Hi, I'm Helen, and welcome to The English We Speak. Sorry, I'll be with you in a minute, Chris. I'm just on the phone to Rob.
Sure.
Rob, do you need me to come and record with you in the studio this afternoon?
No, don't worry. I've got Neil coming over to record with me.Everything's hunky-dory.
Everything's what?
Gotta go. Speak to you later, bye.
OK, b-, oh, he hung up.
Having a busy day, Helen?
Yes, it's been so busy. I've got to move all these boxes. How's your day going?
No problems really. I've finished my script and I've already recorded another programme with Rosie. I'm hunky-dory.
Hunky-dory? That's what Rob just said to me. Neither of you is very hunky though.
What?! Well, hunky means muscular doesn't it? Well yes, hunky is a slang word for describing someone who is muscular.
So, you're not telling the truth when you say, I'm hunky… Dory. My name is not Dory though. Why do you call me that?
I wasn't lying and saying "I'm hunky", and I wasn't calling you "Dory" either. The phrase hunky-dory doesn't have anything to do with being muscular. It's an informal way of saying something's fine or satisfactory.
Ohhhh. It's a bit of a strange phrase though. Yes, it is. No one really knows where it comes from, other than it's believed to be an American phrase. I see. So how can you use it?
Well, here are some examples.
I was really worried I'd lost her, but everything's hunky-dory now. She was waiting for me by the car.
Our washing machine broke last night. An engineer is coming to take a look at it today, so it should be hunky-dory soon.
So you can use hunky-dory as an informal way to say that a situation is fine.
Now I understand. Well, sadly nothing is hunky-dory for me. I've got all these boxes to move.
Is that why you invited me here?
Maybe?
Hmm right then, let's get on with it. Right, where do you want them? Just over there, thanks.
OK. Haha. My work will soon be done.