In this re-upload, Kevin and Jack discuss the things that make them feel afraid. Let us know what you're scared of by sending us an email or leaving a comment on our website!

Vocabulary:

confront a situation or thing that you are afraid of

Outgrow To become too old or too big for something 

To plague To continue to cause problems for someone or something 

Paranoid Constant fear of something that does not exist 

Irrational Illogical or unreasonable 

Transcript:

00:00:02

Jack

You are listening to the A-Z English podcast.

00:00:11

Kevin

Welcome to an A-Z English quick chat. We're going to surprise each other with a topic for the day and see where the conversation goes. Check our site for a study guide with vocabulary notes and discussion questions, as well as links to our WhatsApp or other social media where you can join in the discussion.

00:00:27

Kevin

So, Jack, what? What do you want to talk about today? What's your topic?

00:00:30

Jack

Yeah. So today I want to talk about phobias, and I'm curious. Yeah, if you have any phobias and then I'll share, you know, my phobia.

00:00:42

Kevin

I I I mean, I'm sure there's things that I'm kind of afraid of, but I can't really think of too.

00:00:48

Kevin

Many big phobias.

00:00:50

Kevin

They definitely do not like bugs.

00:00:52

Kevin

Very much. It depends on the kind of bug, but yeah, those they that is definitely something I'm not not a fan of. At least it's not so much of A phobia exactly though.

00:01:06

Jack

Who kills the spiders in your family?

00:01:08

Jack

Then does. Does your wife kill them?

00:01:11

Kevin

I don't kill spiders. I save spiders.

00:01:13

Jack

Uh, you save spiders because they eat.

00:01:15

Kevin

Your friends. Spiders. Exactly. Spiders eat other bugs, so if I see a spider, I either just leave it alone, or if it's a big creepy one, I'll put it in a.

00:01:15

Jack

Device, yeah.

00:01:22

Kevin

Cup and take it outside.

00:01:24

Jack

Wow, OK.

00:01:25

Kevin

So like I said for for me this is a a tough topic because I'm not sure what I'm really like truly afraid of like phobia wise bugs is one of the big ones, but I've managed to kind of get over that a little bit actually.

00:01:42

Kevin

And the way I kind of did this was I'll tell a quick story here, but a bunch of years ago when I was a student in university, I was at a a party with some friends and some of my friends were older than I was, so some of them had kids at the party and we were just hanging out and and the kids were.

00:02:01

Kevin

Playing doing kids thing.

00:02:04

Kevin

And one of the kids, he was probably.

00:02:08

Kevin

7-8 nine years old. Something like this and I'm an adult. Of course. At the time I was like in my early 20s.

00:02:14

Kevin

And this kid's hobby was collecting bugs like he just loved bugs, which I still did not understand, but he just loved them. So we're hanging out outside, and this kid is running around in the backyard just picking up bugs and playing around and just doing doing what?

00:02:29

Kevin

That's due, and suddenly he ran up to me and he holds his hand out to me. And he's like, here. Take this. And I was like, oh, oh, God, what what are you going to give me? And I hold my hand out and he just drops this, like kind of beetle bug in my hand.

00:02:44

Kevin

And I'm just like like.

00:02:46

Kevin

Freaking out because now I'm holding this bug which I I do not want to be.

00:02:50

Jack

Right.

00:02:50

Kevin

Great. But ever since then, whenever I see some.

00:02:55

Kevin

Bug or insect in my house that I don't like that I don't want to deal with. I just remember this kid like, OK, so there was this eight-year.

00:03:04

Kevin

Old kid who's not afraid of bugs and there's me adult who is afraid of bugs. So like, OK, Kevin, be brave and then I do what needs to be done.

00:03:10

Jack

Right.

00:03:16

Kevin

For the bug, either capture the spider or smack it with a newspaper, depending on the bug.

00:03:21

Jack

If you he accidentally gave you what is called CBT, it's a type of it's cognitive behavioral therapy. And so if you have a, if you have a.

00:03:27

Kevin

CD3.

00:03:30

발표자

There you go.

00:03:33

Jack

If you have a phobia, one of the ways that they treat the phobia is by facing the fear directly head on. So if you're afraid of bugs, then they will make you sit near a bug or hold like ultimately holding a bug would be like the you've conquered your fear.

00:03:42

Kevin

MM.

00:03:53

Jack

Your phobia like your, that's the last step. The first step would be like, you know, a phobia is a pretty serious medical condition or mental condition. It's not. It's more than just a fear. It's like a medical disorder. So even people with phobias of bugs cannot even look at photo.

00:03:54

Kevin

That's the last step.

00:04:06

Kevin

Right, right.

00:04:12

Jack

Those of bugs.

00:04:13

Kevin

Yeah, phobia is definitely more serious. But I mean, we can just talk about general fears that we.

00:04:19

Kevin

Have for for today.

00:04:19

Jack

Yeah, mine. Exactly. I don't really have phobias that mine are not that serious, but I I would say my daughter has like a.

00:04:27

Jack

It kind of a a mild phobia because it's more than normal.

00:04:32

Jack

Fear of bugs.

00:04:33

Jack

So when you said that I was thinking of my daughter because.

00:04:34

Kevin

OK.

00:04:36

Jack

Especially when she was a little bit.

00:04:38

Jack

Younger she would just scream.

00:04:41

Jack

You know, yell for me. And I thought, you know, there was an emergency. And so I remember running and what's wrong. And then she's pointing to a bug and it's the smallest and most innocent little bug you've ever seen, like, not even like a big, you know, creepy crawly. Yeah. I mean, even smaller than that.

00:04:58

Kevin

Like a ladybug or something, right?

00:05:02

Jack

It's just a little tiny, you know, flea or something. I don't know. Like, just nothing. And or an Ant or something. And yeah, she really, really hated bugs and. And she. She doesn't like them.

00:05:13

Jack

Now, but yeah, she has kind of outgrown it a little bit. Did you ever have you ever had a fear of, like, flying? Did you ever have any sort of anxiety about getting in an airplane or anything like that?

00:05:30

Kevin

No, like I said, if you remember, we talked about this a while ago. The first time I I flew in an airplane, I was quite young. I was maybe.

00:05:39

Kevin

Eight or nine and I flew alone well with just my brother and and the flight attendants to help. But no, that wasn't the problem. Heights. I I like heights. I've gone skydiving. Bungee jumping. That's that's no problem.

00:05:50

Jack

Ohh wow. So heights is a big problem for me. I've got a I've got two phobias there, 22 fears that are kind of that have kind of plagued me or bothered me for the last like 20 years or 30 years.

00:06:04

Jack

One is heights, which is ironic because I'm very tall, but yeah.

00:06:09

Kevin

Right.

00:06:10

Kevin

You're already at a height.

00:06:11

Jack

If I if I'm standing, if I go hiking up a mountain and there's like a, you know, a Cliff and and and embankment.

00:06:20

Jack

I just I cannot get too close to the edge like I start to get my knees get wobbly. I start to feel dizzy and I feel like like if I get too close, I'm going to lose control and just fall over the edge like I just. And also I cannot.

00:06:37

Jack

Tolerate other people getting close to the edge, especially like if it were like my daughter or something. I'm super paranoid about those kinds of things and my daughter is not a young child. She's 13 years old. Fourteen. She'll be 14 years old soon. So yeah, it's it's not a. It's definitely just a.

00:06:57

Jack

In irrational fear because.

00:07:00

Jack

But anyone, anytime I get close to an edge or something, you know, in a high place, I do get a little bit lightheaded and my knees get wobbly and I start sweating a little bit and yeah, it's it's, it's uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable.

00:07:14

Kevin

Heights are a pretty common one. My wife is not very good at heights either.

00:07:17

Jack

Yeah, I don't like it. I don't like him at all. I'm not. Yeah, I don't need that. That kind of adventure in my life. I I used to think that I had a claustrophobia. And claustrophobia is like the is the kind of the opposite of.

00:07:25

Kevin

Fair enough.

00:07:33

Jack

Like, well, it's the opposite of open spaces, you know, cause a claustrophobia is being in a small space, like an elevator or a coffin or something like that. However, I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and had an MRI. And if you've ever had an MRI before, you're basically in a tiny tube.

00:07:55

Kevin

Right. I I haven't done it yet, but I've.

00:07:55

Jack

For about 30 minutes.

00:07:57

Kevin

I've seen it on TV.

00:07:58

Jack

Yeah. And I I fell asleep inside of it.

00:08:02

Jack

So there's no way I have claustrophobia because you. No. Nobody with with that disorder is going to sleep inside of a an MRI tube where a lot of people have anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Inside of those things, it's very common.

00:08:17

Kevin

Yeah, those are those are quite loud from what I understand. So if you fell asleep in there, that's you must have been quite tired.

00:08:21

Jack

They had. I had.

00:08:22

Jack

Ear plugs and a couple and like you know, kind of those like airplane worker, you know, yeah, your your ***** or whatever, I'm not sure.

00:08:27

Kevin

OK, OK.

00:08:31

Jack

Yeah, my other fear is this one is has actually bothered me for a long time and it's a fear of rats. I really, really cannot.

00:08:39

Kevin

That's OK.

00:08:43

Jack

I cannot look at a rat if I see a rat just run across the street.

00:08:48

Jack

I I have to go the other way. My biggest fear would be like a rat.

00:08:50

Kevin

Ohh wow.

00:08:54

Jack

Running over my.

00:08:55

Jack

Feet like I couldn't even I couldn't tolerate that. Like, yeah, having a rat just anywhere near me and I I kind of put mice in the same in the same basket. Like they're just disgusting creatures. They're so gross.

00:08:57

Kevin

Doesn't sound fun.

00:09:07

Kevin

I was going to.

00:09:08

Kevin

Ask what about other what about like gerbils or hamsters?

00:09:13

Kevin

Or or those.

00:09:13

Jack

My daughter had two hamsters and the first one died really quickly. I don't it was sick when we bought it. The second one lived forever and she lost interest in it after a week, so I became the sole caretaker of this hamster for like.

00:09:32

Jack

A year and I hate hamsters and rats and gerbils and Guinea pigs and all of those things are disgusting. They're just vermin, you know, they they eat trash and live on the ground and.

00:09:40

Kevin

Those burdens.

00:09:45

Kevin

Right.

00:09:48

Jack

Yeah, they're just.

00:09:49

Jack

Disgusting. And I I I just. Hey, I hate rats. And so yeah.

00:09:53

Kevin

I would say for for rats defense, you know that there's some rats that are trained to sniff out landmines.

00:10:00

Kevin

And so they're very helpful pets for that, for sniffing out landmines in countries that had had a lot of land mines drop. And so they're, there's actually some rats who have, like, medals of honor for finding many, many, many land mines.

00:10:13

Jack

That's pretty interesting that there's there are rats out there that have a Medal of Honor. Do they? Do you think they wear the metal all the time or do?

00:10:19

Jack

They take it off when they sleep.

00:10:21

Kevin

I I.

00:10:21

Kevin

I think they take it off when they go back to their rat home to their to their rat family.

00:10:25

Jack

To go back to their maize and and cheese, right?

00:10:27

Kevin

Right.

00:10:28

Jack

No, I I.

00:10:28

Jack

Know rats are really useful. They we we have Lab Rats. You know that they do a lot of lot of testing to to help cure diseases sniffing out landmines. That's amazing.

00:10:41

Jack

But I'm thinking more of the like sewer rat kind and so and and also I I they they spread disease, you know, like the black plague and and things like that. So I think it's it's probably just a long history of humans kind of.

00:10:44

Kevin

Well, yeah.

00:10:52

Kevin

This this is true.

00:10:59

Jack

Bad relationship with rats that that I inherited from my ancestors, I think.

00:11:04

Kevin

Right.

00:11:05

Jack

That's probably what happened.

00:11:07

Jack

But yeah, that's it, those are.

00:11:08

Jack

My 2, my 2 fears.

00:11:08

Kevin

Yeah, St. rides are definitely.

00:11:10

Kevin

The Dirty creatures that I that I I don't want to mess with, but pet rats. I I don't have any problems with.

00:11:17

Jack

So if you want, if you want to, you know, put me in a terrible place, put me in a hot air balloon high above the ground with a couple of rats inside of the basket. And I don't think I could think of a worse nightmare.

00:11:31

Jack

Situation than that so.

00:11:33

Kevin

Well, now I know your weakness is dark, so be be careful.

00:11:35

Jack

That's those are my feet.

00:11:38

Kevin

Come on for you.

00:11:39

Jack

Those are my weaknesses, yeah.

00:11:42

Kevin

Well, yeah, try and avoid try and avoid heights and and avoid those those sewers as well.

00:11:47

Jack

Right, right. So I have a couple more listeners comments if if I can. As you know, Kevin, we've got a a WhatsApp group chat and you go to our website, you can just hit the WhatsApp link, it'll take you to a form you can fill out the form and.

00:11:53

Kevin

Nice. So let's move to those.

00:12:05

Jack

Then join the group and.

00:12:07

Jack

And once you join the group, you can, you know, chat with me and.

00:12:10

Jack

Kevin and you can chat with other.

00:12:11

Jack

Students in the group.

00:12:13

Jack

That and you can also do the homework, the study guide, and you can post your answers up there if you would like, and we'll take a look at those and give you a little feedback or, you know, help you out a little bit and as well as the other students in the group. So it's a really cool community, and if you're an English language learner, don't be shy, just join.

00:12:34

Jack

Yeah. And everybody's really friendly in that group. So yeah, just come and chat. Just come and chat. So we did an episode a couple episodes ago. We talked about books. I believe the episode was called. What are you reading?

00:12:37

Kevin

This comment chat.

00:12:49

Jack

And Kevin and I talked about some of the books that we're reading right now and our our reading habits. And Layla wrote a comment about this episode. She said I have just finished listening to the newest episode. I enjoyed it because.

00:13:03

Jack

It was about books.

00:13:05

Jack

In my case, I prefer to read historical books.

00:13:09

Jack

And those kinds.

00:13:09

Jack

Of books which talk about cultures of different.

00:13:12

Jack

People, however, I read them in Arabic because I can't read the high level of English books, although there is there are tons of extensive information and there is tons of extensive information in English, so she said. Therefore in English I read only stories and novels which are suitable with my level and in addition I listen to audio books and read them.

00:13:34

Jack

At the same time, so Leila is using, you know, English books to help improve her English and her her vocabulary. Her. Yeah. Reading ability. So good job, Layla. Excellent to work and.

00:13:44

Kevin

That's great.

00:13:48

Jack

And we would love to get more comments from other listeners, so please send us your comments and we'll read them on the show.

00:13:59

Kevin

Nice. Yeah. Come and join the conversation as well. Yeah. So nice. Thanks for listening. Hopefully we'll we'll see you in our WhatsApp or other social media groups. Come join our conversation. See you next time.

00:14:10

Jack

Alright, bye bye.

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