This is an all ears English podcast, episode 15 06 haven't learned enough slang. Better late than never

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This is an all ears English podcast, episode 15 06 haven't learned enough slang. Better late than never.

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Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 150 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts. Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York Radio Girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City U. S a and to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to all ears English dot com forward slash subscribe.

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In today's episode, you'll get a handy phrase to say that even though you are doing something late, it's still a win because you are actually doing it. Listening today to find out what this English phrase is.

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Hey, Michelle, how's it going? Excited to be on video today on YouTube, guys. This episode is over there. You can check it out. How's everything going on today? Everything's good. Everything's good.

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Yeah, I don't know. It's it's actually it's unseasonably warm today.

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So, yeah, the the sun was shining yesterday. It was snowing.

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I don't know what's going on, but so I have to go outside with my son to the we always go and look at the trains. We call it going to the trains. Yeah.

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Go to the trains. That's awesome. Yeah. It was actually nice here in Denver too. And I like that kind of winter day, kind of, you know, 45, 50 degrees sunny. I can take that kind of winter. I can definitely take that. I can do. Definitely.

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Definitely. So yeah, today we are going to discuss a really, really useful expression.

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OK, we're going to talk about what it means, how you can use it and how does it apply to life and learning English.

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So, yeah, I'm excited for today's episode because I thought of this expression recently and also we briefly.

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Well, actually, I don't know. I didn't I'm not exactly sure. But on ELT's, we spoke about this expression a little bit. OK, so that's Eilts Episode six fifty five.

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It's high time you learned today's idioms, but we're going to really dive into this today.

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Yeah. Make sure you guys, if you're taking ILD any time in the next year or year and a half, go over and subscribe to the ILD Energy podcast.

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OK, we have tons of years of experience over there for you to help you get that seven or higher. Very cool. All right. Excellent. So, Michelle, though, you have a Web class coming up soon, though. I just want to let our listeners know about that, because it's going to be really cool. What are you guys going to be talking about on that Web class?

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Well, I am excited because I'm doing a Web class with Oprey. Yeah.

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And we are going to be talking about slang, which is so important for learning English. Right. It's I mean, it's huge.

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This is really kind of what can get you to that next level to, you know, really be more fluent, sound more native like everything like that. So Aubrey and I are going to be teaching you some slang and we're going to be talking about, you know, the impact of slang and how it can help. You can connect. So definitely that's January 20th and twenty third. OK, so Lindsay, where can they sign up?

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OK, guys, go to all ears, English dot com forward slash slang SLA and to sign up, get your name on that list guys and make sure you arrive at the web class on time or early, because sometimes we get a lot of people signing up for these web classes.

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And if you arrive too late, you won't be able to get into the room.

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OK, that's something important to know. Insider tip here. Absolutely.

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Yes. Good tip, Lindsay. So awesome. We will see you there. Lindsay, what is the expression?

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All right. So better late than never talking about. So this is a good one. Michelle, I'm glad you chose this one today, because I definitely use this a lot.

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Yes, I use it, too. That's why I thought of it for the episode, because I like oh, this is really, really powerful. Yeah. And very, very natural sounding. I mean, what is what does that mean?

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Better late than never.

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Better late than never. It means you should have done something earlier, but because you did it, it's better that you did it then than not doing it at all. Right.

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Right, right. Exactly. It's like yeah. It's good that that is happening. Yeah. It happened. Even if it's not when it could have exhausted. Happy, right.

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Exactly. Exactly. And this could apply to a lot of things. Right, Michelle. The first year.

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So like for example, I mean if somebody finally does something they've been wanting to do, but maybe they've been held back for some reason. So for example, she got her graduate degree after ten years.

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It took a while, but there was so much going on in her life.

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It it doesn't matter. She did it better late than never. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So and I like how diverse this is. Again, like I said, it's not just for a very narrow scenario. It could be for anything education. You finally got the education or you finally made a phone call. Maybe you met someone and you took their phone number and you took a few weeks to call it. Right. But finally, you did.

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And it's better late than never, so. Right. Right, right. Exactly. So what's another example in. All right.

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So if someone is late on something like, for example, a responsibility, guys, but they actually do get it done, you could use this, but it also could be rude. So you've got to be careful. What do we mean by that, Michelle?

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How could it be rude? Well, you know, in the first example, when we talked about, oh, she got her degree, blah, blah, better late than never.

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It's like this positive, cheery sounding thing. Yeah.

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But sometimes you can say it, like, better late than never. Almost like with a judgmental tone, you know. Have you ever heard that, Lindsey? Yeah, I mean, speaking to your partner or your spouse at home, they were supposed to take out the garbage on Monday, they took it out on Thursday.

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That actually happened to me. That was my that was today.

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If my partner said, you know, better late than never. Right. They're being sarcastic. And that could be that could be a little bit of a dig. A dig. Right. Right, right. Exactly.

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So let's just do this a little roleplay. So if I say, oh, man, sorry, I'm just finishing this part now. Better late than never.

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Yeah, it's no big deal. We're really not behind. We can still make the make the deadline.

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OK, right. So in this way I actually used it about myself. OK. Right. So I'm saying oh I did this better late than never. In a way.

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It's like I'm, it's like I'm showing some sort of respect in a weird way because I'm acknowledging that this is late, OK?

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And I'm saying I don't know. In a way, though, in some ways it's like I'm trying to like, say, oh, yeah, well, that's good.

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I got it done anyway. It kind of depends. So you're when you say this about yourself, you're kind of trying to avoid criticism from the other person, right?

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Michelle, when I think about it, it's like I'm I'm the first one to say it like.

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But really don't ever. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I guess a good episode. I actually Michelle, we could do one a later another day about how to say something to avoid someone else saying it. You say it yourself.

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Right. I like it. Yeah. Yeah I like it. Yeah I like that idea. Good. Well we'll put that on the list definitely. OK, what else Michelle. What else do we need to know about this.

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The first live web class of twenty twenty one is coming up this week and you don't want to miss it. You'll learn slang to sound like a native, words you will never, ever learn in a textbook. Get them at the web class. Grab your spot now before space fills up. Go to all ears. English dot com forward slash slang. It's happening on January 20th and January. Twenty third all ears English dot com forward slash slang.

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Well shall we do one more tiny little role play.

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Just another example. So example. Here we go. Sorry I can't believe he finally left the company after ten years. He'd wanted to leave since the first month.

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I know I'm really happy for him. Better late than never. OK, exactly. So I think again he should have left ten years ago. Right. Or nine years ago. But finally he left and it's ok. OK. Right, right. Exactly.

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So again, you know, you can kind of tell that Lyndsey and I are using, you know, really different ways of, you know, expressing ourselves with our intonation.

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Right. So, again, you could say it was, oh, better late than ever. Or you could say better late than ever. And you really have to listen to that or else this can be a you know, it's a simple expression, but it can get confusing if you're not paying attention to that intonation. Exactly.

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Guys, there's always a message under the words. So you want to pay attention to that and understand what is that message that you're delivering. Yeah, that's huge, Michelle. Good point.

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Absolutely. So, Linda, can you think of a time when maybe this applied to your life? Oh, so many.

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So much. So many times. OK, lifting weights. So unfortunately, this all got killed because of the pandemic. It's so sad.

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But just before the pandemic, I had started doing Orange Theory, which is a group exercise program where it combines weightlifting, sprinting on a treadmill and rowing. And I was feeling really good this time last year. I was starting to build more muscle mass. And when you're in your 30s as a woman, you're supposed to do that right, to prevent osteoporosis later in your life. And I figure I should have started in my early 20s lifting weights, but better late than never.

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I figured I might as well start in my 30s.

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Now, I feel that, Michelle, we know you had a few false starts over the years around. I know it's so sad because on this show, others show so many times I've shared, like, OK, yeah, I'm getting into a real exercise.

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I know. And then and then like the next year, it's like, OK, guys. So I think I'm going to start exercise.

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You can't fool them. You can't fool them. They know. They know. Exactly, exactly. But that's a really good example. I mean, this also makes me think of celebrities who have got like who have had like a later start or you ever hear somebody who is like in their career who is like really successful in their career. And you hear, oh, well, they actually didn't get started until a little later in life. So, yeah, I've heard things I've heard like Steve Carell, Harrison Ford, Leslie Jones from SNL.

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I've heard those are some celebrities that, you know, got a little bit of a later start. You know, they weren't like teen celebrities interested.

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I wonder if it was the office for Steve Carell that, like, propelled him is on the.

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He's the one. I think it was. Yeah. Yeah, it was.

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I think it may have been Bruce Almighty, that first guy. I'm not sure.

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Yeah, that could be. And they also say so actors, they also say for entrepreneurs, you know, really successful entrepreneurs usually don't found their big company, their big successful company until they're in their 40s. Like Midfoot. Right. It's not the fantasy story of Mark Zuckerberg.

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And when we're. Twenty two, that's the outlier, actually, most true entrepreneurs end up starting that big company around their 40s, mid 40s, late 40s when they have the experience, which makes sense, right, Michel?

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Yeah, I think that's actually really inspiring. I love hearing their stories because, you know, I think a lot of times people think like, oh, I've missed my peak, I've missed that point. And it's just not true.

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It's not true. Life gives you a lot of opportunities, you know, feel that half of our lives, up to 40.

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We're just practicing making all the mistakes, hopefully.

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Oh, my gosh. So many mistakes. So Lindsay got me thinking about how I mean, how does this apply to our listeners?

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Oh, my gosh. It's all about you guys. Right? And don't think that you're behind. First of all, don't compare yourself to anyone else because we all learn in a different way and we're all on our own path.

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I mean, that's the first thing I would say, Michelle. Yeah, I think that's really, really a good point.

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Right, because I think we tend to say, oh, well, this person's at this level and I'm at this level, you should just be thinking about where you are in comparison to where you were right to somebody else or one or somebody else's.

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So, you know, keep this expression in mind when you get discouraged, you know, also don't rush because it's not a race.

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You've got to keep things in perspective, right? Yeah, exactly.

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I have that feeling a lot of times in life, like I need to rush through something like thinking I'm always behind and I'm like short breaths. Right? Just step back, take a deep breath. You have more time than you think you do. Right. To do these things, to achieve these goals. So I like that. Michelle, just relax and step back, but make sure you go at that goal in the right way.

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Yeah, definitely.

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Definitely. Yeah, that's that's a big part of it as well. And the other thing is to learn in small doses. Right. Like I said, don't rush right. Again, we always talk about, you know, those experiences where people try and learn like 102 new different words a day.

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And it's like, you know, it just keep that in mind. Better late than never. It doesn't matter when it happens. Of course, if you're studying for Eilts, you're you're trying to get a certain goal passed by a certain date. That's. Yeah, I know that adds a little bit of pressure. It's easy to say better late than never, but it's not always how it applies to our life. But, you know, just try and keep it in mind.

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I mean, that's why good planning, it's all about good planning. You can't use this if you come into ELDs. Twenty five days or twenty days or fifteen days before your test date, you need to think, OK, it's twenty, twenty one. When do I want to take Eilts. If it's twenty twenty two then I need to get into a course halfway through twenty, twenty one, six months before it. Does it require a little bit of planning at the same time for these things.

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Yeah. No that's true. You can't just say well I'm not going to do anything better than. No, I mean it really depends on the situation. Of course. Of course. Of course. Yeah absolutely. Yeah.

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Lindsay So this is you know, I think this has been a really, really important topic for our listeners. Right. Because obviously an expression that you can use in your conversations. And it's also an expression that you can think about and how it applies to your life. So I think that's the takeaway for today, Lindsay.

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Definitely. And I think for all us English, we've never done a slang webinar. We've never done a Web class just focused on slang. One hundred percent native slang. So better late than never for us.

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That's right. I love it. So, Michelle, how do we find that Web class? How do we sign up the sign up?

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We'll see you. You can come either January 20th or January. Twenty third sign up is all ears, English dotcom slang.

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Yes. You guys will be able to hang out with Michelle and Aubrey and learn some new native slang. Very cool. Well, Michelle, thanks for hanging out today and on the podcast. It's been fun.

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Thank you. You too, Lindsay. Have a good day. All right. See you soon. Bye bye.

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Thanks for listening to all ears English. If you are taking Eilts this year, get your estimated band score with our two minute quiz. Go to all ears English dot com, slash my score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit. Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.