Couples Answer 14 Fun Relationship Questions
A2 English listening practice · British English · Curated for beginners
What is “man flu” in British and English-speaking culture?
Man flu is the British and broader Anglo joke that men become much bigger babies than their partners or kids whenever they catch a regular cold. The phrase started in British tabloids and stand-up bits in the 1990s and crossed into American sitcoms and British TV ads soon after. Man flu is now in the Collins English Dictionary, has its own Wikipedia page, and has been the subject of half-serious BMJ medical articles asking whether male symptoms really are worse. In couples-quiz formats, Who’s the bigger baby when sick? is the polite version of the question. Most partners answer without much hesitation.
In this clip, an English-speaking couple plays a fourteen-question quiz: “Who’s the bigger baby when sick?”
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this A2 English listening practice listening practice?
General English frequency
Spoken English frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s A2 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In British sitcoms and panel shows about marriage (Gavin & Stacey, Outnumbered, Mock the Week)
- ▸In British paracetamol and cold-medicine TV adverts (Lemsip, Beechams)
- ▸In American family sitcoms with sick-husband episodes (Modern Family, Everybody Loves Raymond)
- ▸In British and American newspaper health sections (The Guardian, The Telegraph, The New York Times)
- ▸In British-Irish stand-up routines about marriage and parenting