This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2359, How to Connect Ideas and People in English.
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A key skill in English is articulating how ideas connect together so that you will be better understood and being able to connect people to others by showing what they have in common.
Listen in today to find out how.
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See you there. Hey, Aubrey.
How are you doing today?
I'm great. How are you, Lindsay?
Good. Feeling good.
Feeling good. What do you have going on later today?
Wow, Aubrey. I am crazy busy today.
So much to do. You're telling me I have to take one child to lacrosse, another one to soccer.
I need to figure out a carpool.
I can't be two places at once.
Wow. That makes me stressed out just thinking about it.
Honestly, that's insane.
Okay. Good luck, Aubrey.
Thank you. Yeah, I need it.
Wow. All right. I'm excited to get into the topic for today, but first guys, hit the follow button right here in All Learns English.
We do publish five episodes a week.
So if you want to make English learning part of your habit, which is how people get better, go ahead and hit the follow button.
Right, Aubrey? Absolutely, right?
Then our episodes will just drop right into your queue and you won't miss any of them.
You got it. Now, today's episode is inspired from a YouTube viewer.
And thank you for watching us over in YouTube.
Yeah? Yes, absolutely.
So this was Attack Intuitory 2 3159.
And the question was left on a recent episode that you and Michelle recorded, All Ears English, Love Language Learning, Tell Me About It.
And so then this listener said, when saying tell me about it, does the intonation depend on situations where I am showing curiosity or sympathy to the story which someone is telling me?
Thank you so much for today's episode.
So this was definitely covered in that episode a little bit, but intonation is really key there to know which meaning you mean.
Oh, that's true. That's true.
Yeah, 100%. So, and there's a lot of other ways to say, tell me about it, right?
Exactly. That's what we want to dive into today.
As I was listening to that conversation, I'm like, oh, we could do a part two with some of the other fun ways that we say that.
So definitely go back.
Don't miss that first episode for more details about, you know, tell me about it, the different intonation, how we use it.
And today we're going to dive into these other phrases that convey a similar meaning.
Yeah. And first of all, for any listeners that didn't listen to that episode, let's just define, you know, what does that mean when we say, tell me about it?
Yeah, we are responding with affirmation.
We're really agreeing, right?
Someone says something and you say, tell me about it usually means like a whole heart star review and Apple podcast on January 19th.
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Love it. Definitely.
Thank you so much, guys.
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We want more. I want to hear.
Reemphasizing how much you agree with someone or how much you have something in common.
Like we were both saying, we are both really busy.
This is such a fun connection skill when you have something in common to use one of these fun phrases.
Yeah. And this is, yeah, exactly.
As you said, Aubrey, it's a huge connection skill.
And on Oller's English, we're all about connection, connection, not perfection.
Yes. It's great to learn grammar.
It's great to learn vocabulary, but what does it actually mean for your level of connection in the world, your friendships, your professional relationships?
That's what we're going to show you here.
Okay. Absolutely. And it makes sense that we have so many options because this is such a great connection skill, but you want to be able to use all of these you want you don't want to just have to say you know tell me about it or even like i agree so there are a lot of fun ways to say this so that you
can switch it up yeah and we do i do find that i'm saying this a lot what about you aubrey is this uh does this come up for you often i would guess yes yeah absolutely right because you want to highlight that when you have something in common it would be such a lost opportunity to not point it out right you
want to point out when there are similarities, when this bonds people to find out you have things in common.
Support the speaker.
Exactly. Exactly. All right.
So then we have, how many do we have today?
Two or three options, three great options.
Okay. What will be the first one we used at the top of the episode?
You're telling me emphasizes how much you agree or how much you have something in common.
Let's do a little mini role play to see it again.
Okay. Why do I even bother buying lottery tickets.
Oh, you're telling me I've never even won a single dollar.
Perfect, right? This is such a great, if someone is just kind of venting that they're wasting a lot of money on something, something's not going well.
This is a very fun, playful way to say, I agree.
Exactly. It's straightforward.
It's clear what you're saying.
It's kind of modern and native and natural.
Exactly. And we are doing mini role plays here because this usually is a response to someone.
Right. It's difficult to give an example sentence, how you would use this because we use it to respond to what someone else has said.
A hundred percent. And that's another thing we could say to agree.
A hundred percent. Totally.
Right. That's a bonus for today, but let's move on to number two, Aubrey.
All right. Two is you said it.
So very similar meaning.
You're just agreeing with what someone said.
And because the word said is in there, this is a little more specific to, you're going to say it right after someone says something that you either really agree with or you really share something in common.
Right. So for example, this dessert is delicious.
You said it. I can't believe we didn't know about this place.
Yeah. And so you're just saying, Hey, I totally agree with you.
I'm glad you said that because I'm saying the same thing, right?
Exactly. Right. Just a fun way to say you agree.
It gives you an, It's just an option to switch it up.
I don't use this one as often.
I think it's a little more rare or a little more common for maybe a generation older than ours.
I hear it a little bit less these days.
What do you think, Lindsay?
Yeah. Oh my gosh, almost said 100 % again.
Geez, why don't we swap in 100 % instead of you said it?
Yeah, no, I think you're right.
I rarely, I mean, I know about it.
I know of it, but I don't really use it.
And I don't know that I hear it, but it might be from a previous generation.
Maybe. Yeah. I think we have swapped in 100 percent instead of saying you said it we say 100 yeah we're discovering this episode in real time here aubrey this is good all right but the next one 100 we do say it i couldn't agree with you more right yes i absolutely say this i hear it it's such a great chunk
for just letting someone know that you really agree yeah so for example dukes is the best bar in town i couldn't agree with you more.
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Okay, Michelle, we are back now.
What are some other, again, as I said earlier in the show, I think this is incredibly important.
Why do we need to be able to transition and show that the next thing we're going to say is similar or is lined up with what we just said.
Like, why is that so important for connection?
Well, to me, it shows that you're putting some thought into something.
You're thinking about what you have to say.
It's also a signal, right?
We always talk about letting the listener in on what you're actually trying to say.
So to me, it kind of has those two functions.
You're, you're showing this awareness and that you've planned, right?
You like, you like you've thought of what you're saying.
It just sounds to me like you've put some thought into things.
Yeah. And I think it's also a good signpost.
If we're worried that people may not understand us because of our accent, if you are using high level transition vocabulary like this, this gives them another chance, right?
So when they hear that, they think, okay, I know what's happening.
They're making a comparison and the similar thing is coming next.
It's going to help.
It's just, it just makes everything a bit more coherent.
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
So, but let's talk about, there are some other ways to express a similar idea.
So let's get into it.
So the first one is on a similar note, right?
Instead of a vein, we're talking about a note.
Okay. Notes and veins.
I love it. So for example, on a similar note, my birthday is also next week.
so maybe we can plan for that and so we have to assume here with this example we've been saying something what have we been saying before again it's a transition so what yeah so potentially we've been talking about plans for the next week something that's coming up yes and so i'm saying well reminder
my birthday is next week lindsay i actually here's a question do you like to school they all came up to me they're like aubrey i didn't recognize any of that i couldn't remember names.
They looked so different.
It was crazy. Yeah, but they recognized me, so I guess that's a compliment.
That's great. That's great.
Okay, I'll start us out.
It's high time I came to one of these.
I missed the first two.
This was the one to come to if you had to choose one.
This hotel is amazing.
You're telling me this ballroom is so opulent.
I kind of would prefer somewhere more chill, though.
I know what you mean.
It's kind of hard to just chat at such a formal event.
I couldn't agree with you more.
We should see if anyone wants to go to a bar nearby after.
I don't really know anyone well enough to ask.
I'm really bad at staying in touch.
Me too. It's crazy how much we've all changed.
You said it. I hardly recognize anyone.
I could totally feel like you would say 100 % there instead of you said it 100%.
I might overuse that a little bit.
But yeah, no, it's true.
It's true. So you said this hotel is amazing.
um so you're really I or I did I'm really impressed with the location and you said you're telling me so you're really agreeing there yes right just a fun way to say absolutely or I really I know I love that I love that uh which is your favorite Michelle which of these do you like the best I mean which do
you tend to use the most you know what I think I want to add in one okay I would say in the same way.
Yeah, same way is also a very conversational on like, oh, in the same way we should.
Yeah, I like that. It's more conversational for sure.
It doesn't sound quite as formal as in the same vein, but it's conversational.
It's connected. Right.
But I would say as far as the ones that we we taught earlier, I would say in a similar vein is my favorite.
What about you? I like along the same lines, along the same lines.
I feel like I use that a lot.
Yeah. I don't know.
It's just personal preference.
You know, of course.
Good to be able to use them all.
And again, we've already talked about why this is important.
You're showing that you're thinking on that deeper level.
You're showing, I think it's really important socially to show that how you connect to the world or how, or actually more importantly, when you're at a party, you want to pull someone into the connection, into the conversation.
Maybe they're on the outside, someone's already talking about something, you might use this transition to pull in this other person and say, oh, in a similar vein, I know that Mary likes to, you know, skateboard.
You might need these tools to kind of smooth things over socially and be that connector.
I like that idea. It's like when you think of, you know, you're making a bed and there's that wrinkled part and you're kind of smoothing it over, right?
It is an expression that can do that.
Really double down on how much they agree, why not?
Yeah, it's kind of a ninja connection skill that is very accessible to all of us, right?
It's right there in front of you.
Sometimes these tools for connection are very accessible.
They're right there.
So grab it and agree with the person and then expand.
Sometimes we hear our listeners are worried that a conversation will end and they don't know how to continue a conversation.
Guys, this is a good way to do it too, right?
Yes, absolutely. Right.
So any chance you have to agree, emphatically use one of today's phrases.
What a fun way to connect.
All right. Sounds good.
Aubrey, see you next time.
Have a good one. See you next time.
Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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Take our two -minute quiz.
Go to allearsenglish .com forward slash fluency score.
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See you next time. My watch says we've gone three miles.
This app is like having a personal trainer.
Yeah, but those apps collect a lot of your personal data.
Aren't you worried?
Really? That's creepy.
How do I stop that?
You should go to privacy .ca .gov to learn about your privacy rights and get on the best path to protect your privacy.
You think they could help us get up this next hill?
One step at a time.
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And we can use this for extra help.
Good, yes. And then you said, good idea.
These results are along the same lines.
So along the same lines as what?
as, so basically our results line up is what we're saying.
Exactly. Right. Exactly.
Our results line up.
So I think because of that, that shows that what we're working towards is going to be proven.
Nice. I feel like generally when you present your research to your colleagues, it's probably a lot tougher than people.
I don't know how it works for research scientists.
I don't know to what extent, that's actually an interesting question.
To what extent do your colleagues poke at your work or meaning, not poke at it, but like challenge your work and question your work, I know when people do the PhD defense, that definitely is challenging.
And you sit in a room with all these professors and I'm sure a lot of our listeners have gone through this incredibly stressful questioning your work.
So I wonder what it's like for scientists.
Yeah. Period journals, things like that.
But that's for another day, Michelle.
What's another episode that we think is connected to this?
Well, speaking of people doing their PhDs, this episode, definitely listen to this one.
It's episode 2354 and it was called, Is Everyone Smart?
It's a thought -provoking title.
So definitely go on over there and check out 2354.
What's our takeaway for today?
I like the idea of smoothing things over.
When you get to a certain level of English, you can use certain, you realize not everything is just content and functional.
It's more just about connecting ideas and having things start to really flow together.
And to me, that is really going to bring you up to that next level, knowing these kinds of things that maybe they're not the most fun expressions, right?
Maybe it's, it's, but they're so functional and just help with that flow, that natural flow.
Yeah. It reminds me a lot of our C1 course, because in that course we really do, we talk about connection skills and this kind of is one of them.
It's using language to, again, how do we introduce someone into a group of people?
How do we make sure people understand, understand us and what we're about to say, or how to ideas connect?
This is huge, Michelle.
Exactly. All right.
Well, I'm so glad we talked about this today.
And in a similar vein, I guess it's time to go.
I guess it is, Michelle.
Well, I'll see you next time.
Have a good one. All right.
All right. You too.
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 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. My watch says we've gone three miles.
This app is like having a personal trainer.
Yeah, but those apps collect a lot of your personal data.
Aren't you worried?
Really? That's creepy.
How do I stop that?
You should go to privacy .ca .gov to learn about your privacy rights and get on the best path to protect your privacy.
You think they could help us get up this next hill?
One step at a time.
Californians have the strongest privacy protections in the country.
Go the extra mile to protect your information.
Learn more at privacy .ca .gov.
