Hi this is Tutor Nick P and the Verb Phrase today is double cross. Okay. Let's take a look at
the board here. If somebody wants a screenshot. Let's get right to it. Nowadays if we say that someone
double crossed another person, it means that he or she purposely harmed them rather than doing
what they are promised to do. In simple terms , it means to cheat or betray someone, especially
someone either that you made an agreement with or someone who you really truly expected loyalty from.
You thought that they would definitely you know, do or be on your side and that they're the ones that
went against you. Then we often say to double cross. The origin of this term to double cross dates back
to the 1700's. At that time, a cross was thought to mean a transaction that was not square. Okay.
Square at this time referred to honest which is also related to the term fair and square today
which is still commonly used today. Yes. Sometimes you hear like hey, I won fair and square. Like I
didn't cheat. I didn't do anything wrong. Hey, you know, our agreement was fair and square. There was
nothing hidden or deceptive about it. It was all fair and square. We still use that term
today and it comes back from this time. Okay. The term, especially applied to sporting events
which was historically related to gambling. You know, even which is still happening today. A cross
was when two or more individuals colluded to fix a result. Okay. Or to fix it or to rig it
to win money. A double cross is when one of those parties went back on the person or group
he was colluding with. So if you would go back on, it would be like you go back on your word. You promised
them this and then you did the opposite. Okay. So thus this was a double cross. That's where the idea
of the double came in. Now, a lot of ... it could still be double, but sometimes it really just
means somebody betrayed you, especially the person who you never expected to be betrayed from or the
one you thought you had an agreement with. All right. Let's continue. The use in writing does
not appear until the 1800's with varying dates and stories. Yeah. I hear a lot of dates you know, will
came from this story and this year in 1800 and that story from that year in 1800. So it is
very slightly, but basically around the time and the idea came from what I gave you with you know,
fair you know, and square and of course cross. That's really where it comes from. All
right. Let's continue and we have four examples to show how this works. Here's the first one.
Caesar you know as in Julius Caesar. Caesar felt double crossed by his good friend Brutus when he
spoke the famous line ," ET tu Brute. " Yeah. You know, it's strange you know, way back then you know ,
Caesar got killed by other politicians. They, they colluded together and they all walked up to
him and they all like stabbed him to death. And of course , as they were stabbing him to death one
of them was Brutus who was supposed to be his friend. So that's why he said that line "Et tu Brute" in, in
Latin that meant "and you Brutus." Like an even you . Like I expected these other creepy guys to maybe
betray me, but you. you you were supposed to be my good friend. " Et tu Brute" even you. Of course, we ....
I, I'm not 100 % sure this was truly said , but we hear this in Shakespeare's version of
Julius Caesar. All right. Let's continue/ Let's read the second one. If you double-cross the mafia you
will end up swim... swimming with the fishes. Yeah. Well you know, we always see this in movies. You
know, the mafia's organized crime. It's probably not a good idea to make an agreement with them to begin
with, but if you double cross them. You know, they don't fool around. They might kill you. And that's
what swimming with the fishes refers to. It means you know, you might .... your body may end up in a river
and you might end up swimming with fishes. You might end up dead. You know they put you in a
in a bag with some stones and your body goes down into the water and they don't find it for a very
long time. All right. Let's continue. Number three. She truly felt double crossed when she felt
it was ... when she found out basically it was her own sister that had an affair with her husband .
All right. Yeah. Of course. If it's your own sister you expect loyalty
from your own sister. You would never expect that your own sister would do something like this.
And then of course you know, she probably felt betrayed in two ways. Her husband and her sister.
So she truly felt double crossed. On number four here. In the old movie "The
Italian Job. The character played by Edward Norton double-crossed the other thieves he worked with
to steal the gold. Yeah. So they actually. They were successful. They stole the gold. The gold and
then as they stole the gold , he pulled out a gun on them and then he took off with all the
gold. So he robbed the thieves that he worked with. So he definitely double-crossed them. Okay.
Anyway, I hope you got it . I hope it was clear hope was very informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.