This is an All Ears English Podcast, episode 2353, How to Call People Out on Their Quirks.
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If you notice a friend has committed a light transgression and you want to point it out and tease them a bit, what can you say in English?
Today, learn what the phrase is and more importantly, how to deliver it.
Hey there, Michelle, how's it going today?
Good, Alinsky, how are you?
Good. Michelle, did you get scolded a lot when you were a kid?
Did your parents or teachers maybe scold you?
I don't think really.
I was a little bit of a rule follower.
So I think I didn't get scolded that much.
But of course, every kid does right there.
There has to be something.
What about you? Yeah, same here.
I was a pretty good kid.
Occasionally, I would get in trouble.
But when I did, I felt so bad.
I think I got detention once and I just like was so mortified, mortified.
It was not a place for me to be in detention.
So yeah, not good. So anyways, Michelle, what are we talking about today?
Okay, so we are going to talk about a common, well, actually not that common, but it's common in this context when you're scolding someone or questioning someone.
So we're going to talk about why you would use this uh on this episode but the construction is have you know x oh i love this yes tell us more michelle well this came up in my real life because my son was probably i can't remember exactly what he's doing but i think he probably involved eating a lot of dessert
and i think i said to him have you no self -control like as a joke and of course he doesn't he didn't understand what I'm, he doesn't know what self -control is.
Yes. But I, but I, um, I thought there's an episode.
Um, so Lindsay, I mean, have you heard this kind of construction before?
Yes. It definitely sounds like something I've heard, especially coupled with, have you no shame?
Right. Exactly. It's kind of a creative way of saying something.
I envision this being used by like grandmothers to their grandkids.
I don't know why. Um, it just feels like a little bit of an older phrase or a more creative way to say this.
So we're going to talk about this today.
It's not super, super common, but I think it's definitely worth an episode, definitely worth learning what it is because if you hear it, it could be a little confusing, right?
And it's good for our listeners to have these creative tools in their toolboxes, right?
I mean, sometimes we might pull this out maybe on the IELTS exam, who knows?
Maybe there's, I mean, this is generally a back and forth connection phrase and the IELTS exam is more you speaking at the examiner really.
But there could be a lot of places where we want to drop something really unique and creative.
And this would be something you could do.
Absolutely. Guys, make sure to hit the follow button wherever you're listening to the Always English Podcast so you never miss anything from us.
Yeah. So we might hear this in movies or maybe as a joke, Michelle, anywhere else we might hear it.
Do you agree with what I said, a grandmother scolding their grandkids?
Yeah, I do. I don't even know why.
I do. Right. Maybe movies as a joke, whatever it is.
So with my son, I was not really being serious.
I was kind of jabbing at him, maybe just trying to make a joke that why would he get it because he's six.
But it just kind of made me laugh because I was thinking, have you no self control?
Just, you know, a little funny thing, maybe a little joke to myself.
But yeah, it's a it's a very interesting construction.
I mean, Lindsay, we're really talking about this now we're going to go for have, you know, shame because you, you mentioned that when you think of have, you know, I think most people would think to put shame.
Yeah, for sure. It's the most common use of this construction.
And I like what you said, making a joke to yourself.
I think when you choose to use this construction, it's saying more about you as the speaker than it is about the other person saying that you want to say something unique and you want to of create a platform a little bit it's it's quite a unique delivery um and so yeah yeah sometimes we do things just
for ourselves oh yeah of course yeah yeah you want to entertain yourself um so but what does this mean have you no shame what is this construction really saying if we were to put it what would make sense really it's basically saying you're doing something bad and don't you care that you're doing something
bad right like don't you have any shame about what you're doing right now you're on you know you're like doing something usually it's lighter things right right um it's not very heavy serious things um right so if you were supposed if the a normal a typical construction might be don't you have any but we're
making it have you no and it's kind of a i think when this is used it's kind of an a rhetorical question don't you think lindsey i mean lindsey what is a rhetorical question oh we could do a whole episode on sure and we should yeah it's just basically a question that's not looking for an answer it's
more a question as a statement okay yeah so when someone asks you a rhetorical question they're not expecting you to respond okay right right i'm not saying have you no shame oh um i don't know maybe i have a little right it's not asking for a response yeah I'm I'm basically saying it seems yeah I'm
observing it that you don't seem to have any shame yes yes and what you're doing is shameful whatever it is so right yeah really rare but creative and fun when you do hear it for sure right it's just saying right like how are you not embarrassed by this right that type of thing um so this is this is just
really kind of fun to use.
Let's do a couple other examples.
So yeah, let's say I offer Lindsay coffee at my house and she asks for a sugar.
And then we open up my cabinet and I have 300 sugar packets taken from a restaurant.
Right. It's this kind of thing.
It's like stealing from a hotel towels or things like that.
Right. That you really shouldn't do.
And like, you know, then someone might call you out for it right yes this is calling someone out that's that's a really good way to explain this so if i open up and you see i have this whole drawer full of all these sugar packets i've stolen and they all have like the branding of the restaurants on right
right right right and you what so you could say i would say my goodness michelle have you no shame right so it's also in the delivery there has to be some real energy in your voice there right yes right Yeah, you can't say, have you no shame, right?
You have to have that energy.
Or let's say you tell me that you have four overdue library books that you have to return.
Yeah, I could joke to you and say, have you no shame, Lindsay?
Return them on time.
That's another good example.
So it's kind of these little transgressions, right, that you really shouldn't do.
But it's not like we're talking about huge offenses, right?
Right. um and your friend's gonna call you out on it and it's gonna be kind of a fun back and forth because they're surprised or they're a little offended by it but not in a deep way right well i have a deeper i have a more serious one though coming up so those are kind of cute but if i mean it could be
more serious so let's say a couple is fighting because one of them saw the other flirting at a party so seriously they could say have you no shame don't you see i'm right there oh yeah and that could be oh wow sounded sounded emotional michelle yeah that's good yeah i mean yeah so it could veer into
the more um initiating more of a fight more of a serious emotional thing going on um so there are kind of two potential scenarios there well and we hope more so that in your life you'll be using the first one exactly 100 % Okay.
All right, Michelle, we are back.
So Michelle, do you use this construction?
Well, I brought it here because I did use it.
But again, I wouldn't say that it's something, you know, this isn't something that you're going to use all the time.
This isn't something that you're just going to several times a day.
This is just for once in a while.
And this is not something you should pressure yourself to use.
It's just if you're interested in adding a little something fun to your repertoire it does show a little personality which can be good so um not something totally immediate for you to add in but if you're someone who likes to experiment with these kinds of constructions and these little changes um go
for it for sure I mean so the again the places where we use this are more rhetorical questions saying when you've observed someone that's doing something that's not really right and you want to call them out right yeah so um yeah like accusing them of some someone of something or it could be in that playful
way or in the serious way um but it's not you can't just stick any word in right there right it can't just be have you no almonds you know it can't like no no no that doesn't mean the same thing right yeah we can't put just a noun in there it's really it's really just shame and then you know maybe self
-control it's really about this person has done something wrong and you're gonna again you're gonna let them know they have and you're gonna let them know that you're a little offended but in a bit of an animated way so you can't say have you no almonds have you no pillows it doesn't work right have you
no pillows yeah yeah it doesn't really work in that way so some things you might hear would be something like self -control like what I said to my son or what about morals have you know morals yeah I think that totally works right same idea it comes back to this kind of value judgment zone right where someone
has kind of broken an unwritten rule or maybe a written rule and you don't think it's okay but you also don't want to get so serious and saying you shouldn't have done that right right because that can get a little too heavy for some scenarios Right.
What are you going to do?
Sit down and lecture me about sugar.
You know, it's too much.
It's too much. Exactly.
Exactly. So should we do a role play?
Yeah. So here were friends and I am telling you about a shopping spree that I just went on.
Ooh, wow. Okay. There we go.
So I went on a shopping spree and I went a little overboard.
cord? Oh, yeah? Yeah, I bought not one, not two, not three, not four, but five new purses.
Lindsay! I know. Have you no shame?
Well, it was Black Friday.
I couldn't help myself.
I get it. But five purses?
Have you no self -control?
I was weak. Oh, geez.
What a mess. Oh, my gosh.
Five purses. That's a lot.
That is a lot. How many purses would you say you own?
I have a feeling you're like, I don't really own any purses right now.
i have like three basically i get cheap ones and then when i make them gross enough by just throwing stuff in and then eventually i just clean them out and then i might have to get rid of oh no i i actually have a fanny pack i guess the fanny pack is the modern purse for my style so fanny packs are back
you know they were caught in the 1980s i remember my aunt shaley used to wear them and i used to think they were so nerdy but they're back and they're cool now so yeah they are.
All right. So let's go through this roleplay, Michelle.
Basically, I bought five.
With the sugar example, maybe you're known for this.
Maybe, yeah, maybe you come back with all the soap from the hotel.
And so, you know, I'm just I'm just calling you out.
I think it comes back to calling people out on maybe their quirks.
Yes. Yes. It can actually say that you can actually show that you know someone really well when you use this.
Well, and that's a good point.
I wouldn't really use this if you don't know the person well.
Right. Right. You know, if you, for example, you got to have a good relationship with them to use this.
Yeah. Like if your boss invites you and your partner to dinner with, with them, and then, you know, you don't know them very well, it's a very formal relationship, but you find out that the boss's partner is stealing sugars.
I would not use that in that case.
Right. Right. Exactly.
It shows, it shows how well you know someone so yes give it a try if you feel comfortable but now you know why you might hear that funny kind of construction good to know thanks for bringing this to the show michelle and guys don't forget to hit the follow button on all ears english to let allers english
drop into your queue five days a week and join our community all right all right thanks lindsay for talking about this with me today and I'll talk to you later.
All right. Take care.
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