Learn English Vocabulary Daily #22.1 — British English Podcast

Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 22, Day 1 of Your English Five a Day.

This is the series that aims to increase your active vocabulary by deep diving

into five pieces every day of the working week from Monday to Friday.

So, let's start today's list with a noun, an uncomfortable

noun, and it is discomfort.

Discomfort.

We spell this D I S C O M F O R T.

Discomfort.

Discomfort is a feeling of slight pain, unease, or physical or emotional distress.

Have you ever had a feeling of discomfort?

Have you ever had to suffer through discomfort?

Some people suffer from regular headaches, but still have to go

to work and deal with their daily tasks despite their discomfort.

People have to work through discomfort.

They have to attend social events, despite maybe having a stomach pain

or a problem with their Achilles heel, perhaps, or a sports injury.

Or sometimes we're dealing with some emotional discomfort and we still have

to put on a brave face, which is another phrase meaning to smile and show the

world that everything's okay, even though on the inside you're hurting.

So, dealing with discomfort.

When was the last time you dealt with discomfort?

Here's an example sentence,

"If you have any feelings of discomfort after doing these exercises let

me know, and we can look at giving you some easier ones instead."

Next on the list is the adjective, allergic.

Allergic.

We spell this A L L E R G I C.

Allergic.

Allergic.

If you are allergic, then you have an allergy to something.

So, you have a reaction when you come into contact or eat a certain thing.

So, for example, my son has a dust mite allergy.

And he has a grass pollen allergy.

So, he's allergic to the grass and he's allergic to dust, which means he

has reactions when he's outside and he has reactions when he's inside.

So, my job as his mother is to ensure that the areas where he spends most

of his time are regularly cleaned.

So, I have to dust his room more regularly than I normally would.

I have to wash his bed linen regularly.

I have to wash his curtains.

I have to hoover more regularly just to keep those dust mites at bay, to

hold them back, to stop them from creating problems for him and his skin.

The reaction that he has is eczema.

So, he has flare ups on his skin.

He can also get a runny nose and sometimes he even has swollen eyes and watery eyes.

Sometimes people's reactions can be quite severe.

They can be life-threatening, even.

Some people, particularly with nut allergies, these

allergies can be quite bad.

They can make your throat swell, which stops you from

breathing which is not good.

And so, you have to be careful when you're allergic to things.

Are you allergic to anything?

Here's another example sentence,

"Can you tell me what is in the curry sauce, please?

I'm allergic to dairy products, so I need to make sure that there is no

milk, cream, or yoghurt in my meal."

Next on the list is a noun and it is intolerance, intolerance.

We spell this I N T O L E R A N C E, intolerance.

Now we normally have an intolerance and we'll talk about food intolerance.

People will usually use words like a gluten intolerance or

a dairy intolerance or a milk intolerance or a nut intolerance.

It's slightly different to an allergy.

It just means that you are more sensitive to those foods, even though you may not

have a particular allergic reaction.

So, it means you can't really digest those particular foods very well.

It can make you feel uncomfortable, maybe even a bit poorly when you eat them.

Here's an example sentence,

"How do you cope with your intolerance to gluten?

It must be so hard not being able to eat bread, pasta, cakes,

or enjoy a nice cold beer!"

Alright, next on the list is the word anaphylaxis, anaphylaxis.

This is a noun and we spell it A N A P H Y L A X I S.

Anaphylaxis.

Now the 'PH' will often represent an 'F' sound as it does here.

Anaphylaxis.

Anaphylaxis, or you'll often hear anaphylactic shock is when a person

suffers from an extreme reaction.

So a very dangerous reaction when they've touched or eaten something

that they are extremely allergic to.

So, when I mentioned earlier about someone eating nuts and their throat

swelling, that reaction is anaphylaxis.

That is anaphylactic shock.

It can also be something that's airborne.

So, if someone close to you is eating nuts and the nut dust kind of sprays

up in the air and you inhale it, you can have that kind of reaction as well.

Here's an example sentence,

"We need volunteers to help with these food trials, but if you have experienced

anaphylaxis in the past, I'm afraid you won't be able to take part."

Now I'm hoping that none of you listening have ever experienced anaphylaxis.

I can imagine it's quite a scary thing to deal with.

But let's move on to our final piece, which is an idiom.

And it is nip something in the bud.

To nip something in the bud.

This is nip.

N I P.

Nip.

Something in the bud.

B U D.

Bud.

So, nip here means to cut or to bite and bud is representing something new,

like on a tree, a blossom tree in the spring before the flowers and the blossom

has come out, you'll see little buds.

So, the little heads of the flowers before they open, that is a bud.

So, it's as something starts, we're going to bite it and

cut it off, nip it in the bud.

So, the idiom means to stop something from progressing before it becomes established.

So, as something starts, you quickly cut it out just like with a flower.

If you don't want it to flower, but you can see it starting, you

can see the bud, you'd cut it off.

You nip it in the bud.

And this is something that I use quite often.

If I see a behaviour or something happening that I don't like,

and I don't want it to become something more, then I'd say,

"We need to nip that in the bud."

If my sons start using bad words, for example which one of my children did

come home and say a swear word the other day, quite innocently, he didn't

know what he was really saying, but he said this swear word and I was like,

"Ah!

Oh, we need to nip that in the bud.

I'm not having my children walking around swearing."

So, we told him very firmly that that was not acceptable, that we don't

use those words, and I explained why.

But we nipped that in the bud.

We nipped the swearing in the bud.

Here's another example,

"The school really needs to nip this bullying in the bud before it

gets out of hand, every child should feel safe when they go to school."

Okay, so that's our five for today.

Let's do a quick recap.

We started with the noun discomfort which is the feeling of slight pain, unease,

or emotional or physical distress.

Then we had the adjective allergic.

Allergic.

When you have an allergy to something.

Then we have the noun intolerance, which is where you're not really

able to digest a certain type of food without it making you poorly

or feel uncomfortable, discomfort.

Then we have the noun anaphylaxis, anaphylaxis, which is the

extreme reaction that you have to something you are allergic to.

And we finished with the idiom nip something in the bud, which is to

stop something from progressing further and becoming more established.

So, let's now do this for pronunciation.

Please repeat after me.

Discomfort.

Discomfort.

Allergic.

Allergic.

Intolerance.

Intolerance.

Anaphylaxis.

Anaphylaxis.

Nip something in the bud.

Nip something in the bud.

Very good.

Okay, so let's now do a little bit of a quiz and see what you can remember.

What is the term that we use to describe an extreme reaction to something?

Perhaps eating nuts makes your throat swell up and you can potentially die.

What is the noun that we use to describe this type of reaction?

Anaphylaxis.

Absolutely.

How about if you eat bread and every time you eat bread,

it gives you a bloated tummy?

It gives you a little bit of pain and makes you uncomfortable.

You're not allergic to it, but you just don't digest it very well, generally.

What noun would you use to describe this problem that you have?

Intolerance.

You have an intolerance to bread.

That would be very unfortunate.

And this feeling of slight pain you get because of this bread intolerance, what

noun could you use instead of saying you have a slight pain, a slight ache?

What could you say instead?

You have...

discomfort.

Yes, because of your bread intolerance, you have discomfort,

but luckily you don't have to deal with anything like anaphylaxis.

But you do discover while having some tests to see if you have an intolerance to

gluten in particular, you do discover that you have reactions when you drink milk.

You could say what?

What adjective do you have to milk?

You are what to milk?

Allergic.

You are allergic to milk.

Oh my goodness.

Allergic to milk.

You have a gluten intolerance.

You get discomfort every time you eat bread and pasta, but luckily you still

don't have to deal with anaphylaxis.

That's fantastic.

Now, for the last two weeks, your partner has come home with lots of delicious

goodies from the bakery, including freshly-baked baguettes, and these

delicious olive loaves, and garlic bread.

And you can see that this is becoming a bit of a habit.

Now you are intolerant to bread.

You cannot eat bread without having discomfort.

You're not allergic to it, but still, it doesn't make you feel very good.

So, you are going to have to stop this habit from becoming a weekly thing.

What idiom could you use to describe having to stop this from establishing

as a regular part of your day routine?

You're going to nip it in the bud.

Absolutely.

You're going to say to him,

"Hey, listen, I've had some tests.

I'm definitely suffering with a gluten intolerance and I'm allergic to milk.

So, we're going to have to make some changes because I don't want to have to

deal with discomfort on a regular basis.

And who knows, if you keep giving me all these things, I might

end up dealing with anaphylaxis.

That's not what we want.

So, let's nip it in the bud right now and start eating a different type of diet.

Deal?

Deal!"

Okay, let's bring them all together in a little story.

Have you ever had an allergic reaction to something?

Had a rash develop on your skin or struggled to breathe properly?

If so then you are just one of the 30-40% of people in the world who

suffer from some type of allergy.

That's a huge number, isn't it?

Let me tell you about Adrian.

Adrian suffers from an allergy to dairy and gluten.

It's not just a mild discomfort or intolerance, it's a

full-blown allergic reaction.

And it's not easy to live with.

At home, Adrian can control his allergies well, it's when he goes

out that things can go wrong.

Recently, Adrian and his girlfriend went to a local cafe and ordered a

sandwich, a gluten-free sandwich, but as soon as he took a bite, he

suddenly started to feel uneasy.

It started with a tingling sensation in his mouth and throat.

He knew something was wrong, but he brushed it off, thinking

it was just a minor reaction.

Then, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

His throat started to close up and he could barely breathe.

His body was covered in hives and he felt like he was going to pass out.

He knew this was not just discomfort, it was an anaphylactic shock.

As Adrian lay on a hospital bed with the doctors and nurses rushing around him, in

that moment, he was scared for his life.

He realised that he needed to nip this allergy in the

bud before it got any worse.

Luckily, Adrian had his EpiPen with him that day, and was able to use it in

time before the ambulance got to him.

The doctors told him that if he had waited any longer, it could have been fatal.

Living with allergies is not easy, but it's important to take them seriously.

It's not just about avoiding certain foods, it's about being prepared

for any unexpected reactions.

So, anyone out there who suffers from severe allergies, if you have an

EpiPen, always carry it with you and be diligent in reading food labels.

Don't take any chances, being prepared could just save your life.

And that brings us to the end of today's episode.

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Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.