Welcome to the English we speak with me Phil and me fae fey we have an expression which means tell lies it's tell porkies tell porkies tell porkies tell porkies

Tell us a bit more about this Phil and no poor keys.

Nice example there. The meaning is simple.

It just means say something that isn't true.

That's right. It's got absolutely nothing to do with food or pigs. But what is important to remember about it?

It's slang and it's very informal. We're most likely to use this expression in a light-hearted way and not in a serious

situation. So when you said that you were going to tidy the store cupboard and I saw you sneaking out to get a coffee. You were

telling me a Porky. I'm not saying anything about that. Let's listen to these

examples. You said you weren't going to get me a present and now you bring this.

You were telling Porky's all along.

I think one of you's trying to trick me.

Who's telling porkies?

I know that's not true.

You're telling big fat porkies again, aren't you? You're listening to the English we speak from BBC Learning English,

and we're learning the expression Tell Porkyies, which is an informal way of saying Tell Lies.

Where does this come from?

This is an example of rhyming slang, where people use something that rhymes with the word they actually mean.

Now what makes it complicated is that then they don't usually say the bit that rhymes.

What does Porky rhyme with?

Well, that's it.

The full expression is to tell pork pies, because pork pies

rhymes with lies.

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