This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2526.
Time change got you down?
How to talk about it in English.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz.
And Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
A common connection topic for native speakers in the US is daylight savings time and all the opinions that go along with it.
Listen in today to find out how to talk about this common topic in English.
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We're all out of the ordinary.
Hey, Michelle, how's it going today?
Hey, Lindsay, I'm good.
You know, I'm feeling a little gloomy all of a sudden.
I don't know.
What about you?
Yeah, these days, the days are very short, right?
Especially on the East Coast, where you are, because the sun goes Now that we've already gone through daylight savings time.
We're on standard time again.
Your sun goes down on the East Coast, what, like 4.30?
Yeah, pretty much.
And it's funny.
So this started, you know, the guys were recording a little in advance.
I mean, yes.
So this happened just about a week ago.
Yeah, about a week ago.
And it's interesting because I feel it immediately.
I don't know.
Do you feel it?
I mean, well, again, maybe it's not as bad where you are.
It's not as bad where I am.
The sun is more like 6pm here rather than 430.
I remember living in New Hampshire when I was a kid or Boston.
I mean, at the height of it, it's like, like 330.
It's getting dark, which is pretty intense.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I always just I remember I had this moment.
And it always happens to me kind of after the the clocks change.
Yeah.
And it gets dark earlier.
There's always this moment, like a day or two after not that same day, a day or two after where I'm like.
Why do I kind of feel a little emotional?
And then I'm like, Oh, right, it's the daylight savings time.
I mean, I think a lot, I think we don't.
We get so, you know, in our heads and with technology, but we don't realize our bodies are very much tuned into the, the clock of you know.
Our bodies have a clock.
We know.
You know when it's supposed to be dark, when it's supposed to be light, when we're supposed to be up and when we're supposed to be sleeping.
And the body does respond to that even emotionally.
It's really interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It is interesting.
And every year I'm like, why do I feel a little sad?
And I'm like, oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I actually don't.
I don't mind it because well, these days, it's now that we've done the change.
It's sunny and bright in the morning when it wasn't before.
So I do walks with my dog in the morning and like there's a beautiful sun rising over the park.
And I actually love it.
More people are out in the morning.
And that morning light to me is is crucial.
Like if I didn't have that.
If I didn't have it, it would be hard.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So well, this is what we're going to be talking about today, because this is a huge connection topic.
I mean, Lindsay, we could have just kept on going and going talking about this.
Yeah.
We did an episode a long time ago about this phenomenon daylight savings time because and where we explain the concept and some basic vocab.
So later, I'll give you the episode.
I mean, that was a really long time ago, but I do want to give you the episode because I think it would help.
Yeah so, but for the so for the purpose of this episode yeah, daylight saving times.
There's less daylight.
It gets darker earlier than in the warmer months.
And not everywhere in the world does this change.
Right.
With the clocks.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think the U.S. originally did it because of farmers.
Yeah.
Something with farmers.
It's always something with farmers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's true.
But this is I just want to reemphasize what you just said, Michelle.
This is a conversation that happens every year, especially around the times of the change in the spring and the fall, with friends and colleagues constantly.
So our listeners who live in the US need to be ready to have this conversation with native speakers.
All right.
Yeah, exactly.
And what's interesting here is Aubrey lives in a place where they don't change the clocks.
Isn't that right?
Yeah, it's a little confusing. confusing.
Oh my gosh, I never know what time it is where Aubrey is.
I don't know what time it is.
Well, the problem there is the area that she's in is doing it differently from the rest of the country.
And that creates massive problems for her when it comes to calendars and syncing up with other time zones.
I mean, she will tell you about it.
It is a nightmare.
So I know here in Colorado people have brought this up and tried to put it on the ballot to get rid of Daylight savings time.
And I would vote against that 10 out of 10 times, because I don't want to end up in a place that's not running in sync with the rest of the country.
It would be a pain in the butt.
I mean, just as Aubrey.
Aubrey, when you listen to this episode, we definitely want to hear your opinion.
Yeah, it's true.
But a lot of people want to get rid of it because of what we've been saying.
It's a little bit irrelevant, out of date.
It was created for farmers and we're not well.
There are still farmers, of course, but it's a much smaller part of the economy, right.
The only thing I will say that I'm starting to appreciate about it is When it's so late at night.
My kids are always outside playing outside late at night.
That's so nice.
And which is great.
But I kind of am appreciating, like last night, you know, we were just inside because it's dark and we kind of have a little more just family time.
And even we played Rummy Cube with my son after my daughter went to sleep.
You know, there's kind of there's just kind of a different vibe.
So I did have this moment where yesterday I was like, oh, I kind of this is not terrible.
No, I think it's the same thing with.
I mean, I wouldn't want to live in a place where there's no seasons, right?
Right.
I mean, some people do and they're fine.
But personally, I need change throughout the year.
I need to feel like summer nights.
We're out at 9 p.m.
It's light out or winter nights.
We're in it for 30 and it's cozy.
I need to feel that variation in my year.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
I think for the first time in my life yesterday, I was feeling that.
Yeah.
He came around eventually.
Yeah, yeah.
Started to come around to it.
So, but yeah, guys.
So again, as you can see, this is a huge connection topic.
Lindsay and I are sharing stories.
We're sharing our opinions.
We could just talk about this the whole time and not teach anything.
And you know what I mean?
Because it's such a good connection topic, we would get lost in it.
So we want to teach you how to have these conversations, how to build connections using this topic today.
Yeah, we've got some key phrases that we might ask or say to start the conversation or to carry on a conversation like this.
So Michelle, what's the first one?
OK, I can't believe it's so dark already.
It's only and then you can say the time like it's only 430.
Yeah.
And this is usually said right in the beginning after the change has been made, maybe in the first month or so.
Right.
We're not used to it.
And that is very stark.
I will give you that.
I mean, that is that is hard to take in when you see you look outside and you're like I just had lunch and it's dark.
Or or here's another one.
I feel like it's 10 p.m., but it's only seven.
Or you could change around those times.
Do you ever get that?
When?
Yeah.
Oh, you know, now I'm it's eight and I'm like, oh, my God, it's so late.
And yeah, it's really not as late as you think.
Right.
It was another one, Michelle.
I hate when it gets dark early.
Yeah.
And yeah, totally.
Very, very common things that native speakers will say.
And then we might roll into some questions, right?
You might follow up with that native speaker and ask questions.
Like, for example, do you get bummed out when it gets dark earlier?
I know there are people that deal with actual, what do they call it?
Seasonal affective disorder.
Sad, but I have heard those lamps work really well that you can get.
I've heard that that's been proven to work quite well.
So that's that was the next thing I brought up.
I'm going to bring up is do you use anything to keep your mood happy or, you know, to keep yourself happier during this time of year?
So yeah, like Lindsay said, these lamps exercise, right.
Yeah, certain certain things that you can do to kind of maybe getting out earlier in the morning, like lindsey said, getting getting sunlight at a different time of day, or asking does the time change?
Get to you or are you all right?
Right, so what does that mean something?
Get to you, what do i mean?
That's a great bonus for today.
Get to you.
Does it bother you, does it annoy you, does it trouble you, Right?
Right.
Right.
Does it have an impact on your mood?
Yeah, exactly.
Good.
All right.
We'll take a quick break.
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All right, Michelle, we are back.
So let's go through some of these questions here, shall we?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we kind of touched on these so naturally already, actually because we were so excited to talk about it.
But yeah, Lindsay, do you...
I mean, have you ever tried one of those lamps?
I haven't.
No, I haven't really needed that.
But for me, it's getting outside.
They say you're supposed to get sunlight right away.
And that's why I'm troubled by the idea of getting rid of daylight savings time.
Because if we did, it would be dark until 9 a.m.
Yeah, and I would really struggle because then you're working and you don't have time to go outside necessarily.
So something about as soon as I wake up taking my dog getting outside, my body really needs that.
So that takes care of that for me.
What about you, Michelle?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anything that I do, no.
I've always meant to get one of those lamps.
I've always meant to try one of them because they sound, But it's just to me it always sounds like really.
How could that possibly work?
But I hear that they do work.
So I don't know.
I don't know.
Maybe I should invest in one.
But again, I guess you know, trying to lean into what are the special times of this year, you know special things of this time of year like oh, getting into the holiday season.
You know this is kind of where Thanksgiving, you know all of that stuff is starting.
Yeah.
And so that's kind of exciting.
And then also yeah, like I said, just not always being outside until late and having to stand outside, which I of course love, but just having kind of this cozy time.
So you know, just appreciating it for different reasons and trying to, like I don't know, feel that way.
So yeah.
And I guess it's also good if you travel.
I mean, I know when we were in Berlin a couple years ago in 2021.
Now, I don't know if they do daylight savings time or not.
But I do know, when we were there in December we were there on Christmas time the sun came up at about 930 am.
And it went down around three.
And that was rough for me.
I think they get used to it.
And I think they have amazing summers because it's so far north.
Right.
So people are out on the street in the summer and the cafe culture, kind of like Paris, like an outdoor street culture bars, coffee shops uh yeah, out light outside till 10 or 10 30, that's so cool.
So it's like it's the flip side of things.
Right right right, right right exactly um, so should we do a role play to show how this might sound?
Okay, all right.
So what are we doing here?
All right well, we are uh, friends and we are waiting outside uh, to pick up our kids from an extracurricular activity.
So okay yes, here we go.
Um wow, it's cold.
Oh, i know, and i can't believe it's so dark yet it's only five.
Seriously, i feel like it's 10 pm, but it's definitely not.
Yeah, it's wild.
I hate when it gets so dark, dark so early.
Me too.
Do you get bummed out?
Oh a ton.
Do you use anything to keep your mood happy this time of year?
No, but I should.
I want one of those lights you sit in front of.
I hear those are good.
What about you?
Does the time change get to you or are you all right?
I don't love it, but I do have one of those lamps and it does help.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
You'll have to tell me which one to buy.
I'll send you the link.
Very common thing to say.
I'll send you the link, right?
Yeah, I know.
I was thinking that too.
I'll send you the link.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
So we use a lot of our phrases here.
So I started by saying, I can't believe it's so dark out.
And that is how a lot of conversations will start in English.
Someone making a comment about something that strikes them right, it's not.
It doesn't have to start with a question right right yep, exactly.
And then i said i feel like it's 10 pm, but it's definitely not.
And then i said it's wild.
That could be a bit of a bonus for today.
It's wild, it's wild.
That's a good way to comment in in fashion right now um, this phrase saying that it's wild.
What does it mean, michelle?
What Are we talking about?
Tigers and bears and things.
No, it's like instead of saying it's crazy or it's unbelievable.
Yeah.
It's just really popular and trendy to say that right now.
It's wild.
Yeah.
It's wild.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then what did you say?
I said, I hate when it gets dark so early.
Yeah.
And I said, me too.
And here we're finding a connection moment.
Because we're agreeing on something, right?
And then I'm extending the conversation.
Do you get bummed out?
Or another way to say that, do you get down?
Do you get down?
Do you get down?
Yep.
Yep.
And I said, oh, a ton.
And you said, do you use anything to keep your mood happy this time of year?
You could also say something like do you have any tricks for staying keeping for her being happier this time of year, or something like that.
Exactly.
There's a lot of things we could say.
And then I, you said, does the time change get to you or are you all right?
Right.
So you're really asking the same thing, right?
You're flipping it back on me and get to you.
Does it bother you?
Right.
Yeah, exactly.
And guys, remember, um, I, I mentioned that we did an episode a long time ago about this topic.
So this was episode one, 1,116.
And that was spring forward, fall back.
So that goes into a lot more with this concept of daylight savings.
And there's just a lot more that you can learn to be able to get into these conversations.
Yeah.
Don't forget to hit the follow button on the show, guys.
And by the way, that is a far way down to find that episode.
So the easiest way to get that is to get on the app.
So allersenglish.com slash app and just download it.
It's free to listen to all of our episodes on the app, by the way.
Just type in 1116 in the search bar and it'll pull it up right away.
Okay.
Good.
Absolutely.
All right.
Any takeaways for today?
Well, I think anytime we can find one of these common things the weather is one of those things too daylight savings, time seasons, things we all go through then it just, it's a natural conversation starter.
And I can guarantee you these conversations come up all the time, especially at these key times of year.
So be ready for them.
Yep.
Yep.
Absolutely.
All right.
Lindsay, thanks for talking about this with me today.
And if you do try one of those lamps, let me know how it goes.
Okay, I will.
Take care, Michelle.
Bye.
All right, bye.
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