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with your American hosts, Lindsay 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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Subscribe. As we get older, time moves faster.
Sometimes we want to have an existential conversation about this, or we simply want to comment on how fast milestones happen.
Listen in today to build this sentimental connection skill in English.
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Hi Lindsay, how are you?
Hi Michelle, I'm doing well.
How about you? I'm good, thanks.
So So on a recent Instagram video, I asked the listeners if they thought that the year was flying by or dragging on.
Yeah, because we're already well over halfway through the year.
What do you think? Do you think this year is going by really fast or not?
Not that fast. I think it's going fast like every year.
Every year goes faster and faster.
Honestly, it's going fast for me.
Yeah. What about you, Michelle?
Oh, yeah. It's really fast. What's interesting is I think the previous six months, like I guess the second half of 2024, I think that went by – normally I think time goes by fast but I think that went by a little on the slow side for me.
I think there was just a lot going on and it just – there was – yeah.
But I think now it's just gone by so fast so it's crazy to me.
Oh my gosh. That's one of those things that we talk about a lot.
I know at the end of like whenever we have our All Ears English meetings, we usually say, oh, my gosh, can you already believe it?
It's you know, I know it's insane and it's a great connection skill because I do think it must be true that as you become older, you feel the time passes faster.
I remember thinking as a kid that a week was like a year.
You know, a summer was like a lifetime.
Now, a week is a flash.
It's just incredible.
It is. Yeah, it is crazy.
Yeah. Same. Same. Because it's about how large it is in proportion to your life.
So because it's always changing, right?
So it's kind of sad, but that's okay.
But yeah, so we've kind of talked about this idea before, sharing that things are going by quickly.
So, but this was a while ago and we wanted to take a fresh angle.
We have more experience, more expression.
So that's what we're going to talk about today because this is a huge connection topic.
Some of these, Yeah.
Oh, definitely. Some of these are deeper and then some of them are a little bit more practical.
So this is just going to be really helpful.
Yes, I love it. Let's start with the first one, Michelle.
It's in no time, in no time.
And the intonation matters here too, doesn't it, Michelle?
How would we use intonation here?
In no time, right? In no time.
Like that, you got to give a little punch to the no, right?
And is this usually talking about something that's coming up in the future saying that something will happen quickly in the future or was it is it talking about the past that something went by quickly yeah to me this is more in the future right yeah i don't you think yeah totally agree yeah yeah so maybe somebody is waiting for something right and you want to encourage them so for example i'm sure you'll hear back from the the hiring manager in no time.
Exactly. Or we'll just finish this last page and we'll be out of here in no time.
It really is about something coming up that you want to do or that's going to happen and you're saying it's going to happen quickly.
Okay. Very good point there.
It definitely is to me screams future instead of past. Future.
Really interesting.
And before we go any further, Michelle, where should our listeners make sure they are listening to the show if they want the the best possible premium experience?
Well, I absolutely love our app.
We have so much on there.
You can get your personalized vocabulary list. You can get quizzes.
There's so much going on there.
And we have it for iOS.
We have it for Android.
So if you are interested, go to allearsenglish .com slash app.
Yes, I love it, guys.
Go over there. Again, allearsenglish .com slash app.
No matter whether you're on Android or iOS, there's a app for you over there to go deeper with the show.
All right, Michelle, the next one, In the Blink of an Eye.
That's a good one. Yeah, we've gone over this a little bit, but it is really useful and important.
So we wanted to take the time to cover it.
It's just very common. There's a lot of imagery associated with with it, of course.
So here you could say Susie turned four in the blink of an eye.
It's going by too fast. Yes.
Do you think this one is more past future or would you say kind of more past, isn't it?
That's yeah. Oh, my gosh.
We're discovering this in real time together.
Yeah. I wasn't even thinking about that.
But yeah, I you can say, oh, this is going to go by in the blink of an eye.
But yeah, you can. That's true.
It will go by. And it's but it does kind of lean a little bit more towards the past i think yeah and there's and often it's used to talk about kids growing up things like people and things developing quickly okay yes yes yeah um all right what's the next one before you know it right before you know it it'll be winter again and this one is moving into the future thinking about the future yes yes exactly or the traffic is is terrible but you'll be out of it before you know it so maybe do you ever get it where you see oh my gosh everything is kind of stand still and you think it's going to take forever
right it's a parking lot and then and then somehow it just clears up and you're like ah yeah for sure it's a weird thing and we don't know why the traffic starts right there's no rain it just all of a sudden it's tight traffic and then it just clears and we don't really know why but this kind of has has a positive feeling to it before you know it, doesn't it?
True. Right. Yeah. It just more like, Oh, something will be over.
Maybe. I don't know.
Yeah. A little bit of a positive feeling, but definitely more future as well.
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so Michelle the other one that made me think uh that that I thought of when we looked at today's phrases is and just like that and just like that that's the sex in the city right yeah I think this is I'm not a fan of this phrase it's I think it's just a big cliche um but people do use it especially talking about their kids growing up and just like that she's five or something like that yeah yeah exactly and just like that I'll definitely add that to our list I yeah I was was thinking of that one as well.
Just like that. Meaning that's it.
You snapped your fingers and this kid grew up or this happened or yo, the person graduated from high school, right?
These are used to refer to milestones, development, people growing up, right?
Yeah. Let's do a fun one.
And this one is really fun.
Faster than you can say blank.
So you can put anything in the blank.
So, I mean, for example, you can say, I'll be done using your pen faster than you can say math test. Right.
And what do you put in the blank, Michelle?
Right. Yeah. How do you know what to put in there?
That's what our listeners are going to ask.
I know. Yeah. I would say it's It's mostly something related, right, to what you were talking about.
But it could be something random, too, a funny word, tongue twister, something like that.
Right. But I mean, here's here.
Could you read the next example?
She can make three sales faster than you can say new cell phone.
OK, so, yeah, maybe she's selling cell phones.
Yeah. And so you're kind of using a related, something related to what's happening.
Yeah. Or you can have a go to thing.
Like for me, whenever I want a placeholder, I just say Mickey Mouse.
Like, you know, when something is irrelevant, I will have to come up with an episode to illustrate how I do this sometimes.
But it's like, call it whatever you want.
Call it Mickey Mouse.
You know why I came up with that my french teacher used to say that i think she was railing against talking about grammatical terms like present perfect past perfect she said call it what you want call it mickey mouse but say it correctly right that's so funny i love that so you'll just say it faster than you can say mickey mouse so you can have a little placeholder there that you want to throw in if you want to create your own language trademarks right right you know it it could It could be related if you're, but, or, or yeah, it could be a Mickey Mouse.
These are just fun personality quirks that we can develop over time that maybe we're the only ones that think it's funny ultimately when you drop it, but it is fun.
You can entertain yourself in your, in your, you know, in a second language too, right?
It's true. It's so funny.
Um, or the last one we have is in a flash.
Okay. Um, it's, uh, in a flash.
Oh wait, faster than you can say Mickey Mickey Mouse.
Would you say, I would say future past...
Yeah, I think future.
This is thinking ahead, especially like with your kids, if kids are being a little bit impatient, right?
Maybe you have to stand in a line for an amusement park Ferris wheel or something.
And you can say, we'll get through this faster than you can say Mickey Mouse.
You just wait and see.
Right. Exactly. My kids are never impatient, Lindsay.
Oh, no. Model children.
I'm sure. Oh, yeah.
OK. In a flash. So this is also I would say this is also more so for the future.
Right. Yeah. Right.
So I'm just going to call my mom and then I'll be done with you in a flash.
Yes. Mm -hmm. Yeah. I mean, you could technically say it happened in a flash, but I do agree.
A lot of these are stretching towards thinking about how long something will take in the future, right?
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
So, I mean, Lindsay, do you think speed is valued in our culture and are we kind of always rushing?
Do these expressions say something about us?
1 ,000 % Michelle, 1 ,000.
I'm glad you asked that question.
We are such a fast paced culture and we value speed, especially within services, kinds of services, delivery, quick.
We actually want instant gratification.
We want that thing right away.
And so these are really common and really important, I think in global culture, but I do think American culture has even more of a bias towards things should move fast we shouldn't have to wait right yeah sure yeah you know what's cool you were talking about instant gratification just the other day i was talking with a friend because i think my son is starting to learn delayed gratification and i feel like that's a it's kind of a milestone because now he'll say oh he wants to save this or he'll you know do do something later.
And instead of, you know, whereas my three -year -old will be, no, no, you know, and I'm starting to realize this shift and it's kind of cool.
So that's great. I mean, so he's at the point where he would pass the marshmallow test, the famous marshmallow test. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Just in case our listeners don't know, that was a study that was done by some famous psychologist, I don't know who, where they put But kids probably, I don't know, your son's age, 87, 86, I don't know, in front of marshmallows.
And they said, if you eat this marshmallow, if you can wait 30 minutes and not eat this marshmallow, I'll give you two marshmallows.
Right. And so they studied what the kids did and then they followed them to look at their life success 30 years later.
And they made, you know, made some observations about does delayed gratification actually help you be more successful as a child?
will you be more successful later in life?
Super interesting, right?
Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
I think you could pass it now.
Maybe. I don't know.
Maybe I'll try out with him later.
Yeah. You should run your own experiments.
I should. Yeah. All right.
Let's do a role play.
We are talking, we're friends talking about upcoming plans.
All right. All right.
Here we go. Here we go.
All right. So are you hosting New Year's this year, Lindsay?
Michelle, it's July.
Yeah, but it'll be here before you know it.
Faster than you can say by 2026.
Yeah, less than six months can go by in the blink of an eye, but I have no idea if I'm hosting yet.
Okay. Okay. Can we talk about next week?
Is that too, or is that too far off?
No, it'll be next week in no time.
Yep. In a flash. That'd be funny if you were asking someone that at this stage.
Yeah, it's too early.
Or do you actually ask people?
No, I wouldn't ask, ask, but, but it is funny because there are, I have a friend and they, they're always the people hosting new years, right?
Do you have anybody like that where they're, they're known for this holiday?
So I wouldn't ask them yet, but maybe in like three months, if I was considering, I just want to make sure that that's what our plans are.
Cause maybe we're considering going away or, you know what I mean?
Right. That makes sense.
Once you get into the same season, at least or, you know, not July for New Year's.
Yeah. Yeah. July now, right?
For sure. And so we're talking about how, yeah, it's going to go fast the rest of the year.
So you said, yeah, but it'll be here before you know it.
Right. I said, don't ask me about New Year's.
It's just July. And you said it'll be here before you know it.
Faster than you can say.
And here's where we can be a little creative and we can fill in the blank.
Mickey Mouse, 2026, whatever.
You're going to get got everybody going around saying Mickey Mouse.
I know. I know. It's weird. Michelle, what's next?
All right. And then you said, yeah, yeah.
Less than six months can go by in the blink of an eye, but I have no idea if I'm hosting.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
And then you said, okay, okay.
Can we talk about it next week or is that too far off?
Yeah. I'm trying to ask you questions about next week.
Like maybe I'm going to ask you about dinner.
So we can't talk about next week.
So so I'm changing the subject or is that too far off?
And then I said, no, it will be next week in no time.
So I'm willing to talk about next week, just not Christmas time and, or New Year's time.
And I just agreed. And I said, yep, in a flash.
Oh, such a connection skill, Michelle, because we all experience as we get older as adults, we experience that time going faster and faster.
This is a global thing.
This is not cultural, right?
Right. Yeah, absolutely.
Guys, guys, speaking while we're talking about going fast, but here guys, check out this episode.
24, 45 was why slow down in English part one, pause for punctuation.
Oh, I love that. That was a series of episodes that we did to answer one of our students questions about what happens if you're speaking too fast. How do you stop yourself from speaking too fast?
Super interesting series.
Yeah. And Michelle, any final thoughts on the takeaway?
I mean, again, it's a connection skill and we do want to be able to comment on how fast time moves.
Yes, exactly. And again, it could be for more of an existential conversation about time going by or sometimes it's fast. Oh, this will be done before you can say Mickey Mouse.
house right right sometimes it's about logistics of planning things or sometimes it really is about wow my life is moving so fast i'm already whatever age we are and we're actually having a moment of reflection right yes exactly yes all right well this has been fun i'm so glad that we talked about this today and thanks guys for joining us here on this saturday all right michelle talk to you soon all right good saturday bye you too bye Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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