This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 1369, take two how to make a mistake and still be smooth.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Excellent, Michelle.
I'm doing pretty well today.
How are you?
What's going on?
I'm good.
I'm good.
Yeah, I was just talking to a student the other day and she was asking, like you know, when we make the episodes, what do we do if we make a mistake?
And I mean we don't.
I mean we make plenty of mistakes, of course, but we don't.
It takes a lot for us to actually stop the recording.
Yeah, it's very rare.
And actually I'm kind of proud of that because i feel like a lot of people get really worried and it reflects our vision and our kind of our philosophy of connection, not perfection.
The only time we ever stop the recording is if, you know, maybe someone's dog barks in the background, there's a baby crying or like um, if we have an internet connection problem, that's really it, Right.
Right.
Right.
Exactly.
It's more like if there's a technology mistake or something in the background, but it's never like oh wait, we made a mistake, you know, because again it's not to say we're perfect, but we just keep it going guys, because we do want it to be natural.
We do want it to be authentic.
We don't want it to be like, oh, we're reading from a script.
Yeah, I mean, exactly, Michelle.
And I'm proud of that.
At times we've had guests on the show and they've asked, can we start that over?
Will we start that over?
No, we're not.
Sorry.
This is real English for our listeners.
All right, cool.
That's awesome.
Definitely.
But actually, I think there was a few episodes ago, I did make a mistake and I got all jumbled.
You know, sometimes I always go like, right, if I make a mistake.
And I remember I said, take two.
And then we were talking about maybe doing a follow up on this.
So I thought that this was...
Maybe it's just in my personality, but do you hear people say like, take two?
Well, I think you have more experience on the stage and in performance situations.
So, but I mean, I guess, yeah, anyone could say that for sure.
Maybe if you're playing like, what's that game?
Charades or something in front of a group, you may say that.
Yeah.
For sure.
For sure.
OK, awesome.
So, I mean, what what is I mean, you mentioned the stage.
Yeah, this makes me think of the movies.
What is take two?
Yeah.
So it just means start over.
Right.
Take take two, meaning try again for a second time.
So you're saying start again, start over.
Let me do that again.
Right.
Like in a movie, like I would see, imagine them having to reshoot something.
They didn't get the correct angle or maybe the actor made a mistake or something like that.
But they may say take two.
It makes me think of what's the thing?
What's the black thing?
The black thing?
That, you know, in movies, you know, the thing that snaps.
The thing that snaps?
The black thing that snaps?
Yeah, you know, you know.
Oh, you're talking about the thing you hold in front of someone when they Oh, I don't know what that's called.
What is that called?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I can't think of it.
I'm sure... Yeah, it's like the thing that notes the scene that they're working on, right?
Right.
The thing...
And they like write it on it in chalk.
And it's like a very Hollywood symbol.
And I can't think of the name of it.
If I heard it I'd be like oh, but I don't know if they actually Do they actually use that in the real world.
I mean, I guess...
When I was out in L.A. last summer, I should have gone to watch the movie filmings.
That's what everyone's into out there, right?
But I don't know if they still use that in real movie filmings.
Yeah, I think that they do, because I think it like shows them you know where the take ended and started.
I think that's why they do it.
But yeah, maybe like in modern times, maybe they have something else, but definitely like it's.
If you I mean, maybe you saw this when you were living in Hollywood you would see that a lot like Different souvenirs might have that.
Oh, yeah.
It's a big symbol for the movie industry.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I feel like also I hear take two and like, do you ever watch bloopers of like a show?
Yeah, absolutely.
It's funny.
Oh my gosh.
What are bloopers?
That's a good bonus word.
Bloopers.
Great bonus word for our listeners today.
So scenes of a movie or a show where they just messed up the filming.
And a lot of sitcoms or movies will do this too at the end.
They'll share, you know, and the whole staff starts laughing.
And that's how you know they're really comedians, that they laugh when these kind of things really get screwed up.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
So guys, we're going to talk about this today.
You know, how and when should we use these kinds of things in a regular conversation?
We did kind of a similar episode recently.
Not recently, a few hundred episodes back.
Oh my gosh.
Wow.
Time flies.
So this is All Ears English.
It's episode 1039 was how to be funny when you're at a loss for words.
And you can get some other similar kinds of phrases there.
But we wanted to go a little bit deeper into this today.
Yeah, I love this.
I love this.
And I just want to skip ahead and then we can go back.
Guys, I mean, one place where I find myself taking to a lot is actually my Amazon Alexa, my Alexa skill here in my kitchen.
Do you find yourself doing that, Michelle, like starting over like she doesn't get it?
Oh, all the time.
I like it.
I get into a lot of fights with her, actually.
I always like, oh, forget it.
Like, I feel like I'm like kind of an old married couple with Alexa sometimes.
Like, I'm like, I said this.
I said.
And then she'll do something totally different or not hear me.
And then I get so mad and I'm like, ah, just forget it.
Oh, it's so funny.
It's like she is getting smarter and smarter, right?
The more people use her, she gets more data.
And I guess the algorithm, the code gets better.
But it's hilarious.
I find myself taking two all the time.
Guys.
I did want to remind you though Michelle, we do have an Alexa skill for All Ears English, don't we?
Right, we do.
I think that's so cool that we have that.
Yeah, it's really cool.
It's really cool.
So guys, you can access it in the US or in Japan.
So if you're in the US, just activate the app, right?
Activate the skill on your app and then say, Alexa, open all ears English.
Oh, don't say that too loud.
She might start. in the kitchen.
If you're in Japan, you can also do it.
And you can say, Alexa, all ears English, in Japanese, and she will start it over there.
All right, guys.
So give it a try.
See what happens.
Pretty cool.
Okay.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Sounds good.
All right.
So yeah, so take two.
So maybe you would say take two to Alexa as a joke.
She wouldn't know what you're talking about.
Maybe in like a year she will.
She's just getting a lot smarter really quickly.
Yeah, she sure is.
I love how we talk about her like she's like an extra.
So anyway, so yeah, take two is it's an informal way to say you need to start something over, right?
So like, let's say you're telling a story and maybe you jumble your words or you make a mistake.
You could say it's kind of a humorous thing to say just like, take two.
And you can begin again.
And that kind of signals that you made a mistake.
And I don't know, I say this a lot.
Again, maybe it's my person, my theatrical personality.
But I feel like I hear sometimes people say this as a joke, like take two, right?
No, totally.
I think this would be a great thing for our listeners to add to their personality.
This is building a personality in English.
This is perfect for our listeners.
Yeah, so it's a little bit dramatic, a little bit humorous to say something like that, for sure.
So, for example, let's say Lindsay, I'm telling you a story and I said so.
I was on the beach and I walked on the.
Okay ah, take two.
You really got tongue-tied there.
I really did.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I feel like that's when I use it the most.
Like if I just kind of trip over my words, which happens a lot.
You know yours begin quickly and then you blip right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's better than saying something like, oh, sorry, right?
It's so boring to say, oh, sorry, let me start again, right?
This is a moment to express your personality and be a little bit silly and fun.
I think it also shows a little bit of confidence when you say it, just because you don't seem too bothered or thrown off by the mistake you've made.
Right.
Right.
You're just saying, OK, I'm going to keep on going.
And I feel like it's a little bit like maybe a tiny bit self-deprecating, which Jessica and I when we did back in March we did that web class.
We talked a little bit about self-deprecating humor.
I feel like saying take two.
It's a little it's not really, but it's it's kind of. it's teasing the situation I think so I think so I like that I like that it's good stuff cool awesome so guys how else can you say something like take two when you have um this kind of a moment so what's appropriate in which kind of setting um so the first one that we have here is and lindsay you mentioned this one as being like oh that you wouldn't say oh sorry let me start that over but i think if you say this particular phrase with a certain amount of personality i think that it's good um so But I do agree that saying like, oh, sorry, is a little much.
Yeah, it's a little much.
It's too much.
You don't need to apologize.
Everyone makes these mistakes, right?
But this one's a little more formal.
So this could be good in maybe an interview, a more professional scenario as well.
Right right, right right.
Yeah, it could be.
So it's, let me start over or let me start that over.
Yes, either one.
Let me start over, let me start that over.
I like that.
So you want to do a role play?
Yeah, all right.
So where'd you go last night?
Oh, i went to this new restaurant called jazz night.
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
Let me start that over jazz sky.
I feel like our minds are racing so much these days.
We're so distracted that it's likely that we're going to make these mistakes.
So we need to have something to say, right?
Right, right, right.
I always like when I make the role plays, and then I like try and come up with names for businesses or restaurants, like where am i getting this stuff?
I don't know.
Jazz night, jazz sky, you know, i have to look up if there's actually a restaurant with those anyway.
Yeah so, and i just wanted to point out something also is the intonation right?
Yeah, so i said this new restaurant called jazz night oh my gosh, let me start that over.
And then i said jazz sky.
So I kind of, you know, made the intonation, I made it stronger.
In this way how I'm showing that I'm correcting it.
When you correct it.
Yeah.
I mean, I think honestly Michelle, I feel like we could do another episode on correcting ourselves with intonation.
That would be a cool episode for our listeners.
For sure.
For sure.
Definitely.
I think that's an important skill to have.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then, so here's another one, guys, you can say, that's not what I meant.
Right?
That's not what I meant.
So that's good.
I mean, that's very explicit, very clear.
Yeah.
Right, right, right.
And this one, I feel like we could do a whole episode on this one, right?
Because this one could be also like for bigger things.
It could be something simple like messing up one piece of information, but it also could be that you're in an argument, or
You know, you say something that you didn't mean to say in a certain way.
Someone perceives it in some way.
So I feel like this phrase is very powerful.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Maybe you're having a conversation with your partner and you say kind of the wrong thing, right?
I mean, words can be damaging.
So you have to do some damage control at that point.
Exactly.
But in a lighter way.
You know, if what we're talking about for today is, you know this, you know just making a simple mistake.
So, for example, I could say, Lindsay, so his number is 692-451.
Oh, no, that's not what I meant.
452.
Yeah.
So in that case, it is a lot lighter and you're just correcting a number.
Right.
So this is quite diverse, this phrase, guys.
For sure, for sure.
And then we'll do one more, Lindsay.
I like this one a lot.
Yeah, this one's fantastic.
Scratch that.
Scratch that.
Yeah, I feel like I hear this one a lot.
What about you, Lindsay?
For sure.
This is the one out of all these today that I think I use the most.
Honestly, I think it's fun.
I think it's creative.
It paints a picture.
It's great.
So I love this.
Awesome.
So yeah, this one can be used in a similar way.
It can also just mean to like cancel something, right?
I mean, I think of literally like scratching something out with a pencil.
Yeah, exactly.
Saying like, no, scratch that.
Let's do this instead.
But yeah, if you're just canceling something...
You know, scratch the event this weekend.
I guess you could say that.
Would you say that?
Scratch the wedding or scratch the party?
Maybe less.
Maybe a little less.
I feel like I don't hear that one as much.
But like, yeah, definitely.
If I'm saying like, you know, I want to do this this weekend.
Oh, scratch that.
It's canceled or something like that.
Yeah.
So it has to be kind of in the middle of a statement, right?
So let's give our listeners an example.
This is a very common example, right?
So what are we going to buy at the farmer's market, Michelle?
All right.
So, all right.
Lindsay, can you buy peas, tomatoes, five potatoes?
Oh, scratch that.
Potatoes.
Potatoes.
Did you just say potatoes?
I said potatoes.
That's hilarious.
Oh, my gosh.
That might be like an accent from some part of our country.
It sounds a little countryside, right.
Yeah, it's actually a little new york too.
Oh interesting okay, i did not know that.
Yeah, brooklyn accent, what's that about it's?
Um, i don't know, but i have certain i have family members who do things like that, Wow.
Yeah, I know.
It's a very interesting one.
You know what movie I watched over the weekend?
Again, Good Will Hunting, which was a blast because it was on TV and I was home.
And the accents there, oh, they're so great.
The Southie accent, that Boston accent.
I love it.
Yeah.
Oh, that movie.
Oh, my gosh.
I still you know, I had never seen it before.
We did our we did our you hadn't seen it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And when we did our weekend in Boston, like then I was inspired to watch it.
And I oh, my God, what a good movie.
What a good movie.
Yeah.
Yeah, the thing I love about it's very 90s in the sense that they have these beautiful scenes that are very distinct.
And you can tell they work so hard on those scenes.
And they're almost poetic.
You know what I mean?
The dialogue is really poetic.
That's a side point.
Anyways, great movie.
So watch it if you haven't had a chance.
So Michelle, what else should we share with our listeners before we finish up?
Well, yeah, guys, these are just really useful and they can be humorous.
So definitely listen out for that other episode that we I think we're going to put it in the blog so that you can hear some more examples.
But the important thing.
I think, is to make it a little bit humorous if it's appropriate.
So maybe not on a job interview.
Well, you never know.
It depends.
We've discussed different levels of appropriateness.
You need to really think about who you're talking to and things like that.
But I think definitely, at least casually, it's good to kind of tease the situation if you make a mistake, instead of you know, don't just like get nervous, you know make a joke of it or just say okay, I'm starting again, you know, whatever.
Yeah, that's why this really is a connection skill.
You know what I mean?
Because our listeners are going to be connecting with natives and you're going to make a mistake, guys.
We know that, right?
We make mistakes on this show too.
So have something like this in your back pocket to lighten the mood.
Because if you get nervous, if you hear yourself make a mistake, you get nervous.
The other person gets nervous too.
They're going to feel awkward and they're not going to want to keep talking to you, because it's not fun when it's tense.
Do you know what I mean, Michelle?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Everybody wants to be relaxed.
If, all of a sudden, you show this feeling of maybe thinking, oh my gosh, i failed right, then the other person is going to feel uncomfortable too.
They're going to feel like they can, they can, people can feel each other's discomfort, and it's, it's almost.
It almost makes the other person feel embarrassed.
Yeah exactly, because they feel bad for you and they guess what.
They probably don't care at all that you made a slight mistake.
It's so true.
The other day I was on Skype with someone and he seemed nervous.
And I was like, what's going on?
Am I doing something wrong?
It made me question myself.
You know what I mean?
And I didn't know.
The conversation really wasn't that pleasant, because he just seemed nervous and concerned and confused.
It was unpleasant.
So guys, show your confidence.
Throw in a word like this and keep the connection going.
Don't lose that connection.
Definitely.
Yes.
Oh, awesome.
Okay, well, this has been a lot of fun, Lindsay.
And yeah, guys, try these out today.
Yeah, right.
And guys, check out our Alexa skill.
Remember, ask Alexa to open all ears English if you live in the US or in Japan.
See you there.
Awesome.
All right, perfect.
Lindsay, have a good one.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
Bye.
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