Hello everybody, how's it going?
My name's Andrew.
Welcome back to another Catchword episode here at Q-Lips.
Catchword is our vocabulary series where we teach you idioms expressions, phrasal verbs and other useful phrases that will boost your English vocabulary.
Learning these expressions will help you to become a better English listener, a better speaker and better understand the psychology and culture of English speaking people.
In just a moment, I'll be joined by my co-host, Indiana.
But first, let me set the stage for today's lesson.
Today we're going to cover a great suggestion that was made by one of our listeners Kareem, who left us a message on our Discord server.
And he asked us to teach the expression to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
And this is such a great request because this is a really common everyday expression that we use all the time.
And while we're at it, we'll also teach you a related expression to cut someone some slack.
These two phrases are connected because we use them when we want to be patient, forgiving or generous in how we think about someone.
We'll get started with the lesson in just a moment, but before we do, let me remind you that we have an interactive transcript and a helpful study guide for this episode available to all QLips members on QLipscom.
So guys, check out the website, sign up and become a member so you can study along with me and Indiana, learn the vocabulary deeply and really get the most out of the time you spend here with us today.
And of course, a big thank you to all Q-Lips members out there.
Your support is what keeps the lights on here at Q-Lips.
So thank you, thank you so much.
Okay, and now let's jump into the lesson.
Our first expression is to cut someone some slack.
Here we go.
Our first expression that we're going to teach you guys today is to cut someone some slack.
To cut someone some slack.
Indiana, maybe I'll get you to say that quickly at natural speed.
How does it sound at full speed?
So if I asked you, I would say, cut me some slack.
Cut me some slack.
Yeah, cut me some slack.
When we say cut someone some slack, we can put somebody's name in there.
And we even use this expression to talk about ourselves, right?
Like that sentence that you just said, cut me some slack.
So it's interesting that we can use this to talk about ourselves and also other people.
But maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves.
We should talk about the meaning first.
So let's start with a definition.
What does it mean, Indiana, to cut someone some slack?
So when you ask somebody to cut me some slack, or oh, I'm cutting him some slack, that refers to giving somebody a little extra forgiveness and understanding, especially if they're going through a hard time and they're making mistakes.
You say, cut me some slack.
Like, it's not easy for me right now.
I might have made a mistake.
I might not be doing my best job, but please give me a little flexibility to.
So basically, to cut someone slack is to be lenient or extra forgiving with that person.
Yeah, I like that word lenient.
And lenient just means to not be strict.
It's just like saying, don't judge me too harshly.
Don't be angry at me.
Don't be upset at me.
Just let me go gently, right?
Let me get away with what I'm doing here.
And when we do this to somebody else right Indiana, if I cut you some slack, then it means like I'm not judging you harshly or I'm not being upset or angry with you, whatever the situation is.
I'm just letting you go, right?
So we should probably talk about this word slack as well, because I think some of our listeners won't know what these two opposite words are.
We have slack and also taut, taut.
And that is spelled, it's got a unique spelling, T-A-U-T, taut.
So could you tell us what does it mean, slack and taut, these two opposite adjectives?
If you imagine a rope and you are pulling each end of the rope really, really tightly, like with force, and the rope is straight and it's not drooping down, it's not sagging, it's straight.
And if you pushed on it it would be kind of hard to.
There would be some tension, some resistance.
That is a taut rope.
So it's under pressure, and it is straight all the way through.
On the other hand, slack.
If you cut the rope some slack, you're not pulling onto it so hard.
The rope... droops down and it's loose, loosely held.
So that would be slack.
And I think that works physically with anything that has tension like that.
Like the most classic example is a rope.
So that's physical objects, right?
But then we can use slack also with this expression, cut me some slack.
So be gentler with me.
Don't pull so hard.
Don't put so much pressure on me.
So this imagery from the rope, we can use it with this expression.
It reminds me of that game Tug of War.
You know that game, classic game, Tug of War, where you have two sides, two teams, and each team is pulling on a rope.
And when they're pulling on the rope, the rope is extremely taut, right?
It's very, very tight.
And there's no give at all.
There's no slack.
And then when the game's over and everybody drops the rope, then there's a lot of slack.
And everybody falls backwards.
Yeah, exactly.
So let's go back to the expression then.
When would we use it in our everyday lives?
Could you think of some examples or some situations where you'd say this expression?
So I think the first thing that comes to mind for me would be when somebody is, like I said before, going through a hard time, has a lot of stress or a lot of things on their plate.
So if I was recently sick, or I'm still kind of recovering from a sickness and I'm not really performing my best at work, Maybe I'd say can you cut me a little slack?
Or maybe hopefully my boss cuts me some slack because they understand I'm not performing at 100 because I was sick.
Or I'm really swamped at work and I'm not able to help with chores as much at home.
So hopefully my spouse or whoever lives with me will cut me some slack there.
So if you need that extra forgiveness because you're under a lot of pressure, you're dealing with a lot.
That is like you know.
Hopefully somebody will cut you some slack there.
That's when I would use that for sure.
So do you use this expression more?
Do you think to talk about yourself or to talk about other people?
Or kind of 50-50?
Yeah.
If I was really like frustrated and I wanted somebody to know I was having a tough time and like please forgive me for if I'm screwing up a little bit, if I'm making mistakes, I might say can you just cut me a little slack.
Can you please cut me some slack?
I'm dealing with X and Y, you know, I'm dealing with all these things.
But also I think more often I would use it to say, let's cut this guy, let's cut him or her.
Let's cut him some slack.
Let's be understanding of the difficult time this person is going through.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So when we are using it to talk about other people, I think yeah, if somebody's got just a lot of stress in their life, maybe a difficult home situation, like maybe you know that one of your co-workers is going through a divorce or their parent is sick, or something like some difficult situation in their home life.
And then maybe because of that, their work performance isn't as good, then maybe you would want to cut them some slack, right?
Like under regular conditions.
Maybe you'd have to have a talk about it and be like oh, you're not.
You're not doing so good these days.
Like your performance is not so good, but because you know they have some other situation going on, you can cut them some slack and yeah, just not be so upset with them.
And just kind of, you're saying it's okay.
Take your time.
Okay, well, Indiana, I think that's a very good definition.
And hopefully now all of our listeners know what this means.
And guys, next, we're going to move on to some conversation examples.
So Indiana and I have two conversation examples here prepared for you.
And the first one is going to happen in a workplace situation, in a kind of office situation, just like we were talking about a moment ago.
So Let's listen in to these two coworkers talking and we'll hear them use this expression to cut someone some slack.
So let's do it.
Let's take a listen right now.
Jason hasn't finished the report yet and it was due yesterday.
Yeah, but he's covering for two other people while they're on vacation.
I get that, but this kind of thing keeps on happening.
I think we should cut him some slack at least for this week.
Okay, guys.
So in this example conversation we heard two coworkers chatting at the office and they were talking about one of their other coworkers named Jason, who hasn't been performing very well lately at the office.
In fact, he was late with a report.
The deadline was yesterday and he still hasn't finished it yet.
But one of the coworkers was like hey, let's cut him some slack because two other people from their office are on vacation.
And so Jason is covering for those two other people.
And when you're covering for someone, this means to take over their responsibilities or do their work while they're away.
So this poor guy is doing the work of three people by himself, and he's late with his report.
And so, because there's this extra special situation going on, The coworkers are like okay, let's cut them some slack, at least for this week.
And then when the other people are back and the team's all together again, then we can get angry at Jason together.
Yeah.
Let's listen to our second conversation example now, Indiana.
Here we go.
Did you take the car in for an oil change yet?
No, I didn't have a chance to yet.
I'll do it tomorrow for sure.
You've been saying that for days and the warning light just keeps coming on.
I know, I know, but cut me some slack.
I'm just really swamped at work right now.
So I think I mentioned earlier that you might cut somebody some slack if they've been really busy with work and maybe they're not helping around the house as much as they should be or usually are.
And that is exactly what's happening in this scenario.
I assume this is a married couple and one person is not doing the chore getting the car checked that this person was supposed to be doing and their spouse or their partner is not thrilled about that is pretty annoyed because they keep asking can you help?
I want you to get this car fixed.
I want you to address this issue.
And unfortunately, it just isn't happening.
But this person says, I've been really swamped at work.
That means I'm really busy.
I've got so much going on at work.
So please be lenient with me.
Give me a little more flexibility.
I'll do it soon.
So cut me some slack.
Please just cut me a little slack.
So good example, asking for some extra forgiveness.
Cut me some slack.
Yeah, very well said.
And yeah, that expression, to be swamped, means to be really, really busy.
We've heard it here a couple of times in this episode and I think we use this expression often to cut someone some slack when people are swamped.
So you'll often hear both of them in kind of similar contexts and similar situations.
Okay Indiana, I think we are ready to move on to our second key expression for this episode, which is to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
To give someone the benefit of the doubt.
And this expression actually has the same pattern as to cut someone some slack.
We can change that pronoun to in the middle of the expression, right?
So I can give you the benefit of the doubt, give him the benefit of the doubt.
And we'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment.
But first, let's start with the definition.
So what does this mean to give someone the benefit of the doubt?
This means that you are choosing to trust somebody or, for now, assume that they have good intentions, good reasons for how they're behaving or what they've done, but you don't really have all of the information.
You could be suspicious of this person.
You could think, hmm, did this person do this, act this way for the wrong reasons?
Or is there something bad going on?
But instead of being suspicious, you're choosing for now, you're choosing to trust them.
You are giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Doubt being, I doubt that, I'm not sure about it.
So the benefit, the positive thing.
For now, you're going to let them, give them, again, some lenience or trust.
Trust them.
So yeah, I think we use this expression often actually guys, when we are suspicious about some kind of behavior or are suspicious about if someone is telling the truth or is lying.
But we are choosing in the moment to be positive and to think of people's best behavior and be like okay, like maybe, for example Indiana, if I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, like maybe you said something to me and I was like it doesn't sound true, like maybe Indiana's lying, but I know Indiana's a good person and I don't really think she would lie to me, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that what she says is true.
However, I'm still like a little suspicious, right?
So yeah, we often use this expression when we are suspicious about somebody's behavior, but we're choosing to think of that person in a positive way and just trusting and believing that what they are doing is genuine and true and good all of those things.
That's what it means to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
And Indiana.
A moment ago we said that we use the same sentence style, the same pattern, same grammar pattern with this expression as we do with to cut someone some slack.
But when we say, give me the benefit of the doubt, right?
We talked a lot about like, hey, cut me some slack.
But if we say, give me the benefit of the doubt, grammatically, it still works.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But the meaning is a little bit strange.
And we wouldn't use it very often, I think, in our daily speaking.
Why is that?
Do you want to shed some light on that for us?
Yeah, if you said give me the benefit of the doubt, it kind of makes it sound like you're in front of people who are judging you, like you were on trial in the moment, like you're speaking to a jury and saying listen, you don't know what really happened, but trust me.
So that's not really a common situation where you would be asking for that.
But when we talk about another person, why did Adam behave that way?
Is he mad at Caitlin?
Did something happen between them?
Oh, let's just give him the benefit of the doubt.
He said some weird things, but we'll talk later. to him about it tomorrow.
We don't need to talk behind his back.
Let's just trust him, right?
So when you're talking about another person, that's a much more likely scenario.
Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.
Let's give her the benefit of the doubt.
That's how I would usually use it.
Good.
Well guys, I think it's time for us to listen to some conversation examples with this expression to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
And our first example conversation that we have lined up here for you guys is about roommates and paying the rent.
So we're going to listen into a conversation between a couple of roommates and they're talking about paying the monthly rent to rent their apartment.
So, yeah.
Let's take a listen to that example right now.
Do you think Zoe is actually going to pay rent this month?
Well, she said she would pay by Friday.
I don't know.
She keeps on talking to me about how broke she is.
I get it, but let's give her the benefit of the doubt.
She's never missed a payment before.
Okay Indiana, scary situation if you're one of those two roommates and you're worried about one of the other roommates, the third roommate, not paying her share of the monthly rent.
But yeah, in this conversation example everyone we heard from two roommates and they were talking about their third roommate.
So I guess there's three people that share an apartment together.
And one of the roommates Zoe, was complaining recently or saying that she had no money that she's broke.
And they were worried that she won't be able to pay her share of the monthly rent.
And usually you pay your rent at the end of the month.
So it's probably getting toward the end of the month.
And they're like, okay, where's Zoe's rent money?
Like, it's time to pay the landlord.
And, And.
They decided that instead of, you know bad mouthing Zoe or talking behind her back, instead they were going to give her the benefit of the doubt.
They said, let's just give her the benefit of the doubt.
Like, let's trust that she'll be able to get the money together.
Let's believe that she can do it.
You know, she has never missed a payment before.
So we believe and trust that she can do it.
And so they're choosing to think positively.
They're choosing to see the best side of Zoe and they're giving her the benefits of the doubt.
Excellent explanation, Andrew.
All right, let's try another example with this expression to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
Let's do it.
Emma still hasn't replied to my message.
Well, maybe her phone died or she got caught up with something.
I don't know.
She's been acting weird lately.
Listen, I say give her the benefit of the doubt and talk to her tomorrow.
I'm sure she's not just leaving you on read.
Okay, so in this scenario, we have two friends talking about a third friend.
And one of these friends thinks that this third friend is acting a little different and perhaps ignoring messages, texts that were sent to her.
And the other friend says, all right, we don't know the full story.
We don't have the whole picture.
Why don't you just talk to her tomorrow?
For now, we'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume nothing's wrong.
I think this is great advice and a good scenario.
Like I would avoid talking about a friend behind their back and making speculations about what's going on.
I've learned my lesson with that in life.
So much better to just give someone the benefit of the doubt and ask them about their behavior or what they've been doing directly.
Good advice that this friend has given.
Let's give her the benefit of the doubt.
Indiana.
I'm thinking of an expression that's almost the opposite of give someone the benefit of the doubt in a way.
It's to jump to conclusions, to jump to conclusions.
So in this kind of situation where you send somebody a message and they don't get back to you right away, it's Usually our minds go to the deepest, darkest places, or at least mine does right.
It's like, oh, this person hates me.
They never want to see me again.
Why aren't they responding to me?
And if you go to those dark places right away, then you're jumping to conclusions.
You're jumping to the worst possible outcome right away.
And yeah, that's kind of the opposite situation, right?
And then, on the other hand, you could give someone the benefit of the doubt and think of it in a positive way.
Like oh, maybe their phone battery just died or they're super busy and they'll get back to me later.
So we can go in either direction.
And yeah, it's cool that we have expressions for both of those situations to jump to conclusions and to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
Now I also wanted to ask you Indiana, about one expression that we heard in that example conversation, which was to leave someone on red.
And here, red is not like the color.
It's like the past tense of read, right?
R-E-A-D, red.
What does it mean if you're left on red?
So in most messaging apps when you send a friend a text, you can see a little message or notification at the bottom, or maybe there's an icon that indicates that the other person has read, opened and looked at your message.
So if somebody leaves you on read, that means that you know this person read your message.
They saw the message because you have that little icon that shows that, but they haven't replied to you yet.
So you're right that for me as well.
I get super worried.
I'm like, what does this mean?
It's been hours.
Are you ignoring me?
So yeah honestly, that feature is kind of detrimental to, I think, everybody's friendships and mental health.
It's very, you can really read into being left unread.
But yeah, that's exactly what that means.
To be left unread, somebody opened your message, but has not replied.
Has not replied yet.
Yes, a very stressful situation indeed.
Mm-hmm good.
Well, i think that's going to bring us to the end of this episode, everybody.
So thank you so much for studying alongside me and indiana here today.
We hope that you enjoyed this lesson and were able to learn a lot with it.
You have now two new expressions well, actually more than too many new expressions that you can add to your vocabulary to help you sound more natural with your english speaking and to help you think in english a little bit better, and also, of course, to assist you in your english listening.
So the two main expressions that we studied.
Just to recap and review, they were to cut someone some slack.
And this just means to be generous or lenient or forgiving with someone when they're under pressure or stressed or have a difficult situation going on in their life.
And, of course, our second expression for this episode was to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and that is choosing to think positively about someone, choosing to not jump to conclusions but to think that someone has good intentions in the future that they are going to act upon.
So if you would like to get more out of this episode, we have a quiz.
We have some detailed vocabulary explanations and examples of all of the interesting vocabulary you heard Indiana and me use in this episode.
Prompts and questions that you can use for speaking practice and diary writing practice.
And we have a speaking class as well.
We've got so much extra study material for this episode that's available to all Q-Lips members.
So if you'd like to sign up and become a Q-Lips member and get the study guide for this episode, just visit our website qlipscom, and you can yeah, sign up and become a Q-Lips member today for an affordable price.
Indiana.
We'd also like to hear listeners use some of these expressions by making their own example sentences.
And a great place for you guys to do that is on our Discord server.
It's the place where our community meets.
We have over 8,000 people who practice and improve their English on our Discord server.
So yeah, we'll have a conversation about this episode and that's a great place to practice and make some example sentences using these two expressions expressions it's good to be productive with your english right, like to actually try and use it, so this is a good place for you guys to do that.
So check it out over on our discord server and yeah, we're waiting to see what you guys come up with.
All right indiana, i think that's going to bring us to the end.
So thank you for being a great co-host today, as always, and listeners, thank you for listening and we'll catch you in the next episode.
Until then, bye-bye.
Thanks andrew, see you everybody.
