This is an All-Ears English Podcast episode 2197.
We're not naming names and an emity in English.
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And I'm Rick Schwartz.
And we're your host for season three of Amazing Wildlife.
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behind the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Listen as we dive into the efforts here in San Diego,
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Hello, Michelle. What's shaking today?
Not too much. I spent some time with my kids today in the city and it was good.
We haven't seen each other in a little while, so I'm excited to get back into recording.
Me too. As always, Michelle. It's good to be back on video. Guys, don't forget.
These episodes are on YouTube on the Allers English YouTube channel, right?
Michelle, so that's another way to engage with us.
Yes, exactly. So Lindsay, I have a question, though.
Okay. If your name, excuse me, weren't Lindsay.
Yeah. What would it be?
I guess you'd have to ask my parents.
I don't know. No, like if you could choose another name for yourself,
is there a name that you always liked?
I kind of like the name Victoria. Victoria with a V.
I think that's cool. It just fills up the mouth.
It's just like it's a big, bold name for a woman.
So that would be my name. I don't know if I like Vicki, but I like Victoria.
Okay. Victoria. Yeah. I love that.
What about you, Michelle? What about me?
Maybe.
I used to, I like the name, um, Jillian.
Jillian. Yeah. Okay.
But I mean, that's the name that I always liked growing up.
So I don't know if I would still choose that, but that's a name that comes to mind.
I think it's a cute name. Um, but I think I may have talked about this on the show before.
Once in middle school, we had a project where we had to rename someone
based on their personality. Did I?
I'm not sure if you said that. Oh, it was, it was very interesting.
And so somebody would decide on your name and another name for you based on who you are
at that moment in time and your character traits. So mine was Ruth.
So I love it. I love it. It's true. You can find patterns.
And sometimes I think I'm just projecting on people when I hear their name.
If I already have an association with that name, right?
So it's a tricky one. But yeah, why are we talking about names today, Michelle?
We're getting back to the name concept. Yeah.
Yes. So we have been having fun talking about names.
So today we are going to talk about names again, uh, in a different way.
This is about being discreet about something, saying that you don't want to say who someone is.
So we actually spoke about this idea on the business English podcast.
So definitely listen to that episode as well. I don't know why.
I don't have the title in it. I apologize for that.
But, um, yeah, but, um, we did speak about it there as well.
Um, and guys also to listen to a great all-ers English episode head on over to episode 2184,
which was three tips for telling better stories in the English.
Yeah. So what is the core expression that we're going to show?
Let's get to it. Finally. Yeah. Michelle, what is it?
This is such a good one and it's common. It goes across business, life,
community, family. It works. What is it, Michelle?
It's I'm not naming names.
Yes. So when I hear this, I immediately think anonymity, right?
Anonymity secrets are being kept.
What do you think? Yeah. I feel that this is just you don't want to say who someone is.
Maybe you are accusing someone of something or gossiping about someone and you don't want to,
for whatever reason, you don't want to say the name.
There's so and there are a lot of contacts who guys in today's episode, we're going to show you
all the different contacts in which we use this concept of, you know, saying I'm not naming names,
maybe you're staying anonymous, but using words to name that.
Right. Yeah.
Yeah. So let's get into it, Michelle. Where do we start today?
Okay. So it again means you're not going to say who someone is. So many different contacts.
So I'm going to go over some of the most common ones. So the first one we're going to talk about is
when you don't want to reveal who someone is or be too direct with what you're talking about.
So maybe you're blaming someone for something, but you don't want to make them feel bad or embarrass them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So Lindsay, have you ever had to name names about something or someone or?
Yeah. For sure. Sometimes you do. It just depends on, you know, what the relationship is with
the person you're talking to. It depends on what you're saying. Obviously, it's better not to gossip,
I think, to stay away from that as much as you possibly can. So typically we would say,
I'm not naming names when we're just not going to do that. Right. But that's, it's a chunk.
Right. Michelle, mostly a chunk. Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So let's do an example.
I'm not naming names, but someone left an old banana in the break room yesterday.
Yeah. And there's a fun little extension that we do with our, with my dog at our house.
We'll say, oh, someone got into the cheese, right? Someone got into the cheesy.
Yeah.
We'll do this with kids too.
Yes. Someone. It's always said like that too. That's another way to do it. That's a good one.
That's really fun. Now with that one, I'm kind of side tracking us a little bit, but with that one,
Michelle, is that more about like kids and pets or would it, it could be with a part, you say,
that to a partner, it seems like someone is eating all the chocolate ice cream, right?
That sort of thing. Who would you use it towards? If you're saying the someone thing,
I would say someone, I think it's someone, someone you have a closer relationship with that you
can be, you can be a little bit humorous with one, you can tease a little bit, right?
It's teasing. It's teasing for sure. For sure. Same concept of an anonymity. So that was just
a side point, guys. Maybe that'll be in the app for your vocabulary. But let's come back to
not naming names. Tell us more. All right. So let's go into another example. So the second one
is for gossip. So that's the second way that I feel this is used most frequently. The second
context. So maybe someone is trying to find out something. So let's give a little example of this.
Okay. Here we go. Tell me, please, was it Paul? I'm not naming names.
Yeah. And there's definitely an air of playfulness in your voice, Michelle, right?
Right. Right. Yes. Exactly. Lindsay, are you a good secret keeper?
Would you name names? Oh, I don't like to name names, but I struggle more with like
keeping secrets and something is exciting. Yeah. Maybe not related to any one person,
but I want to share it with someone that I'm excited about it. You know, yeah. It's hard. It's hard,
not to share, especially with your partner. I think you do you feel if you are telling someone
a secret and they are a partner, they're married, whatever, do you assume that they will tell that
person? Do you think that it's understood that they can tell their partner? That's a great question.
That could be great for another episode, but sometimes I keep it in mind as a possibility,
as a possibility, because I don't think there's a universal rule. Some people think it's okay.
Others don't. It just depends on that relationship they have with their partner. And does the
partner know the person? So it was a lot there. That is another topic because we could talk about
how to tell someone. Yeah. How to tell someone that you don't want a secret told even to their
partner, right? That's a guy. Right, right. 100%. That'd be a great one. We're going to come back
to that guy. So hit the follow button on all ears English. Okay. Good. What else?
When I see us world from the San Diego Zoo, why life aligns? I'm Marco Went. And I'm Rick Schwartz.
And we're your host for season three of Amazing Wildlife, a show from I Heart Radio Ruby Studio,
and the global conservation organization behind the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Listen as we dive into the efforts here in San Diego and spotlight the heroes working world-wide
to care for the species you know and love. Listen to Amazing Wildlife on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Michelle. So what else? Other ways to
say this, Michelle, what are they? Okay. Well, Lindsay, your someone was really, really a good
way to say it. So let's get into a few others. So the first one is I won't say or you could say I
won't say who or you couldn't even say I won't say but right? Yes. Right. I won't say but I love
that. So again, worse is around this concept of staying anonymous, not revealing a name,
keeping it a secret. And then the someone comes up, right? That's true. Actually, yes. In this
example, it does. So I won't say who, but someone keeps misplacing the files. There you go.
Wow. That's what it is. And you know, at the example at the top of the show, I just started with
someone got into the cheese or someone is eating all the chocolate ice cream from the fridge.
But you also could say I won't say who. It's just a little more extended. Right. It was a little
intro or you could even do it like this. Lindsay, this is a little role play. Oh, please, who is it?
I won't say right. Okay. So you're not going to reveal that identity. Okay. Anything else?
Okay. So the next one is I'm not placing blame, but so that's only for the first context. Right. So
if you are accusing someone of something, you don't want to say it completely in a direct way,
but you have to bring it up. So you could say something like I'm not placing blame, but we really
need to put in some more effort on these projects. Yeah. That feels more busy. Right. It feels a lot
more professional, more formal, not about who's eating the ice cream out of the fridge, not about
tired or your pet or your partner. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Exactly. Or for the more of the other
context, the gossip context, I'm not telling. And this one feels very juvenile to me, Lindsay.
It's the way it does. Right. It in school. There was like the concept of a tattletail.
Right. A kid who would tell the teacher, don't tell. Yeah. That's a really juvenile thing. So I
would only use that around a kid. Yeah. Yeah. So for example, who asked you out? I'm not telling.
Right. So that's super juvenile for sure. For sure. Yeah. But good to know because a lot of our
listeners, you know, you guys probably have kids and you want them to learn English, you want to
speak English with your kids. And that's perfect for them. Right. Yeah. Let's do one more. And then
we'll we'll start to wrap it up because we've got tons of role plays in this one. So the last one
is I won't give it away. Yes. Okay. So here's a role play. Oh, come on. Who is my secret Santa? Tell
me already. I won't give it away. All right. So these are all just ways to say that, you know,
the person's identity is going to remain anonymous. What's the takeaway for our listeners? These
are very natural things to say, Michelle. Yeah. These are really useful for strategically
keeping something a secret. It can be good for work or personal life, depending on which ones.
We gave you guys a lot of small role plays in this one. Lots of different contexts. And the
the biggest ones to take away because I know we gave you a lot. I feel our someone
eight of the keys. I'm not naming names. And I would also say, let's say I won't say I think
that's a good one. So you got a bunch there to choose from. We highlighted three of them here
at the end for you. But this is all about being anonymous. So being anonymous and no and giving you
guys a range between being formal and just teasing, like teasing your dog or teasing your kid,
like a very big range. Right. So just understand the subtext. Are we teasing or we playing around
with people? Are we being serious? We've given you a huge range today in this vocabulary.
Yes. Oh, this is fun. All right, guys. Thank you so much for listening. And we'll see you on
the next one. All right, Michelle. Have a good one. 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 all
ears English.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.
And spot like the heroes working worldwide to care for the species you know and love.
Listen to amazing wildlife on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
