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

6,824 views ・ 2025-03-15

Rachel's English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:01
Rachel: Welcome  
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to the Rachel's English podcast.  I'm here with my husband David.
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David: Hey, everybody.
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Rachel: And this is a conversational podcast,  
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where we've come up with some questions that we're going to ask each other to start conversation to  
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get the conversation going. And then, we're going to try really hard to pay attention to  
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phrasal verbs or idioms or interesting vocabulary words that come up naturally, when we're naturally  
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speaking real American English. And we'll stop and discuss those so that you have a better  
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understanding for some of these things. If you'd like a copy of the transcript for this podcast,  
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it's absolutely free to download.  Just visit rachelsenglish.com/podcast,  
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and search for this episode. Okay, David.  I have a good question to start off with.
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David: Okay.
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Rachel: Describe a recent situation that made you  
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crack up laughing. So, actually, in the question there, there's a phrasal verb, to crack up.
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David: Oh,  
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yeah. That's a good one. To crack  up means to laugh really hard.
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Rachel: Oh, it's the best kind of laughing.
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David: Yes. So,  
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just like your belly hurts  afterwards from laughing so hard.
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Rachel: So, when’s a time recently that you've cracked up?
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David: Yeah. So,  
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I recently cracked up laughing one of the nights that we were hanging out with your mom’s side  
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of the family up in Michigan, at, at, um, at  camp, and we were playing cards that one night.
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Rachel: Was this in our cabin?
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: And we just—Uncle Frank was really  
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cracking me up. He just, he was in a great mood. Everybody was just really enjoying playing cards,  
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and there was some, some friendly trash  talking going on, and everybody was just  
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having a great time. Oh, trash talking.
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David: Oh, yeah. That's a good one.
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Rachel: What, what is that? What does that mean?
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David: Trash  
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talking is sort of boasting a  little bit. Playfully boasting.
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Rachel: When you're in a competition, right?
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David: Yeah. Yeah,  
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like, oh, yeah, we're definitely going to  beat you guys, because we're, you know,  
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obviously, you know, you guys aren't  as good as us, so we'll probably win.
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Rachel: Yeah. So,  
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we were playing cards. There  were two different teams.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: So, there was  
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a little bit of friendly trash  talking going on between the teams.
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David: Yeah. Some banter and back  
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and forth. That was a great  night. That was really fun.
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Rachel: That was  
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really fun. Was that our last night there?
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: Yeah. Some family had left, and it was a  
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smaller group, and, uh, we just had a blast. What's it mean to have a blast?
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David: Oh, right. That means to have such a good time.
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Rachel: Yeah. A great time. We had a blast.
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David: So,  
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what would you say a recent time  where you cracked up laughing?
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Rachel: Okay. Well, I hope this doesn't seem too  
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gross for the podcast, but, um, a couple months ago now, I think, remember we were in Stoney’s  
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room and we were just hanging out? Hanging out means not doing anything in particular. Just  
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spending time together. And, you know, the, one of the great things about babies is, they don’t  
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know embarrassment yet. They don’t know shame. They don’t know feeling bad about themselves.
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David: Right.
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Rachel: That's awesome. I love that.
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David: Mm-hmm.
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Rachel: So, when Stony farts, he just farts, you know, and  
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he doesn't apologize. He doesn't think it's weird. It doesn't make him laugh. It's just normal being.
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David: Right.
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Rachel: And he decided he had to fart,  
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and he did this thing where he, like,  shifted all of weight over to, like,  
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lift his butt up off the ground, did this  huge fart, and then kind of goes, ah, when  
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he’s done and then settles back down and just carries on totally normally. And, you know,  
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as an adult, we've, at this point, been  conditioned to be very embarrassed by farts.
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David: Right.  
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And so, it was just funny  seeing somebody just not,  
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not have that social conditioning in place yet.
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David: And we were  
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both in the room at the same time, and  we just, we definitely both cracked up.
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Rachel: We cracked up,  
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and I think I was like, that's probably  the best fart I'll ever see in my life. Oh,  
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goodness. I hope he doesn't listen  to this and feel embarrassed.
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David: All right. So, I have a question for you.  
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When have you felt uncomfortable because of your insufficient language skills in another country?
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Rachel: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Well, I have a feeling  
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I'm going to feel that way in a few weeks, when we're in Italy, but that's in the future. Let's  
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talk past. Okay, the Dominican Republic. I studied there for three months when I was in college, and  
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I had taken Spanish before, but it just was not adequate. It was not good enough for conversation.  
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Definitely knew some vocabulary, definitely could say some things and could understand some things,  
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but that does not make a conversation. You have to really be able to roll with what  
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comes at you in a conversation. You never know the direction a conversation is going to go,  
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so you have to have more than just a few lines of a language under your belt. I just used two  
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idioms there. I said, roll with. You have  to roll with conversation. And that means,  
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you have to just, whatever comes at you, you have to be able to accept it and move forward.
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David: Go with the momentum of the conversation.
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Rachel: Yeah, right. So, if you're going to be  
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able to roll with conversation, then you need to be able to speak about lots of different topics.
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David: Mm-hmm.
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Rachel: And the  
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other thing I said is, you have to have more  than just a couple phrases under your belt.
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David: Right.  
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So, when you have something under your  belt, that means, what does that mean?
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David: You've mastered it.
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Rachel: Yeah. Mastered it. Gotten good at it.
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David: I have no idea where that comes from.
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Rachel: No, I don’t know,  
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either. But you have to have  a whole lot of phrases under  
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your belt in order to be able to have any  kind of conversation in another language.
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David: Right.
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05:27
Rachel: And I just  
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had just a couple phrases under my belt.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: B-E-L-T.  
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Belt. I'm saying that with a stop T, so it  might not be too clear. Under your belt.
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David: Okay,  
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but what about that made you feel uncomfortable?
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Rachel: Oh, okay. Well,  
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I mean, it was just a little embarrassing.
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David: But, I mean, can you describe it? Because I  
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think a lot of Rachel's English fans and students feel this. So, I'm curious how it felt for you.
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Rachel: Well, embarrassing is a feeling word, right?
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David: Mm-hmm.  
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That's one of the things that felt was  embarrassing. It felt a little disappointing,  
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too. I felt like a little bit it was a lost  opportunity. You know, if I had studied more  
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ahead of time, then I could have made more of that, those three months, because it's not  
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like I was going to go back and study a second time. You know, so, I felt like I didn't make  
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the most of the opportunity by preparing as much as I could have. So, when you don’t make  
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the most of an opportunity, it means you don’t exploit everything that's good about something.
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David: Maximize.
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Rachel: Yeah,  
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and a lot of people, this can be used  in the positive or in the negative.
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David: Mm-hmm. Right.
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Rachel: So, it could be,  
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wow, she really made the most of that opportunity. Like, if you go to a networking event. Let's say  
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I went to a networking event and I passed out my cards to a whole bunch of people. I had some  
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really good conversations that could potentially, you know, move my business forward. I might say,  
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oh, I just feel like I really made the  most of that opportunity. It was great.
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David: Right.
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Rachel: What about you, David?
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David: Well, first, you used the phrase move it forward.
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Rachel: Oh, I did. I don’t even remember using it.
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David: Move your business forward.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: So, to move something forward,  
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um, yeah. You're using, uh,  is it an idiom? Or just a—  
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Rachel: Mm-hmm.
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David: Yeah. Just say  
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that you want to take it a step further  to, to advance—the example you used,  
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to advance your business prospects. So, you can use that phrase in a lot of different ways.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: You can move a relationship forward. You can—
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Rachel: Yeah. So, these are not things that you physically  
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move, but the idea of moving something forward means taking it to the next level of advancement.
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David: Yeah. I want to move my career forward.
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Rachel: Right. I want to move my—
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David: So, I'm going to go do this additional training.
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Rachel: Right.  
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I want to move this relationship  forward. I'm ready to get engaged.
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David: Mm-hmm. Right.
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Rachel: Something like that. Yeah,  
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good. Thanks for catching that. David, what about a time when you felt uncomfortable  
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because of your insufficient  language skills in another country?
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David: Sure, yeah. The one that you described, of course,  
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resonated for me, too. Um, but, but also I thought about traveling in Ethiopia. Uh, one of my very  
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good friends, uh, was born in Ethiopia, and I had the opportunity to travel there with him after  
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college. It was an amazing trip, but I was relying 100% on his Amharic. I didn't know—I knew how to  
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say hello, and a, a very few basic things. Do you remember how to say hello?
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David: Uh, well, there's a couple different ways.
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Rachel: Well, I want to hear one.
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David: I mean, like a formal,  
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a formal way is [Ethiopian 00:08:33].
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Rachel: That's nice.
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David: Thanks. Uh,  
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and you would say [Ethiopian 00:08:38].
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Rachel: Oh. What would I say?
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David: [Ethiopian 00:08:41]
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Rachel: [Ethiopian 00:08:43]. Okay. We'll  
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have to have our Ethiopian students out there let us know how we're doing with our pronunciation.
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David: Yeah,  
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that's true. Please give us some feedback. Um, but I was aware of how, or, or, it was uncomfortable  
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to be completely unable to communicate for myself. It was a real, a helplessness in that, and a,  
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um, like you said, a real longing for, man,  I'm missing all these opportunities. We got  
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to meet lots of his extended family, and  I would have loved to have been able to  
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engage people in conversation directly and  hear more about their story and hear more  
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about their relationship with him. So, it  was a real, you said, missed opportunity.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: And I feel that, too.  
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Yeah. One, one thing that I was thinking about was, you know, the lost opportunity of exchanging  
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ideas. When you have two people with brilliant minds who know so much on the same topic but  
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don’t speak the same native language, just, the missed opportunity there for ideas to develop and,  
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and continue. And, you know, I guess that's  where translators and interpreters come in,  
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but, oh, wouldn't it be amazing if there  was some universal language that we all  
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spoken in addition to our native language  that removed a lot of those barriers?
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David: It’d be a different world.
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Rachel: Yes, it would.
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David: Okay. I have a totally random question.
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Rachel: Okay.
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David: What's your second favorite color, and why?
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Rachel: Second favorite?
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David: It's so  
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common for people, especially you ask kids, so,  
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what's your favorite color? And so, everybody knows right away what their favorite color is.
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Rachel: Yes. I know mine.
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David: What is it?
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Rachel: Green.
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David: What's your second favorite?
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Rachel: Well, I don’t know.  
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David: Oh.
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Rachel: I'll have  
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to think about it. Like you said,  everyone knows their first one off  
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the top of their head. Wait. What  does off the top of their head mean?
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David: Oh,  
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good one. That means the first  thing that comes to your mind.
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Rachel: Yeah. Without needing to think.
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David: Your instantaneous response.
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Rachel: So, off the top of my head,  
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green is definitely my favorite color,  because it's the color of trees and grass.
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David: Mm-hmm.
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Rachel: Leaves.
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David: So, you  
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just assumed I was going to  ask about your favorite color.
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Rachel: Well, I,  
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I, I've not been prepared for a question  like, what is your second favorite color?
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David: You were caught off guard.
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Rachel: I'm caught off guard.  
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What does that mean? I'm unprepared. I got asked a question I wasn't expecting to get asked. Okay,  
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while I think about my mine, what's your second favorite—well, first, what's your favorite color?
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David: Do you  
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know? Blue.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: Yeah, okay.
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David: That's my favorite.
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Rachel: Mm-hmm. And why?
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David: Oh, I don't know. Because, uh, it's the best.
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Rachel: I think you  
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need a better reason than that.  I came up with leaves and grass.
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David: Okay.  
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It's the color of the ocean.  Water. It's where we're from.
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Rachel: Mm-hmm.
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David: Second favorite is orange,  
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I realized. I had time to prepare,  because I knew I was going to ask  
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you that. But orange. So bright and  warm and just such a vibrant color.
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Rachel: Vibrant, like the sun.
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David: Sun, yes.
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Rachel: Um, do you remember my orange platform shoes?
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David: Yeah.  
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I need to wear those more.
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David: You do. They're awesome.
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Rachel: I have these shoes that, there's like,  
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they're on maybe a two- or three-inch platform. Probably three. And they're this really bright  
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color that hunters wear, a very bright orange. I don't know. Would you call that hunting orange?
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David: Or fluorescent, almost?
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Rachel: Yeah. Anyway, they're so fun.
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David: Yeah. Orange is great.
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Rachel: But they're hard to walk in.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: There's always that. Okay.
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David: Also, isn't fall your favorite season?
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Rachel: It is.
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David: Mine,  
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too, and the, like, the leaves are often  orange. There's a lot of orange during fall.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: As the leaves change.
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That's true. That's true. So,  maybe orange should be my second,  
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because green is my first because it's the color of grass and leaves, but leaves also turn orange.
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David: Oh, campaigning hard for orange.
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Rachel: All right. Just  
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for lack of a better answer right  now, I'm going to go with orange.
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David: Yes.
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Rachel: What does that mean,  
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for lack of a better? That kind of  means, this maybe isn't the best,  
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but we're not going to keep  thinking about it right now.
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David: Mm-hmm.
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Rachel: For lack  
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of a better idea. For lack of a  better answer. Let's just do this.
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David: Also, though, it can be used when you just  
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can't find the exact right words to say what you mean, but you want to convey some sense of what  
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you mean. So, you say, for lack of a better way to say it, and then you describe it as best you can.
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Rachel: Right.
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David: So, you've sort  
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of given the listener a heads-up that  this is not exactly what I want to say,  
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but it's so important that I at  least want to get as close as I can.
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Rachel: Right. You know that  
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it's not perfect, but rather than spending more time on it, you'll settle on this other thing.
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David: Right.
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Rachel: For lack of a better word.  
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David: Right.
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Rachel: Yeah. Okay. So, for lack of a better idea,  
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orange. If I think hard and I come up with a  better second favorite color, I will let you know.
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David: Please do. You won't.
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Rachel: I know. Just  
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because I'm not going to put any time  into it, not because it's not possible  
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for a color to be better than orange. Okay,  David. Describe a recent meal that you loved.
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David: Oh, you know that I love to eat, and I love food.
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Rachel: I know. I love how David has this thing that he  
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does with his hand when he's eating that's like, it's resting on the table in a particular way,  
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and his, his, uh, pointer finger, which is the  finger next to your thumb, is touching his thumb  
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in a particular way. And when he's sitting there like that, I know he's really enjoying his meal.
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David: Wow. I'll have to watch for that.
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Rachel: Yeah. I'll point it out next time.
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David: Okay.
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Rachel: To point  
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something out means to draw  attention to something.
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David: That might have been missed.
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Rachel: Mm-hmm.  
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Mm-hmm. Yeah. A recent meal—do you remember,  
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uh, maybe a month ago or six weeks—it was the last time that we were in New York, actually.  
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We're getting ready to go again. And we were with Annie, and we had that great day in the park.
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Rachel: That was fun.
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David: We didn't know  
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if she was even in town, and then  she was in town. And she was free.  
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She came and met us in the park and we  hung out all afternoon. And then, we did,  
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um, you know, a rather extensive online search to try to find exactly what kind of dinner we wanted.
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Rachel: We were so particular.
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David: Outside.
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Rachel: Yeah, outside.
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David: What kind of—because  
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it was a beautiful evening. And then, we found that place that looked nondescript from the front.
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Rachel: What does  
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that mean? Looked nondescript? Like nothing special, right? Nothing out of the ordinary.
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David: Right. It looked ordinary. There  
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wasn't a lot that you would describe to someone. It just kind of looked like an average restaurant.
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Rachel: Plain.
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David: Uh, but they had this back patio  
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that was like a total, uh, a retreat. I mean,  it was gorgeous back there. There were plants.
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Rachel: Beautiful flowers.  
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There was a breeze. Uh, it was just, it  was stunning, and we had that awesome food.
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Rachel: Yeah. Remember,  
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we ended up ordering so much more  food than we needed, because—
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David: Oh, we were so amped.
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Rachel: We wanted to try all these different things.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: It was Vietnamese.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: And it was just to die for.
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David: It was great.
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Rachel: Wait. What’s that mean, to die for?
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David: I guess it just—the implication is,  
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it's so good that you would die for it. So, it's a play on that, to say, it's just incredible.
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Rachel: Very, very good food.
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David: I also said amped.
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Rachel: Oh,  
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you did. Yeah. We were amped.
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Rachel: We were amped.  
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We ordered too much food. What  does that mean, to be amped?
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David: Excited, right? Excited and—
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Rachel: Mm-hmm. So,  
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we were excited that we had  found such a wonderful space.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: We were amped,  
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and we ended up ordering  more food than we could eat.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: Knowing us, we probably ate it, though.
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David: Pretty  
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sure. All right. So, what would you  say a recent meal that you loved?
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Rachel: Oh, this one’s  
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easy. My parents recently celebrated  their 50th wedding anniversary,  
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and I threw a party for them. You  were there. I'm sure you remember.
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David: I do.
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Rachel: Yeah. So, it was—
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David: I do.
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Rachel: I do. That's the phrase you say  
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when you're marrying someone. Mm-hmm.
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Rachel: Often. It's  
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often part of your vows. So, anyway, it was their 50th wedding anniversary. How, how great is that,  
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to have both lived that long? So, there's a, we were up in Michigan with a whole bunch of family,  
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and there was a public park there that was right along a beautiful lake that my family likes to  
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spend time at every year. So, I had ordered some catering food to pick up from a grocery store,  
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and I had ordered some decorations ahead of time, and I just had this idea in my head of  
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how it should look. And it ended up looking that way, and I was so happy. I hung this banner and,  
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you know, it was a beautiful evening. It was a long, slow sunset, and it wasn't too windy.  
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I blew up these gold balloons that I hung  all over the place. And the food was great,  
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and just everything went exactly how I wanted to. Everything went off without a hitch.
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David: Came off  
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without a hitch. Went off without a hitch. Yeah.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: So, what, where does that come from?
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Rachel: I don't know. That means there  
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were no mistakes. Everything went perfectly, just as I had wanted, just as I had planned. Um, there  
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was like just, just enough food. Just enough to drink. You know, the, we brought some photos of my  
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parents on their wedding day to have on the table. They were really cute, and yeah. So, I just—
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David: It looked like it  
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might rain, and then it cleared off.
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Rachel: It did. For a second, it looked  
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like it might rain, and it didn't. And so, I just  felt like everything came together so perfectly.  
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I was so happy with it, and, um, you know, being around all of the family just made it a very warm  
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experience. So, I was so happy with that. I'm, I think I'll probably always remember that evening.
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David: Absolutely.
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Rachel: David, name a guilty pleasure. First,  
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we have to define guilty pleasure. Yeah, I suppose so.
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Rachel: Which we've  
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already done on, on another podcast, but for people who may not have heard every episode.
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David: Something that really makes you happy,  
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even though you kind of know it shouldn't. Like, it's maybe kind of bad for you or frowned upon.
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Rachel: But you love it.
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David: But you love it. It really makes you happy.
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Rachel: For example, I think a lot of  
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people might talk about, like, trash TV. TV that's not very critically acclaimed, that's just sort of  
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like mindless babble, but you like it. Trash TV. You might say, my guilty pleasure is trash TV.
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David: It sounds like you  
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might be speaking from personal experience?
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Rachel: No. Uh-uh.
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David: Not at all.
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Rachel: No, not at all.
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David: That certainly isn't one of yours?
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Rachel: No. I don’t  
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actually like trash TV. I  don’t find it interesting.
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David: All right. Well, the first thing that comes  
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to mind for guilty pleasures is Doritos. I love Doritos.
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David: Me, too, as you know.
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Rachel: What's your flavor?
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David: So, the original.
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Rachel: So, like are you saying—
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David: Nacho cheese.
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Rachel: That's your only guilty pleasure?  
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Or—would you ever stray from nacho cheese? Like, if I said, David, go buy four bags of Doritos,  
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would they all be nacho cheese? Or would  you let one of them be something else?
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David: No, the cool ranch Doritos are a  
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good second option, and then, you know, I've been curious. I've experimented with the new flavors.
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Rachel: Yeah. What was  
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the one you got recently, when we were  traveling this summer? What was that?
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David: That was something like  
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Doritos Jacked or some extra flavors.  It was like lime and habanero.
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Rachel: Okay,  
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yeah. Habanero, I think, is  what it was. Spicy. Was it good?
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David: Yeah. They're good,  
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but when I'm craving that, my guilty pleasure is that original nacho cheese Doritos. So good.  
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Really, so good. I could eat a  whole bag of those right now,  
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but I won't. For me, my guilty  pleasure, I would say, is, well,  
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first, let me just pedal back for a  second. Pedal backwards. That means—
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David: Backpedal.
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Rachel: Oh, you can say pedal backwards.
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David: Yeah?
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Rachel: Oh, maybe not.
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David: It's riffing on a common—
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Rachel: On a common, common idiom. So, you're saying—
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David: Let me backpedal for a second.
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Rachel: Let me backpedal.  
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Let me pedal backwards. Let me back up.
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David: Let me back up.
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Rachel: Yeah. So, this means I'm about the say something,  
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20:34
but I need to give more context to it. So, I'm going to go back a little bit. I'm going to go  
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back and give some context to my guilty pleasure. Before David and I got married, when I was living  
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on my own, I used to stay up really late and  get up really late, and I just set my own hours,  
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my own schedule. I'm a night owl, so that's what I would do. A night owl is someone who prefers to  
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be up late. An early bird is someone who prefers to go to bed early so they can wake up early. So,  
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sometimes we categorize people on those two different ways. Are you a night owl or an  
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early bird? And I'm definitely a night owl. So, I used to stay up really late. So, when  
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David and I got married, well, he had a normal job that meant he had to leave the house at 7:00 every  
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morning. So, he couldn't be a night owl, because he had to get up so early. So, I started, like,  
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21:23
living on his schedule. So hard. But as soon as he would leave town, I would immediately go back  
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21:30
to my guilty pleasure of staying up super late, eating junk food at like 3:00 a.m. I would like  
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order pizza. Binge watch TV. When you  binge watch something, that means—we  
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do this with episodes of a show. That means you watch a whole bunch of episodes in a row.
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David: Which is kind of a new thing.
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Rachel: Yeah, right.
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David: In the past,  
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shows were just released one at a time.
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Rachel: On TV.
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David: Each week. Yeah, on TV.
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Rachel: And now,  
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with the Internet, they'll release a  whole season or a whole series at once,  
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so you can binge watch all week. You  can watch like 10 years’ worth of shows.
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David: Right.
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Rachel: So, that's my guilty pleasure,  
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is staying up super late, eating junk food  and binge watching TV. But not trash TV.
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David: Okay. So, you're going to differentiate.
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Rachel: Just good TV.
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David: I see. Fair enough.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: Fair enough.  
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Rachel: Fair enough.  
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Okay. That's something that you say when  you're kind of mildly arguing with somebody,  
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or you're disagreeing with somebody,  and then you accept what they've said.
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David: Right. I guess, yeah.
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Rachel: It's like, yeah.
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David: A polite way to say,  
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okay. Yeah, you're right. Fair enough.
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Rachel: I see your point. You win. David,  
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can you name a role model from when you  were young? First, what is a role model?
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David: Right. Role model.  
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Someone that you look up to, someone who, I guess someone who you want to your model yourself after.
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Rachel: Yeah. Someone  
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you admire. Look up. When you look  up to somebody, well, that can mean  
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literally you're tilting your head back  and looking up into the sky. But if you—
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David: Well,  
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or you're a kid tilting your head back to look at an adult. Maybe that's where it comes from.
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Rachel: Maybe, but  
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when we use it figuratively, if you look  up to somebody, you admire that person.
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David: Right.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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23:09
David: Right. Uh,  
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one of the people for me was my soccer  coach. I had the same soccer coach from age,  
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oh, man—I think like age 12 to 17, because his son was my age.  
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Rachel: Okay.
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David: And so, he just kept being the coach  
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of the team. And, um, he was a great role model in terms of family and his commitment to his family.  
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I obviously learned a lot about soccer from him, but he was just a really, a really great person.
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Rachel: Um, what—okay,  
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aside from being a good soccer  playing and like having good family,  
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was there anything else more specific about his personality that you admired? A way of being?
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David: Yeah, well,  
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yeah. He was, he was fun-loving and he joked with us a lot, and, um, you know, he would, he would,  
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we would do drills and sometimes he would get in the drills with us and he would just  
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shove us around and have fun with us. Uh, he was just really engaging and, um, loved to have fun.
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Rachel: Mm-hmm.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: Awesome.  
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Fun-loving. Someone who loves to have fun.
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David: Yeah.
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Rachel: That's a good personality trait.
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David: I agree.  
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What would you say? Who was one of  your role models when you were young?
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Rachel: You know, I feel like this is a sort of typical  
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question that you get asked, like, if you're  a kid or on a college essay or something. This  
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seems like a sort of typical question. Name a role model. It could even be a job interview, maybe.  
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I just feel like I have a hard time answering  it. Maybe I'm just putting too much weight on  
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what a role model, you know, like, is there any one single person who’s greatly influenced me?  
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David: You just used put too much weight on.
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Rachel: Yeah. That  
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means count it too much. Make it more  important than it actually is. I mean,  
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obviously, you know, my parents influenced who I am more than anyone, probably.
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David: Mm-hmm. That's fair to have it be your parents.
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Rachel: But, I mean, I don't know.  
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That’s just, that seems like a copout. Copout means not trying hard, giving an easy answer.
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David: Yeah. Taking an easy way out.
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Rachel: Yeah. So,  
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I don't know. I mean, I can honestly say I  don't know how to answer this question. If  
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someone asked me this in a job interview, I  would be in trouble. I mean, I would have to  
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make up some answer that wouldn't be from the heart and probably wouldn't be that convincing. 
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And then, that person wouldn't hire me because I hadn’t given a good performance in my interview.
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David: Good thing you work for yourself.
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Rachel: Yeah. I'm not going to ask myself that  
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question. It's funny, though. What, what's up with me that I feel like I can't come up with a good  
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answer for that? The phrase what's up with blank can be used very generically. What's up with this  
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new trend in—I can't think of a new trend. Or, what's up with that new restaurant that includes  
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tip in the prices? What's up with City Bike? How’s that thing work?
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David: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
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Rachel: So, saying what's up with blank  
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is like saying, I don’t understand how this works. I don’t understand what they're trying to do, etc.
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David: Yeah.  
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Rachel: What's up with me,  
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that I can't come up with a role model,  David? Jump into my mind and figure me out.
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David: At the very least,  
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you had some aunts and uncles  who were incredibly informative.
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Rachel: Yeah.
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David: Is that a copout, too, you think?
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Rachel: Maybe.
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David: You also had this really close  
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group—your parents had this really close group of, group of friends that you saw all the time.
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Rachel: That's true.
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David: Were any  
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of those adults people that you looked up to?
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Rachel: Yeah. I still  
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wouldn't use the word role model, but I'm  just going to, I'm just going to chalk that  
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up to my mind not being able to fully  commit to the idea of a role model.
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David: All right. Fine.
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Rachel: What do I mean when I say—
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David: You're going to chalk that up.
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Rachel: When you chalk  
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something up. I'm going to  chalk something up to something.
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David: I'm going to attribute that to—  
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Rachel: Yeah. Attribute it to.
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David: Mm-hmm.
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Rachel: Mm-hmm. Chalk it up.  
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That's an interesting idiom. Chalk it up.  Wrap it up. Wrap it up means to conclude,  
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and that's what we're going to do with this  podcast. We're going to wrap it up. David,  
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thanks for being here and participating in  this conversation and finding all of these  
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interesting ways we use language  without even thinking about it.
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David: Thanks for having me. This was great.
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Rachel: Again, if you  
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would like a free copy of the transcript to this  episode, just visit rachelsenglish.com/podcast,  
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and look for this episode. Thank you  so much for listening to this podcast,  
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for joining me on this language journey.  I would love to have you subscribe,  
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so please do so if you haven’t already. You can do that on iTunes or Stitcher. And please leave  
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a review on one of those places, too. I read all of them, and I love to hear what people think of  
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the Rachel's English podcast. That's it this week from Philadelphia. We'll see you next week, guys.
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David: See you later, guys.
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