This is an All Ears English podcast episode 1421.
Don't poke the bear and let sleeping dogs lie.
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Are you a person that has an easy time letting things go?
Today, get three English idioms to say that you want to leave something behind and let it go.
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Hey, Jessica, how's it going?
It's going great.
I had a lovely weekend.
How about you?
Yeah well, I worked a lot this weekend preparing our business English course, but I mean we are recording this way in advance.
So we're recording this in early July and it's already the end of August.
So I'd rather think about-
Where I'll be at this time.
I mean, I'll be coming off of a vacation, right to the Pacific Northwest and feeling good.
And you'll be on vacation around this time, I think, right?
Yeah, I'm taking my August vacation like the Europeans do.
I'm gonna take a couple weeks go on a really long camping trip.
Yes.
So excited.
And what's great is I actually have time to prepare before the camping trip because you know how sometimes, like you, work up until the very moment you're going to take a vacation.
I know that.
And then it's just it's stressful.
Right.
So I like enjoying the preparation process as well.
Yeah, it becomes really stressful, but it is the best thing.
I mean, this is the summer for road trips, clearly.
So a lot of road trips.
And I just love road trips.
You know, I'm bummed that, you know, we were planning a trip to Egypt in the spring.
We didn't get to go.
And I'm bummed about that.
But road trips are great.
And there's so much to explore in our country.
Oh my gosh.
And that's the big push here in America now, guys, like all the commercials we see on Hulu.
It's all about how like, buy a car for road trips, get car insurance for road trips because, like they know that nobody's flying right now.
So like all the car companies are like, now's our chance.
Yeah.
Yeah, there was also an interesting article in the New York Times last week about how in vogue this whole concept of van life is right now.
I'm sure you've heard of that, right?
It's hilarious.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
I've seen people like hashtag van life on different things.
Yes, yes.
Yes, and it's so in style to get a van and deck it out, put a kitchen in it, put a bed in it.
People are spending a lot of money to do this.
So much money.
In some ways, you just get a camper.
I know.
And there are the cutest campers.
I posted –
Oh, Ozzy wants to go camping.
Ozzy.
I posted a picture on Instagram a couple weeks ago with a camper that we walk past all the time in this neighborhood.
And it's like my dream.
I want to like buy a camper like that and just take road trips everywhere.
I know.
I love the American West.
I absolutely love it.
I mean, Utah to me is just... It's so mysterious.
It's so vast.
Yes.
Something about it is... I don't know.
It just hits me in a certain way.
I don't know what it is.
The landscape out there.
Unbelievable.
Well, the area out here, out west guys, and you could see this if you're in the connected communicator.
I think so much of what we're talking about is in that amazing course.
But yeah um, like even the state i grew up in and we will get to the vocabulary soon guys, three idioms but before we get to that, The state that I grew up in Nevada, it's something crazy like 90 federal land or something.
So like most of the state is open, like no people.
Like, it's so weird thinking that there's that much open space anywhere.
Yeah, I mean, on the East Coast, I wasn't used to that at all.
You know, I mean, there's no open space on the East Coast, really.
And if there is, it's just trees, a lot of trees.
You can't really see where you are.
It's just crowded with vegetation.
Not like Nevada.
It's all desert.
Okay.
So, Lindsay, what are we talking about today?
All right.
Well, we're talking about this idea of kind of letting things go.
I'm realizing as I get older there's a lot of things I could worry about or put up a fight about, I guess.
But it's just healthier on your mind and body to just let it go sometimes.
What do you think?
Completely.
I like reading – you know how they have articles about, like if somebody turns, you know 100 in your area.
There's like a special interview with them or something.
Oh.
Because a lot of these people have similar like advice, right?
They're like, I love being old.
You know, like I don't worry about things anymore.
I don't care what people think.
I don't worry about like solving everybody's problems or whatever.
And it just sounds so peaceful past a certain age.
Yeah, that's so true.
It makes me think of kind of the decade.
I think once someone explained this to me that typically I don't know if this is true for everyone, but a lot of people go through this sequence where in the 20s they're kind of wild and maybe traveling or just sowing your wild oats.
In your 30s you're career focused and you're kind of uptight and you know, maybe trying to have a family and everything is so intense, whereas a lot of people in their 40s they say kind of chill out, like really chill out, and kind of let go at that point and they're like i don't care what people think of me, you know totally, which is great.
I think we should all strive to feel that way as soon as possible.
Um okay, So we're going to give you guys some great vocabulary to describe behaving like this right.
So the first one sounds very smart.
Like the word bygones is a very pretty word, very impressive.
So the phrase is, let bygones be bygones.
So for example...
Um, if I see, I don't know if I see a friend that I haven't seen in a long time, and and they come up to me and they're like, Oh my gosh, I remember that you and Velma.
That's a great name.
I don't know, just from Scooby Doo.
Okay, so she's like, you and Velma used to hate each other.
Do you guys still?
Do you guys still argue or something?
And I'm like, I don't care.
Let bygones be bygones.
So it's talking about, like something you may have been angry about in the past and you really just don't care about it anymore.
Yeah.
And this is I feel like this is usually directed towards a person like you said like maybe some kind of personality disagreement or something like that.
Would you agree?
I mean, your example.
Right.
So, whereas the next one water under the bridge, I don't know if that's necessarily directed at like a disagreement between people.
What do you think?
It could be.
I think it's very much synonymous with let bygones be bygones.
So if we describe something as water under the bridge, again it's just like it's a problem or an issue, or maybe like a negative thing that happened that you don't feel angry about anymore.
I think it's like this idea of like if you imagine right, that your feelings are the water and on one side of the bridge they're very angry and then they go on to the bridge and you don't care anymore.
It's like time moves and you get better.
Mm-hmm.
That's interesting.
It's also the name of a song by Adele, which I like that song.
I love Adele.
She's great.
She's great.
But I think it doesn't have to be about someone, right?
Could also just be about a missed opportunity.
I like the term sunk cost.
Do you know that term sunk cost?
No, that sounds very businessy.
Yeah, it's very businessy.
It's like if you invest in a project and then all of a sudden you've invested a ton of money and you realize it's just not going to work.
You have to recognize sunk costs and move on before you invest more money and get further into the sinking.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
That is, that's serious.
There's serious consequences to that phrase.
There could be, there could be, but it kind of, it's sort of the same idea.
Like we need to move on.
We need to like tie, you know, just move on and let it go in a sense.
So I like that.
So good.
And guys, neither Lindsay and I are going to sing the song, Let It Go.
No, we're not.
Unfortunately not.
But listeners, feel free to pause and just belt that tune out loud if you have a little kid in your life that loves Frozen.
Were you talking about the Frozen song?
Yeah, my niece loved that for a while.
She went through a phase, a Frozen phase, so glad that's over.
Okay yeah, that's frozen, is wonder water under the bridge for me summertime?
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So go to allearsenglish.com slash connection.
Okay, so the last one, guys, this last idiom is a little bit different.
It is related, though.
So the phrase to let sleeping dogs lie.
And that just means like, don't cause problems if you don't have to, right?
Like, so, I mean, you can understand it just by picturing the idiom.
Like if a dog is sleeping, don't go poke it and wake it up and make it angry.
It's the same idea, right?
So the most immediate thing Lindsay and I thought of to give you guys an example was We.
Everybody has people in their family with different political views.
And we know, just don't bring it up, right?
So I'm not gonna like go into a room with family and be like come up with the latest scientific research that will make them angry or whatever.
I'm just not going to talk about it.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
It's easy to say now, but it's going to get more and more challenging as we get closer to November.
It's going to be a tough season, especially now because the stakes are so high.
But anyways, that's it.
And, by the way, I do want to add like a bonus here, because it also made me think of the phrase don't poke the bear.
Right.
That expression.
And I think this one's slightly different.
This is fun just because in this case, the bear is potentially an aggressive, angry person.
Right.
It's a little different from let sleeping dogs lie.
I feel like it's more of a that person could be aggressive or angry towards you.
Right.
It's more extreme.
Yeah, totally.
I mean, just compare the animals, dogs and bears.
I think that lets us know the different connotation.
Just don't make animals angry or the people around you.
So that's the lesson.
I will keep that in mind this weekend on my camping trip, because there are definitely bears where we're going camping.
So be careful.
James and I went to an army surplus store a couple weeks ago and we got this like lock box and you could use it to put food in as like a bear box when you're camping.
Oh yeah, that's a good point.
I'm going to check and make sure we have one of the.
I mean normally when you camp in Colorado they have those in the campsites.
But are you going to like a remote site on your own?
Yeah.
Okay.
So you need that.
Yeah.
Even in your car, like you're not supposed to leave food in your car.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, that's crazy.
I mean, I think if it's in the lockbox in your car, I would imagine it's okay.
But just out in your car, they'll come and like, yeah.
Yeah.
So no, I love my car.
Okay, I need to put some I need to think about how to do a little research.
Bear proof our food.
It's cool.
Like I said, I'm gonna have time to do that.
Right.
So you will have time.
That's fantastic, and i mean, maybe we'll actually let our listeners know about connected communicator, because this episode reminds me of the horse or bear lesson in connected communicator more than anything.
Jessica yes, there's um, there's a and a horsey humor.
Um, that was that one.
That was.
That was that.
You're right, that was the official name of it.
What was that about Lindsay and her?
What was your friend's name?
Allie.
Lindsay and Allie had an experience involving some animals and some terrifying thoughts.
And it's scary, but then it turns out really funny.
And it's this great lesson about humor.
And that is also something that as a non-native speaker, we know is difficult.
How do you get into another culture's humor?
Because it's not just about vocab, right?
Definitely.
It's huge.
So guys, get into that course so you can experience that lesson.
It was so funny.
And throughout the entire trip, my trip around the United States, my 12000 mile trip.
I was definitely afraid of bears the entire time.
And you will understand that as you go through the course.
And like we were saying, right now is a perfect time for a road trip.
And you could take a road trip online with us.
So cool.
So cool.
So cool.
All right, guys.
So to get into that course, go to allearsenglish.com slash connection.
Awesome.
All right.
Very cool.
Okay, Jessica.
All right.
Enjoy your trip.
Have fun.
It sounds awesome.
You too.
All right.
Talk to you soon.
All right.
Bye.
Bye.
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