This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2411.
How to describe someone's lovable quirks in English.
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When someone does something that is just so typical of them, what is a new and trendy phrase that you can use to poke fun at them if you're close?
Find out what it is and how to use it today.
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Hey there Michelle.
How's it going today?
Good. Lindsey, good.
Lindsey, do you have a favorite brand for anything?
Yeah. I mean, I'm not a huge brand person, but I have found, finally found, a brand of shoes that I think are stylish and fit me well and are comfortable and are not like crazy expensive.
So, the brand is called Taos.
T -A -O -S. And that's why I order my cute little sneakers.
I'm a sneaker girl.
It's very on brand for me to wear like sneakers, a pair of jeans.
And when I go to conferences, I'll wear a blazer and jeans and sneakers.
Like clean sneakers.
That look I like. Okay.
So I found my sneaker brand.
Okay. I'm gonna have to take a look at those.
Yeah, I don't. Let's see.
Well, okay, my favorite shoe brand is Birkenstock.
Oh yes. I love Birkenstocks, but for sneakers, I do.
I like a Nike. I do.
I don't have very many shoes, but I do right now.
I've been wearing the same pair of Nikes around for the past few months.
And I'm also most comfortable in sneakers or Birks.
Yeah, sneakers are the best. I mean, if you can live your life in your sneakers, I feel like you're doing great, you know, but for me Nike's kind of run a little narrow.
So I struggle with Nike's and Converse.
Ah, but anyways, so today we're going to talk about a really fun expression that has become very trendy in the past several years.
And we, we said it, we threw it out there and Lindsay, what is it?
Yes. The phrase of the day is on brand and we're not just talking about brands.
We're not going to sit here for 15 minutes and talk about Nike.
No, we're going to talk about something more interesting how you guys can describe each other, describe yourselves and connect.
But first, Michelle, we're going to ask our listeners to do what?
What is the key action that they should do?
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Exactly, I mean, these polls are a way for you all to let us know who you are, we wanna know you.
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Michelle, let's get into this.
So the phrase of the day again is on brand, that's on brand, right?
Tell me about this phrase, let's talk about it.
Yeah, well, I mean, okay, So to go back to actual brands a little bit, I mean, when you think of a brand, do you think of what is typical to that brand?
So like Nike's, uh, the swoosh, right.
Air Jordans, cool sneakers, uh, that, you know, they have athletic gear.
So you think what's for that brand?
iPhone. Um, phone. Oh my gosh.
Sleek, um, expensive techie, right.
Uh, sexy iPhone was designed.
and iOS was designed to be sexy, right?
When technology at that time was very clunky and nerdy and iOS came in, iPhone came in, we're gonna make the phone sexy, right?
So that's what it is.
It's become more mainstream now.
So that's changing.
Fox News, we think conservative.
Other news outlets like MSNBC, we think liberal.
So many, many things have a brand.
They have an underlying meaning, right?
Right, right, right.
So when we say something is on brand, it generally means something fits what is expected of that thing, but so, but, but when we say on brand, a lot of times we're not actually talking about a brand, we're going to talk about how we use it to discuss a person or maybe an institution.
So in this way, it's the same idea.
It's basically saying something is typical of something else it's expected, right?
Yeah. And this is really trendy right now.
So I'm super excited that we're teaching this today because you're right, Michelle.
When we say that's on brand, we're not talking about brands at all.
So let's take this idea of brands and kind of get rid of it and redefine what on brand means.
I'll do the first one because this is this is me.
All right. Here's an example.
I was up until 1 a .m. last night.
Pretty on brand for me.
Yeah, yeah. Right. And so we use this maybe to describe ourselves.
It's often in a kind of facetious way to make fun of someone, poke fun of someone when they do something sort of silly, right.
But it's typical of them.
You're having fun with them.
My brother was late again for our lunch, so on brand.
Yeah, guys. So that what does that mean?
So by saying that, what are you saying?
You're basically saying oh, we made plans to have lunch and he was late.
And that's but he does and so you know.
Expected. Yeah it's expected.
Right exactly, yeah.
Lindsay is there anything that's on brand for you would you say?
Well I think the way I think is a little bit of a little, it doesn't make any sense because I think big picture.
I get excited about big ideas and most people when they think that way they're able to not worry about details but what I also do is I micromanage details and obsess over details.
So I get stuck in the middle of everything.
that's really on brand.
I have a big idea and then I have to do every little detail to make sure it's all right.
Very on brand. Very hard on brand.
So for me I would say the Michelle brand, it's late nights, stuff falling out of my purse all the time.
Just actually yes. Just the other day Dan was making fun of me.
He said, no matter how big your bag is, you find a way to always be walking around with the wire of your phone charger hanging out or a laptop just swinging in the window.
He said, always, no matter how big the bag is, there's always something falling out of it.
That's definitely on brand for me.
Also, unfortunately, I'm terrible at responding to text messages.
Terrible. I'm worried that that's actually becoming on brand for me and that's one of the things that I don't want to be part of my brand.
Yes. Oh my gosh, you're it's so true.
We're so similar When it's so funny when my partner and I first started dating in 2016 My partner tells me now that they were trying to get in touch with me and my phone was on silent for two years And I didn't are on like do not disturb is what it was And so they would have to call two or three times and I would see all these missed calls like hours later be like geez This person is really coming after me really pursuing you know and yeah I just I'm also a little aloof when it comes to being in touch which is not the best thing I'll read a text message and then I'll forget about it it'll down
down down down down and then a week later but oh my gosh that person texted me a week ago I'm just same I'm the same I just yesterday this like sometimes sometimes I actually didn't see it like yesterday I was just scrolling and I was like oh my god I actually didn't see that this person texted me but a lot of the times I'll see it in my head I'll respond but I'm doing something exactly and then you realize oh my gosh and then do you just kind of sometimes I'll still then I feel awkward so we'll avoid it even more yeah well no usually it's an emergency in my heart sinks I think oh my gosh they texted
a week ago I have to get back to them so I'll go and write them back but yeah I mean clearly for our listeners the takeaway is do not try to text either of us.
You'll never hear back.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. And I notice with Dan, whenever he gets a text message, he responds right away.
I mean right away. He's so good.
Like but at the same time, sometimes I think I'm being more present by not responding right away.
So I'm like living in the moment.
I don't stop just to respond right away to everything so interesting.
Yeah, no, I totally get that.
I love it. So that is kind of a great that's so that's kind zone of what we're talking about, the material we use when you say something's on brand.
Someone does something a little absent -minded, a little silly, the little quirks about people that we love, uh that are annoying that we highlight, right?
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OK, Michelle, so what else would we I mean, what are some other ways, other things we might say if we want to get it?
This topic and other I personally love just saying on brand, but obviously you need to other things.
So what could we say?
Yeah, well, I just also wanted to highlight that this is used it can be used in a teasing way So right, so Dan saying to me, you know, oh you have stuff falling out of your bag Like I was just cracking up.
I thought that was the funniest thing and so he could say oh my gosh totally on brand right could just if he I could imagine if I'm Walking to meet him somewhere and I just have my bag and the things are falling out of it I could just see him laughing and saying, oh, okay, totally on brand for you, here you are, right?
But again, you don't wanna insult someone.
It also depends, how good is someone's sense of humor about themselves?
Are they open to being teased like this about...
Because really, when you use it like this, you're picking up on patterns about someone, showing that you're observing them.
Like Lindsay said, so you could hurt them.
So you could hurt all but I think most of the time, if you know them well enough, that you've picked up on these quirks, these patterns that you're probably close enough that they won't be offended, but you do want to be careful.
Tread lightly at first, right?
Trim lightly. Yes. All right.
But so something else you could say is typical.
So you could say it's pretty typical of Ron to leave his phone in the car or in line with so, oh man, she canceled.
That's in line with what she usually does.
Yeah. yeah right or that's right in line with mm -hmm uh -huh or sounds like and then the person so yeah oh don't tell me she's actually going skydiving sounds just like Jackie yeah I mean these are fine they're a little more plain to me right compared to on brand so I want to encourage our listeners to try this you know wait for the moment to make sure it's someone you're close to and then Give it a try.
Michelle, do you think broadly speaking, is it fair to assume things about because that is a bit of what we're doing here, assuming things about people, putting people into the category of, oh, yeah, this person tends to do this thing.
Yeah. Right. And at what point does something become on brand?
I mean, I've been with Dan for 13 years.
So I think it's okay for him to start to point out things are on brand a newer friend, because if somebody I'm just kinda getting to know or just know for a little while, if they started, I would kinda feel bad like I was being teased or a little embarrassed.
So you have to think about your relationship with that person and can they, you know, I can take a joke, I'm very self deprecating, so it's totally fine, but, I don't know, I just feel like you have to get to that comfort level with someone.
Absolutely. Well, I think that's normal.
In human relationships we kind of buy that trust over time, not buy it.
But we gain it over time, right?
Through spending raw time with the person.
And then they become closer to us and we kind of, we get that, I don't know, we build that trust. So there has to be some trust between the two parties for someone to use this phrase a bit, right?
Love that. Right, right, right.
So, all right. So, let's give, before we get into a role play, we want to give you that poll that's gonna be on Spotify.
So we were talking about sneakers at first Lindsey and so we wanna know from you guys, which of these is your favorite sneaker brand?
So you can find this on Spotify.
Is it Nike, Adidas, New Balance or Converse?
Choose one. Choose one, no other options.
I love it. All right, guys, go ahead and vote in that poll.
We love getting to know you around all sorts of questions.
So go over to Spotify and participate.
So let's do a roleplay, Michelle, shall we?
All right. Here we are.
We're waiting for our friend at lunch. OK, here we go.
So she just called and said she's running late.
Yep. Pretty on brand.
I know. Sounds like Paula to me.
Maybe we should say something.
It's typical Paula.
She's not going to change.
Yeah, so I guess it's in line with how she's always been.
Yeah. So this kind of shows you a bit of a more negative angle on it.
You know the way I like to use on -brand is kind of more fun You know teasing the corks again corks are what make people beautiful and wonderful and make us love them, right?
Right. All right I would tend to use I would try to use it around highlighting corks about people that are lovable corks, right?
But yeah, sometimes we use this more in the edgy way of yeah, she's always late.
It's on -brand. Okay, you know Let's just hang out and wait right Exactly.
Yeah. Yeah Giving you all sides of this So yeah, you said, she's running late.
Then I said, yep, pretty on brand.
Which is something, a lot of times, we might use it in this way.
Like, oh, that's on brand.
Pretty on brand, sounds to be on brand, right, sounds on brand.
Yeah, exactly. And I say, I know, sounds like Paula to me.
Paula, yeah, you don't want that to be a brand, yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
And then I said, maybe we should say something.
And you said, it's typical Paula, she's not going to change.
So sometimes people just it's in them.
You're not gonna get them to change So you either you either deal with it and you accept it or you know Maybe it's maybe Paula doesn't get invited to lunch next time.
Yeah, it's true It's true certain things are just really ingrained.
Do you know the way we are sometimes?
And then you said yeah, it's in line with how she's always been right?
So it just means that maybe the other two friends are gonna meet early and have a drink and have fun and connect and then Paula will come and it's okay, you know.
It's hard, I struggle with lateness, it's hard to know how to work through that.
I think it's totally, it works if there are two friends waiting for a third, right?
Because you can have that drink and enjoy a moment together.
But if you're waiting on the sidewalk, outside the restaurant, and the person's making you wait for 15, 20, 25 minutes, then I struggle to say hey, let's hang out again next week because that's awkward, right?
Yeah, yeah. And you can kind of feel a little irritated it at first when they arrive like yeah and it takes you a minute to warm up so yeah yeah that's another episode for another day because there's lots of cultural stuff in there too right oh yeah yes okay guys go over to episode 2401 how to be a more interesting storyteller in English I love telling stories I love how important storytelling is in connection so go check out that episode okay good absolutely all right well takeaway consider what is your brand.
Yeah, that could be the thing to do, what would people say is on brand for you?
What are the quirky, wonderful things about you that are not, because no one's perfect, no one does everything perfectly, and what is perfect anyways, right?
Of course, we don't believe in perfection over here, and so what are the lovable things about you that you do that are quirky, that someone, my good friend might say, yeah, that's on brand, but we love that person anyways.
Right? Yes, yes. What are the lovable, lovable quirks about people?
I love that. Yeah. All right, Michelle, we'll see you back here very soon.
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Good. All right. Bye, guys.
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