to that expression.
"What do you do for a crust?" What do you do for money in order
to buy bread that is then obviously cooked and gives you a crust to eat?
So, the origin of this expression, the phrase is thought to date back to the Middle Ages,
since it is believed that buttered bread as a food course has been ongoing
since that time.
Throughout Great Britain and Europe, peasants could only afford this one course as
their entire meal and would generally have it with soup.
The origin is in keeping with the story where people started earning it
in order to...
Sorry. Where people started earning in order to earn their bread and butter, right.
That's where it's related to your job.
And I would imagine that's where we get that expression.
You know, what do you do for a crust?
What do you do? What do you do?
What's your job? What do you do for a living?
What do you do for a crust?
It was considered the basic after which was earned.
One could purchase more items for themselves and their household.
Okay.
So, "your bread and butter".
Let's go through some examples of how to use this expression.
So, example, number one, trade relations with China and Australia are currently at an
all-time low.
There's been a lot of mud slung back and forth between the countries and China's
banned a bunch of Australian exports, which is affecting numerous
Australian industries.
Things like lobster, I think they've done it to wood now, they were doing it
to coal more recently, and barley.
Hopefully, though, the relationship will get back on track because good
trade relationships with neighbouring countries are the "bread and
butter" of a successful country.
Example number two, so, when I was a young kid, I used to love playing musical
instruments. I had guitar lessons, drum lessons, piano
lessons, man I even had clarinet lessons when I was at high school.
Those were the days.
Singing lessons as well and singing became my passion.
That was what I absolutely fell in love with.
And I also played in a few bands here and there as well.
I had big dreams of one day becoming a rock star, but as we know, life
took a different turn and I ended up studying science for probably longer than I should have.
And then now becoming an online English content creator.
So, you could say, Pete loves playing guitar, but online English
content creation is his "bread and butter", his
"bread and butter". Example number three, imagine that you are
a language teacher.
You speak a few languages fluently, maybe Chinese, like
Mandarin or Cantonese, German or French.
However, French is by far in a way your most advanced language and the
primary language that you teach.
The main one that you focus on, that you feel most comfortable teaching.
So, you could say "your bread and butter" is French, but
that you can also speak a few other languages like Cantonese and German.
So, French is the main one, the most advanced one, and the one that you make a living
with, that you earn a crust with.
It's "your bread and butter".
All right. So, hopefully now you understand the expression, someone's bread and butter, "your bread
and butter". It can be a vital component of something, or it can be a
job or tasks that provide someone with a steady income, someone's
bread and butter.
So, now let's have a listen again to the clips from the start of this episode where hopefully
you'll be able to understand how this expression, "your bread and butter" is being
used. You decided to become a full-time artist in 1999, but you're also a
really well-rknown magician as well.
Yeah, you know, I had a lot of years where I performed and I also had the art in the background,
but the music was the bread and butter for me for a lot of years
. Skin studies are the bread and butter of a preparators work.
We have this Brown Goshawk, which was donated to the museum.
What we're going to do with it, though, is have it as part of our museum collection, but it'll
be a skin study.
So, your kind of probably thinking long term about what you want to do, but it might take a
long time. Now around reality TV, which is my main bread and butter, I also do documentaries.
So, I just did a fabulous doco for the ABC called "Keeping Australia
Alive". All right. So, now we're going to go through a pronunciation exercise.
This is where I'm going to get you to listen and repeat after me.
We're going to go through the phrase, "your bread and butter" and then conjugate through this
phrase a little bit. So, if you're working on your Australian pronunciation, obviously pay real
attention to how I'm pronouncing these words as well as the intonation, everything like that.
If you're doing your own thing or you're working on a different accent like American or British,
then just pay attention to my intonation first and foremost.
Okay, let's go.
Your. Your Bread.
Your bread and.
Your bread and butter.
Going to speed it up.
Your bread and butter.
It's my bread and butter.
It's your bread and butter.
It's his bread and butter.
It's her bread and butter.
It's our bread and butter.
It's their bread and butter.
It's its bread and butter.
Good work, guys, good work.
So, remember, if you want to learn more about Australian English pronunciation, make
sure to check out my Australian pronunciation course.
I will leave a link up here in the corner on the video or just go to
AussieEnglish.com.au/apc.
Okay, the link will be on the, in the show notes in the transcript or just go to the website
and you can get access to that course.
It's the best way to improve your pronunciation because you'll learn all the different sounds in
Australian English, the consonants, the vowels.
But you'll also get access to 26 advanced lessons going over things like
the Aussie R, or the syllabic N, and syllabic L.
There's loads of good stuff in there that will really help you level up your pronunciation.
Now, before we finish, I thought I would tell you a little interesting fact about Australia.
And I was like, how can I have this tie in with Australia and
bread and butter?
So, I thought about damper.
So, damper is a kind of traditional Aussie bread that was historically made by
early settlers, swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other
travellers in Australia using a few basic ingredients and
their campfire. It's different from bush bread, which has been made by
indigenous Australians for some tens of thousands of years and was traditionally
prepared by crushing a range of different things like nuts, seeds,
roots and mixing them into a dough, then baking it on the coals of fire
. Instead, damper is a dough simply made of wheat,
flour and water with some butter.
If it's available.
That's then lightly kneaded and baked in the coals of a campfire,
often using a camp oven.
It's an incredibly iconic Aussie dish and can be made in many camping
situations. It was used by stockmen who travelled through remote areas of
Australian Bush and the outback for long periods of time, who carried
only the most basic of rations like flour, sugar and tea,
supplemented with whatever meat was on hand.
The basic ingredients used to make damper were typically just flour, water,
sometimes milk and a little bit of butter.
Baking soda or beer could also be used for leavening if
you were lucky enough to have any on you.
It was normally cooked in the ashes of a campfire where the ashes were then flattened out.
The damper was cooked for ten minutes or so on them, and then it would be covered in the ashes and
cooked for a further 20 to 30 minutes, until when you tapped on it, it
sounded hollow.
That was how you knew it was ready.
Alternatively, it was cooked in a greased camp oven.
Damper was eaten with dried or cooked meat and golden syrup.
Well, or golden syrup.
You probably wouldn't mix the syrup with the meat.
So, be sure to download today's worksheet, guys, which will be freely available on my
website. It'll include some of the interesting vocab and expressions that were used in
today's lesson. And I'll also include a recipe for you to make your very
own damper at home in your oven.
And remember, if you want the transcripts, sign up for the premium podcast or the academy
membership at AussieEnglish.com.au.
Check out this video as well on the Aussie English TV channel on YouTube and
download the podcast free via the Aussie English podcast app on
Android or iPhone or via any good podcast application.
Thank you so much for joining me, guys, and I will see you next time.
Bye.