This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2525.
What are you saving up for?
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Money can be a faux pas topic in American culture.
But today, get one angle on money that is okay to talk about.
What you're saving for.
Find out the difference between saving and savings in English.
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Hi, Lindsay.
How are you?
Good, Michelle.
How's everything for you?
How's it going?
I'm good.
Yeah, everything is good.
Lindsay, are you saving up for any special purchases?
Any special purchases?
I mean, I'm always saving for travel.
You know, we're going to go to Italy in December, which I'm excited about.
And that's, you know, travel is not the most, not the cheapest thing nowadays, right?
Flights are expensive.
Yeah, that's what I'm saving for.
What are you saving for?
I don't know that we're saving for one thing in particular.
It's just kind of trying to save in general and then seeing if we save what we could do.
You know, do something for the house and maybe travel right.
But not like a specific, specific purchase right now.
But today we are going to talk about something that we have heard students say, dealing with the word savings and savings.
OK.
Yeah.
So we've heard students say things like they are having savings, when they actually mean they are.
There are savings or they are saving money.
Yeah.
Have you ever heard this type of mistake?
Savings and saving?
Because it's interesting how we have savings with an S. I know.
How do we know when to make it plural and when it's just a verb saving?
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
That's a really good question.
Yeah.
I haven't heard it, but I believe that that mistake is out there floating around.
So we're going to make sure it goes away today for our listeners.
Goes away.
All right.
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Yeah.
Life gets busy.
Just make it easy.
Exactly.
So let's start here today with saving.
Michelle, tell us when we might use the word saving as a verb.
Right.
Yeah.
To save.
Right.
So we're talking like this could be with money.
Right.
You're keeping something by not spending it.
Right.
But it could also be something like time.
Right.
Saving time.
Huge.
So saving is, you know, just a verb form of save.
Right.
It's just the continuous.
So here's some examples.
I'm saving money by taking the earlier flight.
Oh, my gosh.
That is always a mistake.
Yeah.
I think every time I book a flight, I think, yeah, okay.
I see that all these flights are this price.
And then I see the 6 a.m. flight is so much cheaper.
And then I book it.
And then I hate my life when I wake up at 3 in the morning.
And then you're just a mess for the next two days.
Sometimes it's not worth it for me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I get that.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I'm saving time by picking up Charlie at two instead of three, right?
We're big on saving time in the U S it's a big part of our culture.
Or saving money is really important to our company, especially now.
Well, that's actually the gerund form.
Yes, exactly.
So notice that we're not putting an S on this, right?
We're not putting an S on this and we'll get into why once we get into the other side of things.
Or you could also say just to save, like using the infinitive form.
I want to save money so I can buy a car next year.
So sometimes we do share our savings goals.
Oh, I just said savings.
Interesting.
Oh, that's a great bridge, Michelle.
Great bridge.
We share our goals on what we're saving for.
We share our savings goals.
Okay.
Well, there you go.
Just open it up.
Well, there you go.
So savings.
So Yeah, it's interesting because once you do add an S to it, it becomes a noun.
So savings is generally about the bank, right?
That's how I think of it, to have money in savings.
You keep that money and you don't spend it so it can be utilized at a future time, right?
You might have a savings account, right?
And that's the official account in the bank, right?
Do you remember getting your first savings account when you were a kid, right?
It's such a ritual.
They give you the little book and I feel like they make it a big deal at the banks.
It's very cute, actually.
Yeah, yes, yes.
So, yeah, you could say something like I opened a savings account for my daughter when she was born.
Yeah.
Or my mother always told me to put aside a certain percentage of my paycheck into savings.
And again, that is the noun form savings. that is your bank account, really, right?
Or it could be multiple bank accounts, but we're not pointing to the multiple aspect by using the S here.
That's important.
Right, exactly.
Yeah, that's really interesting.
It's not necessarily that it's plural.
We just say it that way.
Really interesting.
Oh my gosh.
We're going to take a quick break and then we'll come back and go into a little bit more depth here Michelle.
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Okay.
So there are other words we need to know with save, like save up.
I think you asked this at the top.
Is there anything you're saving up for?
Why did you ask me that instead of, is there anything you're saving for?
Yeah, it's interesting.
Um, I mean, I think I don't know if we've done episodes about this, probably where we add up and what it does.
Um, but yeah, that you're saving for I think it makes it a little bit more conversational, a little more casual.
What do you think?
I think it makes it, yeah, it makes it also a little more like encouraging maybe.
Um yeah, I think I think we have done a few episodes in the past about what up does, but it does.
It's also very specific to each verb, but I think it makes it a little more casual, a little more conversational encouraging, motivational.
Hey, what are you saving up for?
I could have totally asked, hey, what are you saving for?
It's just a little more standard if you say saving for.
Yeah.
I feel like saving up, I feel like it sounds a little more complete.
To me, what are you saving for?
Are you saving for anything?
I don't know.
It just I would feel awkward saying that.
Maybe a little more colloquial, a little more just like everyday language.
I think that if you walk into a bank, I don't think the teller is going to say if you open an account, you know you're looking to save money for a house.
I don't think they're going to say, what are you saving up for?
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
Good point.
But maybe you're a friend of the party.
Yes, yes, yes.
So I would say like maybe more professional a little bit more Uh, you know, just a little bit more formal would be without up.
Um, yeah, but yeah, this is a phrasal verb.
So to keep money aside because you want to buy something specific.
Yeah.
So for example, if you want to buy a house, you better start saving up now.
And the cost of housing is really getting high in the U?
S, or has been getting high for quite a while.
So yeah, we've got to start early.
Yeah.
You could also say to save up for right.
And actually maybe that is what I said.
Uh, in the beginning.
Yeah.
Let's see.
Um, are you saving up for, right?
So when you add four, that's when you are going to say what it is specifically.
Yeah.
Right.
Um, so you could say I'm saving up for a new pair of sneakers for sure.
And then sometimes we hear save on, um, lower what you spend, right?
You might see this at the grocery store, any kind of sales that are happening, right?
We can save on groceries by clipping coupons.
Are you a coupon?
I was going to ask you the same thing.
I've never been a coupon clipper, Michelle.
No, no.
What about you?
No, I just kind of in the grocery store.
I like you put your phone number in and you know.
Then you usually get some sort of discount.
But I don't like look through the paper.
No, it feels.
I mean, some people do and maybe they save money, but I don't know that I would have the discipline for it, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What else?
Or let's save on clothes by shopping at a secondhand store.
Nice.
All right Michelle, let's break into a role play here, because I do think that saving and money is a really common topic.
But in American culture, we have to toe the line between moving into the... What do you call it?
Like the... the things we want to avoid about money.
And so this is an okay topic, right?
Like there are certain faux pas when you around money that we shouldn't talk about, right?
Yeah, so actually, it's Oh, sorry, go ahead.
No, I was gonna say I wonder if that's confusing for our listeners, because we say that money, sex and religion are faux pas.
But here we are talking about how native speakers share what they're saving up for all the time.
So do you think that could be confusing for our listeners?
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's pretty much with money.
You don't talk about your salary.
You know that's pretty.
You know, just say like how much money do you make?
Right.
That's I think the big one.
Um, or how much money do you have?
Like you wouldn't share how much money you have and like your total net worth or what's in the bank.
Right.
That's not, that would be the faux pas.
Yeah.
Right.
And, but like just talking about saving up for something, um, It's mostly okay.
I think if the person shares with you, if you're, yeah, it's interesting.
There's so many different scenarios that we could talk about when you would maybe ask this, or when you wouldn't, or when you would talk about what you're trying to save for.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It's interesting because um, actually my I'm reading a book to my son and there was a part where they talked about this and they talked about not asking how many.
It just is a fiction book about.
You know what people make.
And so I was starting to explain, I was trying to explain it to him and yeah just, he was like why, why can't you ask?
So I was trying to explain why.
Oh, that's so interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, it starts to be interesting when kids are learning social norms in a culture.
And then as an adult, you're like, yeah, maybe we should question that norm.
You know, I mean, yeah.
Right.
Fascinating.
Oh, my gosh.
All right.
Let's break into a role play and maybe we'll come back briefly to this in the takeaway.
So here, Michelle, we are roommates and we're going through our expenses.
Right.
So when you're a roommate, you do share some expenses, maybe.
Right.
On food and things.
OK.
Yep.
All right, here we go.
So it seems we are spending a ton on cleaning supplies.
You're right.
I think we can save on them if we buy in bulk.
Oh, good idea.
Maybe we can save up for a larger order.
Okay, I have some extra money in savings so we can use that.
Oh, wow, that's so nice of you.
Saving money is huge for us right now.
Sure, the extra money is a time saver for our cleaning too.
Yeah.
And this is where we did a whole episode about Costco a few years ago, I think.
Yeah.
And that's totally a valid topic.
Right.
People talk about how they love to go to Costco.
They love to buy in bulk because they save money.
That's valid.
That's a great conversation topic.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
All right, let's go through this.
So you said, I think we can save on them.
So on the cleaning supplies, if we buy in bulk.
Exactly.
And you said, good idea.
Maybe we can save up for a larger order.
So meaning save our money for a large order.
Right.
Right.
So we're basically trying to.
Maybe we are going to spend more money up front, but we're realizing that, based on buying in bulk yeah, you spend a lot up front, but then technically you're actually saving money.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And then I said, okay, I have some extra money in savings so we can use that.
So it turns out we don't have to save up because I have money in savings.
And again, that is my savings account, right?
Thank you, Lindsay.
And then I said, saving money is huge for us right now.
So that's more of the gerund form, actually.
Saving money is huge for us.
Yeah.
So we've seen a lot of different ways to use this verb or noun or gerund. of save.
I love it.
Michelle, is there another episode our listeners should check out right now?
Right now, guys, check out episode 2516.
That was Assumption vs. Presumption in English.
That was a fun one.
Yeah, exactly.
And as a takeaway, we touched on something interesting.
There are social norms and, In American culture, certain conversation topics that we avoid, and money is one of them, but only certain aspects of money, right.
So if you're confused about this Michelle, about what's okay to talk about and what's not, what should we do?
What should our listeners do?
Good question.
Just start listening for what people are talking about.
I mean, I would say there are the ones that are pretty black and white, right?
About salary, how much money do you have?
That's black and white.
Don't talk about those things.
I would say that's like a good general rule.
As far as the gray areas, you know, I don't think that it's a problem to give these things a try personally.
We could actually do another episode about how to kind of ask a question and say oh, I'm not sure if it's okay to ask.
Yeah, that would be a good one.
Yeah, because that's okay, too.
And I don't think, think that generally.
I don't think if you ask somebody, oh are you saving up for anything?
I don't think they're gonna be like, oh no no, this one's fine, this one's fine, totally.
I think we should do another episode.
Guys, hit the follow button.
We'll follow up soon with an episode on how to ask about if something is okay to ask, and we've done similar episodes in the past.
But we'll focus it on social norms right, right.
The faux pas that we talk about a lot.
Another faux pas around money would be like talking about inheritance.
I think be careful around there if you're inheriting money.
Unless you're around certain people, like be careful there.
That's one of the no-go topics.
But we'll get back to this another day.
Right, Michelle?
Yep, absolutely.
All right.
Well, thanks for talking about this with me today.
Guys, hope we cleared that up for you.
And whatever you're saving up for, I hope you...
Get many riches soon so you can buy it.
Sounds good, Michelle.
Talk to you soon.
Take care.
All right.
Bye.
Bye.
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