What Am I Thinking!

Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

And I’m Erica.

Today we’re bringing you an upper intermediate lesson and something that we all do.

Right, talking to ourselves.

Talking to ourselves, right?

Yeah.

I think everyone does it. You think to yourself or you talk to yourself.

Yeah.

And we’re gonna be doing that today, but we’re gonna be looking at some specific vocabulary. Erica, why don’t you tell us about that?

Well, unfortunately, we’re gonna be following a guy as he’s in a really embarrassing situation and we’re gonna hear him call himself some bad names.

Hehe.

In his mind.

So, he’s a little bit nervous and he thinks he is, uh, not very smart, right?

That’s right.

Okay, so, before we start with this dialogue, there’re a couple of words that we should look at in “vocabulary preview”. Voice: Vocabulary preview.

Alright, we’re gonna hear both of these words in the dialogue and the first one is famished.

Famished.

Famished.

Okay, so, famished is an adjective.

That’s right, meaning very, very, very hungry.

Very, very hungry, okay.

Uhu.

So, just very hungry… very easy.

Yes.

Famished.

Now, what about our next one? Sexist. [NOTE: please, be careful, and don’t confuse this word with the sexiest. For example, she was the sexiest girl I’d ever seen]

Sexist.

Sexist.

Another adjective to describe a person, right?

Right. Or a thing, I guess… so, yeah, an idea.

Okay, so, a sexist person would be…

Somebody, who judges people by their sex.

Okay.

So, like all women are stupid, for example.

Hehe. Which is not true, of course.

No, of course not.

Right? So sexist works both ways…

Yes.

A women can be sexist, a man could be sexist.

Exactly. Um, meaning the woman thinks all men are stupid.

Hehe. Which is also not true.

Yes.

Hehe.

Let’s just be clear about that.

Hehe. Alright, so, now, that we’ve taken a look at these two phrases, let’s stat with our dialogue and we’ll be back to talk about all the great words.

Okay, embarrassing first date, ha?

Yeah, I mean I really do feel sorry for this guy.

Hehe. Well, it happens to us. Sometimes we are in the company of a very beautiful girl and we just get really nervous.

Alright, well, I mean, though, psychologist call this negative self talk.

Hehe. Oh, really?

Yeah, this sort of calling yourself names and talking negatively about yourself, but… actually, you can use some of this language to talk negatively about…

Others. Hehe.

Yeah. So, why don’t we look now at this language in “language takeaway”? Voice: Language takeaway.

So, in language takeaway today we have five words.

Uhu.

Let’s start with our first one.

Dumb ass.

Dumb ass.

Dumb ass.

Okay, now this is an… a very, uh, “polite” word, I would say.

Definitely, not polite.

Okay, but… what is a dumb ass?

Well, um, it’s obviously a dumb stupid idiot.

Hehe. Okay, so, it’s a person, that is not very intelligent.

And our next word is also quite similar.

Moron.

Moron.

Moron.

A moron.

If a person is a dumb ass or a person is a moron…

Uhu.

What’s the difference?

Um, well, basically, a moron is someone who is… not smart, who is very unintelligent.

Okay.

Okay, so, they don’t know what one plus one is.

Okay.

Alright? But a dumb ass is a person, who does stupid things.

Okay.

So, maybe a dumb ass like you’re planning a bank robbery and the dumb ass forgets to bring the gun.

Hehe. Okay. That is a dumb ass, alright.

Yeah.

So, maybe a moron is a little bit less offensive…

Yes.

And it’s actually… you’ll find it in a dictionary, right?

Yeah.

Whereas a dumb ass… I don’t think…

It’s…

You’ll find it.

Yeah, it’s slang.

It’s slang.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Now, what about this next…? It’s also a negative name you can call people – a tool.

Tool.

Tool.

This is very strange, because I don’t know how a tool can be something negative.

Yeah.

Towards a person.

Yeah.

But it actually means the opposite, right? If a person is called a tool, it means they are…

Useless.

Useless, right?

Yeah.

So, if you’ve ever called a tool, they’re saying that you’re useless.

Exactly.

You’re good for nothing.

Alright, well, these are three interesting words. So, why don’t we hear some examples of each of these words in use? Voice: Example one.

I hate Tom! He’s such a dumb ass! Last week he borrowed my mobile phone and dropped it in to the pool! Voice: Example two.

I don’t like Kevin very much. He can be a real moron at times. Voice: Example three.

He was looking for a job, but he didn’t even have a resume prepared. He’s such a tool.

Okay, so, great examples and here at EnglishPod we’re bringing you real street talk.

Exactly.

Hehe.

Language as it has spoken by today’s youth.

Okay, now let’s take a look at our last two words.

Alright, well, these phrases you can use when you’re trying to calm yourself down and make yourself relax a little bit, right?

Right, let’s take a look at the next one – chill.

Chill.

Okay, chill.

Chill.

So, again, relax…

Calm down.

Calm down.

Yeah.

You need to chill.

Yes. And then you also need to be cool.

Be cool.

Be cool.

Now, if you can tell the patterns related to temperature, right…

Yeah.

Chill is cold. Cool is similar to cold.

Yeah.

So, again, that’s what it means, to relax.

To calm down your emotions.

Right.

Make your emotions not so hot.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Alright, so, chill, be cool.

Exactly. And you use them together like that, don’t you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now chill also has another… another way of using it, right?

Exactly.

You can say “I’m chilling with my friends”.

Yeah, “we’re chilling here in the EnglishPod studio”.

Hehe. Which means, we’re just relaxing…

Yes.

We’re just, uh, having fun.

Yeah.

Not doing anything, right?

Exactly, but you can’t say chillinG, you have to… you have to drop the G.

Yeah, you have to drop… Hehe. Right, you can’t say I’m chillinG.

Yeah.

You have to say I’m chillin’.

I’m chillin’.

Hehe. Okay, so, that’s all for language takeaway, but now let’s take a look at some of the really useful phrases, that we saw in this dialogue in “fluency builder”. Voice: Fluency builder.

Okay, so, this guy is so happy he’s on this date, that he wants to scream at the top of his lungs.

Scream at the top of my lungs.

Scream at the top of my lungs.

So, basically, he just wants to... like scream.

To shout really loudly. [NOTE: shout = scream]

Really loudly.

Yeah.

He’s so excited, right?

Exactly.

Okay, so, for example, sometimes you’re at a concert, right?

Yeah.

And you need to talk to your friend and you like screaming at the top of your lungs, because the other person can’t hear you.

Exactly. Or maybe you’re lost in the woods and you need to scream at the top of your lungs, so that someone will hear you…

Hey.

And find you.

Alright, very good. Okay, so, scream at the top of my lungs.

Uhu.

Our next phrase.

Get it together.

Get it together.

Get it together.

So, if I tell you “Erica, you need to get it together”…

Basically, you’re telling me to calm down, relax.

So, pull your emotions together…

Yeah.

You know, get your ideas straight.

Right, so, i… i… it kind of gives you this idea, that you gotta… pull, like you said… pull your emotions together in a little box and tie them up.

Hehe. Alright, so, get it together.

Yeah. So, Marco, when would you use this phrase get it together?

I guess, when somebody is either very emotional, maybe crying…

Yeah.

Or very nervous…

Yeah.

You know, you tell a person “oh, get… get it together”, you know…

Yeah.

Relax.

Yeah.

Or when somebody maybe is not doing something good in their life...

Yeah.

You know, like making bad decisions…

Yeah.

Or not being responsible, you’d… you’d tell that person “you need to get it together”.

Exactly.

Right?

Exactly! I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Hehe. Okay, so now, why don’t we move on to our next phrase? And this is really, really high frequency… I think…

Yeah.

You would hear it all the time.

Alright, so, what the hell.

What the hell.

What the hell.

So, why would you say “what the hell”?

Well, obviously, you’re asking a question, right?

Right.

Cause you got your… your W… you got your what.

Uhu.

But when you say “the hell”, you’re putting emphasis on the what.

So, you’re asking a really strong question.

Right, but it’s not polite.

It’s not polite.

Yeah.

Okay. So, if I say “what the hell is going on”?

Um…

What’s happening?

Really, really what’s happening.

Right.

Yeah.

So, and we can change it a little bit. We can replace the what with another WH, like…

Yeah.

Why.

How.

How.

Where.

Where or when.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, why don’t we hear some examples of how this expression is used… using different WH-words? Voice: Example one.

Where the hell are you? I’ve been waiting for hours! [NOTE: or maybe four hours?] Voice: Example two.

How the hell did you do that? That was amazing! Voice: Example three.

When the hell are you going to find a job? I’m tired of paying for everything. [NOTE: I guess, you could also say “I’m tired of pay for…”] Voice: Example four.

Who the hell are you? I don’t know you?

Alright, now our final word, also a little bit strong, um, but… pretty high frequency.

Oh, yeah, very high frequency.

Oh, crap.

Oh, crap.

Oh, crap.

So… it’s a little bit strong, but less strong than maybe saying a really bad word, right?

Yes.

But, it’s definitely saying… like you made a mistake, right?

Yeah…

And…

It’s like a really strong “oh, no”.

Oh, no”, exactly, a really strong “on, no”.

Yeah.

But, I guess, not many people say “oh, no!“ ???

Yeah. “Oh, no! I just lost ten million dollars”.

Exactly, right? You would not say that.

Yeah.

So, it’s a very strong “oh, no”, but it’s not as strong as it could be.

There’re other words out there, that are stronger, but we’re not gonna go into them here.

But maybe you guys know, so let us know.

Yes.

Well, we can definitely keep an eye out on the… comment section

But… don’t write the words on the comment section.

Hehe. Okay, so, we saw some really great phrases, some really great words, a lot of informal language, but it’s very high frequency and you’ll use that with you friends or you’ll see it in movies, TV shows…

Yeah, really common in movies and in TV shows.

Exactly, so let’s listen to this dialogue one more time and then we’ll come back and talk a little bit more.

So, this… these slang words, they’re actually very common, right?

Yeah, I think like you said, you… it’s not likely that you’ll find them in a dictionary, um…

Of course. And you can find them in movies or sometimes, when you’re having a conversation and a very informal conversation with a native speaker…

Yeah.

These words will slip out and these, uh, slang terms will come up.

Exactly. And, you know, there’s a great resource out there for wonderful English slang terms called UrbanDictionary.com.

Exactly, if you ever see a word, that maybe you can’t find in conventional dictionary, you’re probably gonna find it there.

Yeah, we’ll put the link up to it on the site.

Alright, so also, if you have any questions and comments, be sure to come to our website englishpod.com.

Marco and I are there to, um, answer all your questions and we’ve also got lots of resources like links to Urban Dictionary.

Right, and also if you have any questions on any other slang terms, that you may have heard or how to use them, be sure to post it on the comment section.

Well, guys, thanks for listening to this lesson and until next time… Bye!

Good bye!