Episode 140 - Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit And The Quest to Understand British Politeness

Last week, in Episode 138, I read 'Winnie the Pooh Goes Visiting', I decided to spend some time looking at some of the phrases from this story as they are great examples of phrases commonly used in the UK. In the UK being polite is a very important part of our culture, but this can be very confusing for foreigners and even for native speakers, because what we mean and what we say may not always match! The important point is always context. In this episode we will look again at the story, see the key phrases and look at the context so that we can understand what is really going on. Additional Vocabulary Condensed Milk - this is milk with all the water taken out and a lot of sugar added. It's very sweet and commonly used in desserts. heavily influence - to make a big impact on something or help us decide directly - in this context it's an old fashioned way of saying 'soon' or 'right now' dance of politeness - just meaning this confusing and subtle form of politeness holding it back - idiom - if we hold something back it means we don't say it, we keep it to ourselves. veil of politeness - the veil is what some women wear to cover their faces, it's just thin fabric so in this case we mean that the politeness is just there to look good, but it doesn't change the truth. It makes Rabbit sound nice, but it doesn't mean he's actually being nice. blurt out - phrasal verb - when we say something without thinking the truth only comes to light - idiom - when we learn the truth or somebody tells us the truth we can say 'the truth has come to light'. run out of patience - idiom - if we use the phrasal verb 'run out of something' then we haven't got any more, there's none left. So we've 'run out of patience' means I haven't got any more patience left.

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