Fed up

Fed up

I was browsing the tourist attractions in Uruguay on my phone the other day and started daydreaming about taking my next international vacation there. I’m fed up with not being able to travel—and not being able to plan anything, either, since we don’t even know when it might be possible.

I’m fed up with this virus. What does that mean? I’m fed up with this virus; I’m fed up with the lockdown; I’m fed up with having to wear a mask everywhere I go. It means, I’m frustrated, and I’m out of patience. I’m not happy with it. I’ve had enough of it. If you’re frustrated with something and you’re losing patience with it, then you’re fed up with it.

Let me clarify here: it can’t just be something you’re angry about. It has to be something you’ve lived with for a while, something you’ve suffered through. Let me give you an example. Last year, it snowed on Halloween in Chicago. It ruined a lot of people’s plans to go out in their Halloween costumes. It is not correct, not correct to say, “I’m fed up with all of this snow.” Why is that not correct? Because that was the first snowstorm of the year. You can be angry with it, sure: that’s your right. But you can’t be fed up with something unless you’ve suffered through it for a while. Now fast forward and imagine it’s cold and snowy on March 15. Now you have the right to say you’re fed up with the snow and the cold weather. Now, on March 15, you’ve been living with that for five, six months, and you’ve lost patience with it. You’re fed up with it because you’ve lived with it for too long, and now you have lost patience.

Earlier I said that many businesspeople in Argentina are fed up with the high taxes and political instability in their country. From their perspective, they’ve lived through a lot of financial and political instability. They’ve had to suffer through lots of restrictions, a devaluation of the currency, and high taxes. And after Argentina raised certain taxes again last year, a lot of people are fed up and are leaving.

If you say that you’re “fed up” it means that you’re angry and your patience has run out. If you want to specify why you’re angry, you say “fed up with” and then the thing that makes you angry.

Let’s take a few examples. Let’s say a coworker decides to leave her job. You both have the same job, so you both know the pros and cons of working there. You ask your coworker, why did you decide to resign? She responds, “Ah, I’m just fed up, that’s all.” You nod your head, because you know. You know; you work there, too.

However, if you meet someone for the first time and she tells you, “I just quit my job. I’m fed up.” That’s going to leave you wondering: fed up with what? What is she angry about? So you might ask, “Well, what are you fed up with?” And she might respond, “I’m fed up with having to work late every night.” Or “I’m fed up with all the gossip in the office.” Or whatever. So when you want to say what you’re angry about, what you’ve suffered through for too long, you say “fed up with.”

I’m fed up with your bad behavior. You might say that if you have a misbehaving child. If your spouse or partner complains all the time, you might say, “I’m fed up with all your complaining. If you’re not happy, then do something about it.”

JR, oh boy. I won’t say the name of the cell phone provider, but their logo is pink. For years, JR had a cheaper cell phone provider in the United States. But the coverage was bad and he was losing calls and couldn’t get a good signal. He was so fed up with them. He was so angry and had suffered with bad cell phone service for too long. Finally after a few years, he switched to Verizon. That’s how fed up he was with T—with that pink cell phone provider.

Quote of the Week

Happy thirtieth birthday to a united Germany. Three decades ago this month, East and West Germany came together to form the country we know today as, simply, Germany. At the time, some people were afraid. They were a little concerned that Germany would become too big of a power in Europe, and that they would upset the balance of power. France, Italy, the UK—they all had leaders that were a little nervous about the potential for Germany to dominate European affairs, especially economic affairs.

Italy’s prime minister at the time Giulio Andreotti was opposed to East and West Germany coming together, fearing that Italy would lose influence to a united Germany. So here was his joke, and it’s the quote of the week. He said, “I like Germany so much that I prefer to see two of them.”

See you next time!

I always strive for balance at Plain English, so if we need to find a German joke at Italy’s expense, I’m open to that!

Congratulations on making it to the end of another lesson. Remember the fun continues online. We have a video lesson; translations into German, Italian, and seven other languages; pronunciation and listening exercises; quizzes; and a fast version of the audio. That’s all at PlainEnglish.com/304. If you’re not yet a Plus+ member, you can unlock all those great features by visiting PlainEnglish.com/Plus.

Coming up on the next lesson: all about the tourist attraction called “fall foliage.” That’s on Thursday—don’t miss it!