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'Trash Talk' and Other Trashy Expressions: Slate. They Like To Start Fresh. Sometimes That Involves Simply Cleaning
'Trash Talk' and Other Trashy Expressions: Slate. They Like To Start Fresh. Sometimes That Involves Simply Cleaning
Trashy Expressions
And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
At the beginning of a new year, some people like to start with a clean
slate. They like to start fresh. Sometimes that involves simply cleaning
your house and getting rid of things you do not need. Some things you can
give away to others or donate. Other things without value or use are trash.
And so trash is also our topic for today. After we talk about some trash
expressions, you will hear them used in a conversation.
In American English, we have other words for trash such as garbage and
rubbish. They all mean the same thing. Sometimes we use
them interchangeably in expressions. But sometimes we don’t.
For example, in baseball, if a player hits the ball poorly, the other team
might say, “My 80-year-old grandmother hits harder than that!”
The term “trash talk” is a set expression. So, we do not say “garbage talk”
or “rubbish talk.”
Trash talk has another meaning. It can mean meaningless or false talk.
We also call that kind of trash talk a load of nonsense. In that case, you
could say that trash talk is a “load of rubbish,” or a “load of garbage.”
Those all work and sound natural.
Garbage and rubbish
Here is another expression that uses the words rather well: “Good
riddance to bad rubbish.”
Now, there are other expressions that use garbage and trash but not
rubbish.
A raccoon is an animal known for getting into people’s trash cans and
stealing their garbage. The black color around the eyes makes a raccoon
look like a bandit or a robber. So, a funny name for a raccoon is either
trash bandit or garbage bandit. We do not, however, call it a rubbish
bandit. Again, it just doesn’t sound right.
The same thing happens when a person uses bad language. We say he has
a garbage mouth or she has a trash mouth. Again, we do not say rubbish
mouth.
Our last expression for today is “garbage in, garbage out.” This means if
something is of bad quality or done incorrectly, it most likely will produce
poor results.
Now, as promised, let’s hear two friends use some of these expressions.
A: How was the basketball game last night? Did your team win?
B: They said they didn’t practice … at all. So, you know what they say:
Garbage in, garbage out.
B: We did. The second best thing about the game was all the trash-
talking. We got very creative with our insults.
B: Nah! It’s all in good fun. They were doing their own trash talking.
Soon we were competing over who had the best insults!
B: Well … one guy on the other team did. He kept dropping the ball. So,
we called him butter hands.
And that’s all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories.
Hopefully using our content at VOA Learning English is not garbage in,
garbage out.
Anna Matteo wrote this for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the
editor.
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bandit -n. a criminal who attacks and steals from travelers and who is
often a member of a group of criminals