Bat shit crazy explained with examples.

We tackle the idiom "Don't quote me on that" and give some real life examples.I came across that expression on Ep. 111 of my other podcast called My Fluent Podcast: https://youtu.be/YFR13RnpWqETranscript:I think I ordered it from Highland. Don't quote me on that. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think I got it from Highland. Today's expression is. Don't quote me on that.Welcome back to the Vocab, Man. I am Daniel. I come from Switzerland and my goal is to become a better English speaker. And at the same time, I want to help you out because Yeah learning together is a lot of fun. Thanks for tuning in.But the people, the inventors, the entrepreneurs who really changed the way not just America, but globally. We see the world. Um, I think it's, I don't quote me, but somewhere around 80 to 85% of the New York city land skyscrapers are made with Bethlehem steel. So it's really had it not only a local, but a national, a global impact.So there are different ways on how to use this expression. In the very beginning you could hear don't quote me on that. And in the second example The speaker just said don't quote me.So this expression is just a way of indicating or explaining to your listener that maybe what you're saying is not 100% true. And you also have to know what. To quote means. To quote something or someone is to repeat the exact words they said, or to recite the exact words written in a book. So again, When you are saying, don't quote me on that. You're just being open about the fact that what you are about to say is probably not a hundred percent trueDon't quote me on that. I might be mixing up my ears. Um but anyway, now it's this beautiful lush park.And where did I come across that expression? I'm going to tell you. So I was interviewing Vince from the Philippines for my other podcast called my Fluent Podcast. And we were talking about the topic speed listening. Speed listening to level up your target language. So basically it's like speed reading. But instead of the method of using books You just speed listen to podcasts. And that way you can learn a lot of stuff. What I mean by that is. You know, these days you can easily speed up. The audio clip in your podcast apps so that you can listen to your resources at a two times speed or three times speed etc. But now let's take a closer look at an audio snippet of episode, 111. It wasn't really that special to me when I first did it and it was because. I just thought that after a while, once you are really fluent in a given language, you should be able to just speed through. And I've heard of visually impaired individuals, , could do this because audio somehow can be sped up. Don't quote me on this because I don't have the, the specific paper, but what you can quote me on though, is that one of my co members in the Influency community said that if you speed up something, your brain is not given the time to translate. And so it really forces your brain to think in the given language that is being spoken in that tape or audio. So that is the philosophy behind it. That if you just speed it up, you're forcing your brain to comprehend the language that is being spoken.And of course it also goes the other way round. So you could just say. Can I quote you on that? So there is also the idiom. To quote someone on. Meaning to tell other people that someone said something. But i think it is more common the other way around So in the negative sense.Thank you guys for listening. Let's wrap up this episode. Don't quote me on that is a phrase said after a statement a person is not sure is correct.If you want to become part of the Vocab Man, you can send me an email. At MyFluentPodcast@gmail.com. And maybe you want to explain your favorite expression. And The Vocab Man is going to publish it. Bye

Lose one's train of thought (idiom)Audiogram version (with transcript) : https://share.descript.com/view/hyhQ7Par9LO Aliya's Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/literary_writing_/Aliya's Telegram account: https://t.me/WSHUG Transcript:Hey guys, today's expression is a train of thought. A train of thought is a series of ideas. You know, when you are talking and you get distracted and forget what you are talking. So you can say, I lost my train of thought Welcome back to the Vocab Man, I am Daniel and yeah. The introduction was made by Aliya. Thank you so much Aliya. And Aliyah has an Instagram account which is called literary writing. I will put the link in the show notes. So today's expression is awesome because it is very practical and it is to lose one's train of thought and it happens to the best of us. Right. So if you are in a discussion or if you are trying to explain something, maybe all of a sudden, you completely lose it. So you don't remember where you were. So it's really a very practical expression. You could also just say or ask. Where were we or where was I? Just it pays you some time in which you can reflect or rethink what you have been talking about Right So i lost my train of Awesome And Aliya has written a cool comment in her Instagram account, which I'm gonna read out loud for you. So. I felt a sudden impulse to spill the beans on something with you. My lovely friends. I surely suck at winding scarf around my head. I am not good at it to the core. Anyway, let's talk about today's phrase: at train of thought. Wow. It's an endearing metaphorical expression. Believe it or not from time to time, I lose my train of thought while having negotiations with someone. Especially when I get carried away along on a tide of enthusiasm and feel like getting a kick out of the ambience. That probably leads me to get into two minds and thoughts. In the middle of nowhere I find myself stuck between a rock and a hard place about talking a step ahead or staying there. Last but absolutely not least, it's clear sailing for many of us to fill our minds to the brim with a train of thought but clinging to them is like a hard nut to crack. We don't need instant gratification because you sent a quote from Gandhi on your Facebook and you got 60 quotes and you feel good about yourself. That doesn't mean shitback. Okay. Alright. Alright. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. Completely lost my train of thought. Music:Action Drums by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes/royalty-free-rock-background-music/action-drums/

Today's word is the adverb By and large. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/by%20and%20largeTranscript:By and large Welcome to the Vocab Man. And today again we are going to listen to Ahmed from Senegal. Thank you so much For your contribution By and large by and large this expression means on the whole or in general or mostly. For example, the supply chain, uh, by and large private, that means the supply chain is mostly generally private. Another example, by and large, most of the students at my school come from extremely conservative families, but there are few very liberal minded like me.So it means, kids in my school, the pupils, most of them are conservative, but that I feel ones who are liberal minded like me. Other example, the weather is by and large pleasant for the most of the year with one or two cooler month in the winter. That means the weather is mostly or generally pleasant throughout the year.By and large, you'll find it very quiet here in August because most people close up their's shops and go on holiday. So it means mostly in the month of August in this area people escape their jobs and travel for holidays. That is the reason why you find this place very quiet.Louisiana state penitentiary is by and large a unremarkable place to serve time. It's violence has the chair runs. The history is brutal. However, it also manages to Chuck something the inmate's way that most prisons would never dream of. That's a golf course. No joke. LSP is probably the only maximum security on prison to have a custom built golf course.And that's not all the inmates get the building has its own radio station printing, press TV, studio, and airs strip.

To Pull Something OffInformal expression.With examples.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wyrd-transmissions/id1503832435

Here is the YouTube version: https://youtu.be/ephWpMjLyW4

In this episode, Ahmed explains the meaning of Band For Your Buck.Full transcript is further below.YouTube version: https://youtu.be/HFt28zApHhYAudiogram Version: https://share.descript.com/view/3AppeNy2rrQInterview with Ahmed on My Fluent Podcast: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/myfluentpodcast/75_Ahmad_from_Senegal.mp3The Relatable Voice Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3A2yW5OQToGoPIrIaSY14t?si=Sa89olUoRGuR_47fP7GqjgMusic: Scott_Holmes - 03 - Stomps_and_Clapshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Transcript: Bang for one's buck this expression means value in return for the money. Bang for one's buck. Welcome back to the Vocab Man, I am Daniel, and I'm really glad that you made it back on my channel or on my podcast. This time this is gonna be great, because again, we have special guest Ahmad from Senegal, who you may know from episode 32, for example. In which Ahmad explained the expression to come to terms with.And on episode 36, he was explaining to put someone on the spot.Bang for the buck, bang for the buck, bang for the buck.This expression means value in return for the money. If you get a bang for the buck, you get a better result for the amount of effort or money that you have put into something. Mind you. The word buck is an English slang for a dollar. Here we go.This is an example of this express. Which of these brands will give me the best bang for the buck. Imagine you went to the market ready to buy a mobile phone. You saw, or you see a Samsung and an Apple mobile phone. And you're asking your friend that is actually accompanying you, which of these brands will actually give me the best bang for the buck. Means if I have to put money into one of these brands, which one would I get the better deal for.Another example I guarantee this course will give you a great bang for the buck. If you don't believe me, read this unbiased on student reviews in the website. You want to buy a course or you want to sign up for an English course online, but you are not sure enough of the course that you're about to sign up for. You don't know whether it's worth it or is it effective enough or not? And a friend of you is advising you. Trying to persuade you into believing that this is actually the right one for you. And he said to you, "I guarantee this course will give you a great bang for the buck. If you don't believe me, read this on these unbiased student reviews in the website".So the positive student reviews who have already experienced the course and know how effective it is will persuade you to sign up for the course too. And here comes another example which I came across when listening to the fantastic podcast called The Relatable Voice.And the brewery makes not only a, uh, like a wood-fired pizza where the Eucharist used to be, but on the alter, they worship the, the God of beer and they make six local microbrews.Uh they're uh, some of which are. Pretty European in their tastes. And also I would say, in their alcohol content. But if you like beer and pizza and you like old churches and architecture, it's one heck of a place to go and you can get a bang for your buck there. And I loved it. So it's really excellent.The first time I went there, I said, Is it a sin that I'm here?. Yeah, I think, I think they play on that a lot. I mean, the fact that the is filled with beer is kind of a, it's kind of funny, but, uh, you know, it works and it's a staple of the region. I would recommend both of those. Another example, if you can't afford to travel abroad, I'll recommend to check online. You'll get the best bang for the buck. Imagine you wanted to go to an English speaking country staying down for a little while for a while to practice your English, but you don't have enough money to do so. So I advise you and tell you, if you can't afford to travel abroad, I'd recommend to check online. You'll get the best bang for the buck means you go online instead of paying the travel fees.You can pay a teacher or a tutor, somebody who talked to you with daily in order to practice your language. So you get a better deal compared to the traveling fees.Thank you very much guys for sticking by on the Vocab Man Podcast. Contact me: Myfluentpodcast@gmail.com

Transcript:Aphasia aphasia.On March 30th. 2022. Bruce Willis' family announced that he had been diagnosed with aphasia. A disorder that damages the area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. I want to dedicate this episode to Bruce Willis. A great actor. And we are gonna take a closer look at the word. AphasiaSo actually they wanted to award Bruce Willis with a golden raspberry award. Which is kind of a parody award. That wants to honoring actors with the worst cinematic under achievements. Because apparently Bruce Willis acted in several really bad movies and 2021, I think. And that's why they wanted to award him. But then they got away with the idea to giving him this award because they said it was in appropriate to award a golden raspberry to someone whose performance. Was affected by a medical condition.They knew what they wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come out that scientifically, we call that an expressive aphasia. So originally the word aphasia was put together of two words using the Greek word part. A. Meaning not or without. And then the second word part was phasis. Meaning utterance or statement. So actually, so it came from the Greek verb, meaning to say, or to speak. aphasia And at that point I knew that she was still in there and there were certain words too. Didn't she surprise you with words, what chicken, chicken. Chicken. Yeah, that was it for the first like month. That was the extent of Gabby's vocabulary. For some reason, she, she has aphasia, which is is a difficulty with communication.She latched onto the word chicken. Which isn't the best, but certainly is not the worst. And we were actually worried. It could have been, it could have been a lot worse than that. Yeah. But what's been the toughest challenge for you during this recovery? Um, talking really hard really? Yeah. With, with aphasia. Gabby knows what she wants to say.Just can't get it, get it out, understands everything. But the communication is just very difficult. You know, when you look at the picture, the part of your brain, uh, where those communication centers are, are on the left side of your head, which is where the bullet passed through. So you have to do a very dangerous thing, speak for wife.I do. That might be some of the most dangerous things I've ever done. Yeah, they are. You optimistic about your continuing recovery, walking, talking, being able to move your arm and then I'm optimistic. It will be a long, hard haul, but I'm optimistic.And at this point, I kind of feel like I want to make remember everyone that we should really be thankful. that we are able to learn English or other languages. Um, we shouldn't take it for granted. That we can do so.So one definition of aphasia is loss or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words. Usually resulting from brain damage. As from a stroke, head injury or infection. So the first part of aphasia. Is actually a prefix. And as I mentioned before, a comes from the Greek and means not or without. So with the help of the prefix a. We can guess a lot of other words, which will support us in our language journey. So I will give you some examples. asocial. Yeah, there are so many, I mean, really, probably the biggest or maybe the most fundamental is the idea that introverts are somehow asocial or anti-social, you know, that these are people who don't really like people and there's not it at all. It's such a misunderstanding. Asoscial describes a person who is not social. So the person is not really interested in hanging out with other people. Or an apolitical person is not interested in political issues at all. And therefore is not going to vote. I guess. An atheist is someone who is not believing. In. A Supreme power or something like that. So. Another word is atom and when that word was coined, It was considered to be the smallest possible particle of matter.And therefore could not be cut. So with the prefix a you can guess a lot of other words. And this may help you in your journey as I mentioned before. And this works really well with other prefixes as well. So the Vocab Man recommends learning prefixes. It's really valuable and powerful.So this episode was a bit different than usually. I hope you liked it a lot and if you want to help the Vocab Man, please share, subscribe and tell your friends about the podcast. This will help the podcast grow and therefore I will be able to produce more episodes. Bye

Video version of this episode:https://youtu.be/hPLDP_f_E60Special Guest Gabriel from Clark and Miller:https://www.clarkandmiller.com/describing-trends-in-english/ Transcript:Hey, Daniel, thank you for reaching out to me and asking me to talk about one of my favorite English phrases. Okay. So, first of all, who the hell am I? I'm Gabriel Clark from Clark and Miller. What about my favorite phrase? Okay. So, one of my favorite phrases is hodgepodge, which you Daniel pointed out that I used in a recent podcast episode. Hodgepodge, Hello guys. Welcome back to the Vocab Man. Usually whenever I come across an English expression, I try to figure out the meaning and then I make a podcast episode out of it so that the other learners can learn with me. And this time I tried to do something different. I reached out directly to the podcaster and then.I asked about the meaning of a specific word. So in this case it was hodgepodge. And so I listened to an interview between two teachers and one teacher is Stanek and the other is Gabriel, but let's take a closer look at the sentence in which hodgepodge was used. And which made me ask Gabriel about the meaning.I mean, I personally, I really like your accent because it's the kind of interesting hodgepodge a to use awesome phrase that you used earlier. It's kind of a hodgepodge of your background and your experience, you know, where you're from, but also your experience working and living in England, because there are elements of sort of British, like London, English in there.And I like it because it, it, it, it's kind of you, it's yours. And I think that's great. And I think people, anyone who's learning English should not strive necessarily to sound British but to sound like who they are. I know this sounds very obvious. hodgepodge.It's fun to say, isn't it hodgepodge? What does it mean? Well, I had a quick look at various dictionaries online just to check it out. And we've got things like a heterogeneous mixture and a jumble and a confused mixture and an untidy mixture. So obviously it means some sort of mixture, a hodgepodge of something as a mixture of something, but I'm not sure I agree with all these terms. Um, I like some of these, like a jumble, um, confused mixture. Yeah. Maybe it can be a bit confused, sometimes an untidy mixture. I'm not sure that it has a bit of a negative feeling to it, but maybe not some non tidy things are quite nice, aren't they? Yeah.Anyway, so let's, let's look at some examples of this because I think I generally use it quite positively. You know, like your favorite band can draw on a hodgepodge of different influences or, um, your current TV show can have a real hodgepodge of different characters, you know, lots of different people with different sort of vibes.Thank you very much, Gabriel. I really appreciated your examples. And for me, it will be easier to remember the word hodgepodge and let's take a look at the Merriam Webster website. There are some recent examples from the web. For instance, San Diego union Tribune wrote an article on the 18th of March.And it says the original artwork seemed a hodgepodge of images, including a skateboard and arm, a flame insect, a hummingbird and an alpinists or extreme mountain climber. And there are others, which I don't want to mention here instead. I want to talk about my own dialect in my mother tongue, which is Swiss German.And I have to say that my own dialect has also become some sort of a hodgepodge because these days I am not living in the same place where I grew up. And I am surrounded by a lot of different people. I mean, these are people who come from different regions of Switzerland. So that means that I am surrounded by different types of dialects, which over the years had an impact on my own speech.So in my opinion, my dialect tests become some sort of a hodgepodge. Yeah. And again, Gabriel. Thank you so much. It was really, really appreciate it. I hope that you are in for a future episode. I mean, this was a lot of fun for me and yeah. See you around. This was the Vocab Man. I am Daniel and thank you for tuning in bye.hodgepodge.It's fun to say, isn't it hodgepodge? who the hell am I? I'm Gabriel from Clark. I'm the Clark in Clark Miller I'm Gabriel Clark from Clark and Miller. What the hell is Clark and Miller? Clark and Miller is a, we have a Clark Miller English YouTube channel, the Clark and English Miller Clark in English, Clark and Millerenglish podcast and the Clark and Miller English blog, which you can find as clarkandmiller.com Clark like Clark Kent. And that's me and Miller, like, you know, the beer anyway, that's me.

In this episode, I explain the meaning of "If you will" and show you a few real life examples. Youtube Version:https://youtu.be/HvqAHRns6o0Transcript with Audio version:https://youtu.be/HvqAHRns6o0Transcript:If you will, if you will.Hello guys. This is the Vocab Man. Welcome back. So today we are gonna talk about the expression "if you will". And this is going to be a very interesting one. And unfortunately Stephanie is not going to give us some great examples as she did on the previous episode, I must say this was so brilliant. And the expression she was explaining was "up in the air". Picture the coin at the top before it starts to come down. So you flicked for the coin, it's up in the air just before it comes down.That!That moment. That's what this phrase is focusing on. When something, when an idea or an experience or a decision or a situation is up in the air, it's that uncomfortable, uncertain moment in time. That snapshot in time before we know what's happening, the discomfort in the uncertainty is absolutely the heart of this phrase.And she explained it with examples from her real life. So that, well, at least in my case, it will just stick and I will remember. "Up in the air" forever. The Vocab Man. It's about learning expressions together. So that we can get more fluent in English. Thanks for tuning in So the expression "if you will" apparently is a short form for if you will allow this analogy. At least I could read it on a website called English stack Exchange. So this was a difficult one for me to figure out what it means. But I must say that it is very common. It is used a lot. And I could see it on YouTube that people are speaking all the time by using this, if you will. is it simply your last connection to that vanished world, his world, if you will. According to the Cambridge dictionary if your will is used to say that the particular expression is one way of saying something especially to suggest that some people might not choose to say it that way. So I figured that oftentimes when you are explaining something, it is appropriate to give some examples. So you could just mention one or two things. And then by saying if you will, you indicate your conversation partner that maybe another person would use other examples so it's not something very fixed.I mean, the examples that you were mentioning. Are not per se sacrosanct. I mean, Other people would Probably use order examples. And so, as I mentioned it at the very beginning, You are using like an analogy. To explain something. But it's just for the sake of explaining something to make it clear. So what government gives you is not your rights. It provides a wall, if you will, a security so that you can exercise that, which you already possess simply by being human. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is what you have simply by virtue of being a human. So maybe this example that you just listened to showcases the expression if you will. Because it said. "So what government gives you is not your rights it provides a wall, if you will." So this is. Again, Like an analogy because government doesn't give you. Literally a wall. It's just a way of the speaker to explain to you what he means. So. What the government is giving you. So, instead of saying, if you will. You could also just say, if you like. So i'm going to give you another example here: What, even though that's the scariest thing that people think of when they're going on stage, it's what the audience actually wants most. The fourth Secret to being on stage is to remember that you're really building a tribe. You're really building a community. Anytime you appear on stage, you're inviting those people that are in front of you to enroll in your ideas. You're really building this kind of different empire, if you will. And anytime you appear on stage, every word that comes outta your mouth matters. All right. And here again. The empire is just an analogy. So. I don't know. Maybe you could grasp the meaning of if you will. But I know this was a heavy one. And I will try to focus on that specific expression when I come across it the next time, and I will think of the meaning in the specific context. By doing so I'm sure that we will remember it and we will be able to use it in our own speech. So. I quickly want to mention that this episode is also available on YouTube. Just type in the Vocab Man. And it will help you because you can read along while you are listening. This will help you to become a better English speaker. And of course, if you want me to cover an expression. You can drop me an email at: myfluentpodcast@gmail.com. I am the Vocab Man. I'm Daniel from Switzerland. Thanks for tuning in. And. Bye. So what government gives you is not your rights. It provides a wall, if you will, a security so that you can exercise that which you already possess simply by being human