This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2141.
Earmuffs, how to apologize for cursing in English.
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How's it going today, Michelle?
Hey, Lindsay.
I'm good.
How are you?
Good.
What are we talking about today?
This is going to be a fun one.
Today.
Well so Lindsay, we've talked about using bad language on the show before.
Sure um, remind me, do you curse?
Do you use curse words?
I mean we all do sometimes.
Right, i mean we all do.
I try to avoid it, just because it's not the most polite language.
But if i stub my toe or something sure yeah, quietly under my breath at home really, you're gonna be quiet if, under your breath, if you stub your toe, that's when i scream it over here.
Maybe i'm glossing it over.
Yeah yeah, i scream it.
That would be, that would be impressive.
I?
I remember, before we went to france, i stubbed my toe.
I think i even made an instagram video about it.
It was so hard.
It hurt for like two months.
Oh, i could hardly walk in france.
Oh geez, i'm surprised you didn't break it.
It sounds like a broken toe.
It wasn't, but it was like I don't know.
It was terrible.
Anyway, so that that I'm sure I did let out a big one.
I'm sure you did.
Yeah.
But generally, yeah, it's better to avoid it, you know, in public and all that stuff for sure.
I think it also depends on who you're talking to.
Like if you're with someone, maybe you have a friend who curses more and then you're led to do it.
But I try not to do it too much either, especially in front of my kids.
But of course, and you know, and also then some are more benign than others.
But yeah.
Well, especially because kids are like sponges right, and they could easily start repeating, like at school, what they hear you saying.
And then yep, i've heard one or two already and i blame dan.
That's hilarious, that is so funny, oh my gosh yes yes, and it's always like the best thing to do is just to not react.
I think it happens to all kids and because you want to just laugh or say, don't say that, but you know right right, just anyway, don't repeat it again and they'll forget about it.
And Yeah,
I love it.
Guys, before we get into today's episode, which is going to be a great topic, very human topic, go over to episode 2125.
Check it out.
That was from January 4th, how to share your faults in English for deeper connection.
Go check that out.
You know, we love episodes that help you show, show you how to be human in English.
And that is one of them too.
2125.
Definitely.
So today we're going to talk about, there are some that we warn people that we're about to say something inappropriate or maybe we have said a bad word.
So we're going to talk about that.
We have a few to share for today.
But I think this is important for connection.
It can be a little bit funny.
It can be a genuine warning to someone, maybe like a parent.
Yeah.
And it can show that you have big emotions about something.
Yeah.
Um, let's go through a little bit about what we mean here.
Yeah, this is fun.
So well, by the way, before we get into this, I want to remind you guys.
You know, in the connected communicator course we did a whole lesson on swearing cursing like how to, how to do it.
And, and you know just, we interviewed someone, a tattoo artist, in Portland, and that was the lesson from that.
That was the learning from that lesson.
If you're interested in that course, it's over at allearsenglish.com slash connection.
Really interesting.
Michelle?
Actually, as a part of my master's degree, I did a whole presentation on curse words.
And I don't know where I got the guts to do this.
But as my introduction, I spoke about my weekend.
And I used all... all the curse words I could think of, like in front of the teacher.
Because, you know, it's about linguistics and these kinds of things.
And I use that as a way.
And it was such a shocking way to start it out.
And I just had so much fun with it.
And the teacher actually loved it.
I think you're bringing out your inner New Yorker and your inner kind of drama performance performer.
My cousin Vinny.
My cousin Vinny.
Oh, my gosh. hilarious the language in that one they they flies so we've talked about my cousin vinny on this show it is so good it's so good and it stands the test of time i think um for the most part but anyway um so one thing you can say is pardon my french or excuse my french yeah now i want to make this one a lot I want to make a caveat.
We have nothing against French.
I actually don't know why.
It's not pardoned by Spanish, pardoned by Arabic, pardoned by Japanese.
I don't know why.
We don't know why.
This is not a value judgment on French.
It's just that we're just showing you guys what we say, what people say.
I don't know why.
Don't be offended.
If you're a French speaker, please don't.
It's just something.
It's just something that's said.
I don't get it.
Yeah.
I mean, on the show, we want to show you real English, the way native speakers use it.
And if we didn't show you this, we would be missing one of the major things people do say when they swear to apologize for it.
Okay.
So take it for what it is.
Exactly.
And if you didn't know this and you heard somebody say pardon my French, and then they use a curse word.
What? then you might be like well that's not french yes yes exactly right it would be very confusing so we're just trying to inform you if you don't like the fact that we're talking about french then you can not say it right but just i want you to understand it when someone uses it so with all that caveat out of the way michelle let's do a role play all right okay here we go um so all right oh actually no this isn't a role play this is just these are two examples oh okay here's an example then i'm exhausted pardon my french but i need a beep nap we're using beeps and different sounds today guys because we're not going to curse on the show no we don't curse on the show but uh you know what words to insert if you've i mean you can find them on youtube you can find them anywhere right movies music yes you know yes yes exactly so pardon my french here you're saying it before you're apologizing before um here is another way it could be used she is beep gorgeous pardon my french all right i like it so that is one bucket one one thing we can say to apologize either before dropping the curse word or or after it right yep okay exactly it's either a warning or an apology right both an apology i guess um What's another one you could say?
This is not dealing with any other language.
All right, here we go.
So we could say, excuse my language.
So your language meaning the word you just said, just that word, right?
Yes, yes, exactly.
So here, imagine I just said beep.
Right, right.
Okay.
Michelle, Michelle.
Sorry, sorry.
Please excuse my language.
I like that.
Okay, Michelle.
Okay. what would be the next one that we could say?
This is more when you're talking to kids.
This is fun.
I actually hadn't heard this until today.
Oh, no.
Oh, this is a fun one.
This is a little bit different.
It's used more frequently when children are around or maybe even teenagers.
So it's not necessarily with a bad word, although it could be.
Um, it just might be somebody.
You might need to say something that's a little inappropriate and it's a signal that they shouldn't listen to a certain part.
And maybe it's not even inappropriate, maybe it's just something you don't want them to hear, of course.
Um, so you say earmuffs.
Lindsay, do you ever wear earmuffs in the winter?
I don't, but sometimes i wish i were wearing them when it gets so cold.
Yeah, they cover your ears nicely.
Yeah, I love earmuffs because I have very sensitive ears.
Sometimes even just on a summer night, there's a breeze and my ear hurts.
Earmuffs in the summertime, Michelle?
No, I don't wear earmuffs in the summertime, but I can get like if it's like windy.
My ears are very sensitive.
So I love earmuffs in the winter.
Actually, I should get a new pair for this winter.
I don't even have any right now.
So this is how it might sound.
I could say something like, So I have to tell you this story, Lindsay.
Okay.
Earmuffs.
And I didn't see you on the video.
Guys, by the way, we're on YouTube.
This video is over on YouTube.
So check it out.
But did you do this?
Earmuffs?
Did you put your hands on your ears?
Wait, I can't see you right now.
Did you put your hands on your ears?
No.
Did I?
Okay.
I actually don't know.
Maybe it was so natural.
I'd have to go back.
Yeah.
I probably did, actually.
I imagine you would, especially around kids.
Earmuffs, right?
Earmuffs, right.
Yeah.
Or earmuffs.
I mean, if it's a child that it's okay to touch them, you might even do it close to their head, too.
Like, if it's your own kid or something like that, don't go around doing that.
Of course, of course.
And so, let me see.
When are you most likely to use a curse word, Michelle?
What would you say?
Tell me about your curse word stance.
When you're in New York mean yeah well, i think i, i.
It goes back to what i said.
I think it depends on who you're with.
Well, number one, i definitely let out a big curse word when i stubbed my toe.
Um so um, if i am maybe in a hurry, i might curse to myself.
If i think a lot of times it's, if i can't find something and i'm in a rush um, you know, so that that'll happen.
Um, just rattling off all the ways no um, And then you know if I'm talking to a friend who might curse more frequently.
It's interesting how it comes out more with specific people.
But now I just sound like I curse all the time.
What about road rage?
Do you curse when you drive?
Like cursing cars?
Be honest.
Do I curse?
Probably.
Probably.
I don't drive that much.
Okay.
That helps.
Yeah.
So maybe in my head, if somebody, you know, how in New York, you got to walk fast.
Maybe if I'm behind someone super slow.
I'm not going to do it out loud, but in my head I might be cursing.
Yeah.
Tourists kind of sound so mean.
I'm not turning around.
Right.
Yeah, that's true.
That can happen.
Me too.
I mean whenever I said my toe.
Certainly I do it under my breath or sometimes out loud, very loud at home.
It happens.
We're human, right?
This is part of communication.
All of our listeners understand there are curse words in their languages too.
You guys know what they are.
Obviously, in your native language you probably use them sometimes as an adult, in one way or the other.
Right yeah, i mean, let's see what about growing up for you, did your parents discourage cursing?
Did your?
Yeah, they did?
Did you have to like, avoid certain shows or things with curse words or how?
Yeah, i did, for sure, for sure.
Like, i couldn't watch r-rated movies at home until i was a certain age.
They were pretty sensitive around like what movies?
And i couldn't watch mtv when i was a kid, so i couldn't watch that.
You were how old would you?
I don't?
Maybe well, I don't know 12, 11 or 12 or something, I don't remember exactly.
And then yeah, they were sensitive around that.
For sure, they tried not to curse, but I still heard them cursing at home right, maybe after we were in bed or something like that's funny yeah, that's really funny.
Yeah um, for me, i feel like mine was a little bit different.
Um yeah, i like watched my cousin vinnie when i was a kid with my parents and um, you know, there's a lot of cursing there.
Um, i would say that you know that they were not so protective with um, those kinds of things like if, because my mom always felt oh, if i like it'll, it'll just go over my head if i don't understand it and i, you know, I just like won't think about it.
And if I, and she always felt if I did understand it, then I'm old enough to understand it.
Okay.
Interesting.
Yeah.
All parents have a different philosophy.
Right.
Exactly.
But I remember, um, I just forgot what I was going to say.
Um, no, I wanted to share this.
All right.
If I, if it comes back to me well, I can tell you I, I do like.
I find myself sometimes around my niece or my or my partners.
I guess my niece to um, niece and nephew cursing sometimes.
And then, oops, right.
Cause they're young kids.
Um, it happens.
It happens.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So, oh, man, I wish I could remember what I want to say, but that's OK.
Another episode.
Let's do another.
Another episode.
Let's do it.
OK, so we're not going to use.
We'll just use a couple of these because we're not cursing like crazy in this conversation.
Right.
Right.
Sure.
So here we are, friends, and I run into you and your daughter.
OK, so you have a kid.
Here we go.
Hi, Michelle.
Hi.
So good to see you.
Ouch.
Ouch.
Sorry.
Pardon my French.
Are you okay?
Yes.
I have to tell you something.
Earmuffs, Jade.
Earmuffs.
Oh, what is it?
Okay.
All right.
So here I stubbed my toe or I banged my knee or, oh, you know what is worse than stubbing your toes?
Hit your funny bone.
Oh my gosh.
The funny bone.
I did that a few weeks ago in my bedroom and oh, did it hurt.
Hurt for like three days and it just resonates throughout your whole arm.
Yeah, that's a bad one.
It's so funny, that funny.
It's called a funny bone.
It's funny, it's a funny bone.
And then so i said, you know, pardon my french right.
And again we, we told you guys earlier about the language thing, don't worry about it, you don't have to use it if you don't want to.
But and then you said, And then I said I have to tell you something.
Earmuffs Jade, and I might do earmuffs like this.
And so I'm basically talking to my daughter and telling her like, don't listen to this.
Maybe I'm, but it could be something very benign as well.
It could be that I'm telling about like a party I'm throwing, a surprise party I'm throwing for her dad, or something like that.
Like that one doesn't have to be about language, I don't think.
Oh, for sure.
For sure.
100%.
So that one's a little bit more versatile, just more when you're around children or teenagers and there's not for them right.
What you're going to say.
So really useful.
Michelle, any takeaways here about cursing and preparing someone?
This episode is less about cursing, more about preparing someone for a curse word or apologizing for the curse word right.
Exactly.
Guys, it's good.
And also you don't, every time you curse, you don't need to use one of these.
Like it would be...
Yeah.
You don't want to be in a conversation and like excuse my language, pardon my French, like just listing them all off for everything, especially if you're someone who is also who.
You're having a conversation with someone who's cursing like you know, it's fine.
Sure.
Of course you want to match who you're with.
Right.
Right.
So, but basically it's good to know this, in case you do use a word and you want to signal that you're about to say something bad, or I mean.
But it's also good.
Like we talked about.
You might not be going out saying excuse my French, but if you hear somebody say excuse my French and they're not speaking French, you'll know why they said excuse me.
Yeah, 100 percent.
Right.
We want to know we want to know what's coming and understand it when we hear it.
Right.
And just another reminder before we finish up guys, if you want to go deeper into how to curse, we do teach you that, not on this podcast, but we teach it to you inside the Connected Communicator.
So go over to allearsenglish.com slash connection.
That is a 12,000 mile journey to fluency that you take with us by video lesson.
Super interesting.
All right, Michelle.
Yeah, you have a good day.
I'll talk to you soon.
Fun topic today.
Yeah, this was fun.
Have a good one, guys.
Bye.
Bye.
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