ESL Blogs

The Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi likes to use colourful language. In a recent speech he said that the US-led attack on Libya is by "a bunch of fascists who will end up in the dustbin of history." Assuming that this is an accurate translation from the Arabic, these thirteen words offer four different expressions that English learners would do well to know:

a bunch of

This common expression means "a group of" or "a collection of", for example a bunch of carrots. It is often used pejoratively, for example: "What a bunch of liars those politicians are!"

fascists

A fascist is someone who rules in an authoritarian, nationalistic and right-wing way; and prior to this century the prime example was Adolf Hitler.

end up

This useful phrasal verb (to end up) means to finish or arrive at a final situation, like the end of a story. (Last night John got drunk and ended up crashing his car.)

in the dustbin of history

A dustbin is a trashcan, the place where you put garbage, and by this expression Gaddafi means that the leaders of the Western countries attacking Libya - specifically Obama of the USA, Sarkozy of France and Cameron of the UK - will not be remembered and honoured by history, rather they will be ignored and forgotten like trash.