| William: | Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. My name is William Kremer. |
| Li: | And I'm Li. William, what's our phrase today? |
| William: | Well, hold on a second Li, let me just play you - |
| Li: | No, come on, tell me now—what phrase are we looking at today? |
| William: | Well, we'll come onto that in a minute but I've got some very special FX for you ... |
| Li: | More special FX?! And special music? That's not what our people want! They want authentic English phrases, and they want them now! So what's our phrase today? |
| William: | Li, hold your horses! |
| Li: | Eh? |
| William: | Hold your horses. It means: be patient. |
| Li: | Oh ... where does this phrase come from, William? |
| William: | Well, apparently it comes from battles in times of war: |
| FX—Battle re-enactment noise |
|
| Man: | Hold your horses men! |
|
| FX—gunfire, horses whinnying |
| Li: | Wow, Will, your FX this week are really special! |
| William: | Hmmm, I know! In that clip we heard a soldier telling his men to hold their horses before he started firing weapons. |
| Li: | But nowadays, I am guessing, you don't need to be a soldier to use this phrase, right? |
| William: | Exactly, yes. It means: don't rush, be patient. Let's hear a couple of examples: |
Man: I've just gone online to order us some new computers. What's our charge code again?
Woman: Ah, well you're going to have to hold your horses! I haven't agreed a budget yet with the management team.
Man 2: I've just spoken to Mark—
Woman 2: Have you indeed? Well don't listen to a word that man says! He's never liked me ...
Man 2: Hey, hey hey! Hold your horses. We didn't discuss you at all, as a matter of fact.
| Li: | So in that first example, the man couldn't order his computers yet because the company hadn't agreed a budget. He had to wait; he had to hold his horses. |
| William: | Hmm. And in the second example it was slightly different. In that clip we heard a woman interrupt the man because she thought she knew what he was going to say. |
| Li: | Ah yes, the man told her to hold her horse and wait for him to finish speaking. |
| William: | Ah, yeah, but Li we never say "Hold your horse" we always say "Hold your horses". |
| Li: | Oh OK, I'll bear it in mind. But, er, Will ... ? |
| William: | Yeah? |
| Li: | Can you hold this for me please? |
| Horse whinnying |
