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This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2108.
How to add nuance to your opinions in English.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast. podcast downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.
With your American hosts, Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglishcom.
Forward slash subscribe.
As human beings, we don't always feel 100% sure about things.
We have mixed feelings and we need a way to communicate that in English.
Today, get a simple phrase that does exactly that and allows for more connection in your relationships.
How's it going?
It's going great, Michelle.
How's everything with you?
Good.
Yeah, everything's good.
I mean, I feel like this is a great time of year in a way.
I mean, it's early December, you know, things are cold, but not necessarily too cold.
There's some, you know, it's just it's a great time of year.
Also, the holidays coming up.
So in a way, it's just a great time of year.
It's a it's a magical time of year between Christmas and New Year's.
Not a lot of work gets done at work, but because we're always, we're going at holiday parties where we're decorating our homes for the holidays.
It's kind of magical.
I think.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
So guys, I don't know if you heard we were using this expression in a way and we are going to answer a listener question.
Great question about, I don't even know if you would call it an expression.
It's just kind of a, like just a pattern, like a saying something in there.
It's just, yeah.
Right.
It's just in there.
So yeah, that's what we are going to get to today.
So I'm excited.
But before we read the question, guys, we've been doing something.
I'm really having fun with this because it's another way to interact with our amazing listeners, Lindsay.
So on Spotify, if you are listening on Spotify, we have these great key polls that we are doing.
And so we've been doing the poll, asking a question and letting you guys actually respond through the Spotify app.
I love it.
Yes, then we read the results.
So we've done things like uh, do you eat dessert every day?
Lots of different kinds of things so, but i'm not going to tell you what the poll is yet for today.
Listen till the end.
Um, on spotify, you can get this poll and at the end we'll reveal what it is and then you can have your voice heard.
You will uh, respond to the poll and then in a future episode, you can hear the results.
It gives us kind of a.
It's a way to keep our uh what is it?
Our finger on the pulse of our listeners.
Yeah, and just to get to know you guys, we want to know about your life, your world, your opinions on things.
Yeah, it's just fun.
Yeah, just get ready to participate.
Spotify also has a way now where you can also ask your question.
For every single episode, there's an opportunity for you to actually ask us a question, and we go in there every week and we grab those questions.
So we will read your question.
But today's question Michelle, did not come from Spotify.
It was just a nice little email that we got from a listener.
I think it's from Apple Podcasts, actually.
Oh, you're right.
It's from Apple Podcasts.
This is a listener in the app.
You can get the app at allearsenglish.com app.
And let's read the question.
Would you like to read the question today, Michelle?
Would you help us out here?
Okay.
I would love to.
Okay, here we go.
Question.
Hello.
I'm Shiori, she, her, originally from Japan, but I currently live in New York.
OK, so this is my neighbor.
I've been listening to your podcast.
I've listened to your podcast since before I moved to New York and it's super helpful to improve my English skills.
I recommend this podcast to all my Japanese friends around me and everyone loves it.
That's so great.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
So she says, I have a question about using the idiom in a way.
I've heard it many times within your conversations.
For example, and I love that she already has an actual example here from the episode 2052.
It says this is kind of like very in fashion in a way, because of this moment we're living in the world.
OK, so that's how it was used.
It says I looked up.
It looked us up in several.
It sounds like me because I said like, OK.
Sounds like me.
I don't know for sure, but.
Our listeners know best.
Yeah, I looked up this up in several dictionaries but I can't seem to get the nuances of these words.
Would you please explain how and when to put this in your sentences naturally?
Thank you in advance.
Love you, Shiori from the United States.
We love you too.
Yeah, we love you, Shiori.
This is amazing.
I love that our listeners are based all over the world.
It's really cool when we hear from our listeners in the US, who are clearly using English every single day and they're taking what they're learning here, putting it right into action.
It's so inspiring.
And for connection, I hope they're connecting.
That's what we want for you guys is connection.
Absolutely.
So...
Um well guys, if you want to hear that example, you could go ahead and listen to episode 20 52.
But also uh, we have a great episode recently was 20 91 was trust your brain for better language learning with Steve Kaufman.
So definitely check out that one.
If you haven't already.
Yeah.
Steve Kaufman is a polyglot.
Now I can't remember how many languages he's learned, but I think it's more than 10.
You'll know on that episode if you do listen.
Guys, go back, scroll back in your list and And listen to that episode, because that is a great way to learn about how to learn is by listening to polyglots and what they do, because obviously it's working what they're doing.
Yes.
Yes.
Incredible.
That is incredible to me.
So let's look at that example she already gave from the show.
So it says this is I can't even say it just because it's the like this is kind of.
I'm going to say this is kind of very in fashion, in a way, because of this moment we're living in the world.
So I don't know exactly what we're talking about, but we can still take a lot from in a way.
Lindsay, what does this what does that mean to you?
Right.
So I don't see this as a filler so much.
I see this as a useful phrase.
Right.
It means in a sense, it's very native and natural.
And maybe you're not going to use it in a job interview, a presentation interview, but in everyday life, 90 of the time, you are going to use it because it just means, in one sense okay right, and she already did say that she's heard it many times on the show.
So this is not, this is you know.
That's what prompted her to ask the question.
She's yeah, you hear something enough and you know it's important.
You realize that it is an important one True, true.
So, all right, Michelle, let's get into it a bit deeper.
What would be another, what does the dictionary have to say?
I was able to find a dictionary definition and there were multiple definitions, but the one I want to focus on most is, in some respects,
So this is the one that I felt like was closest to how it's used.
So we're going to really focus on this a little bit today, although there are other ways to use it.
So Um, this example that we that you know was from the show.
It's basically saying something uh, somehow this is very in fashion.
Um, but let's do some more examples.
What's another one, Lindsay?
Okay.
She looks like her mother in a way, but mostly she resembles her father.
So what we're saying here is there's part of her.
There's one in one sense.
She looks like her mother, maybe her nose, but maybe her eyes resemble her father, something like that.
Yeah, exactly.
So this is a good way to use it.
Lindsay, who do you look like?
I have that exact same situation.
I look like my mom.
I'm told I look like my mom, but that I have my dad's eyes.
So we're always just a mishmash of both our parents and sometimes our grandparents.
Right.
It's really interesting.
I think my niece actually looks more like my dad or grandfather than either of her parents.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pretty funny.
Yeah.
I am a replica of my mother.
Oh, I've never seen your mom.
That's so funny.
I'll have to send you a picture.
Yeah, everyone right away.
It's always, you know, oh, you guys are twins.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, I've had one person tell me I look like my dad.
I think as time goes on, I can see my dad a little bit more than I used to.
And here's the other thing is my brother.
Everybody says he looks exactly like your dad, but I don't see it.
It's always hard when you're in the family.
Yeah, it is hard.
I i've heard the same thing about my brother looking like my dad too, and i also don't.
I don't see that as much.
Yeah, because you're too close in it like i, i know i look that.
I will say, i know i look like my mom, because everybody tells me i don't feel it as much.
But yeah, there are times when i see um, like when i see a picture of my mom from when she was younger and i think it's me.
Oh my gosh.
It's just like quickly if I'm quickly glancing.
So, oh my gosh.
Yeah.
When I was just at home with my parents, we were cleaning up some photo albums and I was looking through my dad's childhood photos and I saw a photo of my aunt, his sister um, from like I don't know, 1965.
And I looked at it.
I was like, that is exactly what I looked like as a teenager.
It was like a spitting image, spitting image, good bonus for today.
Um, I think this is we've got to do a bonus on like a whole episode episode about this, like saying that you just look exactly like someone.
Yeah, that'd be a great one.
But we'll come back to it.
But yeah, so yeah, in a way, you know, we look like, we tend to look like both our parents in a way, but one is usually more prominent, right?
And it can change throughout our lives, too.
Right, right.
So in a way that means that like there's a quality like, so she looks like her mother in a way, but she mostly resembles her father.
So using in a way, it kind of made that first part of the sentence a little weaker, I think.
Like she looks like her mother somehow, but... Yes, I would say that.
Yeah.
She looks like her in a way.
I love the expression in some respects.
I think that is a way you could take this and put it into the business world, but maybe we'll talk about it a little bit later.
Let's keep going here, Michelle.
What's next?
Okay.
So...
Let's just say if you didn't say in a way, like let's just take a look at the sentence without it.
So she looks like her mother, but she mostly resembles her father instead of in a way.
So I don't know.
Does this feel different to you?
She looks like her mother, but she mostly... Well, it's kind of confusing.
Yeah, right.
Because the first one is a little too strong, I think.
Yeah, it's too strong.
Because are you saying she actually looks more like her mother or more like her father?
I'm not exactly sure.
If you don't add a little qualifier there after she looks like her mother, in a way...
But she mostly looks like her father, yeah.
Yeah, so that's the thing is it's interesting.
Just these three words that seem like kind of a nothing, they actually can impact the meaning.
They can help make something more clear.
Yeah, they're not fillers.
It's not like the use of like, right?
Sometimes like is just a filler.
Although we have done an episode, we interviewed a linguist on how like actually has clear usages.
You guys can go back and find that one.
I don't remember which episode it was.
It was an interview Aubrey did with a linguist, but anyways um, getting off track here no, that's okay.
Um, another example could be uh, he was bored in his.
He was bored of his job in a way, but some of it was still exciting to him.
So, in a sense, he was bored of his job in a sense.
In some respects, maybe some parts of his job were boring, but some of it was still interesting, or most of it was still interesting.
Right yeah, yeah.
And you don't need to use, in a way, just at the end of like a phrase you can like what's another way you could do it, Lindsay.
You could do it at the beginning.
Yeah, you could say, in a way, she was ready to leave, but it was still so hard to say goodbye.
And I like how we are giving some space here.
We're breaking up our sentences.
In a way, she was ready to leave.
Yes.
But it was still so hard to say goodbye.
Yeah.
Nice.
Clear.
Yeah.
So it kind of takes the edge off, right?
I mean you could also say in some ways, if it's more than one way yeah um, you could say in some ways, she was ready to leave.
That's, that's fine as well.
Yeah, take the edge off.
So it do.
You mean it kind of softens it like, it kind of reduces what you've just said, the prominence of what you've just said yeah, a little bit, because if i if, i just if, if it just said, If I just said she was ready to leave, but it was still so hard to say goodbye.
I think that sounds like, oh, she was, you know, it just sounds a little bit stronger.
And that's fine, too.
But this kind of just like it softens it a little bit.
Yeah, I like it.
So there's a few other things we could say, and we've said a few of them, but we're going to add a couple new ones here Michelle, like somehow, somehow would mean the same thing.
Is that right?
Yeah.
I mean, not maybe not always.
But in this example, he reminds me of my friend somehow.
You could say, you know, I can't put my finger on it.
Like he reminds me of my friend somehow.
Or you could say, in a way, he reminds me of my friend.
We should do another episode on somehow.
I find that really interesting because I don't think it comes up much in textbooks for our listeners.
But I think there's a lot of ways to somehow could be used.
So guys hit, follow right now so you get that episode somewhere in the future.
In some respects is another right we talked about.
Yeah, so i feel like, like lindsey, what you said, i feel this is a little bit more formal, maybe better for the business world, but you could say it.
Um, in some respects i think it's time to move on, but i still want to keep my foot in the door.
Yeah, so that's true.
So that's great.
So that could be used in a.
It could be used in a job interview, of presentation, a meeting.
This just elevates, in a way, to a more professional way of saying it.
Yeah yeah yeah definitely, what else?
Lindsay, in a sense.
So she was really popular in a sense because of her ability to make others laugh, right.
So maybe other aspects of her personality weren't what made her popular.
It was just the fat or maybe.
So what does this mean?
Michelle, explain what?
Yeah yeah yeah, yeah.
Well, i think it.
I think it could change depending on the context but um, it just say it's just kind of saying, like one of the ways she was popular um yeah well, it's like she was a certain, a little bit of a certain kind.
Yes yeah so okay, here's what i'm thinking.
Uh, when i was in school, like high school um, there were the cool kids who were like traditional popular right uh, like they had boyfriends and they dressed cool, all this stuff.
Everyone knew who the cool kids were.
But then there was also, like some of my friends, who were really popular, really well liked, but not cool kids, because they were athletes and they did well in school and they were just good kids.
Everyone liked yeah, yeah.
So that could be what it is.
She was really popular in a sense, but Right,
So maybe not traditional popular, but just kind of niche popular.
Right.
Her own kind of popular.
Own kind of popular.
I love it.
OK, awesome.
Yeah, I think that that that explains it.
So, yeah, I mean, in general, I think that this shows that there is maybe more to the story.
It opens the door to potentially explain more or it can be a little mysterious.
But the idea is that I think it's a little less direct than just taking the thing, the whole statement, and it can change the meaning.
Yeah, it's a little bit of a pullback.
It's like you say the thing, but then you're pulling back on it.
You're like reducing what you've just said.
Right.
So it may seem like a filler.
Sorry, go ahead.
No, no, no.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
I was going to say no, it may seem like a filler, but it's actually so much more.
Yeah like, for example, you say oh, this neighborhood is really popular in a way, but the crime rates are really high, are still really high, for example, we're talking about like a gentrifying neighborhood right, so right, it's not mainstream popular, but it has a coolness to it, right yeah?
Yes, that's another example, and so now we're going to get into some more examples in a role play in just a minute here Michelle yeah OK, let's make this super crystal clear for our listeners.
Michelle, here we go.
What are we doing here in this role play situation?
Well, in this role play, I am moving to L.A.
I'm not really, but we're friends talking about it.
I like it.
Yes.
No, no.
Cool.
Cool.
Sunshine.
So are you excited?
In a way, I really loved L.A.
I think you'll like it.
Yeah, I'm excited in some respect, but there's so much I will miss about New York.
I get it.
LA is like New York in a sense.
No way.
Well, the entertainment aspect.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, they remind me of each other somehow.
I'll let you know when I get there.
Yeah, I'm really trying for that, but it's not true.
They're nothing like each other.
These two cities, they couldn't be more different.
And the person that loves LA is the person that hates New York and vice versa.
Generally, it's what I've found.
Unless you're a super dynamic person and then you you know, you just like everything.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
So yeah, we use these.
So let's, let's go through it.
So you said, so are you excited?
And I said, in a way, so I didn't, like, you can use it by itself like this.
You're like oh, it's like saying yeah, like in a way.
But what I'm not saying is there's a lot I'm not excited about.
So I'm glad we're highlighting this use of this in this role play.
Cause we didn't really talk about it as much earlier guys, but it's another way you can say it in isolation.
And with a talk combined with that tone of voice, I can see that there's some doubt.
Right.
Yeah.
In a way.
Right.
Yep.
Yep.
And I said, Oh, I really loved LA.
I think you'll like it.
And then you said, yeah, I'm excited in some respects.
So there's your qual other qualifier, the pullback and, okay, pulling back a little bit.
I'm excited in some respects.
Yeah.
In some ways, like about some things.
Right.
Maybe I'm, yeah, there are certain things I'm looking forward to.
Yeah.
Like, maybe you're looking forward to the fact that la, every single day of the year it's exactly 73 degrees and sunny, like it never changes, it's perfect.
Yeah, that's what i would look.
Look forward to that.
But then there are a lot of things you're maybe not so excited about the traffic, the climate change, and goes on and on and on.
So, all right, and then i said, i get it, la is like new york in a sense, which I don't agree with.
I know I was writing that and I'm thinking, I don't know.
Well, let me, let me see what I can do here.
So yeah, in a sense, in a way.
And then I, I'm, I basically call you out on it and you're trying to convince me.
And I don't tell him like, I really believe you.
I say, that's true.
And then you just say, yeah, they remind me of each other somehow.
Still not convinced, right?
Yeah, even you, you're trying, but not sure.
Not sure.
Yeah.
I mean, I could see both cities for what they are and they have amazing things.
Both of them do, but personally, I'm more of a New York person.
I think you might be too, Michelle.
Oh, I definitely am.
I love New York.
Yeah.
Actually, I think we should change up the poll.
I think we should actually have our poll.
I was thinking the same thing.
Michelle, we are so in sync here.
All right.
Why don't you go ahead and announce our poll for today?
We want to know what you guys think.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
What is our poll?
I would say, I'm going to phrase it like this.
Where would you prefer to live?
New york or la love that?
This is going to be a really interesting sense, because they couldn't be more different.
New york city is a walking culture, it's busy, it's a heavy like achiever career culture.
Uh, what else is new york, michelle?
It's very condensed.
Um yeah, high rises everywhere.
What else would you say to describe new york city?
Oh, it's just so diverse and um, but it just gritty, but in a fun way, like urban, very urban.
And then LA.
On the other hand, completely opposite side of the country, opposite coast, is also extremely diverse, which is amazing.
LA is, the food is amazing because it is so diverse.
It's a much more suburban sprawl feeling.
So, instead of high rises, you see more like houses with like AUDs, like additional units in the back right.
That kind of thing.
It's sunny all the time.
It's really a performance Hollywood culture, right?
Everyone's there because they're in the industry trying to get famous.
That is Hollywood. right?
That is LA.
And so we want to know, are you a New Yorker or an LA person?
Where would you want to live?
Where would you rather live?
And I know that we have listeners in both cities, which is so exciting.
Yes.
Yeah.
All right, Michelle, what's our takeaway for today?
Oh my gosh.
Well, this was a lot of fun.
So I mean, this is used to tell more of the story.
We've talked about it as You know how it may seem like a filler, but it actually isn't.
It really gives some information.
We've talked about family, who we look like.
We've talked about cities.
It's just talking about in some respect.
And it's a good way to.
It's a good way to show how you feel, without necessarily saying everything.
Well, it's a great way.
It's one of the most realistic things, because life is nuanced.
I mean, i rarely feel a hundred percent one way, or a hundred percent yeah, the other way.
Right, michelle?
That's true.
As human beings, we have nuance, we have mixed feelings, we are have different things that pull us in different directions.
So we must be able to communicate that we have mixed feelings about something.
We're not 100 sure about something, but we can use this as a way to show that, to connect.
Yeah, i think that that is the best takeaway of all.
Very well said, Lindsay.
Thank you.
And thank you to Shiori for this question.
This was a great one.
And guys, remember to answer that poll on Spotify.
I'm so excited to see the results.
I'm actually really excited about this.
We'll announce the results soon and you have a good day.
I'll talk to you soon.
All right.
Bye, Lindsay.
Bye, guys.
Bye.
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