This is an all-ears Englishpodcast, episode2226.
Wonder versus wonder inEnglish.
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[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ What gives you a sense of wonder when you wander around a new city ortown?
Today, we answer a listener question about the difference between these two words and how to make sure you articulate them correctly inEnglish.
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[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪Hey,Lindsay, do you havewanderlust?
Do I havewanderlust?Well, these days less than I did when I was25, I will saythat.
But ofcourse, I love totravel.
And I think my wanderlust builds when I'mtraveling.
So when I'mtraveling, I always tend to think about my nexttrip.
So it'slike, what'sthat?
Like a body and motion stays inmotion.
Yeah,exactly.Yep,yeah.
Kind of thing when you're out there seeing theworld, you want to keep seeing theworld.
Yeah,sure.Yeah,exactly.
Sotoday, we are going to answer a listener question that will lead to some funconversations.
So I'm excited for thisone.
Butguys,yeah,wanderlust, if you aren't sure what thatmeans, that means you are craving just going around theworld.
Do you want to seemore? You don't want to be in the sameplace.
You want tomove. You want totravel.
Soyeah. Oh mygosh.Yeah.
Forsure. What aboutyou,Michelle?
Do you have this right now at the moment or is it stronger or weaker than other times in yourlife?
I have a lot going on in my life right now that very much keeps my headthere.
So Ido. I would say ingeneral, I'm always in a state ofwanderlust.
But I would say I haven't had as much time to think about itlately.
But probably in the next fewmonths, Iwill.
Forexample, we don't have time to take a vacation this summer or not sure when we'll be taking our next vacation because there's a lot going on in myfamily.
Butyeah. So I'm going to be feelingit.
Yeah. That drive to explore it's such a natural humanthing,right?
We just want toexplore.
Yeah. But there was another episode that our listeners should probably checkout,right?
Yeah. This was a funone.
Yeah. This was theepisode.
22,09. This was a fun one toplan.
Itwas, was that on your bingocard?
Two unpredictable Englishexpressions.
We likethat. We love the unpredictability of life and find out how to talk aboutit.
Right. If you go over that to thatepisode,guys, hit the follow button right now on this show and then go back and find that episode and listenin.
Today'sepisode,though,Michelle, is inspired by one of our amazinglisteners.
Right? Superexcited. We love it when we get to answer yourquestions,guys.
Yes. Wedo. So this question was from MarlaReign.
I'll readit. The questionis, can you talk about the difference between towonder?
Sorry. Towonder. I just said the wrong onefirst.
To wonder and to wonder and to wonder and how to pronouncethem.
Thanks so much for yourpodcast.
Greatquestion. Veryspecific.
Loveit.Yeah. And youknow, just as we stumbled overthat, just reading thequestion, you can tell our listeners know this is a highlevel, youknow, stumbling block that we can get our listeners throughtoday.
So wonder andwonder. So it's a difference of just oneword, one letter in terms ofspelling,right,Michelle?
Right.Right.Exactly.
So this is sogreat. So let's start withwonder.
Okay. So how do you spellwonder?
Yeah, let's start with the spellingbecause,guys,obviously, if you use the iOS Androidapp, you will seethis, but if youdon't, you mightnot.
So we're spelling this first oneW-O-N-D-E-R.
Okay.Good. But it's pronouncedwonder, like the numberone, like onescreen.
Yeah.Right? This makes me thinkof, I hate to sayit, but I'vebeen, because I watched Sesame Streetsometimes, but I'm sure some of our listeners do as well with theirkids.
There's something theygo, Iwonder, whatif?
Let'stry. I think that's agood.
Oh, that's agreat.So, but on thatnote, so to Iwonder,right?
Uh-huh. So to wonder is to considersomething, to think aboutsomething.
So it's averb,right? The in thiscontext, it's averb.
So sometimes I wonder if I should have moved to a different city in my20s.
Whoa, do you ever have that feeling that you moved to the wrongcity?
Nah.No, I don'tknow.No, I don'tknow.
I have thatfeeling.No, I don'tknow.
That's why I'm glad I lived in NewYork.
You probably feelsimilar,Michelle.
Like, it's one of those places where if you ever had aninkling, you wanted tolive, and then you didn't doit.
Yeah. That would be aregret, a potentialregret, wondering what it would have beenlike.
Youknow? I'm definitely glad that I've spent a lot of time in New York andyeah, it's beengreat.
So,yeah, so to Iwonder,right?
Or what's anotherexample,Lindsay?
I wonder if we would get better results if we did wait twice a week rather thanonce.
And Imean, once aweek.Yeah, waitlifting.
Rightlifting,yep. Or then you could even use it to justsay, you were consideringsomething.
It, I don'tknow, I just gotstuck.
But itsays, forexample, I was wondering if we could move our party toThursday.
Yeah, this is a common phrase that people use when they want to invite someoneout, let'ssay, on a date or anevent.
I was wondering if you're free onFriday.
Yeah. I hada, it's kind ofstrange.
I had aone, our original contractor that made our website back in2014.
He always used thisphrase, but in a professionalway, and it always struck me asodd.
He wouldwrite, he'dsay, I was wondering if we could meet on Tuesday to fix thecode.
Or I was wondering if you want to add your photo here and add texthere.
It waslike, it was a common pattern forhim.
And it felt strange because I see that as more of a socialphrase, not so much aprofessional.
Just to say it somuch, sorepeatedly, it always struck me asodd.
That's thething, probably if you didonce, he wouldn't have thought ofit.
But because it wasrepeatedly, that's whathappens.
It also just makes methink, do you ever hear something andsay, justwondering,right?
Sure,sure,sure.Yeah, so that'ssometimes, ifyou, forexample, we could do a whole episode onthis, but if I ask you aquestion,like,oh, areyou, are you going on vacation inDecember?
And if yousaid,oh, I'm not really surewhy.
Justwondering. Justwondering.
Yeah,very, and a shouldershrug,right?
Justwondering,right?
We don't know the reasonwhy.
Butone, oh mygosh, I'm gettingthem.
Wonder,wonder,wonder, can also be anoun,right?
So according to thedictionary, so wonder is a feeling of surprise mingled withadmiration.
Soyeah, goahead.Sorry,Michelle, I didn't mean to cut youoff.
Keepgoing. Keepgoing.
Cosby is somethingbeautiful,unexpected, unfamiliar orinexplicable.
That's from thedictionary.
Sowhat,how, do you use it in this way aswell?
Yeah, it's important for our listeners to knowthat,yeah, this isdifferent.
It's spelled the sameway.
And I guess it's kind of in a way the same word kindof,right?
It's the sameidea, likewondering, but a sense ofwonder, I do use it alot.
Imean, I feel it alot.And, youknow, especially when I'm not so wrapped up in myhead, the sense of wonder can fill us at anymoment.
I can feel it when I'm walking my dog in the morning and the sun comes over thepark.
And I look at the grass or some dew on the grass and it's just absolutelybeautiful.
That's a sense ofwonder.
Right, it's great when you have thosemoments.
They're kind of very deep in away.
And itjust, it makes you feel a little bitrefreshed, Ithink.
I think I'm sure for you being amom, you have all thetime,probably,right?
And when you're not like pulling your hairout, trying to get the mouth to goout.
And then there's your first moment ofwonder.
Yeah.Yes,I,I,yes, wonder in all of the different ways that they couldbe.
Is a sense of wonder when I watch my kidswalk, youknow, like learning towalk,learning, learning to talk isamazing.
But then I also wonder how my son could just jump into a pile ofmud,right?
Right. That's all part of thewonder,Michelle.
Yeah, Igo, wonder in wonder lotsof,yeah, certainly lots of wondering inthe, the noun and theverb.
Yeah, that'samazing. Imean, even just having a child is such athing.
And I guess this is where the word wonderful comes fromtoo,right?
I never thought I got it thatway.
Butit's, but wonder if it was a little bit different because we've taken in a very positivedirection.
I feel like a sense of wonder gives you thislike,wow, justreverence.
Like,wow, I just can't believethis.
Like that you hadthis, you bird this child or you are seeing this sunset oryeah, it's really a cool thing about beingalive, youknow,absolutely.
Yeah. Allright. So let's get into thewonder.
Wonder.Okay. How do we spell thisone?
This isW-A-N-D-E-R. So only one letterdifferent.
We're switching the O for anA.
So, but this is pronouncedwander.
So similar like to the wordon.
So thatright. Onwander.
Yeah,important. Really important guys to differentiatehere.
Okay. Let's practice the pronunciation if we needto.
Let's make sure we get it right because it could get us into some trouble in terms of people just being confused if we don't pronounce themcorrectly.
Okay.Yeah. So to wander is basically to goaround.
You're movingaround, you're walking aroundmaybe.
And you don't necessarily have a specific destination that you have inmind.
So this is a verb in thisform.
So you couldsay,oh, I'm going to wander around the shops while you look forparking.
Yeah.Right. Just wanderaround.
Right. Or I love to wander around New York City on a beautiful springday.
Yes.Mm-hmm. And then I did find that the dictionary mentioned it could also be a nounform,right?
Like to have Awander. But I don't feel like I hear this asmuch.
I feel like it's used more so as averb.
Solike, but you couldsay, Imean, how does it sound toyou?
He took frequent wanders by thebeach.
He loved how peaceful itfelt.
Does thatsound?No, I think I have a feeling that mightbe, I don'tknow.
Our listeners have to check with a Britishteacher.
That might be a British English thing or an Aussie Englishthing.
That does not feel natural to me as an American Englishspeaker.
SoI,yeah, I would just leave that onebehind.
Yeah,yeah,yeah.So, do you ever just wander aimlessly inDenver?
Oh, I don't remember the lasttime.
I used to do this alot.Oh, myGod, in NewYork, when I first movedthere, my roommate andI, we had no money and we had nofriends.
And we hadno,no, we just had nothing todo.
And so every night we would take the train downto, we lived on East 88thStreet, 88th inLexington.
So we would take the train down to like EastVillage, wander around EastVillage, maybe get some really cheap falafel orsomething.
And then we wouldwander.
I guess it was less of aone, we'd wander around these villages and then we'd wanderuptown, we'd walk like 60 blocks up to88th.
And thatwas, I guess it wasn't exactly wandering though because we did have adestination, we were headed to 88thStreet.
I'm gonna say accounts aswander,okay.
Okay, you weren'tspecific, Imean,yes, you were goinghome, but Istill, I'm gonna call itwandering, let's seeit.
Okay. And first ofall, New Yorkis, I can't think of a better place to wanderaround.
Oh mygosh. This is wanderaround.
Imean, you just got one of my favorite things is youjust, you don't have to have anyplan.
Just walk outside and just see where the wind blowsyou, wander and you're gonna have a whole day ofit,really.
So you're gonna beentertained.
No matterwhat. It's really about thevibrancy, like the diversity of thecity, thecharacters, it just going on that yousee.
A lot ofthings.Yeah, it's justincredible.
That will be your entertainment for theevening, youknow.
Exactly. That's what I love aboutit.
But I also wanted to bring up guysrecently, while I guess a month or so ago before thisepisode, it was gonnaair, I mentioned on Instagram that this episode was going to comeout.
And I told you to make sure tofollow.
Who?Podcast.Nice. So that you know when this episode comesout.
So now that I'm sayingthat, I also wanted to let you know to follow our Instagram because sometimes we give little updatesthere.
Iknow.Yeah, we don't mention our Instagram alot.
Rightguys, we're on all thesocials,Instagram,TikTok, go and find us overthere.
You get to see videoupdates,right?
Multiple times aweek, you get to see ourteam, youknow, givingupdates, teaching you in a slightly different way than how you learn on the podcast and the YouTubechannels.
Yes.Exactly. Allright.
So, should we do a roleplay?
Yeah, let's get intoit.
I know our listeners love roleplays.
So thisis, is thischeesy, a little cheesyhere?
We'regonna, we're just playing around with some ofthese.
So you'll see what I'm inmy, butno, but here weare.
We are friends of vacationing together and we just checked into our hotel and we're about to start ourtrip.
Okay, here wego. Allright, ready togo?
Yeah,actually, I need about 10minutes.
Do you want to wait or should I meet yousomewhere?
I'll head downstairs and wander around thelobby.
Soundsgood. I wonder if there's any good coffee shopsnearby.
Hmm, I'll go on a wander andsee.
I am filled with so much wonder about this placealready.
Okay.Wow.Yes.Yes. Let'ssee, and I were laughing because I spelled the word meatwrong.
Yeah, youknow, you still like thefood.
Yeah,hey, look atthat.
Native speakers make mistakestoo.
Nothingwrong.Exactly.
So,perfection.Perfection.
Loveit.Right.So, what would we sayhere?
So this is a perfect example of when these words might beused.
Youknow, you check into the hoteland, youknow, somebody needs a little time torest.
Are you usually the rest or do youneed, if you check into ahotel, do you want to usually rest first or you kind of ready to go even if youtired?
Well, when I first check in when the trip is beginningbecause,yeah, that would come more like a day three or four after we've been really busy to start taking like a middaybreak.
Like when we went toCambodia, I needed a rest between like a morning activity just because it was so hot and sodusty, sohumid.
But the firstday, you're ready togo.
At least I amusually. And if you fly to Europe from the east coast or from theMidwest, youcan't.
But rest because you have to stay upall, you arrive in themorning, you have to stay up allnight.
You actually shouldn't take anap.
I've made themistake. Haveyou?
Yeah.Yeah, I've made themistakes.
Yeah. It's notgood.No,no,no.
It'shard. It's reallyhard.
Oh mygosh.Yes. InPortugal, when we were in Portugal lastfall, we made thatmistake.
I thinkwe,yeah, we didit.
We checked in and then we just went to sleep for like four or five hours and we wake up at sixp.m.
and now you're messed up for threedays.
Start theday. Totally messedup.
Yeah. Ohno. Allright,guys, that's a goodtip.
A good jet lagtip.Okay.
Sohere, what do wesay? So Isaid, I'll have downstairs and wander around thelobby.
Yep.Exactly. Wander around thelobby.
Verytypical,right? Maybe it's a nice fancyhotel.
There's a lot tosee. Get some water or thefancy, youknow, fruit water as they putout.
Yep.Yep. And then yousaid, Isaid, soundsgood.
I wonder if there's any good coffee shopsnearby.
That would definitely be my go-to also looking for a coffeeshop.
Yeah. Trendy coffeeshops.
And then I use this as anoun.
Soagain,guys, we talked aboutthis.
Doesn't necessarily happen thatfrequently.
Maybe it's not just not a part of AmericanEnglish, but I feel like you could saythis,oh, I'll go on a wander andsee.
Youknow, this is the part of the playfulness of thelanguage.
This is kind of similar to lately I've been hearingmore.
I'll have athink. I know that'sBritish.
I know thatI'm, Imean, you studied inLondon,Michelle, you probably could have tests like I know this comes from BritishEnglish, but I've heard it inserting itself more into AmericanEnglish.
I'll have a think on it and get back toyou, youknow.
Yeah. So I see that is this issimilar,right?
So you weresaying, I'll go on a wander to have a thing to go on awander.
Right. Similarconstruction.
Yeah. Sameidea.Yes.Exactly.
I justsaid, what was the lastone?
Isaid, I'm filled with so much wonder about this placealready,right?
Andyeah, this is the kind ofthing.
Yeah. When you'retraveling, you're more likelyto, to your primed for thistoo,right?
You're looking forit.Yeah.
What would you say is themost, I don't want to saywonderful, because the meeting is a littledifferent,right?
But what is the likescene, the location that you found the most wonder in when you'vetraveled?
Like is there one place through yourtravels,Michelle, that you were just sitting in a set with a sense ofwonder?
I'm going to go ahead and sayJapan.
Yeah.Yeah. Ijust, because Iremember,so, so Dan and I had a joke becausewe, we were so inawe,right?
Which is another goodword.
Yeah. Walking aroundTokyo.
Imean, walking around everywhere inJapan, all the cities wevisited, but I remember specifically walking around Tokyo and weboth,guys, we're on YouTubenow.
So if you're onYouTube, you cansee, like wewould, we would just kind of be shaking our heads because we were in just in wonder of how amazing everythingwas.
Andso, but we were joking that because we kept on shaking ourheads, maybe it looked like we werelike,no,no, not thisplace.
So we don't likeit. We're just like walking around shaking ourheads.
So,yeah.So, but I wouldsay, I would say Japanfirst, but pretty easyanswer.
What aboutyou? Forme, it's probably Egypt because that's the oldest place I'vebeen.
Imean, just being in front of some of those incrediblestructures, the Valley of theKings, thepyramids, just outsideKyra.
I was just thinking about how old they are wasunbelievable.
This way travel makes you feelsmall.
Youknow, it's good forus,right?
It's sitting in that sense ofwonder.
I'm getting wanderlust just having thisconversation.
You're gettingwanderlust.
Interesting.Yeah. So look atthis.
We're throwing in thesewords, mixing them back andforth.
Guys, get the transcripts fromtoday.
You can get them on the iOS or Androidapps.
You make sure you see each time we use thesewords, which one were we actuallyusing?
Right? Go to allersenglish.com slash app to getthat.
Allright.Michelle. Goodstuff.
I think I've got pretty much wraps of theapp.
I think I've got wraps of theapp.
Yeah.Yeah. Thanks for this question and thanks forlistening,guys.
Allright. Takecare,bite.
Bye. Thanks for listening to All EarsEnglish.
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