This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2570.
Settle in with Lindsay and Michelle.
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Today we answer a great listener question.
What is the difference between settle in and settle down?
Get the answer to this and so much more in today's episode.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Great, Michelle.
How's it going?
How's everything?
Everything is good over here.
Lindsay, what do you do when you are settling in for the night at home and you want to feel comfortable?
Is there any like ritual you have?
Do you get into some sort of special clothes or what?
Of course, absolutely.
When I come home, it's the best part of the day.
If I've been out or something.
And in the winter I'll put on pajama pants, nice fleece pajama pants, a pair of slippers.
Have some dinner, watch some TV.
And in the winter, probably just like, you know, like shorts or very comfortable.
I think the key is comfortable clothes for me are part of settling in.
What about you, Michelle?
What's your routine?
Yes.
For me, it's about the fuzzy socks, a shower.
I mean, you know, there's the Some nights when I get home... It was funny.
The other night, we somehow... My whole family was upstairs at like 6.30.
Not sleeping, but...
Then I did a Peloton and like you know, but we were all kind of like it's like the ritual of like okay, now we're going upstairs.
It feels like the night is separated.
But for me to truly feel like okay, it's the fuzzy socks, my pajamas, a shower, because I'm a night shower and just getting all my night tasks out of the way, like the brushing of the teeth.
Lindsay, do you ever feel like you put off going to sleep because you don't feel like getting up to brush your teeth and you have to convince yourself to do it?
Sometimes it doesn't.
I don't let it go too far like that, because i love my sleep.
As much as i can get, i try to get yeah, but um.
But occasionally i'll have the thought like if i'm watching tv and a commercial comes out like oh, i should really go brush my teeth, get ready for bed, i'll wait for the next one.
You know that kind of thing.
Yes, i feel like that's like the hardest task for me to convince myself to get up and do, and it's like If I just do it, then I can just move on with my life.
I know.
So anyway, but today we are going to answer a great question from Sophia, who we love.
We love you, Sophia, and your questions are always amazing.
Sophia is asking this question on YouTube.
Keep the questions coming, Sophia.
I'll go ahead and read this question.
And again, if you're listening on YouTube, don't forget guys, we do have a channel called It's awesome.
If you prefer to learn visually by seeing us on the screen, it's a great way to learn.
Go ahead over to YouTube, type in All Ears English, hit subscribe.
So here's Sophia's question.
Hi, I'm Sophia.
I really love this make a beeline episode.
Your example sentences are so vivid.
They really paint a picture.
I also really love your energy.
Every time I listen, I feel so happy and always learn something new.
Well, that's good, Michelle, to hear.
That's so great.
Thanks, Sophie.
And I'm glad you liked that episode.
Yeah.
I often hear settle in and settle down in songs.
And I have a question.
What's the difference between them?
Thanks so much.
Oh, what a good another just, you know, like one hundred ten out of one hundred questions.
Yeah.
I mean, it's awesome.
Yes, exactly.
Hit it out of the park again, Sophia.
So this is going to be great.
There's a lot to talk about here.
Guys, you are going to want to get the All Ears English app.
Here we're going to be talking about vocabulary.
And one of the things that we have over there is, well, you can follow along with the transcript.
And you can also get your personalized power list of vocabulary words.
So you don't have to be sitting there taking notes on everything.
You can just click it and have it saved.
And it's just a really great learning tool.
Exactly.
We choose... usually five to seven words per episode of All Ears English.
And we decide that those are the words that are going to help you to become more fluent in English, especially at the B2C1 level.
And so go on over and get it because those words will be probably tappable inside the transcripts.
And when you tap them, you'll be able to save them to your personal power list, like Michelle said.
All right.
Good.
So go to haulersenglish.com slash app.
Okay.
Yes.
Good.
All right.
So another great question.
So let's go for it.
So let's start with settle in.
Yeah.
I used this in the beginning about asking you what do you do to settle in at home.
So what does that mean?
So it means to get comfortable, to get relaxed or relaxed.
Potentially to get confident, comfortable with something getting used to, something adjusting to it.
Usually when something is new or when something is getting started, it's like an adjustment period, right.
Yeah.
So it could just be this basic, oh, like, let's settle in at home.
Like, let's, you know, get in our pajamas and have some hot cocoa.
Yeah.
But it also could be.
Yeah, that does sound great.
Just like more something about this adjustment period.
So um, let let's do some examples.
It's uh, so it took me a while to settle in when i moved into my house, but i'm finally pretty comfortable.
So here it's that adjustment period.
It's about, you know, unpacking all your boxes yeah, deciding what room things go in.
I mean, one thing for me about settling in is you know, it's really nice if i can unpack, pack.
So this week we're staying.
I'm staying at my in-laws place because we're doing a renovation on our home and I was able to kind of unpack a little bit, take stuff out of a suitcase, and that's a big part for me of settling in is Feeling like you're not living out of a suitcase a little bit.
What do you think, Michelle?
Yeah, definitely.
The living out of a suitcase is really hard.
I just came back from a vacation and the laundry situation was really something special.
We did all the washes.
It was just then we didn't have time to fold the laundry and put it away.
And then meanwhile, we're still wearing clothes.
So like, we're all getting clothes from the laundry pile, which is downstairs.
And like, and, and they're just, it's like, Oh my gosh, snowballing out of control.
But I just, I just did it.
But now there's just more laundry.
So yeah.
So it was hard to settle in back from vacation because there was so much laundry and unpacking to do.
100%.
So I think a lot of our listeners right now are probably envisioning what they like to do to settle in when they get home from a long day at work, right?
Especially if you live in a big city and you've been on the train.
Maybe you shower because you're feeling dirty, or maybe you put on comfortable pants or you eat something or turn on the TV.
Everyone has their own little ritual, right?
But then also you could say something like this.
Let's settle in.
This lecture is going to take a long time.
So this kind of means like calm down in a way or it means.
But actually, I don't know.
Calm down.
It's like get relaxed.
I mean, it is.
It's like get comfortable.
Like this is where we're not moving.
Yeah.
You're going to be in a place for a while.
This is like a three hour college lecture.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah. or it took me a full semester to settle in at my college.
I had a hard time in the beginning.
And that's true for me we've talked about on the show.
It took me a semester really to settle in and get comfortable.
So that adjustment period part of settling into a new life, like you're talking about with college is making friends, right?
Figuring out like, where things are physically located.
It's a lot bigger than just putting on pajama pants, right?
But here's a question, Michelle.
This is really niche and probably very picky on my part, but our listeners love subtle nuances.
Do you think that the term settle in is used more in like certain regions of the country?
Oh like like, specifically in the context of checking into a hotel, i'm just curious if you think like, if you ever stay in a hotel, like in the west, or maybe on the west coast as opposed to the east coast, do you feel like?
You hear that more or less, it's probably i am not the right person to answer that question, but you are well i.
I i've spent only a little time on the west coast yeah, i mean, i grew up in new england And my partner and I have noticed some trends around this term settle in.
It seems to be used more.
It seems to be used more um, like in, like New England inns.
When you check into like a, you know, an old fashioned inn like.
Oh, I'll give you some time to settle in.
And then you could come down and have you know we're serving tea and cookies in the parlor or something.
Whereas I haven't heard that quite as much in the West, which is interesting.
But it's just a small theory.
That's not necessarily true.
It's just something we joke about.
Yeah.
That's really funny that now we're doing an episode.
Yeah.
Like because it kind of has very slight notions of like quaintness.
Do you know what I mean?
It's like I see what you're saying.
Yeah, sure.
And New England and like the oldest part of the country.
Right.
Well, the South obviously is old as well.
But the East Eastern seaboard is, like the oldest part of the country, kind of has a quaint nature to it a little bit.
Yeah uh, i can, i can, definitely uh, i can appreciate that.
Yeah, that's a stretch, that's my own fun.
See, it's fun to have these little observations.
Then you make jokes about it with your family right, it's kind of yeah, of course it's the best um, but you could also you settle into, right.
So um, when i was researching this, it's pretty much the same um, it suggested, maybe it's a little bit more specific but Um, I would say settle.
Settle into is very similar.
I'm settling into my new neighborhood.
Yep, exactly.
And that's interesting.
So that's, that to me is more about a life transition, right?
Because you wouldn't say I'm settling into my home at the end of a busy day at work.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's literally when you changed your circumstances.
So that's a good point for our high level listeners at the C1, B2 level.
This is something to pay attention to.
Right.
You are all about the good observations today.
Yeah, we're going really subtle today, but I think our listeners love it.
So then what's the difference as as our listener?
Sophia asked, settle down.
How's it different?
Very different.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, this is an interesting one.
So it could either mean calm down or. or get to a stable point in some area of your life.
So it's less about the adjustment in a shorter period of time.
Like it's like, it's like a big, big change for a long time.
So for example, he's not ready to settle down.
I mean, he is only 25.
So what does that mean?
What are we saying?
Essentially, what you're saying is kind of it's language for, it's code for getting married, having kids.
At least in our culture that's code for settling a house mortgage kids house, car loans, things like that.
Anything that kind of ties you down a little bit, right?
Roots you.
Roots you.
Yes, exactly.
Or what's something you might hear?
This is more about calming down.
Yeah.
Please settle down.
We don't want to have a fight here, right?
So people might say this to kids who are kind of rowdy or something.
Probably doesn't work.
Probably makes them worse.
Yeah.
But yeah, this just means bring the energy down.
Right, exactly.
Or I was pretty angry at first, but I settled down after I ate something.
So I calmed down.
I got more stable, right?
Maybe I was hangry.
Sure.
Yeah.
And this doesn't necessarily mean you were like rowdy and making noise.
It just means you were upset.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Do you tend to get hangry?
Like, do you get irritable when you're when you're hungry, which which is hangry, hangry?
I think I do.
I think I do.
Do you?
Yeah, of course.
I think most people do.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Has this ever happened to you?
You're mid-sentence and you hear yourself slow down.
You simplify.
You avoid the word you actually want.
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It weighs on you and makes you feel isolated.
It becomes harder to make real connections.
Our free two minute fluency quiz helps you identify what interrupts your flow and your connections and how to fix it.
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All right, Michelle, we're back from break.
There are a few other as a bonus for our listeners, words that do include settle.
Now, if you can get the difference between settle in, settle into and settle down, you're already good guys.
But these are bonuses, right?
If you want a little something more today.
OK, a little extra.
Yep.
So the first one is to settle for.
Yeah.
Right.
So this is to say that something is okay or acceptable, even if it's not what you really wanted.
And sometimes people also just might say settle in this situation.
Yes.
And this is often used in like the romantic context, right?
If you say, oh, she's settled, you're literally saying you're only referring to partner choice, wouldn't you say? yeah uh yes um uh yeah she said yeah i mean it could also be like career or you know yeah but but i would say it's often about like a partner choice like oh she doesn't really like the guy but she she she felt her biological clock was ticking and right right unfortunately yeah yeah yeah um yeah um here's some examples on the show house hunters the contestants often settle for a house They may not think is perfect, but it is the best option out of the three.
Yeah.
And the reality is when you house hunt nowadays in 2026, 25, 27, most of the time we are kind of settling or we're compromising because it's such a tough market that we can't get everything we want in a house.
Right.
Yeah.
It's very hard to find the perfect house in the perfect place.
You know you often have to prioritize what's the most important and maybe settle for other things.
You know things in other aspects.
Yeah.
Or here's another one.
I really want to go to Tokyo, but I'd settle for a beach vacation just to get away.
Very different experiences.
But yeah.
Yes.
Right.
Yes, exactly.
Like, oh, maybe I mean, I would say this is true for me.
Like, I would love to go to Tokyo, but right now it's a little too expensive, a little too far.
But even if I just get away a little bit.
Sure, that's good.
We can get the same benefits, right?
Being on vacation is being on vacation.
You come back clear headed, feeling re-energized.
So this is a good chunk for listeners to take away today.
I'd settle for X, something right, really well, like yeah, i really want a big chocolate chip cookie, but i'd settle for a hershey kiss.
Right right, it's like my next choice, like if that's all we have yeah, for sure, um so, and then sometimes you might hear someone say never settle right yeah, life advice it's kind of just, it's in a vacuum, like at a graduation speech or your principal never said right right right, right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And then real quick, uh, actually do, should we do this one, Michelle?
This all right.
Maybe we'll, maybe we'll skip that one.
And then what do you think?
Go to the role play.
I don't want to.
Yes.
Sure.
Let's go to the role play.
We can always do another one another time.
So, um, here I am visiting you at your new house.
All right, here we go.
All right.
Wow, this place is beautiful.
Are you all settled in?
Thanks.
I think so.
I'm still trying to pick paint colors.
I can't find exactly what I want, though.
So I think I'll settle for off-white.
Oh, well, you can't go wrong with that.
Yeah, I can't believe I'm settling down after so many years of moving.
Yeah, it must be a good feeling.
It's weird.
Did you figure out which couch you were going to get?
Yeah, it took me forever, but I finally settled on this really nice sleeper sofa.
It's navy and really comfortable.
Great.
Nice.
All right.
Let's go through these.
And there was one bonus that we hadn't taught you yet, but we'll teach it in context.
So, yes.
So you asked me, this place is beautiful.
Are you all settled in?
Meaning what, Michelle?
Are you, are you comfortable?
Are you adjusted?
Yeah.
Um, yes.
And then you said, I'm trying to pick paint colors.
I can't find exactly what I want though.
So I think I'll settle for off white.
So You're?
You're saying OK, I'm just going to make a choice that might not be my favorite, but this is fine.
Exactly.
And then I said as a commentary about my life stage I can't believe I'm settling down after so many years of moving.
So here the settling down could mean getting married, but not necessarily in this context.
Right.
It could just mean I decided to buy a house for the first time.
Right.
Maybe you've lived all over the world and now you're picking your spot, and now you're going to get ready to build some roots.
Exactly.
Building roots is the key, whatever that means for you.
And then here's our bonus that we hadn't taught, but we get a bonus today.
So I said, you said, did you figure out which couch you're going to get?
And I said, yes, it took me forever, but I finally settled on this nice sleeper.
What am I saying there, Michelle?
Right.
Well, you had a lot of possibilities.
Yeah.
And you made a decision.
Maybe it was some sort of compromise or maybe, yeah, you just made some decision.
Exactly.
You decided on it.
That's what it is.
That's simple.
Make a decision.
Yeah.
All right.
Really good episode today.
Great question.
The best episodes come from the best questions.
So guys, send them to support at allersenglish.com.
And Michelle, what should our listeners check out next?
Guys, check out episode 2564.
Was human or person?
What's the difference?
We are really loving these questions where people say you know, listeners write in.
What's the difference between this and this?
Because I think, yeah, this or that, right?
This or that.
Because they're very useful.
So these are the types of really specific questions that we love.
So if you have a What's the difference question?
Definitely let us know.
Yeah.
And when it comes to connection and today's episode, I mean I think it's a fun topic to ask someone you know what do you do to settle in in the evening?
Because you learn a lot, a lot about people's values, about what makes them comfortable.
And it's just like a warm and fuzzy topic, right?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So open up the topic, guys.
And yeah, good stuff.
Try to stretch yourself with this new vocabulary.
Okay.
All right.
All right, Lindsay.
Well, again, thank you so much to Sophia for this question.
And Lindsay, I'll see you next time.
Sounds good, Michelle.
Take care.
Bye.
All right.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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