I Cracked Up: Idioms and Phrases┃Learn American English Pronunciation On the Go

Rachel: Welcome  

to the Rachel's English podcast.  I'm here with my husband David.

David: Hey, everybody.

Rachel: And this is a conversational podcast,  

where we've come up with some questions that we're going to ask each other to start conversation to  

get the conversation going. And then, we're going to try really hard to pay attention to  

phrasal verbs or idioms or interesting vocabulary words that come up naturally, when we're naturally  

speaking real American English. And we'll stop and discuss those so that you have a better  

understanding for some of these things. If you'd like a copy of the transcript for this podcast,  

it's absolutely free to download.  Just visit rachelsenglish.com/podcast,  

and search for this episode. Okay, David.  I have a good question to start off with.

David: Okay.

Rachel: Describe a recent situation that made you  

crack up laughing. So, actually, in the question there, there's a phrasal verb, to crack up.

David: Oh,  

yeah. That's a good one. To crack  up means to laugh really hard.

Rachel: Oh, it's the best kind of laughing.

David: Yes. So,  

just like your belly hurts  afterwards from laughing so hard.

Rachel: So, when’s a time recently that you've cracked up?

David: Yeah. So,  

I recently cracked up laughing one of the nights that we were hanging out with your mom’s side  

of the family up in Michigan, at, at, um, at  camp, and we were playing cards that one night.

Rachel: Was this in our cabin?

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: And we just—Uncle Frank was really  

cracking me up. He just, he was in a great mood. Everybody was just really enjoying playing cards,  

and there was some, some friendly trash  talking going on, and everybody was just  

having a great time. Oh, trash talking.

David: Oh, yeah. That's a good one.

Rachel: What, what is that? What does that mean?

David: Trash  

talking is sort of boasting a  little bit. Playfully boasting.

Rachel: When you're in a competition, right?

David: Yeah. Yeah,  

like, oh, yeah, we're definitely going to  beat you guys, because we're, you know,  

obviously, you know, you guys aren't  as good as us, so we'll probably win.

Rachel: Yeah. So,  

we were playing cards. There  were two different teams.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: So, there was  

a little bit of friendly trash  talking going on between the teams.

David: Yeah. Some banter and back  

and forth. That was a great  night. That was really fun.

Rachel: That was  

really fun. Was that our last night there?

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: Yeah. Some family had left, and it was a  

smaller group, and, uh, we just had a blast. What's it mean to have a blast?

David: Oh, right. That means to have such a good time.

Rachel: Yeah. A great time. We had a blast.

David: So,  

what would you say a recent time  where you cracked up laughing?

Rachel: Okay. Well, I hope this doesn't seem too  

gross for the podcast, but, um, a couple months ago now, I think, remember we were in Stoney’s  

room and we were just hanging out? Hanging out means not doing anything in particular. Just  

spending time together. And, you know, the, one of the great things about babies is, they don’t  

know embarrassment yet. They don’t know shame. They don’t know feeling bad about themselves.

David: Right.

Rachel: That's awesome. I love that.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: So, when Stony farts, he just farts, you know, and  

he doesn't apologize. He doesn't think it's weird. It doesn't make him laugh. It's just normal being.

David: Right.

Rachel: And he decided he had to fart,  

and he did this thing where he, like,  shifted all of weight over to, like,  

lift his butt up off the ground, did this  huge fart, and then kind of goes, ah, when  

he’s done and then settles back down and just carries on totally normally. And, you know,  

as an adult, we've, at this point, been  conditioned to be very embarrassed by farts.

David: Right.  

And so, it was just funny  seeing somebody just not,  

not have that social conditioning in place yet.

David: And we were  

both in the room at the same time, and  we just, we definitely both cracked up.

Rachel: We cracked up,  

and I think I was like, that's probably  the best fart I'll ever see in my life. Oh,  

goodness. I hope he doesn't listen  to this and feel embarrassed.

David: All right. So, I have a question for you.  

When have you felt uncomfortable because of your insufficient language skills in another country?

Rachel: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Well, I have a feeling  

I'm going to feel that way in a few weeks, when we're in Italy, but that's in the future. Let's  

talk past. Okay, the Dominican Republic. I studied there for three months when I was in college, and  

I had taken Spanish before, but it just was not adequate. It was not good enough for conversation.  

Definitely knew some vocabulary, definitely could say some things and could understand some things,  

but that does not make a conversation. You have to really be able to roll with what  

comes at you in a conversation. You never know the direction a conversation is going to go,  

so you have to have more than just a few lines of a language under your belt. I just used two  

idioms there. I said, roll with. You have  to roll with conversation. And that means,  

you have to just, whatever comes at you, you have to be able to accept it and move forward.

David: Go with the momentum of the conversation.

Rachel: Yeah, right. So, if you're going to be  

able to roll with conversation, then you need to be able to speak about lots of different topics.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: And the  

other thing I said is, you have to have more  than just a couple phrases under your belt.

David: Right.  

So, when you have something under your  belt, that means, what does that mean?

David: You've mastered it.

Rachel: Yeah. Mastered it. Gotten good at it.

David: I have no idea where that comes from.

Rachel: No, I don’t know,  

either. But you have to have  a whole lot of phrases under  

your belt in order to be able to have any  kind of conversation in another language.

David: Right.

Rachel: And I just  

had just a couple phrases under my belt.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: B-E-L-T.  

Belt. I'm saying that with a stop T, so it  might not be too clear. Under your belt.

David: Okay,  

but what about that made you feel uncomfortable?

Rachel: Oh, okay. Well,  

I mean, it was just a little embarrassing.

David: But, I mean, can you describe it? Because I  

think a lot of Rachel's English fans and students feel this. So, I'm curious how it felt for you.

Rachel: Well, embarrassing is a feeling word, right?

David: Mm-hmm.  

That's one of the things that felt was  embarrassing. It felt a little disappointing,  

too. I felt like a little bit it was a lost  opportunity. You know, if I had studied more  

ahead of time, then I could have made more of that, those three months, because it's not  

like I was going to go back and study a second time. You know, so, I felt like I didn't make  

the most of the opportunity by preparing as much as I could have. So, when you don’t make  

the most of an opportunity, it means you don’t exploit everything that's good about something.

David: Maximize.

Rachel: Yeah,  

and a lot of people, this can be used  in the positive or in the negative.

David: Mm-hmm. Right.

Rachel: So, it could be,  

wow, she really made the most of that opportunity. Like, if you go to a networking event. Let's say  

I went to a networking event and I passed out my cards to a whole bunch of people. I had some  

really good conversations that could potentially, you know, move my business forward. I might say,  

oh, I just feel like I really made the  most of that opportunity. It was great.

David: Right.

Rachel: What about you, David?

David: Well, first, you used the phrase move it forward.

Rachel: Oh, I did. I don’t even remember using it.

David: Move your business forward.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: So, to move something forward,  

um, yeah. You're using, uh,  is it an idiom? Or just a—  

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: Yeah. Just say  

that you want to take it a step further  to, to advance—the example you used,  

to advance your business prospects. So, you can use that phrase in a lot of different ways.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: You can move a relationship forward. You can—

Rachel: Yeah. So, these are not things that you physically  

move, but the idea of moving something forward means taking it to the next level of advancement.

David: Yeah. I want to move my career forward.

Rachel: Right. I want to move my—

David: So, I'm going to go do this additional training.

Rachel: Right.  

I want to move this relationship  forward. I'm ready to get engaged.

David: Mm-hmm. Right.

Rachel: Something like that. Yeah,  

good. Thanks for catching that. David, what about a time when you felt uncomfortable  

because of your insufficient  language skills in another country?

David: Sure, yeah. The one that you described, of course,  

resonated for me, too. Um, but, but also I thought about traveling in Ethiopia. Uh, one of my very  

good friends, uh, was born in Ethiopia, and I had the opportunity to travel there with him after  

college. It was an amazing trip, but I was relying 100% on his Amharic. I didn't know—I knew how to  

say hello, and a, a very few basic things. Do you remember how to say hello?

David: Uh, well, there's a couple different ways.

Rachel: Well, I want to hear one.

David: I mean, like a formal,  

a formal way is [Ethiopian 00:08:33].

Rachel: That's nice.

David: Thanks. Uh,  

and you would say [Ethiopian 00:08:38].

Rachel: Oh. What would I say?

David: [Ethiopian 00:08:41]

Rachel: [Ethiopian 00:08:43]. Okay. We'll  

have to have our Ethiopian students out there let us know how we're doing with our pronunciation.

David: Yeah,  

that's true. Please give us some feedback. Um, but I was aware of how, or, or, it was uncomfortable  

to be completely unable to communicate for myself. It was a real, a helplessness in that, and a,  

um, like you said, a real longing for, man,  I'm missing all these opportunities. We got  

to meet lots of his extended family, and  I would have loved to have been able to  

engage people in conversation directly and  hear more about their story and hear more  

about their relationship with him. So, it  was a real, you said, missed opportunity.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: And I feel that, too.  

Yeah. One, one thing that I was thinking about was, you know, the lost opportunity of exchanging  

ideas. When you have two people with brilliant minds who know so much on the same topic but  

don’t speak the same native language, just, the missed opportunity there for ideas to develop and,  

and continue. And, you know, I guess that's  where translators and interpreters come in,  

but, oh, wouldn't it be amazing if there  was some universal language that we all  

spoken in addition to our native language  that removed a lot of those barriers?

David: It’d be a different world.

Rachel: Yes, it would.

David: Okay. I have a totally random question.

Rachel: Okay.

David: What's your second favorite color, and why?

Rachel: Second favorite?

David: It's so  

common for people, especially you ask kids, so,  

what's your favorite color? And so, everybody knows right away what their favorite color is.

Rachel: Yes. I know mine.

David: What is it?

Rachel: Green.

David: What's your second favorite?

Rachel: Well, I don’t know.  

David: Oh.

Rachel: I'll have  

to think about it. Like you said,  everyone knows their first one off  

the top of their head. Wait. What  does off the top of their head mean?

David: Oh,  

good one. That means the first  thing that comes to your mind.

Rachel: Yeah. Without needing to think.

David: Your instantaneous response.

Rachel: So, off the top of my head,  

green is definitely my favorite color,  because it's the color of trees and grass.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Leaves.

David: So, you  

just assumed I was going to  ask about your favorite color.

Rachel: Well, I,  

I, I've not been prepared for a question  like, what is your second favorite color?

David: You were caught off guard.

Rachel: I'm caught off guard.  

What does that mean? I'm unprepared. I got asked a question I wasn't expecting to get asked. Okay,  

while I think about my mine, what's your second favorite—well, first, what's your favorite color?

David: Do you  

know? Blue.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Yeah, okay.

David: That's my favorite.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. And why?

David: Oh, I don't know. Because, uh, it's the best.

Rachel: I think you  

need a better reason than that.  I came up with leaves and grass.

David: Okay.  

It's the color of the ocean.  Water. It's where we're from.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: Second favorite is orange,  

I realized. I had time to prepare,  because I knew I was going to ask  

you that. But orange. So bright and  warm and just such a vibrant color.

Rachel: Vibrant, like the sun.

David: Sun, yes.

Rachel: Um, do you remember my orange platform shoes?

David: Yeah.  

I need to wear those more.

David: You do. They're awesome.

Rachel: I have these shoes that, there's like,  

they're on maybe a two- or three-inch platform. Probably three. And they're this really bright  

color that hunters wear, a very bright orange. I don't know. Would you call that hunting orange?

David: Or fluorescent, almost?

Rachel: Yeah. Anyway, they're so fun.

David: Yeah. Orange is great.

Rachel: But they're hard to walk in.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: There's always that. Okay.

David: Also, isn't fall your favorite season?

Rachel: It is.

David: Mine,  

too, and the, like, the leaves are often  orange. There's a lot of orange during fall.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: As the leaves change.

That's true. That's true. So,  maybe orange should be my second,  

because green is my first because it's the color of grass and leaves, but leaves also turn orange.

David: Oh, campaigning hard for orange.

Rachel: All right. Just  

for lack of a better answer right  now, I'm going to go with orange.

David: Yes.

Rachel: What does that mean,  

for lack of a better? That kind of  means, this maybe isn't the best,  

but we're not going to keep  thinking about it right now.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: For lack  

of a better idea. For lack of a  better answer. Let's just do this.

David: Also, though, it can be used when you just  

can't find the exact right words to say what you mean, but you want to convey some sense of what  

you mean. So, you say, for lack of a better way to say it, and then you describe it as best you can.

Rachel: Right.

David: So, you've sort  

of given the listener a heads-up that  this is not exactly what I want to say,  

but it's so important that I at  least want to get as close as I can.

Rachel: Right. You know that  

it's not perfect, but rather than spending more time on it, you'll settle on this other thing.

David: Right.

Rachel: For lack of a better word.  

David: Right.

Rachel: Yeah. Okay. So, for lack of a better idea,  

orange. If I think hard and I come up with a  better second favorite color, I will let you know.

David: Please do. You won't.

Rachel: I know. Just  

because I'm not going to put any time  into it, not because it's not possible  

for a color to be better than orange. Okay,  David. Describe a recent meal that you loved.

David: Oh, you know that I love to eat, and I love food.

Rachel: I know. I love how David has this thing that he  

does with his hand when he's eating that's like, it's resting on the table in a particular way,  

and his, his, uh, pointer finger, which is the  finger next to your thumb, is touching his thumb  

in a particular way. And when he's sitting there like that, I know he's really enjoying his meal.

David: Wow. I'll have to watch for that.

Rachel: Yeah. I'll point it out next time.

David: Okay.

Rachel: To point  

something out means to draw  attention to something.

David: That might have been missed.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.  

Mm-hmm. Yeah. A recent meal—do you remember,  

uh, maybe a month ago or six weeks—it was the last time that we were in New York, actually.  

We're getting ready to go again. And we were with Annie, and we had that great day in the park.

Rachel: That was fun.

David: We didn't know  

if she was even in town, and then  she was in town. And she was free.  

She came and met us in the park and we  hung out all afternoon. And then, we did,  

um, you know, a rather extensive online search to try to find exactly what kind of dinner we wanted.

Rachel: We were so particular.

David: Outside.

Rachel: Yeah, outside.

David: What kind of—because  

it was a beautiful evening. And then, we found that place that looked nondescript from the front.

Rachel: What does  

that mean? Looked nondescript? Like nothing special, right? Nothing out of the ordinary.

David: Right. It looked ordinary. There  

wasn't a lot that you would describe to someone. It just kind of looked like an average restaurant.

Rachel: Plain.

David: Uh, but they had this back patio  

that was like a total, uh, a retreat. I mean,  it was gorgeous back there. There were plants.

Rachel: Beautiful flowers.  

There was a breeze. Uh, it was just, it  was stunning, and we had that awesome food.

Rachel: Yeah. Remember,  

we ended up ordering so much more  food than we needed, because—

David: Oh, we were so amped.

Rachel: We wanted to try all these different things.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: It was Vietnamese.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: And it was just to die for.

David: It was great.

Rachel: Wait. What’s that mean, to die for?

David: I guess it just—the implication is,  

it's so good that you would die for it. So, it's a play on that, to say, it's just incredible.

Rachel: Very, very good food.

David: I also said amped.

Rachel: Oh,  

you did. Yeah. We were amped.

Rachel: We were amped.  

We ordered too much food. What  does that mean, to be amped?

David: Excited, right? Excited and—

Rachel: Mm-hmm. So,  

we were excited that we had  found such a wonderful space.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: We were amped,  

and we ended up ordering  more food than we could eat.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Knowing us, we probably ate it, though.

David: Pretty  

sure. All right. So, what would you  say a recent meal that you loved?

Rachel: Oh, this one’s  

easy. My parents recently celebrated  their 50th wedding anniversary,  

and I threw a party for them. You  were there. I'm sure you remember.

David: I do.

Rachel: Yeah. So, it was—

David: I do.

Rachel: I do. That's the phrase you say  

when you're marrying someone. Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Often. It's  

often part of your vows. So, anyway, it was their 50th wedding anniversary. How, how great is that,  

to have both lived that long? So, there's a, we were up in Michigan with a whole bunch of family,  

and there was a public park there that was right along a beautiful lake that my family likes to  

spend time at every year. So, I had ordered some catering food to pick up from a grocery store,  

and I had ordered some decorations ahead of time, and I just had this idea in my head of  

how it should look. And it ended up looking that way, and I was so happy. I hung this banner and,  

you know, it was a beautiful evening. It was a long, slow sunset, and it wasn't too windy.  

I blew up these gold balloons that I hung  all over the place. And the food was great,  

and just everything went exactly how I wanted to. Everything went off without a hitch.

David: Came off  

without a hitch. Went off without a hitch. Yeah.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: So, what, where does that come from?

Rachel: I don't know. That means there  

were no mistakes. Everything went perfectly, just as I had wanted, just as I had planned. Um, there  

was like just, just enough food. Just enough to drink. You know, the, we brought some photos of my  

parents on their wedding day to have on the table. They were really cute, and yeah. So, I just—

David: It looked like it  

might rain, and then it cleared off.

Rachel: It did. For a second, it looked  

like it might rain, and it didn't. And so, I just  felt like everything came together so perfectly.  

I was so happy with it, and, um, you know, being around all of the family just made it a very warm  

experience. So, I was so happy with that. I'm, I think I'll probably always remember that evening.

David: Absolutely.

Rachel: David, name a guilty pleasure. First,  

we have to define guilty pleasure. Yeah, I suppose so.

Rachel: Which we've  

already done on, on another podcast, but for people who may not have heard every episode.

David: Something that really makes you happy,  

even though you kind of know it shouldn't. Like, it's maybe kind of bad for you or frowned upon.

Rachel: But you love it.

David: But you love it. It really makes you happy.

Rachel: For example, I think a lot of  

people might talk about, like, trash TV. TV that's not very critically acclaimed, that's just sort of  

like mindless babble, but you like it. Trash TV. You might say, my guilty pleasure is trash TV.

David: It sounds like you  

might be speaking from personal experience?

Rachel: No. Uh-uh.

David: Not at all.

Rachel: No, not at all.

David: That certainly isn't one of yours?

Rachel: No. I don’t  

actually like trash TV. I  don’t find it interesting.

David: All right. Well, the first thing that comes  

to mind for guilty pleasures is Doritos. I love Doritos.

David: Me, too, as you know.

Rachel: What's your flavor?

David: So, the original.

Rachel: So, like are you saying—

David: Nacho cheese.

Rachel: That's your only guilty pleasure?  

Or—would you ever stray from nacho cheese? Like, if I said, David, go buy four bags of Doritos,  

would they all be nacho cheese? Or would  you let one of them be something else?

David: No, the cool ranch Doritos are a  

good second option, and then, you know, I've been curious. I've experimented with the new flavors.

Rachel: Yeah. What was  

the one you got recently, when we were  traveling this summer? What was that?

David: That was something like  

Doritos Jacked or some extra flavors.  It was like lime and habanero.

Rachel: Okay,  

yeah. Habanero, I think, is  what it was. Spicy. Was it good?

David: Yeah. They're good,  

but when I'm craving that, my guilty pleasure is that original nacho cheese Doritos. So good.  

Really, so good. I could eat a  whole bag of those right now,  

but I won't. For me, my guilty  pleasure, I would say, is, well,  

first, let me just pedal back for a  second. Pedal backwards. That means—

David: Backpedal.

Rachel: Oh, you can say pedal backwards.

David: Yeah?

Rachel: Oh, maybe not.

David: It's riffing on a common—

Rachel: On a common, common idiom. So, you're saying—

David: Let me backpedal for a second.

Rachel: Let me backpedal.  

Let me pedal backwards. Let me back up.

David: Let me back up.

Rachel: Yeah. So, this means I'm about the say something,  

but I need to give more context to it. So, I'm going to go back a little bit. I'm going to go  

back and give some context to my guilty pleasure. Before David and I got married, when I was living  

on my own, I used to stay up really late and  get up really late, and I just set my own hours,  

my own schedule. I'm a night owl, so that's what I would do. A night owl is someone who prefers to  

be up late. An early bird is someone who prefers to go to bed early so they can wake up early. So,  

sometimes we categorize people on those two different ways. Are you a night owl or an  

early bird? And I'm definitely a night owl. So, I used to stay up really late. So, when  

David and I got married, well, he had a normal job that meant he had to leave the house at 7:00 every  

morning. So, he couldn't be a night owl, because he had to get up so early. So, I started, like,  

living on his schedule. So hard. But as soon as he would leave town, I would immediately go back  

to my guilty pleasure of staying up super late, eating junk food at like 3:00 a.m. I would like  

order pizza. Binge watch TV. When you  binge watch something, that means—we  

do this with episodes of a show. That means you watch a whole bunch of episodes in a row.

David: Which is kind of a new thing.

Rachel: Yeah, right.

David: In the past,  

shows were just released one at a time.

Rachel: On TV.

David: Each week. Yeah, on TV.

Rachel: And now,  

with the Internet, they'll release a  whole season or a whole series at once,  

so you can binge watch all week. You  can watch like 10 years’ worth of shows.

David: Right.

Rachel: So, that's my guilty pleasure,  

is staying up super late, eating junk food  and binge watching TV. But not trash TV.

David: Okay. So, you're going to differentiate.

Rachel: Just good TV.

David: I see. Fair enough.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: Fair enough.  

Rachel: Fair enough.  

Okay. That's something that you say when  you're kind of mildly arguing with somebody,  

or you're disagreeing with somebody,  and then you accept what they've said.

David: Right. I guess, yeah.

Rachel: It's like, yeah.

David: A polite way to say,  

okay. Yeah, you're right. Fair enough.

Rachel: I see your point. You win. David,  

can you name a role model from when you  were young? First, what is a role model?

David: Right. Role model.  

Someone that you look up to, someone who, I guess someone who you want to your model yourself after.

Rachel: Yeah. Someone  

you admire. Look up. When you look  up to somebody, well, that can mean  

literally you're tilting your head back  and looking up into the sky. But if you—

David: Well,  

or you're a kid tilting your head back to look at an adult. Maybe that's where it comes from.

Rachel: Maybe, but  

when we use it figuratively, if you look  up to somebody, you admire that person.

David: Right.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: Right. Uh,  

one of the people for me was my soccer  coach. I had the same soccer coach from age,  

oh, man—I think like age 12 to 17, because his son was my age.  

Rachel: Okay.

David: And so, he just kept being the coach  

of the team. And, um, he was a great role model in terms of family and his commitment to his family.  

I obviously learned a lot about soccer from him, but he was just a really, a really great person.

Rachel: Um, what—okay,  

aside from being a good soccer  playing and like having good family,  

was there anything else more specific about his personality that you admired? A way of being?

David: Yeah, well,  

yeah. He was, he was fun-loving and he joked with us a lot, and, um, you know, he would, he would,  

we would do drills and sometimes he would get in the drills with us and he would just  

shove us around and have fun with us. Uh, he was just really engaging and, um, loved to have fun.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: Awesome.  

Fun-loving. Someone who loves to have fun.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: That's a good personality trait.

David: I agree.  

What would you say? Who was one of  your role models when you were young?

Rachel: You know, I feel like this is a sort of typical  

question that you get asked, like, if you're  a kid or on a college essay or something. This  

seems like a sort of typical question. Name a role model. It could even be a job interview, maybe.  

I just feel like I have a hard time answering  it. Maybe I'm just putting too much weight on  

what a role model, you know, like, is there any one single person who’s greatly influenced me?  

David: You just used put too much weight on.

Rachel: Yeah. That  

means count it too much. Make it more  important than it actually is. I mean,  

obviously, you know, my parents influenced who I am more than anyone, probably.

David: Mm-hmm. That's fair to have it be your parents.

Rachel: But, I mean, I don't know.  

That’s just, that seems like a copout. Copout means not trying hard, giving an easy answer.

David: Yeah. Taking an easy way out.

Rachel: Yeah. So,  

I don't know. I mean, I can honestly say I  don't know how to answer this question. If  

someone asked me this in a job interview, I  would be in trouble. I mean, I would have to  

make up some answer that wouldn't be from the heart and probably wouldn't be that convincing. 

And then, that person wouldn't hire me because I hadn’t given a good performance in my interview.

David: Good thing you work for yourself.

Rachel: Yeah. I'm not going to ask myself that  

question. It's funny, though. What, what's up with me that I feel like I can't come up with a good  

answer for that? The phrase what's up with blank can be used very generically. What's up with this  

new trend in—I can't think of a new trend. Or, what's up with that new restaurant that includes  

tip in the prices? What's up with City Bike? How’s that thing work?

David: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Rachel: So, saying what's up with blank  

is like saying, I don’t understand how this works. I don’t understand what they're trying to do, etc.

David: Yeah.  

Rachel: What's up with me,  

that I can't come up with a role model,  David? Jump into my mind and figure me out.

David: At the very least,  

you had some aunts and uncles  who were incredibly informative.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: Is that a copout, too, you think?

Rachel: Maybe.

David: You also had this really close  

group—your parents had this really close group of, group of friends that you saw all the time.

Rachel: That's true.

David: Were any  

of those adults people that you looked up to?

Rachel: Yeah. I still  

wouldn't use the word role model, but I'm  just going to, I'm just going to chalk that  

up to my mind not being able to fully  commit to the idea of a role model.

David: All right. Fine.

Rachel: What do I mean when I say—

David: You're going to chalk that up.

Rachel: When you chalk  

something up. I'm going to  chalk something up to something.

David: I'm going to attribute that to—  

Rachel: Yeah. Attribute it to.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Chalk it up.  

That's an interesting idiom. Chalk it up.  Wrap it up. Wrap it up means to conclude,  

and that's what we're going to do with this  podcast. We're going to wrap it up. David,  

thanks for being here and participating in  this conversation and finding all of these  

interesting ways we use language  without even thinking about it.

David: Thanks for having me. This was great.

Rachel: Again, if you  

would like a free copy of the transcript to this  episode, just visit rachelsenglish.com/podcast,  

and look for this episode. Thank you  so much for listening to this podcast,  

for joining me on this language journey.  I would love to have you subscribe,  

so please do so if you haven’t already. You can do that on iTunes or Stitcher. And please leave  

a review on one of those places, too. I read all of them, and I love to hear what people think of  

the Rachel's English podcast. That's it this week from Philadelphia. We'll see you next week, guys.

David: See you later, guys.