This mini episode teaches you the strange and useful phrase “the works.”
Episode 225 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the strange and useful phrase “the works.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello! This is Marcin from Poland. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 225 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
Today, I want to talk about a strange and useful expression that you might not know. And that expression is “the works.” The works. That’s the: t-h-e, works: w-o-r-k-s. The works.
What does “the works” mean? The works means “with or including everything that is available, with or including everything that is possible.”Now, that definition might be a little bit hard to understand. So let’s look at some examples of sentences that use “the works.”
Let’s say you went to lunch with your friend, and you are talking about what your friend ordered for lunch. You might say, “My friend ordered a hamburger with the works.” My friend ordered a hamburger with the works.
What does it mean if somebody ordered a hamburger with the works? That means that they ordered a hamburger with everything that is available. With everything that is possible to go with a hamburger. Or with everything that the restaurant puts on a hamburger. That might mean that your friend ordered a hamburger with cheese and lettuce and onions and pickles and whatever else this restaurant puts on hamburgers. Your friend ordered a hamburger with the works—with everything.
Here is another situation where somebody might use the expression “the works”: I can imagine somebody talking about their child’s birthday party. And they might say something like this: “We had everything. We had a birthday cake, we had ice cream, we had presents, we had games in the park. You know: the works.” That is how they are describing this party. They are saying that they did everything that is available to do for a child’s birthday party. They did it all. Their party contained or included everything that is possible for a child’s birthday party. You know: the works. In other words, it included everything.
And that is “the works,” a strange but useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
And we have reached the end of episode 225 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Marcin recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.