Summary 

Rob's off to an important event, but there's something wrong with his bow tie - it's a bit 'skew-whiff'! Lucky for him, Feifei is here to straighten things out. Find out what it all means in this The English We Speak.

Transcript

Feifei

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.

Rob
And I’m Rob.

Feifei
And I have to say Rob, you look fantastic! Big night, tonight, eh?

Rob
Well, I like to make an effort sometimes. It’s not every night you get invited to a movie premiere.

Feifei
So handsome…

Rob
Do you like my bow tie?

Feifei
Oh yes. Just one thing…

Rob
What’s that?

Feifei
It’s a bit… skew-whiff.

Rob
Oh, really?

Feifei
Yes. It’s not quite straight. Here.

Rob
Oh, thanks. That's better.

Feifei
Absolutely.

Rob
It’s a good word, skew-whiff. We use it to describe things that aren’t quite straight, or not quite as they should be.

Feifei
Like your tie. And your… hang on… your hair.

Rob
No, no – don’t touch the hair. I spent ages getting it just right.

Feifei
Sorry. We can also use skew-whiff to describe things that don’t go according to plan.

Rob
Now Feifei, I’m just off to check myself in the mirror. Let’s play some examples while I’m gone.

Examples
A: There we go! One perfectly hung picture. What do you think?
B: Hmm, it’s a little skew-whiff. Let me hang it straight.

This table is skew-whiff. One of the legs must be too short.

Our journey went a bit skew-whiff after we missed the train this morning.

I wanted to spend the whole weekend working on my dissertation, but everything went a bit skew-whiff when my friend arrived in the afternoon.

Rob
This is the English We Speak from BBC Learning English. We are talking about the word skew-whiff. OK, that’s my bow tie looking perfect now, thanks Feifei.

Feifei
Great. There’s one more thing.

Rob
Oh yes? What’s that?

Feifei
Take some chewing gum. Your breath is fine,I think, but it’s always good to have, just in case.

Rob
Yes, you wouldn’t want a whiff of bad breath at the premiere.

Feifei
Indeed, the word ‘whiff’ on its own means 'a sudden smell of something'. No danger of that happening now. Enjoy the show!

Rob
I will!

Feifei and Rob
Bye.