Free English Class! 🗨️🗣️🗫 Topic: Talking About Other People (Lesson Only)

Well hello and welcome to this English lesson where I'm going

to talk about how to talk about other people or more

specifically I'm going to talk about the types of ways you can

talk about other people. I think you'll get a good

understanding as we get into the lesson. Um there are

obviously a lot of ways to have a conversation where you talk

about a different person. And there are many many different

types of conversations like that. Um it might sound like a

random topic. It might sound like a very specific topic. But

all of the 35 or so words actually let me see here. Maybe

30 words are very very common in English. You'll hear these

words on the news. You'll hear these words in conversations.

To gossip. So when you gossip about someone else. It means

you talk about them and you say things about them that might be

true and might not be true. Gossip as a noun is considered

not a very polite thing. When you gossip with someone. Notice

I can say those two people are gossiping. Or that person was

just spreading gossip. I can use it as a verb and then as a

noun. But gossip is when you just simply say did you hear

about Joe? Joe lost his job. Joe was I mean and it makes

sense you know because like I totally don't think he's a good

worker. So when you gossip about someone you talk about

something that's happened in their life. Not with them. So

if we're if we're talking about gossip Joe is over here and

then I'm over here with another person talking about Joe saying

things like oh Joe I'm not surprised Joe lost his job

because last time I worked with Joe he just sat around all the

time. That would be saying mean things about someone or

gossiping. And sometimes people just tell secrets. Um they'll

trust someone So if I was to tell Brent speak English with

this guy. If I was to tell Brent a secret via email. And

then if Brent was to tell everyone in the chat the secret

Brent would be telling a secret. When you tell a secret

or when you reveal a secret of someone it's not a very nice

thing to do. I know a long time ago I told a friend a secret

and I said keep this secret. And then that friend later went

and told the secret to other people. That was not very very

nice. You can talk behind someone's back. This is similar

to gossip but it's a little meaner I think when you talk

behind someone's back it means that they cannot hear the

conversation. It means that you're saying something to

another person and the person you're talking about can't hear

you. That sounded very complicated. If you look at

this picture you can see that there are some people in the

hallway having a conversation. And I'm imagining Talking about

someone in the room and that person in the room can't hear

them. So we would say that they are talking behind that

person's back. Talking behind their back. The opposite of

course would be to say something to someone's face.

Sometimes you're annoyed with someone and so you tell a

friend that you're annoyed with them. But sometimes you're so

annoyed. You just tell them to their face. You go right up to

them and you say Joe you're not a good worker. Or Joe I don't

like working with you. That would be saying something to

someone's face. Or telling them to their face. There's a few

variations on that phrase. So technically this doesn't belong

in this lesson because it's not a way to talk about other

people. It's a way to tell someone directly something that

you don't like about what they're doing or what they have

said. And then of course there's just to lie. When you

lie about someone you say something that isn't true. This

is probably the meanest and most basic form of talking

about another person. If you say let's say Joe is a good

worker. And you work with Joe and you tell someone that Joe

isn't a good worker. You are telling a lie. Not a very kind

or polite thing to do. Uh lying about someone else or making up

something about someone that's another way to say it. It's

just not kind. That's why this megaphone says untruths. So as

he speaks into the megaphone lies are coming out the other

end. To spread rumours. So here's an interesting one

because it's similar to talking behind someone's back. Um it's

similar in a way to gossiping. Um but when you spread rumours

sometimes you say something about someone and you

exaggerate the truth or you tell lies when you spread

rumours. So let's say Joe. Joe's the example for all of

these today. Let's say Joe got home from work really really

late. You could say oh I think Joe was like do something he

wasn't supposed to do. Joe is home late for work. So there's

a little bit of truth there that Joe is home late for work.

But then you might add a lie to it. So you might tell someone

else something about Joe that's true and add a bit of a lie.

But when you spread rumours they're very negative you're

spreading negative things about someone and it's not a very

kind thing to do. To criticize. So when you criticize someone

you can criticize someone in a Like I could talk to someone

and be critical and criticize them. But I could also be

critical of someone when I'm talking about them with a

different person. So I could say to a colleague at work you

know I just don't like the way the boss ran that meeting. I

don't like that the meeting started late. Uh there was no

agenda for the meeting. So I am criticizing my boss as I talk

to a colleague. So again when you criticize it's a way to

yeah it's a way to complain. It's a but I'm going to talk

about complain later. Um but it's a negative conversation

about another person. Uh and then again you can criticize

someone to their face. Okay you can do that as well. To throw

shade. So this is a relatively new term. And this is something

that mostly we hear about celebrities doing. Sometimes a

celebrity will say something about another celebrity. And

it's and it's a very negative thing and we we now call that

throwing shade. I don't want to get into the details but right

now Kanye and Pete Kanye's throwing some shade. Uh at Pete

on Pete. I actually don't know what you would say. But Kanye's

definitely throwing shade right now. If you check the news

there's a little bit of a a Twitter war or an Instagram war

between Kanye and his ex-wife and Pete Davidson. So I'll let

you find the details but to throw shade means it doesn't

have to be a celebrity but we mostly hear this term when you

watch the news about celebrities where a celebrity

will throw shade on another celebrity. So they'll say

something negative or mean or even untrue about a celebrity

that they know. To whisper So you can whisper about someone.

Um usually we hear this term in a negative sense like there

were whispers about this person doing something. And basically

it means that I guess it's similar to talking behind

someone's back. But when you whisper about someone you

you're basically like did you hear about Joe? Joe got home

from work late because he went and he I'm trying to think of

something negative that Joe did. What would be oh yeah. Joe

went to the casino after work and spent all his money. So I

so if you hear two people talking quietly about someone

else we would that they are whispering about them. And to

tell half truths. I mentioned this in the lesson I did on

secrets and lies. A half truth is when you tell something

that's partly true. Uh but maybe you enhance it a little

bit. So if you so maybe Joe someone's stole some money at

work. And if you tell a half truth you would say you know

Joe he's been stealing money for a long time. So you know he

stole money. But you're kind of exaggerating the story. You

don't know if he stole money for a long time but you add a

little bit to the story. Well finally here's a phrase that's

not negative. I wanted to make sure I had a balance of

phrases. So we're going to talk about the phrase to speak

highly of. When you speak highly of someone it means that

you like them and you appreciate what they're doing.

A great example would be this. Speak English with this guy.

His name is Brent. Has a YouTube channel. And I speak

very highly of him when I mention his channel to other

people. Because I think he's doing good work. When you speak

high of someone it means you say very nice things and very

kind things about them. So it's always nice if you know someone

who's a hard worker at work and then when you're having a

conversation and their name comes up then you say nice

things about them we would say that you are speaking highly of

them. To recommend. When you recommend someone it means that

you say they'll be good for a certain thing. Let's use Joe as

an example. Let's say my school needed a new teacher. And I

knew that Joe was a good teacher and he didn't have a

job. I could recommend Joe to my principal. I could go to the

principal and say I have a friend named Joe. He's a really

good teacher and he doesn't have a job right now. So when

you say that someone's good at something. Or when you say that

something they're doing is really good. It it basically

means you're recommending them. So again we'll use Brett's

probably getting tired be talking about his channel. But

speak English with this guy. I highly recommend you visit his

channel at some point. He teaches English like I do. Uh

and he has done a few videos lately where he's on in

different parts of the United States. So I recommend that you

watch them. So that means I like his videos. I like the

work he's doing. And I like it so much. I will tell other

people that they should go watch them. To vouch for. So

here's another way of recommending but it's it really

works yeah it means you're saying you can trust someone if

you vouch for someone it means you know them really really

well okay so in this picture it says Joe Joe is a hard worker

if I worked with Joe for a long time and I knew Joe was a very

good worker and if someone said I'm thinking of hiring Joe is

he a hard worker. I could say yeah I'll vouch for him. I

worked with him for a long time. He's a really really good

worker. So when you vouch for someone it means that you

publicly say or in a conversation you say that you

think that person is good at something okay sometimes my

students will apply for a job and then the company will call

me and say is this student a good worker and then I'll vouch

for them I'll say yes absolutely when I had them in

class they were a hard worker they did a great job. Do trash

talk. I don't know why. This picture cracks me up because

it's a couple of older people. Um but trash talk is when you

say mean things about people. Most of you'll hear trash talk

or trash talk will happen when people are playing sports. If

you watch football or soccer or basketball those are sports

where sometimes the players walk by each other and they'll

say something really mean about them. Like you have a big nose.

Actually they say meaner things than that. But when you trash

talk someone you might say yeah where'd you learn to where'd

you learn to play football from from your I don't know. Anyways

it's when you I'm not good at trash Talk by the way. But when

you trash talk someone you basically are saying mean

things about them. Usually in a sports game. And by the way you

can flip it as well. You can talk trash about someone. Which

I think is a little more general and simply means to say

mean things about someone. So this I picture this as this

this older gentleman is saying mean things about this other

person. I don't know why that made me laugh because I think I

think older people are all really kind and then it just

Kegel. To be a reference. So this is a more formal term and

it's similar to vouching for someone. When you act as a

reference for someone it means that legally I guess legally

definitely formally you are willing to say that person is

good at something or that they're a good person. So

sometimes when people apply for a job they'll say can I will

you be a reference for me? And that means you're allowing them

to put your name on their job application. And then the place

they're applying for the job can call you to see if that

person's a good person. So I this is probably a better

example for when I said sometimes I vouch for students.

Probably a better example would be sometimes a student will ask

if I will be a reference because they're applying for a

job. And then that the place they're applying at someone

will call me and say so Joe your student Joe has applied

for a job and they've listed you as a reference. Would you

be able to tell us a little bit about Joe? And then I would say

Joe's great. Joe's a hard worker etcetera etcetera. Um to

build someone up. When you build someone up it means

usually you tell them directly but you can also tell other

people good things about them. So if I was talking to Joe I

could say Joe you're really good at this job. Joe I saw the

work you did last week and it was awesome. Joe you are doing

a great job. So I can tell Joe directly. But I could also tell

my boss. If I worked with Joe I could go to my boss and say you

know what? I just wanted to put a good in for Joe. He's doing

great work right now. So anytime you say something that

will highlight good work or actions that someone has done

you are building them up. To sabotage. When you sabotage

someone's career or you sabotage someone's work it

means you destroy it by telling lies behind their back. So it's

not a word we use a lot but I did hear this in a movie. Um

and so when you hear the phrase like oh he's out to sabotage

her life. It means that they're going to say they're going to

spread rumours. They're going to tell lies about you. They're

going to do everything they can to make people not like you. So

that's why I put this picture of one person whispering to

another. Like did you hear Joe quit his job again? Joe Joe

quit five jobs in the last five days. He can't keep a job. So

they're trying to sabotage someone's reputation to

sabotage someone's career or to sabotage their life. To rat. So

we've gone over this one already. When you rat on

someone it means you tell someone in authority what they

did. If two of my kids let's say the cookies were gone and I

said to my kids who ate the last cookie and if my one kid

said he did Joe ate it. I don't have a kid named Joe. We would

say that that person has ratted out Joe. Or maybe I'm driving

with one of my kids to school and I say you know the TV broke

the other day do you know what happened? And if they said oh

Joe did it. They would be ratting out Joe. So when you

rat someone out it means you tell someone in authority

something that they did. To give someone up to give someone

up is very similar. Uh when you give someone up it means let's

say Joe and I robbed a bank and we were going to keep it a

secret and then Joe went to the police and said Bob did it. We

would say that he gave gave me up. When you give someone up it

basically means that you've done something illegal or

you've done something wrong. And one person again tells

someone in authority that you've done it. So to rat and

to give someone up are very very very very similar. To stab

someone in the back. So this is a little bit different. This is

when you betray someone or this is when you you and someone

else yeah you have there's trust between two people and

then one of the people goes and does something or tells other

people about something you've done. If you have a secret if

you and a friend had a secret and your friend told the secret

to someone else you could say that they stabbed you in the

back. Okay. So it's a way of betraying some one. It's a way

of breaking the trust between two people. And so we have to

betray. I think I don't know my history very well but I think

Brutus betrayed Caesar. I think that's how it went. So Caesar

trusted Brutus and I think his dying words are like or I don't

know how to say it but when you have trust and when one of

those people does something that causes harm to the other

person or makes them feel at or actually something bad happens

to them we would say that you betrayed them. Never nice to

betray someone. To put someone down. When you put someone down

it means again you're saying mean things about them. So if

Joe was a really hard worker and I was talking to someone

else I could say Joe's not a hard worker. Joe is like he's

the worst worker ever. Um Joe's late for work all the time.

He's always leaving early. He steals stuff from work. So

you're saying you're you're basically saying mean things

about the person. That might be true and might not be true. It

both could happen. And again you can put someone down to

their face as well. Like I could go up to someone and say

mean things about them and we would use the same phrase to

put someone down. To whine. So I think children do this the

most. When you whine about someone it means you complain

about them for a long time. So sometimes after work people

will go to a restaurant. And as they sit around they might

whine about their boss. They might whine about a colleague

that isn't there at the restaurant. So it's basically

very very similar to to complain. And we often use

these two words together. So sometimes People get together

and they have fun but sometimes they whine and complain about

work or they whine and complain about their boss or they whine

and complain about their co-worker. Um so definitely

these two words mean the same thing and they often go

together and yeah it's a lot more fun to go out with people

from work and enjoy yourself. It's not fun to go out and

listen to people whine and complain about everything. So

anyways this you use to talk about a situation or people.

Both will work. To ruin someone's reputation. When you

ruin someone's reputation it means you lie about them or you

reveal a secret that they didn't want revealed. You do

something that makes them this happens a lot with celebrities.

So a celebrity might have done something in the past and when

they when someone reveals that it might they might no longer

be able to work. They won't get hired to make movies. Um this

happens sometimes with teenagers where someone will

make up a story or tell a lie about someone else and tell the

whole school and a person who everyone liked now all of the

sudden students don't like that person because someone ruined

their reputation. Not a kind thing to do at all. Um to

defame and to slander. So when you defame or slander someone

they pretty much mean the same thing. But they have more of a

formal legal definition. So when you let me actually give

you the definition. It's when you say something about someone

Publicly. But you can then they can then take you to court if

you lied. So slander. Um to make false and damaging

statements about someone publicly. And then let's look

for demean or defame sorry. Defame. To damage the good

reputation of someone through slander or liable and to do so

publicly. So again these are more like legal definitions of

saying something about someone. When you spread gossip or when

you spread rumours or when you gossip about someone there's no

legal ramifications. Do you know that word? Like they can't

sue you. But if a newspaper publishes something that's

untrue. Or if something is said publicly that's untrue. Someone

can say no that's slander or you've defamed me and they

might take you to court. And we also have to falsely accuse I

have been guilty of falsely accusing some of my children of

doing certain things. Um sometimes when something

happens like let's say someone broke something in the house.

You might think you which child did it. But if you tell them I

know you did it and they didn't you are falsely accusing

someone. This also happens in the world. Sometimes people

will falsely accuse someone else. They'll tell the police

that someone did something and when it's not true. So not a

nice thing at all. To praise. So you can praise someone to

their face. You can go to someone and say good job. Um

awesome work. Um but you can also pray someone to someone

else. I could say you know Rod the Brazilian English teacher

by the way. Rod the English teacher in the chat. Uh Rod's

really nice guy. Uh he does really good work as well on

YouTube. And he teaches classes. English classes and

he's good at it. I'm giving Rod praise. Um I could do that to

Rod which I've done when I've talked to him. But I can also

do it to someone else. Okay so it's like kind of like

recommending. It's kind of like saying good things about

someone. You can also sing someone's praises. Okay. So

when you sing someone's praises you say a lot of good things

about them. So you might you might talk about them for 10

minutes And the whole time you're talking about them

you're saying good things about them. So a very nice thing to

do. If you know someone who's doing something really good in

the world. You might say you know this person donates a lot

of money. This person we should use Joe. Joe donates a lot. Of

money. Joe volunteers to help out at a soup kitchen to feed

the homeless. Joe is a great person. If I talked about Joe

for 5 minutes or 10 minutes and just continually said good

things I would be singing his praises. To question someone's

authority. So when you question someone's authority it's when

you talk about them and you you're basically saying they

shouldn't be in power anymore. So sometimes at work people

will question the boss's authority. In Government.

People sometimes question someone's authority. Right now

there is a protest in Ottawa and people are questioning

Justin Trudeau's authority. So when you question someone's

authority you ask questions and you talk about them in a way

where you're basically saying they shouldn't be in charge

anymore. Okay this next word this last word please listen

carefully as I explain it. Okay? This is a word that's a

bad word in English. But I'm going to talk about the verb

form of it. Okay? So in English if you call someone if you call

someone a **** that is a bad word. That is not a nice thing

to say. But in the verb form it's kind of an informal slang

and a crude way to talk about complaining. So when you

complain a lot sometimes people will say that you're **** Okay?

Um all Joe does he just **** about work. So again listen

carefully. This is not a word you would use at work. This is

a very informal word. I said it slang. It's it's more informal.

But it's actually more common than you think. Um I actually

have heard this word a few times lately. Um so again when

you call someone the B word that is a bad thing. But when

you use it in this way if you're talking to a friend and

you say you know let's stop **** about And let's talk about

something positive. So again I don't know. Maybe I don't know

if Brent's still here in the chat but I know he has to leave

and teach usually but this is just a very crude informal

slang way to say that you're complaining about something.

There I hope that made sense. Basically what I'm saying is

you'll hear this word but maybe you shouldn't use it. But you

might hear it if you're having a conversation sometime.