by Stephen Andrews
Feeling ‘a bit peckish’? ‘Hungry as a horse’? ‘Hank Marvin’?
These are all popular English expressions that mean you’re hungry.
‘Peckish’ comes from the verb ‘peck’, which is what a bird does with its beak — it basically means ‘hungry enough to peck at some food.’
‘Hungry as a horse’ originally referred to soldiers in olden times being so hungry they ate their horses to survive.
‘Hank Marvin’ is Cockney rhyming slang and means ‘starving’. It refers to the popular English guitarist Hank Marvin.
A bit odd, aren’t they? Like so many popular English phrases! But they’re used all the time in everyday speech and it’s well worth learning them.
So, if you are hungry, why not book a nice restaurant for dinner and ‘stuff your face’? (‘Stuff your face’ means just that: to put a lot of food in your mouth!)
Here are few phrases that you might find handy.
Booking a table
When you phone to book a table, you’ll be asked a few basic questions. A typical conversation might go like this:
YOU: “Hello. Can I book a table please?”
RES: “Certainly sir/madam. When for?”
YOU: “Next Wednesday, please.”
RES: “At what time?”
YOU: “8 o’clock please.”
RES: “Let me check for you. Hold on, just a moment.”
YOU: “Thank you.”
RES: “Yes, that’s fine. How many people?”
YOU: “Just the two.”
RES: “Great. We’ll see you then.”
You may well have a few further requests, such as:
“Can we have a table by the window, please?”
“It’s my partner’s birthday. Could you lay on something a bit special, maybe a birthday cake?”
At the restaurant
Once you arrive at the restaurant, you’ll probably be met at the door; and the conversation might go something like this:
“Good evening sir/madam. Have you booked a table?”
If, as sometimes happens, the person who greets you doesn’t ask this, you can say:
“Hello. I’ve booked a table for two people at 8 o’clock.”
Then, the person will probably reply something like: “Yes. What name, please?”
Then, obviously, you just give your own name.
But if you’re going out with a group of friends or business colleagues, and someone else has booked the table in their name and you arrive separately from the others, all you need to reply is: “The table is booked in the name of XXX”. (Your friend’s/colleague’s name.)
In a very ‘posh’ (expensive!) restaurant, the person who shows you to your table is called a ‘maître d' which is French, meaning ‘head waiter’.
In most restaurants, though, an ordinary waiter or perhaps the owner will do this.
Once you’ve sat down, you’ll be handed the menu and be given a few moments to look at it. But, at this point, you’ll probably be asked:
“Can I get you a drink while you’re thinking?”
In an expensive restaurant, they’ll usually have a special wine waiter who can help you choose the right wine for your meal, perhaps one that goes well with fish or another that goes well with meat.
Normally, though, you can just order whatever you like from the wine list or drinks menu.
Once all that’s sorted out, it’s time to order!
Ordering
When the waiter comes back, he’ll ask you what you’d like.
If you haven’t quite made up your mind, you could say: “We haven’t decided yet. Sorry.” to which the waiter will reply something like: “Would you like another couple of minutes?”
Once you’ve made up your mind what you ‘fancy’ (what you’d like) from the menu, your waiter might ask “Would you like a starter?” meaning an appetiser or first course.
An ‘appetiser’ is a small-ish dish designed to ‘whet your appetite’, that is, get you ready for the main course.
(NOTE: this expression isn’t ‘wet’ your appetite. ‘Whet’ and ‘wet’ have completely different meanings. ‘Whet’ means to ‘sharpen’ and ‘wet’ is when something is soaked in water.)
To use another popular expression, it ‘gets your taste buds going’ which is when your mouth salivates and you’re looking forward to eating.
You’ll then be asked what you’d like for your main course. If you like, you can order your dessert or pudding at the same time, although, usually, people don’t decide this until they’ve finished the main course.
Before you start eating, your waiter might say: “Enjoy!” or, in a posh restaurant, “Bon appetite!” which is French for “Enjoy your meal”.
There’s a funny thing about British people eating out, which is that they very rarely complain about a meal they’re not enjoying. Even if the waiter comes to ask if everything is alright with their food, they’ll probably just smile politely, nod and say: “Oh, yes, it’s fine, thank you.”
Getting the bill
So you’ve finished your meal, had a good time and are ready to go.
The last thing you have to do, of course, is ask for the bill. Everyone’s favourite bit!
There are a couple ways to do this. You can wave at the waiter and ask:
“Can we have the bill, please?’” And they’ll reply something like “Of course" maybe adding something like “Was everything okay for you?”
The other way of doing it, especially if you’re in a hurry or the waiter is busy, is to ‘catch his eye’ (meaning get his attention) by making a scribbling gesture with your hands, just as if you’re writing something in the air. This may seem a bit odd, but the waiter will know immediately what you mean.
What about a tip? In the old days in Britain, tips weren’t usually added to the bill and it was left up to you how much to pay, or to leave nothing at all. These days, though, the final amount your pay usually includes 10% or so added on.
I hope this is some help if you want to know some of the popular phrases used when you go out to eat.
Like having dinner, it pays to take a little time to digest them!
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