This is an all ears English podcast episode 21 73 stay cool with this popular native saying Welcome to the all ears English podcast Downloaded more than 200 million times.
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Has anyone ever said to you, stay strong or stay safe?
Today, find out what it means and when we use it as we end an English conversation.
Hello, Michelle. How's everything going today?
Everything's good, everything's good.
Lindsey you have, I mean, it's snowing here today.
Have you had any super cold or super, super rainy days recently in Denver?
Yeah, we've had, we had a cold snap a few weeks ago and you're just trying to stay warm.
Michelle, what's going on there today in New York?
In terms of the weather, exactly.
So it's cold and it's interesting because there was a giant snow storm, and in the beginning of the day, I was looking out my window to just a tree full of snow.
And now I guess it's just not cold enough because to my surprise, all the snow has already melted.
Oh, wow, interesting.
Off the branches. Yeah, so like my son was home from school today and I thought maybe tomorrow too but now looking outside, I don't know.
Little different. Well, stay dry, Michelle.
Thank you, thank you.
Weather in New York, so stay dry.
Exactly. So yeah, so guys, maybe you picked up on it.
Today we're going to talk about a common construction people use when wishing people something and this is often with the weather.
It's said quite frequently, don't you think Lindsay?
Yes. I mean, we heard this a lot when we had the pandemic, the global health crisis, right?
We heard stay safe, stay safe all the time, right?
But stay dry, stay warm, very, very common construction for native English speakers, for sure.
Yes, so stay something is what it is.
It's an adjective, I would say.
Yeah. Well, it's always an adjective but yeah, I use this.
It's always funny though because do you ever find that you're using it and you're saying stay warm and it's freezing out and the person isn't going to stay warm.
No one's staying warm, but you just say it.
It's just a nice thing to wish someone, don't you think?
Right, right, right.
You're just going to be cold for a week because there's a deep freeze and yeah, no one's gonna be warm.
But you say it? Yeah, I think it's a kind of a greeting.
It's a bit of a greeting that's rooted in what's going on right now.
Or it's a send -off kind of.
I think more of a send -off.
Yeah. Yeah, I don't.
Especially when somebody is about to go out the door.
Because you're going now into the elements.
Stay warm. Stay dry.
Stay whatever you want to say, or you know, you see this a lot on social media, and if you go back and you see clips from the time period of 2020, 2021, then you will hear people sign off their videos as stay safe, right?
As a sign off after they've done their meme or whatever they're doing, stay safe, guys, that kind of thing.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
So it's used typically when you are signing off.
You're leaving, someone else is leaving.
It's usually towards the end.
But yeah, before we get into this a little bit more guys check out episode 2162.
This was a fun one.
It was dating someone much older.
Is it accepted in American culture?
So great topic around.
That was a fun one.
Right around Valentine's Day around this time of year.
We're thinking about love, so that was a great topic.
Go check that one out guys, for sure.
Okay, so what exactly do we say then, Michele?
Let's go back through it just to make sure exactly what we're teaching our listeners today.
So again, we're saying stay.
It's basically another way to say, I wish you.
Right. Right, right.
I hope this for you.
I hope that you're dry.
I hope that you're warm.
So again, it's really, really cold.
you might say, stay warm.
And when it's rainy, stay dry.
And I said to you stay dry because it sounds like your snow is turning into rain out there in New York are kind of slushy, I can imagine, kind of messy.
Go out to the gym or the store tonight.
You have to wear boots because you could step in a big puddle, right?
So stay dry. Yes. Yep.
Now, so this interesting.
If it's hot outside, do we say stay cool?
I think we could. I think it's legitimate.
Maybe we don't, maybe we don't say it as much because we don't live in such extreme although New York in the summer.
That's hot here. Really, really cool.
It's a good question.
I would like to ask someone who lives in the desert or something of Arizona ask Aubrey, she might be the one to ask.
Yeah. So it's so to me when I hear a stay cool, I think more of the personality or just Oh.
Stay cool right? I don't, I don't feel that I hear this as much when it's hot outside.
I don't I don't hear people saying like, stay cool.
I mean, you could you could, but this is another way that it's used.
So we'll get into this in just a second.
But let's just Let's do a quick role -play with this.
See how it would be used.
Before we do that, though, Michele, I want to remind our listeners, guys, if you're not currently following All Ears English, go and check if you are, but if you're not, you want to hit that Follow button.
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Let's get into the role -play now, Michele.
You ready? All right.
It's a real one, but it's a good one.
Here we go. All right, we love it.
All right. So, okay.
I'm heading out. oh man, that rain is really coming down.
Oh, okay. Good luck, Lindsay.
Stay dry. Oh that's the worst when you have to go out and it's raining cats and dogs which we love that expression from the play around with that.
It's raining cats and dogs, but you have to go out.
That's the worst. Are you good at remembering an umbrella if it's raining?
No, well no, I'm okay at remembering an umbrella.
It's more bringing it, getting it home and not leaving it somewhere is what I struggle with.
Leave it all over the place at the doctor's office, on the train, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I do you I do that with gloves so much that I'll be honest with you.
I bought a pair of gloves to use this winter before I even wore it the first time one was gone.
I don't even have gloves that I've been wearing this winter I've just been using my pockets because I think I've just given up.
You've given up on gloves.
up, giving up on gloves.
That should be the name of my memoir.
Michelle, do you what the kids have, right, which they're tied together or something like that?
Isn't that a thing?
Yeah, my son has two little clips on his coat.
Right, right. That's what you need, Michelle.
Yeah, he's got two little red mittens hanging down.
Yeah, I do need that.
They might make them for adults, who knows?
Who knows? Exactly, exactly.
But yeah, so we're going to talk about more ways to use this in just a second.
Okay, all right, Michelle, let's get into our other options here.
And it's funny what you, I forgot completely about the Stay Cool thing, not talking about weather, so I'm excited to get into that one.
But first there's another one.
What is it? What is it?
Well, so this is more for someone you may not see for a while.
Maybe it's the end of a time spent together, I think even of a yearbook, you're graduating, or you're not working together anymore whatever it is.
So this is a lot of times for some sort of special trait about that person.
So you might say stay sweet or something like that.
So for example, I'll miss you, stay sweet.
Yeah, yeah. That one I've never heard but I know exactly what we're getting at here and it reminds me of seventh grade yearbooks for sure.
Yes, me too. This This might be more of a thing that kids say to each other, or actually, maybe not anymore.
So yeah, this is, what else Michelle?
What's next? What's next?
Oh, okay. So the next one would be, like we said, stay cool.
Yeah, I love that one.
How would that sound?
All right, you've been so much fun to work with.
Stay cool. Yeah, this is not something I would say now, to be totally honest. It's something I would have said when I was 13.
What about you? Do you still say these things?
I don't know that I say it, but I think that when adults say it, and I think they do, I think it's more in an ironic way.
I think it's more cute, stay cool, something like that.
So if you hear it, I wouldn't say that in a formal situation as an adult, but if it somebody you were really close at work, you could say, Oh, yeah, stay cool, I'll miss you.
Something like that.
Well, I think for me, the next one is the one I hear the most from adults, which is stay hungry.
Now, Michelle, are we talking about, I want to go have a snack, stay hungry?
No. That's a good point.
Yes. Not stay hungry because that's not a very nice thing Do you don't want someone to have their food?
No. This one is more about drive, being driven to do something.
So that's another way to use the word hungry.
Yes. So stay hungry.
So for example, I know you have so much to offer, keep working hard and stay hungry.
So this might be said to someone who's early on in their career, especially maybe an entrepreneur who's building a business and just has like a fire in their belly as they say, they just want to achieve something, they want to build a business.
So you might say that to that person because you can feel that passion inside of them.
Right. Right. So stay hungry and then the last one is, this one I feel is pretty common, stay strong.
So you know, maybe someone needs a confidence booster or also I feel like if somebody s very sick or tired or they need courage to do something.
Maybe they need courage to quit their job.
Maybe they need courage to beat an illness.
So you could say stay strong, you can do this.
I think this one is the most versatile for our adult lives that we might be the most likely to use.
Stay strong, you can get through this.
It could apply to so many different situations.
Maybe you have a family, maybe not just you have an illness, a family member has an illness, but you need to stay strong to be there for them.
Right. Right. Yeah.
Or it could be just something as, it could be something more lighthearted, like you're doing exercise.
The teacher might say, stay strong, you got this.
You can, something like that.
Right. So it could be used in the, I agree.
This one is very versatile, can be used in a lot a different contexts.
Oh, I like this. This episode is really evolving today into something kind of interesting, you know, beyond what we would expect to learn about here.
So let's go into our role play, shall we?
Michelle? Okay, so here we go.
So you and I worked together, but it's your last day you're moving on.
Okay, here we go. So I guess that's it.
Yeah. I'll miss you.
Stay cool, Lindsey.
Oh, thanks, Michelle.
I'll miss you too. Stay hungry.
I have a feeling big things are going to happen for you soon.
That means so much to me.
I guess I'm just a little frustrated and stuck.
Well stay strong. I know it's hard but you have so much potential.
Thanks. Okay, I'm heading out.
Oh gosh, it's pouring.
Stay dry. Thanks, you too.
Nice. You can imagine doing this all in one but yeah sorry.
Go ahead. No, I was going to say you can imagine me kind of running out the door and I've got like my jacket over my head and just imagining the scene I think helps us to really get these words, right?
So good, yeah. Absolutely.
All right, so you gave me the stay cool which again, if it fits your personality, it doesn't fit my personality to say that.
It's something I feel like my aunt would have said, my aunt just passed away this year But she was kind of like, kind of a hippie kind of cool.
Like she would say, keep smiling, stay happy, things like that.
She had her own flavor.
So she chose to say those things.
But that's just her personality, you know?
Yeah, yeah. It all depends whatever you feel fits you best for sure.
And then you said, I'll miss you too, stay hungry.
So basically - Again, am I talking about food?
No. No, it's not like stay hungry, please keep your tuna sandwich in the fridge.
just stay hungry. Stay driven.
Keep trying because it sounds like maybe we both wanted to get out and Lindsay found a new job and I haven't found one yet.
Right, right. Or maybe that could be the scenario or maybe I'm a little older.
I'm more of a mentor for you, for example, something like that and and I'm trying to encourage you to see the big picture.
And you keep going.
So it could be either of those scenarios.
Yeah, that's true. And then I said, I'm a little frustrated and stuck.
And then you said, stay strong.
So, I know it's hard but you have so much potential.
So, you're really giving me a confidence boost here.
Yeah. And we're saying we'd said how versatile that stay strong is, again it could go for if someone is sick in your family or just in your situation, you're just a little stuck in your career right?
You're not really sure what to do next.
Stay strong Michelle, you'll figure it out.
You'll overcome this.
Thank you. And then we realized that it's raining.
So this goes back to where we started the episode just talking about the weather.
So you said, oh gosh, it's pouring.
And I said, oh, stay dry.
Yeah. And then I said, thanks, you too.
Full circle, Michelle.
Love it. Full circle.
That's another good one, which we could do a whole other episode on the term full circle, which we really do use quite a bit as native speakers.
I think it's a little bit of a cliche And I kind of, when I hear it, I sort of cringe, but that's just my personality.
I think it's really common, that term, full circle.
So any takeaway for our listeners today, Michelle?
Where should we leave our listeners?
Well this is really interesting because essentially this episode was about two words, stay something.
And it can be used for something as simple as the weather to as deep as motivating someone who's having a hard time.
So, it's just a very unique common construction and you can decide how it fits with your personality and play around with it.
It's possible that there are some adjectives that don't work quite as well with it.
I don't know that you can necessarily stick anything in there and it sounds good but we gave you some to start with and play with.
And give it a try. Let us know how it goes.
Yeah, I love it. And this is a true sign of the times, right, as we said before.
Or if you go back to videos on Instagram from 2020, you'll hear, stay safe, everyone.
Stay safe. Signing off.
And so it tells you a lot about what's going on in the culture.
In the broad sense, the ones that we're all using or what's going on in that person's life.
So, this is not something you guys are gonna find in any textbook, right?
We're not in a textbook, so write this one down and try it out.
It's definitely gonna help you connect.
All right, this was fun.
Stay cool, Lindsay.
Stay cool, stay cool.
All right, Michelle.
You have a good one.
I'll talk to you soon.
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