This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 1590, kicking and screaming all the way to kickball.
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Today we show you a winning expression to use when you just don't want to go somewhere.
In English
Find out how natives use it to sound more interesting today.
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Hey, Lindsay, how's it going?
Going great, Michelle.
How are you?
What's going on?
I'm good.
I'm good.
I am still at my parents.
So that is nice.
But yeah, you grew up in the suburbs, right?
I did.
Yeah, I grew up in kind of a suburban rural area, actually.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So right now you live in Denver.
Is there any chance you'd move to the suburbs one day, or would someone have to drag you kicking and screaming?
They would totally have to drive me kicking.
I've already said I will not move to the suburbs not.
The suburbs like that are so typical that all the houses look the same.
There's no cafes.
There's no interesting restaurants, no good food.
I do.
I like the city life, me too.
We're so similar in that way.
I just it's.
It's funny, because i guess i think about like aubrey and i don't know for sure what's around her area, but like she, it's like amazing, she has like this beautiful house and she lives in arizona, right and But I don't know what's around her.
And she seems to get outside a lot and do all this stuff.
But I don't know if I... I don't know.
Yeah, you can imagine.
So a lot of American summer, especially in the West, are very cookie cutter, I guess, sometimes in terms of the way they look.
A lot of strip malls, a lot of things like that.
So I don't think I could handle it, but a lot of people like it when they're raising families.
That's for sure.
Yeah yeah, i know, i think about it sometimes and i'm just like i don't know, i know, but actually then then, like aubrey inspires me again.
I this is not against aubrey, where she lives, of course.
I don't know what, i don't know what it looks like.
I actually have to ask her what, like her area is like, but she does seem to just seem to like have a nice time outside, like what nice neighborhood, things like that.
So there are definite things that are really good.
Yeah, i think the important thing is being on the same page as your partner.
Uh, with this it sounds like dan, before you've said that he's on the same page as you.
Is that right?
Yeah he, he is what We used to not be on the same page as that.
I was always city, and now he's come over to my side.
But it's kind of a bad place to be when you do want to raise a family, and you're like, oh, no.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, not to mention real estate prices.
Yeah, exactly.
Like to afford a bigger place and to afford you know.
So like it definitely makes more sense to move out to the suburbs.
But it's like, I don't want to do it.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't want to either.
Yeah, I mean, Denver, there's a lot of drawbacks to living in the city.
I live in the city, city in Denver, but not downtown Denver.
No one wants to live in downtown Denver.
It's not very nice.
But even just my neighborhood is an extension of downtown, but there are houses, right?
I was in the park the other day and I was like I love Denver, this neighborhood, because it was such a weird mix of people, you know, like every kind of person was in the park that day.
Whereas I feel like in the suburbs, there's less variety.
It's the variety that I love.
Yeah oh, me too.
Oh my gosh, i love it.
So i don't have that much space, but i have a lot of variety.
But we'll see.
If i have to sacrifice for for space, we'll see.
Um, so i mean, so we use this expression.
I said, would someone have to drag you, kicking and screaming?
Well, that sounds a little intense.
That does sound intense and dangerous.
So it does sound.
It sounds violent, very violent.
I mean it's a strong expression but guys, it doesn't really mean that someone is actually kicking and screaming, like if you have this vision of Lindsay, like kicking and screaming and going to the house and whatever, like no, I mean, This is more of an expression used to say it's something you really don't want to do.
Like you might do it, but you're not going to be happy about it.
You might complain or you just might refuse altogether.
Right, Lindsay?
Exactly.
And a super native expression for you guys today.
So write this one down.
You absolutely should be using the app so you can save this in your personalized list.
But guys, go and get your fluency score before we go any further in today's episode.
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Right, Michelle?
So good to know where we're at.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Know your base.
Like, where are you right now?
And then you can know how to continue on your journey.
Yeah.
So go to allersenglish.com slash fluency score.
So, Michelle, let's get some more examples for this expression kicking and screaming.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
So I mean.
A lot of times you use this to talk about where to live, like so, in our example, about the suburbs.
Or you could say something like oh, I love living in California.
You'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to get me to move.
Yeah, I think people are saying that less and less nowadays about California.
Yeah, that's true.
Actually, a lot of people are leaving California right now.
There's a massive exodus out of California, especially after the pandemic.
You know people are a lot of workplaces in Silicon Valley are not requiring people to be in California.
So they're moving to places like Arizona, actually Nevada, Texas, Austin, Texas is really hot.
Yeah.
You know, that's interesting.
So it used to be that everyone was California is the dream life.
But I do think that's changing because taxes are insane.
Traffic is awful.
Pollution.
There's just a lot of reasons.
There are things that people aren't putting up with that they used to, because there's a lot more flexibility in where you can work.
So it's a lot different.
I mean, same thing.
A lot of the same stuff is going on with New York.
So it'll be interesting to see what's going on, what happens in like the next years.
Yeah, that is happening in New York too.
But I think people are going to come back to New York.
I think New York is a more – maybe I'm biased just because I love it and I live there.
But like I just think it has a very special –
There's something very special about New York that LA doesn't have and California doesn't have.
In my mind,
But we'll see.
I love I mean, I love New York.
And I think you know, with everything that's happened, I I just walk around and I'm like no, this is still great.
Like amazing.
It's amazing.
It's the best.
It really is.
So anyway, or what's another time you might use this?
Okay, so you could say talking about starting something new, right, Michelle?
Yeah.
So like going to the gym or running?
We talk about this.
I'm okay with running, but you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to a gym.
So you're saying that you would run outside?
Right, right, right.
Like some people hate actually going to a gym.
They prefer to be running outside and doing different things.
I'm...
Kind of like that.
Not with the running.
No, I don't want to run.
I'm a terrible runner, but I don't necessarily like the typical gym experience.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, it's not so good.
It's not so good.
What's another example?
All right, well, let's say you're talking about trying to get someone to do something.
So something like this.
I thought he'd want to go to the party, but I had to drag him there kicking and screaming.
So this could be about an adult, right?
You know...
And it could be like, oh, I got invited to this party.
I thought Dan would want to go, but I had to drag him there kicking and screaming.
It's like he didn't want to go.
But if it is about a kid it might be more literal, like hopefully not the dragging, but the screaming and the kicking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I remember when I was a kid, my brother used to throw a lot of fits.
Right.
When we were going on vacation, he used to just like get really angry and start screaming and he didn't want to go on this tour or that thing.
Yeah.
So that's an example.
Yeah.
With kids, it's sometimes sometimes actually literal.
Yeah, it's more literal, right?
So, I mean, and you can use this to talk about yourself or about someone else.
So, like, if you said you'd have to – well, sorry, this is another point.
So you can say like oh, you'll have to drag me there kicking and screaming, or I had to drag him there kicking and screaming.
So –
And let's say you'd say you'd have to drag me or you'll have to drag me.
It's more hypothetical, like a way to refuse something in a dramatic way.
So if I say oh, I had to drag her there kicking and screaming, it's like we went, but she didn't want to.
But if I'd say like you'd have to or you'll have to, it's like more hypothetical.
Right.
Yeah, like you've just invited me.
I guess I could go, but you'd have to drag me, right?
And then I may uninvite you or something.
Exactly.
I mean this is very useful and it's so much more interesting than saying oh, I really don't want to do that or there's no way I'm doing that.
It's just, it's very, very, I don't know.
It's very... visual and it gives a lot of images and it's way more diverse.
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Yeah.
And also it's a little bit sounds a little bit young to just say I don't want to go.
Right.
Or rude or direct or something about that.
For some reason it doesn't come off well if you just say I don't want to go or I don't want to do this.
And this one has like a tiny bit of like a sense of humor, I think.
Yeah, I agree.
It's a little fun, a little playful.
So, all right, let's do a role play.
Let's do it.
So here we're sisters.
Okay, come on, Michelle.
I really want you to take this dance class with me.
Oh man Lindsay, you know I love to dance, but you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to a formal class.
They're so expensive.
OK, so here the issue is the price because the class is too expensive, right?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So it's like oh, I like this, but I don't go to really spend money on it, on classes or anything like that.
Exactly.
Okay.
Or in this one, we're friends.
Okay.
How was your weekend?
It was fine, but I had to drag my niece kicking and screaming to get her haircut.
Okay.
So it could be that my niece is young and this was literal, literally, right?
But it also could be that my niece is a teenager and she just was making rude comments and being an annoying teenager.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So very, you know, it could mean a lot of different things.
You really have to kind of tell from the context.
But yeah, it can be more literal or it can just be, you know, more metaphorical, I guess.
Yeah, I mean, this is a really good.
You know, this entire episode today is just about this phrase, which is great because we like to hone in on just one phrase for you guys, right.
Yeah, and we're really getting, we really got deep into this.
Today, I feel like I do use this expression pretty frequently.
And I do feel like it kind of helps show my personality.
And you don't necessarily always...
I don't know.
I don't know that I use it in a very serious way.
Like, oh, you'll have to drag me there, kicking and... Like, I don't think that I really use it.
I think I use it to show maybe a little sarcasm, a little bit of spunk and sass.
And like, it's kind of fun.
Our favorite word, spunk and sass.
Spunk and sass.
That's so good.
Has anyone had to drag you kicking and screaming?
Had to encourage you to do something lately?
Anything?
I guess...
You know, things have been so different with the pandemic, but I guess this isn't the same thing necessarily, but it's just about, like you know, starting to do more things and to like I'm almost dragging myself, kicking and screaming.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you know, like to like get more comfortable with doing certain things and just like being more out in the open and like getting that back into society.
Yeah.
What is an example Michelle, nowadays of like a risk that you're taking now that you weren't taking in January in terms of life with the pandemic?
Yeah well, I think you know some things with my son, because I get very worried about him, because you know you can't get vaccinated.
So just like putting a mask on him and saying like okay, we are going to the playground, we are going to take like we took a ferry the other day.
We also.
Oh, we actually went.
I mean it was all outdoors, but It was.
We went on some carnival rides with him at the beach and, like you know, it's outside things that they say are OK, wears a mask, things like that.
So these are things that in the past I you would have had to drag me there kicking and screaming.
So, but it helps me to do like more, and then i start to feel more comfortable and say like okay, i'm taking the proper precautions and you know, knock on wood, it's okay.
I mean, what about you, lindsay?
Uh yeah, I think so.
We've all lived in this pandemic a little bit differently.
You know what I mean?
I've always kind of been going into grocery stores with a mask, of course, and social distancing.
I've been going into shops a little bit, not small shops.
I avoid the small shops.
But lately, we joined a kickball league.
And I kind of went into that kicking and screaming a little bit just because I
I don't know the rules.
And what if I met just a little bit of typical apprehension, right?
It's funny that you use that expression to kicking and screaming about.
Oh, my God, that's so good.
It's all coming together, Michelle.
Exactly.
Well, that's good that you're trying it.
Yeah, it's good i gotta get out, gotta meet people in denver, gotta do it.
But you know, anything that kind of sometimes like i don't what if i run to the wrong base or something, i don't know.
There are little things that i worry about, sometimes looking silly, so that's okay, yeah.
Yeah, i mean, do you think this expression is ever too dramatic?
Or i mean, should we ever not use it?
I guess you know it's not very serious.
So if there's a very serious situation that deserves a lot of respect, I guess I might avoid it.
It's kind of lighthearted, don't you think?
Yeah, I think it is lighthearted.
It's, like, interesting because it's direct.
Like, it sounds so serious.
And it sounds like so direct.
But it is kind of lighthearted to just be able to express something that you don't want to do or you didn't want to do.
So interesting.
But, yeah, I wouldn't say, like, oh, like, you would have to –
I don't... Oh, my gosh.
I was going to think of something.
I don't know.
I'm trying to think of when it really wouldn't be appropriate.
Like...
Like if it like, like if you're talking, I mean if you're like if it's offensive to say that you're not going to go to something, like if I, if my nephew asks me like oh, will you come to my concert?
And I say you have to drag me there kicking and screaming like that.
That wouldn't be very nice.
Right.
Of course.
Of course.
If it's a formal invitation and you're showing don't.
So just be careful.
But I think 90% of situations are great for this.
It's fine.
We got to be lighthearted and have fun.
Show our preferences.
Right, Michelle?
Exactly.
Exactly.
So this is super good.
So guys, this is a really good expression that you can use in your conversations.
And it's very fluent, sounds very fun and lighthearted.
So guys remember, go on over to allearsenglishcom.
Slash fluency score.
Take our super short quiz, get your baseline, where are you right now?
And then get resources for your level.
Good.
I love it.
And guys remember, write this expression down, write it in your notebook or, if you are in the app, you would be able to see it right in your personal power list.
To save it right there.
But come back and review it every couple of weeks and remember it.
Think about situations where you could use it.
Right, Michelle?
Awesome.
Yes, exactly.
This is a good one.
This has been a lot of fun, Lindsay.
And yeah, I hope you have a great day.
All right.
Take care.
Talk soon.
Bye.
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