This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2111.
You okay?
How to text a friend during intense weather.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become a 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, USA.
To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app.
For iOS and Android, start your seven-day free trial at allyoursenglish.com forward slash app.
Have you ever gotten caught in a hurricane?
Have you had major flooding in your city?
Today, find out how to write a text message in English to check in on your friend who is in the middle of a storm.
This Black Friday, stop piecing together random TikToks and YouTube videos that don't lead anywhere.
Join our 2026 English Mastery Bundle, a complete 9-12 month curriculum designed for goal-oriented learners like you.
You'll follow a clear, structured path from intermediate to high intermediate and even to advanced fluency, with every course flowing naturally into the next.
No gaps, no guesswork.
No searching for extra resources.
Plus, you'll get live speaking practice, community, and teacher support.
It's a done-for-you plan.
Everything you need in one place.
All unlocked with a single, one-time investment.
This Black Friday only.
Build your English for the long term.
Start today.
Go to allersenglish.com slash blackfriday to save 50% off the normal price.
Expires at midnight on Friday. allersenglish.com slash B-L-A-C-K-F-R-I-D-A-Y.
Hey there, Michelle, what's going on?
Hey, Lindsay, not too much.
How are you?
I'm feeling good.
I'm feeling good.
Getting into the holidays here at All Ears English.
So I don't know, the new year's coming up.
Oh my gosh, it's going to be 2024 soon.
Crazy. maybe there's going to be a lot of snow, maybe a snowstorm, you never know.
Yeah.
Do you ever have?
Have you ever had like a friend who has been maybe in some sort of weather, bad weather situation?
Or, you know, maybe someone was in a hurricane, the snowstorm, and you need to check in on them?
A hundred percent, Michelle.
Yeah, for sure.
It's, it's happened a lot.
We've been having more and more kind of natural disasters due to climate change and in the US and all over the world.
So we're doing this more and more now.
Yeah.
Yep, yep, yep.
I mean recently.
There's been a lot of things going on with the environment, like a lot of hurricanes floods, what was happening in Hawaii?
I mean, we've had earthquakes, terrible things.
But in September there was a lot of rain and flooding in New York and there were pictures of all this water coming into the subway stations.
Do you remember that?
Were you in the subway at that time?
No.
Oh, no, no, no.
I remember that. that.
Yeah, no, no, no, I wasn't in the subway.
But I did have to walk my son to school.
And he only goes, it's just a short walk.
And it was very difficult.
My friend sent me a picture of her feet deep in water when she was walking.
I couldn't believe it.
And my son's school closed early.
And you know when, when you get that big news, that big weather news, people tend to check in on each other right?
Right, for sure.
I mean, the biggest one that stands out in my mind, feel i feel like on the northeast, was hurricane sandy back in 2013-14.
That was huge.
But seeing those photos just in september of the subway, it's just so dirty, right all the water that comes up and people are trudging.
Trudging is a good bonus word for today.
Judging i like judging, just kind of moving our feet in a glorious way um scary, crazy stuff going on.
Yeah yes exactly, exactly.
So do you tend to keep up to date on what's going on?
In these situations, like if you have a friend who you know is one of these places, do you tend to try and be involved or say something?
Or yeah sometimes yeah yeah, i try to as much as i can.
I try to uh, sometimes i miss things uh, but i do my best.
What about you, michelle?
Yeah, i try to.
I mean, i remember recently um, because my, A lot of my family lives in Florida and I remember there was a hurricane and I was messaging with my cousin and you know, and Dan was messaging my aunt, and just you know, to make sure.
So that was some of the inspiration because for this episode, because this is a huge point of connection, guys.
It shows people you care.
Oh, my gosh.
Yes.
And you want to make sure that's clear.
And of course, you do care.
Right.
So you want to make sure they're physically.
Yes.
It shows them that you're connected, that you're thinking about them.
It's never the wrong thing to do to send that message.
That's what I would say, right?
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
All right.
So guys, we are going to ask you to go ahead.
Don't forget and hit follow, right?
Hit follow on this show.
I mean, the new year's coming.
You want to build your listening queue on your podcast and Allers English should be a part of that to make sure you go and get our show four days a week.
Hit that follow button wherever you listen.
And Michelle, should our listeners go back and check out any past episodes?
Yes.
Well, just recently we did 2099 was how to switch topics like a pro for better connection.
So that can help you out with today too, because you want to be able to maybe bring something up and maybe change the subject, and you have to really do that for connection.
So good stuff to listen to along with today's episode.
Yeah, I feel like that particular episode is going to be super useful for our listeners.
I know what a lot of them struggle with is spontaneity in speaking, moving between topics.
So we show you how to do that over there.
Twenty ninety nine.
Let's get into it, Michelle.
Today's topic.
Let's do it.
OK, so now we have to think about, you know, also what medium are we using?
Are we using the phone?
I mean, do you think people mostly call about this or do you think no, i think they text, but it depends on how close to, if it were my parents and where my parents live they definitely do have hurricanes.
They have big.
It's scary, uh big hurricanes in the northeast.
Sometimes i would call right and call and call until i got an answer.
But if it's a friend uh, maybe i know that they have lots of support i'd probably be more likely to text.
What about you?
Yeah yeah, i think texting too.
I know i texted my cousin and yeah, dan was texting my aunt, and So that's you know.
Of course, if it's yeah, it depends on your relationship with the person.
But I guess everything everything's different.
So but so let's talk about text messaging.
So to show concern on text, what's one thing you could say?
All right.
I like this because it's very natural and native.
So you OK?
I heard there was X in your area.
So instead, we're not saying, are you OK?
We're saying you OK?
That's interesting.
Right.
Right.
That's why I wanted to focus on texting more specifically today, because it is a different kind of way of talking.
So yeah, you might not say, are you okay?
You might cut off the R. Sure.
And you can certainly say, are you okay as well?
But I think you okay kind of has a little bit more of an intimate feeling to it.
Do you agree?
Yeah, because it's a little, I think, because it's a little less formal sounding.
It almost just sounds that you're very close to the person.
Yes.
Yeah.
So it's a little.
Maybe it reserved this for your closest friends, maybe a partner or something right.
It's pretty intimate, but you know, right.
The important thing is sending the message.
Yeah, exactly.
So you could say like, are you okay?
I heard there was flooding in your area.
Yes.
I love that one.
And getting a little bit more distant, I guess, is just checking in, right?
How are you guys? in the x what do you mean by in the x in the so in the hurricane just checking in how are you guys in the heat wave maybe oh yeah like a terrible heat wave going on um so you could ask about that as well yeah so for example so yeah so you said it that was the example just how are you guys in the flooding how are you guys it's an interesting construction how are you guys In the... I might add, how are you guys doing in the... Doing.
You could say doing.
Yeah.
Doing in the heat wave, doing with the flood, doing in the... Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
And you could say in the heat wave, or you could, I mean you could say in something, or you could say with something right.
How are you guys doing with the hurricane?
How are you guys doing with the snowstorm?
Yeah, I like doing with better, but it's personal preference here.
You know we're not going to analyze this for, for you know, grammatically correct, it's about communicating that you care about the person right exactly, exactly.
And what's one more thing you could say?
Did you guys get caught in the X, are you okay?
Did you guys get caught in the snowstorm, are you okay?
So, following up, did you get caught in?
So to be caught in something means you.
Maybe that literally means you're kind of you become exposed right yeah Yeah, you couldn't avoid it.
You were caught, right?
Yeah, for sure.
It makes me think a lot about... I'm a hiker.
I go hiking on the weekends a lot.
And it's a different game out here than it was in the Northeast.
You have to be a lot more serious about the weather here.
So if you go hiking, if you do what we call the 14ers, meaning the 14000-foot mountains, it will be a long hike.
And you have to start early, like 6 am, Because you need to make sure you get to the top and get down from the top before thunderstorms start in the afternoon.
And you're that high or so high you could be exposed to thunderstorms.
But in the Northeast, we never had to worry about that because it was never that high.
And that kind of weather doesn't really roll through the Northeast quite as much as the West.
So we say that hiking is no joke out here.
No joke.
Wow.
Yeah.
That sounds intense.
Yes, for sure.
All right.
Do we have two more?
We have two more.
So this one is, did you get a lot of blank?
Like, did you get a lot of rain?
I like it.
I like it.
Or did you get hit hard by the X?
Like, did you get hit hard by the hurricane?
That might be these.
I feel like may work well after the fact.
Yes.
Yes.
That's a good.
I mean, also the other one.
Did you?
I mean, yeah, guys, think about the grammar we're using.
Yes.
You know, if we're asking about the Yeah.
You wouldn't say like are you going to get?
I mean you, you could ask about.
Like you know, you heard that it's going to be in someone's area.
Are you meant to, are you expecting, are you expecting it?
Right.
Right.
Right.
But these are more for the path.
Right.
So just to break it out here for our listeners to go back, the UOK and the just checking in are more for in the moment as it's happening.
Whereas, let's say, two days later, Did you guys get caught in the storm, or did you get a lot of X, or what's the last one?
Did you, did you get hit hard by the, yeah, those are definitely after the fact I would say.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Good point.
Good point.
Yeah.
I mean Lindsay.
I think the whole point is what you keep on saying.
Is that it it doesn't really matter completely what you say?
It's just that you show that you care.
Right.
And yeah, And I think a text is usually fine, is good enough.
I don't think you need to call.
Maybe if someone's a little older, maybe they'd prefer a phone call.
Or if you're close to someone, like super, super close, you would probably call.
Maybe you talk to them frequently anyway, so you would probably call.
Yeah.
Like I said, I would call my parents or my brother, but pretty much everyone else.
I'd probably just text for the most part.
Have you been in any?
We talked about the flooding in New York, but have you experienced?
Were you in New York for Sandy?
Yeah, I was.
Yeah.
Okay.
Um, we ended up, um, because, um, I was, well, I ended up, so it was funny.
I had started.
So that was what was that?
October.
I think so.
I think it was September, October, September.
Yeah.
So I had started dating Dan that March and we were getting more serious, I would say in like June.
And we decided to um go to his parents' house in uh, you know, the suburbs of new jersey and we ended up staying there a whole week and so it was like uh, like a lockdown or something.
Yeah yeah yeah, and i knew and i we didn't have um power.
Yeah, so there was no whoa like, was that your first time meeting his parents?
I had met them before, but that was, i mean we still talk about to that to this day.
We were just in the hurricane together and i mean we were, luckily we were safe.
I do know some friends who had to evacuate their buildings and things like that.
So luckily, you know, we were okay.
But it was.
It's a kind of an interesting story for spending a lot of time with your boyfriend's parents.
Yeah, sink or swim, as they say.
Yeah, sink or swim.
Literally, no.
Literally.
Yeah, that's a great expression for our listeners for a bonus today.
That's often used when you meet a partner's family for the first time and maybe their family is very loud, or whatever they are.
The partner might say, well, I'm bringing my partner sink or swim.
So they're just saying they have to make it work with my family because my family is my family.
Yep.
So that's kind of a fun use of that, I guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Interesting.
I know a lot of what about you?
Yeah, go ahead.
No.
Yeah.
For in Denver I luckily, so far I haven't been in any super.
I've never been stranded, you know, but I did have one day where I went.
We have major swings in weather here.
I went out to take my dog for a walk in the park one day.
And it was like seven, no joke, Michelle, it was like 75 degrees.
By the time we got halfway through the walk, the wind started blowing.
And I said, oh my gosh, something's happening.
And so we started heading back home.
By the time I was coming home, my hands, I couldn't even have them exposed to the air.
The weather, it had dropped to like 30 degrees.
What?
What month was this?
I think it was October, late October.
You have to be careful out here because we can have snowstorms in October here.
And just the swings of temperature are insane.
Yeah.
I was like, whoa, clearly I'm not prepared to be in Denver.
Oh, my gosh.
You have to be prepared for any weather at any time.
You have to have your shorts and your gloves.
Yeah, kind of.
I was literally running home.
I was thinking I have to get inside.
It was wild.
Yeah.
That can happen here.
Anyway.
Yeah.
And then I remember there was once a really bad snowstorm before my son was born.
I was like super, super pregnant.
And Dan had to actually he couldn't drive home.
He had to stay at a hotel near his work because he couldn't make it home.
Wow.
Things can happen.
Yeah.
The Northeast, you definitely we hear in the West, too.
We get nasty snowstorms.
But you know what all of our listeners all over the world.
They deal with weather in one way or the other.
So this is you guys now have the skills to connect with people to find out how they are doing.
Definitely, definitely.
Well, yeah, we don't have a role play for today, because it was mostly over text.
So we're just going to keep it to the text ideas.
But today we really talked to you about different ways you can check in with people, specifically over text ways you can check into them, you know, during something that's happening or if something already happened, but the biggest takeaway is send the message.
Send the message.
Don't worry so much.
This is definitely a connection, not perfection moment.
Yes, 100%.
You show up for the person.
That's the lesson.
Show up, connect, just ask.
Don't be afraid of making a mistake, especially in this moment, right?
Because they'll remember that you checked in, right?
They certainly will.
I love it.
Okay, Michelle, good topic today.
Guys, hit follow on the podcast to make sure that we drop right into your listening schedule.
Four days a week.
All right.
Okay.
Bye, guys.
Thanks for listening.
Take care, Michelle.
Talk soon.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to all ears English.
Would you like to know your English level?
Take our two minute quiz.
Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency 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.
