This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 1616 Non-Boring Ways to Say.
Something is Boring in English.
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When you are bored by a person or situation, you might want to make a comment.
Today get four new English vocabulary words to describe something that bores you in an interesting way.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Hey, Michelle, doing well.
How are you?
I'm good.
I'm good.
I hope your day hasn't been boring.
Oh, no, never boring here.
No, definitely not boring.
What about yours?
Same.
Also never boring here.
Never, ever boring.
Yeah, for sure, for sure yeah, yeah.
I mean, have you had any days recently that have been like not that much going on or no?
It's hard to find days like that anymore.
You know, it feels like I used to have boring days like when I was a kid in school or I don't know when, but I just never get bored anymore.
There's just too much to do.
I'm sure you feel the same way.
I definitely feel the same way and also like getting out more.
You know it's like yeah, everything feels so like.
I know, I know, like feels like anything, like even like you should see me now, because I've started Lindsay, I've started going to the grocery store.
Oh my gosh, are you wearing a mask in the grocery store?
I am like okay yeah, I don't know.
I did go into like a coffee shop today and I had first had my mask on and then, and then I had to go walk out for a minute.
I walked back in and I didn't put it on and like I'm like okay, I have to listen to what they say is okay.
But in the grocery store, I mean, what about you?
Are you wearing it?
So I've started not wearing my mask in the grocery store, actually.
So you walk in and it's like pretty much 90% of people are maskless.
So at this point, I feel like I need to trust the vaccine.
You know what I mean?
That's true.
Yeah.
But I guess there's still not any research that I've seen around whether vaccinated people can pass the virus.
So I understand why you're still wanting to be vaccinated, safe.
I'm mostly doing it.
Just, i don't know, i i'm just like not quite ready to rip it off, but i did like i said today i was in and like i was in for a few minutes somewhere and i didn't have it on and like yeah, now you know, but it's mostly with my son, like because then i'll have to put a mask on him, and it's like even he yeah yeah well, but but like, what i mean is some like some of the most mundane activities, like the grocery store.
To me now it's like like the other day um, we needed to get something and i i think i told you this i was like i'm going out, like yeah yeah yeah, for sure, for sure.
It's like so exciting, that's awesome.
It's like you're re-experiencing the world again.
Yeah,
It's true.
I love that.
That's so cool.
Well, today, Lindsay, we're going to talk about how you can describe something that's boring, right?
Okay, yeah.
Or at least something that maybe that's not that exciting.
And, you know, when is it okay and when is it not okay to use, you know, these words.
So this is going to be about non-boring ways to say something is boring right, because we can always use the word boring boring boring boring boring, and it gets boring, it gets boring.
Don't be boring.
When you talk about boring things, at least say something interesting.
Uh, just to spice it up, something to hang on to.
I love that idea.
So, we're going to give our listeners some vocabulary then?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
This is going to be fun.
And we can talk about, you know, like, is it okay to use at work?
Is it okay to use socially?
Is it offensive?
Right?
Things like that.
So, should we do the first one or…
Yeah, let's do it.
So I love this first one because it sounds very smart to me.
Something is dry, saying that something is dry.
Now, does this mean like no liquid?
No.
No, not in this way.
I mean yeah, this is usually.
I mean it's a way to say something's just not that interesting, right.
So I feel like it's often about something maybe you're reading or watching.
So if you describe a person as dry...
You know, they might be boring, but you can also describe someone as having a dry sense of humor.
And what does that mean?
A dry sense of humor, Lindsay?
Yeah, that's a good question.
I guess that they're actually pretty funny, but they don't like approach things by saying I'm going to make a joke.
Right.
They're not like a clown.
Some people like that sense of humor.
Some people don't like it.
But I feel like sometimes even things like The Office or something like that, some of the characters can be kind of dry.
And that's why it's funny.
Right.
So sometimes that dry sense of humor can be really funny.
Yeah, for sure.
Like you're not expecting to laugh, but you do.
The scenario is weird.
They're subtly funny.
It's subtle funny.
It's subtle.
Exactly.
But yeah, dry can just be also kind of a way to say kind of a little bit boring.
I mean, Lindsay, what's an example of this?
Okay, so we're talking about reading something.
The second paragraph is pretty dry.
Let's add in a quote.
So here you're talking about editing a page, a paper that you're writing, I guess.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Or with this sense of humor, right?
Like he has a dry sense of humor.
If you like dry comedy, you'll really think he's great.
And then about a book, the book was dry at first, but then it picked up.
So it was dry.
Have you had this experience, Michelle, where you struggled to pick up a book?
You just didn't get hooked in?
Oh, yeah.
That happens to me a lot.
So I have a problem, though, because...
I've been reading to help myself sleep, and it's been working out really well.
And I've read some stuff that was really good, but not page turners.
But now I read one, and now I got one from the same author.
And I think they're too exciting for bedtime.
Yeah yeah, that'll happen.
Reading and reading and i'm like this is the like, this is not serving, like this is not doing what i wanted it to.
Oh, that's funny.
Now i want to find it's like but it's annoying, because i like to read exciting books.
That's what i want to read and that's the time that i have to read.
But then i'm like do i just need to choose things that aren't exciting?
But what's the fun in that?
I don't, I know.
Good question.
Oh my gosh.
You need to find some mildly interesting, but not too interesting.
Yeah, exactly.
You have to search for that on Google or whatever.
So this next one is, this is fun.
This is a really fun way to say something is boring, Lindsay.
Yeah, it's a snooze fest.
This is really fun.
First of all, the word snooze, Michelle, what does that mean?
That's a good one.
It's like to sleep.
Yeah, exactly.
I need to take a snooze or to snooze could be a verb, guys.
But now we're putting it, we're combining it with another word, which means what?
Fest.
Fest.
It's like a party.
Yeah, like a festival, right?
Or the word fiesta in Spanish or something like that.
So snooze fest is, what are you saying here?
A snooze fest.
I mean you're just saying something is really boring and like it makes you want to go to sleep, right.
Like it's a real snooze fest.
I love this.
I love it.
It shows so much personality, guys, when you use words like this, especially this one.
It's fantastic.
But this one is offensive.
Like you can't just like.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Be careful.
You know, this one has more personality than dry.
Like dry is like, oh, like this could be like it's a little bit dry.
Like to say it's a cruise fest, that's like much more extreme.
Like you would not want to say like, oh, hey, boss, that meeting was a real cruise fest.
Like you can't do that.
Yeah, or don't say like, oh, I had lunch with my in-laws and it was a real snooze fest.
Don't say that.
Don't say that.
Yeah, you got to be careful with this one.
You know, you want to use it with somebody you're comfortable with.
Maybe you can joke around with like that kind of a thing.
So what's an example of that, Lindsay?
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Okay, you didn't miss anything.
It was a total snooze fest.
Or we might say it was a real snooze fest.
A real snooze fest.
A total snooze.
Yeah, using those kinds of words.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And guys, before we introduce the next vocab word, we want to remind you that if you are listening today in the app that could be Android app or the iOS app you could actually save some of these words in your personal power list.
Right, Michelle?
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Guys, I go in there.
I pick the best ones for you that can be useful for your life.
Yeah, for sure.
All in one place.
Yeah, all in one place.
So, guys, go to allearsenglish.com slash app to get it.
Okay.
The next one, Michelle, is what?
Vanilla.
Vanilla.
Do you like vanilla ice cream?
No.
So I agree.
I think this is a great.
I think vanilla is a little bland.
Yeah, I know.
I've never been.
Dan likes the vanilla ice cream.
And I'm like, I don't get it.
Like, it's all about chocolate.
And I don't know.
Yeah, it really is chocolate with brownie pieces.
I had the best ice cream on Sunday.
Yes, yes, yes.
We stopped to get ice cream and it was like, oh, brownie, real brownie and chocolate ice cream.
The best, Michelle.
Yes.
I very much agree.
So yeah, vanilla, like that's a way to describe something that's like bland or boring.
So you can describe a thing like this or you can describe a person that way.
Of course, that wouldn't be very nice.
Right, right.
Or maybe even an event, right?
Yeah, or you could even describe someone's life right by saying their life is a little vanilla, right.
They don't like take any risks or do anything interesting.
But here's a sample sentence, Michelle.
He was cute, but his personality was kind of vanilla.
I need more excitement in my life.
Yeah, that's not good.
Yeah, that's not good.
So yeah, if you described you know a person as this, I would not be that.
I don't think they would be happy.
I know.
Well, maybe they think their life is not vanilla.
They don't think that hopefully.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
True.
True.
Yeah.
Be careful.
This could be a total insult if you're not careful if you say this directly to someone.
Right, Michelle?
Exactly.
Exactly.
Be careful with that one.
But it is a good one.
It is a good one.
It's a great one.
Yeah.
And I love this next one, too.
We have some great vocab today, Michelle.
Nothing to write home about.
Yeah, we mentioned this one on IELTS.
So I guess maybe we could leave a link.
But if not, just search this in the search bar.
Nothing to write home about.
Yeah, come back to our blog, guys.
There's a whole section just for the IELTS blogs.
And just type that in the search bar and you'll find it.
So do you use this one a lot, Michelle?
Yeah, I feel like I use this one a lot.
I mean, interesting.
I don't know.
I feel like it could be about an event or a movie or a book or maybe an experience or I don't know.
I wouldn't say it about a person because it would be mean, but I guess you could say.
Oh, wow.
I don't say it much because it feels long winded in a way, but I like it.
I think it sounds cool.
So I'm going to try to start using it.
I mean, what does that mean?
Like what?
Right home?
Right.
Why?
Let's dissect that a little bit.
I mean, I imagine someone just who's living away from home, and it's the experience you had.
Is not something you would tell your family back at home about.
You wouldn't put it in the letters that you want to tell the interesting things.
Yeah exactly, exactly.
So that's so okay.
So do we have some samples, sample sentences?
Here we go uh yeah, the movie was fine, but nothing to write home about.
And you said nothing, nothing to write home about, nothing to write home about.
And i didn't have to say like, but it was nothing to write home about.
I can also just say but nothing to write home about, Exactly.
So guys need to know what parts of speech can we really drop here.
Okay, so memorize the chunk.
Here's another one.
Don't worry about missing the meeting.
It was nothing to write home about.
Nothing really happened.
I'll give you the notes.
So that's longer.
More in a business context, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, I mean, these things, again, can be, of course, used in the business world.
Again, you want to be careful.
You might be... Like, it's possible maybe your team is talking about like... a like a project that you're working on and you're saying oh maybe that'll that's like a little bit vanilla let's come up with something more exciting you know there's like a lot of ways that this could be used in business but I think we just want to steer clear of like using it in a way that might insult someone yeah just to say directly that someone is vanilla that's really insulting yeah or just to say like i don't know if some you know we always have to think about how we give feedback and we've done episodes on that before like so you can use this in kind of similar ways um just like if but if you just say like oh yeah your presentation was nothing to write home about yeah that's don't say that Yeah, you want to have more constructive criticism.
Maybe say something specific that they could improve and encourage them.
I mean we could do other episodes Michelle, in the business space, about giving feedback on presentations, for sure.
I bet our listeners would love that, because we know you guys are really focused on your careers, right?
English in your career.
So we'll get there.
We'll get there for you guys.
Exactly.
So Michelle, do we have a role play for our listeners?
We do.
We do.
Okay.
Here, we are friends and you are really bummed because you missed a dinner.
Our group of friends went to.
Okay, here we go.
Oh, I'm so bummed I wasn't there.
Ah, don't worry about it.
It was fun, but it was nothing to write home about.
You'll catch the next one.
Did Jake practice his speech for the wedding?
Oh he did.
But you know, we all thought it was kind of vanilla, so we gave him ways to spice it up a bit.
Yeah, plus he can be a little dry when he gives speeches.
Yeah, he needs more practices, but more practice, but he'll be good.
Definitely.
Trust me.
I wish I could have been there.
My meeting was a total snooze fest.
Ah, I bet.
All right, Michelle.
So we're talking about some boring things here, boring things we heard and participated in, right?
So for example, you said, don't worry about it.
It was fun, but it was nothing to write home about.
And you said nothing again.
It was not, yeah.
And I could have said it was fun, but nothing to write home about.
I could have said that too.
So sometimes you can take that out.
Yeah, exactly.
What's next, Michelle?
What happened after that?
Well you asked about.
I guess one of our friends has to make a speech at a wedding and maybe like, oh for fun, he practiced this for us and-.
I said, oh, we all thought it was kind of vanilla, right?
So it's kind of bland, you know, a little bit boring.
Yeah, kind of boring.
And then I said, yeah, plus he can be a little bit dry when he gives speeches.
He can be a little boring.
In this case, we're not exactly talking about dry humor, right?
It's just dry, just boring, just straight up boring.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
And then you said, I wish I could have been there.
My meeting was a total snooze fest.
And you can say that to me because I'm your friend.
I have nothing to do with the meeting.
Like, you're not going to offend me.
You know, of course like, let's say, your phone was accidentally on and your, your boss, was on the other line and they heard you say that.
Now, that wouldn't be good.
So, of course, that would be good.
Hopefully that wouldn't help.
Hopefully you're more careful than that.
Yeah, we want to be careful.
Careful when it comes to what we.
I don't know what we present at work, the image that we present at work, for sure.
This is good stuff, Michelle.
I feel like we've got a lot of non-boring ways to say that we're bored.
That was the point.
So, yeah, this was fun.
I mean Lindsay.
The takeaway for today, I guess, is you know, no one likes being told they're boring or that an event is boring.
But in a way, it can be a connection skill, like especially for giving feedback in a nice way.
And we really need to kind of make our connection. vocabulary, make sure that it's not boring.
So even if we're talking about not boring things, we don't have to be boring in our vocabulary.
So we gave you a lot of different ways to say things are boring.
Exactly.
I mean, if you're taking the IELTS exam, you don't want to use the same words over and over again.
Words like boring, you need other ways to say things on that exam too, guys.
So go ahead and go and get the app.
Go to allersenglish.com slash app, A-P-P, to save these words today, Michelle.
What a cool group of vocabulary words for today's episode.
Yeah, this was fun.
It was not boring.
Not boring.
Not boring at all.
All right, Michelle, I'll talk to you soon.
Have a good one.
All right, you too.
Bye.
Bye.
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