This is an All Ears English Podcast Episode 2273, Wacky English Vocabulary for Fun Conversations.
Welcome to the All Ears English 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 host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
To get real -time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android.
Start your seven -day free trial at allearsenglish .com forward slash app.
Do you know how to use the phrase wacky and weird?
Today we show you what special scenarios this applies to and why it builds a clearer picture than just saying weird.
Today, find out how to connect over bizarre situations with native speakers.
How do you know when you've finally hit the advanced English level?
You can not only have interesting conversations in English, but also be interesting in English.
You can make an astute observation, ask good questions, speak with a confident pitch.
To do this, you need a special method and a clear study plan.
Join our brand new B2 English Fluency course.
It's 100 % based on interesting, spontaneous, unrehearsed video interviews with native speakers.
Real English. Save up to $100 before September 22nd and get a free bonus.
Go to allearsenglish .com slash B2.
That's allearsenglish .com slash letter B number two.
Hello Aubrey. How's it going today?
I'm great. How are you Lindsay?
I'm feeling great today, but I do have a question to start off our show today.
You ready? Alright, let's hear it.
Yeah. So do you know anyone in your live or maybe on TV that is really wacky?
Oh, wacky. Interesting.
Jim Carrey comes to mind for sure.
He has a really wacky sense of humor, always doing things that you would not expect, right?
Out of left field. If I think about my personal life, I definitely know people who are unique, funny, maybe even a little weird, but I don't think I would call anyone wacky.
What about you? That's pretty extreme, right?
I think wacky is pretty extreme.
The personalities that come to mind, I think Jim Carrey, especially in he was in Dumb and Dumber, right?
John Daniels or Jeff Daniels, yeah.
Or like Screech and Saved by the Bell was kind of a wacky personality.
For sure. Personalities are like intentionally being really extreme with like a clown, a clown who's intentionally trying to make people laugh loudly by just doing really wacky things.
Exactly. Very silly.
So that's a good example.
Today we're getting into this word wacky.
I have a feeling Aubrey, that our listeners have maybe never heard this word.
Yeah, it's a little more rare than just weird, strange, even like bizarre, that we don't hear wacky quite as often because it's so extreme.
Yeah, for sure guys.
Hit the follow button because over here at Allers English, we teach you those words that you will not see in your textbook and you probably won't see in a classroom either, right Aubrey?
Yes. Hit follow here on the podcast.
This question came from YouTube.
So if you prefer to like watch a video, we're over on YouTube as well.
And we've got this great question.
They actually had listened to an episode.
You and Michelle recorded Lindsay 2213 weird versus strange in English.
That was a really fun episode.
Yeah, that was fun.
And then this follow up question came from that, you know, that episode.
And here's the question.
So the student says, I think there is also the expression of wacky and weird.
What does that mean?
How is wacky different from weird and strange?
Thanks. I love this.
I love that this student listened to an episode and they've got a lot of information about weird and strange and some of these words, but they didn't hear wacky.
And they're like, OK, I've also heard wacky and I'm not sure when I could use it, how I could use it.
So this fun follow up question makes it like a part two for that episode.
And I also love is it called double alliteration when you have two words that have the same letter at the beginning, wacky and weird.
I love those. They just they roll off your tongue.
We could do another episode about double alliterations and why they work, maybe.
Absolutely right. Alliterations.
Really fun. Whenever you have that same consonant sound to it just makes like it's great for jingles for commercials and anything like this.
Wacky and weird. Love it.
Yeah, for sure. And so that's probably why this phrase stuck in the mind of our listener, because it is a double alliteration wacky and weird.
So what was that other episode just to make sure our listeners go back to that one?
Twenty two thirteen.
You can scroll up to see it weird versus strange in English.
Totally. Let's get into it, Aubrey.
So first we're going to teach the two words a refresher on the word weird.
And we're going to see what wacky means.
And then let's put them together and see if that compounds the meaning or something.
Yes, right. Okay, so wacky first, right?
It means really funny, amusing, but in an odd or peculiar way.
So odd is an interesting word.
That's why you asked me if I know anyone who's wacky.
And I'm like, I don't know if I would describe anyone as wacky because I feel like it is a little bit negative.
There's this collocation, this connotation of it being odd.
Whereas strange, weird, like these are more lighthearted wacky.
If I call someone wacky and they aren't intentionally being really odd with their humor, they might be offended.
Yeah, like I think someone who, I mean, they may be self described wacky, right?
And in that case, they own it.
That's okay. But often this person might be a little bit of a social outcast.
Uh, kind of, kind of weird, kind of on the outside.
What I think about the, um, Ray gun in the Olympics when she did her breakdancing routine.
And this was such a meme.
It was all over the news.
It was people were finding it quite wacky.
It was different than the average breakdancing.
You know, it was, she was doing like a kangaroo move.
People were like making fun of because they thought it was very odd, very peculiar.
I actually loved it.
And she metal. She was, she know, she didn't get any points.
The judges didn't love it.
She was saying she intentionally was being creative and different wanting to do something.
So she kind of was purposely being a little bit wacky with her dance moves.
Well, I love that idea because it was the first year that breakdancing was in the Olympics.
Right. So starting something.
The last really said we're not doing breakdancing.
And some people I think are blaming her, but that's crazy.
Like that's definitely not why it's happening in my opinion.
Why they're not just.
Okay. I guess I missed the whole controversy.
I can't believe we missed it.
Lindsay. You'll have to go and Google it when we leave here.
That's so funny. So wacky is just a little or maybe kind of outlandish could be another word we might use to describe it a bit of an outcast over the top, right?
Yes. Right. You might say that was a really wacky movie.
This reminds me of everything everywhere all at once.
That was called. I loved that film, but it was a little bit wacky.
There were people had like hot dog fingers because there were all these different dimensions.
There were some things that were definitely wacky in that movie.
And then you had an example about an uncle.
So should I read that one, Aubrey?
Yeah, let's do it. Yeah.
I had an uncle that was really wacky, always playing practical jokes on everyone.
It often describes the sense of humor, right?
Like we mentioned Jim Carrey.
I feel like everyone maybe has an uncle like that or someone who's like telling jokes or playing practical jokes.
And they would maybe like you said, Lindsay self describe themselves as wacky or having a wacky sense of humor.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
So that is wacky. It's a little over the top, a bit more than weird even.
What is the difference then with weird?
Yeah. So weird is more like strange, unusual, unexpected, but we wouldn't really say odd or peculiar necessarily.
Those are more specific meanings with wacky where it's like this is really like you said over the top and odd and peculiar.
So just more extreme weird is a little more normal.
A little weird as normal on all there's English at least.
Yeah, I love it. So for example, something weird happened last night.
I kept getting phone calls when I'd answer the line would go dead.
So that's not wacky.
There's nothing wacky.
It's more that's more creepy.
Exactly. Weird can be like strange, creepy, unusual, unexpected, I might say norm.
They sound weird, but I've never been to the beach.
Like that's just different.
Unexpected whereas neither of those things are wacky because wacky is more like peculiar, like just intentionally or unintentionally being very strange.
And I think wacky also has a silly nature to it too.
Silly kind of good point.
Whether unintentionally or not, it's very silly.
And silly is sometimes defined as stupid and silly is sometimes defined as playful.
And I think of it more as playful.
Right. That definition.
Kind of playful. There's a playfulness in wackiness, but that's not present really in weird all the time.
It could be, but it's not necessarily.
Weird is actually a lot more flexible because you could be like, oh, I was being really weird when, or that clown was weird.
Like someone that is more being wacky and silly.
You could maybe call them weird, but you can rarely use wacky.
Like all of these examples, some things more creepy.
Weird you wouldn't say wacky.
Yeah. It's definitely not wacky that you're getting a phone call.
And at night in the lines going dead is the beginning of a horror movie.
That's weird. Exactly.
There's nothing silly or playful about it.
All right. Good stuff.
Okay. Now we're going to go into that double iteration and put it into one fun phrase that our listener asked about Aubrey.
Tell us about this.
Yeah. So our listener asked about, they have heard someone say wacky and weird.
Just saying it together.
This isn't really an idiom or an expression.
It's pretty rare, but you could definitely hear it.
And I think it's what you said, Lindsay.
It's that alliteration of the double W's.
Right. Yeah. So it might be just kind of fun.
Like Ray Gun's another example.
I could totally see someone describing this break dancer and be like, her performance was wacky and weird.
And so it's almost you're doubling up on it, right?
It's not enough just to say it's wacky.
I'm doubling down for emphasis.
Yes. Exactly. So you're driving home your point to be both in one person or in one show is extra extra.
It is extra extra, even more over the top, right?
We just use both to share that it was extremely surprising, bizarre, silly, playful.
We would never say, oh, this phone call that was creepy, we wouldn't say that was wacky and weird.
No, because if we add wacky, it's just like, it's more playful and silly, like you said.
Yeah, for sure. So describing a movie as wacky and weird, or can we flip it?
I'm wondering about this.
Yeah, for sure. Because it's not really like a known, this isn't a known saying wacky and weird.
This is a matter of someone combining two adjectives and it kind of works.
But this is not a known saying or proverb or anything.
So because of that, we could totally flip it and say weird and wacky.
I might say, my sister said she went on a date last night and it was a weird and wacky.
And then, of course, I'm going to go into details and share, what was so strange, what was so odd?
But because it's not an idiom, it doesn't have to be word for word.
It doesn't have to be in that order.
Yeah, it's important to know what is actually an idiom or saying and what's just combining two words and saying something that feels kind of zippy.
I don't know, it feels good to say it.
Yes. I know. It's fun to say.
It's the alliteration.
I love zippy. It does sound zippy.
But it is a little tricky.
I think the main thing, it'll be good to go into a role play here.
But we want to think about what we would not say this about.
We shared the creepy phone call.
Anything that's creepy weird, unexpected in a way that's not super positive or playful, we wouldn't say wacky at all.
So we also wouldn't say wacky and weird.
Yes. Yes, totally agree.
I love that. Should we go into the role play, Aubrey, to show our listeners where this comes into our language?
Yeah. Okay. Let's do it.
We are leaving the opening of a play, opening night.
Here we go. That play was kind of wacky and weird.
I liked it though. It was very unique.
Definitely. The costumes and sets were all really wacky.
Felt strange when the play was so serious.
That was a bit weird.
Get me on my toes. Nice.
So I can imagine this like something about it was wacky, but in a playful way.
It wasn't dark if I'm calling it wacky.
Right. I imagine like the producers, I could see someone leaving that play in, if you guys have seen the Broadway show The Producers, they intentionally do this play that they expect to be a flop.
They expect it to fail.
And it's about Hitler and the Holocaust, but they're making it sort of wacky.
And because it's seen as like a farce, as like sarcastic, it ends up being successful.
But I could imagine people leaving that play, right?
And they would say wacky, whereas that wasn't expected.
They thought it would be perceived as really dark.
Oh, interesting. Interesting.
Okay. So there's a lot of nuances here.
When it comes to the meeting, right?
This is about leveling up to that 99 % fluency level.
I love it. I love it.
Let's go through this.
I first said that play was kind of wacky and weird.
So this is, we're discussing right as we leave the play.
You know, we haven't talked yet about our thoughts, but I have found it very bizarre and strange, but like not dark, kind of playful, or I wouldn't call it wacky.
Exactly. And then I said, yeah, that was a bit weird.
Get me on my toes. So interesting that I said, get me on my toes.
I dropped the subject there.
Right. Yes, right. Because it's more informal grammar.
You don't have to say it kept me on my toes and definitely don't repeat the subject.
It's known to say like the play kept me on my toes.
This is a fun idiom though, that to keep something, keep you on your toes means like you didn't know what to expect.
You didn't know what was coming.
Yeah. Have you seen any other good plays lately, Aubrey?
Anything else out in the Broadway world or off Broadway world?
Anything else? There are plays when a Broadway shows tour here, they come to the ASU, Arizona State University, to Gamage Auditorium.
And we do go sometimes, I love it.
We went to Hamilton, which was amazing.
We went to Finding Neverland was really good with our kids.
Annie. What about you?
Do you go to Broadway shows a lot?
Well, yeah. I mean, when I lived in New York, I used to love going to Broadway shows here.
I'm a little less inclined, although I know there's good talent here in Denver because I know there's like a direct path to New York.
People coming back and forth.
I don't know why exactly, but there seems to be that.
So we've gone to a couple of, you know, local plays over the last few years, which are pretty cool.
I love that. I love to do that too, especially if you can go in a very small venue.
We went to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
They did a play in this tiny theater where the audience surrounds the stage.
So everyone's really close.
Those are so fun. I love it.
I love it. And we did interview my friend, Alan Seals, who is, he is very much involved in the Broadway community in New York.
If you guys are interested in learning more about Broadway, come back to allersenglish .com, type in Alan, A -L -A -N.
You'll find my interview with Alan.
Really fun insider information about Broadway.
Good stuff. Yes. Awesome.
And then the last one, I just said the costumes and sets were all really wacky.
So that's why like you loved the play.
And so I'm kind of having to share what I thought was wacky, right?
Well, the costumes and sets were, and this would mean outlandish, unexpected, maybe really bright colors when, and then the play was very serious.
So I found that kind of wacky.
Or what you said with the hot dogs is fingers, right?
The hot dog is fingers.
It's everything everywhere all at once.
I actually haven't seen it.
I need to watch it.
It always comes up on my Netflix.
Like watch this, you know, as a suggestion.
I cried. It's very heartwarming.
It's very touching, but it also is wacky.
So anyone, anyone yeah.
And Lindsey, if you watch, just be prepared for there, because there are all these other dimensions where it's, you know, it's not just like humans on earth.
So strange and wacky, but so good.
Actually, it's such a great movie.
It won a ton of like Oscars.
It won a ton of Academy Awards because it was.
I know. Yeah. I will check it out.
I will check it out.
Well, this is a great phrase.
I mean, I think our listeners are now ready to carry this into their daily lives, connecting with native speakers.
What's our takeaway today, Aubrey?
Yeah. Well, think about when wacky things happen to you.
This is such a great way to connect because it's something out of the ordinary, something unexpected.
What a great thing to spark a conversation about, to let someone know that you thought something was wacky and weird.
Yeah, for sure. This is a great conversation starter, as you said.
And sometimes it's the more outlandish things that connect us to people.
It's what people remember.
Those are the stories people remember about us.
It's what connects us.
It makes you laugh.
And when you laugh together, you actually connect, you build that emotional connection.
So, go for it. Absolutely, right?
The best conversations are when you're laughing and sharing some common humor.
So fun. 100%. All right.
Good stuff, guys. Hit that follow button if you love All Ears English, and we'll see you back on the next episode.
Aubrey, take care. See you next time.
Bye. Bye -bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
Would you like to know your English level?
Take our two -minute quiz.
Go to allearsenglish .com forward slash fluency score.
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
