This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2163.
English vocabulary you won't want to quash.
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Hey there, Aubrey.
How's it going today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you?
I'm feeling good.
I'm feeling good.
I have a question for you today.
Oh, all right.
Let's hear it.
All right.
So here's my question.
Do you have any bad habits?
Is there anything that you want to nip in the bud or that you have nipped in the bud recently?
I for sure have several bad habits I'm working on, but when I think about nipping something in the bud, I love this expression.
I'm thinking of my son, who's really terrible about eating crackers on the couch, and then he takes them upstairs to his room and there are just cracker crumbs everywhere.
So I've, you know, last night we had a conversation.
I'm like, we got to nip this in the bud. we're done.
I'm tired of vacuuming up after you everywhere.
Food stays in the kitchen, on the table.
It's not the first time I've had this conversation with him, by the way.
Okay.
But it's still kind of early days in terms of that habit.
So you want to take care of it early.
He's young.
Right.
All right.
He'll be like 15 eating chips on the couch if you don't nip this in the bud right away.
Right?
Yeah.
Though related, I do find myself every now and then late at night getting a snack.
And then here I am on the couch.
I'm like I hope he doesn't see me eating on the couch, because it's harder to get him to nip a habit in the bud if i have the same habit.
Well, that's the hard part, right of being a parent.
I guess if you set the rules, you're gonna have to follow them or sneak around and make sure they don't see you breaking your phone.
Look look, i'm able to do it without making a giant mess.
So i have different rules super interesting.
So i asked you to start off this episode.
Is there something that you had to nip in the bud?
This is what we're getting into today.
Aubry, tell us more.
We had a question from a listener.
Yes, exactly.
Longtime listener, Jeff Wu.
Shout out, Jeff.
How's it going? sent a question asking about the idiom to nip something in the bud.
And this is a really interesting way to say to stop something, to stop a habit, to stop anything.
And there are quite a few interesting expressions for this in English.
So we're going to share them today.
Yeah, I'm excited.
And yeah, Jeff has been a listener of All Ears English for a long time.
So we love all of our listeners, but it's amazing if you've been listening to All Ears English for three four, five years.
That is just incredible.
So thank you so much guys for listening to the show.
Absolutely.
And this is such a great skill for connection to talk about habits you're trying to change.
Ask someone else about habits they're trying to break, and to do it in a really interesting way, right.
To just say, do you have any habits you're trying to change?
That's a little boring.
We're going to give you some really fun, interesting ways to start this conversation today.
Oh, for sure.
And there's an added kind of meaning to each one of these vocabulary words that you can add on to the tone of what you're saying in terms of habits.
Aubrey.
First, we want to remind our listeners to go back and check out another episode of English, which was what
What was that episode?
Yes.
Episode 2137 was really fun.
It was this Friday or next Friday, how to clarify calendar dates in English.
Lindsay and Michelle, you guys talked about both past dates and future dates recently.
These were so helpful for clarifying, because this even happens to native speakers, where we have to clarify now.
Wait this coming friday, wait this past tuesday, that's true.
That's true this if you just listen to this episode, it will eliminate so much confusion and it's so important to get it right.
We don't want to stand someone up.
We make plans right.
No, absolutely so.
Yes, and if you missed that episode, be sure to hit follow.
We publish four episodes a week and you might be missing some amazing vocabulary strategies.
Conversation starters.
So be sure to hit follow here on the podcast.
I love it, Aubrey.
Let's get back to today's connection skill and let's get started with our first vocabulary.
This is the one we started at the top of the show.
So tell us more about this expression, nip something in the butt.
I used to think it was nip something in the butt, but it's not.
I love that you brought that up because that is a common error.
There are quite a few idioms where they'll be misheard.
And so native speakers even will say them incorrectly and you will hear someone say nip something in the butt.
That's right.
And but it sounds so especially if you're speaking American English or T's often sound like D's.
So it sounds the same.
Right.
Totally.
So what does it mean again?
Just one more time.
What does it mean?
This one's pretty specific to suppressing or changing or stopping something at an early stage.
Like you were saying for my son, before this becomes an ingrained habit, I want to nip it in the bud.
Let's get him to stop eating crackers on the couch now before it's too late.
Yeah, I think that's a key piece, right?
All of these today are talking about habits, ending habits, stopping doing things you're doing.
But this one is early on before you.
We did another episode that makes me think of this Aubrey create a monster.
I've created a monster that would really tie nicely with this, I think.
Exactly.
Right.
That's the opposite.
If you didn't nip something in the bud, now you've created a monster and it's difficult to stop.
Exactly.
Totally.
So give us more examples here.
Where are we going?
So you might say, I was starting to develop a bad habit, but I nipped it in the bud.
So you can see how this would be great as part of a conversation to talk about a bad habit you had started and what you did to stop.
How did you nip it in the bud?
Yes, or my daughter has been sleeping in, but she needs to nip it in the bud, meaning nip this habit in the bud.
Right, it's hard because teenagers need to sleep a lot, but then you know you don't want to carry that into adulthood just like sleeping in all the time difficult, exactly right, they like to stay up really late and then sleep in, but that doesn't always work.
If you're, if you have a job or if you have school, you need to be able to get up early.
Right, a summer job, that kind of thing, right?
Yeah, totally.
So i like that.
This one is just about early prevention, or like early changes before something.
Yes, anything preventative is always good, right?
It's easier to stop something before it's really ingrained, before it's become such a part of your nature.
And then it's really difficult to stop.
So we talk about this a lot, like, okay, nip this in the bud before it becomes a big problem.
Well, for sure.
I mean, even you know it's.
This is not just about teenagers and kids, right?
Adults, what do they say?
How long it takes to build a habit?
I don't, I don't know.
I feel like I've seen different research too.
I think it's like 21 days right, like that seems familiar, that feels familiar right, and that's probably true in my experience is about right, let's say oh um, you know, I went to get a coffee and instead of getting a dark roast uh, black coffee today, I decided to try a latte right, with milk, with you know.
So then the next day I said, Oh yeah, let's just do that again.
I'm getting whole milk in my coffee.
I personally just save that for the weekend.
So that's how I nip these habits in the bud.
I say, I do want like this luscious cappuccino, but I'm only going to get it on the weekends.
That's such a great example.
And if you just do it a couple of days, but then nip it in the bud, no problem.
Whereas if you did that 21 days in a row, then that might be a habit that would be difficult to kick.
Kind of.
And then it's just like an extra 300 calories a day.
You don't need that.
Yeah.
So for adults too.
I'm sure we could both come up with lots of examples of that, where we see it.
Takes that self-awareness though, right.
Absolutely.
We see it coming on.
We see how the mind works, chains things together, links things together in a chain.
I did it yesterday.
Might as well do it today.
I'll do it again tomorrow, right?
21 days later.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay.
Let's do the second one here.
This one's interesting.
It's put the kibosh on.
This is spelled a little differently.
K-I-B-O-S-H.
It's the origin of this is interesting.
It means to put an end to, and it dates back to a 19th century poem about a british chimney sweep who first used it and then just randomly like i think they sort of made it up out of the blue and then it stuck.
It's interesting oh, super interesting.
I love that idea.
So this is a historical phrase right, that people still use today.
It's not like it's irrelevant anymore, right?
So what would be the first phrase?
You've been staying up too late.
Let's put the kibosh.
Is it kibosh or kibosh?
What do you hear, Aubrey?
I hear both for sure.
So I had to look up in the dictionary.
They'll give you like standard pronunciation, which was kibosh because I do hear kibosh as well.
You guys might hear that.
Put the kibosh on.
Yeah.
It's just funny.
It's so different.
That's the same thing, just variants of the pronunciation.
Right.
So let's put the kibosh on that.
I love it.
What's another sample?
I try to be on time, but I've started to be late sometimes.
I need to put the kibosh on that.
So same thing.
You can see how it's like, ooh, I feel this bad habit coming on.
I need to stop it.
This is an interesting way to say that.
I need to put the kibosh on it.
Yes, I love it.
And the next one, I didn't even really know.
I feel like I've heard this word, but I don't know.
Maybe I haven't.
Tell me about it.
Okay, so the next one is quash. which also means to put an end to something or suppress it.
You might say he quashed the rumor that he was moving.
We often hear this collocated with rumors, like I'm going to quash that rumor.
Yes.
I bet Hollywood stars have to deal with this a lot, right?
All these rumors pop up that they're dating this person or getting married to this person, and they have to Quash it.
Make a statement on their Instagram to quash it.
Yeah, the maintenance that they have to do.
For example, the city wanted to remove the park, but the residents quashed the initiative with protests and petitions.
Exactly.
So you see that just means to put an end to something, to stop it or suppress it.
But here's what's tricky about the word quash.
You'll often hear native speakers say squash instead and use it in the same way.
This does make it tricky.
You're going to hear both.
I guarantee it.
I hear both.
And that also is just used to mean to stop something from continuing to suppress it, to stop it.
Used exactly the same as quash.
Yes, I love it.
So the teacher's criticism squashed.
Notice the S, guys.
Squashed by motivation to finish the essay.
Or she told me about a bad habit she's trying to squash.
Or those other examples.
You might say he squashed the rumor that he was moving.
The resident squashed the initiative.
You'll hear both of these.
So the question is why?
Why do we have both?
It's a good question.
Yeah.
Where did this come from?
Maybe we have a little history here, just a second of history for our listeners.
This is interesting.
So originally it was quash.
And then squash had a different meaning.
We do use squash like squash a bug.
And now often we'll say squish instead.
Squash or squish means the same thing to like squish something.
But then it was just sort of user error.
People started saying squash instead of quash to the point that dictionaries have even adopted it.
And you'll see both in the dictionary.
Quash and squash for the same meaning.
But a lot of like grammar experts, teachers, when you look online, they'll list this as an error.
And I saw a lot of versions of a sentence like you can squash a spider or a tomato.
But if you mean suppress, you should use the word quash.
So this is sort of academic word.
Yes.
Academic debate, like experts in English who are trying to keep, you know, the...
The initial pure English.
The pure English.
There's no such thing, is there really?
It's hard to do, right?
Language evolves.
A lot of dictionaries just give up and add both meanings because that's how people are saying it.
And I think it all is English.
While we fall on the side of it doesn't matter as long as you're building connection, right?
And so our vision goes a little backwards, beyond the language and the words, in terms of what we think is important for our happiness in the world right.
Use both, right?
I hear both.
I use both.
I don't even think it.
If someone says squash instead of quash, I don't even think like oh, they're supposed to say squash.
No.
This is so accepted.
At least in the States.
The average person would not know the difference, would maybe use both and probably couldn't even define it.
If you're like, what does quash mean?
They'd be like, okay, let me think about the sentence I just used.
Yeah, I know it's true.
It's true.
Just a few weeks ago, we came out with an episode about those grammar examples, right?
And that takes it to another level, much more common usage of things that may be technically mistakes. but if you actually say them correctly or worse, if you correct people, you risk breaking the connection.
So go back and check out that episode that came out.
And this is a really good example of that.
Imagine if you, you know someone says quash and you happen or squash, and you happen to know that oh really it should be quash and you were to correct them.
They would be so confused and annoyed.
Unless you're like, what are you even talking about?
Unless you're like an amateur comedian, you're funny, you know how to put that into a joke.
That'd be right and that would be a special kind of mind that could do that right.
Sure yeah, because there's a big difference between funny, doing something for humor and then just being critical and just trying to tell someone they're wrong about something.
Yeah.
So that is where we come down.
It comes back to connection, not perfection, guys.
So Aubrey, shall we go into a role play?
Let's do it.
We're going to use all of these in a role play.
We're discussing how late we stay up in this role play.
Oh, interesting.
Okay.
I've been staying out or up, staying out way too late every night.
I need to put the kibosh on that and get to bed earlier.
I used to be able to stay out until the wee hours, but now, if I do that, I can't function the next day.
I had to quash that when I hit about 30.
I've been drinking Red Bull to stay alert in the morning.
Uh-oh.
You need to nip that in the bud.
I've heard it's really bad for you.
You're right.
I'm going to squash some of these bad habits this year.
Oh my gosh.
If I were drinking Red Bull, this would be a different show, wouldn't it?
I don't know if you'd be here.
I feel like this is so bad.
I know a lot of teenagers drink Red Bull a lot to be able to wake up and be energized in the morning.
But I know it's really terrible for your health, that amount of caffeine every day, especially.
We'd record one episode and get 100,000 words in, and then there would be no more episodes that day.
We'd just crash.
We'd be like, we're done.
Not good.
Not good.
Stay away from that stuff.
All right.
So here we go.
I said I've been staying out way too late every night.
I need to put the kibosh on that and get to bed earlier.
And it was interesting.
You were like, okay, now stay up or stay out.
They do have a different meaning, right?
Staying out means you're going out.
You're at bars, you're at restaurants, you're hanging out with friends and you're getting home late.
It would also work to say, I've been staying up way too late.
That means you might just be at home, chilling, watching TV.
But either way, you're not going to bed early.
Yeah.
That's why I was confused.
Either one could work out just fine there.
And then what did you say, Aubrey, after I said I need to put the kibosh on it?
And then I was saying, yeah, I used to stay out until the wee hours.
That's a kind of a bonus here.
It means really late, so late that it's early morning.
If I say I'm out till the wee hours, that's like 2 a.m., 3 a.m., maybe 4 a.m.
Oh, I know.
College age stuff.
I don't do that anymore.
Right, right, right.
And then I said I had to quash that when I hit about 30.
I don't know about you, Lindsay, but I was good until about 30.
And then if I stayed out that late the next morning I felt like I had been hit by a semi-truck.
Oh yeah, when i lived in japan we used to have our listeners are going to know this right, the first train or the last train decision with your friends, you're out.
The last train ends at 12 30 pm which, when you're 25 and you're out at a club or dancing having fun, that's kind of early, right when you're 25.
And the first train starts at 5 a.m.
And so every time we went out, there was always, are we going for last train or first train?
Last train or first train?
There's always this big decision, you know, like, oh, we're going for first train.
Okay.
That's amazing that the first train is even an option, right?
That means we're staying up all night long.
It wouldn't be now.
We'd go home at 5 a.m.
It would not be these days.
I can tell you that.
So anyways, all right.
So then you said uh-oh, you need to nip that in the bud right, love it, which is a really fun way if you hear someone mention a habit that is terrible, like this, or like oh, i've been drinking red bull every morning, instead of saying you should stop doing that.
Very seriously, this is such a better playful, natural way to say oh man, you need to nip that in the bud.
That's terrible for you, i love that, love that.
And then, and then i said you're right, i'm gonna squash some of these bad habits this year.
Yes,
Okay.
I love it.
And it's a good time to try to squash the bad habits, but it's even better time, any time of the year, to talk about your habits, right?
Why is this a connection skill, Aubrey?
I mean, this is interesting.
It's a great way to get deeper with someone.
You're admitting fault, but in kind of a fun, playful way, because you're not just saying I have this bad habit.
And now it's sort of a dark conversation.
Instead, you're talking about improvement, right?
If you're trying to stop a bad habit.
We're talking about how are we getting better, how we're doing something better.
Yeah, and you're also admitting humanness.
You're admitting your humanity right, you are human.
Habits form.
It's also particularly interesting, the nip in the bud, because it's early formation of habits, which is i'm like.
I love psychology.
I think it's really interesting right, so you could get into a really fascinating connection conversation with the native speaker guys about this.
So go for it exactly.
Be willing to show vulnerability and your imperfections.
You're absolutely going to create that deeper connection with friends and family.
Oh, I love it.
Good stuff.
Great episode today, Aubrey.
Thanks for hanging out with me on the show.
Awesome.
I'll see you next time.
Take care.
Bye.
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