Speaker A
Hello everybody and welcome back to another British English chitchat with a mate of mine who I haven't caught up with for like a year. So Jay, how are you? Welcome back.
Louis and his friend Jay chat in British English about shoes indoors, Jay's handmade notebook, bread doodles, childhood dreams, and everyday vocabulary. A learner-focused video.
Key Takeaways
- Authentic, casual British English conversation is presented with embedded vocabulary explanations useful for learners.
- Cultural comparisons, such as shoe etiquette across Asia and the UK, make the discussion engaging.
- Idioms and colloquialisms are explained in context, including 'can't be bothered', 'fancy a brew', and 'toast'.
What the video covers
- Hosts Louis and Jay hold a casual British English chitchat, taking turns asking each other prepared questions.
- They debate whether shoes should be worn inside the house, contrasting Vietnamese customs with British attitudes.
- Louis recalls his mum insisting on a spotless kitchen, which shaped his view that shoes should be removed on entering.
- Jay shows his handmade notebook, explaining the word 'bind' and the creative pleasure of bookbinding with his partner Chang.
- Jay shares bread doodles, including one resembling Albert Einstein, and relates them to Leonardo da Vinci's splatter technique and seeing shapes in clouds.
- Louis describes childhood dreams of becoming a superhero, a builder, and even a burglar.
- The conversation touches on daily showering habits, family versus friends, and finding happiness in simple things.
- Vocabulary is explained along the way: doodling, toast as a speech, optimistic and pessimistic, wordsmith, filthy, and 'can't be bothered'.
- A recap of the vocabulary is promised at the end, making the video useful for English learners.
- The tone is relaxed and humorous, with frequent laughter and colloquial expressions such as 'get stuck in', 'have a natter', and 'a cuppa'.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and greetings
- 02:30Should you wear shoes inside the house?
- 05:20Bookbinding and Jay's notebook
- 08:00Bread doodles and creativity
- 10:20Childhood dreams and career aspirations
- 20:00Daily habits and family versus friends
- 30:00Simple pleasures, toasts and wordplay
- 38:20Vocabulary recap and idioms
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Thank you Louis. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, it's been about a year. I'm excited to have a little chitchat again, to have a natter with some British English. And yeah, let's get stuck in.
Speaker A
Let's get stuck in. Let's have a natter. A couple of lovely phrases to kick off.
Speaker A
And by the way, I might be taking some notes throughout this conversation, because at the end we'll go over some of these words and phrases. So, um, shall we cut to the chase and get stuck in?
Speaker A
Let's do it. Let's do it. So, we're going to take it in turns to answer some questions that I have prepared, and I think they're quite fun questions.
Speaker A
They're quite interesting questions that people don't usually ask each other. So, we can begin with the first question.
Speaker A
And so I'm just going to share my screen so everybody can see it for 10 seconds, 20 seconds tops as a maximum. So Jay, should you wear shoes inside the house?
Speaker A
What do you think about this question? Well, if you live in Asia like I do, I live in Vietnam, then you shouldn't wear shoes inside the house, because it's disrespectful.
Speaker A
It's not respecting the owner of the house. However, in the UK, where we are both from, it depends, really. Um, it depends if the homeowner is bothered or not. Do they care? For me, I don't mind if I wear shoes in the house.
Speaker A
I don't mind if other people wear shoes in the house, as long as those shoes are not dirty. As long as they don't have soil, mud, or dog muck on them.
Speaker A
I mean, I know what you mean. And it's a little bit strange, because I'm not that used to Asian cultures in general. So, I haven't travelled around Asia that much.
Speaker A
I've never been to Japan, never been to China, never been to Vietnam either. I have been to Thailand and Indonesia and Malaysia. And one thing that is quite characteristic is that you'll notice people's shoes will be left on the
Speaker A
doorstep, on like a doormat or something like that. And I kind of like it, to be honest, because it's true that in the UK everybody's a little bit different.
Speaker A
Growing up, I'd used to go to some friends' houses, and my friends would walk straight through the door after playing football outside, and I'd be looking like, whoa, aren't you supposed to take your shoes off before you go inside? And my
Speaker A
friend would tell me, like, "Ah, it's fine. No problem. It's all right." So his family were quite chilled, laid back and happy-go-lucky. But then in my house, my mum would always say to me, like, "Louis, don't forget to take your
Speaker A
shoes off." Because she would love to have a spotless kitchen. She wanted her kitchen to be immaculate. So for that reason, she couldn't stand seeing muddy shoes wandering around the kitchen. So yeah, I think you should take them off before
Speaker A
you enter a house, for sure. Mhm. Okay. So you think you should take your shoes off before entering a house because your mum wanted a spotless kitchen, a very clean kitchen?
Speaker A
Yeah, I agree with you. I think you should take your shoes off. It's a sign of showing respect to the host, 100%. And I say before entering the house, I also count as soon as you walk in. So as soon as you walk through the
Speaker A
door, that's where you'd take off your shoes and just leave them next to the door, the main door. If you've got a doormat, you can leave them there. If you've got some kind of utility room, then perfect. But I don't think you should
Speaker A
cross the threshold into the kitchen or the hall or the living room. And if it's carpet, then make sure you don't get your carpet filthy, because if it's, you know, wooden tiles or something like that, it's quite easy to mop up and clean. So,
Speaker A
you can't notice these dirty marks. But with a carpet, you're going to ruin the carpet.
Speaker A
That's a dangerous game. It is. So, no, I'm glad we are on the same page. And we're on the same page.
Speaker A
You've got a little notebook there. By the way, guys, at the very end of this video, we are going to recap all of the words and vocabulary that we're discussing. So remember to stick around until the end of the video to hear all
Speaker A
those words and understand more deeply. I do. I actually, um, so I bound this notebook. To bind is to connect something together, to tie something together. So this is bound by me. Um, my partner and I, Chang,
Speaker A
like to do creative things together. So she got into binding books.
Speaker A
I mean, she got interested in binding books, and initially I wasn't that bothered. I thought it was cool, but we sat down on a Saturday with a nice cuppa and I learned how to do it. She taught me how to bind the books.
Speaker A
And yeah, it was a really pleasurable experience, because I love to write in notebooks. I have so many of these notebooks and I fill them up every day.
Speaker A
So to not only do the creative act of making something that didn't exist before, but then to have a practical use for that thing afterwards, which now is just filled with my questions and writings and ramblings, little doodles as well, maybe.
Speaker A
Loads of doodles. Yeah. Yeah. All sorts of nonsense and sense in here. So yeah, it's my happy place when I'm writing.
Speaker A
I've actually written some questions for you, Louis, today. So, I thought we could go back and forth and switch it up, change it up. Sounds like a plan to me. It sounds great. That way, we can, you know, mix it up, switch it
Speaker A
up, and yeah, ask me whatever you want. Feel free to ask me anything. And maybe you can show us some of these doodles as well. And just so everybody knows, if you are doodling, it means that you are drawing things in a
Speaker A
random way. You know, if you're daydreaming or taking notes, you might just draw a mountain, you might just draw a bouncy castle, you name it. So doodling is just informally and randomly drawing little drawings. But hey, go ahead, Jay. Ask me whatever you want.
Speaker A
Absolutely. [laughter] I'll quickly show you my doodles now. And this is very strange, by the way. I was eating bread and I was looking at the bread as I was eating it, and it was taking on different
Speaker A
shapes and different forms, and I don't know what possessed me to start drawing them, but one of them looked like Albert Einstein.
Speaker A
[laughter] So, I started going mad. And I mean, it's like, can I swear? It's weird.
Speaker A
But this one is Albert Einstein. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. In the shape of bread.
Speaker A
Basically, all these drawings are very almost subconscious. They look kind of bizarre, but they were just what I saw in the shapes of bread.
Speaker A
Leonardo da Vinci, the polymath, which is somebody who studies many different subjects, from the Renaissance period, used to, apparently, throw a paint-soaked sponge at a canvas or a wall, and the paint would
Speaker A
splatter, and in that paint he would try to give each paint shape, he would assign it an object essentially. That looks like this. This looks like a wheel of cheese. That looks like [snorts] uh, a slice of pizza. That
Speaker A
looks like a ghost. And we do the same with clouds. When you look at clouds in the sky, we can be creative with what we see in the clouds. So, I was doing that with bread. Don't ask me why. I'm slightly weird.
Speaker A
Why not? Why not? Yeah. I like to explore and, yeah, do creative things. A slice of bread, a loaf of bread, a baguette, a ciabatta. I mean, there are already so many types of bread, and they can take on other shapes and forms as well, such as Albert Einstein. [laughter] Absolutely not.
Speaker A
I was trying to think of a pun there, but I'm not quick enough. Okay, Louis, a question for you. What did you dream of becoming when you were a kid? And how different is your reality now compared to little Louis's dream?
Speaker A
Little Louis. He had so many dreams. So many dreams that never came true, unfortunately.
Speaker A
Well, of course, I always dreamt of being a superhero. And I'd look at Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, and I'd think, "Oh, I want to be just li
Speaker A
Well, of course, I always dreamt of being a superhero. And I'd look at Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, and I'd think, "Oh, I want to be just like them." And I remember thinking Spider-Man was maybe the coolest one because I've
Speaker A
always been a little bit afraid of spiders at the same time. So, I was thinking, wait, if I become Spider-Man, I could become like the boss of all of the spiders and then I wouldn't be afraid of them because I would be
Speaker A
superior to them. [laughter] Something like that anyway. But I quickly realized that being a superhero probably wasn't going to happen. And yeah, well, I mean, I might develop superpowers at some point in the future, but so far nothing's happened. I can't
Speaker A
do anything like that and uh start shooting out spiderw webs and cobwebs to be able to fly from skyscraper to skyscraper.
Speaker A
Well, related to skyscrapers and buildings, my mom often reminds me of the fact that I told her when I was 2 3 4 years old, "Mom, when I'm older, I want to become a builder because I want to build you a big house with a swimming
Speaker A
pool." Which is very sweet. It's very endearing. Imagine if you are a mom in that moment and you think, "Oh, I'm so touched. I'm so moved. I've raised him right because he wants to provide for me in the future."
Speaker A
But there was another problem. And that problem is the fact that I'm not very handy. I'm not very good with my hands.
Speaker A
I'm terrible when it comes to DIY. So I was starting to come to terms with the fact that all right maybe I don't have the necessary skill set to become a builder in the future. So from there during my teenage years and up until
Speaker A
maybe 5 years ago I didn't know what I wanted to do in life. I was a little bit lost trying to find something that I wanted to do. But I knew that I loved discovering new cultures, learning new languages because I liked
Speaker A
the theatrical point of view where you could pretend to be someone else. And of course, it's fascinating to imagine speaking to so many different people from all over the world.
Speaker A
And I remember my first work experience was in a school. So I was always kind of open to the idea of being a teacher.
Speaker A
possibly thinking about how many weeks of holidays they have in summer. Maybe that had something to do with it. But yeah, I didn't become a superhero. I didn't become a builder to build my mom a big house with a swimming pool. But I
Speaker A
am very happy with how my life has turned out up until this point because I haven't been looking for a job based on job security or having a high salary.
Speaker A
It's been trying to work my preferences and hobbies around finding a source of income to be able to do what I enjoy doing and what I like doing in my dayto-day and make it a job. Because there's a great phrase which is if you
Speaker A
love your job or if you like your job, you don't work a day in your life. And of course, there are days when I feel like oof, I'm a bit tired. I don't really feel like recording a video or
Speaker A
teaching a class, but nine times out of 10, I actually look forward to working and I enjoy working. So, yeah, to sum up, I might not have achieved my dream, but I've worked out a dream along the way and my reality is quite similar to
Speaker A
that dream and what I was looking for. Thumbs up. Yeah [laughter] very well put. So, from Spider-Man to builder to English teacher and content creator, I mean, it's been a rocky road, a windy road, but we got there in the end.
Speaker A
[laughter] And in a way, you are a a modernday superhero, Lewis, to so many of your supporters and subscribers. Yeah.
Speaker A
Helping people learn English just like superheroes help people live better lives. Exactly. And yeah, if if I could shoot some cobwebs, then I would celebrate by doing that. But yeah, not not on me, please.
Speaker A
I'm going to turn the question back around at you and we can simplify it. But Jay, for you, what was your dream job when you were a child? And is what you do at the moment anywhere similar to what you had dreamt
Speaker A
of as a child? So I again there's there's two. So the first one was when I was about 4 years old in in reception which is like the first year of school in the UK and I remember drawing a poster.
Speaker A
What is your dream job? and all the other kids. My dream job is to be an astronaut. My dream job is to be a policeman. I want to be a firefighter.
Speaker A
But I'd written, "When I grow up, I want to be a burglar." And I drew a man with a black mask, a swag bag, and a stripey black and white shirt. A thief, someone who takes things. [laughter] And uh I remember my parents kind of
Speaker A
being mortified uh but also laughing when we displayed those posters on the edge of our classroom when we had assembly in school which is where all the parents and kids gather around to perform uh talk about what you've been
Speaker A
doing in the classes. So the first one was a burglar that didn't happen. I'm above board and I'm a good citizen. Uh, if you were [clears throat] Spider-Man and I was the burglar, then you would be taking me down. But that's not the case.
Speaker A
Our paths could have crossed in such a different way. Exactly. [laughter] I could be tangled up in webs somewhere.
Speaker A
Your uh My second dream was to be a conservationist. someone a conservationist is someone who helps protect species whether that's plants or animals. So I always had an obsession and obsession is when you love something very much with monkeys. I was
Speaker A
obsessed with monkeys and apes uh in particular orangutans which are those orange apes and I always wanted to work with monkeys in some way or with animals or nature.
Speaker A
So, while that hasn't materialized, that hasn't come true, I am now making YouTube videos and I've built a business uh called Sprouts where we teach English online through videos and speaking practice. And in the future, I would like to grow Sprout to a place where we
Speaker A
can have conservation projects, where we can give back to communities, where we can uh reforest areas. to reforest is to plant new trees. I I care about the environment. I care about uh doing good things, making a positive impact on this
Speaker A
earth beyond helping people, helping future generations. So maybe our reforestation projects, the future reforestation projects on Sprout will help to save orangutans and maybe I'll spend some time with those big orange apes. Who knows?
Speaker A
And you can rope them into helping you to burgle some houses as well. [laughter] No, it's all mine. I want it all.
Speaker A
Just phrasal verb there. If you rope someone into doing something, it means you convince them to do something for you. Usually something that they're a bit hesitant to do. They don't really want to do it, but you rope them into
Speaker A
it. You talk them into it. And you could say I keep mentioning my mom, but I roped her in to joining my channel and recording videos. Wait, because at first she was like, "Oh, I'm not sure. I might
Speaker A
be a bit embarrassed. My cheeks might go a bit red." But I said, "Mom, you know, I love you and I wanted to build a house for you. It didn't work out, but we could do this instead." So, I roped her
Speaker A
into it. Excellent. But no, it's lovely to hear that you are very into reforesting and helping the environment because it's something that I think sometimes we forget about because there are so many things happening in the world. People
Speaker A
are changing their priorities when the only thing that really matters is planet Earth because there is no planet B. As much as we would like to think that maybe we'll be able to live on multiple planets in the galaxy,
Speaker A
I think it's a bit of a pipe dream, it's a bit of an unrealistic dream. And every year, I mean, there are many forest fires, there are many natural disasters.
Speaker A
So, I think everybody should be on board with trying to make our planet as beautiful and natural as possible. So yeah, I agree with you with this. And if we were in a position to be able to help
Speaker A
preserve different species and preserve different natural habitats, then that would be a dream come true as well. For sure.
Speaker A
Mhm. Absolutely. Yeah. These it really is precious planet Earth. And we were so concerned with our own perspectives all the time like and this goes for the majority of people. We wake up, we're in our heads, we have we tell
Speaker A
ourselves our own stories and we rarely zoom out. And when we zoom out, you zoom out even further, you see the earth as a pale blue dot. There's a famous photo of the earth from from far in space. And and when you see it in
Speaker A
like the enormity that of space, you it puts things into perspective. It makes your problems seem just like a tiny little ant. And it kind of allows you to yeah to see things with a whole new lens and appreciate your own life, appreciate
Speaker A
the people around you and appreciate the planet we live on. 100%. So yeah, everybody, let's take care of our planet. Remember to throw things in the correct bin, recycle, and where we can reduce our carbon footprint, then it's probably
Speaker A
going to be a positive change. So, Mhm. Let's keep going with a different question, and it's one that me and my fiance, we don't really agree on because she will always say this typical phrase in Spanish, which is
Speaker A
which in English, I like to go to bed nice and clean. I mean, I I like to be clean as well when I go to bed. But the question is, is it better to shower in the morning or at night?
Speaker A
And right now, Jay and I are in different parts of the world. It's the morning where I am. It's the late afternoon, evening where he is. I had a shower about an hour ago. And I always religiously have a shower as soon as I
Speaker A
wake up, first thing in the morning, because it does wake me up. And it kind of gives me a little bit of an energy boost as well. And if I haven't had a shower in the morning, I feel a bit
Speaker A
lazy, dirty, grimy, filthy, my hair is all over the place as well. So I am definitely team have a shower in the morning, then maybe in the evening, too.
Speaker A
But uh that depends. It depends on the day and what you've done and so many other variables.
Speaker A
Jay, how about you? Are you team shower in the morning or shower at night?
Speaker A
I get where you're coming from with the shower waking you up, making you feel good, getting you energized for the day.
Speaker A
I I like to take a walk on a morning and I'll I live right by the beach, so I'll take a walk and do a bit of exercise on the beach.
Speaker A
Then I'll sometimes I'll shower and other times I'll shower in a few hours. I'll eat my breakfast. I'll do some writing.
Speaker A
I'm not so religious with it. I don't have a set shower schedule. Sometimes I'll shower twice a day, sometimes once.
Speaker A
Um yeah, depending on how I feel really. I'm not I'm not very rigid with this habit. Um, I like to, yeah, at least one shower a day, I'm fine. Whether it's morning or night, doesn't matter.
Speaker A
So, you're quite easy. You're easy when it comes to when you will shower. And, you know, if you fancy a shower, go for a shower. If you don't fancy a shower, don't bother. And I guess if you do live
Speaker A
next to the beach as well, you could have a bit of a replacement for a shower because if you go for a dip in the sea, then it's a nice way of waking you up anyway and energizing you anyway. So
Speaker A
that kind of removes the importance of having a shower in the morning because you can be woken up and energized by just going for a quick dip in the sea, which to be honest sounds like a dream.
Speaker A
I'm a bit jealous of you right now. Yeah, I'm I'm a lucky boy. I'm very lucky to live where I do.
Speaker A
Okay, now um have you got another question on your little trusty notebook? All right, in my beautifully bound book.
Speaker A
Let's see. This is a question that I like to ask myself each day and one that I'm going to ask you. So, what's one insight that you've gained recently? By the way, guys, an insight is something that you've learned,
Speaker A
something that you perhaps didn't know before. Um, okay. One insight that I've gained recently is something that I think I've always known and something that we are always reminded of especially our parents grandparents will remind you of this
Speaker A
but it is the importance of family and maybe now I'm realizing that more as I'm getting a little bit older as I'm getting married.
Speaker A
It's always amazing to meet up with your friends, to catch up with them, to go out with them.
Speaker A
And when you're growing up in particular, most people, at least speaking for myself, I have more fun when I go out with my friends, I have a better laugh.
Speaker A
So, I'd look forward to these days more. So, there'd be times in the past when maybe I would choose my friends over my family because I'd think like, "Ah, come on. We're all going out for a drink. I'm
Speaker A
sorry. I I I can't have dinner with you, mom dad sister." And I think as I've reached my 30s, I'm starting to think, all right, it's true what my parents always told me, that your friends might not be there forever,
Speaker A
but your family will be. Or at least that's the hope. So now I've got a nephew. Whenever I go home, I try to prioritize time with my family.
Speaker A
Nice. I want to maintain that bond, that union, that link and of course stay really good friends with my friends. But something that I do think about nowadays is all right, family should always come first and then friends is always an
Speaker A
advantage. But the insight I'd say that I've gained is the importance of family and family should always come first.
Speaker A
Beautiful. Yeah. are um how about you Jay? Have you had a similar realization or another completely different insight that you've gained relatively recently?
Speaker A
I would say very similar. Yes, I've gained quite a few insights, but one it relates also to my family and something my granddad told me a lot when I was growing up which was if you have your health and your happiness then you
Speaker A
have everything. So at that time I'm young, you know, I was healthy and happy and I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, grandad. Okay, yeah, I'm healthy. I'm happy." But those words recently have come up in my mind again. They've resurfaced
Speaker A
because I've not been 100% health. I've been sick. I was in the hospital a few months ago and yeah, my health's not been great.
Speaker A
It's been challenging physically and mentally to deal with all of this. And now I'm getting better.
Speaker A
I'm grateful to be better and I realize the importance of health and happiness. Like when when our bodies are healthy and our minds are healthy and and we are happy with not having you know all like fame and wealth um but rather just
Speaker A
simple things the uh yeah finding beauty in the mundane finding happiness in in simple things then we have everything really if we have those two things as well as family people who love you. So I think yeah these are all fundamental
Speaker A
truths and very basic needs for human beings family health that it's easy to overlook. It's easy to not appreciate these things because we're probably worried about this that and the other.
Speaker A
But I guess and yeah, on top of that, the insight I've learned is that my happy thoughts help create my healthy body. So I was very anxious and fearful in my thoughts when my body is not working properly.
Speaker A
But that stress creates more stress and then that creates more ill health both mentally and physically in the mind and the body. So yeah, for anyone watching, it's like focusing on on cultivating joyful thoughts, cultivating happy thoughts can bring you
Speaker A
health and happiness in your life just like it has to be. And I think it's a very important thing to remind ourselves of this that family comes first and then if you don't have health, you don't have anything really. So,
Speaker A
no, it is something that you're right, we overlook and we also take for granted.
Speaker A
So, if you see that, oh no, I've got a bad leg and I'm limping all of the time, then you don't realize how much this little change can influence your freedom and your happiness. And as soon as anybody gets a little bit sick, then
Speaker A
that's when you stop thinking about all these other things, about your salary, about your plans for the weekend, because you're only zeroing in on your health and trying to get better as quickly as possible. So Mhm. As soon as you don't have health,
Speaker A
your life just goes all over the place again and it gets turned upside down.
Speaker A
So, here's to if I have a drink or something like that, we should cheers to good health.
Speaker A
Cheers to good health. Yeah, to good health. Cheers to good health and happiness and family and friends.
Speaker A
And family and friends. A classic toast. And a toast, by the way, is a bit confusing because toast is of course what you might have for breakfast. Toast and jam. But a toast is also this mini speech that you will give before
Speaker A
cheersing ah a dinner, an event or whatever it might be. Mhm. Cool. Absolutely. Whilst you were speaking, I was thinking of something else that I was going to add. I was going to say something and now I can't quite remember. So if it
Speaker A
comes back to me, I will say it for sure. Okay. But in the meantime, we can keep going. We can keep going with the next question. And this one is about something very British.
Speaker A
It's something very British that well I personally drink more coffee than tea but whenever I'm back in the UK I have more tea than coffee which I guess when in Rome do as the Romans do. Whenever you visit a place you should follow
Speaker A
their traditions. So the question is this one. Should tea be made with the milk first or last? So, it's a bit of a funny way of creating this question, but essentially Jay, tell us.
Speaker A
Yeah. How would you make a proper cup of Yorkshire tea? Okay. Proper cup of Yorkshire tea. I have Yorkshire tea downstairs actually.
Speaker A
I would boil the kettle. Mhm. Put my tea bag in my mug. I would pour the boiling water over the tea bag, let it brew, which is to rest for 2 minutes. Then I would add a splash of
Speaker A
milk, take out my tea bag, and voila. That's it. Bob's your uncle. Bob's your uncle. How about you? I mean, I would do exactly the same. Sometimes I'm in a bit of a hurry. Sometimes I'm in a bit of a rush
Speaker A
and in that case maybe I'll let it brew for only about a minute and my lazy hack is then that I will like kind of press the teab bag against the edges of the mug just to get out some more like tea
Speaker A
goodness in case I haven't got the time to wait for it to brew properly. That's my little shortcut, my little hack. But of course, we shouldn't rush these things.
Speaker A
It is a work of art, so everything needs its time. So, I'm glad we agree that the milk goes in last. And if you want a bit of sugar, of course, add a bit of sugar.
Speaker A
But a classic pun, a classic play on words is no sugar. I'm sweet enough.
Speaker A
[laughter] Excellent. Go. We could do one or two more questions, but I've remembered what I was going to say.
Speaker A
Awesome. And of course, we were talking about how uh health is really, really important.
Speaker A
And at the same time, your mind and your mental health is related to your physical health.
Speaker A
And this is a really really simple anecdote related to this, but I think it proves the point. And it is the fact that last week I was back in the UK and I hadn't seen my fiance in like 3 weeks.
Speaker A
So I was really looking forward to being reunited with her and hugging her and kissing her. And sometimes when we're apart for a while and I'm maybe not sleeping that much or I'm a bit stressed or I'm thinking, "Oh, I'm
Speaker A
really excited to see her. I hope that I don't get a cold saw. And a cold saw is a little bit of like herpes around your mouth.
Speaker A
Uhhuh. And what happened? Well, you might be able to see I got a cold saw.
Speaker A
So, I developed a cold saw just before being reunited with my fiance. So, I haven't kissed her yet because I don't want her to get a cold saw. And that I think I provoked it myself because psychologically I was
Speaker A
telling myself like just calm down, relax. You don't want to get a cold sore just before seeing her again. That would be such bad luck. And because I was probably overthinking it, I brought it into happening. So that is
Speaker A
a simple kind of funny example of how your mental health and your mind can affect your physical health. And in this case, well, I guess I'll just have to wait another week before I give my fianceé a kiss. Say,
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that's a wonderful story. It explains it perfectly. You please Lord, don't give me a call. cosaw.
Speaker A
Um, and you got a cosaw. Damn. It It happens. But hey, I mean, other than that, we're in good health. So, that's the important thing.
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Absolutely. Yeah. Does Does anybody else in the comments overthink? [laughter] Let let us know in the comments. Are you an overinker? Do you think too much? Do you worry too much? I know a lot of uh English learners on
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Sprout and and people in the comments are always doubting themselves and saying, "Am I doing the right thing? Uh am I getting better at English? I'm still making mistakes. I'm worried about grammar uh pronunciation." And I I think again that there's so much
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focus on that small thing, worry. Okay, I I'm doubting myself. I'm I'm fearful about making mistakes.
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That is one narrative. That's one story you can tell yourself. Another story is that I'm getting better. I'm improving my English. I make mistakes, yes, but I learn from those mistakes. And I'm someone who learns more each day. I'm
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someone who gets better each day. So I think this physical and mental link that we're creating here is like it's all just it's it's mind created and and the mind can take us down here or it can take us up here and you being the owner
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of your own mind you have to as I said before cultivate like positive seeds just like a farmer cultivates seeds and grows plants. We have the responsibility to feed our minds with healthy thoughts with happy thoughts and um not thoughts
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of coord. No, no, absolutely. I think uh if we all look on the bright side of life, if we all think of the glass being half full rather than half empty, then it's more likely that you will feel good about
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yourself. you will have a good time as a result. So you will reap the rewards of having a positive mindset. So everybody remember glass half full and always look on the bright side of life.
Speaker A
Nice relation to that. Go on. Um I I just want to share Louis just said if your glass is half full or your glass is half empty. as an idiom in English that basically means if your glass is half full then you look at
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things in a positive way. If your glass is half empty, you look at them in a negative way. We have two different words as well that relate to that. So one is optimistic. If you're an optimistic person, you look on the
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bright side of life. You look for the good in people. You look for the good in things. The opposite of optimistic is pessimistic. A pessimistic person is somebody who is probably quite miserable, complains all the time. Uh, everything's you know. Um, I'm not
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going to get this job. Uh, I'm probably I'm probably going to fail. Um, this it's pointless me doing this thing. I'm I'm no good. It's looking at things with a glass half empty.
Speaker A
Absolutely. And just a final recap of that is pessimistic and optimistic. They are the adjectives and a pessimist and an optimist are the nouns. So personally I'm an optimist. I'm an optimistic person. But I have a friend who is a
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pessimist. He is a pessimistic person. Awesome. Now, we're going to do a recap of these words, but Jay, should we do one final question before we get round to that? Because I'm curious. I want to know what other doodles and questions are in
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your trusty notebook. Good question. Who knows? Who knows what we're going to unear subconscious? Yeah, [laughter] I I like to write poetry as well. Um Yeah. So here I I wrote a little poem called I was in I was in a place called
Speaker A
in in Vietnamese it's called catchu on space which I'm not sure what it means catch you on space but I interpreted that as the words catch you in space.
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Okay as in catching somebody in space. So, I wrote the poem here about a boy who's sitting on a moon and he sees a girl floating through space and he casts his fishing rod, reels her in, and catches her in space.
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So, he goes, "You were dressed in white, floating in black. I thought you looked lost.
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So I cast my rod and you chased the hook and you ate the bait and I reeled you in and you flopped on me and we lay on the moon laughing. Just laughing.
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Laughing about the time I caught you in space. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Thank you.
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You're a great wordsmith. You have a way with words. So a word somebody who has a way with words. They're good at using words.
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Mhm. I'm a I think the word is logile. Someone who loves words as well. A logger file. I believe it's a log file.
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A file is like a suffix that means somebody who loves something. Um yeah, I've got I've got all kinds of like various poems in here. I asked like I as like to ask what if questions. So I asked here, what if cats owned humans?
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Um, I mean, I think that one's an interesting one we could discuss. To finish off, what do you think would happen or what would the world look like if cats did own humans? I think it sounds like a pretty good world, but
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maybe I'm wrong. Uh, [laughter] yeah. What if cats owned humans? I mean, I've got some ideas here. More about like flipping the roles of cats and humans. So I said we would bring in dead birds and cats would slap our nose.
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We we would get high on human nip. I know and run around causing terror. We would hiss at dogs and piss on the carpet.
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[sighs and gasps] [laughter] Um yeah, those are more like lyrical stuff, um rhyming stuff, but if cats owned humans, would it be a better world?
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I mean, yeah. I feel like cats are very chilled, aren't they? They're they're very laidback animal and very independent. Like, they do their own thing. They don't meddle in other people's businesses as well. So, maybe everybody would just have their
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own personal space and we'd stick to our personal space. Of course, the world wouldn't be better for us human beings because we would I don't know. We'd be stuck.
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We wouldn't be able to go out a lot or we'd only be able to go out for a few hours per day by jumping through a cat flap. So maybe a flap in this case. And then we'd have to go back
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at some point later to be fed to get some water or some milk. And then of course we would jump on top of the laps of cats to be stroked a little bit. So then we'd be furing as well. So it wouldn't be better
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for us maybe, but I think the world as a whole maybe it would be a better place.
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Who knows? I mean the way you just described that Lewis getting fed um jumping on the laps and getting stroked.
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It sounds quite pleasant to me. Sounds like a good life. So cats, if you're listening to us, [laughter] take over the world.
Speaker A
Yeah. Yeah. Please. [gasps] Yeah. [laughter] It'll be less hassle for us, less stress. Fantastic. Okay. Well, let me go over some of these words and phrases. So Jay, you can chill for a minute whilst I recap some of these. And of course, we
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will be doing a part two of these questions. So, all of the questions that we didn't get round to asking and answering, we're going to discuss them in a few weeks. So, let's begin. The first phrase is get stuck in. If you get
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stuck in, you get started in an enthusiastic way. We can also use it in football. If a team is being more aggressive tackling, then that team is getting stuck in getting started. Can I add Go on.
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Uh to interject. Yeah, we use that in the context a lot with food. So, let's get stuck in. Let's like dig in enthusiastically. We might also say let's dig in with food. Also very common.
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Let's dig in. And we could also say let's tuck in. Let's tuck in. Let's get stuck in. Let's dig in.
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Mhm. And I also used crack on at the beginning. Let's crack on. Let's get started. And we started to have a natter. A natter is a chit chat or a chinwag as well. [laughter] These are all very slang terms like
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natter and chinwag. Uh fantastic words, very playful. You won't hear them very often. So, you know, a a chat is more common, but they're good to know. And that's and a chinwag. If you use them, then people will think you're very
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British. Exactly. They'll be like, "Wow." Their jaw might drop as they're like, "Impressive." [laughter] Then when speaking about entering a house with shoes on or not, I mentioned two opposites. So, a very clean uh place is spotless or immaculate, and a very
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dirty place is filthy. So, you'd get the carpet filthy if you walked inside with muddy shoes.
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To add to that, uh you can say it's a mess or it's a tip. A mess and a tip. If your room is a tip, then it means it's like a bomb site. There is there are clothes on the floor, bowls of food.
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It's very messy. It's a mess. It's a tip. Salute tip. Wow. Looks like a bomb's just gone off.
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Yeah. Then next, a couple of phrases that Jade used to speak about his notebook. Um, so he said that his girlfriend got into it. She got into binding notebooks, so she became interested in it. And at first, Jay said
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that he wasn't bothered. And this is really, really common to use the phrase, "I'm not bothered or I wasn't bothered." And it means that at first he wasn't interested. He didn't really care, but he also got into it.
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Mhm. Yeah. And very common. Very common. And inside this notebook, he has lots of doodles. So doodles are these informal little scribbles. Doodles where you're drawing things that don't really make any sense.
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Absolutely. Can I add Can I add one word about bothered as well? Yeah. So Louis said, "I I wasn't bothered about it. I wasn't interested in it." We have a very very very common phrase in English which is can't be bothered. I
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can't be bothered to do something. It means I don't really want to do that thing. I've not got the energy. I just don't fancy it. I don't want to do it.
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We can and and we can say the rud version, I can't be asked. Asked like you're bottom. Uh I can't be asked in, you know, in in our in our northern speak. But everyone in the UK says I
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can't be bothered or I can't be asked. It means you don't want to do something.
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Very common. So make sure you memorize the difference because it's only a slight difference.
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I'm not bothered. So, with the verb to be, it means you're not interested. But when you put can't be, it changes the meaning. I can't be bothered means I feel lazy about it. I don't want to do it or I can't be asked. I can't be asked
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ironing my shirts, which is why I don't do it. Speaking about um what was it we went on to after that? Paint. I think Jay was talking about Leonardo da Vinci or someone else who would have paint splatter. So when he goes in lots of
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different directions, the verb that we would use is to splatter. So the paint splattered all over the wall.
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And after that we spoke a little bit about our dream jobs when we were children. So Jay dreamt of becoming a burglar, you know, a thief of houses, and I dreamt of becoming Spider-Man. But if I became Spider-Man, maybe I'd get
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tangled up in webs. Or maybe Jay would get tangled up in webs if we were facing off against each other.
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Lovely. And continuing from there, positivity. So, a few expressions. If you see the glass half full, you are an optimist. If you see the glass half empty, you are a pessimist. And a lovely expression is to always look on the
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bright side of life. Always look on the bright side of life. [laughter] And then two more words. Uh Jay, you can explain them. I've written down the word uh wordsmith and also brew.
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What do these two words mean? Okay, a wordssmith is somebody who is good with words. Just like back in the day, a blacksmith would be good. Someone who like uh shapes metal. So a wordmith is someone who shapes words in a way.
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A brew as a noun is a cup of tea. We can call it a brew or a cuper.
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And also we can call it a cup of char. Uh very very colloquial, very informal.
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But to brew something is when you like to brew a tea bag, you leave the tea bag in water for the tea to infuse in the water. That is to brew.
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Fact. You see now I fancy a brew. I fancy a cup of tea. Me too. I would like a cup of tea. I'd like a brew.
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We should We should get that arrange. I'll come to Brussels and we'll have a cuper in a chat.
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Sounds like a plan to me. Okay. Right now, I reckon we should call it a day. We should finish off because there's been a couple of minor internet issues because well there's some road works going on outside so I have to move
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around to different places for this recording. So apologies if anything was affected and I hope you guys really loved this podcast chitchat this nata and the final recap of these words. And of course we will be doing a part two
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very very soon. So Jay, thanks again. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you, Lewis. Yeah, it's been a pleasure is mine. And yeah, thank you for having me on. Thank you to you guys at home if you're still watching this.
Speaker A
And please let us know with a comment. What would you like to see us talk about next? Do you have any questions or any topics that you want us to cover and discuss? We'd love to hear your thoughts
Speaker A
on this. So let us know in the comments, guys. And thank you again and see you next time.
Speaker A
Bye. Peace. [music]
Topics:British EnglishEnglish learningconversation practicevocabularyidiomscolloquial Englishshoes indoors etiquettedoodlingchitchatEnglish with Lewis
