This is an All Ears English Podcast.
Chat up a storm with this new English phrase.
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We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
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Hey Lindsey, how are you?
Excellent. Michelle, how are you doing today?
I'm good. I'm good.
Yeah. Actually my friends, they just got a new dog.
Wonderful. Yeah. Two days ago.
Yeah. So I'm very curious to see how it works out.
But I mean, I know, you know, when you got P for, it was a pretty big deal.
I mean, is he, is Kiefer a big barker or is he usually pretty quiet?
Nah, he's super quiet.
He's super. The only time he barks is sometimes when the male lady comes, he'll bark.
Or if someone delivers something, he'll try to protect the house, which is pretty normal.
But otherwise you don't hear a peep from him all day long.
He's just sleeping.
Oh, do you think, yeah, I wonder, did you know that when you got him?
Because I'm wondering about with podcasting, it kind of worked out, right?
I was a little worried.
I wasn't sure how that was going to work, honestly.
Yeah, but we trained him.
And luckily he just, I think maybe his breeds also just aren't very, there are certain breeds that are barky breeds.
Barky breeds. Barky breeds that you want to be careful of.
Do a little research on the breed, but he's also a, he's a mix of quality lab, German shepherd.
That's his protective side.
Probably the German shepherd.
Um, but yeah, I know he's, he's good.
Thank goodness. So if he sees a squirrel though, does he bark up a storm?
I remember my dog used to do that.
He just tries to run and get the squirrel more.
He'll try to, yeah, he doesn't bark up a storm.
Yeah. The time they it's just, it's really when someone's like, or if we have a friend over and the friend comes in the house, if he doesn't know that friend, yeah, he'll bark at that person for a little while.
And then we'll like calm him down and we'll say, we know this person.
It's okay. He'll sniff them and get used to them.
Yeah. Very cute. Yeah.
Okay. Oh, well, very cute.
We love Kiefer here.
So yeah, well today we were going to talk about this interesting and unique expression that you can use to talk about enthusiasm or really excessiveness.
Um, so good. Yeah. This is gonna be fun.
So today, uh, before we get into it, we want to remind you to hit follow wherever you're listening to the allers English podcast, never miss anything.
And yeah, hit that button.
Yeah, exactly. So again, the expression that we're teaching today is doing something up a storm.
So barking up a storm, uh, talking up a storm could be something you might say.
What does it mean? Michelle?
Yeah. It means that you're doing a lot of something, um, or maybe that you're really excited about it, enthusiastic about it.
Um, so there's a, there's a lot of places that it could take you, but the idea is thinking of kind of enthusiasm, uh, a lot, maybe an excess.
Yeah. Um, yeah. So, so what's the, what's the structure, the general structure of how this is used?
Yeah. So we have the verb and then the ing form of the verb, right?
So barking, cooking, talking, studying, and we do barking up.
We add the op, so barking up a storm, cooking up a storm, singing up a storm.
Maybe anything that you're just fully just doing with complete enthusiasm or excessiveness, you're really into it.
Um, usually it's someone else saying that you're doing that thing.
Could be. Yep. Yep.
Yep. Exactly. So let's do some examples.
So here, we're going to go back to the dog example.
So my dog was barking up a storm.
I don't know why, but then I saw there were four deer outside.
Hmm. Yeah, exactly.
There's usually a reason why they're barking like that, hopefully.
Um, or I've been cooking up a storm for three days, getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner, it actually makes me think of COVID times.
I feel like people just started cooking, making bread, but you know, baking bread at home, all of it and cooking up a storm because it was nothing else to do.
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't do that.
Did you do that? No, I, we were, oh my gosh, we were those, we were too scared to go to the grocery store.
So we were ordering things on Amazon.
We were, oh, it was horrible, like what we were eating.
It was like, you know, just like packets of tuna and we were trying to ration it because we were nervous.
And, yeah, oh my gosh.
Wow. Yeah. So yeah.
Um, or here's another one.
I'm sorry. I'm talking up a storm.
I know. I'm just so excited to see you.
Nice. Talking up a storm is another good example.
You're talking a lot.
Um, or he's been studying up a storm preparing for his law exam.
Yes. Another example.
Well, what's interesting is when I was planning this, I realized it doesn't necessarily sound natural with everything.
I don't think that you can just plug anything into this.
I mean, to me, the most natural verbs would be to use things like cook, clean, talk, chat.
Yeah. I completely agree with you.
Yeah. Yeah. Even dance.
I mean, it just, it's very action oriented.
So, you know, it doesn't, it just doesn't sound natural with everything.
And unfortunately some of that you would just have to learn or listen.
Yeah. So for example, it doesn't really work to say I'm driving up a storm.
Yeah. I think it doesn't sound right.
Don't you think that the thread here that all those words have in common is kind of the creative arts you're creating, you're creating, you're creating painting up a storm, dancing up a storm, cooking up, cooking, right?
Yeah. Then you have talking.
I don't know. Maybe it's always, no, no, no, but I think that, I think you're onto something.
They're creating something right.
You're doing something.
You're making something.
So even, I mean, yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily work for everything.
But it is. To me, that's the closest thread that I would be able to think of for sure.
And I do use this personally, I would say it feels.
Like it's becoming maybe a little dated now, right?
I feel like it's something you may have heard in a 90s flick.
Yeah. Meaning movie on 90s flick.
A great word for movies.
Uh, you know, but you know, expressions can still live on, even if they're not the most, because I don't necessarily use the most cutting edge teen slang myself right now, and that's okay because I'm not a teenager.
Right. You know, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Right. No, I think that this is a very useful expression, but I definitely think it would not be used by the, I don't know the teens.
I wouldn't, but they have their own, you know, they have their own set of, you know, Aubrey sometimes informs us of that, right?
Because our kids, she brings us all the teen slang and it's okay.
Like, you know, adults in their thirties and forties don't need to be speaking like teens and vice versa.
It's okay. Yes, exactly.
Yeah. But it definitely reminds me, I, I just feel like in father of the bride part two, they are, must be a, I think there's something where they use this expression and yeah, I have to find it, but I feel like it's the cooking up a storm one, I don't know.
Um, but guys whether or not you decide to use this, it's a good to know, right?
Because you're going to hear this again with some expressions, we may teach them not always because you're necessarily going to use them right away, but you will hear them.
And so, you know, it's important to learn these expressions for comprehension as well as to use them in your conversations.
And then, you know, when you're, when you feel ready, if you choose so, uh, you can certainly use this.
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All right, Michelle.
So there are other things, if we feel like we don't want to go as far as using this phrase, we're not sure.
There are other words that we want to know that just mean the same thing that you can swap in.
So for example, excessively, and we've already said this, you know, immersively or excessively.
She was chatting excessively with her friends last night and now she lost her voice.
Right. And that could happen.
That happens to me at conferences sometimes.
Yep. Yep. Or to no end.
Yeah. I've been looking for jobs to no end lately.
I hope something comes through soon.
Mm hmm. And this also means, you know, just again, excessively.
There's no end to the job.
You've just been continuously searching for jobs.
And then I just added this last one on because I just thought of it.
Lindsey, what do you think of this one?
Yeah, sure. Like crazy.
I've been looking for jobs like crazy.
I use this one too.
Meaning like crazy all day to get ready for our dinner party.
Yeah. I think this one's pretty common.
Yeah. Whether or not it's like, we've talked about the word crazy and you know, but you will hear it.
And these expressions actually work really well when you are hosting some kind of a party, because what I noticed, I love hosting dinner parties, having friends over for parties.
But what I, you know, you wake up the morning, you're hosting from that evening and you are cleaning all day and then you're cooking and everything is, you know, you're running out to the store.
You basically spend your entire day prepping for that party.
So any of these would fit with that kind of scenario, right?
Yeah, that's true. That's true.
Oh, that's the scenario we have in our role play here, Michelle.
There you go. What do you know?
I guess, I guess great minds think alike.
They do. I guess so.
Yeah. Look at this.
All right. So then let's dive into our role play Michelle.
So here what's going on?
All right. Well, we are getting ready for our holiday party.
We're friends and we're throwing a party together.
Okay, exact scenario.
Here we go. So did you get all the ingredients?
Yes, of course. I've been shopping to know, and it seems I have everything.
Okay, great. I've been cleaning up a storm since yesterday.
So the place is spotless.
Oh, that's great. Yeah, Claudia told me she's been baking to no end.
She's a wait. I did.
Okay, well, I'm going to switch that Claudia told me she's been baking like crazy.
She's a great Baker.
I'm so excited to try her desserts.
Oh, me too. Nice. All right, good.
So this is perfect.
This is the scenario.
It's kind of in situations where you're fully immersed in something.
It's a big project.
You're in knee deep prayer.
You're fully in this thing that you have to prepare.
Maybe there's a little sense of time urgency.
Yeah, surrounded by this thing you have to do.
Okay. Yeah, I think that's a really good point, Lindsey, of when you could use it.
Now, we didn't use excessively, but guys, that's another one you could use.
It's not doesn't quite necessarily work completely in the same way, but something you could consider using as well.
Yeah, it's a little formal for this.
Using this excessively.
You know, like I've been cleaning excessively.
I think between friends, that'd be a little too formal.
Yeah, yeah. All right.
So I said, I've been shopping to no end, it seems.
So I'm saying it feels like I'm never I was never going to fit in a shop.
Yeah. And then I said, OK, great.
I've been cleaning up a storm since yesterday.
So the place is spotless.
And that'll be a bonus phrase for today.
Spotless, Michelle.
What does that one mean?
That's a great one.
Extremely clean. Yes, I love that.
Great expression for extremely clean.
And then what did you say?
And then I said, yeah.
Claudia told me she's been baking like crazy.
So she's baking, baking, baking.
She's got a pie. She's got a cake.
She's got some muffins.
Yeah. Wow. A lot of work.
Sounds delicious, though.
I had a really good mixed berry pie over the weekend because I went to a friends giving.
It was good. That's my favorite thing about Thanksgiving.
Michelle is pie pie.
Yeah. I love pie too.
Yes. So good. Michelle, is there some other place our listeners should go right now to check out Aller's English?
More Aller's English?
Guys head on over to episode 2321.
That was There you go.
One phrase for confirming in English.
Super important as a communication and connection skill.
Confirming, right? Love it.
Absolutely. So Lindsay, anything you want to bring up before the end of the episode?
Yeah. I just love the idea of when you are fully immersed in something like cooking, like cleaning, like preparing for a party, having the words to express it, because it's kind of a unique moment in life when you're just, you can't see anything else but this thing you have to take care of, right?
You're either so excited about it, like during COVID times when people were cooking up a storm or you're under pressure because the party starts at six and it's four and you're still cooking or cleaning.
This is the way you can express that moment to people to connect.
What's actually going on.
These are the phrases.
Yeah, I love it. Very, very useful.
You'll definitely hear it in some nineties comedy movies.
But yeah, this is really great for just immersing yourself, doing a lot of something, usually preparing for something or maybe a new hobby or enjoying that.
Yeah, I've been painting up a storm recently.
I love it. So many different ways to use it.
That's actually another good example.
So again, we said the arts is kind of what the expressive arts, what this has in common is maybe you are going to, you went to a trial class of a dance class and all of a sudden you loved it.
So you started doing every night, every night you went back to that school, dance school and you just kept.
So you tell your friend on the weekend, I've been dancing up a storm lately.
Right? I just love it.
Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it.
All right. Well, this was fun.
And, uh, Lindsey, we've been talking up a storm.
So I have time to go.
I guess we do talk up a storm on all our England.
We definitely do. All right, Michelle.
Well, you have a good day and I'll see you in the next episode.
All right. Bye, Lindsey.
Bye guys. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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