English Vocabulary: Using names as nouns, verbs, adjectives: Dick, John, Will...

Some first names in English can also mean something else. Sometimes, we use first names as verbs, nouns, or adjectives. How is this possible? Watch on, because in this lesson, I will teach you the other meanings of nine very common first names: Sue, Pat, Dick, Nick, Bill, Will, Don, Frank, and John. You will discover which one of these means “honest” and which one means “toilet”. Can you guess who is who? It may seem strange to you that some first names are used in different ways, but it is quite common in the English language, and you can use these words, too. Some of the meanings are formal and some are slang usages. Comment with a name in your native language that also means something else! https://www.engvid.com/english....-vocabulary-using-na

TRANSCRIPT

Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm. Ooo, look at the board. It seems E and Mini E are having a problem. Let's listen in. By the way, today's lesson is... It's about names that people have in English that are actually used as verbs, nouns, and adjectives; or they have a grammar function. And we're going to look at the board, see their conversation, and try to figure it out, and I'll explain the names to you. And by the way, you'll get to meet my family here, because a lot of my family names are on the board. Let's go to the board.

So, E says: "Let's be frank. You can't sue me." And Mini E says: "Yes I will. Don't dick me around!" Oo, that's a strong statement. And why I say it's in my family, because my family's names: I have an Auntie Susan, I have an Uncle Donald, my dad's name is Frank, my brother's name is Nicholas. Yeah, seems... Oh, and my grandfather's name was John. They're all here. Okay, anyway, let's go to the board.

So, let's start off at the beginning. Let's look at names. "Sue"... "Susan"... Short form of "Susan" is "Sue". Okay? And what "sue" means is to take someone to court. So, when you sue someone, you can take them to court for money or to get something back. But "to sue" means to go to court, to take... And make a legal argument that something belongs to you or should come back to you, or you want money; compensation for, and it's a verb.

Let's look at: "Pat"/"Patrick". "Patrick", the short form of "Patrick" is "Pat". And "to pat" somebody is like this, like you do with a dog. You know when you have a cat, and you're like: "Here, what a nice dog, what a nice cat"? And sometimes people do it to irritate you, they're like: "That was a really good job you did!" They pat you on the back, and you're like: "I'm not a dog. Don't pat me." Okay? But "a pat" is like that: "Good job. Good job. Good boy."

The next one is "Richard". Now, I don't know why this is, but the short form for "Richard" is "Dick". Okay? And "dick", if you watch... Well, if you like Batman-some of you do-the first Robin's name was Dick Grayson. His real name was Richard Grayson, and the short name was Dick Grayson. And when we say: "to dick", it means to play around; not to be serious, to act like an amateur or in a childish way. So, if you're dicking around at work, it means you're not doing your job. And if you're dicking around, you're playing. I'd say: "Stop dicking around." It means: "Stop fooling around. Stop playing around."

"Nick". "Nick" means to make a small cut. You go: "What is 'small cut'?" Well, you can do a small cut two ways. I'm going to give you my favourite example, which is the rose. When you have a rose, it has what's called a 'thorn'. When you put your finger here, you get cut. You get a small cut, which is a nick. But also when you shave, you know, when you've got your little shaver, and you get a little cut, you nick yourself. So, "a nick" is a small cut or a scratch. All right?

"Bill, B-B-B-B-B-Bill". Well, "Bill" can be either "Bill" or "Will". Okay? And I should have said, in this case, it's a verb, so we're looking here. So, "William", you can make it either "Bill" or "Will". Once again, "Will" makes sense; I don't know why "Bill". Maybe because if you take the "B"... I have no idea. I'm just making this up; it's not real. But if you take the "B" here and you make it like that, maybe. I don't know; I didn't make it up. But "bill", in one case, is to give a paper asking for money. So, when somebody says: "Bill me", it means: "Send me the amount... A paper with the amount that I should give to you." Maybe I had dinner and I bought some things, so you're going to send the bill with a dinner, the book, the coffee, and it will say how much money I must give to you. So, people say: "Bill me for this."

In fact, many of you get bills when you're billed by your cell phone company. They bill you, right? At the end of the month, they say: "You've done this, this, this, and this. Please pay this much money." That's a bill; you've been billed. "Will"... Well, you've studied grammar, I'm sure. It's a modal verb for intention or future, so: "I will go" or "I will do it"-my intent […]