The A to Z English Podcast

In this episode of The Jack & Chill Podcast, Jack and Xochitl talk about their experiences with loss and the grief that goes along with those experiences. Transcript: 00:00:00XochitlYou are listening to the Jack and Chill podcast Jack. Today we have a little bit of a heavy topic brief Jack.00:00:20XochitlYour experiences with grief and how would you define it for our listeners?00:00:24발표자OK.00:00:25JackYeah. So grief is A is a a tough topic and for our listeners out there, grief is the emotion that you feel when.00:00:33JackSomeone that you you loved, a loved one passes away or or dies.00:00:39JackAnd for me, I I never really experienced it.00:00:47JackI I I didn't experience it for a long time because when I was born my 2 two of my grandparents were had already passed away or passed away when I was a baby. So you I just grew up never knowing my my grandfather on my father's side.00:01:07JackAnd I grew up not knowing my grandmother on my mother's side and my grandfather on my mother's side was alive. But we we weren't really in contact with him. He was an abusive alcohol.00:01:22JackAlec and so growing up, there was a lot of.00:01:29JackStress in my my mother's family because of my grandfather's drinking and and when he was when I was in middle or sorry, elementary school, maybe fifth grade during summer camp, my grandfather passed away in a nursing home and my parents.00:01:49JackAsk me, you know, do you want to go to the funeral?00:01:52JackWe'll come pick you.00:01:52JackUp or you can just stay at camp and.00:01:57JackI just stayed at camp and I I really felt nothing. I, I I remember meeting him one time in the nursing home and it was just scary, you know, because it was all all these.00:02:10JackElderly, sick people, very thin and.00:02:15JackI he I just. I didn't have any relationship with him at all. So I I really only had my my father's mother, my grandmother, and my father my father's side.00:02:28JackAnd she we called her Bubba. Uh and Bubba was the best. You know? She really.00:02:39JackFilled in for all the for the other three grandparents that didn't have I I wouldn't trade, you know, four grandparents for for one, Bubba and yeah, ever. Because she was amazing. And and she lived to be 92 years old.00:02:57JackAnd so she passed. Maybe in, like, 2009. I think if I'm not mistaken, somewhere around there. Uh, my daughter was just a baby at the time and.00:03:10JackAnd I I felt.00:03:11JackVery, very sad, obviously because it's it's hard when you lose someone that you.00:03:18JackOf but I also, on the other hand, she lived to be 92 years old, like she lived a very full life, a very long life. Yeah, I grew up in the Great Depression in America, in on a farm in South Dakota. So she was tough, you know.00:03:27XochitlRight.00:03:38JackTough as nails like there is no, she didn't. She wasn't a, you know, delicate person. You know, she grew up in the hard times in America and she.00:03:55JackMarried my my grandfather, who was a a mechanic in the military. He served in Panama building of the Panama Canal during World War 2. So, you know, it was there just just that famous, you know, kind of story.00:04:15Jack1950s, they had their children. They grew up in the 50s and 60s. My my father was in elementary school in the 50s and then high school and university in the 60s and early 70s.00:04:29JackAnd so that was my first experience with with grief. But in the last three about three years ago, my one of my very, very close friends, I probably I have a best friend from high school and a best friend from college.00:04:48JackAnd my best friend from college passed away, and that was.00:04:57JackYou know it's.00:05:00JackHe he was young, you know. I mean, not not. Maybe not not, you know, not not like in his 20s. He was in his his 40s but.00:05:10XochitlThat's young to pass. That's very young to pass.00:05:11JackYeah, that's that's very young to pass. And and that was that one.00:05:18JackYou know, stop me in my tracks. You know, it was. That was a very, very difficult one to process and I think I'm, you know, still processing it and and probably will always be processing it in some way because.00:05:36JackIt just leaves a a massive hole in your in your heart, in your life, where?00:05:45JackSomething will happen and you, you you want that person's advice or you want to tell that person and you and you remember that they're not here and and you can't. You can't tell them and you'll never laugh together. You'll, you know you you won't. You're not going to share a moment again.00:06:06JackAnd everything you had with that person is everything you will ever have with that person. And that's a very here's an English expression for our listeners, a hard pill to swallow. You know, it's hard to accept that reality that.00:06:23JackThis. That's it. You know, the time that you had is the time is the is the only time that you.00:06:29JackYou get with that person and.00:06:32JackIt just seems cruel, you know that an illness would.00:06:40JackUM.00:06:42JackAffect someone that young and and take them away from from from their family and from their friend?00:06:48JackAnd and and yeah, it just it just kind of.00:06:55JackI don't know what the word is like. I've it it it it it's it has like a dulling effect. Like it a a numbing effect. Yeah. It it leaves you kind of like.00:07:08JackIt it could be dangerous because it can make you cynical, right? Like it can make you kind of angry at the world or angry at God or or or just kind of like, what's the point of of all this? Because.00:07:24JackAnyone that we love can just be torn away from us at any moment.00:07:28JackOr but but that's the the that's the anger stage of grief. I think you know where you're just you get angry and you you don't. You shouldn't stay. You don't want to stay in that mindset. You know, of of anger.00:07:29XochitlRight.00:07:45JackYou want to move on to acceptance.00:07:49JackAnd appreciate and be happy and and blessed that you at least the time that you did have with that person be be lucky that you're able to have that time with that person, but it's hard to get to to that stage of grief. I think it it does take a lot of kind of its internal struggle within yourself.00:08:10JackIt takes.00:08:13JackA more mature kind of.00:08:17JackApproach to life and understanding that wow, you know, like life is very delicate and it's not as nothing is guaranteed. And so it'll make you hug that your loved ones that are still here a.00:08:32JackLittle bit harder.00:08:34JackAnd you know what I mean? Like, in, in that moment.00:08:37JackNow for example, I was in America recently and I got to see my daughter and even though she was embarrassed, I I I made sure to hug her and tell her I love her. When I said goodbye to her.00:08:52JackI I didn't care if if it embarrassed her friends or anything and she didn't care either because, you know, it's like that you you never, ever know. There are no guarantees in in life. And so those are that was my my take away from my experience with grief and.00:09:12JackHow? How? How about you? Like how? How have you been dealing with with your experiences with grief?00:09:20XochitlWell, for our listeners, I think there is an important concept about the stages of grief in the United States. We call them like the five stages of grief and their denial, which is like kind of denying that it happened, glossing over it. You really don't feel any of those feelings you're kind of.00:09:41XochitlIt's hard to process or even perceive that it really happened. Then there's anger, which is, of course, being angry about what happened or feeling like, you know, it was unfair. There's the bargaining stage, which is the stage where you're like, oh, it's only this had happened, maybe they wouldn't have passed. If only this had happened. If I had done this differently.00:10:00XochitlThey had done this differently. If the doctors had done this differently.00:10:03XochitlAnd this all wouldn't have happened. And then there's a depression stage, which is kind of where your feelings get the best of you. And you're starting, you're in the midst of processing them. I feel like and.00:10:15XochitlYou feel a.00:10:16XochitlGreat sadness. It's hard to get out of bed. It's hard to do your daily tasks and the last stage is acceptance, which is what Jack was talking about, where you accept.00:10:26XochitlWhat has happened and you can maybe take some valuable lessons or, you know, move forward with.00:10:33XochitlA better understanding of what occurred.00:10:36XochitlI think it's hard for me because.00:10:39XochitlYou can, uh. Contrary to popular belief, you can experience these in any order, and you can also experience the the cycle multiple times.00:10:48XochitlAnd for me, what I struggle with the most.00:10:52XochitlIs I.00:10:56XochitlAnd the kind of person that.00:10:59XochitlI don't think I process. I don't think I process my feelings because I see everyone else around me crying and stuff and I'm just standing there awkwardly and I do cry sometimes but it but not it's like I.00:11:17XochitlIt's not like an in the moment thing like how I see everyone else going through stages in the moment. It's kind of like.00:11:26XochitlI feel like a third person watching everything happen. You know what I mean? I don't know if this resonates at all.00:11:31JackYeah, there's a word for that. It's it's disassociation, right?00:11:35XochitlYeah, I kind of disassociate. It's like you're. It's like watching a a life movie. But it's your life. But you're watching it as if it weren't your life, as if it's a movie or you're seeing it in the third.00:11:48JackYeah, that that's a coping mechanism, I think.00:11:51XochitlYeah, it is a coping mechanism. Yeah. And that's definitely how I. It's like a faulty. It's known as a faulty coping mechanism, which is like an unhealthy coping mechanism. And the only one that I experience a lot because.00:12:04XochitlWell, in Mexican tradition, there's a lot that.00:12:09XochitlIs different. I think different from us tradition and it was.00:12:13XochitlThings that were really hard for me to experience because it's my grandmother passing was the first time that I was actually here for someone in my family passing and it's the Mexican side. So we did everything the Mexican way and that means like, as she was.00:12:27XochitlPassing away, we were we all had to be in.00:12:30XochitlThe room with her.00:12:33XochitlSo we were watching our part. We were in the hospital with her non-stop. Pretty much. My mom slept there every single night in the ICU and the rest of us were there pretty much every single day and night at different varying times.00:12:51XochitlWhen they took out life.00:12:52XochitlSupport with like watch her pass but it was very hard because.00:12:56XochitlDeath isn't like the movies, where they're like, unconnected someone from life support, and they just, like, quietly pass like they're falling asleep.00:12:57발표자OK.00:13:05XochitlIt's not really what happens. I don't really need to serve any of our viewers, but like they people kind of gasp for breath, for breath, for a long time when they're unhooked from life support. Probably in my experience they can have an immediate collapse that does happen. But what happened with my grandmother is that she kept.00:13:23XochitlGasping for air for a long time, but she wasn't like there. Mentally, like she couldn't speak. She didn't even know we were there. She didn't respond. Like if I.00:13:31XochitlLike waved my hand over her eyes to see she's like her eyes were clouded over, but it was like her body, her lungs still gasping for breath, and this went on for like.00:13:42XochitlI wanna say like 24 hours. Uhm, I wanna say and UM.00:13:50XochitlIt was really hard and then you have to stay with the body overnight in Mexican tradition, so you can't, like, go home and you have to sleep in the hospital.00:13:58XochitlWith the body or whatever.00:14:01XochitlUM, once a person has passed away, the body can't be alone the first night. So my aunt, my mom, my sister slept.00:14:10XochitlI went home because I was sick and I had already slept in the hospital. Like two nights I wanted to. Yeah, just like in, in a chair, because there wasn't any, like, beds or anything for us to sleep in. And I just couldn't take it anymore. I don't know how everyone else did it. I felt like sick, like, I could barely.00:14:30XochitlFunction at that point.00:14:31JackSure. And emotionally, you are just that, was it? You were.00:14:37XochitlYeah, I couldn't do anymore. I sell exhausted, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. And I I don't know how other people push through. It's like I just couldn't do it. It had been days. It really been over a month since my aunt. I had a good night's sleep because my grandmother had been sick all the time, and we had been watching her and my sister and my mother flew in and.00:14:57XochitlThey hadn't, really.00:14:58XochitlThey had been resting up until that.00:15:01XochitlPoint. So they really had.00:15:03XochitlTo take over some stuff for us, but.00:15:05XochitlThat was really hard part. And then the other.00:15:07XochitlHard part was.00:15:09XochitlUM.00:15:11XochitlOnce you know she passed and everything before the cremation like we had to see her body.00:15:16XochitlAnd that's still hard because people's bodies it changes once they pass, like their skin changes. It was like purple, and I won't go into details just, you know, scar our audience or anything. But it was very difficult and it was difficult for me because it's like my sister and my aunt. My mom were all.00:15:37XochitlCrying and I was just standing there like.00:15:40XochitlDisassociating I was humming a song that she really liked, that my grandmother really liked, that her favorite song I was like humming that, but I was checked out. I like was not there.00:15:49XochitlAt all and it's.00:15:50JackYeah, yeah.00:15:51XochitlWeird to see everyone like crying over the body and I was just like I was in outer space. I was not. I was not there and I was not crying.00:16:01XochitlAnd so I think it's weird how everyone processes grief differently, but I think you.00:16:05XochitlCan feel weird when.00:16:07XochitlEveryone else is kind of processing in a similar way, and you're like the odd one out.00:16:12JackYeah, that is. I mean, I I really get upset when people judge the way.00:16:19JackPeople grieve because I I think I'm same as you. It's almost. It's almost like an overload, you know? Like the like. When the computer freezes.00:16:32JackYou know, there's just. There's too much. And what happens is I just kind of have an out of body experience. Like, I just kind of float away and just say like, you know, no too much can't.00:16:48JackCan't deal with this and I'm going to I'm I'm going to go to another dimension for a little while and catch my breath.00:17:00JackAnd that can.00:17:02JackKind of cold to people from the outside, you know, looking in as you, you're just standing there, but you're not crying. And you, you're you're you just look normal, quote UN quote normal. But inside you're you're you're just dealing with so much.00:17:21JackAt one time that you just, you just kind of check out like you said and.00:17:27JackI I think.00:17:29JackAgain I I.00:17:30JackJust think that's like a a self preservation kind of a thing. It's like, yeah, exactly. A coping mechanism. It's it's just, it's just the way your your brain is wired. It's like too many stressors in in one moment.00:17:35XochitlCoping mechanism.00:17:49JackAnd you just kind of free.00:17:50JackThere's, you know, there's that that kind of fight flight or freeze. I don't know if if that applies here or not, but I think it it makes what you're describing makes perfect sense to me because I think I I process things the same way as you. But I think like when?00:18:12JackWhen those emotions settle down.00:18:15JackAnd you'll you'll have a moment where you will be able to process it in a more.00:18:23JackFor lack of a better word, traditional way.00:18:26XochitlRight. Typical way maybe.00:18:28JackYeah. And, you know, some people just don't like to cry in front of other people, you know? So when I, when I when finally the floodgates opened and I I wept, it was during my during the funeral, which was took place during COVID so.00:18:47JackThe uh.00:18:49JackSo. So the funeral was online, so I just remember just being alone in.00:18:57JackIn my office, in my house and this is like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. And I was just weeping.00:19:06JackAnd but it had taken me days to to get to that that stage where it finally hit, you know, kind of like a.00:19:19JackLike an arrow. Just boom I. It was. I was finally ready to start processing. But maybe you know the days prior to that.00:19:32JackIt just seemed unreal. It's like, you know, the this is not. This is not really happening, you know it's it's it's the.00:19:40JackKind of that kind of thing. And and I I just, I I don't I don't I I if there's one take away from our talk today about grief is I just think there's you know 6 billion people on the planet or 7 billion people and there's probably 7 billion different ways to grieve.00:20:01JackAnd I, and we shouldn't rush to judgment when people don't follow the, quote, UN quote, traditional methods of of weeping. I I think movies have really like, like you said, when you're describing the process.00:20:18JackDeath in the movies, you know the the the person dying often just you know they've.00:20:27JackIt's so romanticized, you know, they kind of, you know, brush their hair back and then close their eyes and and that's it, you know.00:20:37JackAnd that that's not the the dying process. I I was listening to an interview with the lead singer of U2 talking about his father's passing. And he he said, you know, dying is is as messy as being born.00:20:59JackYou know, we we come into. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's it's not a it's it's he. That was what that was his take away from it because he had never experienced that but taking care of his father in his final days.00:20:59XochitlYeah, just accurate.00:21:11JackHe was very surprised at just how.00:21:16JackMessy and and ugly, the process can be.00:21:21JackAnd and it's so unlike.00:21:24JackYou know, in the movies where it's just so you know you're you're here and then you're gone. But it's actually a process. Death is a a slow process sometimes. You know, it can be immediate, but it can also be drawn out. And. And I don't think we I think we we it's it's too.00:21:45JackIt's too ugly a thing for us to to look at and and talk about.00:21:52JackI I think we.00:21:54JackWe we don't want, we don't want to accept that as the reality, but I think anyone working in a hospital or Hospice.00:22:03JackYou know people who are in the medical profession, they they understand this reality very well.00:22:14XochitlI agree with you and.00:22:17XochitlWear some tickles or lessons that you feel like you gained.00:22:23XochitlAfter you, kind of.00:22:26XochitlAfter things settled down from someone's passing.00:22:31JackYeah, I that's a good question. And I I wonder, you know if I.00:22:36JackI I don't know.00:22:37JackIf I have any wisdom for for people, I think, well, here's something that I think is is helpful for.00:22:45JackFor people, and I think that people should remember this when someone passes the.00:22:54JackI think the worst thing you can do.00:22:59JackTry to.00:23:02JackProvide some meaning to it for the persons.00:23:04XochitlThat's true. That's true.00:23:06JackWhich I which it.00:23:07JackIt it sounds.00:23:08JackCounterintuitive, you know, because you think that if you, if you could just say the one profound thing.00:23:14JackTo the person at the funeral.00:23:16JackThen they will feel better.00:23:20JackBut it's it has nothing to do with it's. It's all about the person grieving. It's nothing to do with you. The friend of that person. The only the only appropriate response, I think, is to just grieve together and just, just just wrap your arms around that person.00:23:41JackHug them and say I'm so sorry for your loss that that's it. There is nothing. There are no magic words that are going to take away the pain of of a lost one. So coming up and saying, you know, well, you know, he's with God now or she's with God now.00:23:59XochitlIt's all part of God's plan and stuff like that. Everything happens for a reason. That's one of the worst ones.00:24:01JackRight. It's part, yeah.00:24:04JackIt happened for a reason. Yeah. This because it doesn't. There's no reason for it. There's no. You know what I mean? It's not. There's no plan. There's no reason for it.00:24:16JackIt's just a tragedy. It's just sad. And why is that not enough?00:24:22JackYou know, I I think that should have to be enough for for us like.00:24:28JackIt's it's just sad. It sucks.00:24:32JackAnd we're going to just sit in this, but you're not going to sit in it alone. I will sit in it with you. That's the best thing that you can do for someone who is grieving.00:24:45JackDon't offer any advice. Don't. Yeah. Don't talk about the God's plan or anything like that. Just say this sucks and and I'm going to be here. You're not going to go through this alone.00:24:59JackAnd I think that if people understood that.00:25:04JackA little bit better it it would. It would avoid a lot of those awkward.00:25:09JackConversations you know at at where you know people are trying to provide some sort of reason or or.00:25:17JackYou know.00:25:19JackExcuse for why this happened, it's it's just it just sucks. It's just a terrible, terrible tragedy, tragic situation and that has to be enough. And and there is no like resolution. There's no, there's no third act to this sort of.00:25:39JackIn this sort of situation, it's just it's terrible and but I'm here for you any way you need me. That's why I think it's it's kind of beautiful when people kind of surround someone who has lost somebody and they cook a meal for them and deliver it.00:25:55JackYou know.00:25:56XochitlYeah, that's one thing that like for me and going through the screening process with like with my grandmother passing and being here for my mom and my aunts like more than saying something or whatever. I wish we I wish people there were more people who brought a meal.00:26:16XochitlOver offered to to bring a meal over, or offered to help. Uh, clean out some of my grandmother's belongings and, you know, offload some things.00:26:27XochitlAnd you know.00:26:29XochitlI just wish there were more people that tried to offer support in those ways because I think that's more.00:26:36JackYeah, the words words are are almost meaningless in those situations. I and I hate to say it because it's. I know that people saying them are they think they're they're doing something.00:26:48XochitlFor their well meaning.00:26:50JackThey're well meaning but.00:26:53JackI I would say.00:26:55JackYou know, I'm so sorry for your loss. Big hug. And how can I help you? What do you need? Because in those moments, the last thing you want to do is be cleaning your house or cooking meals and that sort of thing. And so those little gestures are actually much more meaningful than any words.00:27:16JackThat you can say at a, at a funeral or awake or anything like that.00:27:21XochitlYeah, because that's one of the big things we've been dealing with is like trying to cook.00:27:26XochitlAnd like wrap your heads around buying groceries and cooking. And even when we bought groceries, they like spoil because we were at the hospital all the time and.00:27:36XochitlIt's just so hard to do those basic things. I think like those are really good things you can do to support.00:27:45XochitlPeople, when their loved one has passed away for sure.00:27:49XochitlJack, how about? Ohh sorry, didn't you? I was just going to say. How about lessons you took?00:27:51JackAlright, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, no.00:27:57XochitlFrom the people in your life that have passed on, you know sonned ways that you remember them and things you learned from them.00:28:05JackYeah. Yeah, so.00:28:07JackI I think that.00:28:11JackJust thinking about my grandmother and her.00:28:15JackHer, her strength and her resolve, you know, just and also her.00:28:22JackAbility like her capacity to love was it's seemed limitless and she she she really was.00:28:31JackA. A kind.00:28:34JackPerson you know and and yeah, we we use that word kind. I think it's overly used you know. But she was, you know she was truly a kind person.00:28:45JackUM and.00:28:48JackI I I really do.00:28:53JackI I really am so lucky that I had such a loving grandparent. I mean the this is a pretty big she was the, I mean she, she.00:29:03JackShe was filling the the place of four grandparents with just the 11 grandparent. But you know, she was like a second mother, you know? It was just like we're going to Bubba's.00:29:14JackWas and she, you know, it was such such a traditional kind of grandmother, you know, she had chocolate chip cookies all the time. She baked pies. She, you know, she was an amazing cook. We would play board games at her house and.00:29:30JackIt was just. It was.00:29:32JackJust so much fun. She was such a fun grandma.00:29:34JackAnd UM. Uh. Very uh.00:29:40JackVery, very loving and and and. And my friends. I mean, I could go on for days and days, but you know we he it's it's interesting like he he's a friend we we never had a.00:29:59JackLike a cross.00:30:00JackMoment or anything. Do you know what I mean? Like.00:30:04JackYeah, it was. It was just.00:30:07XochitlYou just clicked.00:30:07JackYeah. We just clicked. We just clicked our our personalities, our sense of humor just aligned perfectly. He was very much like a like an older brother for me because he was a few years older than me. And and I I I wanted to be like him. He was.00:30:27JackAnd he was cool. And and I looked up to him and and he was a a confidante, you know, a person that I could tell.00:30:39JackAnything too. And I knew that he would, you know, keep it. You know he wouldn't, you know, gossip or anything like that. And it was just just a very trust, trusting person and and loved life well traveled.00:31:00JackEverybody got along with everybody. Yeah. I mean, he there's just no one that he couldn't get along with. Yeah, it it's just a. It's a huge, immense loss and.00:31:14JackI I I I I I'm so happy to have have known him. What about you? What? What what? What did you would you could you say you've taken away from your your grandparents?00:31:28XochitlI think one thing I learned, not directly to them, but after their passing was.00:31:37XochitlAs much time there's not, there's never too much time spent with your loved ones because one day they might just not be there. And maybe sometimes we put it off for later, like Oh well, I'm, you know, I'm busy. I have this to do. So I I can't, you know, come see you or whatever and then.00:31:57XochitlYou know, one day you don't even have that that option and.00:32:02XochitlIt just makes you value the time that you have with with your loved ones. The times that you have with the people that you cherish that much more because you.00:32:09XochitlRealize it's not forever.00:32:12JackYeah, yeah.00:32:14XochitlUM, yeah. And the big thing I learned from my grandmother indirectly. You know, she was always telling us go live your life and enjoy your experiences. Enjoy your youth as much as you can because your loved ones kind of kind of thought process. But a lot of times she she held herself back from doing things because.00:32:36XochitlThere was only something more important than her, you know, traveling or her going to do something she really wanted to do and.00:32:48XochitlIt made me realize, like the moment is kind of now your life is is right here in this moment and you never know.00:32:56XochitlIf tomorrow.00:32:59XochitlIs going to come and so you have to, you know, don't.00:33:04XochitlMake your plans for later all the time. I mean, obviously there are some things that are long term goals, but as don't leave.00:33:14XochitlEnjoyment for later every time. Don't leave.00:33:19XochitlYou know your life for later every time because it will go by in a blur it and there will be so many moments that you missed out on because you were just waiting.00:33:31JackI I think that's a great great advice, I mean.00:33:31XochitlYou enjoy.00:33:35JackI think there's something about that generation that is.00:33:39JackYou know.00:33:42JackThere's our your generation and and my generation are are different. I think. I think we're starting to realize that, you know, and taking those lessons and and I think that the the older generation like the the baby boomer generation and and older.00:33:59XochitlSilent generation, yeah.00:34:00JackYeah, they're they're kind of like.00:34:03JackMy my joy. What are you talking about? What does my happiness have to do with anything? You know, like my, my happiness is irrelevant. And and that's kind of sad. You know that. That's the the kind of.00:34:22JackThinking that they, you know, they're they were always worried about their children, you know, like the the children's happiness. And I think I think the younger generations now are starting to go, you know what? Maybe the.00:34:37JackThat way, overused expression, carpe diem, you know, sees the day is.00:34:43JackIs actually. There's some truth in that that you, you your happiness is not irrelevant. It's OK to.00:34:53JackHave experiences chase your dreams, live your life to the fullest and and not have any regrets when you, when you pass and these kinds of sudden losses.00:35:12JackRemind us of that. I think that's what you're you're getting at. It's like, ohh yeah. I need to if I if I'm going to honor my grandmother's life or honor my friend's life, then I need to live my life to the fullest. And I think that's part of the acceptance stage as well.00:35:33JackIn the grief process is like you, you're turning, you're going to turn something terrible.00:35:40JackAnd try to.00:35:43JackInstead of being depressed, instead of trying to negotiate a different outcome.00:35:48XochitlFeeling negatively, yeah.00:35:50JackExactly. You're gonna. You're going to live.00:35:53JackEven a little more.00:35:56JackPassionately love a little bit more intense.00:36:00JackMostly work a little more. I don't know. You know. Just. Yeah. Yeah. I think those are the and and and and I I I don't. I hate to say that that's like turning a negative into a positive because it's not that's not what.00:36:07XochitlBuild your goals and your dreams.00:36:20JackWhat you're doing, but what you're doing is you're honoring that person's life by not like.00:36:27JackDealing with, you know, getting drunk every night to try to forget about it is not honoring that person's life. And so, and that's how some people cope with depression and anger and denial and all those things and the acceptance stages that no, you're you're living healthfully, you're still.00:36:30XochitlRight, you mean?00:36:35JackRight.00:36:47JackYou still grieve that person's the loss of that person, but.00:36:53JackYou're also living your life.00:36:56JackAs fully as you possibly can to honor that person because they no longer are able to. And so, and I think that's the that's the most beautiful thing you can do in the wake of a tragedy like that.00:37:14XochitlYeah, because for me, it's like we're cleaning out my grandmother's things, and there's so many things that they're gifts that my aunt gave her that my mother gave her that were still wrapped in the packaging because they were, like, saving them for a special occasion and and middle.00:37:34XochitlOccasion was special enough.00:37:36XochitlKind of thing, because that's like the thinking that's the mindset behind it is like it's like it's never the right moment. And I think the older generations were very much about save now, enjoy later. And I think our US younger generations are starting with enjoy now and save later.00:37:56XochitlThere, there must be a balance somewhere in there, but I don't think they found it.00:37:58JackThere's probably some like happy middle ground.00:38:02JackBut you know all what do all those things mean in the in the end, you know, it's like, you know, maybe your grandmother should have just opened those presents and let the grandchildren play with them, you know, or you know what I mean? Like, like, really experience them and touch them and look at them and.00:38:23XochitlEnjoyed them? Just enjoy her own life because I feel like she never thought about her own happiness. She didn't really. I'm sure she had joyful moments she did. I know that as much, but it's like I feel like so many joyful moments that she could have had she just put them to one side because her children were more important.00:38:43XochitlThe grandchildren were more important. Whatever was going on was more important in the moment than taking that trip, enjoying something for herself, being selfish for once. And I think it's just it's so important to just.00:39:00XochitlHave those special moments for yourself sometimes.00:39:04JackI I totally agree with you and you know, I mean, what is she? What? What is she guilty of? She's guilty of being a very selfless person, you know, and exactly, exactly. And. And that's something that you can appreciate about her and just say, wow, what a what a a beautiful, selfless person she was.00:39:13XochitlI know which is the beautiful thing for sure.00:39:24JackAnd and you know, maybe she did derive great happiness.00:39:28JackOn on seeing her family thrive, you know, and and do well. And and I get that as a parent, I think I I would I would get a lot of I get a lot of happiness in seeing my daughter succeed and and and sometimes that's enough to but.00:39:48JackLike you said, I think.00:39:52JackMaybe you know, uh, taking that trip or doing that thing that you really, really want to do.00:40:00JackIs doesn't make you a selfish person either you know.00:40:04XochitlYeah, it's the situation where it's like.00:40:10XochitlIt's your children and grandchildren will be so much that much happier to see you also do things for yourself.00:40:19JackThere you go. That's right. That's right. And that's the one that's maybe where they can't quite get to in their minds. It's like they're, you know, they're going to think that I'm being selfish. And it's like, no, no, no, we we want you to be happy too.00:40:20발표자Sorry things for you.00:40:36JackAnd so yeah, I think that.00:40:40JackThose are some good, good takeaways. Actually. I'm. I'm glad we had this conversation because it actually helped me process some of my own.00:40:48JackKind of thinking and ideas around grief.00:40:53JackYeah, it's. It's too bad you know that we that that you experienced that so recently and.00:41:01JackYeah, I'm just. I'm really sorry for your loss.00:41:04JackUM.00:41:05XochitlI appreciate it.00:41:06JackBut, but I'm glad we had this conversation was really, really helpful.00:41:10XochitlYeah, me too. Alright, listener as well. If you have ever had a loved one pass away, you're going to grief yourself. You know what it's like. Or if you you're lucky and you don't know what that's like yet and you know, let us know. And our WhatsApp group leave a comment down below at AZ englishpodcast.com or shoot us an e-mail at AZ.00:41:31XochitlPodcast@gmail.com we would love to hear about how grief is in your culture, what grief is like in your country, what the funeral process is like. All of those things I really like to hear about all you guys, different traditions in your home countries. So yeah, shoot us a line, as we say in the US and.00:41:50XochitlSee you guys next.00:41:51XochitlOK. Bye bye.Podcast Website:Social Media:Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7WeChat ID: atozenglishpodcastIntro/Outro Music: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_05_Mells_Parade/https://freemusicarchive.org/music/holiznacc0/power-pop/mutant-club/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Jack discusses one specific reduction of Did you: "Didja."Transcript:00:00:01JackWelcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm doing another solo episode today. As we step into the vocabulary spotlight, we are going to talk about something called reductions and.00:00:15JackThis is a a kind of odd.00:00:18JackI don't. I didn't know which category to put this episode in be. I think vocabulary spotlight is probably the best.00:00:28JackWhat we're when we're talking about reductions reductions are words that we kind of smashed together.00:00:36JackBut they're not formal words, OK? And the ones that everybody knows are wanna gonna agada wanna gonna and gotta wanna want to gonna going to gotta got to OK native speakers rarely.00:00:56JackPronounce going to.00:00:59JackAs going to.00:01:01JackWe mostly pronounce it when we're talking as gonna.00:01:09JackI'm going to get up at 8:00.00:01:12JackOK, uh, we rarely say want to. I want to go to an amusement park. No, we say, you know what I want to.00:01:22JackGo to an amusement park.00:01:23JackWanna. But if you look in the dictionary for wanna gonna and gotta.00:01:28JackYou're never going to find it because they're not words. It's not like.00:01:33JackUMA compound word such.00:01:37JackBook store bookstore.00:01:40JackOK, that's a that's a formal word. You can find that in a in a dictionary with the definition bookstore. A store that sells books.00:01:49JackBut if you look in wanna WANNA.00:01:53JackYou'll never find it because it's not in the dictionary. OK, it's not a word. It's a reduction. That's what we call them reductions. So we're not going to talk about, alright? Used gonna there. We're not gonna talk about wanna gonna gotta today I want to talk about.00:02:11JackAnother one that I think can be.00:02:14JackIs very common that a lot of teachers overlook, but students are kind of left confused because.00:02:22JackThey're they don't know what the teacher said, right? So this one is did you did you? So this is the title of today's episode, Didja.00:02:33JackDid you have a good weekend?00:02:35JackDid you have?00:02:36JackA good weekend.00:02:39JackDid you have lunch?00:02:41JackDid you have lunch?00:02:45JackDid you go to the mall?00:02:46JackDid you go to the mall? OK. And what is that? Did you is a reduction of did in you again it's not a compound word. It's not a word. It's just.00:02:58JackA reduction. It's just an easier way to pronounce it, and it's tends to be it's it's informal. You cannot write this in an e-mail. You cannot write. Wanna gonna gotta didja in an e-mail. You have to write it. Did you want to going to? Got to.00:03:18JackHowever, when you're talking, you're gonna hear it a lot.00:03:24JackI think students should understand that there's, and there's kind of some minor rules around this. For example, when D&Y are next to each other, when the a word ends with a D sound.00:03:38JackAnd the next word starts with a Y sound. Native speakers, Native English speakers. Speakers tend to insert a J sound there. Did you did you? Did you? Did you? OK, so it you could you? A reduction could be. Did you? That's fine. That works. Did you have a good weekend? Did.00:03:57JackDidja is a much shorter and more common reduction of did you? Did you have a good weekend? Did you have lunch?00:04:06JackDid you go to the mall?00:04:08JackOK, now if you so when you're talking, feel free to, you know practice this a little bit throw it in there. You know when you hear did you you know now it means did you did you did you did you now sometimes native English speakers will get really crazy with their.00:04:28JackProduction of did you?00:04:30JackAnd they'll even make it short.00:04:34JackAnd I'll give you an example here of I'll use the same examples.00:04:39JackYou have a good weekend.00:04:41JackYou have a good weekend.00:04:43JackOK. Did you have a good weekend? Have a good weekend. So we reduced. Did you all the way down to Joe?00:04:56JackYa did you did ya?00:05:01JackYou have a good weekend.00:05:03JackHey, Bob.00:05:05JackJeff, lunch.00:05:07JackHey Bob, did you have lunch?00:05:11JackOK.00:05:15JackDid you go to the mall this weekend?00:05:17JackDid you go to the mall this weekend?00:05:21JackOK, so you can notice how we can reduce it even more. So what I want you to do this is your your uh homework assignment here for my A-Z listeners out there.00:05:32JackThe next time you have a speaking opportunity and you find yourself using, did you try it? Try it out, throw in a didja.00:05:39JackDid you did JA or JA?00:05:42JackAnd see how the other person that you're talking to reacts to that. I see if they notice it because again, these reductions are so common that.00:05:55JackI think people won't even notice, but your, your, your, your, your English will sound so much more natural and authentic and like a native speaker.00:06:06JackSo this is just I'm giving you guys a little tiny clue, a hint into sounding more like a native speaker, so next time don't say, did you say did you? OK, but remember, this is only when speaking. When writing you must write it out formally. Did you? OK, so this is not acceptable.00:06:29JackMaybe in text messages it's OK, but in emails or any sort of formal business setting you have to write, did you? But when you're talking, feel free to throw in a didja and that's the title for today's episode. I think is didja alright.00:06:47JackDid you have a good time with this episode?00:06:49JackLet me know in the comments A-Z englishbroadcast.com send us an e-mail A-Z englishpodcast@gmail.com. You can also join our WhatsApp group and leave a message in there. I will reply to you. You can also join our WeChat Group. I know a lot of our Chinese listeners are.00:07:10JackActive in the WeChat.00:07:12JackAnd I try to jump in there from time to time and talk to our our Chinese listeners as well. So with that said, thanks everybody. I will see you next time. Bye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/vocabulary-spotlight-didja/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Jack gives students a list of words which are better than very.Here are example sentences for each of the alternatives to "very":Extremely - The weather was extremely hot, reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.Incredibly - She was incredibly talented, effortlessly playing complex pieces on the piano.Exceptionally - The food at that restaurant was exceptionally delicious; it surpassed all our expectations.Remarkably - His recovery after the surgery was remarkably quick; he was back on his feet in just a few days.Exceedingly - The workload at her new job was exceedingly demanding, requiring her to work long hours.Utterly - The sight of the majestic mountains was utterly breathtaking; she stood in awe of their beauty.Terribly - He felt terribly sorry for his mistake and apologized profusely to his colleague.Profoundly - The novel's ending affected her profoundly; she couldn't stop thinking about it for days.Absolutely - The view from the top of the hill was absolutely stunning; it took her breath away.Intensely - Their argument became intensely heated, with both parties refusing to back down.These sentences demonstrate how each word can be used to convey different degrees of intensity or emphasis in various contexts.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/vocabulary-spotlight-words-that-are-better-than-very/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Jack explains the differences between here and hear and where and wear.Transcript:00:00:01JackWelcome to the Edison English podcast. My name is Jack, and today I have a solo episode for you and we are in the grammar zone.00:00:13JackAnd we are.00:00:13JackGoing to continue our lessons on homophones. Homophones are words that sound the same, but they are spelled differently.00:00:25JackAnd today's homophone.00:00:29JackOur home phones are here and here.00:00:34JackAnd the spelling for the first one is here HERE.00:00:39JackAnd this one indicates a place or a location. So for example, come here and sit down.00:00:50JackUM, sometimes when we are meeting someone at A at a destination.00:00:58JackWe will send a text message and say I'm here.00:01:02JackI'm here, meaning I'm here at the place where we are going to meet.00:01:09JackAnd so that would always be HERE, here, here.00:01:17JackNow there is.00:01:20JackAnother word.00:01:22JackQRHEAR.00:01:25JackWhich sounds exactly like HERE. The pronunciations are exactly the same.00:01:32JackOK here here.00:01:34JackBut HEAR.00:01:38JackRefers to the act of perceiving sound, so.00:01:44JackHearing sound right and you can see you. It's in the word hearing, right?00:01:51JackThe the ability or the act of sound going into your ear.00:02:06JackSound waves going into your ear.00:02:09JackOr into your ears and creating sound for you. That is the act of hearing.00:02:17JackThe act of hearing. And so you could ask someone this question, can you hear the music, you might say to someone listen.00:02:28JackCan you hear the music? And maybe there's there is some softly playing music.00:02:35JackIn the distance.00:02:38JackOK. Or the music is too loud?00:02:43JackI can't hear you.00:02:46JackOK. Or speak more loudly please, because I can't hear you. That's HEAR.00:02:57JackSo there there are two homophones here and here.00:03:02JackAnd I'm going.00:03:03JackTo do 2 more uh. To make this episode a little bit longer, this would be a really short episode. If we only do here.00:03:11JackSo let's.00:03:11JackDo where and where.00:03:14JackOK, so where and where?00:03:16JackWhere WHERE? Asks about a place or a location for example. Where did you go?00:03:26JackOhh, I went to America.00:03:30JackWhere the place? What place did you go? OK. Location or place? Where are you?00:03:38JackYou could send again like that text message.00:03:41JackWhere are you? I'm here. I'm at the place where we are meeting. I'm here.00:03:48JackI'm next to.00:03:49JackThe subway. Ohh OK.00:03:54JackThe second one where WEAR.00:03:58JackRefers to putting on clothes or accessories. Accessories would be like you wear a necklace or you can wear earrings, or you can wear rings.00:04:09JackClothes would be you're wearing shirts and pants and socks and underwear and a hat.00:04:15JackOK.00:04:17JackWearing clothes.00:04:19JackOr wearing accessories.00:04:22JackFor example.00:04:24JackI like to wear hats.00:04:27JackAnd this is something that I really love. I love to wear hats. I have a lot of baseball caps.00:04:35JackI always wear a baseball cap.00:04:39JackSo I love to wear hats. I love to wear hats, so wear wear here and here.00:04:49JackAnd hopefully that is helpful for you.00:04:55JackAnd if you want to contact me in on e-mail with some example sentences.00:05:02JackYou can contact me at A-Z, englishpodcast@gmail.com.00:05:07JackOr you could join our WhatsApp group in the AZ WhatsApp group. You can give me some examples of here, here, where and where.00:05:17JackAnd if you would, if you're part of our WeChat group, you can also leave some examples in our WeChat group and I'll try to read those and get back to you with my responses.00:05:29JackAnd with that said, we will see you next time. Thanks everybody. Bye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/grammar-zone-here-vs-hear-and-where-vs-wear/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack discuss the differences between your and you're.Transcript:00:00:00JackWelcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here with my co-host social. And today we are back in the grammar zone and social. Today we're looking at.00:00:13JackTwo homophones that are commonly confused, especially in writing, and that because they sound the same, so it doesn't matter when you're speaking, but when you're writing, they're actually spelled differently. It's your and your.00:00:30JackAnd so let's start with YOUR your what? What's the part of what part of speech is it? What does it mean? And can you give us an example?00:00:41XochitlYour is possessive. It indicates possession of something. So is that your breakfast? Is that your bottle of water? Like you're asking someone. Does that belong to you? You know, and so.00:01:00XochitlIt just indicates possession, essentially. That's why OER.00:01:02JackRight and.00:01:04JackFor the subject would be you, you, your it was like I my he, his, she, her. You. You're like that it's just it's just the possessive pronoun for the pronoun you you know.00:01:14XochitlYeah, you. Yes.00:01:19JackWhat about your YOU apostrophe re?00:01:24XochitlUMYOU apostrophe RE litter is a contraction of U&R which are two different 2 words. They're combined together with an apostrophe, so a lot of people get confused because in English we also use apostrophes to show possession like you would say Jack apostrophe S jacks.00:01:45XochitlThis Jacks laptop, so I think it gets confusing for students because YOU apostrophe RE. It seems like ohh there's an apostrophe there, it must indicate possession, but it doesn't. Apostrophes are often used in contractions which are when you combine two separate words and make them one word in the English language.00:02:07XochitlAnd this is 1 staple of native speakers is that we speak with a lot of contractions which can be confusing for students and non-native speakers as well.00:02:17JackYes. Yeah, that's you made some great points there.00:02:22JackI think the the best way to to kind of tell if if it's wrong is to break it into two words. So if you're saying like is this your computer and you spell it, YOU apostrophe RE separate those and say you are is this UR computer.00:02:41JackAnd then you think about that sentence makes no sense at all.00:02:44JackRight. Is this you are computer? No. It would you say? Is this your computer? YOUR because it's a possession. Not meaning you R. And so I think that I don't know. That's how I've always done it. You know, just if you separate the just take away the contraction.00:03:04JackAnd then if the sentence makes sense, you're OK. If the sentence is crazy like.00:03:11JackYou know you are. He is sitting in you are seat, you know. Then you know that something is wrong. No, he is sitting in your seat. Then it's then it's correct.00:03:24XochitlYeah, I think that's probably the best way to remember. As Jack said, just separate them out. And yeah, if this makes sense to you, if you have any other grammar questions that you would like to ask us, make sure to leave a comment down below at A-Z, englishpodcast.com, shoot Jack Ryan e-mail at AZ englishpodcast@gmail.com.00:03:45XochitlOr join the WeChat and WhatsApp groups to join our conversation and we'll see you guys next time. Bye.00:03:49XochitlOK.00:03:50JackBye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/grammar-zone-your-and-youre/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Jack tests Xochitl's knowledge of American English slang from the 00s.Bling-bling:This term was used to describe flashy, ostentatious jewelry, often associated with the hip-hop culture of the time.Bae:An acronym for "Before Anyone Else," used as a term of endearment for a significant other.Crunk:A style of hip-hop music that combines elements of hip-hop and electronic dance music, often characterized by energetic beats.Dolla dolla bills, y'all:A playful way to refer to money, influenced by hip-hop lyrics.Fo' shizzle:A playful variation of "for sure," popularized by rapper Snoop Dogg.Homie:A term used to refer to a close friend or someone from the same community.Jelly:Used to express jealousy or envy. For example, "I'm so jelly of your new phone!"Rad:An abbreviation of "radical," used to describe something cool or awesome.Wassup:A casual greeting, derived from "What's up?" often used in a laid-back, friendly manner.Y2K:Refers to the year 2000 and the concerns about the potential computer glitches and issues associated with the transition from 1999 to 2000.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/vocabulary-spotlight-00s-slang/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack discuss lesser-known national holidays in the United States.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/culture-corner-federal-american-holidays/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack explain the differences between the homophones to, too, and two.Transcript:00:00:00JackWelcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here today with my co-host social and this is the grammar zone and in the grammar zone we like to answer your grammar questions and today's social. We've got some homophones and homophones are words that are.00:00:21JackThey sound the same, but they are spelled differently and have different meanings, and today we're looking at 22 and two.00:00:30JackSo 222 and the first one is TO what is that? What does 2 mean 2?00:00:38XochitlTO2 it's a.00:00:42XochitlIt goes in between.00:00:46XochitlLike UM.00:00:48XochitlI went to the store, so between the subject and the location for example.00:00:54JackRight, like a preposition, right? It's a preposition, yeah.00:00:58JackIn on at to something like that. Yeah. And you said it. It's used to indicate direction, destination or a recipient. Right. I gave something to the manager. You know, something like that.00:01:13XochitlYes, and it doesn't have to be a physical thing like you can. If you scolded kids, you can say I gave them a talking to.00:01:22JackOhh that's a good expression right there. Uh, talking to right means uh like uh yeah scolding right? Or a lecture? Something like that, but not a classroom lecture but like a like a discipline kind of situation, you know.00:01:38XochitlYes, yes.00:01:40JackGood, OK. Uh, what about TO?00:01:46XochitlTwo is like also it means also and.00:01:53XochitlIt means ohh like you went to this.00:01:57XochitlDoor and bought some coffee.00:02:01XochitlUMI bought coffee too TO you. Also bought coffee. So anywhere that you can replace also with TO then you know that's the correct 2.00:02:13JackExactly. And whereas 2T O is a preposition TO is an adverb, which means like you said also or in addition to, you know or in addition, yeah so.00:02:27JackI want some ice cream and she wants some too or she wants some also. Yeah. Same meaning also too.00:02:39JackAll right. Our last one is TW O2.00:02:44XochitlEW O2 is 2, as in the number, so any place where you could replace the number 2 for TWO that's correct to use.00:02:56XochitlLike I have two cartoons of milk.00:02:59JackRight.00:03:00JackThere are two hosts.00:03:02JackOf the A-Z English podcast.00:03:07XochitlYes, that.00:03:09JackYeah. So to remember the difference, think of two TO as indicating a direction.00:03:17JackThink of to O2 as meaning also or in addition, and it has an extra O for more, so there's a little trick to remembering it and TW O as the number two it has a W for double.00:03:38JackAs in the number 2. So those are just some little tricks you can use to remember the differences.00:03:48XochitlAll right, students, if that makes sense to you. If you have any further questions that you would like to ask us, make sure to leave a comment down below at A-Z. Englishpodcast.com, shoot us an e-mail at at ozenglishpodcast@gmail.com. So Jack and I can answer your questions or join the conversation.00:04:05XochitlAnd we chat or WhatsApp and we'll see you guys next time. Bye bye.00:04:08JackBye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/grammar-zone-to-too-two/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Jack test Xochitl on her knowledge of 90s slang!Transcript:00:00:01JackWelcome to the A to Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm with my co-host social today and we are doing a vocabulary Spotlight episode and to continue the theme of the last couple of weeks we're doing 90s slang this week.00:00:22Jack90 slang so social. Are you ready?00:00:27XochitlYes, I am ready.00:00:28JackThis is straight up. This is little Jack in high school talking with his friends, using expressions like this first one.00:00:38JackAll that and a bag of chips.00:00:42XochitlUh. Cringe. Expressions, in other words.00:00:48JackWhat does it mean?00:00:50XochitlUM, all that in the bag of chips. Actually, I heard my millennial sister use that and it means.00:00:59XochitlIt's like, uh, if you see a really pretty girl and she's really popular, she's a cheerleader captain, and she's really smart and everything. And you say, man, she's all that and a bag of chips.00:01:13JackIt's really a dumb expression. I mean, when I think about it.00:01:17XochitlI know, I guess. I guess like it comes to when you eat stuff and you have like all that food and a bag of chips on.00:01:24XochitlTop of that maybe so.00:01:26JackI think it I think it, I think it just means like a bag of chips are like something good. Like chips are good, right everyone likes.00:01:32JackChips. And so you're everything.00:01:38JackEven a bag of chips on top of that like.00:01:41JackLike you're you're more. You're just like Infinity plus one. You know, you're all that.00:01:48JackPlus, a bag of chips.00:01:51JackI don't know. What do you think about my what's how does my theory hold up there?00:01:57XochitlUM.00:01:58XochitlI don't know. I don't that one does confuse me, Jack. I'm not gonna lie that.00:02:02XochitlOne gets me.00:02:03JackAlright, I I I still I'm. I'm still holding on to. I think like your Infinity, you're everything. Plus you're even more than everything. You're like everything and.00:02:14JackA bag of chips.00:02:15XochitlYeah, I guess I think that that is I agree with that with that theory.00:02:21JackOK.00:02:23JackUM #2.00:02:28JackPHAT.00:02:31XochitlUM, fat PHAT. That's a good thing. Ohh man, that's fat. Like that's cool. That's it's a positive. It's a positive thing.00:02:42JackYeah, right. Exactly what, that's what the definition here says. Excellent. Cool or attractive? Ah, that's fat.00:02:53JackBe careful where you use this one. You know, uh, but uh, my understanding is that this is an acronym that means pretty hot and tempting.00:03:05XochitlOhh interesting. I never knew about that.00:03:08JackI have no idea if that's true.00:03:09JackOr not, but that's.00:03:10JackWhat I heard through the Grapevine.00:03:13JackPretty hot and tempting. Excellent. Cool. Attractive fat. OK, fly.00:03:22JackThat girls fly.00:03:26XochitlThat girls fly.00:03:29XochitlIt just means cool again, like she's cool. She's there. There was a song that would go like, so hot, so fly or something. And that came out in like the 2000s or early 2000s, I think. But yeah, it just means cool. She's cool.00:03:43JackI think people still use it right, like.00:03:46JackMiss floss? No, maybe not.00:03:49XochitlThey but but they I think they probably did like in the two 2000s.00:03:55JackYeah, yeah, yeah. Here it just says stylish or fashionable, like fly, like you like well dressed, well presented. Very attractive. Yeah. Fly.00:04:07JackCool, yeah.00:04:10JackAll right. How can I do? OK, maybe I should start doing this at the end of every podcast. I should say Boo. Yeah.00:04:23XochitlYeah, I know what this means, but it's hard to define it. It's like, let's say that you turn around and shoot a basketball over your head and it goes into the basket and you're like, yeah, Boo. Yeah. Like, and Kim. Possible bone stoppable. Used to say this.00:04:42XochitlAll the time like like like it just means like he got it like it's like.00:04:43JackOK.00:04:48XochitlYou know what I mean? Like.00:04:49JackIt's it's such a basketball. It's so it's so like NBA related to me in my mind, like when someone shoots a basket, shoots and they and they score a basket and as it falls through the hoop, they're like Boo. Yeah, you know, I got it. I did it.00:04:55XochitlYeah, I agree.00:05:05XochitlThat's money that both of our examples were basketball related.00:05:08JackYeah, that's really the only place I ever really heard it often, you know.00:05:12XochitlI heard it in the in the UM.00:05:16XochitlThe cartoon Kim possible. Ron stoppable? Uh. Anytime he would do something right, which is rare, he would go.00:05:18JackOK.00:05:22XochitlBoo. Yeah, like.00:05:24JackYeah, yeah, I do. I used to say it to my daughter. It's just like a joke and be like, you know, like, I would do something, you know, like, throw, throw a piece of paper into the basket, into the garbage, you know. And then if it or throw a can into the recycler box, and then if the can goes in.00:05:44JackI I always say Boo. Yeah, you know, like I got it. I made it.00:05:51JackOK.00:05:52JackUM, social talk to the hand.00:05:56XochitlOh, my God, that's so cringe. Jack. That is so cringe it no, please don't make me to find this one in like, 2000 and 90s movies. It's like the mean girl. Oh, my God, I thought.00:06:13JackYeah, we used to do it all the time because you can see right now the the gesture that I'm making too is I'm putting. I'm putting, like, my hand up in front of my and I'm kind of shaking it back and forth a little bit.00:06:22JackI'm like, talk to the pain, yeah.00:06:24XochitlThere was a a meme recently that I saw where someone said that we really used to let Mean Girls bully us by saying talk to the hand. Ohh, it's so crazy. It just means like talk to the hand because the face is not listening or whatever it is.00:06:42XochitlCause like we just tell someone to get lost basically, but it's.00:06:45JackIt's a.00:06:45JackA it's.00:06:46JackLike dismissing someone, right? It's like I'm not listening to you talk to my hand because my face is. I'm not. I'm not even listening to you. Just talk to my hand. It's a very disrespect.00:06:57JackCool. Although if somebody did it to me today, I would just laugh, you know, because.00:07:05JackIt would be. You might as well use 1940s expressions. At this point, you know.00:07:12XochitlMm-hmm. Yeah.00:07:13JackYeah, I don't know. I don't think anyone understands it anymore or uses it.00:07:17XochitlMany people do understand it, but it's like so cringy. It's like it's chuggy, as Jensen would say. It's just like, Oh my God, it's really cringe. It hasn't pulled too far. It hasn't cycled far enough to just be like.00:07:25JackThere you go.00:07:30XochitlLike a gag me with a spoon or something. It's still really cringe to me anyway.00:07:35JackYeah, I mean it's it's it'll it'll someday reach gagging with the spoon level of cringing Ness.00:07:43XochitlRight. It's not there yet.00:07:44JackYeah, it's not there yet, but it's it's close.00:07:47JackAll right, this one is from a very popular Budweiser commercial.00:07:53JackAnd is what's up?00:07:58XochitlUM.00:08:00XochitlOhh right, it's just it's. It just means what's up, basically. But I remember that commercial everyone like.00:08:07XochitlWhat's up?00:08:08JackWhat's up? What's up? Yeah.00:08:11XochitlYeah, people would still like, well, my sister's friends would, like, do that joke sometimes, but none of us, like, knew where it was from, I think.00:08:19JackRight, because it.00:08:20JackWas a Super Bowl commercial from like 1997 or something.00:08:24XochitlI'm sure it's like their parents would do it, like as a joke or something. And then.00:08:29JackOh, I've got my parents. Joke is coming up soon. What they what they do like? They're what they cause the. That's their not their generation, but them trying to do 90 slang is is coming up soon.00:08:41XochitlOh my God, cringe.00:08:42JackOK. Then then it's it's, it's super cringe the the cringiest of the cringe, this one is alright, like the bomb.00:08:52XochitlOhh, the bomb. It just means like ohh that's so cool. That's so great. Like Ohh that restaurant with the bomb. Yeah. There's food was really good.00:09:02JackI still use this one. I might I might, I might throw it in there once in a while just to spice things up. I might say that meal was the bomb. That was. Yeah, I don't. I say the bomb because, duh, bomb sounds a little is I I don't feel like I have the privilege.00:09:06XochitlSome people like you.00:09:14XochitlYeah, you're the whitest man ever is so cringe like I say being bum because the bum feels a little like. Sorry, Jack, I'm not trying to laugh.00:09:26JackIt feels like cultural appropriation to me, so yeah.00:09:32XochitlIt's so funny though. No, but you're such a dag.00:09:37JackI it's true. I I, I've I, I embrace it. I accept my, my, my, my cringe. So the bomb definitely not cool.00:09:45XochitlYou're Jimmy, dad roll.00:09:49JackWhy that meal was the bomb. Let's get the bill. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. That was crazy.00:09:59JackBut it'd be worse if I said alright, homies, let's go. That meal was the bomb.00:10:06XochitlYeah, that would be work.00:10:08JackWhat is a homie, homie?00:10:10XochitlYeah, a homie is like a friend. Yeah, basically chilling with the homies. People still say that it just means to the friends.00:10:18JackYeah, my homie. Yeah, no, I don't say this one because I I don't know. It just feels like I I don't know. I I've never really.00:10:26XochitlLike if you don't have home, you have friends.00:10:28XochitlLike, let's be real.00:10:29JackI have friends I don't really have homies. Yeah, exactly, exactly.00:10:33JackUM, it's weird. It's weird that I used the bomb, but I won't use homey. Hmm, I should probably invert those. OK.00:10:44JackThis is the worst, OK?00:10:46JackUM. If somebody said to us put uh social, nice podcast not.00:10:57발표자What does it mean?00:10:57XochitlOhh yeah, it just means.00:11:00XochitlIt's so cringe again. It's so chuggy and like freaking ridiculous, but it's just like they're making fun of us. Like, ohh, they're being like sarcastic. Kind of, but not really. Like it's like it's like the skim milk of sarcasm or something.00:11:19JackYeah, it's the the wonder bread of of sarcasm.00:11:23JackI mean, it's basically you just say something nice to someone and then you just totally reverse it by saying not so like like a mean girl in school, like a bully might walk up to the like, you know, not cool girl and.00:11:36JackSay I like your shirt.00:11:39JackNot like that. And So what it means is I don't like your shirt. It's but you. You make someone feel good for a second, and then you negate it by saying not meaning. I take it.00:11:52발표자Right.00:11:53XochitlRight. Yeah, basically, yeah.00:11:55JackBut anyone that uses those jokes so that those are those are my parents and and like uncles and aunts will throw a not joke in once in a while.00:12:05JackAnd uh, and every time they do, you can just like the the younger kids and you know, the the next the the kids in the family.00:12:14JackJust their eyes almost roll out of their heads, you know, because we're just like, it's so like you said, cringey to, like, listen to a boomer make a not joke. Ohh.00:12:27XochitlOh, God. Oh my God. That would be so bad.00:12:29JackGag me with a spoon. Bars. Barf. Exactly. OK, the last one is chilling. And what are you doing if you're chilling?00:12:45XochitlChilling we we still use that like chilling with the homies, like hanging out, just hanging out and having a good time.00:12:53JackChilling out relaxing.00:12:56JackHanging out. Yeah, yeah, I use this one. Chill. We. I mean it's it's it's party. It's part of our podcast. The Jack and chill.00:13:05XochitlYeah, yeah. Can show podcast.00:13:07JackRight, it's a pun because your name is social, but you're also too, too chill is to like, hang out to chill. Relax. So yeah.00:13:16JackPerfect.00:13:18JackAlright, that's our last one.00:13:22XochitlOh, OK, that's a lost one. Alright, listeners. Well, if you have any more questions or you'd like to hear about more slang, let us know. We'll definitely be continuing this series. So TuneIn next time to listen to Jack question me about 2000 slang. And then after that I'm getting him back with 2020 and 2020. So don't worry.00:13:40JackRight, right.00:13:42XochitlAnd we will see you guys next time. Make sure to leave a comment down below at our A-Z English podcast dot.00:13:48XochitlCom shoot us an e-mail at AZ englishpodcast@gmail.com and join our WeChat WhatsApp groups to join the conversation and we'll see you guys next time. Goodbye.00:13:57JackBye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/vocabulary-spotlight-90s-slang/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack discuss whether or not it is legal to shoot and kill an intruder in the United States.Transcript:00:00:01JackWelcome to the A to Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here with my co-host social. And today we are in the culture corner. And so so we've got a really weird question today from students. But I mean, it makes sense. Like, if you watch the news in America, I kind of understand why they would.00:00:21JackBe interested in this topic and so I think you and I can do our best. We're not law enforcement experts or anything like that. We're just going based on our understanding of our own.00:00:32JackCulture. But the question is, is it true that in the United States, if an intruder comes into your home, you are allowed to kill the person and you won't have to face any charges, so you won't go to jail for killing that person?00:00:54XochitlI think in general it's true, but I do want to like, say, a caveat that it really depends like state by state states have stronger like standard ground laws and like gun laws and stuff like ones that you in the right more so, but other ones are like a little more strict because the US doesn't have a central government.00:01:15XochitlLike, it's not like the federal government dictates.00:01:18XochitlThings for every state across the board, the states kind of make their own legislation and a lot of the federal laws are just like guidelines. So.00:01:28JackAnd it's a federation of states since and, which means that each state can experiment with with laws that are a little bit different than other states, but they're still federal law, which is the the which is is the law for everybody. So it's kind of weird. Some laws apply to every every state and some laws.00:01:44XochitlRight, that's.00:01:48JackAre just in one state or another state.00:01:52XochitlRight, right. And so there are certain things that are like federal crimes, obviously doesn't matter what state you're in, but there are other ones that it does vary by state and gun laws and standard ground laws and things like that and self-defense laws do vary by state. So that makes it a little complicated. But on the whole, I would say.00:02:16XochitlYou're probably more likely to get away with claiming self-defense by shooting an intruder that entered your home. Then you would be in many other countries.00:02:28JackYeah. Now I agree with everything you just said. I think it's great then and there's a couple of other things that I want to add to this too. Statistically, if you have a gun in your house, you are much more likely to instead of killing an intruder, you are much more likely to kill a member of your family or yourself.00:02:48JackLike statistically, uh, you know.00:02:52JackYou hear some sound in your in your kitchen. You grab your gun.00:02:57JackYou walk in there, you see a shadowy figure. You shoot that person. Ohh, no, that's not your that's not your an intruder. It's your your husband or wife making a midnight snack. You know. I mean, how many times has that happened? I think this is like a real problem.00:03:17JackWith, with with the guns in America, the, the, the way we think about guns.00:03:24JackAs a good guy, shooting a bad guy. Yeah, it's it's easy in the movies, it's very clean and simple. But in real life, it's very dangerous and and often it doesn't work out the way we think it will.00:03:39XochitlYeah, there are tons of super sad stories. Like there's some that I've read. For example, there was one where a girl was hiding in a closet to prank. I think her friend who was like in the house, who was cleaning his gun and they were. I want to say like they were.00:03:58XochitlTeenagers, I think.00:04:00XochitlAnd he was cleaning a gun in the household and she jumped out of the closet and scared him, and he shot her and killed her.00:04:09JackYeah, this happens all the time in America. Little little children will find a gun and and and shoots. You know their brother or sister or themselves accidentally playing with a gun that they found. It's it happens all the time in America.00:04:11XochitlAnd yeah, it happened.00:04:28JackI mean it is.00:04:30JackReally a travesty and a tragedy. There's something called the in America. We have something called the castle doctrine. Every person's house is considered their castle and you have the right to reasonably defend yourself.00:04:50JackNow there's another case in Minnesota, which is really interesting. I don't know, maybe, you know, this social. I listen to a lot of true crime, so I know a lot of stories.00:05:01JackLike this and this man's house. He had been uh. People, had young teenagers, teenagers in the city had broken into his house several times, so maybe three or four times. And he called the police and they never caught the the kids. So what he did was he parked his car behind his house.00:05:23JackTo make it look like his house was empty for Thanksgiving.00:05:27JackAnd then he got his gun and he went into the basement and he just was reading a book for a couple of hours, waiting for someone to break into his house. He knew they were going to come into his.00:05:38JackHouse once they came into it, then the two kids broke into his house.00:05:44JackOne kid walked down stairs. He shot and killed that kid. The other one came down. She screamed unarmed. She didn't have a gun.00:05:54JackAnd he shot her anyway. And then while she was injured, he executed her.00:06:01JackAnd recorded the whole thing on audio and it. And in Minnesota, that was considered murder. He murdered those kids. He did not. It was not reasonable for him to kill them. They they did not need to die. He could have just stopped them with his gun.00:06:22JackYou know, called the police, had them arrested, but instead he decided that he was going to execute them and kill them. And in that case, which is an extreme case, I I feel sorry for him that his house had been broken into, but his actions were considered murder. So in that.00:06:39JackCase breaking an invader came into his house. He was not allowed to kill them. So it, like you said in the beginning, state by state it's different. It's different in Texas. I think he might have been acquitted and not and found not guilty but it.00:06:56XochitlYeah, I think maybe in Texas or Florida, some of those states that have pretty lenient laws and you probably would.00:07:04JackYes, yes.00:07:05XochitlWhich I personally I don't know how you feel, Jack. I personally think I do think it sucks that people.00:07:09XochitlWere breaking into.00:07:10XochitlHis home. But I I don't think you should execute teenagers.00:07:15JackNo, I don't think you have the. You don't get to be judge, jury and executioner in America. You know, you get to regionally, you reasonably defend yourself, scare them away, get them out of there, call the police and let the police take care of it. It's not your job to to be a a judge and A and an execution.00:07:21XochitlShouldn't get to but a.00:07:22XochitlLot of people have.00:07:34JackSo I, you know, and I'm also.00:07:36JackVery, very anti gun. I don't think we need guns. I I think we have this.00:07:45JackWell, let's not get into the whole gun.00:07:46JackDebate right now.00:07:47JackThat's another conversation.00:07:48XochitlNo, but no. I agree. Jack and I are on the same side of this gun debate, though. It's just as Jack says. I think just in a reductionist way. It you're just much more likely to kill some yourself or someone in your family than you are. Or make a grave mistake that you will.00:07:53JackI see.00:08:06XochitlGreat. Then you are to really.00:08:10XochitlSave or protect yourself in any way, and as I say, a having a gun or owning a gun is an invitation to get shot as well. So you.00:08:19JackAbsolutely. And also like you said, that's you're much more likely to die by your own gun than you are by the gun of some intruder. So, I mean, I know it happens. People break into your house and stuff, but this idea that we're going to be, you know, getting gunfights like the Wild West like Cowboys, you know, back in the 1800s is.00:08:37XochitlRight.00:08:39JackIt's ridiculous.00:08:41JackAnd it needs to change, you know.00:08:41XochitlRight.00:08:44XochitlI do. I do want to make the last point on this for sure because some of our students, I imagine, may come to America someday or may come as exchange students or as international students. If you do so, you have to be extremely careful because there have been cases there was a case in Florida, for example, of a Japanese student.00:09:04XochitlWho? Umm, walked up to the wrong house for Halloween party and just they told him like Ohh just walk in when you get here. I think he he.00:09:08발표자Right.00:09:15XochitlOpened the door or something and was shot and killed. And obviously you don't want to be alarmist. You know, this isn't going to happen to any person, but I'll tell you myself when I actually realize that I've actually knocked on the wrong door. Whatever I do, book it out of there because you just never know what kind of nut case is going to be living.00:09:35JackYeah, and book it means means run away quickly. Like get out of there, you know.00:09:36XochitlIn the house.00:09:40XochitlRight. And in that case, means someone who's a little crazy. So you do want to get out of there because you just don't know.00:09:48XochitlWho could be living there and what their situation might be and what they think about intruders and stuff? So yeah, it is a case by case basis and there are some states where people own a lot more guns and the gun culture is a lot more insane, like in intense like Texas.00:10:05XochitlYeah, just.00:10:05JackAnd and unlike.00:10:06JackUnlike the the, you know what the what, the.00:10:09JackCommon like myths. You know that if you go to America, everyone's just, you know, shooting, you know, guns everywhere, you know, you're it's not like that. But but there is there are moments of of extreme gun violence that occur in America because there are so many guns and because the the.00:10:14발표자Pew Pew.00:10:19XochitlNo, no.00:10:29JackLaws surrounding guns are, quite frankly, crazy. If you ask me, I think we have crazy gun laws. So.00:10:35XochitlVery last.00:10:40JackJust be be be smart, keep you know, be be, uh, understand the situation, but you don't need to be in a full panic all the time.00:10:50XochitlRight.00:10:50JackYou know, while you're.00:10:51JackVisiting, you know?00:10:52XochitlRight. You, you you just need to be aware of your surroundings and just kind of aware of the situation. One last one that I think goes with this as well is that Jack, we're I'm curious, were you taught?00:11:07XochitlIn school, like how were you trained for school shootings as a kid? Because.00:11:12JackNo, this was not a thing. I'm I was born my graduated before Colon.00:11:16JackCombine so we we before the the first school shooting the not sorry not the first school shooting, the first kind of major school shooting that was really alarmed people was the Columbine shooting in 97. And and I was in college at that time.00:11:18XochitlOhh right.00:11:36JackAnd that was a a wake up call. You would think it was a wake up call for the America, but now we just have gotten used to these happening every week. You know, which again is in is is crazy that we live like this.00:11:54JackUM, so I never received that kind of training. We had tornado drills. That was it. And when I was young, but no school shooting drills, you must have experienced them all the time, right?00:12:06XochitlYeah. I grew up with.00:12:09XochitlShooting girls like we knew it would be like you would. They would announce over the intercom like there's a shooter or whatever and they wouldn't. So apparently they don't tell teachers whether it's fake or real, so you have to just pretend that it's real because you don't know and what you would have to do is.00:12:30XochitlUM, they would like lock the door and then everyone would like hide in the corner in the classroom where, like, you couldn't see. And so, like, The thing is also that classroom doors have one very tiny spin window in Kentucky because.00:12:48XochitlUh, that prevents like a shooter from being able to like shoot through the glass and open the door. And yeah, we would all have to hide and stuff and then they would like train you on like, if in your in the bathroom, put your feet up on the toilet and like, sit there and like have this like, lock the stall door.00:13:09XochitlAnd yeah, we were. We were trained and then the a police officer would knock on our door and then they would, like, open it with their own.00:13:19XochitlKey I think.00:13:19XochitlOr something like that and they would come in and and tell us one by one that the that it was over and.00:13:29JackThis is petrifying.00:13:29XochitlThat was it. That was.00:13:31JackEvery, every, every kid in your generation has post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD from this.00:13:37XochitlYeah, people wonder why we're such an anxious generations as the old Gen. Z and millennials. And it's because we were raised like this. This was something that was just par for the course, and we'd have these, like, probably once a month. So yeah.00:13:55JackSo listeners out there think about, just think about the insanity of that, that we have instead of making laws against taking people's guns away, we're just going to come up with.00:14:08JackHiding in a corner and locking the door of the school classroom, I mean. And now they're thinking about giving teachers guns so that they can fight back again. I mean, it's it's insane. It's insane.00:14:21XochitlWhich we know is just gonna end up with a teacher being way more likely to accidentally shoot a student or students shooting each other because also like I can only imagine that some students could just take the firearm off the teacher.00:14:36XochitlIt just would just.00:14:36JackThere's so many in in just dumb.00:14:40JackPolicies. Uh, policies that are that are.00:14:44JackPut forward.00:14:45XochitlIt's like just take the guns away in South Korea, the gun policy is so strict that even officers have to check out their own guns, even if you have a gun license, you have to check out your own gun and only have a certain number of bullets. And the first bullet chamber in South Korea on the guns for police officers is empty.00:14:45JackAround this issue.00:15:05XochitlIt's a blank chamber.00:15:07JackSo they can't accidentally just shoot you. Yeah, alright. Welcome to America, my friends.00:15:10XochitlYeah, exactly.00:15:14XochitlYeah, alright, listeners. Well, don't be too scared by our learned this conversation, but let us know what you think in the comments below and tell us what are the gun laws like in your country? I'm really curious to know how the gun laws are and how they operate in your country. If you have had anything like school shooter drills or anything at school.00:15:35XochitlOr any kind of other drills for natural or man made disasters. Let us know in the comments down below at A-Z englishpodcast.com shoot us an e-mail at AZ englishpodcast@gmail.com or join the WeChat or WhatsApp groups to join the conversation and we'll see you guys next.00:15:49XochitlTime bye bye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/culture-corner-is-it-true-that-you-can-shoot-and-kill-and-intruder-in-the-united-states/Social Media:WeChat: atozenglishpodcastFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. You can check it out here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aXaXaMY4P2VhVaEre5w7ABecome a member of Podchaser and leave a positive review!https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-a-to-z-english-podcast-4779670Join our Whatsapp group: https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7Intro/Outro Music: Daybird by Broke for Freehttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Directionless_EP_-_03_Day_Bird/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcodeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy