The English We Speak: Stir the pot

Learning English Conversations

BBC

Education, Language Learning

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Some people just love causing trouble. This expression is about them!

(Image: Getty)

TRANSCRIPT Find a full transcript for this episode and more programmes to help you with your English at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2024/ep-240603

FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus

LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ News Review ✔️ Office English They're all available by searching in your podcast app.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the English we speak with me Neil and me fefei we have an expression which is about
0:06.7	causing trouble or being provocative it's stir the pot. Stir the pot.
0:14.0	When could we use this?
0:15.5	Okay, so let's picture two people having an argument
0:19.4	about who should come into work on Saturday to finish off a project?
0:24.4	Oh right, nobody wants to do that, and I can see why they might be arguing about this.
0:30.0	So how could someone stir the pot?
0:32.7	Well, if I just happened to walk over and point out that person A had been really helpful
0:39.1	and had come in to help me lots of times, while person B always left early then I'd be stirring the pot.
0:47.4	It might make the argument worse.
0:49.7	I'm not entirely sure that helped the situation. Would stirring the pot like that be a little
0:56.1	immature? It might well be, and I'm not really one to stir. But listen to these examples of people who love to stir the pot.
1:05.0	Oh, I don't mind what you did.
1:10.0	I'm just saying it here to stir the pot.
1:13.0	I'm not sure we should let Puyoto in the group chat.
1:16.0	He's always trying to stir the pot and cause trouble.
1:20.0	Why are you here? You've got nothing important to say. You're just stirring the pot.
1:30.0	You're listening to the English we speak from BBC Learning English and we're learning the expression
1:35.9	Stir the Pot which means to cause trouble or be provocative.
1:40.7	It might be easy to remember if you think of it as a metaphor. When you're cooking you put things in a pot and when you stir them together things happen.
1:50.0	So stirring the pot is putting things into a conversation looking to make bad things happen.
1:55.8	Yes, if I'm trying to explain all the good reasons that I was late for work this morning,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.