This is an All Ears English podcast episode 1910.
This episode is fan-freaking-tastic.
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Can you be creative with your English?
Abso-freaking-lutely.
Today you'll learn about infixation and why it's popular in English.
We'll teach you slang you can use to be playful and sarcastic so that you can build the connections in English that you want.
Listen in today.
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Hey Aubrey, how's it going today?
Hi Lindsay, I am great.
How are you?
Awesome.
I have a question for you.
Okay.
Maybe my favorite restaurant bakery is called Le Pain Quotidien.
It's in big cities and in Europe.
Have you ever been to that bakery restaurant?
Yes, of course.
Absolutely.
It's good stuff.
Delicious.
I love it.
I think it's fantastic.
Fantastic.
It's one of my favorites unfortunately it's not here in Phoenix so I can only go when I go to LA.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
Oh my God.
Okay.
I think at least 90% of our listeners have no idea what you just said, Aubrey.
So we are ready to get into this today.
Yes.
Right.
You may have heard that word or a similar word on TV or friends maybe have used it, but maybe not.
And so we want to share a little bit of fun slang that came up because of a listener question.
And this is also why I asked you about that particular restaurant.
The name of it is Le Pain Quotidien, which means daily bread in French.
That word quotidien means daily.
And this listener is from France, I believe, or is at least French speaking and uses that word in the question.
So I'll go ahead and read this question and then we'll dive into this very interesting topic.
All right, go for it.
All right.
This question is from Maro.
Bonjour, Lindsay, Michelle, Aubrey, Jessica.
Listening to you guys has already become a part of my quotidien life.
So in English, daily life.
If I don't listen to an episode, it's like something is missing.
I love that.
Love that.
Yes.
Could you talk about a phenomenon that I've observed just in English?
It's the insertion of a word inside another, like a freaking sum.
I think it's peculiar and amazing, like Verlan, that exists only in French.
Merci.
And this was in an Android review for the Android app.
So thank you, Maro, for reviewing us on Android.
We love that.
Yeah guys, if you don't know that we have an app, go and check out our app, allyoursenglishcom slash app, Android and iOS versions, where you can go deeper with every episode and get transcripts right in your phone for every episode.
That's so funny.
I find it hard to believe, Aubrey, that this is only happening... It only happens in English.
I
I don't know.
I would imagine other languages do it.
He mentioned Verlan, which in French, they'll invert.
That's actually l'envers, which means inverted backwards.
Okay.
And this is common in French to create slang by inverting a word.
And I'm sure that exists in other language.
I would love to know you guys come to YouTube, find this video and let us give us a comment.
Does this exist in your language?
For sure.
For sure.
Let us know, guys.
Good stuff.
So, all right.
This is a great question.
Where are we going to start here?
Where do we start?
Let's first define this phenomenon, which is called infixation.
We have affixation where we're adding different suffixes and prefixes.
Infixation is where we're inserting part of a word in the middle of a word, in the body of a word.
And it's what's called a formative element means it actually isn't just like a tiny nothing.
It kind of changes the meaning or it is important, right?
It sort of changes the whole word. usually for emphasis.
I like that expression a tiny nothing cool, i need nothing.
It's not a tiny nothing, guys.
That's why we're listening today.
Yeah, this is fun to say as a native speaker, and you guys can implement this into your language.
We're going to show you how and why.
So should we have some examples here aubry, what do you think?
Yeah, we want to make sure it's clear that these They're non-standard slang forms, but they do follow rules of English word building.
And I actually want to point out in Mojo's example, I have never heard anyone say ah, freaking some.
The ones I have heard very commonly are the ones we're going to share next.
You certainly could say that, but I don't feel like that's common among native English speakers, at least in the United States, to say, to put it in the middle of awesome.
What do you think, Lindsay?
Do you hear that?
Aw, freaking some.
I know I was going to say that also struck me, when you were reading that, as not something that I've heard or would say.
Yeah, my guess is he just sort of picked a word and stuck freaking in the middle.
The two that we have heard very commonly we're going to talk today are in absolutely and fantastic.
So, but they do follow rules.
And here's a little interesting tidbit do you watch the Simpsons, Lindsay?
I never watched the Simpsons, I know, I know of the Simpsons.
I've never gotten into it though yeah, I don't either.
I haven't like watched religiously.
But every now and then I'll see a little clip here and there I do think it's funny.
But on The Simpsons there is a lot of this infixation and a couple of the characters.
Flanders, Ned Flanders, he adds diddly in the middle of words.
He'll say like scrum diddly umptious.
And this is becoming part of our vernacular.
I hear people say that scrum diddly umptious.
That's so funny.
What does that even mean?
What does it mean when he adds diddly?
It doesn't really mean anything.
It maybe is adding a little bit of emphasis.
It's just like, it just points it as something he would say, right?
It's very much like Flanders-ism.
I like it.
I like it.
And then Homer, the man, right?
The father, Homer Simpson.
What was his kind of thing he was famous for?
He'll add ma in the middle of a word.
So instead of educational he'll say edumacational and add the syllable to a lot of different words, right?
He might say saxophone.
Okay.
So that's what this is, is infixation.
So there's kind of two ways to do this, right?
The examples we just showed you are more about personal style.
Totally.
Someone that's like your own trademark.
That's not something everyone would understand what you're saying.
But now we're going to show you things everyone says and understands.
Right, Aubrey?
Exactly.
Right.
If someone says scrumdiddlyumptious, they watch The Simpsons.
They know other people watch The Simpsons.
And it's sort of a nod to each other, right?
Yeah, it's a nod, yes.
Instead of scrumptious, delicious.
If you say scrumdiddlyumptious, anyone who watches The Simpsons might kind of be like ah.
That's pretty fun to say too, scrumdiddlyumptious.
It is fun to say.
So, but now we're going to share the ones that we hear all the time, we use all the time.
Number one is absolutely where we add freaking or the actual curse word that's very similar to that to the middle of this word.
We say abso-freaking-lutely or freaking.
Abso-freaking-lutely.
Yes, i love it on this show, guys.
Unfortunately we don't curse as a rule as our own policy, so you can imagine that you can hear it when you hear a native speaker say you know what we're talking about.
They say it all the time it's to emphasize or for humor.
A lot i will.
I don't curse very often, but this is one of the few times i would.
I would say the actual curse word there, just to be funny.
Yes, I love it.
I love it.
And what are some some kind of don't say rules?
Would you say, Aubrey?
I would just say the same with regular curse words.
You want to be aware of your audience, right?
Yeah.
If you're recording a podcast or if you're in a mixed group where there may be people who are offended by a curse word, you can say abso-frickin-lutely.
At least in the United States that's not going to be offensive to anyone.
But if you use the actual curse word, there will be people who are offended by that language.
Yeah.
So just, yeah, like you said, Aubrey, be aware who you're speaking to.
Be careful and just choose your words intelligently.
Okay.
So let's show our listeners how to do this in a small role play.
What do you think?
Yes, exactly.
Four.
Absolutely.
Lindsay, go ahead and start us out.
We're talking about going and grabbing drinks.
All right.
Hey, want to go grab a drink with me?
Abso-freaking-lutely.
This is totally something I would say because you're just emphasizing how much you want to do that.
Yeah.
And I'm imagining what would be some scenarios when you might use this as opposed to just, sure.
Well, what are we feeling?
Maybe you've had a long day at work, right?
And you really need a drink.
That's what you would say.
Or let's say, you've been doing yard work, you know, or I would imagine.
Last week I was in Los Angeles cleaning out my aunt's house with my brother.
And he and I were hauling big bags out.
At the end, he goes, oh, it's hot.
It's sticky.
We're exhausted.
Want to go get a beer?
Abso-freaking-lutely.
Let's do it.
Right?
Exactly.
You're not going to say this when you're just like, yeah, sure.
You really want to say like, absolutely.
And you add that extra...
Yes.
And it also kind of creates a nice connection, right?
Because if someone's just invited you, maybe you've shared some kind of a difficult situation difficult day at work, difficult day cleaning out a house.
And it makes them feel like, yeah, you actually want to have a beer with me.
That's cool.
Right?
Yes, absolutely.
That's such a good feeling whenever someone emphasizes how much they want to spend time with you.
Yes.
Abso-freaking-lutely you guys should do that.
These are joys of life, guys.
These are joys of life that we want you to have and be able to express so you have that connection.
So don't forget about this.
This is good stuff.
For sure.
Okay, our second one is fantastic.
And we will insert the same word and say fan-freaking-tastic.
Here's what's interesting is we often use this sarcastically, but not always.
I will sometimes use it just to say how fantastic I think something is.
But sometimes I'll use it sarcastically.
And what I mean is I do not think that is fantastic.
Okay yeah, that's interesting, right?
So this just comes back to sarcasm in american english.
So you guys can go back to aldersenglishcom and type in sarcasm.
You'll get a couple of our older episodes for sure.
So let's share in a couple of role plays what this would look like.
First of all, non-sarcastic.
You know that I've applied for a job and so you're just going to react when I tell you I got it right.
I'll start.
Yeah, just standard.
Mm-hmm.
I got the job.
That is fan-freaking-tastic.
Yes, right?
I would absolutely say that.
I would hear that.
No sarcasm there.
You're just excited I got the job, right?
Yeah, good stuff.
Good stuff.
So that's standard.
Just fun to say.
I'm sharing in your enthusiasm.
I could also obviously say that's fantastic.
And I could show my excitement by doing other things like tone of voice.
Yes, exactly.
Or add another adjective.
That's absolutely fantastic.
Right.
There's a lot of other things we could do.
We're just giving you another tool, guys, to show that enthusiasm.
Now the sarcastic way.
Yes, so in this one we're both competing to win a raffle.
Do you ever win raffles, lindsay?
I never win, never.
No, not much, not much.
Okay, so in this one we're both competing and i'm going to start ready.
I won the raffle.
Well, that's just fan freaking tastic.
We have sarcasm here because you wanted to win the raffle, but I won.
So I would totally do this.
I'd be like, well, that's fan-freaking-tastic.
Right.
Exactly.
It's the right intonation.
So that is showing a whole different set of emotions, guys.
That's showing that I'm bitter.
I'm annoyed.
I'm bothered by the fact that I didn't win and that you won.
And we'll totally use this to be playful.
So like you probably aren't really that mad whatever you don't win a raffle but you're sort of being playful about how annoyed you are that you didn't win the raffle right.
This is so native.
I do this all the time.
My friends do this all the time.
It's such a fun, playful way to build connections.
It's so fun.
So I imagine you don't play the lottery very much, Aubrey.
If you never win raffles, you probably never play the lottery, right?
I don't buy lottery tickets myself, but every now and then, like coworkers would or neighbors would, go in and buy like a whole bunch together and we never win never, never.
Never win, never win, yes.
For some reason, I think my home state has a lot of lottery winners.
I'm not sure what New Hampshire, I'm not sure what that is, why more people win the lottery from New Hampshire, but it's just something to know.
Someone just who lives just around the corner from us did win like mega billions lottery not long ago.
They didn't ever release their names, but I was like, wow.
But how did you know it was someone?
It was reported in the news, the gas station they bought the ticket from.
And so, you know, maybe they didn't live right there, but it's not really a tourist destination.
So probably probably, they live in your town.
Interesting, i always wondered what that would be like.
You know, what would you do first?
I know right, at first you'd pay taxes, which would take a bite.
Probably you'd have to hire a lawyer and hire security and do all that stuff that no one wants to do.
Yep right, and then buy a boat and live on it for a year exactly.
This is so fun, Aubrey.
What should we leave our listeners with today?
Yes, this infixation.
It is very fun and playful.
You do want to be aware of your audience when you're adding actual curse words to these words.
But for pretty much any audience, you could add freaking, freaking, right?
Sure, sure.
That's sort of adjusting the curse word.
But it makes you sound so native and natural to use this vocabulary, you guys.
Yeah, guys, you know, be fun with your word choice, guys.
Be creative, be fun, have fun speaking English, and then other people will have fun speaking with you right?
That's the key.
Exactly.
Yes.
And you want to be fun.
You want to have fun speaking English.
So glad you guys are here.
Follow if you're not.
We have lots of fun episodes where we teach you how to be fun in English.
Yeah, guys, hit follow on All Ears English right now.
Good stuff.
Aubrey, I'll see you very soon.
Have a good one.
Bye.
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