How do we REALLY express DISGUST in English!? ADVANCED VOCABULARY LESSON!

(gentle music)

- Hello everyone and welcome back to "English with Lucy."

Today I've got a disgusting video.

No, I'm joking.

I haven't got a disgusting video, hopefully.

We are going to talk about

how to express disgust in English.

Now, I had an idea for this video recently

because I was talking to a friend

and she felt like the English equivalent

for (speaks in foreign language) in Spanish,

it wasn't strong enough, it wasn't good enough.

She wanted better ways of expressing

that she hated something, that she finds it repulsive.

And it's true, I do find the Spanish phrase

for how disgusting to be much more expressive.

So today I'm going to talk to you through everything.

I'm going to talk you through the noise that we make

when we find something disgusting

in British culture and American culture,

the word that we use to say that something's really awful,

and also all of the other synonyms and other words

that can be used that are slightly less common.

And we're also going to talk about

the idioms that we can use

to say that something is disgusting,

that we really dislike something.

And I've also included a little bit of slang as well,

in case you want that, too.

So this video is perfect for improving your vocabulary,

but if you want to improve your pronunciation

and your listening skills even further,

I highly recommend the special method

of combining reading books

with listening to their audiobook counterparts on Audible.

It sounds a bit weird but let me explain

because it really does work.

Take a book that you have already read in English

or a book that you would like to read in English,

I've got loads of recommendations down below

in the description box,

and read that book whilst listening

to the audiobook version.

Reading alone will not help you with your pronunciation.

English is not a strictly phonetic language.

The way that a word is spelled

is probably not going to give you much indication

as to how it's pronounced.

If you listen to a word as you read it,

your brain will start making connections.

And the next time you see that word,

you'll know how it's pronounced.

And the next time that you hear that word,

you'll know how it's spelled or written.

It is such an effective method,

and the best part is you can get one free audiobook

as a 30-day free trial on Audible

by clicking on the link down the below

in the description box and signing up.

Then you can download one of my recommendations.

Give it a try 'cause it really does work.

Right, let's get on with the vocab lesson.

Okay, firstly, let's talk about the sound that we make

when we are disgusted.

I have noticed that different cultures

and different languages make different sounds,

so I do invite you to write the sound,

or at least attempt to write the sound

that you make in your culture when something is disgusting.

That's quite a hard challenge so, (laughs)

I don't blame you if you find it difficult.

What we say is yuck,

or eughh in British English as well,

or eughh, eughh. (laughs)

In American English,

they are also really inclined to say ew, ew,

sometimes followed by gross. (laughs)

And because we have a lot of American movies and TV shows

in the UK,

now our children are starting to say ew, gross, and gross.

In fact, I remember saying it as a child

and my mom was saying, "Don't say that, say yuck.

"You're British!"

When we in the UK see something disgusting,

we're likely to say, if we don't make the noise,

we could say, how disgusting.

But it does seem like a lot of syllables

to say something in a short space of time.

How disgusting. (laugh)

It sounds quite formal.

So we'd also say, that's horrible, or, oh that's awful.

Americans would just say, gross.

Some other vocabulary.

We have rancid.

Rancid.

Rancid is often used for mouldy food

or out-of-date milk, things like that.

Repulsive.

Repulsive.

Repugnant.

Repugnant.

So those last two, repulsive and repugnant,

are often used to describe

very unattractive, offensive things.

Gruesome.

Gruesome.

Gruesome, you'll often hear it to describe lots of blood,

maybe a murder scene or a gruesome horror movie.

Nauseating.

Nauseating.

To feel nauseous means that you want to be sick, to vomit.

You might not want to physically vomit,

but you feel the inclination to vomit.

Nauseating is the adjective to describe this.

A nauseating film, a film that made me want to be sick.

Loathsome.

To loathe something is quite an emphatic way of saying

to hate something.

So something is loathsome, it is odious.

I hate it. (laughs)

Vile and vulgar, this means very unpleasant.

It's often used to describe bad language.

If somebody is swearing a lot, you might say,

"Stop using such vile language, stop being so vulgar."

One that my grandmother loves to use is ghastly, ghastly.

This just means awful, terrible.

If somebody is wearing a terrible outfit, you might say,

"Ah she looks ghastly."

Don't ever say that to someone's face because

that's mean. (laughs)

A couple of slang words now that you can use,

and the first one is rank, rank. (laughs)

I have a feeling that this is a very British one.

I remember it becoming popular in middle school,

so 15 years ago.

If something is rank,

it's just really unpleasant and disgusting.

Ugh, your salad looks rank. (laughs)

It's very slang.

Another one is very childish, it's icky.

Ugh, that's icky, yucky, icky.

They're both very childish words.

And the last one, the last slang word is vom-worthy.

Vom is obviously short for vomit,

and worthy means is deserving of vomit, vom-worthy.

That film was vom-worthy, I just wanted to throw up.

Right, now we're going to talk

about eight idioms that express disgust.

They can also touch on fear and kind of mistrust as well.

Often those emotions are quite closely linked.

So number one is to make one's skin crawl.

To make your skin crawl.

Brr, you all know the feeling, don't you?

It's usually used to describe a person

that makes you feel disgusted, frightened, or unnerved.

For example, that PE teacher

who used to watch us get changed

really made my skin crawl. (laughs)

It's so sad that we've all had creepy teacher experiences.

I've had far too many. (laughs)

And it wasn't just to me,

it was just to all the girls in the school.

There were really some people

that shouldn't have been teaching,

but that's a story for another day.

Number two is to make one's stomach turn.

If something makes your stomach turn,

it makes you want to be sick.

It's that instant feeling where your whole stomach shifts

when you see something disgusting.

I can't eat mushrooms, they make my stomach turn.

That's totally not true, I love mushrooms.

But my brother-in-law-to-be hates mushrooms

and he would actually be sick.

They make his stomach turn.

Number three is to give someone the heebie-jeebies.

I love this.

I think it's also referred to as the creeps as well,

that's maybe more American.

Ugh he gives me the heebie-jeebies,

he makes me feel frightened, unnerved, and scared,

and disgusted. (laughs)

It's very, very similar to make my skin crawl.

It's describing that same feeling.

It doesn't necessarily have to be used

to describe people, though.

For example, this abandoned warehouse

gives me the heebie-jeebies, it gives me the creeps.

Number four is to make someone shudder.

To make someone shudder.

To shudder is to ugh shake and shiver out of disgust.

Ugh. (laughs)

For example, the thought of eating that mouldy chicken

makes me shudder, argh.

Number five is to be unable to stand the sight of.

To be unable to stand the sight of.

Commonly said as, ugh I can't stand the sight of.

It means you can't bear to look at something,

even looking at it is too disgusting for you.

For example, I can't stand the sight of spiders.

It's all those little spindlerly legs.

Joking, I love spiders.

I was just thinking of something

that people are commonly disgusted by.

Because I don't think people are scared of spiders

as they are disgusted.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Are you scared of a little tiny spider,

or are you disgusted by it?

'Cause I can understand disgust,

but fear, fear for a little tiny spider?

Unless you live in Australia,

then that's fine, you can be scared. (chuckles)

Number six is to have no stomach for.

To have no stomach for.

Or to not be able to stomach, to not be able to stomach.

I can't stomach X.

If I eat X, then I will be sick.

For example, again, not true, I love this food,

I can't stomach blue cheese,

I've got no stomach for blue cheese.

It's the mould,

I swear the blue bits in it are mould. (laughs)

Number seven is to break out in a cold sweat,

or to break someone out in a cold sweat.

Again, this can refer to making someone feel scared

or to making someone feel disgusted.

For example, ugh, the thought of staying

in a two-start hotel makes me break out in a cold sweat,

it makes me feel so disgusted that I sweat. (laughs)

And the last one, number eight,

is to make one's blood run cold.

To make one's blood run cold.

This, again, is maybe leaning slightly more

to feeling frightened.

I just think to feel scared and feel disgusted

can be so close.

You would use this phrase to describe someone

that you really don't trust.

You're scared of them, disgusted by them,

and you don't trust them.

For example, that weird lady down the road

makes my blood run cold, I don't trust her.

I don't think she's up to any good.

Right, that's it for today's disgusting video.

Your homework for today,

apart from describing the noise that you make

in your culture and language when something is disgusting,

is to write something that disgusts you

using some of the vocabulary

that we've discussed in this lesson.

Discussed, disgust, yes, they sound the same.

They are homophones. (laughs).

Don't forget to check out Audible.

The link to sign up is in the description box

so you can get your free audiobook and 30-day free trial,

and there are loads of recommendations

for both books and audiobooks.

And don't forget to connect with me

on all of my social media.

I've got my Facebook, I've got my Instagram,

and I've got my Twitter, and I've got my personal channel

where I talk about lifestyle

and anything I want to talk about.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

Mwah!

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