This is the all ears English podcast episode 2392 English vocabulary that will help you speak your mind.
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In English, should you say mind your own business?
Find out when you can use this phrase and when you should avoid it in your next English conversation.
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Hello, Lindsay. How are you?
I'm doing pretty well today, Aubrey.
What's shaking? What's happening for you today?
Not too much. I actually leave tomorrow for a trip to Mexico, just Rocky Point.
But for spring break, I'm excited.
That is so exciting.
Yeah. It's good to travel in the springtime, you know, though I was just looking at the weather and it's chillier than it usually is.
It's like high sixties, low seventies.
And I have friends coming from up north that really wanted some warmth and sunshine, so it might be chillier than they want, but yeah.
The sub -zero temperatures they've been dealing with.
Yeah. I mean, you can still hang on the beach and jeans and sweatshirts and it's fun, you know what I mean?
Yeah, you'll have fun.
It'll be great. I have a question for you here, Lindsay to start us out.
Are you good at speaking your mind?
Mm hmm. I would say I've gotten better at it for sure.
As I've gotten older.
Just the other night, I was at a steakhouse with my partner and my partner's friend and this friend has slightly different political views than I do not completely different.
We're in the same spectrum, but just slightly different.
And so I think I did a pretty good job of pushing back and kind of speaking my mind.
Yeah. Okay. Nice. Yeah, I agree.
Right. The older I get, the more I'm willing to do that.
I still try to be careful of feelings, but I'm more likely to speak my mind than I did as a young person for sure.
And I think that's normal.
I think our listeners probably resonate with that too.
As we get to know who we are as people over time, we go through different experiences, we gain that confidence.
right? Absolutely. Yeah.
Oh, this is a great phrase to talk about speaking your mind and we got a really good question from a listener over on youtube about do you mind, right?
And if that's polite and there are so many idioms in English with the word mind.
So today we're diving into a few of these.
I'm very excited. Those, these are fun phrases.
Yeah, this is really good.
So guys go ahead and hit the follow button right now on all yours English, so you don't miss a single one of our episodes, right?
And this one, I know we, uh, we, we did cover the, I just want to make sure our listeners know that this is a different episode from 23 90 right.
Yes, we're talking about in 23 90, we talked about, do you mind and how you can accidentally sound rude and the difference between do I don't care and I don't mind and a few different idioms there, there are so many, so we are doing a series.
This is part two of a series with idioms that have mine, but you can listen to them out of order.
So if you haven't heard 23 90 yet, just listen here, then you can go back and get that one.
Exactly. So stay right here in this episode, continue and then go back later.
But this is a completely different episode, even though we're talking again about the word of mind.
I love it. So yeah.
So let's dive in with, speak your mind first. This This means to say what you are thinking, and there's definitely an implication here that what you say people might not like, like this conversation you had where you have different political views.
It's a lot easier just to agree and nod along.
If you're going to speak your mind, the people you're talking to might disagree.
Yes, exactly. So for example, I think everyone should speak their mind to avoid misunderstandings.
Mmm yeah or you know speak your mind I can tell you're not telling me something so there it's definitely different than like just telling someone like I guess the words would be the same but there's this implication that something is being hidden or some reason someone's not comfortable saying something if you say speak your mind means out with it or that something is gonna be controversial or people aren't going to agree it's all about pushing back and sharing what we truly believe.
Speaking of mind. Exactly.
We wouldn't say this if we're saying something that everyone agrees with or you're just saying, I'm going to make dinner now.
You wouldn't be like, I really spoke my mind.
No. Right? You're just talking.
That's very different.
More controversial stuff for sure.
Yeah. Next one is mind your own business.
Uh, very common. Right.
And this means, you know, don't worry about what people are doing.
Right? Pay attention to your life and what matters for you.
So for example, I try to mind my own business, but I felt like I had to say something.
Or someone might just say, mind your own business, someone's asking like prying, someone's asking something you don't then maybe playfully be like, okay, mind your own business.
I'm not going to answer that question.
Yeah, for sure. In American culture, I think we have a big value of privacy.
We have space between homes and things like that and people try to respect people's privacy and not asking prying questions like about finances, right?
Right. And this might be tricky if it's different in your culture.
You might be asking personal questions, talking about finances, and then if you have friends from the US, it would be good to keep in mind, yeah, there are a lot of questions that are too personal.
Yeah. And if someone said this, if you were prying, if you were asking, let's say questions about someone's finances, the wrong questions.
We've on other episodes where certain questions you can kind of ask but others you shouldn't.
If someone said directly to you mind your own business that's very direct and quite rude and I wouldn't recommend saying that to someone.
Right, let's make sure we clarify that, Aubrey.
Yeah, that's a good point, right?
To say this directly to someone's face to tell them, you know, don't ask me these personal questions is very rude, is very blunt.
There are more polite ways to say that for sure.
But we might say this about someone else like, can you believe he asked me that I wish he would mind his own business right right exactly exactly or I try to mind my own business that's a good example but directly saying mind your own business don't ask me that question that's too much it's very much to my right this could hurt connections actually like instead we could say oh you know I don't feel comfortable answering that question or just change the subject right there are polite ways to do that for sure for sure all right what's our next one Aubrey all right out of your mind which means acting
irrational or being crazy.
Maybe we usually say this more playfully to be funny or to exaggerate.
I might say I may be out of my mind, but I thought I heard you say the meeting was Wednesday.
This is kind of a fun way of being like, am I crazy?
Did I miss something?
Yeah, this can mean a lot of different things just in the sense of, did I miss that detail or am I acting really irrationally?
Um, you know, someone's throwing things around the house?
You're out of your mind.
What are you doing?" It can mean a whole range of behaviors when you say that.
Right. Yes. And another caveat with this one, just mind your own business, that it can be very rude to just say to someone, are you out of your mind?
Right. It is definitely pretty harsh.
Like you're implying that someone is crazy, is not thinking clearly.
You often as people I think will say this when they're fighting with someone.
So you should be careful because it can be offensive.
Yeah, these are heavy, heavy responses for sure.
Um, the next one's a little lighter, peace of mind.
I like this. It's a state of mental calmness and we all want this, right?
Exactly. And you might say, for my peace of mind, can you check that all the doors are locked?
Oh, yeah, that's a very nice polite way to and you're just like, just so that I feel a hundred percent secure about something.
Yeah, you just don't want something on your mind kind of nagging at you, so you want to eliminate those issues or it gave him peace of mind to know that mother was comfortable, okay, good.
Yeah, so maybe like if your mother you hire a nurse and you know that she's taken care of better right?
And maybe she's elderly and needing that help that would give you peace of mind to know that they have 24 hour care maybe?
For sure, for sure 100%.
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Okay. I'll read, let's see how these all shake out in a real conversation.
So we are quarreling meaning what?
Correlating. We are arguing, right?
We often say this, I say quarreling, quarreling, quarreling, but you're probably right.
Means it would be like bickering, right?
You're arguing. It's often we say this for siblings when they're quarreling love that.
Alright, here we go.
I'll start. I can tell you're upset about something.
Go on. Speak your mind.
Mind your own business.
If I wanted to say something, I would.
That surprises me. You're usually quick to give everyone a piece of your mind.
Are you out of your mind?
You're the one always bossing everyone around.
Okay, look, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean that.
I'm having a rough day and took it out on you.
I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have snapped at you.
If you're willing, I would like to hear what you're upset about.
I'd like to help if I can, Right.
And it might give you peace of mind to talk to someone.
Ah, sounds like siblings, right?
It does sound like siblings.
I'm like, we're gonna be sisters fighting.
Because like we said, a couple of these are rude.
Like siblings might say it to each other, but you would never say it to a coworker.
Or even a friend. Mind your own business, you mean, specifically?
Yeah. No, no way. Yeah.
I might've said that to my brother when we were young.
Or even now, I might – I don't know if I'm close enough to my brother even right now to say that to him if you are asking questions.
But, yo, in this scenario, we're closer siblings, right?
Right. Or even, are you out of your mind.
Like, are you out of your mind?
You're the one always bossing everyone around.
Very. My children would say this to each other when I was younger, I would say.
But yeah, there is a level of immaturity with some of these phrases, too, as we get older, as we mature, we're more respectful, we think we have other ways to say things.
Yeah, for sure. So you started by saying, I can tell you're upset about something, go on, speak your mind.
go ahead. Say what it is.
Say what it is you're thinking.
And then you said, mind your own business.
I really stopped. Right?
I really snapped there.
Um, and then a bonus here.
I said, you're usually quick to give everyone a piece of your mind.
This means to tell someone what one thinks of them, especially in anger.
Right? If you're upset.
And then you give them a piece of your mind.
Yes. You're kind of taunting me here a little bit, right?
You're saying this is usually what you do.
So why aren't you speaking now?
Come on. And there's a fun phrase people will say where they say, I'd like to give you a piece of my mind.
It was just sort of like, I want to tell you what I really think about you.
Yeah. And that's kind of a threat a bit, kind of like a physical threat to sort of sometimes.
Right. Maybe. Right.
We definitely hear this when people are angered, right?
When emotions are heightened.
A lot of these, a lot of these are for when we're upset.
And then I said, are you out of your mind?
You're the one always bossing everyone around.
Now we really sound like siblings?
Right. Oh, it's so true.
Right. Are you out of your mind means Are you crazy?
Are you not thinking rationally?
Exactly. And then what's the last thing you said, Aubrey?
And I said it might give you peace of mind to talk to someone.
So we're starting to, we're apologizing.
Emotions are deescalating.
I'm like, let's talk it out.
I can tell you're upset about something and it might give you peace of mind.
It might help calm you and you know, make you feel better about it if you talk to somebody.
Yeah. And I'll bring when you need to talk, does that help you to talk through things or is it better like just to like go for a run?
Like how do you kind of work through things?
Is it talking? Is it like physical movement?
It depends. I think some things are just going to sort of like build up until you're able to talk about it, but other things you maybe can just go for a run and move past it because we have to pick our battles.
Right? That's right.
That's she has a mom.
Oh, I can't imagine.
Um, alright guys, don't forget to go back after you finish today, check out Allers English 23 90 just a few days ago, completely different episode on other ways to use the word mind.
Right? Exactly. And part three will be on business English four Oh three with come to mind, bear in mind.
So be sure to follow both podcasts so you get all of the most common expressions that we use with the word mind.
Yeah. And I think the most important takeaway is know which words are too much for certain situations like mind your own business is too much for 95 % of the scenarios we're going to be in.
Right. Right. Exactly.
But a lot of these like peace of mind, it's really tricky.
It really depends for all of these phrases.
Some of them you can use anytime and there's no negative collocation.
Yeah. And I think we've done an episode before on if you want, if you're thinking, mind your own business, what could you actually say?
So come back to our blog and you know, Google that inside our search bar and see what you can find.
And if not, send us a question, a very direct question and we'll make a new episode about it.
All right. Awesome.
Love that. So fun, Lindsay.
Thanks for joining me for this fun series.
You too, Aubrey. We'll see you on the next part of this series, over on business English.
All right. See you there.
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