To blow your own trumpet
| William: | Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. My name is William Kremer. |
| Helen: | And I'm Helen. |
| William: | I've got something for you, Helen. |
| Burst of loud classical music (Beethoven's '5th Symphony') |
| Helen: | It's nice to have a bit of music William, but why ... |
| Burst of different classical music (Mendelssohn's 'Dance of the Clowns') |
| William: | What do you think ... nice music, huh? |
| Helen: | Well, it's certainly dramatic! So are we having a special musical edition today, William? |
| William: | Well, yes we are Helen. The BBC Proms start this Friday, remember? |
| Helen: | Ah, of course. The BBC Proms is a huge classical music festival that the BBC sponsors. It's over 100 years old. |
| William: | Yes and every day for the next two months hundreds of music fans will queue to get their hands on a £5 ticket. |
| Helen: | Wow. Are you going to go? |
| William: | No, I hate queuing! But anyway, I thought we could have a music-themed programme. And our phrase this week relates to one instrument in particular ... |
Trumpet music solo
| Helen: | The trumpet? |
| William: | Yes, do you know what it means to say someone 'blows his own trumpet'? |
| Helen: | Yes. It means that someone is talking too much about his achievements, right? |
| William: | Exactly. Let's listen to an example. |
Woman: Who's going to be there tonight?
Man: I think Angela and Mark and that guy Martin ...
Woman: Oh no, not Martin! He's such a bore. He's always blowing his own trumpet. Last time I saw him he went on and on about how he had been promoted twice in six weeks.
| Helen: | So this is quite a negative phrase then? |
| William: | Yes, sometimes. But interestingly, it isn't always used in a negative way. Listen to this example. A woman is talking to her niece. |
Woman: I didn't know you'd come top in the class again! Why didn't you tell me? You really must start blowing your own trumpet a bit more!
| Helen: | So in that clip, the woman was telling her niece she ought to blow her own trumpet more? |
| William: | Yes. And English people sometimes use this phrase because they are embarrassed to talk about their achievements. Listen to this clip: |
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| Man: | How's it going at your work nowadays? |
| Woman: | Well, at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, it's going very well. In fact, I've just won an award! |
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| Helen: | She said "At the risk of blowing my own trumpet". |
| William: | Yeah, so that's like saying "Excuse me while I talk about my achievements"! |
| Helen: | Well, I wonder whether we should blow our own trumpet a bit more. I mean here we are with a really popular website, bbclearningenglish.com ... |
| William: | ... yeah, making lots of little programmes that are entertaining, fascinating, useful ... |
| Helen: | ... and best of all, it's all free! Brilliant, huh? |
| William: | Yeah, that's brilliant! But maybe we should stop blowing our own trumpet now! Shall we have some more of that nice music again to finish off? |
| Helen: | Oh yes! Bye! |
| William: | Bye! |