Full-on

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript

Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei and joining me is Harry.

Harry Hello! And the expression we are going to look at today which we hear a lot in colloquial speech is ‘full-on’. So, Feifei - did you have a good weekend?

Feifei It was quiet. I stayed home most of the time. I watched a couple of old, black and white films with my grandmother on Sunday. That was the highlight. How about you?

Harry Well, your weekend sounds quite… relaxed. Well, my weekend wasn’t like your weekend at all. I went to the launch party of a new bar on Friday - that was quite a night! Then on Saturday my friends took me to a night club that went on until morning!

Feifei Wow! That sounds exciting. Clubbing though - aren’t you a bit old for that sort of thing?

Harry No, I’m not too old, but to be honest - it was a bit full-on.

Feifei Full-on? What do you mean?

Harry Well, the music, the dancing, the drinking, the energy. It was very intense. I’m not old, but I’m not as young as I was.

Feifei Right. So full-on means it was very intense.

Harry Yeah. I think I’ll need a few days to recover; it was so full-on.

Feifei What else can be full-on?

Harry Some people are a bit full-on. A bit extreme. Not relaxing.

Feifei I know what you mean. Sarah’s a bit full-on isn’t she?

Harry Yes, she scares me. She stands so close when she talks to me and stares straight into my eyes. Work can also be full-on when it’s busy.

Feifei Work has been a bit full on lately hasn’t it. We’ve had to do loads of overtime to get the new project finished.

Harry It has been full-on, yes. Let’s listen to some more examples.

Examples Man Have a good holiday?

Woman
To be honest, not really. We were up at 6am every day to get as much sightseeing done as possible and didn’t get to bed till midnight. It was so full-on. I feel like I need another holiday.

I really don’t like children’s parties. All those excited, screaming kids. It’s too full-on.

London’s too full-on. I need to move to the countryside.

Feifei Well, if you want a more relaxing weekend next time, come and watch some films with me and my grandmother. It’s really laid back.

Harry That sounds a lot less full-on. I’ll do that.

Feifei Join us again soon for The English We Speak.

Harry Bye!