Things Native English Speakers Say - British English Podcast

Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast, the listening

resource for intermediate to advanced level English learners.

My name is Anna.

And my name's Nick.

And today we are going to be bringing in the New Year with

Some good old resolutions.

'New Year, New Me' is a phrase you'll often hear in January.

The beginning of a new year is seen by many as an occasion to turn over a

new leaf and start with a clean slate.

Now, some people decide to give up unhealthy habits, such as drinking

alcohol or eating chocolates every day.

Others see the start of the New Year as an occasion to pick up new hobbies.

Personally, I find myself being a little too optimistic and ambitious at the

beginning of the New Year, which has led me to set unrealistic milestones.

However, it's still something I do every year.

Do you set resolutions, Nick?

I don't.

Now there is one year where I did specifically set a New Year's resolution.

Go on, I'm intrigued.

Tell me.

It was when I was finding things very difficult and I

had taken on too many things.

I was studying outside of work every day.

I was managing a side hustle and I'd taken on a promotion, far too many things.

I was travelling all over the place and I was really focused on the ideals

of a better life rather than living the life that I had at the time.

Okay, so you were kind of looking ahead and maybe overstretching yourself,

trying to achieve something more rather than just being grateful for

the things that you had at the time.

Yes, that's right.

And so I set one specific New Year's resolution, which was to relax a

little bit, to enjoy what I already had, and be grateful that it was

enough, and to take a lot off my plate.

And it was successful.

And it was very successful because it didn't need very much to do.

Actually, I had to do less.

Right.

So, when you say, take a lot off your plate, we talk about our plate, don't

we, a lot when talking about our responsibilities, and the amount of

responsibilities we pile onto our plate.

It's a metaphorical plate that we have.

And if we have a lot of things to do, then we have a lot on our plate.

So, that's something I might say to someone when they

bring something new to me.

"Anna, would you like to help out with the planning the, the school fair?"

I'm like, "I'd love to do that, but I've got a lot on my plate at the moment."

That means I've got a lot of things going on and too many responsibilities to cope.

So, in your example there, at that time in your life, you had too many

things to do, too much responsibility.

So, you wanted to take some things off your plate.

Yeah, it's a lovely metaphor, isn't it?

Because if you sit at the table and you've got all the food on

your plate and someone says,

"Do you want some more parsnips at Christmas?"

And you say,

"No, that's fine.

I have a lot on my plate."

You're, you know, you're saying I've got enough to try and consume as it is.

And if I have any more, it's going to feel sick.

I'm not going to be able to manage it.

And actually I won't be able to consume the things that you're giving me.

It's just too much.

That reminds me of a lovely phrase, which is completely unrelated, but

I'm going to throw it in there, which is when you put too much on your

plate, literally, and you could say,

"Oh my goodness, me, your eyes are bigger than your belly."

You think that you're going to eat all that, but you can't possibly eat all that.

Your eyes are bigger than your belly.

But enough about food enough about bellies.

Tell us, your ambition to reduce the amount of things on

your plate, was it successful?

Yes, it was.

I mean, there's a lot in New Year's resolutions around, you know,

being grateful for things, right?

And thinking about how you can live a better life.

And for me, you know, I think this is why it was successful is I stopped

the formal qualifications I was doing.

I stopped the side hustle I focused on my main job and being successful there, and

I focused on enjoying the things I had and giving myself time to do those things.

So, a lot of people when they have a New Year's resolution, they add

more things to their plates, right?

So, how's that looked for you in the past?

Yeah, I've often started new projects at the New Year point.

I always think,

"Oh yes, this would be a great time to start posting every day on one

of my many social medias and, I'm going to start a new business."

So, I'm always very ambitious in that respect and...

It doesn't surprise me.

It hasn't worked very well for many people resolutions tend to fail within a few

months of starting them because they're overreaching, they are doing too much.

But resolutions can still be quite successful if you do it

in the right way, like you said.

But let's now turn to some vocabulary that you could use to talk about

resolutions and starting afresh.

So, starting afresh would be one phrase that you could use,

or to start with a clean slate.

Let's dig into that.

What is a slate?

So a slate, slate is a stone and, um...

We put it on our roofs, don't we?

Yeah, we put it on our roofs.

We use it for laying a patio.

So, having a nice stone patio to enjoy.

I think that slate was also used for things like painting in the past.

You'd have a painter's slate, and for holding other things.

And for writing in the classroom.

Before paper was a thing, chalk, people would teach children with a slate; a

piece of slate and chalk and that's how they would write they'd write on slate.

And then they could wipe the slate clean When they wanted to start again,

and so that's where I'm assuming, I haven't actually researched this, but

I'm assuming that's where the phrase comes from to wipe the slate clean.

It means to start again.

Yeah, and once they got past slate and started using paper then

you would have 'a clean sheet'.

'A clean sheet', yeah, a clean...

yeah, not the sheets on your bed!

Although, it's good to have clean sheets every now and again.

Okay, so you can start with a clean slate.

So, to make a fresh start forgetting about any past mistakes or you could...

Turn over a new leaf.

Yes.

And I think both of these refer to a little bit like my situation, right?

I gave that example of, that things were a bit of a mess, you know, if

you're trying to write a story on your slate with your chalk and your teacher

comes over and they go, look, I know you've got the right essentials here,

but let's start again, let's clean the slate, turn over a new leaf, right?

And then you've got a nice blank piece of paper to start articulating

your new life story in a really clear and intentional way.

But when we say turn over a new leaf, do we actually mean like the

leaf that would come off a tree?

No, I don't know where it comes from, actually.

Well, I think a leaf is another way of referring to a page in a book.

Yeah.

So, from my point of view, or in my opinion, it would be, I

should research this, shouldn't I?

You should, yes!

To turn over a new leaf is to turn over a new page in a book, metaphorically.

And so in life, if you have been doing something that hasn't been working out for

you, or perhaps you have unhealthy habits, perhaps you're addicted to junk food

and sugar, I've certainly been a sugar addict in the past, and you're deciding,

"No, I want to live a healthier lifestyle next year.

So, now, or from now on, and so now I'm going to turn over a new leaf.

I'm going to start afresh, change things and do things differently."

When talking about bad habits, we can use the phrasal verb to give up.

So, to give something up, this is a very common phrase, isn't it?

It's to stop doing something that has been very prominent in your life.

So, have you given up anything recently, Nick?

I'm a bit of a goody two shoes, actually.

Oh, are you?

And, I think for me, now we've gone through a bit of a

journey on food, haven't we?

We have.

And I think I've gone through a slow, and I would say yet to be fully

successful giving up of alcohol.

Okay.

Because, and I don't think I'll ever fully give it up because I like a

little tipple every now and again.

Yeah.

So you're, you understand that for you, alcohol shouldn't be

a major feature in your life.

You want to give it up, but you struggle to give it up completely.

Yes, and now I think some people have, particularly when it's linked

to either their social life or their work life, they have alcohol

as a habitual part of their week.

Yeah.

It's very hard socially or if your bosses are like,

"Hey, come to the pub after work.

Or let's go to a restaurant.

I'm going to buy a nice bottle of wine for everyone to thank the

team for all their hard work."

And then they go to pour a glass for you and you say,

"Oh no thank you I don't drink anymore."

It can feel a bit awkward can't it?

There's that kind of social expectation of partaking in in consuming alcohol

and it can be difficult to say,

"No, I don't do that anymore."

Yeah especially in advance when someone says,

"Okay, we're all going to go out for a night out on the 21st"

Or whenever, right?

"Do you want to come?"

And you think,

"Oh, God, I'd like to go and socialise.

I'd like to spend some time."

To be honest, I'd like to go and have fun with people in my team.

But I think I've certainly matured out of drinking a lot of alcohol.

I'm so conscious of the consequences to your immediate

life and the future life as well.

You're talking about hangovers.

Hangovers!

It's not just hangovers though, it's also being woken up at 6.30 by children if

you get in at two o'clock in the morning.

Yeah, that can be quite devastating.

After having a skinful.

Yes, absolutely.

Okay, so, give up as a common phrasal verb.

Another phrasal verb I'd like to introduce is to pick up.

So, this is the opposite of giving up.

If you pick something up, then we're talking about starting or

taking on a new habit or skill.

So, I once bought you a guitar for Christmas because I was hopeful

that you might pick up the guitar, both literally and metaphorically,

pick up the skill of playing guitar.

But I don't think you've picked it up once, have you?

You didn't pick up the skill, certainly.

First day, picked up a few new apps on my phone, that's for sure.

Yeah, but I think, Anna, this is interesting, right?

Because starting New Year's resolutions, often people think about stopping habits,

but maybe a more aspirational thing to do is to start better habits, right?

You can start good habits as well as end bad habits.

So, maybe swapping, spending three hours in front of the television in the

evening swapping half of one of those hours to spend time doing something

like learning the guitar would be a more useful way to spend your time.

Yes.

Yeah.

When was the last time you picked up a new habit or picked up a new skill?

Picked up a new skill.

That's interesting.

Well, I've been learning woodwork over the last few years.

You have, and you're actually fantastic with woodwork.

I think I was a bit unfair when you first showed an interest in carpentry because,

well, you wanted to do things around the house and I was quite happy for you to put

up a few shelves, but I was a bit nervous when you talked about, you know, building

full units and, and making cupboards.

And I thought,

"Oh, this is just going to end up being an expensive hobby and a bit of a mess."

But actually, I underestimated you and you've done some amazing

things around the house and the house looks so much better for it.

Apart from the holes in the wall that still need completing.

But you have, that's a really useful skill to pick up actually.

And a great cost saver, right?

And I tell you what, I could start hiring you out to the

local community, as a carpenter.

That could also be quite useful.

Some other words that we might use when talking about New Year

and New Year's resolutions.

Well, I think if you're giving up a habit, then you know, you might not use

these words, but certainly if you're starting a habit, then you might be

optimistic or ambitious about what it might do to your life in the future.

What does it mean to be optimistic?

So, optimistic means to have a positive outlook about the future, to think really

positively about the changes it's going to make or how successful you might be.

So, if I were to start a podcast like this one, if I were to start a podcast and it's

something completely new, I've never done it before, but I feel quite positive about

my chances of success, then I'm quite optimistic about the the podcast, right?

Yes.

And if you thought that it was going to make you the most successful, or

your ambition with the podcast would be to be the most successful English

teacher in the world, then you would say that you're also ambitious.

Okay.

So, to be ambitious is to have strong ambitions, to have strong

desires to achieve something.

And you could refer to someone as being overly ambitious or too ambitious if

you think that their goals are quite difficult or unlikely to be achieved.

But it's good to be ambitious because that makes you work a little

harder for the things that you want.

Yeah, and I think they're interesting words to talk about at the same time

because optimism is more about positivity of good things happening and ambition

is more about success and that the goals that you set for yourselves are high,

lofty ambitions and that you're going to get a lot back out of it, right?

Yeah, so if you are optimistic, then you are positive about your chances.

If you're ambitious, then you have a strong desire to achieve those things.

Yeah, and be successful.

Because you can be optimistic and not actually work very

hard to achieve your goals.

You're just like, I would call that kind of person a dreamer, like,

"Oh yeah, I started a new podcast.

I don't really put out any episodes or tell anyone about it, but I

think it will be successful."

That is an optimistic person, maybe too optimistic, but an ambitious person is

someone who really desires that success and they'll work hard to achieve it.

So, when talking about our goals, we might set and measure milestones.

What is a milestone, Nick?

So, a milestone is similar to a goal, but a goal tends to be referring to the

end outcome and a milestone tends to be referring to points along the way.

So, if I wanted to achieve a hundred thousand downloads of

my podcast, that is my goal.

And maybe significant points along that way, like my first thousand

downloads would be a milestone.

Is that right?

Yeah, I think so, I think so.

Or you could say that you wanted to have a very successful podcast and your

milestones would be putting out your first one, having your first a thousand

downloads, getting to 10,000 having an amazing, articulate and charismatic

co-host join you, do collaborations — you know, these are all milestones, right?

The things that you would set in, in your plan to get to the point

where you would define your success has determined by your goal.

The host that I use to host the podcast, the software that allows

me to put this podcast out, actually gives me milestone celebration emails.

So, when I upload a certain number of episodes, I get a little badge

emailed to me saying, "Congratulations, you've hit 50 episodes."

And then at certain number of downloads as well, I get these different badges.

Which, you know, it's like, they're not my milestones.

I don't care as much about them as...

It's nice they care though.

It is, it is.

It's nice to be reminded that I'm making progress.

Yeah.

Now, do you know where milestone, the word milestone came from?

Go on, enlighten me.

So, a long time ago — I don't know when it first started — but

milestones are literal stones that were put each mile along a road.

And so if there was a road from Bristol to London, then they would have had

milestones to help people be aware of their progress over their journey.

Interestingly, they still exist.

They exist as modern milestones on motorways.

Yeah.

So, when you're driving along a motorway in the UK, they've got these

little kind of steel sticks with, I think, yellow bands around them,

that are milestones that still exist.

I don't know why anybody would use them.

And the old milestones would say, like, "50 miles to London".

Yes, correct.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you had some idea that you were making progress.

And I think that's what milestones are there for, to remind you that although

you might be losing sight of your goal and wondering why you're working so hard,

it says, "Look, you're making progress.

Keep going."

It's kind of a way to egg you on, isn't it?

Yeah.

It'll remind you how far you've got to go.

And the milestones still litter, the old ones still litter the UK landscape.

So you find them every now and again around.

Yeah.

So the last two words that we want to introduce are pointless.

What's pointless?

If something is pointless, then it has...

No point!

No point!

Point being reason.

Yeah.

So, if something is pointless then it's reasonless.

Can you give me an example of something?

An activity that would be pointless.

So, for example, if you were making a podcast.

Mm-hmm.

Putting your makeup on.

Yes.

Might be a bit pointless.

Yes, because no one sees your face.

Yeah.

Unless you're trying to charm your co-hosts.

Or , unless you have a...

I hope you're enjoying mine.

...a reflective microphone and you can see yourself in the microphone.

You're like,

"Oh, that's a bit scary.

I put a bit of makeup on that."

Yeah.

So, something that doesn't help you to achieve your goal, I would say.

It's pointless, like worrying about things sometimes, or most of the

time worrying can be pointless.

Yeah.

Worrying is a bit of an iceberg, isn't it?

Yeah it can make you, more stressed and not think about things clearly

and can make other people around you feel quite stressed and then it can

make the environment quite unpleasant.

So, that, that could be deemed as pointless.

In some cases, worrying is quite important.

Well, in some cases, worrying is counterproductive.

Yes, yes.

But we try and not make pointless resolutions.

Some people do, don't they, make pointless resolutions?

They might make them just to make themselves feel better.

When I was younger, I had a collection.

I collected bus tickets.

That sounds pretty pointless.

That was completely pointless.

I had bags and bags of bus tickets.

And I think the reason I was collecting them was because I used to be a fan of a

morning TV programme that was on at seven in the morning called The Big Breakfast.

Do you remember The Big Breakfast?

I do remember The Big Breakfast.

With Gaby Roslin and Chris Evans.

And Johnny Vaughan.

Johnny Vaughan.

Yeah, I think he was a little after I was watching it regularly, but they had

a section in that program about like pointless collections and people would be

featured with their pointless collections.

And I thought,

"I'd love to be on The Big Breakfast.

I must start a pointless collection."

Sounds very like you.

We spend a lot of effort doing something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But opposite to pointless would be worthwhile.

If something is worthwhile, then it's something that's worth doing.

There's a good reason you have a good outcome for when you're doing it.

Yes, I agree.

And one of the hardest things to do is to determine the difference between things

that are pointless and worthwhile when they might both look like good ideas.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What's the most worthwhile thing you've done recently that you can think of?

Had two wonderful children.

Yes, certainly wasn't pointless.

It's tiring, but they are worthwhile.

Yes.

Once we can get them making a cup of tea in the morning, that

will be absolutely fantastic.

That's very optimistic.

Yeah, I would say our participation in the recent nutritional study.

We both took part in a nutritional study lately where we kind of

measured our own food responses.

So, how our body reacts to the foods that we eat in our day-to-day diet.

And that's taught us both quite a lot.

And we're still on this journey of adjusting our intake of food

and trying to restrict alcohol.

And I think that's been a very worthwhile activity because it's got a

very valuable outcome, which is better health, more energy, better moods, and

hopefully we'll live a lot longer and have a longer health span at least.

And, you know, again, this is something that's super interesting

because if you did the study and you changed nothing about your

life, would it have been worthwhile or would it have been pointless?

Well, it would have been pointless, I guess.

Pointless doing the study, right?

Because there's no point in learning something unless you're going to

put that learning into action.

And there you go, that brings us all the way back round to

setting New Year's resolutions.

Yeah, there's no point in doing it unless you're going to follow through with it.

Yeah, be consistent, take the right actions, set the goals, have milestones,

follow through and make the changes that you desire to see in your life.

And try to enjoy the journey.

It's something that I say to the people who enrol on my Fluency Programme is,

you know, it shouldn't be all hard work.

It should be fun and you have to make it a part of your daily life, which is

why we really encourage community and we encourage people to get involved with our

Telegram app and it becomes much more of a social, enjoyable learning experience.

And yeah, participation is such a key element in learning a language,

getting the practice that you need.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Nick.

And, uh...

You're very welcome.

I wish you all the best for 2024 and for everybody listening, I do hope that this

year is your year to make a positive impact on your life and your learning.

If you want to get involved with the things that we do over at English

Like a Native, then click on the link in the description to find out

more about our Fluency Programme and other services we provide.

Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.

Goodbye.