BBC Learning English
The English We Speak
13 March 2012
To paint the town red
Will: Hello! I'm Will. It's Friday night  time to have fun! This is the Burning
Swan - my favourite pub. I'm just waiting for Li. Oh there she is. My
goodness! What is she wearing this time?
Li: Hi Will.
Will: Hi Li! Nice... blue overalls!
Li: Thank you, these are new overalls, I bought them especially for tonight.
Will: Right. Okay. Li, I don't really follow fashion, but in London at least, denim
overalls are really just for builders and painters and carpenters.
Li: Yes! Right, where do we start, Will?
Will: Eh? What? What are you doing?
Li: It's definitely very dull in here.
Will: Why have you got a can of paint?
Li: That wall especially. Shall we?
Will: Li? What are you doing? She's finally gone mad. Li!
Li: What's the matter?
Will: Look, you can't just walk into places and start repainting their walls! Don't!
I love that brown colour!
Li: Didn't you want it to be red?
Will: No! No-one wants it to be red!
Li: But you said that tonight we'd paint the town red  starting with this pub!
Will: It's an expression!
Li: Not again!
Will: It means that we'll go out and have a really exciting, crazy time. We'll
paint the town red  it just means we'll have fun, not actually paint things.
Let's listen to some examples.
The English We Speak © British Broadcasting Corporation 2012
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Examples
It's my daughter's birthday today. She's gone out with her friends. I expect they'll paint
the town red!
Go on, come out with me tonight, let's paint the town red!
We had a crazy night on Saturday, we painted the town red.
Li: So now, Will, tell me about all this crazy fun we're meant to have. What's
your idea of painting the town red?
Will: Well we drink, we dance, we laugh loudly, we meet people, we stay up all
night.
Li: Hmm. I'd still rather just paint. Let's just do this one wall.
Will: No, Li, stop, stop we'll get arrested.
Li: Isn't that colour so much better?
Will: No! No! Look, stop it! You'll ruin our night out!
Li: It's beautiful!
Will: Li! Stop!
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