This is an all ears English podcast.
Episode 2585 beat the light.
How to connect over risky driving in English.
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That's allearsenglish.com slash f l u e n c y s c o r e. Hey there, Aubrey.
Hi, how are you, Lindsay?
Good.
I was wondering, what kind of driver are you, Aubrey?
Are you an aggressive driver?
Are you a tentative driver?
I am an aggressive driver.
In fact, this is funny.
Just yesterday, I sort of pulled out in front of someone and they were so mad.
They were flipping me off and yelling.
Because I'm used to the Tesla speeds up very fast.
It's very fast.
So I can sort of pull out and quickly go.
And I forgot that I was not in the Tesla.
I was in my mom SUV and I pulled out and it just isn't as fast.
But it was one of those where I was turning right and someone else was turning right into the the street that I was turning out of.
So the person behind them had to slow down and break anyway.
So I was kind of good to go.
They must have like floored it to get behind me to let me know how mad they were.
But scary.
So that person is definitely more aggressive than I am, but I am a pretty aggressive driver.
Pretty aggressive.
That's good to know.
That's interesting.
I wouldn't have thought that, but I like that.
So today's episode was inspired by a role play in episode 2550, just about 30 episodes back.
What did I say in that role play, Aubrey?
Yes, you said I shouldn't have tried to make the light.
This was a really fun role play.
Lindsay and I had to act.
We were pretending we had been in a car accident and I was very angry.
So if you missed that role play, you'll have to go check it out after this episode.
But we realized that phrase make the light and a lot of phrases like that that we use with driving are really interesting.
So we're going to cover some of those today.
Yeah.
I mean, I wonder if our listeners were confused by that, right?
Make the light.
Do I mean construct a new light that's going to hang in the street?
That's what you would think that means, right?
What are you making?
Right.
What are we making today?
Because usually make and do are very clear, right?
Right.
Make the light.
So today we're going into some good idiomatic language.
But before we get into it, Aubrey, what is the number one way to consume this show?
Yes, on the app.
If you don't have it yet, go to allersenglish.com app.
It's the best way to listen to the podcast.
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And for premium users, you get transcripts, keywords that we have highlighted.
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It really is the best way to listen.
Yep, exactly.
Yeah, you won't hear any ads on there from outside companies.
So, you know, go over there and listen, become a premium member.
You do get a seven day free trial where you will see how cool it is to have the transcripts, because we know you're learning a lot from this show.
I've talked to we've talked to a lot of listeners just in the last week or so, Aubrey.
And we know people are learning.
But watching transcripts go by on your screen as you're learning would bring it to the next level.
Absolutely.
Good.
Yeah.
So go check it out, guys.
If you don't have the app yet, download it today.
Good.
Okay, cool.
So first one would be traffic lights and timing is our first category.
So tell us about this.
Yeah.
So we have a few sort of buckets today, and this is the first one, timing traffic lights.
With that first phrase, make the light.
So this means to get through a stoplight before it turns red.
So often someone will speed up a little bit to get through if it's yellow or about to change, right?
So they can make the light.
Make the light.
So you could say we barely made the light, meaning you basically went through it.
Yeah.
When it was yellow, probably.
Exactly.
Like you just barely got through it in time without having to stop.
Right.
Yeah.
Or the accident was caused by someone trying to make the light.
That happens a lot where someone's trying to get through the light.
The other traffic coming from the other way hits that car.
True.
I don't know why I still do this, but I still do it.
Every time I go through a yellow light, I still kiss the ceiling.
Like I kiss my hand and kiss it.
I don't even know where it came from.
I don't even know if it's religious or what it even is, but I do it.
I started doing it when I was a teenager.
Do your parents do that?
No, no one else does it.
No friends do it.
I'm just the only one that does it.
It's like throwing salt over your shoulder.
It's like a superstition.
Yeah, it's a superstition.
I don't even, it's just weird how we, these little personal habits of our personalities, they stick.
I love that.
That's a fun quirk.
I can't stop doing it.
So there you go.
All right.
What would be the next one I'll bring?
Yeah.
So this has a very similar meaning, beat the light.
So we try to make the light.
We try to beat the light to speed up, to try and get through the light without having to stop.
Yes, exactly.
So you could say he sped up again, the past tense of speed up is sped up guys, right?
He sped up and beat the light by just a second.
Or he tried to beat the light and got a photo radar ticket for running it.
I don't know about where you live.
There are so many photo radar cameras where we live now.
If someone runs the light, then they're likely to get a ticket in the mail.
It It just used to be so easy.
You just had to get one of those radar detectors.
We had those when I was growing up.
I don't know if you had those.
They would sit on your dashboard and it would detect.
Did you have a radar detector?
Oh, yeah.
Everyone in my family had them.
We all did.
I think it was like a New Hampshire thing.
I don't know.
Live free or die state, right?
Like you get your radar detector and it would just go beep like crazy when there was a cop sitting there ready to get you.
But now it's just so much more complicated, right?
There are cameras above us, there are like helicopters that will take your photo of your license plate.
It's a lot going on which is safer for us.
Right, it's forcing cars to drive more safely.
But yeah, you can't get away with what you could in the 90s.
I miss the 90s.
Yeah um, and then hit every red light.
Do you feel like this happens to you sometimes, always if i'm in a hurry?
Yes yes, so this is.
You know.
It really means to like have to stop at every stoplight because it's turning red right before you get there.
But it's interesting.
We use this sometimes idiomatically to just mean I'm having bad timing.
Things are not going well.
You know you could be talking about life in general, be like it's like I'm hitting every red light.
Right.
Like you're in a cycle of things that are stopping you or preventing your success.
Yeah.
Nothing's going your way.
Yeah.
And I love that idea of using this as kind of an analogy in life.
You could, I've never done it, but you could do it, right?
You could.
It's like, yeah, I'm just trying to get things done, but I'm hitting every red light this week.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So here's some examples.
I hit every red light on the way here.
This is hit is an interesting verb where it's the same in present and the past participle.
So I hit every red light on the way here.
I love that.
So good.
Yes.
Or you could just say, seems like I always hit every red light.
So we don't know whether that's metaphorical or whether that's literal, but most of the time it is literal.
But yeah, it could be metaphorical.
Really cool.
Then speed and flow, right?
Tell us about this.
Yeah.
So there are a few other things we say, and it's more about the speed and flow of traffic.
So floor it means to accelerate really hard, sort of all of a sudden.
So you might say floor it or we'll miss the exit.
Like you have to get around a car to exit off the freeway.
Yeah.
Or I need to floor it to pass this car.
Right.
And some cars that don't have as much horsepower.
Maybe, like the car you're talking about, you would need to floor it to get past a car.
Right.
Exactly.
Right.
So, yeah, that just you can say speed up.
Right.
But floor it means like you are pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to the base or all the way to the floor.
It's also more fun to say than speed up.
Come on, floor it.
Guys, we don't endorse speeding.
Don't get the wrong idea.
Don't get speeding tickets and blame us.
Those antics in New Hampshire with my radar detector were when I was 17.
Okay.
I'm much older and smarter now.
Yeah.
And I'm curious if this one was popular where you grew up.
If you're used to this one, Lindsay, this means the same thing as floor it.
We would say gun it.
And that means also to accelerate suddenly.
Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
You'd say that you could say that to someone.
Come on, gun it like let's get in the left lane.
I know there's a big misunderstanding here Aubrey, because from what I understand since I moved to the West, apparently the left lane is not a driving lane.
But I think in the in the east, I think more people just drive in the left lane.
Yes, we have mentioned this on the podcast.
It's really funny because in the West, the left lane is a passing lane.
If you are not passing, get out of the left lane.
I got teased by my family my in-laws when I moved here because I was just hanging out in the left lane just driving faster than other people.
As long as you're faster than the flow of traffic.
But in the West, I think we've got a lot of cowboys out here.
Like someone will come up behind me going...
120, and if i'm in the left lane they're gonna be mad because they're risking the ticket, the speeding ticket, to go.
That yeah, you do not want to be in front of someone in a truck driving super fast like that in the us, that's for sure.
Um good, so gonna is a good one.
These are both quite informal, right and kind of fun.
But you of course could say yo, let's speed it up right, maybe totally.
If you're running like a driver's ed class and you're trying to tell the kid to go faster, you probably don't say gun it.
Don't say gun it.
You don't want driving students to floor it or gun it, right?
Definitely not.
Here's a couple examples.
He gunned it when the light turned yellow or I gunned it to get ahead of the truck.
And all that means is I sped up quickly, abruptly.
Perfect.
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Okay, Aubrey, let's do a role play.
So here we are driving to an appointment.
Yes.
All right.
Want to start us out?
Yeah.
Oh, we're already late.
I know.
Floor it and try to make the light.
Sorry, couldn't make it.
Oh man, you could have beat that light.
The other day I gunned it and tried to make a light and I got a photo radar ticket for running it.
Not worth it.
Now we're going to be late for sure.
I know, we'll probably hit every red light.
Better than getting pulled over though.
Yeah, that's the worst, when you have someone in your car who's kind of bullying you to take more chances.
I don't like that at all.
I don't, you're like not liking your persona in this role play.
And you wouldn't do that.
That's good.
I don't like that either.
No no, I don't like that, because I feel like when we're kids and we're learning to drive, we probably take silly risks.
But then we get older, we get smarter, like you know.
Yeah, once we've gotten a few tickets, we're gun shy.
That's an interesting idiom.
It means we like don't dare do it, we're not willing to risk the consequences.
No, absolutely not.
Yeah, you get, i think you your prefrontal cortex comes in fully right, it's fully developed, and we realize that's not worth it.
Yeah for sure, all right.
So you said, i said oh, we're already late.
And you said i know you're driving right and Um, and then I say come on floor it and try to make the light.
So I'm pushing you.
I'm telling me to speed up floor it.
And like, you know, the light just turned yellow.
And you're telling me to try and get through the light, try to beat the light, make the light.
And I don't.
I break.
I stop.
And I'm like, sorry, I couldn't make it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I said, oh, man, you could have beat that light.
I'm still pressuring you.
Yeah.
Well, now you're criticizing me.
Right.
I've stopped.
There's nothing I could do.
And now you're like you could have beat that light or you could have made that light would mean like you should have gone through the yellow light.
We call this a backseat driver too.
Totally.
Even though it's more often in shotgun, right?
It's the person right next to me that's backseat driving usually.
Yep.
Yep.
Totally.
And then what did you say?
And I said, no, the other day I gunned it and tried to make a light and I got a photo radar ticket.
So that means I did what she was telling me to do, right?
I sped up. got through a light just barely, but the photo radar determined that I ran that light.
I like should have stopped.
And it's always good when you, it's always helpful when you have someone like this kind of pressuring you and wanting you to do something.
If you have a direct story, Totally.
Of how you did the thing and then this is what happened, right?
Even if that had happened years before, I'd be like, one time.
Say yesterday.
Say the other day.
Right.
I agree.
And then I said, oh, now we're going to be late for sure.
So I'm still giving you a hard time.
Right.
And I said, we'll probably hit every red light.
Better than getting pulled over though.
Okay.
Fantastic.
Fantastic.
Really good stuff today.
I mean, we know that car culture is really important in American culture, right?
We've done episodes this winter and spring quite a bit.
I think Michelle and I did a few.
A series.
It was like a three-part series.
It's so true.
We talk about cars and driving a lot in the United States.
A lot because we spend a lot of time in our cars, right?
And so listen to this episode again, especially if you're living in the US, because these are going to come up right.
For sure.
Aubrey, what's another episode to go to?
Yeah, check out 2580.
It was avoid sorrow, worry, and fear with these tips.
We had a student ask about the difference between those words.
That was an interesting episode.
Don't miss it.
Yeah, I love it.
And what's our final takeaway for today?
Where should we leave our listeners?
Don't run red lights.
It's not worth getting in an accident or getting a speeding ticket, right?
But this is great vocab.
We do talk about this.
You want these phrases to be able to discuss this.
Yeah.
And I'm not sure if we mentioned this on the car culture episodes in that series.
But another great connection topic that you could open up is asking people about their driver's tests, right?
In the US, most people take a driver's test when they're 16, or maybe 15, and get their driver's license.
It's a big day for people in the U.S.
Totally.
Right.
So opening up that experience.
What was your test like?
Did you have to parallel park?
You know, did you pass the first time?
Questions there could open up memories of high school and could get you on like on track for connection.
And that's the goal.
Doesn't matter if the topic changes to something else after that.
You're connecting.
What a fun jumping off or what you asked me in the beginning here.
Ask someone how aggressive of a driver they is.
That's always a fun conversation.
Yes.
Love it.
So good.
All right.
Great stuff today, guys.
Don't forget to go over and get the app.
So you see the transcripts for today.
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Oh, this is a Saturday episode, is it?
No, it's not.
Nope.
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All right.
All right.
Aubrey, see you next time.
Yes.
See you guys next time.
Bye.
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