How to Express Anger Clearly in English [489]

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In this episode, you’ll learn common English expressions used to describe anger, frustration, and strong reactions.

Many learners rely on simple words like angry or mad, but fluent speakers use more precise phrases such as:

• become irate
• blow one’s top
• get worked up

I explain what each expression means, when it is appropriate, and how to use it without sounding exaggerated or unnatural. This lesson will help you describe conflict, disagreement, and emotional reactions more clearly in conversations at work and in everyday life.

This English lesson is ideal for ESL learners looking to enhance their English speaking skills and gain confidence in speaking naturally in any situation. Boost your English fluency today and start speaking with the ease of a native speaker!

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Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. So anything that you need, you know where to contact me, www.englishlessonviaskype.com. I'm always very, very happy to hear from you. What have we got for you today? In this particular lesson, this Advanced English lesson, we're looking at 20, 20 words and expressions relating to anger. So they're advanced words. So some of them you're probably not familiar with are some of the expressions, but I'll explain them as best I can. If you have any queries, then of course you can come back to me at the end of the lesson and I'll give you my address. Overall, they're all expressing anger. So when you are feeling angry because you dropped your favorite mug and it broke on the floor or you've lost your car keys or somebody backed into your car and caused damage. So if you're feeling angry for any of those particular reasons, then one of these expressions will help you to express your anger in a better way. Okay, now let's go. To become irate. Now, when somebody becomes irate, it's usually because somebody won't listen to them or they've tried explaining their problem to somebody and they don't understand it. So the longer the conversation goes on, the more angry they become. And we can refer to that as being irate. Often we have irate customers. So for example, if you're checking into a hotel and they don't have your reservation because they've lost it, but you remember distinctly that you booked. In fact, you've got an email and you can show them a copy of the email, but they don't have you on the system. And because the hotel is fully booked, there's no room for you. So you try to explain the situation to them, try to tell them that you're traveling on the next morning, have to go to the airport, blah, blah, blah, but nobody is willing to listen. So you get a little bit annoyed. And then as the conversation goes on, you become a little more annoyed, your anger starts to build up and you become very irate. And you have to really stop yourself from shouting, saying, is there anybody here going to listen to me? I have a record of the email. I can tell you exactly when I phoned and I can tell you that I booked a room. So it must be there somewhere. Okay, so we become irate. So annoyed or angry. Now, the next number two, to be cross or to be furious with somebody. Now, to be cross and furious slightly different because to be furious is a little bit more angry than to be cross. Often parents are cross with their children. They are annoyed because something happened or they didn't listen or they broke something. So they get cross. Mummy or daddy are very cross with you, very annoyed with you. But when we are furious, there's a level up from that. We could be furious because, you know, we didn't get invited for the interview. And you wonder why when you've got all the qualifications necessary and you heard that a friend of yours had got an offer for an interview and he or she is not as well qualified as you are, in your opinion, and you didn't get that invitation. So you are furious with the people who sent out the letter. Okay, so you can be cross, but then furious is a step or a level up from that. To be seething with anger, well, when somebody is seething with anger, normally they don't say anything, but the look on their face, you can tell that their fires are burning, oh sorry, there's fires burning in their eyes or their cheeks and their face is a little red and they are seething with anger, boiling over, almost like a volcano ready to erupt. Yeah, so he was seething with anger when he got the letter of rejection. He thought that he really had a chance this time, but once again, his book that he had written and rewritten has been turned down and nobody wants to publish it. So he's seething with anger. Indignation and rage. Well, indignation is the noun, so we can be indignant. So we can be full of rage, so or full of indignation. So we can be full of indignation when we feel that somebody has insulted us. So perhaps they have treated us a little bit foolishly because of our age. They have treated us a little bit differently because perhaps we are a woman and we feel they're being a little bit sexist. So we could be full of indignation, being really annoyed as their attitude. Old people are old just because of age. It's only a number, but sometimes people talk a little bit down to them and treat them in such a way as they feel that they're not quite on top of their game. Okay, so that can make you feel a little bit indignant or feeling have a feeling of indignation or feeling of rage. Okay, so you can be full of rage when you see young people spraying graffiti on a wall. You know, we never did that when we were their age, blah, blah, blah. So we can be full of rage that they don't respect properly. And for those of you and your friends or family who want one-to-one lessons, well, you know what to do. Just get in touch, www.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free trial lesson and we'll be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. To blow a fuse. Well, you know what happens when you overload a light switch or a socket, you blow the fuse, which is just as well because if you didn't, the house would probably go on fire. So you hear a little pop and the fuse blows and you have to go and switch off at the mains and then switch back on again. So to blow a fuse. So it's exactly the same in relation to anger. We can blow a fuse when we get to the point where we we call it the point of no return. We've just had enough. We just can't take any more. And we blow a fuse and we start shouting and screaming. So we're going to have the situation when you come home to find that the builders who you had trusted to do the work have left the place in a complete mess. You know, you've been on the phone to them several times. They promised that they would get back today and they would finish the work. And lo and behold, when you come home, nothing has changed. Nothing has been done. Nothing has been tidied. So you finally blow a fuse. You pick up the phone. Luckily, there's nobody in their office and you leave a very, very short, sharp message, you know, to why you are very angry. So you blow a fuse. In the same way, using blow, we can say to blow one's top, very British. So to blow one's top is mean literally like your head explodes like that volcano. So you can blow your top when things don't work the way you want them to work. Perhaps you're trying to work out your tax return and every time you try to enter the numbers online, there's something wrong with the program and it just won't accept it. And then you press send and nothing happens and you're looking to see why it won't work. But perhaps the system is overloaded or there's some error in the program and you're going to have to try again. And then all the numbers and all the information you've entered has been lost because you forgot to hit the save button. So you just crash the lid of the computer down, close it and say, ah, I'll leave it till another day. So you blow your top, meaning get very angry very quickly. The opposite of blowing your top is to calm down. Perhaps things are not all so bad. Perhaps you can do it tomorrow. Perhaps you can do that tax return another day. So you take a big, long, deep breath, and you try to calm down. Oh, go and for a long walk or cycle or even a workout in the gym. Find another way to focus your energy, something positive. And then after it all, you realize things are not quite so bad. There's always another day. We live to fight another day. So we calm down. When people have arguments or debates or discussions, they can become a little heated. So that's when people begin to not shout and scream, but they start talking in loud voices when one party won't listen to the other party or one person tries to shout down the other person. So this could be described as a heated debate or a heated argument, often between politicians, often between two males where one is trying to sound a little bit more superior than the other. And so when they don't listen to each other, they get more and more annoyed and the debate or the argument becomes more and more heated. Now, it could be over anything. It could be over football. And if your team or you think your team is better than the other team, somebody or your friend just won't listen. Well, then, yes, that debate can become a little bit heated. Certainly when you're on topics like politics and religion, they can become heated very, very quickly. So often best to be avoided. Fly into a rage. Well, you don't literally fly into a rage, but you change very quickly. So, you know, one moment you're calm and collected, and then the next minute you're shouting and screaming and the steam coming out of your ears, you fly into a rage. And you could fly into a rage when you, you know, press the button to open your emails and you see a note from somebody telling you that the bill you thought was incorrect and that you didn't owe is actually correct. And you look at it and see, well, what happened? Where did, why, how much, how did I get to that level? How come I owe so much money? I paid a bill last month and the month before, but something has gone wrong somewhere with somebody's records, either yours or the company's, but they've sent you a bill online. And when you open it, you see that it's really, really huge and you fly into a rage. Now, the rage might be because you've made a mistake and you've forgotten that you had the heating on an extra little few hours every day. And with the cost of gas or fuel, you realize that the price has gone up and up and up. So you really have to pay it. Or it could be a mistake by the company. They've sent you the wrong details or the wrong reading or it's an estimated bill. Whatever it might be, you fly into a rage because you don't understand how you got to that situation. Number 10 is to get worked up about something. So this is an expression that's very well used in British English, to get worked up about something. It doesn't mean you're shouting and screaming, but it does mean step by step, bit by bit, your anger gets a little higher, your level of annoyance increases, so to the point where you do get quite angry. So it's to get worked up about it. Now, we often use it in the negative and somebody say, well, there's no point getting worked up about it. It happens, things happen or shit happens. Yeah, we have lots of expressions to describe it. So there's no point getting worked up about it. Yeah. Okay. But you do get worked up about it because it's something that really gets under your skin. So somebody might say, oh, Harry, he really gets worked up quite easily about these things if the local government don't do what they promised, if they don't collect the rubbish in time. Or they send you a bill saying the cost for collecting the rubbish has doubled and you're wanting to know, well, how has it doubled? I mean, are we getting a better service? So these sort of things can annoy him or her and they can get worked up quite quickly. So getting annoyed quite quickly. When you go really mad, you can go berserk. So somebody could go berserk running around a shopping center. So let's say there's a terrorist attack on a shopping center. The headlines might read something like, gunman goes berserk in shopping centre. So this indicates that somebody ran around shooting people randomly. So to go berserk. Or the people broke into the shopping center late at night and they went berserk. They smashed windows. They broke into shops. They stole articles of clothing and food and left a trail of disaster all over the shopping center. So they went mad or they went slightly berserk. So to go berserk is effectively out of control with no pre-plan to go berserk. When we are annoyed and we are frustrated with people, we sometimes like to let off steam. So that's our next expression, to let off steam. You know when you put the kettle on, the electric kettle, or you fill the kettle and put it on the gas, when it boils, you open the top and it lets off steam. It releases the steam. So that's exactly what we do when we get annoyed. If we don't let off steam, that annoyance, that rage, that anger builds and builds. And as I said before, we'll probably probably explode just like the volcano. So to let off steam means to let out your anger. It might be a scream. It might be to bang your fist on the table. Some people might throw something, kick something. There are various ways in which people will let off steam. And it's not such a bad thing because keeping those emotions inside only make you feel worse. Okay, so to let off steam means to let out your anger. So if you go into a room and you start shouting and screaming and somebody says, well, what's happening? What's happening in there? Oh, don't worry. He's just letting off steam. He'll be fine in a few minutes. He always does it when he's angry. He always does it when he's annoyed, to let off steam. Or you might suggest to the kids, go off to the football field, run around, kick a ball to let off steam, to get rid of that built-up frustration or anger. You've been indoors now for three days because of the weather, but it's sunny now, so off you go. Yeah, to let off steam. Very simply, we can refer to an expression to lose one's temper, to lose your temper or lose my temper, or he lost his temper. And when somebody changes from a very steady, middle of the road type of approach, they're talking normally or naturally, and then they suddenly shout or scream, then they lose their temper. Wow, he really lost his temper with his assistant. I've never heard him so angry. I guess you must have done something really bad, but he's usually quite quiet and mellow. But this time something happened because you could hear him shouting two floors down. Okay, so to lose your temper means to change from being middle of the road mellow to suddenly being extremely angry and probably very vocal. When we are annoyed or we are frustrated, particularly if it's with somebody else not connected to the people we're talking to, we try to control things. So to maintain your composure, that's the next expression, to maintain your composure. So if you're really annoyed, if you're angry, if you're really seething, sometimes it's a good idea not to let the other person see it, because if they do see that you're angry, well, they might think that they've won, that they've got the upper hand. So you try at all possible to maintain your composure. So even though you're annoyed, you breathe deeply. When somebody says something else that annoys you further, you take another deep breath. So when you're in control, you're able to explain exactly what you want. So if you're standing in front of that reception desk in the hotel or if you're at the check-in desk in the airport when something's gone badly wrong and they don't have your booking or your flight has been cancelled, it's best to maintain your composure. In that way, you'll be able to get your message across very clearly how annoyed or angry or upset you are. Tell them how important it is that you get onto the next flight or you get a ticket or you get a room for the night. And you'll be able to deal with whatever arguments they put forward. But if you're shouting and screaming and you lose your temper and lose control, then you might miss out on some important information. So it's always best to maintain your composure, keep control, keep your temper under control. Next, to have a sudden outburst of temper. Well, again, this can happen from time to time. You're annoyed, you're frustrated, and then you shout. So that's an outburst. An outburst is a loud shout or a scream that was done on the spur of the moment or certainly unexpectedly. So people are a little bit surprised to this sudden outburst. So a sudden outburst of anger. If you're in a room, people are discussing things and you suddenly shout out, what's all this? I mean, this is absolute rubbish. A sudden outburst like that will certainly get people's attention, but it might not be the best way to behave or to approach the particular problem. Make one's blood boil. That's number 16 on our list. So number 16, to make one's blood boil or to make your blood boil. Well, lots of things annoy lots of different people. So what annoys me might not annoy you. Standing in a queue always annoys me, frustrates me. People not answering me when I ask them a question annoys me. Getting an answering machine instead of a human being on the end of the telephone can be very annoying. So different things annoy different people. And different things make your blood boil. It doesn't literally boil like the kettle for the tea, but to make your blood boil means slowly but surely you get more and more annoyed, more and more angry. So you can list many, many different things that will make your blood boil, make you feel like so to make your blood boil. I often say to people, there's no point getting annoyed with things you can't change, but you can certainly get annoyed with things that are very frustrating, and particularly when people don't listen or they don't give you the service that you've paid for or you expect to get. Next, number 17, to scream blue murder. Yeah, well, to scream blue murder, if you saw somebody being attacked or you walked into a room and there was a dead body on the floor with a knife in the back and lots of blood, you'd probably scream, yeah. So when we scream blue murder, it's an expression we use to describe somebody really, really angry, really, really annoyed with something. So the kids were fighting, they were really getting under your skin, they were running up and down the stairs, they were making a lot of noise and they weren't doing what you're told. So you just suddenly let out this almighty scream and they stopped dead and looked at you with fear in their eyes. Yeah, mummy or dad screamed blue murder yesterday. She was really, really annoyed. I've never seen her so annoyed. So when you scream blue murder, you'll certainly get the reaction that you want. Everybody stops and they look at you. You don't always have to use words to express your annoyance or your anger. Sometimes it can be visual. Okay, so the next expression to shake your fist. So you make a fist and you shake it at somebody as if you're going to hit them. Hopefully not, but they can see from your body language that you are annoyed about something. So you shake your fist. You shake your fist at the telephone when somebody on the other end of the phone isn't really listening to you. You can shake your fist at the TV when your favorite team are getting beaten and they don't seem to be listening to you or the manager or anybody and they're going from bad to worse. So we can shake your fist. So shaking your fists, a clenched fist, is a real sign of anger. But often it's with a muttered sound under your breath. It's not screaming and shouting, it's a clenched fist and you really, really want to scream out, but perhaps you're in a place which wouldn't go down well if you were to scream. So you hold in your anger and you scream to yourself and you clench your fists. Another form of body language to express anger is to stamp your feet. This is often something that children do. They get frustrated very easily because they don't have the words to describe their emotions. So what they tend to do is stamp their feet. And they do it quite loudly and they do it consistently and continuously until you pay attention or somebody just tells them to stop. And this can be joined with number 20 on our list, which is to throw a tantrum. So stamping the feet is part of the expression of throwing a tantrum. And that's exactly what my son did at that particular time. He threw a tantrum, he stamped his feet, he cried and he moaned and we just walked out of the shop. Okay, so to throw a tantrum. Now, lots of people can throw a tantrum, but it's usually a sign of immaturity and it's usually something that kids do. But, you know, I've seen adults throw a tantrum. If you watch football players and some of the even the best played footballers, the best paid footballers in the world often throw tantrums if they don't get things their own way. Or as they say in a report, he threw the toys out of the pram. So it's another indication that they've lost their temper or they are very annoyed. So to stamp your feet and to throw a tantrum, typically linked to the activity of kids, typically linked to kids losing their tempers and not knowing how to express themselves in words. So they do it visually. Okay, so there you've got the full, long, lengthy list of 20 advanced words and expressions to explain or that are related to anger. And as I said, anger is something that we all feel or have or express from time to time. And many of these situations are very, very similar. What I've tried to give you is an indication as to when you might use one specific phrase instead of another and situations when blowing your top or flying into a rage would be more appropriate than another expression. Okay, so I really, really appreciate you joining in, listening and watching. As always, if you need me, you can contact me on www.englishlessenvicecupe.com. Very happy to hear from you and always happy to help. Thanks for listening. This is Harry saying goodbye. Join me again soon.