This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2536.
How to be better than decent at English vocabulary.
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The word decent can be confusing in English, because the meaning changes depending on what you're describing and the intonation you use.
Listen in for details.
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Hey, Aubrey, how are you?
Hello, Michelle.
How are you?
I'm excited to record with you.
Me too, guys.
Aubrey and I are recording together today.
Lindsay will be back.
But Aubrey and I are getting the chance to record a bit.
So very excited about that.
But Aubrey, I have a question for you.
What is the last movie you saw in the theater?
Oh, Wicked Part Two, Wicked for Good.
We took all of our kids yesterday and saw it in the theater.
I almost did that yesterday, but then everyone was too crazy.
But how was it?
Did you like it?
It was decent.
Okay.
I wrote this roleplay for us so I could use decent, but that's not actually how I feel.
I really loved it.
Did you?
I love Wicked on Broadway and I've loved these film adaptations.
I like musicals though.
I know they're not for everyone, but I really loved it.
And Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande both just have fantastic, amazing voices.
I was really blown away by that, the songs and how their voices blend and just the beautiful notes.
Yeah, just gorgeous.
I'm excited to see it.
Yeah, it's not as long as the first one right right, it felt very quick.
Yeah okay, that's good.
But yeah, i guess you're probably used to the first one where it you know you basically have to spend like an intermission built in.
It was great, it was long OK OK, good.
Yeah, I have to.
My son has been asking this.
It was asking to see it.
Maybe I'll have to surprise him and take him.
Yeah, he'll like it.
So this is interesting.
We're talking about the word decent today.
This was inspired by a mistake we've heard students make, where they use the adjective decent to mean good or really good.
Like maybe they would describe a movie and say it was a fantastic, decent film.
And I can really see why.
If you just look at the dictionary definition, I can see why this mistake is made.
Because, you know, decent has so many meanings.
And the definition says of an acceptable standard, satisfactory.
And I could see students thinking that means good, right?
But it doesn't really.
It's interesting.
Yeah, that is very interesting.
Yeah, this makes me think of my dad.
Yes.
My dad to this day always says, oh, was it decent?
Like if you say, oh, I went to this restaurant.
Oh, was it decent?
Or even in our videos from childhood of vacations.
Oh, Michelle, how was it?
It was a decent.
That's so interesting.
He sort of has a low bar.
He's not asking if it was good.
Like decent meaning like was it acceptable?
Right.
Acceptable.
Satisfactory.
Good enough.
Yes, exactly.
So I just think when I hear the word decent, I think of my dad.
But my dad is not just decent.
My dad is wonderful.
So this is interesting.
You don't want to accidentally describe something as decent if you mean it's really good, right?
There's definitely a negative collocation to this.
If you're calling something decent, you actually mean it wasn't that great.
It's fine.
It just passes, right?
Exactly.
But that's not the only meaning for decent.
There are four different meanings.
So we're going to share all of them today with examples.
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All right, let's dive in.
Yeah, the many definitions.
So number one is kind of this one that we've already been discussing, right?
I'll read this.
Good enough or acceptable?
Not amazing.
I like this, but meets minimum expectations.
Yeah, and I've definitely seen some films that I would describe as decent or right of something.
I'm like, it was all right.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Then I would describe it as decent.
Yep.
Yep.
So, for example, the restaurant wasn't fancy, but the food was decent.
Yeah, this is interesting.
You're not saying it was amazing and you'd five stars, recommend it to everyone, but it wasn't terrible.
The food was decent.
Right.
Or I got a decent score on the exam.
Not great, but not bad either.
Like you probably passed if you're saying your score was decent, but it certainly wasn't like 100%.
Yes.
Yes.
So yeah, this is a really useful definition of this word.
And just so our listeners know, decent is spelled D-E-C-E-N-T.
Yes, exactly.
Good to know.
And this is tricky because if you add an S, we have the word dissent, which is pronounced differently, spelled slightly differently.
I could see that confusing people, but yes, this has a different meaning.
That's if you have an SC, right?
That's dissent.
So the second one, let's get into it, is respectable or reliable.
So honest, moral, having integrity.
And we use this a lot to describe people who have good character.
Yeah.
And it is a more positive connotation here.
If you say, for example, he seems like a decent guy.
It's like.
I'm not saying he's just barely passable.
Like this means he's a good person.
He's reliable, honest, has integrity.
So it's really strange.
I can see this being what the other reasons students are maybe using decent incorrectly as an adjective to describe like a film.
Because when we use it to describe a person, it's very positive.
If someone's decent, they're like, they have high morals, you know, the good integrity, right?
Or she helped her elderly neighbor with his yard work, Which was a really decent thing to do.
Yeah, it's like kind right.
Thoughtful.
So yeah, really interesting how different those definitions are.
Or our third means like proper or appropriate Often this is about modesty.
Or it might mean presentable or appropriately dressed right.
Uh-huh Yeah, you could say, don't come in.
I'm not decent.
Right.
So you might not even be wearing clothes.
You might not have any clothes on.
Right.
So or if somebody knocks on the door, they might say, are you decent?
Like, can I come in?
Right.
And often that means are you clothed at all?
But then we'll also use this to mean I'm not dressed appropriately.
Right.
If you're like in sweats and you need to go outside, you'd be like, let me put something on.
I'm not decent.
It just means like I'm not dressed to go out.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
And then let's get into the last one we're going to share is fairly large or a respectable amount.
So this is used to describe an amount or quantity that is not small.
Such a different meaning.
It's so strange that we have the exact same word to mean this.
Why couldn't we come up with another word?
I don't know.
It's really weird.
So for example, we had a decent number of people show up to the event.
So this means like it was quite a few, right?
It wasn't like nobody showed up.
We were really disappointed by the numbers.
We would use this to mean like, you know, it was a decent number.
Like they're, you know, this was not small, not just a few people.
Or they drove a decent distance before stopping.
Which would mean quite a bit, right?
Yeah, like a good portion.
Several hours, maybe.
I wouldn't go 30 minutes and be like I drove a decent distance if I have a 15-hour drive in front of me.
Right, although it is relative.
Let's say your child is learning to drive.
Uh, and you know, for them 30 minutes, it's like, okay, yeah, he drove a decent amount.
Like, right.
They're practicing.
That'd be a lot for them.
Good point.
Yeah.
And it's interesting how this will like.
Your tone will change this a little bit, whether it's positive or negative, because imagine with this first one if you were expecting thousands of people it's like a fundraiser event and maybe half the amount come that you want.
If you're like yeah, we had kind of indicates that, like you know, there were quite a few people, but like I would have preferred more.
Yes, that's really interesting.
But if you were, if you said if you did have a lot show up, you could say oh, we had a decent number of people show up to the event.
So that's a different tone.
It sounds like you were happy about the number.
I like this topic.
Aubrey, this is a good one.
I'm glad we're talking about this.
Yes.
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All right, Michelle, let's do a role play to use all of these different meanings of decent.
You are picking me up to give me a ride to the airport in this role play.
Thank you, Michelle.
So kind of you.
You are very welcome.
I am not letting you spend money on an Uber.
No, right?
Such a good friend, especially if it's early in the morning.
I've done this.
I've offered a ride and they're like, okay, we need to leave at four.
I'm like, If I had known that, maybe I wouldn't have offered.
It's hilarious.
Okay, let's just start here.
I'll start us out.
Oh, I like your jacket.
Thanks.
I got it on sale for a decent price too.
Amazing.
You've always been good at finding a deal.
Thanks for picking me up, by the way.
That was really decent of you.
No problem.
Are you ready?
Just need to change so I look decent.
I spilled coffee on this shirt a minute ago.
Oh, gotcha.
Hurry, though.
It's a decent drive to the airport from here.
Nice.
And it's so interesting how it doesn't even sound strange to use decent so many times in this one conversation, because they have there's, all these different meanings.
It's weird that it's even the same word.
Right.
That's true.
I don't know that I would do it that many times.
It has different definitions.
These are all different contexts.
But yeah, I still think we would want to vary what we say.
That's true, right?
We're using them on purpose in this roleplay.
But if I had just said, so I look decent, you'd probably say, oh, it's a long drive to the airport.
So I wouldn't say it's a decent drive.
Right, right.
It just might be a little overkill.
But you are right that they have different Totally different definition.
Don't even hardly notice.
Right.
True.
So let's go through it here.
You first said, I got, I'm not saying I like your jacket.
You say, I got it on sale for a decent price.
So this is like, you know, good enough, acceptable.
It wasn't the highest price, a fair price.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you said, thanks for picking me up, by the way.
That was really decent of you.
So showing my good character.
I'm very nice.
What can I tell you?
Yes, right.
Thoughtful, kind.
That was really decent of you.
And this is interesting.
I likely would say to a friend instead, like thoughtful, kind, one of these words.
Decent does mean this.
We might use this more often.
The example about helping, like an elderly neighbor, with the landscaping, this kind of thing where we're thinking of it more as going above and beyond right.
Then we'd maybe say like, oh, he's such a decent guy.
He's always just doing really decent things.
Right, right.
I'm imagining almost you're talking to somebody, you want to set them up on a date with somebody and you could say, like he's really decent.
Like he's, you know.
Right, describing their character.
Yeah, yeah.
That's how I would imagine it.
And then I like this just need to change.
So I look decent.
I spilled coffee on this shirt a minute ago.
Right.
So you're saying so?
I looked acceptable even to go to the airport.
Or you don't want to be having coffee all over yourself?
Right.
That is like you got this. shirt stained with coffee be like, Oh, I don't look decent.
Let me because it means not just like clothed at all, but also like appropriate for the occasion.
Clean clothing, right?
So I'd have to write and I think I actually think that that's kind of the distinction here, right?
If you say I'm not decent, right?
That almost sounds like you're not wearing clothes.
But if you're talking about so I look decent.
To look decent is different than to be decent.
That's a good point.
When it's collocated with look, you're talking more about like my clothing isn't appropriate or it's not clean.
If i don't look decent, or maybe i haven't done my hair and my makeup, i don't look decent.
Don't take a photograph of me.
But then that chunk of i'm not decent that might mean i'm not dressed at all, like don't come in.
I'm not decent.
Might mean i just got out of the shower and i'm not dressed at all.
Right right, i'm in my towel whatever, you know.
Um, yes.
And then the last one you said it's a decent drive to the airport, which would mean it's pretty far.
Yep, pretty far.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
This is a very interesting word.
And I'm still thinking of my dad this whole episode.
Dad, this one goes out to you.
I love that.
I can see how this really could cause a misunderstanding.
If you describe something as decent, when you mean it was fantastic, it was really good.
But I can definitely see how that's confusing, because when you're describing a person as fantastic in that they have good moral character, we do use decent.
So I'm glad we were able to dive into these details.
Right.
And also, you know, as part of the takeaway, you also want to think about the tone of voice.
Right.
So that's also going to clue you in on what people are understanding.
Like that example that we talked about of how many people showed up.
Right.
Oh, it was a decent amount.
Or, oh, yeah, we had a decent amount.
So you have to really listen in for these things.
Yes.
The tone changes a lot depending on what exactly you mean by this word.
Interesting.
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right, Aubrey, this was really fun.
And yeah, this is more than a decent episode.
Yes, I would not call this episode decent.
It was fantastic.
Yes, yes.
Awesome.
Thanks, Michelle.
I will see you next time.
Have a great day.
All right.
Thanks, Aubrey.
Bye.
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