لغات

CONVERSATIONAL VOCABULARY

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

Hey there everybody, this is Aaron. I’m now going to talk a little bit about some of the words and phrases that Dan and I used in our conversation this month. So let’s get started.

1. the real deal

The first is “the real deal”. This is what Dan says when he’s talking about the oldest woman to have ever lived, right? He says, “She’s the real deal.” Not like the people in the Bible or in some of these ancient tales from the Far East where we really don’t know how long they lived and we can’t really verify it. But in this case, we’re talking about the real deal. Someone who truly is the oldest person to have ever lived and we can verify that with facts and information, right? So it’s the real deal and basically, you can use this phrase to describe anything that you believe to be genuine or authentic.

For example, let’s imagine that you and your friend both have Rolex watches. You see your friend and you say, “Hey, I never knew that you had such a watch. It looks almost identical to mine.” And your friend says, “Yeah, well yours is the real deal, but mine’s just a fake,” right? “I bought mine in the street for $10,” right?

“Yours is the real deal, mine is fake,” right? Meaning, yours is genuine.

Another example might be getting Chinese food outside of China in a place like the United States. There’re a lot of places you can go to eat Chinese food but it’s really not so authentic. It’s not so genuine, right? It’s very much changed to match the average American palate, right? So that people will enjoy eating it more.

They’re more likely to pay money to eat it. But if you go into some of the big cities like New York, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, you can get the real deal, right? You can get some really authentic Chinese food, right? Because there are large communities of Chinese people in big cities in the United States, you can get the real deal, right? The real thing, right? The real deal.

1. loads of

Okay, the next one is “loads of”. Dan’s talking about this woman Jeanne Calment, supposedly the oldest woman to have ever lived. He says she’s able to do all kinds of things. There’s loads of video of her doing many different things. She was very famous when she was alive. So this term loads of, it’s just another way of saying many, a lot of something. Loads of it, right? So you can go to YouTube and you can see loads of videos there and you can … Actually, a lot of people from the countryside move, young people move to the cities because there are loads of opportunities there for jobs. Loads of job opportunities in the big cities, not so many in the countryside.

So, yeah, loads of. Any time you want to say many, any time you want to say a lot of, which are more common ways you can use loads of. You can also use “tons of”, it means the exact same thing. Tons of videos on YouTube. Tons of job opportunities in the cities. If you’re talking specifically about large numbers of people, instead of saying there were many people there, you can say there were boatloads of people or busloads of people, right? Just means large numbers of people. Tons of people. Loads of people. Boatloads of people. Busloads of people.

1. dabble in

All right. The next is “dabble in”. Have you heard this one before? It’s a really interesting phrasal verb. To dabble in something means to kind of engage in some kind of activity in a very casual way. You’re like, you take a casual interest in something and you’re not devoted to it. You don’t spend lots and lots of time doing it and you’re not really extremely passionate about it. It’s just something you just kind of have a little bit of fun with but you’re not too serious about. Let me give you a few examples.

In the case of this woman, this centenarian Calment, she dabbled in all kinds of things. She dabbled in painting, she dabbled in dancing, she maybe rode her bicycle here and there. She just didn’t do those things really seriously, she just kind of lightly enjoyed them, had some fun doing them. In my case, I love language learning. I have studied Spanish, I have studied Chinese, I have studied Japanese. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy doing those things and I’ve dabbled in Thai and I’ve dabbled in French, but I didn’t really spend a whole lot of time doing it. I didn’t seriously pursue it. It was just something I did for fun and I learned a little bit and I’ve mostly forgotten it, but I dabbled in it a little bit.

In terms of keeping my body and mind healthy, I’ve dabbled over the years. I’ve dabbled in yoga, I’ve dabbled in meditation, I’ve dabbled in Tai Chi, I’ve dabble in chi gong, but I spend most of my time on hiking and running and walking everywhere and doing some strength exercises at home. That’s pretty much what I’m devoted to. I don’t spend a whole lot of time on those other things, okay? I dabble in them. What do you dabble in? What kind of things do you dabble in or have you dabbled in over the years?

1. a little fishy

Okay, the next one is “a little fishy”. It’s a little fishy, right? We’re talking about the fact that this woman, Clament, Jeanne Calment, was 120 years old but she didn’t look 120, right? She just seemed particularly young for being 120. So something seemed a little fishy. So something that’s fishy is something, something suspect, right? It can’t totally be trusted. It’s a little suspicious. Whenever you’re unsure about something whether it’s true or not you can say, “Something seems a little fishy. This seems fishy.”

For example, if someone really wants you to sign a contract or sign an agreement and you … it’s really long and they’re being very pushy and they really want you to hurry up and sign it. Yeah, it seems a little fishy, you should take your time with it, right? Anyone who is trying to pressure you into signing something, you should say, “This is a little fishy. I don’t know about this.” If it’s too good to be true, perhaps it is, right?

For example, if someone tries to sell you a big screen, high definition, digital television and it’s brand new and they wanna sell it to you for $50. You might say, “This seems a little fishy. It’s too good to be true. It’s a little fishy. I’m not so sure about it. I can’t trust it. It’s very suspicious. Highly suspect.” Okay, a little fishy.

1. to pigeonhole someone

Next, is the term “pigeonhole”, right? We’re talking about this man Emelie, who wants to identify as being 20 years younger than he actually is. And we’re talking about, we should be able to identify with whatever we want, right? Whatever age you want to identify with, you have the right to do that. Dan says, “Yeah, it’s just a number. Why should that number pigeon hole you?” First of all, literally a pigeon hole is a hole, it’s kind of a small hole, that pigeons, these birds, use to enter a loft or some kind of enclosure for the purpose of nesting. For the purpose of taking shelter. When you pigeon hole a person, you’re classifying them or categorizing them into a very narrow box, if you will. Something that kind of feels permanent and perhaps even unnecessary.

So if you have to tell someone your age they might pigeon hole you. If they find out that Emelie is 65, then suddenly people will start making assumptions about his health or about his vitality or about his capabilities, when in fact all they know is a number. So they’re pigeonholing him, they’re putting him in a little box and they’re saying, “He’s 65,” therefore he has these characteristics. That may not actually be the case. So it’s not so nice to pigeon hole people and it’s not always an accurate thing to do.

For example, I’m an American and I live abroad so I’m interacting with people from many different countries all the time. It’s a natural question when people meet me, they want to know where I’m from so sometimes people will immediately ask me, “What country are you from?” I hate answering that question because if I say, “I’m American,” then those people pigeon hole me. Not everybody, of course, but some people are quick to pigeon hole me and start making assumptions about what I like and what I dislike and what I believe and what I don’t believe, simply based on the country of my origin, where I’m from. I like to think that, yes, I am American but I’m also many other things that are important, that are possibly even more important than that.

So let’s get to the where I’m from later. Let’s talk about other things. Or the question, what do you do? Americans often ask this question. One of the very first questions they might ask you. “Oh, nice to meet you. So, what do you do?”

Meaning, what is your job? As if that is the thing that’s most important. As soon as you tell them your job, they may pigeon hole you. They may make assumptions about what your values are or what your abilities are. Yeah, it’s not a nice feeling to be pigeonholed, especially if the pigeon hole doesn’t fit.

1. tricky

Okay, moving on. The next one is “tricky” This is an adjective. Tricky, we’re talking about transgender and changing from being a man to a woman and all the process that that goes through, but it’s not a complete process on like a physical biological level. Dan makes the example that bone density is … men’s bones are a little denser. That’s something that doesn’t change. So it’s a little tricky.

For example, a male athlete transgender into a woman and starts competing at high levels in women’s sports, it gets tricky. It’s not so easy, it’s not such and black and white issue. It’s tricky. So something tricky is a situation that’s filled with problems and difficulty, it’s not easy to deal with. So he’s saying that this is a tricky situation. Should transgender people be allowed to compete in professional sports or super competitive sports at an Olympic level let’s say? It’s a tricky situation in some cases.

Another way that we can use the term tricky is to describe a situation in which you could easily make a mistake. For example, if you’re driving on an icy mountain road at night and you don’t have snow tires, that’s a tricky situation, right? You could easily make a mistake. You’d have to be very careful in that situation. Often times, political situations are tricky. Politics is always a tricky subject a tricky field.

You make one decision, it can lead to one negative consequence and if you make different decision, it can lead to a different negative consequence. It’s filled with all kinds of traps and difficult ways that you have to act and maneuver and think and, yeah, it’s not an easy field to be in, politics. It must be tricky, lots of tricky situations, tricky problems.

1. a big stir / a big row

Okay, moving on. The next one is “a big stir or a big row”. This is what Dan uses to describe what happened in Canada when some group of people tried to pass a law making it illegal to refer to somebody with the wrong pronoun related to their gender. He said that caused a big stir, a big row. So a stir or a row, if you imagine stirring a pot. You’re mixing all the ingredients together, right? You’re causing some kind of commotion that moves things around and that’s basically the literal meaning. But the figurative meaning is a commotion, a quarrel, an argument.

Some kind of heated discussion or a large disagreement amongst many people.

That’s what it is, so in this case, people feel very strongly about this issue and they argue about it. You don’t need to look far in societies to find stirs or rows happening.

In the United States right now there’s a big stir over Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the border of the US and Mexico. Most people think it’s crazy, but some agree with it and it’s causing a big stir. Brexit in England, in Great Britain right now, that’s causing a big stir, right? In British society. Should Britain exit the EU?

Or should they remain part of it? Yeah, there’s a big row over that in Britain and in Europe. So, yeah, that’s what … if you hear those terms that’s what it means. A disagreement, a quarrel.

1. publicity hound

All right. A few more here, “publicity hound”. What might that be? Well, Dan’s talking about this guy Emelie who is kind of a self-help guru. That’s what he does for a livelihood, I guess. So Dan is making the suggestion that he might be a publicity hound by demanding to be recognized as 20 years younger than he actually is. He might actually be seeking publicity. This is basically what it means, if you’re a publicity hound you are seeking or looking for publicity. Just like a hound, which is a dog, who has very sensitive sense of smell, those dogs are used for hunting and tracking. Policemen use them to track criminals or hunters use them to find prey, to hunt down the prey.

Because they’re good at tracking and finding things, we could use that figuratively to mean, someone who … A hound is someone who is tracking something, right?

Desiring that thing, and in this case, publicity. A publicity hound is a person who is seeking and tracking publicity. They want to get as much publicity as possible. So they do strange and crazy things to draw attention to themselves. A publicity hound. Some people are famous because they’re publicity hounds.

1. hang it up

“Hang it up”. This is something kind of interesting Dan says. Little phrasal verb here. He asked me, “Do you want to live until the ripe old age of 127?” I said, “Well, not necessarily.” Then he follows by saying, “Yeah, you might hang it up tomorrow.” So when you hang something up, you do that at the end. At the end of a phone call, you hang up the phone. When you’re finished wearing a jacket you hang It up in the closet. But in this case, he’s referring to the possibility that I might die. Either I end my own life or I just get unlucky and die. So that’s what it would mean, to hang it up means to end and in this case, death.

1. sweet dreams

Finally, something that Dan says at the very end of our conversation. I tell him that … we were talking about the benefits of sleep and how I don’t actually get enough of it and I said, “Well, on that note, I think I’m going to go to bed. I’m gonna go to bed right now.” Dan says, “All right, sweet dreams.” I said, “Okay, and I’ll talk to you next time.” Sweet dreams is a phrase we say to people before they go to bed. It’s a very nice way of saying good night. Sweet dreams, good night.

Yeah, sweet dreams, it means have good dreams. Good night, see you tomorrow.

Okay, I hope you found these words and phrases useful and if you have any questions, please do post them in the forum and we’ll do our very best to help you out. Okay. Take care.