Learn English Vocabulary Daily #20.1 — British English Podcast

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

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 20, 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 week from Monday to Friday.

So, let's start today's list with the adverb nowadays, nowadays.

We spell this N O W A D A Y S.

Nowadays.

Nowadays.

Nowadays means at the present time.

Right now, in this current time.

Nowadays, as opposed to in the past.

Here's an example sentence,

"I like to bake my own bread nowadays, it always tastes better

than the shop-bought stuff."

What are you up to nowadays?

That's something I tend to ask a friend if I haven't seen them for a very long time.

What are you up to nowadays?

Nowadays, I'm quite busy with my two sons and with my business.

Making podcasts, creating YouTube videos, dealing with my course students.

I say dealing with them as if they're naughty students!

They're not.

They're very wonderful, amazing and dedicated students.

And I don't have to deal with them, but I do have to deal with

administration around that business.

And then teach my students and support my students and guide

them as a good teacher does.

So, nowadays I'm very busy with all of that.

What are you up to nowadays?

Moving on to our next word, it's an adjective and it is clammy, clammy.

We spell this C L A M M Y.

Clammy.

If something is described as clammy then it's unpleasant;

it's a bit sticky and a bit wet.

So, you tend to talk about yourself being clammy or a person being clammy.

It's your skin that's clammy.

So, if you're a bit sweaty, basically, or if you have been out in the rain and

your skin's a bit wet, even after you've dried off a bit, your skin is still

a bit wet, you can say you're clammy.

But usually, you're clammy because of sweat.

Some people have quite clammy hands, don't they?

Some people tend to sweat quite a lot on the palms of their hands, and

that can make them feel uncomfortable when shaking hands with somebody.

"Sorry, I've got clammy hands.

So sorry."

Do you suffer with clamminess, do you tend to get clammy?

I don't like really wearing long-sleeved T-shirts, especially in the summer, or if

I think I'm going to be going on the tube, or on the train at a busy time during

rush hour, because I get quite sweaty.

I get quite clammy under my arms, and if I'm wearing a T-shirt,

it just seems to get really bad.

I can't believe I'm talking about my armpit sweat here.

I'm sharing everything with you.

But yes, I get quite clammy under the arms, so I don't like to wear

long-sleeved T-shirts in the warm weather.

Right, so a lot of personal sharing there.

Let's go on to our example sentence,

"When I was young, I used to make my hands and face feel clammy so my Mum thought I

was ill and had to keep me off school!"

Alright, moving on to another adjective and it is nauseous, nauseous.

Nauseous.

This one has a funny spelling.

Listen to this: N A U S E O U S.

Nauseous.

It has a very unusual spelling compared to the pronunciation.

Nauseous.

Nauseous.

If you feel nauseous, or if you are nauseous, then you feel sick.

Like you might vomit.

Sometimes, because you're unwell, you might feel nauseous, or it might be

the effect of medication, or too much food, particularly too much sweet food.

Maybe food that has gone bad can make you feel nauseous.

Sometimes bad news or people's unappealing behaviour can make you feel nauseous.

Here's an example sentence,

"The doctor told me that these tablets may make me feel dizzy and nauseous."

Okay, so, nauseous.

Hopefully you don't feel nauseous right now, but let's move on in case you do.

The next word is a verb and it is fire.

Now, normally when you think of the verb fire, then you think of

releasing someone from their job.

So you're telling someone they no longer have a job, you are firing them.

However, I'm going to give you a different version today.

There is a version of fire as a verb, which means to, like emote, to create

an excitement in someone or to create a strong feeling, to cause a strong feeling.

So, if something fires your emotions, then it starts it, it creates it, it causes it.

So, I might say,

"This picture really fires my imagination."

So, it kind of starts and causes my imagination to start working.

Or,

"His voice really fired her anger."

So, the sound of someone's voice caused me to feel more angry.

So, it's a less commonly used version of fire, but one that I've introduced today.

So, here's another example sentence,

"When I talk to my kids about treasure hunting on the beach, it

fires their imagination and they are excited about what they might find.

I hope we get more than a few shells!"

Okay, next on the list, rather last on today's list, is a phrasal verb

and it is fight off, to fight off.

Today this phrasal verb is about fighting off illness.

Illness, because you can use fight off for a few different things, but if you

are fighting something off, you are overcoming it or becoming free of it.

So, let me just spell it, just to make sure you haven't misheard me.

Two words, the first word, fight, F I G H T.

The second word, off, O F F, fight off.

So, you fight off a virus or any kind of illness.

You fight it off.

Your body and your immune system work hard to get rid of it, to overcome it.

Okay, when was the last time you were ill?

How long did it take you to fight off that illness?

Here's an example sentence,

"It took me three weeks to fight off my last cold, I spent most of

the time wrapped up on the sofa!"

Alright, so that's our five for today.

Let's recap.

We started with the adverb nowadays, which means at this present time.

Then we moved on to the adjective, clammy, clammy, which is the unpleasantly

sticky and slightly wet sensation.

Clammy.

Then we had the adjective nauseous, nauseous, which means you feel

sick, like you're going to vomit.

We had the verb fire, but meaning exciting or causing a strong emotion in someone.

And then we had the phrasal verb fight off in relation to

illness, meaning getting over it, overcoming it, and being free of it.

So let's now do this for pronunciation.

Repeat after me.

Nowadays.

Nowadays.

Clammy.

Clammy.

Nauseous.

Nauseous.

Fire.

Fire.

Fight off.

Fight off.

Very good.

Now, if I'm feeling a little bit sick, I think I might actually vomit.

What adjective could you give me?

Nauseous.

I'm feeling nauseous.

And not only that, my whole body is a little bit sticky

and slightly wet with sweat.

What adjective could you use to describe that unpleasant moistness?

Clammy.

Yes, I'm nauseous and clammy.

Now, in the old days, in the past, people who felt nauseous

and clammy were just sent into...

uh, isolation, into a room on their own and left to deal

with it, whatever it may be.

But at this time now, at this present time, there are other things we can do,

medicines and diagnosis and doctors.

What adverb would I use to talk about this present time?

Nowadays.

Absolutely.

Nowadays, if you're feeling nauseous and clammy, then there are

resources available to help you.

There are doctors that can give you a nice diagnosis, tell you exactly

what's wrong with you and provide you with some medicine and hopefully, with

the advice and the medication, you will be able to overcome your illness.

What phrasal verb can we use instead of saying 'overcome'?

Fight off.

Fight off.

Absolutely, you will fight off the illness with the help of your doctor

who is available nowadays to help deal with your nausea, if you feel

nauseous, and your clammy skin.

If, however, when you try to make a doctor's appointment, despite being

nauseous and clammy, the receptionist takes one look at you and says,

"You look absolutely fine to me.

You don't need to see a doctor.

Go home."

That would cause you to feel very angry and just affronted, you'd be so

flabbergasted by this woman who thinks she can decide whether you're well or not.

What verb could I use instead of cause in this particular scenario?

She caused you to feel angry and flabbergasted.

What verb could you use?

She fired.

Yes, she fired an anger in me that I've never felt before.

"How dare she tell me my nauseous feelings and my clammy skin

are nothing to worry about.

She doesn't know if I'm fighting off a serious illness or not.

Nowadays, I should see a doctor if I need to see a doctor.

I shouldn't be blocked by this receptionist."

Okay.

How very silly.

I hope you found that useful.

Let's bring it all together in a little story.

So, there I was, minding my own business, when out of nowhere, this feeling hits me.

You know, one of those moments where everything's normal, and then — bam!

It's like you're suddenly in the middle of a horror movie.

I'm talking full-on, clammy skin, heart racing like I've

just sprinted for my life.

And let me tell you, nothing prepares you for that first wave of sheer panic.

It's like nowadays, we've all heard about panic attacks, right?

But living it?

That's a whole other story.

My heart was doing the tango in my chest, and I swear I could

feel every single beat, thumping away like it was trying to escape.

My hands drenched, as if I'd just washed them and forgot about the towel part.

Classic me, right?

But then, the room started spinning, and not in a "had one too many

at the party kind" of way, more like, "I'm about to faint in the

cereal aisle of the supermarket."

And let me paint you a picture of the main event: the bonfire.

Not the cosy sit-around-and-roast-marshmallows kind.

No, this was the intense emotion kind, the sort that engulfs you when

you're in the thick of a panic attack.

It was as if something fired fear and anxiety through every vein

in my body, and forgot to check in with my rational mind first.

In a desperate attempt to fight off this invisible monster, I tried everything.

Deep breaths, counting backwards from a hundred, even picturing my

happy place, which, for the record, is on a beach, far away from any

form of anxiety-inducing stimuli.

But oh so nauseous!

Yeah, that was a delightful addition to the party.

Nothing says "panic attack" quite like feeling like you're going

to hurl at any given moment.

But here's the thing — after what felt like an eternity, but was probably more

like ten minutes, it started to fade.

The racing heart, the dizziness, the overwhelming fear — it all began

to ebb away, leaving me standing there, feeling like I'd just gone 10

rounds with a heavyweight champion.

Exhausted, sure, but still standing.

So, yeah, panic attacks are no joke.

They come out of nowhere, knock you off your feet, and leave you feeling drained.

But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that they don't define you.

You fight them off, pick yourself up, and keep going.

Because, at the end of the day, we're all a lot stronger than we think.

And that brings us to the end of Week 20, Day 1.

I do hope you enjoyed this episode.

If you did, can you do me a favour and remember to recommend this podcast to

any of your English-learning friends.

That would really, really help me out and I'd greatly appreciate it.

I look forward to tickling your eardrums tomorrow.

Until then, take very good care and goodbye.