This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2155.
Now we're talking English phrases for improvement.
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Hello, Lindsay.
How are you?
I'm doing pretty well, Aubrey.
How's everything in your world today?
Excellent.
I was playing pickleball this morning and I thought about this episode that I had planned because was playing with someone who was really not a very good sport.
She was kind of a sore loser and it's related to what we're talking about today.
Are you a good sport lindsay, if you're losing?
Yeah, i am.
I mean, unless it's like sometimes, like if it's my sport, like tennis, maybe that would upset me, but if it's anything else, i don't really care.
I think that's how she.
I think pickleball is her sport and she She's very good, but not only is she upset with herself if she's losing, but she's upset with her partner.
She's grumpy.
She's not positive.
I'm like, you got to be a good loser.
People sometimes are a sore loser, sore winner.
This means they don't stay positive.
They might get a little upset, a little too competitive.
Yeah.
I guess it's okay to be upset with yourself, but if you start getting mad at your partner or throwing your racket, that's not good. that's not good right and even if you're getting upset with yourself if that's visible it still can create sort of attention oh yeah it's still a little tricky to stay positive if you're upset with yourself so it's interesting oh my gosh guys go ahead and hit the follow button right now on all ears english aubry what is our motto what do we believe about learning english at all connection not perfection right yes so we are teaching you the grammar the vocab but above all take those chances to have conversations don't stress about your english being perfect instead right make that connection yeah and it's not just a philosophy it's not just our value we show you how to do it in these episodes we show you What is the phrase that will bring about connection?
And what is the thing you might do that would lead to a sense of paralysis and perfection?
So we show you in the moment what to do.
So hit the follow button on All Ears English and we're excited to have you guys on board as our listeners this year.
Good stuff.
Absolutely, right?
Don't be a sore loser for connection.
But this is related to a question we got.
Let's go ahead and read it, and we're going to dive into some really interesting vocabulary today.
All right, i'm excited.
I love when we get questions.
Here's a question.
Hello lindsay michelle, jessica and aubrey, happy new year.
Thank you so much for bringing these um, this amazing podcast, to our lives.
This is mira from boston.
I've been listening to allers english for two and a half years when i commute to work and i've learned a lot from aee and never thought learning english could be so much fun.
I heard my colleagues always say now you're talking or now we're talking very often, but I'm wondering if you guys can elaborate on these phrases sometime.
Thank you for your work.
I appreciate it.
Best Mira, amazing.
I love this email so much.
Yes, thank you, for i love seeing when, when listeners have stuck with us for years and that they i i agree.
I think this is a fun way to learn english.
We try to keep it fun.
We share a lot about ourselves.
So, thank you mira, i love that you're enjoying the content.
Thank you yeah and, by the way guys, if you have not sent us your question yet for 2024, what are you waiting for?
Right, send your email to aubry all ears englishcom.
You know, let us know what you think of the show.
Or, even better, you could write your question inside a review for the podcast, whether that's Apple Podcasts Spotify, a YouTube comment.
These are all good places to write your question and your review.
Yes, absolutely.
And Mira's question is perfect, where she's very specific right.
She's sharing specific phrases she's heard, she's not sure how to use them.
She's not sure she's understanding them correctly.
To get specific like this things you're hearing that you're struggling with a little bit.
This is a great way for us to plan an episode about something specific like this.
Yeah.
In other words, what Aubrey is saying is don't say, how do I learn English in your question?
Because we won't answer that.
That's too broad.
Right.
Or just, I hear phrases a lot that I don't understand.
How can I understand them more?
No, way too broad.
One phrase, one thing you hear, bring that to your question.
That's a question we want to get from you.
Okay.
Good.
And this is interesting.
These are not totally interchangeable.
We do use them in different scenarios, so we're going to dive into each and give you a pro tip about how you can always make sure you're using the correct one.
All right, I love it.
So let's start with the first one.
Uh, and what is the first one that we're going to go?
First one is now you're talking.
This is so fun.
I love this.
It's so encouraging and positive.
We say it's used to say that someone has said or suggested something that you think is good or worth doing.
Right, so let's do a little mini role play.
Um, i'll start us out.
Okay, i don't really feel like cooking tonight.
Well, let's go out to eat now.
You're talking.
Nice right, so we use it as a response to someone to let them know i really approve of what you just said exactly, and also that maybe you've improved in what you've said.
Right, like before you said this and i didn't really like that, but now you've said this and now you're talking.
Yeah, maybe you said oh, we need to use up the chicken in the fridge.
I'm like boring.
So then he says, now you're talking.
Yeah.
Or at home, we love, we have this favorite pizza place that we love to go on Fridays.
It's deep dish Detroit style pizza.
And it's just like kind of indulgent. but we love it.
So sometimes on Fridays we'll suggest it.
What are we going to cook?
No, let's get blue pan.
Now you're talking, right?
Now you're talking.
Yes.
And we use this another way to express approval of not just something someone has said, but of anything.
Like, imagine that someone brings a cake to a potluck and you see it, and maybe all that was there before were like veggies.
Oh my gosh.
So this kind of would imply that you're not as excited you weren't as excited about the options before.
Then the cake comes.
You're like now you're talking right, even though maybe you're not talking at all right, no one has said anything.
Yes, that's really important, right?
Or you're negotiating a price and they lower that price.
Let's say you want to buy a used car from the owner, directly from the owner, and they say it's twenty thousand dollars.
And then you look away and then they say how about fifteen?
Now you're talking.
Now you're talking.
Yes.
It's very common.
I was telling Lindsay before we started recording that I planned this episode a few days ago.
And since then going to pickleball just chatting with neighbors.
I feel like I've heard it said 10 times.
That's so funny.
We say it a lot.
We say it a lot.
I'm excited for you guys to now know exactly what it means and be able to use it as well.
Our listeners are going to sound so incredibly natural.
So guys, write these down.
Yes.
Okay, now let's go into the subtle difference, the subtly different one, which is what, Aubrey?
How is this next one different?
This one is now we're talking.
Now we're talking.
It can sometimes be interchangeable with now you're talking, right?
On the examples that we just said, you could always have used now we're talking, right?
I don't feel like cooking tonight.
Let's go out to eat.
Now we're talking.
Or all of those others.
Someone brings a cake.
Now we're talking.
Right.
Or you've lowered the car price.
Now we're talking.
OK, OK.
Right.
But you can't always say that first one.
Now you're talking.
Right.
If you also are involved in something, it would be strange to say now you're talking.
I was telling Lindsay, this just happened where my husband was cooking something and he like, added an egg to some fried rice.
And then he says, now we're talking.
But he's the only one in the room.
I was kind of in the other room.
So if he said, now you're talking, now you're talking, that would have been really strange.
Because he's talking to his food.
I'm not in the room, right?
Even though no one's talking.
He says, now we're talking, just meaning like, ooh, I'm excited about these leftovers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it's kind of like between him and the food, I guess, but he's not talking directly to the food.
It's like the scenario, it's like the situation that he's in is better now.
Yeah.
Yes, right?
So it's also said to indicate something has improved like this, right?
He just improved that fried rice by adding an egg.
Maybe it wasn't going quite as well.
Now it is.
You would not use now you're talking.
Totally.
Now we're talking.
Okay.
So what would be some examples?
Let's see if our listeners, we can nail down some examples here.
I say this a lot while playing sports and I hear it a lot.
Like if I've missed a serve or two and then I get a good one, like now we're talking.
Yeah.
Something has improved.
Okay.
In pickleball, are there two serves that you get in the beginning of the point?
The very first serve, just one of you serves to make up for getting to go first.
And then after that, you each get to serve until there's a fault.
Got it.
Yeah, so there's pressure right to get that.
You know, in tennis that's the real pressure to not double fault right, so we don't want that, love that.
And here's another example at work, sales numbers have improved.
Now we're talk oh, just for example here.
You know, the scenario is that our sales numbers have improved.
Now we're talking right right exactly, that would be the scenario.
If something's improved at work, you could totally say this now we're talking yeah, yeah.
And i could.
I could see like, if a leader or a manager is presenting that to the team and the team is on a casual basis, that might be a response right from the team to the manager or to the presentation.
Right, wouldn't you say that exactly?
And it's very motivational and positive.
Just be like now we're talking like i'm excited about this improvement right, there's a similar phrase we want to share.
Just a quick bonus here.
I remember this being on Seinfeld a lot.
I feel like one of their dads either George's dad or Jerry's dad somebody would say now, that's what I'm talking about.
And so you'll hear this sometimes too.
It means the same thing as now we're talking.
Now that's what I'm talking about.
That's what I'm talking about.
Guys, go back and find our episode that Michelle and I did about Seinfeld.
Yes, that was a fun one.
A lot of phrases from that.
You hear them, you're like, that's straight from Seinfeld, but we say it all the time now. yeah even that's what I'm talking about I feel like people use that I almost wonder if that is actually from straight maybe originated there and now we just say it all the time actually might have because I feel like I started to hear it around the 90s so that makes sense that is so interesting okay all right we have one more similar idiom i want to share i'm curious if you use this lindsay i do feel like i hear it a lot to say now we're cooking with gas and it means like you're just making very good progress doing something well and it wasn't quite as good before so it's the same as saying now we're talking now we're cooking with gas yeah i mean i have heard it and i understand it but i don't i don't use it myself it's just not quite in my in my my repertoire uh i'm always curious when you say that when you're like this isn't in my repertoire i'm always curious if it's what you like don't like it or you just didn't grow up hearing it um i don't know i guess it's more the third option is that i don't think about saying something about right like i would say i mean we could do other things we might say for this i would say now we're talking i might say Yeah.
Now we're on.
I have to think about that.
I'm trying to remember what you say.
I don't see this often either.
Now we're cooking with gas, but every now and then I do hear it some like, for example, a neighbor was trying to light a fire in like a fire pit the other day and he got it going finally.
And he was like, now we're cooking with gas.
Yeah.
And that's that kind of thing where like, if there's a difficulty, something you're struggling with, you get to go.
You're very excited that you might hear this idiom.
For sure, for sure.
Now things are working, right?
And it's important just to note.
When I mentioned the thing about the sales numbers, usually it's when things weren't working well before.
Just to make sure we reemphasize that for our listeners.
Maybe Q2 last year wasn't so good, but now Q3, oh, now we're talking, right?
Yes, good point.
It's definitely showing improvement, right?
It would be kind of strange, if sort of you're sticking with the status quo to say now we're talking.
No, you're indicating that-
There's an exciting improvement happening.
So this shows things are changing.
Things are getting better, right?
Right.
Yes.
Okay.
Role play time, Operate.
Shall we do it?
Yeah.
You and I are playing ping pong at a house party for this role play.
Do you play ping pong, Lizzie?
Yeah.
I love ping pong.
It's always fun.
For sure.
Table tennis.
Some people call it table tennis.
Ping pong.
I love ping pong.
It's so fun.
Me too.
It's fun.
All right.
Now we're talking.
We were down by five, but now we're up by two.
I finally started getting my serve in.
Now we're cooking with gas.
Oh, after this game, let's go get ice cream.
Now you're talking.
Now you're talking.
There's a lot of intonation that would work here, right?
I feel like sometimes we say, now you're talking and emphasize the now.
And then sometimes we'll emphasize talking like, now you're talking.
Now you're talking.
Now you're talking.
We usually emphasize now, I feel like.
Now you're talking i think it's because of what we just shared with our listeners is you're showing the difference.
So now is the key word, not so much talking.
Yeah yeah, you weren't talking before, now you are.
So now, now is the key.
Yeah yeah, i love it.
It would be weird, it would sound weird if i said no, you're talking no yeah yeah, there are other phrases where you could emphasize either one, depending on the mood, and we could talk about those another day on all ears english, but this one now you're talking, now you're talking.
And then the other piece i want to make sure we talk about here is talking.
Why not talking?
Or can we do both?
Or what should we do?
Now you're talking, i guess you could do both.
This is very much going to be sort of a regional dialect thing.
What did you grow up hearing?
Often though, for me i almost always drop that g it's like now you're talking, and that's just how i grew up speaking.
What i hear more often in the west of the united states yeah, some people, that might be their pet peeve.
When people don't say talking, they drop that last sound.
I don't know if that person would be very interesting to be around.
Imagine you say, now you're talking.
Do you mean now you're talking?
No, not fun.
Don't invite that person to a party.
I don't want to play ping pong with you, sir.
I'm going to play with Lindsay again because she won't judge me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think when it comes to and we should do another episode on this one too when it comes to dropping that G on verbs like that, I think it depends also on who you're around, how comfortable you feel around them.
For sure.
And how formally you're speaking, right?
If I were giving a presentation, if I were in a job interview, I would be speaking more formally, more carefully.
I probably would pronounce talking.
Yes.
Or differently.
Or I'm thinking like of all the presidential debates that are going to be coming up.
Oh, cringe, right?
So yes, they on the stage, they're unlikely to say talking.
Now you're talking.
Like you know, the economy has gotten better this year, as inflation has gone down.
Now we're talking.
No.
They're going to try to elevate their speech and just enunciating more clearly.
Because often, depending on the situation, you want to make sure everyone understands everything you're saying.
You want to sound professional and polished so you enunciate more clearly.
Yeah, I love it.
This is great.
What's a takeaway for our listeners?
Yeah, these are just such friendly phrases for connection.
They're very motivational, right?
It's a fun native way to agree or show approval.
So you definitely want to use them.
And then our pro tip is when in doubt, say, now we're talking.
Now we're talking because I will always be right.
But sometimes now you're talking would be strange if I'm just cooking and I'm making my own food.
I'm still thinking of bringing the egg and the rice out of the house.
Exactly.
So, when in doubt, now we're talking.
Now good stuff, guys.
We've come up with lots of new episode ideas that are going to be out this spring and summer into next year.
So hit follow, come back for all his english four days a week.
Good stuff, all right aubry, i'll talk to you very soon.
Awesome, see you next time.
Bye, bye.
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