11 ENGLISH PHRASES YOU SHOULD NEVER SAY TO A STRANGER

There are 11 English phrases.

You should never say to a stranger.

These phrases are important for you to know as an English learner.

So are you ready?

Well, then I'm teacher Tiffani.

Let's jump right in.

The very first thing you should never say to a stranger is how old are you?

Again, how old are you?

Now, here's the main reason why you should never say this to a stranger.

You see, it is considered impolite, unkind, or rude to

ask a stranger about their age.

Now I want you to pay attention.

Notice that I am emphasizing the.

Asking a stranger, his or her age, you can ask your friend or possibly

an acquaintance, but never ask a stranger their age in English.

This is seemed to be impolite.

Now, as you are on your English journey, you're going to be in many

different situations and sometimes you're going to feel uncomfortable.

Maybe you forget a word, maybe you forget an expression, but I don't want you to

be uncomfortable because you asked the wrong question or said the wrong thing.

So the very first English phrase I need you to remember to never

ask a stranger is how old are you?

You got it.

Excellent.

All right.

The second English phrase you must never say to a stranger is

how How much do you weigh ? Now listen, I'll say it one more time.

How much do you weigh?

Now I'm gonna tell you the reason and then I'm going to go into even more detail.

So this is a personal question that can make people feel.

Uncomfortable.

Now, this lesson is specifically about English phrases and questions.

You should never mention or ask a stranger, but to be very honest, this

one right here, how much do you weigh?

Even if you're close friends, sometimes this is not the best question to ask.

And you might be smiling now, especially if you are a female.

As females, we are a bit more sensitive about our weight.

So we don't talk about our weight as much as say a man

would, and maybe you're a man.

And for you, you're like, Hey, Tiff, I don't care.

I'll tell you my weight.

But we're talking about English phrases.

You never say to a stranger, and this is a question you never ask a stranger.

Again, if you are speaking to a man, let's say you're at a gym, you're working out.

And a guy walks up guys, they're a little bit different when it comes to the weight

question, different, not in a bad way, but meaning that they're not as sensitive.

But the best practice is for you to never ask a stranger how much he or she weighs.

Be very careful.

You got it.

Excellent.

All right, here we go.

Number three, the third phrase.

I never want you to ask.

Or say is how much money do you make again?

How much money do you make?

Now, the reason why you shouldn't ask a stranger, this question is because.

Discussing finances is generally considered inappropriate.

Now there are many unspoken rules in English, right?

And I'll specifically speak about America, right?

In American culture, there are certain things that you might not find in a book.

Right.

Do this, don't do this, or you might not learn in a specific class.

This is one of them.

You don't speak about finances in such detail with a stranger.

Hey, um, how much money do you make a year?

Immediately, this will kind of turn the stranger off in most situations.

You don't talk about finances in this way with a stranger.

So again, we're talking about things you shouldn't say or.

Or ask when you are speaking with a stranger, my goal is to help

you speak English with confidence.

But speaking English with confidence is not just about the words and expressions

or grammar rules that, you know, it's also about understanding the mindset of the

individuals you will be speaking with.

And that includes knowing what to say and what not to say.

You got me excellent.

So again, the third thing, never ask a stranger how much money they make.

You got it.

Excellent.

All right, here's number four, number four.

Now these are phrases and questions.

Why don't you have kids as I'm teaching you this lesson again, I organized and

prepared this lesson for you, but even as I'm teaching it to you, I'm realizing

once again, how important each and every question, each and every phrase I'm

going to teach you is for you to remember why Not to say this one right here.

Why don't you have kids?

This can be, here's the reason this can be a sensitive topic for some people.

And now I'm going to speak to you as a woman, right?

And I know even guys can experience this as well.

There are many couples, many individuals.

Who want to have children.

Maybe they got married 10 years ago and they've been trying, but failure after

failure, miscarriage, which means you lose a baby miscarriage after miscarriage.

So many women are struggling to have children.

Many couples, husbands, and wives want children, but are

not able to have children.

So if you again, innocently ask them, Hey, why don't you have kids?

How do you think they'll feel?

They might not tell you, Oh, we've been struggling for 10 years to have children,

or we've been struggling for the last year to have children, but we lost a child.

They're not going to go into detail, but you asking that question can be considered

insensitive in American culture.

Now, when I lived overseas, this was not the case, right?

People would ask you all the time.

Hey, why don't you have kids?

They'd ask me, I wasn't married or they'd ask other couples.

But again, being American, that question would always kind of catch me off guard.

Why?

Because in American culture, we are very sensitive.

We understand that people have been through things and it's not saying that

people in your culture are not sensitive.

It's just, we are from different backgrounds, right?

That's the beauty of the world, right?

Globalization.

We learn from each other, right?

We learn how we think differently.

Right?

So I want you to please keep this in mind.

Never ask a stranger.

Why don't you have kids?

I literally have friends who have experienced the loss of a child or

who have experienced years of trying.

So be very careful.

Don't ask this question.

You got me.

Excellent.

All right, here we go.

Number five, number five, you look tired.

I'm laughing at the, I'll say it one more time.

You look tired.

Now I'm laughing because again, I have been exposed to many

different cultures, right?

I have lived amongst many different cultures.

Um, even where I am from, there are many different cultures

living together here in America.

So I've heard this, this statement before this phrase has been said to me.

I've heard someone say it to another person.

I've heard someone say it to a person.

They just met a stranger.

Now here's the reason why you should never ever say this to a stranger.

You look tired.

Here's the reason this might imply that they look bad or unwell.

It's like, you're telling the person.

Whoa, Baby, you don't look good today.

Or, Ooh, man, you had a rough night.

How do you think that person will feel?

Oh no.

All of a sudden they'll become more self conscious.

Oh, do I have bags under my eyes?

Oh no.

Did I not put my makeup on right?

For those that wear makeup.

Oh no.

You don't want an individual to be uncomfortable, right?

We're talking about helping you speak English with confidence, right?

Part of that, again, it's not just the words and expressions and

grammar rules, but it's also about understanding the mindset of the

individuals you will be speaking with.

And if you know, saying you look tired to someone will make them feel uncomfortable

or not feel confident in themselves, that's automatically going to affect

your communication with that person.

Your conversation will experience a glitch, right?

Their facial expression will change.

Maybe they'll get irritated.

Maybe they'll think that you're being rude.

So I never want you to say to a stranger.

You look tired.

You got it.

Excellent.

All right, here we go.

Number six, you've put on weight

again, you've put on weight and I'm going to be very vulnerable

and transparent with you.

So this is very true.

Now I'll tell a reason first, and then I'm going to explain something to you.

Commenting on someone's body is considered rude.

Unless it's a compliment.

If you're like, girl, your hair looks good.

Or you say to a guy, man, your haircut.

Yes, you are looking handsome.

That is totally okay.

But when you comment on someone's appearance in a way that is not

flattering, not a compliment that is considered rude.

So I said, I was going to be very transparent and vulnerable with you.

Remember the statement, the phrase we're saying, you should never say to

a stranger is you've put on weight.

So this is actually something that I'm experiencing now in the last two and

a half years, I have put on weight.

Why?

Because I was taking some medicine.

I'm totally okay, but I was taking some medicine and one of the

side effects of the medicine was.

Gaining weight and the weight came on very quickly.

Now I've said before, I have always been an athlete.

My body type naturally is very athletic, an athletic body type, very muscular.

It was very easy for me to build muscle.

But since I started taking the medicine, I started gaining weight,

even though I was eating the same way.

I might've eaten a little bit more, but it was not normal.

So I gained.

Almost 20 pounds.

Now that's a lot to deal with.

So imagine me again, being vulnerable.

I'm trying to deal with this, right?

This weight gain.

I'm not used to it.

My entire life in high school, I was the most athletic in college.

I was the most athletic.

Now I'm dealing with this, right?

Fast forward 20 something years after college.

And now I'm dealing with this.

And if someone walks up to me.

That I first met, right?

One of my students, hi, teacher Tiffani.

Oh, wow.

You've put on weight since I first saw you on YouTube.

How do you think I would feel now?

Again, I've been around many cultures, so I would kind of roll with the punches.

I have, and I'm okay because I can be transparent.

However, if someone's already sensitive about something or thinking about

something and a stranger brings it up, or even someone they know brings it up.

What do you think will happen?

Exactly.

It will make that person feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Remember we're talking about phrases.

You should never say to a stranger.

And the effort is to help you again, speak English fluently by

understanding the mindset of the individual you bill be speaking with.

Make sense.

All right, good.

Now, again, I'm totally okay.

I still work out.

I'm not taking the medicine anymore, so I'm fine.

I wanted to use my situation just to help you understand.

You got it.

All right, here we go.

All right, let's go to number seven, number seven,

asking someone this question.

Are you sick again?

Are you sick?

Now here's the reason why this is a question you shouldn't ask a stranger.

This could be seen as rude or intrusive.

Now, let me break this down a little bit more, right?

Because you may be wondering, well, Tiff, if they look sick, I

really actually care about them.

I want to know if they're sick.

Now, if someone is coughing and their nose is running and their eyes are

bloodshot, that's more obvious, right?

But you have to be very, very careful because someone might not be sick.

I will give you this advice.

It's better to let the person tell you what's going on than for you to guess.

Right?

Remember we're talking about things you shouldn't take to a stranger.

Say to a stranger, we're not talking about close friends.

We're not talking about family members or friends of friends, right?

We're talking about strangers.

Makes sense.

All right, good.

So don't ask them, Hey, are you sick?

This kind of goes back to an earlier phrase.

We talked about where you would ask someone like, man, are you tired?

You look tired, same level.

All right, so let's move on now to number eight, number eight.

You're too skinny again, you're too skinny again, a phrase you

should never say to a stranger.

And I'll say, honestly, don't say that to someone, you know, either.

This honestly is considered body shaming and it's never acceptable.

Remember if you're not complimenting someone on their appearance.

Don't say anything at all.

And I know I have many students from all around the world and in

certain cultures, it's totally okay.

I have some friends who are West Indian and their parents.

It's normal in their culture.

Oh baby, you, you gained weight or old baby.

Woo, you're too skinny.

You got to put some meat on your bones.

Or even some of my Filipino friends.

I understand that in different cultures, it's totally okay to make these comments.

But remember my goal as your English teacher is to help you

speak English confidently and to understand the mindset of the

individuals you'll be speaking with.

I don't want you to be in an uncomfortable position, right?

So again, don't say you're too skinny.

Have you ever heard of, um, anorexia, right?

Anorexia.

That's where an individual many times can become skin and bones and

still feel like they're fat, right?

So it's an illness, right?

And it requires some therapy, right?

To get over and to get through it.

So imagine in your opinion, this individual is skinny.

So when you're meeting up with, right?

But that person is experiencing anorexia.

They might not have gotten to the point where they're skin and bones,

but the moment you say, Oh, you're too skinny, it could affect them as well.

Well, wait a minute.

I feel fat, but they say I'm skinny.

And then it could be a spiraling effect.

Well, wait a minute.

So am I not fat?

Am I skinny?

It's better to not say anything except if you want to give a compliment.

You got me.

All right, here we go.

Moving on to number nine, number nine.

I don't care again.

I don't care again.

It's, it's always interesting.

I prepare these lessons, but then when I'm teaching them, I remember

once again, wow, this is so important.

So this is actually taken as a sign of disrespect and lack of interest.

You have to be very careful, right?

I want you to imagine you're in this conversation with someone, right?

And they're like, Hey.

I just got a new job and you're like, I don't care.

Like, Oh, that's, that's nothing to do with me.

I'm I, I don't care.

Or Hey, we're going to get something to eat.

I don't care.

You're not intending to be rude.

You're saying, Hey, no worries.

Don't think about me.

You guys can go ahead.

I don't care implies again, I'm not interested.

And it's actually kind of disrespectful.

So you have to be very careful.

And I'm saying this again to you as an English learner, right?

Because there are many nuances in the English language.

Let's say, for example, my friend, this is when it's okay to say, I don't care.

My friend says, Hey Tiff.

Oh man, I missed your call.

I'm so sorry.

I'm like, Oh, I don't care.

You're all right.

No worries.

Even my facial expression shows warmth though, like, I don't care.

You're okay.

That is all right.

But if my friend says, I missed your call, I don't care.

My body language even changed.

This is why I say there are nuances in the English language.

You have to be careful of.

All right.

But just for safety, don't say, I don't care.

Instead, explain, Hey, you guys want to go eat?

I'm not hungry right now, so I'll stay here.

You guys can go ahead.

Instead of saying, I don't care.

Makes sense.

All right, good.

Here we go.

Number 10, number 10.

You don't look like you're from here, man.

You don't look like you're from here.

This right here can make someone feel like an outsider.

Your goal is not to make the person feel uncomfortable.

So if you approach someone or someone approaches you, remember, we're talking

about phrases to never say to a stranger and you've, let's say you've come to

America and you're in, um, let's say Washington DC and you meet someone

and they don't look like what you thought an American would look like,

don't say, Hey, you don't look like you're from here, don't This can be

taken as an insensitive comment and you can make them feel uncomfortable.

Just remember, keep it inside.

Ask them like, Hey, what state are you from?

That's okay.

But remember, this can be seen as inconsiderate.

It can be seen as impolite.

You don't look like you're from here.

Now you'll notice again, as I teach English on this channel,

and for those listening to the podcast, my inflections, right?

You'll notice my pronunciation, which you guys have said, it's very clear.

But I let you know, even if you're listening, you can tell when I'm happy,

when I'm sad, when I'm angry, when I'm upset during a story time, right?

Story time.

Don't miss today's story again, as an English learner, I'm telling you

not to say this because you're still learning the proper inflections, proper

body language and facial expressions.

So let's not say this one at all.

All right.

And number 11, number 11, and another important one,

you don't act like a typical.

And then you put the nationality or race.

I am an African American woman.

I am a black woman.

So if someone walked up to me and said, man, you don't act like a

typical black woman, this can be a stereotype and it can be offensive,

even when it's not coming from a stranger, please, please don't say this.

I've had this said to me many times when I was in South Korea, right?

Wow.

You don't act like a typical black woman or you don't act like the

black people I've seen on TV.

The intent, there's no bad intent.

I understand, but this can be not the best thing to say.

It can be considered offensive.

Even if you say you don't act like the typical white person or

typical Spanish person, insert the nationality or race, do not say this.

This is very offensive in certain situations.

All right, again, I don't want you to make the person that you're

speaking with uncomfortable.

This will affect your fluency because the moment they get uncomfortable,

their body language will change.

Their facial expression will change and you'll start feeling nervous.

That's not what we want.

There are many English phrases that you're going to learn on your English journey.

These are the 11 phrases I don't want you to say when

you're speaking with a stranger.

I hope you enjoyed today's lesson.

Don't forget, you can get the free.

Email vocabulary newsletter by going to dailyenglishvocabulary.

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Each and every day from Sunday to Friday, I send out an email for free with five

new vocabulary words related to a topic to help you speak English fluently.

Hope you enjoyed the lesson.

And I will talk to you in the next one.

You still there.

Hi, you know what time it is.

It's story time.

Hey, I said it's story time.

All right.

So in today's lesson, I taught you 11 English phrases.

You should never say to a stranger.

So I want to tell you a story, something that happened to my roommate when I was

in South Korea, when students used one of the phrases, I taught you not to say.

And it affected her greatly.

So when I was in South Korea, this was my third year being in South Korea.

And we had different schedules.

We had early morning classes, afternoon classes, and evening classes.

My roommate at the time, she happened to be from South Africa.

Great woman, super nice.

We really enjoyed living together.

We had great conversations.

Now this term, we had two month terms during this two month term, she had a 7 a.

m.

class.

I didn't have class until around 9 a.

m.

So I would stay at the apartment and chill, but I was still awake

because I'm a morning person.

So my roommate got up, got ready for work.

And I was talking to her a little bit as she was getting ready.

And then she realized that she was running late.

She said, Tiff, I gotta go.

I said, okay, girl, bye.

And she rushed off to work again.

I didn't have class until nine.

So I was kind of shooting the breeze, relaxing in the apartment.

Five minutes went by, 10 minutes, 15, 20 minutes went by.

And then all of a sudden I heard a key going into our door and the door flew

open and I was like, what in the world?

Now we had maintenance men that worked in our apartment sometimes.

So I thought maybe the maintenance man had come by to fix something in our apartment,

but nothing was wrong with our apartment.

So when I peeked around the corner, I was in the living room.

When I peeked around the corner, I saw that it was my roommate.

And I was like, Hey, I looked at the time.

I was like, your class is still going on.

What's wrong?

And I looked at her face and she paused.

I said, what's wrong?

She said, Tiff, I got to class.

I was running a bit late.

And when I walked in, do you know what the students said to me?

This is a true story.

They said, Oh, teacher, you look tired.

You look different.

Do you know what happened?

Because she was rushing.

She forgot to put her makeup on.

She didn't have time.

And the students said, Oh my goodness, you look tired.

She was so offended that she left her class to come back home.

Just to put her makeup on.

Now, of course we laughed about it later on, but as I watched her put

her makeup on and then rush back out to class, I thought to myself, man.

The students have no clue how that statement, that one statement they said

to her, you look tired, affected her.

And again, even me now, years later, I still remember that situation like

it was yesterday, which means she also remembers that this is why I

taught today's lesson, these phrases that seem so innocent to you, right?

That seemed like, Hey, I didn't intend to be rude or I didn't

want to hurt anyone's feelings.

They can come off in a very wrong way.

And as your English teacher, I don't want you to experience that.

And I never want you to offend anyone.

Now, again, my roommate was fine.

We laughed about it later.

She never, ever forgot to put her makeup on because it affected her so much.

So be very careful what you say.

Remember to think about someone else's feelings and my friend, I

will talk to you in the next lesson.