William: Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English, I'm William Kremer.
Wang Fei: And I'm Wang Fei. So how are you today?
William: Two ticks...
Wang Fei: What?
William: Give me two shakes, Wang Fei, I just need to...
Wang Fei: Eh? What's that?
William: I'll be with you in a jiffy...
Wang Fei: Jiffy. 什么是一个 jiffy? William, what are you talking about?
William: There, done now. I just needed to send a text.
Wang Fei: But what were all those ticks and jiffys?
William: Ahh, and shakes?
Wang Fei: Yes.
William: Well they're all expressions of time, Wang Fei. So they're ways of saying 'just a moment', or 'just a minute'.
Wang Fei: I see. 这都是说“一会儿”“稍等”的意思。我们下面听几个例子。
Example
A: Can you come and help me lift this sofa?
B: Yeah, I'll be with you in two ticks.
William: Two ticks. In English, we say clocks make this noise: tick tock, tick tock. So two ticks is just like saying two seconds.
Wang Fei: 哦！我明白了，two ticks 字面意思也就是说两秒钟。
Example
A: I said, can you come and help me here? It's too heavy for me.
B: Yes, yes. I'll be there in two shakes.
Wang Fei: Two shakes 摇两下?
How long is two shakes of a lamb's tail?
William: Yeah, the full phrase here is 'two shakes of a lamb's tail', but we shorten this to 'two shakes'.
Wang Fei: 摇两下羊的尾巴? 有时候英语的表达真是很奇怪！是不是？！
William: Yes, it can be! I guess that this is because lambs' tails shake very fast, so two shakes is a short time! And finally...
Example
A: Look Neil, this sofa isn't going to lift itself. Get a move on!
B: I know, I know. I said I'll be with you in a jiffy.
Wang Fei: In a jiffy. 那么 in a jiffy 也是“片刻”的意思是不是？！但是什么是 jiffy 呢？
William: Well, you know what, Wang Fei? Nobody is completely sure of the origin of this word. But it has been in use for over 200 years!
Wang Fei: 200 years! That's quite a long time. More than a jiffy!
William: Yes, and that's several billion shakes of a lamb's tail.
Wang Fei: Yes and all those ticks of a clock! Bye for now.
William: Bye bye.
Example
A: Are you going to help me with the sofa or not?!
B: What sofa? You need help with a sofa?
