The English We Speak – Easy tiger!

Rob: Hello, I’m Rob. And here comes Helen. Wow, she’s changed her hair colour! It looks, well, different. Hi Helen I like your hair.

Helen: Don’t say a word!

Rob: Whoa!

Helen: I don’t want to talk about it.

Rob: About what? The fact you dyed your hair?

Helen: Enough!

Rob: Whoa! Easy tiger!

Helen: I do not look like a tiger!

Rob: I never said you did. It’s just an expression. Though come to think of it, your hair is kind of stripy orange now.

(Helen starts sobbing)

Rob: OK, you really don’t look like a tiger though. I said “easy tiger!” which is just a way of saying “calm down”.

Helen: It’s all the hairdresser’s fault. He told me I would look beautiful with copper highlights, then he did this to me. Now I have orange stripes, I look like a jungle animal.

Rob: No, you don’t look like a jungle animal. Listen to me. We say “easy tiger” when we want someone to calm down, to not get over-emotional, or not to rush into something.

Helen: Oh. You’re talking about tigers because of the way I’m behaving, not because of my hair?

Rob: That’s right. It’s an expression that’s usually used in informal situations, between friends. Here are some more examples.

Girl 1: I’ve just met the perfect man – he is tall, handsome, kind… I’m going to marry him and have children – we’ll live together in a house by the sea, we’ll –

Girl 2: Easy tiger! Do you even know his name?

Man: Right, this food is disgusting, we’re leaving the restaurant right now!

Woman: Easy tiger! I quite like it here. Let’s wait until the main course comes.

Helen: I understand. Maybe my hair is not so bad after all.

Rob: No, it’s just unusual. It doesn’t make you look like a tiger… I’d say more of an orangutan than a tiger…

Helen: What! An orangutan!

Rob: Orangutans are very handsome creatures; they’re a kind of rich auburn-copper colour.

Helen: How dare you!

Rob: Don’t bare your teeth like that, that’s scary. Please…

(Sound of a real growling tiger!)

Rob: Easy tiger, easy!

(Tiger growling and huge roar).