This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2353, How to Call People Out on Their Quirks.
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If you notice a friend has committed a light transgression and you want to point it out and tease them a bit, what can you say in English?
Today, learn what the phrase is and more importantly, how to deliver it.
Do you struggle with phrasal verbs?
They can be confusing.
So coming up this week on All Ears English, we'll show you three new phrasal verbs to talk about making a mistake.
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and thank you for listening to our show hey there michelle how's it going today hey good lindsey how are you good michelle did you get scolded a lot when you were a kid did your parents or teachers maybe scold you i don't think really um i was a little bit of a rule follower so i think i didn't get
scolded that much but of course every kid does right there there has to be something.
Um, what about you?
Yeah, same here. I was a pretty good kid.
Um, occasionally I would get in trouble, but when I did, I felt so bad.
Yeah. I think I got detention once and I just like was so mortified, mortified.
It was not a place for me to be in detention.
So yeah, not good. Um, so anyways, Michelle, what are we talking about today?
Okay. So we are going to talk about a common well actually not that common but it's common in this context when you're used when you're scolding someone or questioning someone so we're going to talk about why you would use this uh on this episode but the construction is have you know x oh I love this yes
tell us more Michelle well this came up in my real life because my son was probably I can't remember exactly what he's doing, but I think it probably involved eating a lot of dessert.
And I think I said to him, have you no self -control?
Like as a joke. And of course he doesn't, he didn't understand what I'm saying.
Yeah. He doesn't know what self -control is.
Yes. But I, but I, um, I thought there's an episode.
Um, so Lindsay, I mean, have you heard this kind of construction before?
Yes. It, it definitely sounds like something I've heard, especially coupled with have you no shame right exactly it's kind of a creative way of saying something I envision this being used by like grandmothers to their grandkids I don't know why it just feels like a little bit of an older phrase or a more
creative way to say this yeah so yeah yes so we're going to talk about this today it's not it's not super super common but I think it's definitely worth an episode definitely worth learning what it is because if you hear it, it could be a little confusing, right?
And it's good for our listeners to have these creative tools in their toolboxes, right?
I mean, sometimes we might pull this out maybe on the IELTS exam.
Who knows? Maybe there's, I mean, this is generally a back and forth connection phrase and the IELTS exam is more you speaking at the examiner really.
But there could be a lot of places where we want to drop something really unique and creative.
And this would be something you could do.
Yeah, absolutely. Guys, make sure to hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the Always English Podcast, so you never miss anything from us.
Yeah. So we might hear this in movies or maybe as a joke, Michelle, um, anywhere else we might hear it.
Do you agree with what I said?
A grandmother scolding their grandkids?
Yeah, I do. I do. Um, right.
Maybe movies as a joke, whatever it is.
So with, with my son, I was, I was not really being serious.
I was kind of jabbing at him, maybe just trying to make a joke that why would he get it because he's six.
But I it just kind of made me laugh because I was thinking, have you no self control?
Just, you know, a little funny thing, maybe a little joke to myself.
But yeah, it's a it's a very interesting construction.
I mean, Lindsay, we're really talking about this.
Now we're going to go for have you no shame?
Because you mentioned that when you think of have you no, I think most people would think to put shame.
Yeah, for sure. It's the most common use of this construction.
And I like what you said, making a joke to yourself.
I think when you choose to use this construction, it's saying more about you as the speaker than it is about the other person.
It's saying that you want to say something unique and you want to kind of create a platform a little bit.
It's quite a unique delivery.
And so, yeah. Sometimes we do things just for ourselves.
Oh, yeah. Of course.
Yeah. You want to entertain yourself.
But what does this mean have you no shame what what is this construction really saying if we were to put it what would make sense it's basically saying you're doing something bad and don't you care that you're doing something bad right like don't you have any shame about what you're doing right now
you're on you know you're like doing something usually it's lighter things right right um it's not very heavy serious things.
Right. So if you were supposed, if the normal, a typical construction might be, don't you have any?
But we're making it, have you?
No. And it's kind of, I think when this is used, it's kind of a rhetorical question.
Don't you think, Lindsay?
I mean, Lindsay, what is a rhetorical question?
Oh, we could do a whole episode on the rhetorical question.
Sure. And we should.
Yeah. It's just basically a question that's not looking for an answer.
It's more a question as a statement.
Okay. Yeah. So when someone asks you a rhetorical question, they're not expecting you to respond.
Okay. Right. Right.
I'm not saying, have you no shame?
Oh, um, I don't know.
Maybe I have a little shame.
Right. It's not asking for a response.
I'm, I'm basically saying it seems I'm observing that you don't seem to have any shame.
Yes. Yes. And what you're doing is shameful, whatever it is.
So yeah, really rare, but creative and fun when you do hear it for sure.
Right. It's just saying like, how are you not embarrassed by this?
Right. That type of thing.
So this is just really kind of fun to use.
Let's do a couple other examples.
So yeah, let's say I offer Lindsay coffee at my house and she asks for a sugar.
And then we open of my my cabinet and i have 300 sugar packets taken from a restaurant right it's this kind of thing it's like stealing from a hotel towels or things like that right that you really shouldn't do and like you know then someone might call you out for it right yes this is calling someone
out that's that's a really good way to explain this so if i open up and you see i have this whole drawer full of all these sugar packets i've stolen what they all have like the branding of the restaurants Right, right, right.
And you could say...
I would say, my goodness, Michelle, have you no shame?
Right. So it's also in the delivery.
There has to be some real energy in your voice there.
Right? Yes. Right. Yeah.
You can't say, have you no shame, right?
You have to have that energy.
Or let's say you tell me that you have four overdue library books that you have to return.
Yeah. And I could joke to you and say, have you no shame, Lindsay?
Return them on time.
That's another good example.
So it's kind of these little transgressions, right, that you really shouldn't do.
But it's not like we're talking about huge offenses, right?
Right. And your friends are going to call you out on it.
And it's going to be kind of a fun back and forth because they're surprised or they're a little offended by it, but not in a deep way.
Right. Well, I have a deeper I have a more serious one, though, coming up.
Those are kind of cute.
But I mean, it could be more serious.
So let's say a couple is fighting because one of them saw the other flirting at a party.
So seriously, they could say, have you no shame?
Don't you see them right there?
Oh, wow. Sounded emotional, Michelle.
Yeah. So it could veer into the more initiating more of a fight, more of a serious emotional thing going on.
So there are kind of two potential scenarios there.
Well, and we hope more so that in your life, you'll be using the first one.
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okay all right Michelle we are back so Michelle do you use this construction well um I brought it here because I did use it but again I wouldn't say that it's something you know this isn't something that you're gonna use all the time yes this isn't something that you're just gonna several times a day
this is just for once in a while and this is not something you should pressure yourself to use no it's just if you're interested in adding a little something fun to your repertoire, it does show a little personality, which can be good.
So not something totally immediate for you to add in.
But if you're someone who likes to experiment with these kinds of constructions and these little changes, go for it.
For sure. I mean, so the again, the places where we use this are more rhetorical questions, saying when you've observed someone that's doing something that's not really right, and you want to call them out, right?
yeah so um yeah or like accusing them of some uh someone of something or it could be in that playful way or in the serious way um but it's not you can't just stick any word in right there right it can't just be have you know almonds you know it can't like okay no no no that doesn't mean the same thing
right yeah we can't put just a noun in there it's really it's really just shame and then you know, maybe self -control, it's really about this person has done something wrong and you're going to, again, you're going to let them know they have, and you're going to let them know that you're a little offended,
but in a bit of an animated way.
So you can't say, have you no almonds?
Have you no pillows?
It doesn't work. Right.
Have you no pillows?
Yeah. It doesn't really work in that way.
So some things you might hear would be something like self -control, like what I said to my son, or what about morals?
Have you no morals?
Yeah. I think that totally works.
Right. Same idea. It comes back to this kind of value judgment zone, right?
Where someone has kind of broken an unwritten rule or maybe a written rule and you don't think it's okay, but you also don't want to get so serious and saying you shouldn't have done that.
Right. Right. Because that can get a little too heavy for some scenarios.
Right. Sugar. Sugar.
Yeah. What are you going to do?
Sit down and lecture me about sugar.
you know it's too much it's too much exactly exactly so should we do a role play yeah so here we're friends and i am telling you about a shopping spree that i just went on oh wow okay there we go so i went on a shopping spree and i went a little overboard oh yeah yeah i bought not one not two not three
not four but five new purses lindsay i know have you no shame well it was Black Friday.
I couldn't help myself.
I get it. But five purses?
Have you no self -control?
I was weak. Oh, geez.
What a mess. Oh, my gosh.
Five purses. That's a lot.
That is a lot. How many purses would you say you own?
I have a feeling you're like really own any purses right now.
I have like three. Basically, I get cheap ones.
And then when I make them gross enough by just throwing stuff in, and then eventually I just clean them out, and then I might have to get rid of them.
Oh, no. I actually have a fanny pack.
I guess the fanny pack is the modern purse for my style.
So fanny packs are back, you know.
They were hot in the 1980s.
I remember my aunt, Sheila, used to wear them, and I used to think they were so nerdy, but they're back, and they're cool now.
They are. Yeah, they are.
All right. So let's go through this role play, Michelle.
well, basically I bought five purses on Black Friday.
And you're saying, have you no shame?
Yes. Right. Exactly.
So you're saying it was Black Friday.
I couldn't help myself.
And I said, I get it.
But five purses? Have you no self -control?
So I may not use it again, right?
Like that way. I just did it for the role play.
But again, we don't want to use it all the time.
So I could have, I could have, but I could have also said, don't you have any self -control?
Right. Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah. And this is another example.
So this is not like I've committed some kind of transgression, but it's more like it's a self -control thing, right?
It's kind of crazy to buy five purses, sort of, by someone's definition, right?
So there you go. Michelle, is there another episode we could check out?
Yes, let's check out.
Guys, take a look at episode 2343.
That was, how to say that two people don't mix well in English.
Love that. And where should we leave our listeners?
This has been a very creative phrase to bring in today, to add a lot of personality.
And again, at the beginning, Michelle, by the way, we said that you might hear this from a grandmother scolding their grandchild, but it's not just for grandparents to use, right?
No, no, no, you can do it, but you kind of just have to do it with a little bit of a a jokey tone.
But again, of course, if it's the serious one, don't use the joke.
Right, right. That's varying into it.
That's like the opening of a bigger fight, like with the couple, someone was flirting more of a serious emotional thing.
But most of the time, I would say if you try to veer towards this area of kind of teasing someone is a little teasing going on under the under the.
Yeah, exactly. I'm just making maybe with the sugar example, maybe you're known for this maybe yeah like maybe you come back with all the soap from the hotel like and so I you know I'm just I'm just calling you out I think it comes back to calling people out on maybe their quirks yes uh yeah it can it
can actually say that you it can actually show that you know someone really well when you use this oh well and and that's a good point I wouldn't really use this if you don't know the person well right right you know if you for example you gotta to have a good relationship with them to use this yeah
like if your boss invites you and your partner to dinner with with them and then you know you don't know them very well it's a very formal relationship but you find out that the boss's partner is stealing sugars i would not use that in that case right right exactly it show it shows how well you know
someone yes yes give it a try if you feel comfortable but now you know why you might hear that funny kind of construction good to know thanks for bringing this to the show michelle and guys don't forget to hit the follow button on all ears english to let all is english drop into your queue five days
a week and join our community all right all right thanks lindsay for talking about this with me today and i'll talk to you later all right take care bye bye thanks for listening to all ears english would you like to know your english level take our two -minute quiz, go to allearsenglish .com forward slash
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