This is an All-Ears English Podcast episode 2203.
You know what?
Let's learn how to introduce a surprise in English.
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Sometimes we say something that might surprise the listener today, get a native and natural
phrase to start off your surprise in English.
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Hey Michelle, what's going on today?
Hey Lindsay, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but I'm completely energetic.
Do you ever have that where you think, oh my gosh, I'm going to be so tired tomorrow
and then somehow a journal in just gets you through?
I do sometimes.
What if I do a red eye or I come back from a trip and then I don't sleep at all?
I feel great in the morning and then I usually have a crash around two or three in the afternoon.
Or the night.
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
You slept well last night?
Yes, I slept pretty well last night.
Feeling okay, is that true that you didn't sleep well last night?
Or is that just an example, Michelle?
It's just an example, but I'm trying to think if I did, my daughter woke up pretty early.
I wrote that probably knowing that in general, it would be true.
Young kids, I think a lot of our listeners can identify with you.
Having young children, it has to be tough in terms of your sleep.
I'm a parent, yeah.
Sure is, but no choice.
No choice.
What can you do?
Maybe our listeners picked up that we've been using a tiny little construction here,
a little phrase, and we're going to get into it today, Michelle.
But first, I want to make sure you guys know that this week we are launching our B2 fluency
course, Michelle, we worked hard on this course, this winter and spring.
What is the gist of the course?
I mean, it's all based on what?
It's based on, well, it's real interviews that we did with super interesting people.
And so this is not a manufactured course where we wrote scripts and then had actors on.
This is all real English.
This is, we basically did the interviews and then pulled out the important things from
the interviews that will help you guys with your fluency.
So it's got it.
Oh, natural, not rehearsed.
I got to interview a good friend of mine.
So he's in the course and it's just going to be super useful for you.
You're going to learn how to talk like a native speaker, really.
Exactly.
All of our courses are that way.
We don't manufacture the language.
Yeah.
And said we interview, we get the language from native speakers.
We talk with them and then we show you the real English.
So guys, keep your eyes open.
Make sure you're on our email list or listen on this podcast.
I'm sure we'll have a bonus episode this week letting you know about this course, but
you will want to get into that B2 fluency course.
Good stuff.
Let's get into it a little deeper today.
Where are we getting into?
What is this expression?
So this is, you know what?
Even since I planned this episode, I noticed myself saying this.
Oh, do you think you say this, Lindsay?
I think I do.
Yeah.
This is very frequent.
I think in my speech as well.
For sure.
Yeah.
And now you're going to notice it, especially after the episode.
But what does that mean when you say, you know what?
It's kind of broad, right, the way it's used, but it's introducing something, it's drawing
attention to what you're about to say.
Maybe it's when something is kind of interesting or kind of surprising.
We basically use it as kind of an opener, a marker that says I'm about to say something
that might be surprising, that might be interesting, that might be contradictory to what you think.
Right.
Yeah.
And I was thinking back on this because I think sometimes when my son asks me for something
and I don't know what to say or I don't know, I don't know how to, I don't want to answer
in a way that he won't like.
I know that in the past I would go, you know what?
And then just not saying anything.
Oh my God.
That's what we're.
Which is not normally how it's used right normally.
You have to say something afterwards, but I would just say, you know what?
And then just got nothing, nothing like.
And then he's waiting for it.
And that's hilarious.
I love that.
But that's not usually how it's used exactly.
Hey, once you get to really high levels of English like Michelle, you can experiment.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Sorry, buddy.
But let's do some examples of how it would be.
So what's the first one?
Some role praise.
Here we go.
So what?
I agree with you.
We should take a trip this spring.
Oh, amazing.
Yeah.
So, so generally this is taken out of a larger conversation where there would have been
some probably would have been something before, right, Michelle?
Or is it just out of the blue?
Like I'm starting the conversation with that.
Could be two.
I guess.
It could be.
It could be.
It, it really depends.
It's a very versatile.
It's versatile.
It's versatile.
Wow.
Yeah.
So let's do a couple other examples.
And we'll talk through them.
I don't think we should go there until later.
The traffic will be horrible.
You know what?
You're right.
Let's leave in an hour.
Okay.
Okay.
So what would be the difference if I had just said, you're right.
Let's leave in an hour.
Here it's just adding a little something and it's saying almost maybe I'd be surprised
that you're agreeing with me.
Maybe you're.
Maybe you're not known for wanting to leave later.
Maybe you don't normally trust my decisions about traffic or something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's showing that, you know, what comes after, you know, what is might be surprising to
hear for the listener, for the other person after I write.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it can also show frustration.
Let's show how this would work.
I'm not leaving until I get my money back.
You know what?
I think you need to let this go.
Oh, hard to hear that, right?
Right.
Right.
So again, if I'm all digging into my anger and you're you you say, you know what?
XYZ.
It's like you're introducing something that I might not like to hear.
Right?
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
So and again, you don't have to add this.
I could have just said, I think you need to let this go.
But it adds something, it signals that something is about to happen with what you say.
It's not just a random thing you're saying.
You're almost you're kind of connecting it to the rest of the conversation.
Yeah.
It kind of makes the conversation a little more cohesive.
So connecting it to the rest of the conversation, exactly Michelle.
It just makes it a more together conversation where you're really in sync with the other
person.
There's more signals between you in a sense.
Right?
So I know you've got a lot going on.
But remember, I'm here for you.
So bother me when no one's listening because I will bother me when it feels like it won't
get better because it can bother me because you're never a bother.
Whether it's a low point or a crisis, get out for yourself or a friend, learn more at
neverabother.org or call or text 988 available 24 seven.
Okay, Michelle.
What else do we need to know here?
Where do we go?
Okay.
So, right.
So it can be used in many ways as we said.
It can also be used like in the beginning of the episode, how we said, I'm not sleeping well.
You know what?
It can be an introduction.
Yeah.
So for example, I thought it'd be late, but you know what?
The train was arriving right as I got to the platform.
So a surprise here.
And that's a surprise just within your own conversation or to whoever you're talking
to.
You know what?
And then the next piece is going to surprise you.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
And then Lindsay, we got one more example here.
All right.
So the pizza is kind of cold, but you know what?
I actually love cold pizza, so it's okay.
Oh, I hate cold pizza.
I was going to ask you.
That was my question.
Oh, no.
That is my line.
I cannot do.
I can't be pizza for breakfast or cold pizza for breakfast.
I mean, it's not as cold pizza in general.
What about you?
What are your thoughts on those things?
I'm kind of neutral.
It could be okay in some situations, but I'd prefer not.
But I do know, like you said, cold pizza for breakfast.
Some people do have some people do that.
Maybe leftover pizza just from the fridge for breakfast.
Not you're not trying to.
I tried it once in college, and I think I got sick.
It's just like, yeah, just I need pizza to be hot and eat it lunch or dinner, not breakfast.
No, it's too much.
I couldn't do breakfast either.
I couldn't do breakfast either.
But yeah, so here you're saying, oh, it's kind of surprising.
The pizza is cold, but I actually like it.
So there you go.
Yeah, so as we go through these examples, the overarching, the main way it's used is
really to present a little bit of a surprise or a contradictory idea after, you know what?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So let's go through a couple other ways that you could say this kind of thing.
The first one is, what do you know?
Yeah, what do you know?
Again, what are you showing us a surprise?
And what do you know?
He showed up on time, right?
Right or what?
Right.
Or what's the next one, Michelle?
Would you believe it?
Yeah.
Okay.
So any examples here?
So you could use?
Well, I just thought that we could show how they were used in some of the examples we
already did.
So for example, you could say, I thought I'd be late, but what do you know?
The train was arriving right as I got to the platform.
So that would sound, Lindsey, do you think there's any real difference there?
Or I want to know, how would you spell what do you know?
Good question.
It's not so essential.
It's what's to you know.
Right.
It is, that is where it comes from, right?
What do you know?
Meaning could you ever have guessed it, right?
That's what, right?
But the way we actually spell this guys and you should be getting the transcripts on our
iOS Android app, what do you know is WHADD, AYA?
What do you know?
What do you know?
What do you know?
Could you believe it?
Would you have known it is really what we're saying?
Which is similar to, you know, what?
And indicating us surprise.
Who would have thought that?
Right?
Exactly.
The last one is though, what do you believe it so you could say?
And that example, the pizza is kind of cold, but would you believe it?
I actually love pizza.
So it's okay.
Cold pizza.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think those two totally work.
They both feel a little, especially would you believe it?
Well, both of them kind of feel a little older, something my dad might say, older generation
talk.
I'm not sure if you agree with that or not.
But you know what feels more modern and across all generations.
I think.
Yeah.
I agree with that.
I think you know what is just the easiest one to throw out in every situation.
I would say the next one in line that I use probably would be what do you know?
Just because it's kind of fun.
I would know.
Yeah, but in a playful way.
Yeah, it's fun.
It's friendly.
It's human.
So let's do a role play now that we've shown our listeners a couple of other ways to use
it.
So here we are.
Sisters talking about a family event.
Okay.
You ready?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Oh, I don't get why we couldn't just have dad's birthday next weekend.
You know what?
I'm a little tired of your complaining.
What's the big deal?
Well, you know what?
Oh, let me start again.
You know what?
You know what?
You're right.
I'm sorry.
I know this schedule can be hard.
I thought I'd have a conflict, but would you believe it?
My work event got canceled again.
Again.
Okay.
So we didn't use what do you know?
But we wanted to use a couple different ways of, you know, what you're here.
Yeah.
Now, this is interesting, right?
The context of each of these, you know, what's your first one?
You are coming at me with a little bit of it like, hey, stop complaining.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm a little frustrated with you.
I'm a little exasperated.
I'm kind of done with you.
Yeah.
You're done.
You're done.
And that's why it makes sense there because there might be a little bit of a surprise
coming after, you know what?
I'm tired of your complaining.
That might be a little bit of a surprise to me that you're saying that, right?
Right.
Right.
And then you, I said, what's the big deal?
And you said, you know what?
Right.
I'm sorry.
So this is interesting.
Now, it is interesting because the first one is used as an introduction to being frustrated
or, you know, starting a little bit of a conflict.
Yeah.
But how you use it is actually calming down the situation.
You know what?
And it sounds maybe what's going to happen?
Are you going to escalate it?
But you said, you're right.
I'm sorry.
Right.
And I suppose I could have gone the other way too.
You know what? You need to lay off, right?
Yeah.
Something like that.
I might have come back at you with an attack, right?
Right.
Right.
And it would still be appropriate to use, you know what?
I think just the, you know what?
Indicates in a front, a little bit of an upfront in the second case.
And in the first case, it indicates I'm going to agree with you.
So I guess both are a little surprising.
I don't know.
I'm trying to link this to the surprise that comes after, you know what?
It's sort of hard to explain, Michelle.
It is.
But in general, I would say when you're starting to experiment with doing this, use it for
introducing something a little bit surprising.
That's what I would say.
Let's start out with that one and see how it goes.
It doesn't have to be the biggest surprise in the world, right?
Yeah.
That I just want to clarify that because a surprise doesn't always have to be, oh, there's a surprise
party.
You're, guess what?
I'm moving to London.
It just, it can just be something like, oh, you know what?
I turned out, I love cold pizza.
Yeah.
Something like that.
Yeah, I like that.
I start out with something that is clearly a surprise and then listen for it, hear how
Dave's speakers use it, try to bring it into more situations.
And then we had our alternate here, which was, I know the schedule can be hard.
I thought I'd have a conflict, but would you believe it?
My work event got canceled again.
So am I being a little sarcastic here because it always gets canceled?
Am I saying, you know, no one would have known?
Yeah, I don't know about sarcastic, but you're just saying it always gets canceled.
Maybe a little bit irritated or, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Got it.
All right.
Any final thoughts here, Michelle?
I mean, definitely I want to remind our listeners before we hop off the mic again, guys.
B2 fluency.
Open this week.
Keep your eyes open for the special offer.
It will only be a short term special offer.
So it will go away.
So you know, listen in the podcast for our announcements for our email list and all
that good stuff.
So you can get in.
And Michelle, where do we leave our listeners with this idea of how to say this?
You know what?
What do we think?
Okay.
Well, this is just a great introduction.
Then you are going to say something a little bit surprising or you, like Lindsay's head
maybe in front.
But it's good.
Just a good signal for the listener.
Now that we've done this episode, you're probably going to hear it out loud.
So pay attention to how you hear it.
It's very natural.
It kind of rolls off the tongue.
It does.
It's right.
And let us know how it goes.
All right.
You know what, Michelle?
I think it's time to hop off the mic.
Shall we take a look at that too?
All right.
Love, bye.
All right.
Take care, bye.
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See you next time.
So I know you've got a lot going on.
But remember, I'm here for you.
So bother me when no one's listening because I will.
Bother me when it feels like it won't get better because it can.
Bother me because you're never a bother.
Whether it's a low point or a crisis, get out for yourself or a friend.
One more at neverabother.org or call or text 988 available 24-7.
