“You had it coming!” 14 FIGHTING EXPRESSIONS in English

0:00 Today, I'm going to talk to you about some fighting words,

0:04 them's fighting words.

0:06 This is an old expression, you don't hear it too often anymore,

0:08 but I'll explain that in a moment.

0:10 But the key here is that people fight a lot,

0:14 but not always like physically fighting.

0:16 Sometimes it's just an argument, sometimes it's just some sort of manipulation,

0:20 like in an office, somebody is trying to get ahead of you for a promotion,

0:25 or in other contexts,

0:26 somebody's trying to like start something with you just for an argument's sake.

0:30 So, there are a lot of expressions that show a fight is coming,

0:34 or a fight will happen, or challenging someone to a fight.

0:38 So, I'm going to talk to you about some of these expressions.

0:41 Now, first of all, let's start with the title,

0:43 them's fighting words, and sometimes you'll hear the them's be fighting words.

0:48 Both expressions are okay.

0:50 When someone says, oh, them's be fighting words,

0:54 it means I feel like you're challenging me,

0:57 or I feel like you're threatening me, right?

1:00 So, threat is a good expression, good word to know.

1:07 If someone is threatening you, that means they want to do you some harm.

1:11 Now, it doesn't have to be physical,

1:14 it could be at work, it could be socially, romantically, etc.

1:18 But if they're threatening you, then what they say, you can say,

1:22 them's be fighting words, I understand you're threatening me,

1:26 I'm prepared to fight you back, basically.

1:28 A little bit old-fashioned expression.

1:30 Now, some people, when they have a fight, they say,

1:34 okay, we're going to have this fight, no holds barred.

1:38 Now, in wrestling, if you ever watch wrestling,

1:41 or any other sort of like physical sport,

1:44 even, I guess wrestling is the most common, they have certain holds,

1:49 like this, or they hold the opponent in a certain way to get an advantage.

1:55 So, in some cases, certain holds are just not allowed, they are barred.

2:00 But if we're going to have a no holds barred fight,

2:04 means everything is allowed, there are no rules.

2:06 I can hit you anywhere,

2:08 I can do anything I want to you if it's going to help me win.

2:12 So, be careful when somebody says no holds barred, they will play dirty.

2:17 That's another good expression.

2:22 Or they will fight dirty.

2:23 Dirty means, for example, for a guy, if you hit me in a certain part of my body,

2:30 I will fall right away, and I will not be able to fight anymore.

2:34 But that's a dirty fighting, so don't do that.

2:36 But in a no holds barred fight, it happens.

2:40 To pull one's punches.

2:42 If you're pulling your punches, means you're not hitting as hard as you could.

2:47 So, in any other context, you're not attacking as hard as you could.

2:52 So, if you saw the movie Captain America Civil War,

2:56 Scarlet Witch said to Hawkeye that he's pulling his punches

3:00 because he wasn't hitting Black Widow hard enough because,

3:04 you know, they're friends, so he wants to stay friends.

3:07 So, he was pulling his punches.

3:10 To hit below the belt is exactly what I just described.

3:13 So, I have a belt, and if you hit me

3:16 below that, I'm going to be in a lot of pain.

3:19 But here, to hit below the belt means to fight dirty or play dirty.

3:24 It also means to attack someone in a very vulnerable point.

3:29 So, if you hit someone below the belt, it doesn't have to be physical.

3:33 You can say something that is a little bit

3:36 rude or insulting that's also considered hitting below the belt.

3:41 You should have a certain level of respect

3:43 for someone and certain things you just don't attack.

3:47 So, to get even with someone.

3:49 So, some fights start because somebody

3:51 thinks that something bad happened to them,

3:53 and they need to do something bad to the person who did that first bad thing.

3:58 It's like a revenge.

3:59 So, to get even with someone means to get revenge with someone.

4:04 Or, another word for revenge, payback.

4:07 So, they gave you something,

4:09 you have to pay them back the same level of something, right?

4:15 So, if somebody said...

4:17 insulted you, the payback would be to insult them.

4:21 If somebody made you look bad in front of a girl or in front of a guy,

4:25 you will do something to embarrass them later.

4:27 So, you're going to get even.

4:29 You're going to get your payback.

4:31 If someone has something coming, to have it coming,

4:35 it means they deserve whatever is going to happen to them.

4:40 So, somebody said to me, like, "Why were you so mean to your neighbor?

4:45 Like, you treated them very badly." They had it coming.

4:50 So, that means that my neighbor had done something

4:55 to me that made me want to get some payback,

4:59 and so I gave the payback because they had it coming.

5:03 So, I can explain to my friend, "Don't worry.

5:05 They deserved it.

5:06 They had it coming." Now, me and my friend are talking,

5:11 and the voices start to rise,

5:14 the emotions start to rise, and soon enough, we come to blows.

5:19 "Come to blows" means it escalates or becomes an actual fight.

5:24 And "blows" means, like, a punch or a hit is a blow.

5:28 So, if something is about to come to blows,

5:32 then we should calm the situation down

5:34 because they're about to physically start fighting.

5:37 And a blow is a physical thing, so it's always a physical fight.

5:41 Okay, so I've got a few more for you,

5:43 and they're from all kinds of contexts and situations,

5:47 but all related to fighting still.

5:49 So, you should never give up without a fight.

5:52 Now, this doesn't have to be a physical fight.

5:55 Any struggle or any time you're about

5:57 to quit something because it's too difficult, don't give up without a fight.

6:02 At least try, right?

6:04 But if somebody does give up without a fight,

6:07 basically means he's easy or she is easy to quit,

6:10 and that's not a good situation either.

6:13 Now, this expression,

6:14 I put a blank here because the most common word you'll hear is,

6:19 like, "beat the shit out of someone" or "beat the crap out of someone".

6:23 But you can also say, "beat the stuffing out of someone".

6:27 It all depends on your level of language that you want to use.

6:31 But this is a very common expression when somebody gets literally beaten up,

6:37 like hit and all bloody and bruised and all that.

6:40 Or if you threaten somebody, you can say,

6:42 "I'm going to beat the whatever out of you", right?

6:45 If you don't stop talking or if you don't stop

6:47 bothering me or if you don't leave my parking spot,

6:50 I'm going to beat the out of you, right?

6:53 Very common expression.

6:54 "Tit for tat".

6:55 A little bit more old-fashioned but still used quite often.

7:00 "Tit for tat" means you do something to me, I'll do something to you.

7:03 You do something small to me, I'll do something small to you.

7:05 You do something bad, like big and bad to me,

7:08 I'll do something big and bad to you.

7:10 So, basically, you know the expression "eye for an eye" from the Bible.

7:14 "Tit for tat", same idea, right?

7:16 Something you do, something I do.

7:19 Now, if someone is spoiling for a fight,

7:22 it means that they're looking for a fight, they want a fight.

7:27 Or they're acting in a way that a fight is going to come to them.

7:32 So, usually we say, we use this as a warning.

7:36 "Listen, you're spoiling for a fight, better stop,

7:39 better cut it back." It means you're asking for it,

7:41 and I'm going to eventually lose my patience

7:43 and get into a fight with you, right?

7:46 Or someone is acting in a certain way because he or she is spoiling

7:49 for a fight means maybe they drank a little

7:52 bit too much and they want this situation.

7:56 "Go down swinging" or "come out swinging".

7:59 So, two expressions, but same general format.

8:03 If you go down swinging, swinging like all kinds of whatever punching motions.

8:09 If you go down swinging or if someone goes down swinging,

8:13 it means fighting until the very end, never gave up.

8:18 Now, mostly for physical, go down swinging,

8:20 like you're actually physically swinging your hand,

8:23 you're throwing punches and whatever.

8:25 But anytime that you're in a situation where

8:27 you're in a position of harm or danger,

8:30 even of losing your job, for example, if you go down swinging,

8:35 it means you fought it until the very end.

8:37 You didn't just give up and walk away.

8:40 And if somebody comes out swinging, it means they're- from the beginning,

8:44 they're ready to go hard and fight for whatever they believe, right?

8:49 So, if you invite someone to a fight and they come out swinging,

8:53 it means they have no hesitation.

8:55 They'll start swinging and throwing those arms right away.

8:58 Now, very good expression.

9:00 You don't hear it often, but you do hear it and it's a very specific context.

9:06 If someone brings a knife to a gunfight, it means they are not prepared.

9:12 If you come to me and you have a knife

9:15 and you want to attack me and I have a gun,

9:18 until you reach me with your knife, I'll already shoot you and win, right?

9:22 So, if you came to- if you did

9:25 this, it means you came unprepared and your opponent

9:28 is maybe smarter than you or stronger than you

9:31 or better equipped for the situation than you are.

9:34 And if somebody says this to you,

9:36 that's a little bit- a little bit saying you're stupid, right?

9:40 It's not nice, but that's essentially what it means.

9:42 You didn't come well prepared for the situation.

9:45 So, these are just some of the expressions about fighting.

9:48 There are others, but this is a good place to start.

9:50 If you have any questions about them,

9:52 you can ask me in the www.EngVid.com website.

9:54 There's a quiz, of course.

9:55 Don't forget to make sure you

9:57 understand them in specific sentences and contexts.

10:01 And yeah, that's it.

10:03 Come back.

10:04 Next time, I'll give you some more expressions useful for everyday conversation.

10:08 See you then.

10:09 Bye-bye.