This is an all ears english podcast, episode 25 64.
Human or person?
What's the difference?
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What is the difference between the words human and people or person?
There are subtle but important differences here.
Listen in today to find out how to use these words to build a connection moment.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Yeah, I'm doing great, Michelle.
How's everything going in your world?
I'm doing well.
Yeah, everything's good.
Lindsay, how many people do you typically talk to on the phone in one week?
Talk to on the phone?
Oh my gosh.
Well, maybe a friend or two.
And then I usually call my dad.
So maybe one to three people on the phone, but phone conversations are less common for me than they used to be, Michelle.
I mean, what about you?
Like how many?
Same here.
I mean, uh, you know, my parents, Dan, just about logistics.
So sure.
You know, things like that.
Um, Maybe my son's school if I need to tell them something.
But yeah, not too many.
Yeah, not too many people.
But today we are going to answer a wonderful and specific listener question that I'm excited to get into.
Um, Lindsay, this comes to us from YouTube from Amir Hassi men, uh, eight, four 11.
Uh, would you like to read the question?
Yes.
Here's the question.
Hello guys.
I really enjoy when I listen to you.
I appreciate everything you do.
For my mind, please.
Thank you so much.
Love from Turkey.
Wonderful.
Wonderful.
Thank you.
This is, this is a great question.
I mean, this is I.
We love these specific questions that we can really dig into and analyze, and they're really a lot of fun.
Um, By the way, guys, make sure you send in.
It's a new year.
We're looking for new questions for great episodes.
So send your specific question into support at allearsenglish.com.
We'd love to answer your question, if it's a good one.
Exactly, exactly.
So we are going to get into the answer to this question.
But before we do, we also want to remind you to hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the All Ears English podcast, so you don't miss anything from us.
You got it.
All right.
So this listener on YouTube is asking the difference between human and person, right?
Or humans and people, right?
So where do we start, Michelle?
Well, so would it have been awkward if I asked you in the beginning how many humans do you typically talk to on the phone in one week?
Would that have been a little weird, Michelle?
Because then I would have thought, oh, okay.
So she wants me to specify between, do I call animals?
Like, yeah, yeah.
Do I call my dog on the phone or something?
Right, right, right, right, right.
So let's start with human then.
So to me, it's a human is a little bit more scientific sounding, right?
The species of humans.
Um, and it's a little bit more formal.
So for, let's give an example.
Humans are not equipped to handle an alien invasion.
Exactly.
So here we're talking about the species, right?
The human body cannot go to space without being supported or something, right?
A healthy environment is needed for a human to thrive and survive.
Right.
Or it is human to want to succeed.
So sometimes you'll hear somebody say, oh, it's human.
It's.
You know, it's common for the human, like for human nature, for everybody the species of humans.
I love saying this and I say this a lot.
So it's kind of two different, these examples are sort of two different buckets, right?
We're talking about the physical body, like what the body needs, what the body can handle.
And then like the state of being human or the condition of being human in the world, right?
There are certain things the heart wants, right?
And we talk about this and this can be a connection topic too, right?
So really good stuff.
So we'll get into this a bit deeper, but let's just keep it clean in the beginning, Michelle.
And what's the difference then with person or people?
How do we, how should we think about that?
So this one is not as formal or as textbook or scientific sounding, really.
This is more social individualistic not, you know, just like about the actual business people in your life, not so much about the species.
Um, yeah.
So for example, there are 20 people who applied to the job.
So again, if we said 20 humans, it would be like, Oh, there are 20 humans and 22 birds.
Like or or I might think okay, there are 20 humans and there are two uh chat bots applying to the job.
Oh my God.
You're right.
You're right.
Right.
So this is differentiating a species alive or not.
Right.
Or are you an animal or a person?
Right.
So but we're talking about people.
It's a little bit different.
So I'm only one person.
I can't do everything.
So here it wouldn't make sense to say I'm only one human.
Not really.
Not really.
No, no.
It just it's too like.
This is again person people, more individualistic, more about who we are, more personal.
Right.
Um, or here's another one.
She's such a unique person.
I love talking to her.
Yeah.
And maybe at the end we'll get into the twist.
I feel like there are some twists here, Michelle.
Um, because you, I can occasionally hear someone say she's such a unique human or she's such a unique human being, right.
Human being as well.
That's exactly.
Yes.
That's different.
Um so, so again yeah, there can definitely be some gray areas on this but yeah, Keep it clean, like Lindsay said in the beginning, this idea of more scientific sounding versus more individualistic sounding.
So in general, that's how you would tell the difference.
But we're going to get way deeper after the break.
Some exceptions and some ways we can truly use these phrasings to connect, right?
Yes.
All right, good.
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All right, Michelle.
I'm excited to dig into this because I feel like these two words are everywhere and they're important for connection.
So let's go into some collocations.
I mean, we can just learn collocations and memorize them.
We don't have to worry, right?
Yeah.
And we'll just, we'll talk about, you know, how these fit into it.
But, you know, so let's get started.
So one is human nature.
So this is very common.
So this is about how people, I'm saying people now, how humans though work, right?
So it's human nature to want to connect with others.
And again, if you think about that, that is sounding more like, kind of scientific.
It's more, oh, it's just human nature, nature, right?
Yep.
And you could also drop nature here and just say it's human to want to connect with others, right?
I mean, that's what this whole show is about is human connection, because we know that that is such a deep value for every single person on this planet, right?
Whether we realize it or not.
So when we're talking about like evolutionary stuff, Human makes sense.
The word human makes sense.
Okay.
Yes.
Love it.
Exactly.
What's the next one?
The human body.
So the human body can't live without water.
That's just a fact, right?
You would never say the person body.
No, not the person body, but you could say people can't live without water.
So again, sometimes it's, you know, a gray area and, but we learn the basics and we learn how they're commonly used and we go from there. um or here's another one human rights right so this is just about you know things that are how do you explain human rights what human rights yeah so the idea of uh supporting marginalized groups right groups that have not been have not had a fair shake in life right um or being marginalized in certain ways so for example her law firm focused on human rights for immigrants Then at work, there's human resources.
So you would say human resources or HR.
So that's like the department where you deal with hiring firing, vacation time, different issues that may arise at work between people who are employees right um trainings, right trainings.
Yeah, i know like dei came out of the generally comes out of these departments.
Right diversity, inclusion programs, that kind of thing come out of human resources usually okay, yeah.
So i think you should talk to human resources about this.
So maybe somebody has an issue.
They would go to hr, Yeah.
And then the human mind, I find the human mind to be fascinating, which I think we all do, right?
If you look at how complex I would if I could be a doctor and if I were smart enough to be a doctor, I would be a neurologist.
Because how cool, right.
I mean, oh my gosh, how amazing to learn how the brain and there's so much we still don't know about the brain and how it works Michelle.
And how we apparently only use a certain percentage of our brain.
It's wild.
It's incredible.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then we'll do one more.
So then human being, right?
That's the basic.
Human beings will have to evolve when it comes to AI.
Yeah.
It's kind of like humans versus AI, right?
Or humans alongside AI.
We'll see what happens.
And then another bucket of collocations.
Guys, you should be writing these down when it comes to person or people.
Tell us this one, Michelle.
All right.
So A blank person.
I mean, excuse me.
Yeah, a blank person or blank people.
So with an adjective, friendly people, American people, young people, right?
Whatever you want.
Fashionable people, right?
A people pleaser.
Michelle, are you a people pleaser?
Be honest.
I think so.
I do like to make people happy, but I try as I get older not to care as much.
But I think...
What about you?
Yeah, I have some of those tendencies in me for sure.
I think we've talked about this on the show before.
Yeah, it can come up.
I mean, there's a lot there.
So it's just you basically just want to keep other people happy.
Right.
But as we get to know ourselves better, we start to gain that confidence probably.
Right.
Yes.
People skills.
Yeah.
What is that?
So just the ability, some people have uncanny people skills, right?
Ability to connect and communicate and like, have this empathy, this level of empathy where they sense what someone's feeling.
For example, she's okay, but I think her people skills are lacking, right?
Right.
So maybe that person is great.
They are able to do their work.
You know you work with them.
They're fine, but they're not necessarily good at speaking with people.
And yeah, yeah.
And this goes into this next one, which is a people person, which is really funny sounding.
Which is kind of a cliche at this point, don't you think?
Yeah.
Like I probably wouldn't use this in at this point.
It's been so overused in the media and probably in job interviews that I'd probably steer away from saying this in a job interview.
That's funny.
I don't necessarily, I feel like I could still use people person.
I don't know.
Like I, I, I, but what, what is a people person means someone who loves people?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
I'm a huge people person.
I'm very extroverted.
Right.
And are you a people person?
I would say so.
I would say so, Michelle, to mostly I'm a people person.
I enjoy being around people and I get energy from them.
I enjoy this kind of conversation between us, you know?
Um, but I'm just saying like it's just.
It's just, I've heard it in the.
I feel like it's been poked fun at a little bit in the media, sort of.
Yeah.
So it's a little overdone, but it's personal choice, right?
Yeah.
Um, let's do one more and then we're going to do a role play.
So a person of interest So this is more legal, right?
If you find a person of interest, it's maybe somebody who is being considered that maybe they committed a crime, right?
So the police have located a person of interest who may have been associated with the crime.
Yeah, I like that.
And then there's some nuanced ways that I've heard humans being used.
I remember back in the dating world like people would say if people had kids they would.
Sometimes they would say like I have two small humans at home.
Yes.
And instead of saying I have two kids at home because on your dating profile maybe you didn't want to.
It's like this.
You want to be a little sarcastic.
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah.
Right.
What is that about?
Like, why would you say I have two small humans at home instead of saying I have two kids at home?
Yeah, that's funny.
I didn't even think about that.
But yeah, I might even say like to my mom oh my gosh, these humans, I don't know what they want, you know like, something like that.
This is the breaking the rules, the gray area a little bit, right?
Yeah, I think it's just kind of putting kind of a bit of a sarcastic or humorous twist on it.
Yeah, it's almost like you're removing yourself from them.
It's like, oh, these humans, like I'm I don't know how to handle these humans.
Right.
It's like, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
It's like they're from a biology textbook or something.
It's like, right.
In a way, you're sort of dehumanizing them a little bit, but in a joking kind of way, so that you're not so straightforward.
Like, yes, I'm single.
I'm dating and I have two kids at home.
Right.
Maybe that's some people might see that as a liability.
Right.
And they wouldn't be interested.
So you kind of change the wording to be a little more playful about it.
Right.
To soften it.
Yeah.
That's so interesting.
Yeah.
I could definitely see myself saying, oh my gosh, these humans are running around and I don't know what to give them for dinner.
Yeah.
Yeah, it removes you a little bit.
It's a little bit playful.
So very interesting.
Really interesting.
That's for our highest level students to catch on to C1, C2.
You guys are ready for that.
There's something for everyone in this episode.
So let's go into a role play, Michelle, shall we?
Okay, so here we are talking about our friend.
We're not going to use every single one because we taught a lot today, but we'll use a bunch.
Okay, here we go.
I love Tracy, but sometimes I think she's too much of a people pleaser.
That's true, but honestly, I think that's just human nature.
The human mind is designed to want to be liked.
Yeah, I guess you're right.
I probably need to work on my people skills.
I'm not much of a people person.
I don't think that's true.
You work in human resources.
I know, but I do get exhausted by that.
Well, that's human to feel that way.
I guess you're right.
And I think this is a really nice way to connect with someone by just saying you know what you're experiencing is just really human.
You know what I mean?
You might not be able to solve the problem for them or help them change, but you can say you are okay as you are because of what you're experiencing.
You're not alone, right?
You're not alone and it's okay, right?
Because this is just... this is part of the human species to have these feelings.
Yeah.
The human condition, right?
Exactly.
So let's go through it, Michelle.
So first you said, I love Tracy, but sometimes I think she's too much of a people pleaser.
So she's running around trying to keep everyone happy and maybe not saying what she really thinks, right.
And you said that's true, but honestly, I think that's just human nature.
So you're saying it's part of the human condition that people you know want to uh do things to make others happy?
So you said the human mind is designed to want to be liked.
Yeah.
And I always find that interesting to go back to evolution and think about like what are the things that we wanted as human beings in the early days and like link that back to today.
And that will help explain some, some behavior, right.
Doesn't excuse everything.
Right.
But in some way it, it, it helps us understand ourselves a bit better.
Right.
Right.
And then you said, I guess you're right.
I probably need to work on my people skills.
I'm not much of a people person, right?
And then you said, I don't think that's true.
You work in human resources.
So I'm saying you work with people.
That's your job.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then you said, yeah, but I do get exhausted by that.
And I said, well, it's human to feel that way or that's human to feel that way.
You could say both there.
It's human or that's human, right?
Yeah yeah, exactly so yeah oh, we went through a lot today, but again we think about this in terms of you know collocations, common ways that you're going to hear this, and also the.
In the first part of the episode, we taught really the cut and dry differences.
Yeah um uh, you know more about being about the human species versus individualistic people.
Yep, exactly.
So if we lost you somewhere around the gray areas, guys, don't worry about it.
Go back to the basic differences, right, between human and people.
And really good questions.
Send us your question again to support at allersenglish.com.
And as you finish up today, guys, go to 2560.
Do you want the long or short version?
How to open a story with respect.
I love this episode, Michelle.
But yeah, it's so important, right?
Because we want to ask someone before we go into a story how much detail do you really want from?
Yes, very important skill that we talked about on that episode.
So yeah, I think we went over the takeaway already.
So should we jump off the mic?
Yeah, I think that's pretty much it.
I mean, if we can make observations about what's human and what's normal, that's a cool way to just let people off the hook a bit right.
What we said, and that's observing human nature.
That's pretty cool.
That's a good connection skill right there.
And excited to see what follow-up questions our listeners have from this episode.
Yes.
All right.
Yes, absolutely.
Thanks for this great question and guys keep sending in your questions.
All right.
Bye Michelle.
Bye.
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