This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2565.
Is English all Greek to you?
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What can you say when something makes no sense at all?
Today we learn three interesting and native phrases you can use so that you can admit you don't get something in English and form a better connection.
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Hello, Lindsay.
How are you?
Hey, Aubrey.
I am happy to be on the mic today.
How are you?
What's going on?
Excellent.
It's a beautiful day here in Arizona, and I am really excited to get into today's episode.
This is really funny.
Lindsay, do you speak any Greek?
Oh, Greek is one language I never got into.
No, but it sounds pretty cool.
I know.
Alpha, beta, gamma.
I think those are the only Greek words I know.
There's occasional words in English.
Spanakopita.
Spanakopita.
What else?
There's got to be some gyro.
I don't know.
There's got to be some food words.
I was in Greece.
I loved Greece.
I went all over the Peloponnese, Delphi, Olympia, and Athens.
And I loved Greece.
And I love Greek food.
Oh my goodness.
Delicious.
It's so flavorful.
They would have baklava.
Yes, baklava.
And you could get a gyro, like a lamb kebab or gyro on the side of the road.
They would just like you know, cut the meat off the lamb skewer.
And it was so delicious.
I loved it.
Amazing.
I went to a, this summer I went to a Greek wedding in Boston.
A Greek, like a very Greek family.
My friend was marrying a woman in that family.
And so it was very Greek.
They had all the Greek traditions.
Oh, that's so funny.
Like my big fat Greek wedding.
I love that movie so much.
It was a big fat Greek wedding for sure.
I love that.
They did all the traditions in the church.
But I didn't, I wasn't able to find the best baklava.
I was kind of disappointed.
I was like ready for the baklava, you know?
But yeah, it's cool to see, especially in the US with so many different cultures.
You know we have weddings that are based on cultures.
It's really cool.
Yes, absolutely.
And the reason I asked you is because today we're talking about the idiom it's all Greek to me and a few related expressions.
Yes.
And this is all inspired by an answering an amazing question sent in by Helmut.
He goes by Heli in our community.
He's actually our newest community connector.
So shout out to Heli.
Yeah, shout out.
I think Kelly is in our B1 course.
So he comes very frequently to open conversation club.
Fluency parties contributes to the conversations.
And the Q&A.
He's a personal coach.
He's in the Q&A every week.
Amazing questions there always.
Yes.
Really good.
Really good stuff.
So here's Kelly's question.
I only understand train station is a typical German idiom.
That suggests that I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
Is there an equivalent in English?
Great question.
It was a great question.
And we do have some fun equivalents in English that we're going to teach today.
But I first wanted to try and say this expression in German.
So I looked it up.
It's pronounced Ich verschehe nur Bahnhof.
I hope I pronounced that correctly.
I'm gonna have to ask Kelly how my pronunciation was.
And it literally means I only understand train station.
But idiomatically, it means I don't understand anything at all.
I don't understand what you're talking about.
Yeah, it's interesting how that's directly translated.
But and what it actually means, right?
Like, I only understand the word train station.
Right.
This was really interesting.
I looked up the origin.
It was about soldiers during a war that didn't want to be there and they just wanted to go home.
So they'd be like, all I understand is train station.
Like, just send me home.
Oh, they wanted to go to the train station.
I see.
Yeah, it's really interesting.
The origin of that.
That makes more sense.
Yeah, expresses complete incomprehension.
Like something's too complex or technical or unfamiliar.
Just like, I don't understand.
Got it.
The interesting thing about idioms is they usually come back to a moment in time, right?
An era, maybe a war or some event in human history.
And we can link back and then it makes sense, right?
Then it makes sense.
Really interesting.
Guys, this is one of the things we like to explore in our show, the history of idioms.
But most importantly, how you can use them to connect now.
Right.
And are they relevant anymore?
So hit the follow button on the show so you don't miss a single episode of All Ears English in 2026.
Yes.
Interesting.
And we are going to share some great phrases we use in English to mean the same thing.
Like, I don't understand anything here.
And that first one is the one I mentioned.
It's all Greek to me, meaning I don't understand anything about this.
Which I guess it makes sense.
You and I both don't speak Greek.
More of us need to be learning Greek, but a lot, like I think a lot of us, unfortunately don't.
No, yeah, it's true.
So, for example, you could say they started talking about cryptocurrency and blockchain.
And honestly, it was all Greek to me.
That's how I feel about cryptocurrency.
I'm just not I'm not in that in that world.
Cryptocurrency, blockchain, that's all Greek to me.
I don't understand.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Or I tried to follow his explanation of car engines.
But after five minutes, it was all Greek to me.
It's interesting when I was going to say when I was teaching in the Bronx, I was teaching French and the other language teacher was Greek and was teaching Greek.
And I love that the kids were learning Greek.
And I had some fascinating conversations with him about how there were so many like words and things in Greek that would give them these roots, that would help them understand the etymology of words, the language of words, because it was kind of like Latin that way.
Right.
All of these like roots and things, the connections they could make.
I'm like, it made me think of like, we need to teach Greek more in schools.
I feel like it would be great.
Then maybe we wouldn't have this expression.
And I hate to bring it always bring it all back to that movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
But do you remember in that movie where the grandfather every word that was said, he would like stop and be like?
Let me tell you, why that word is Greek.
It's Greek.
And here's why.
And then he'd have this really funny connection.
There you go.
If you guys haven't seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Part Two was also amazing.
It's so good.
You've got to go watch it.
Definitely start with the original.
It's the best.
But then the other, I think there might be a third or two.
I don't know.
All of them I saw were great.
But you're right.
The original is so quotable.
I could sit here and quote so many lines right now from Which means it's important for connection for our listeners, from a language perspective, right.
Because you will hear native speakers quote that movie still, right?
Yes.
You know which one I hear the most?
I'm going to do a quick aside is when you say, one more, one more big one.
And it's when she's plucking like the chin hairs.
Just one more, one more big one.
We'll say that about anything if it's like you're going to do something one more time.
One more big one.
We actually studied that movie in my graduate program when we studied self-disclosure in different cultures.
The scene where she talks about her twin being in her neck.
Remember the twin?
And a spell.
The things we disclose are not the same across cultures, right?
Some cultures really keep things private and others don't.
And it's fascinating, but it's a great, it's a classic scene too.
The moment she meets someone, she's like, let me tell you about it.
It was my twin in my neck.
It was born on me.
Oh, yeah.
Go watch it, guys.
And then come back and listen again.
So you'll get all of our jokes here.
Really good stuff.
So.
All right.
So it's all Greek to me is a great one.
And then I haven't the foggiest.
This reminds me of British English for some reason.
I don't know why.
Yeah.
Maybe because foggy London town.
Right.
It's kind of an expression about London.
Right.
But I said this a lot growing up would say I haven't the foggiest and just meant I have absolutely no idea.
I don't know.
No idea.
For example, I'm nodding along.
But to be honest, I haven't the foggiest idea what you're talking about.
Yeah.
So you could say that I haven't the foggiest idea what you're talking about.
Or if someone says, do you know, you should be like, I haven't the foggiest.
And you just stop there.
It just means no, I don't know.
And honestly, isn't that kind of a relief sometimes in connection, when you're pretending like you understand and then you're like forget it?
I'm just going to stop pretending and I'm just going to say this.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
It's actually a really fun connection moment because everyone's been there.
Maybe there will be other people there too who also don't have the foggiest.
Sure.
There you go.
So don't be afraid.
Do it early.
Do it often.
Let's do a quick role play to show this because it's often a response to a question, right?
Yeah, for sure.
So here we go.
Do you know who wrote The Reckoning?
I haven't the foggiest.
Yeah.
So you can say it that way too.
You don't always have to use it as a way to say I don't know what you're talking about, but you could just say I don't know the answer.
No idea.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I have no clue.
This is one I remember saying a lot and hearing a lot in my childhood.
And I still hear it a lot.
Yeah.
It just means I have absolutely no idea.
I don't know.
So, for example, I read your text three times, but I have no clue what you were saying here.
Yeah, this is everywhere, right?
I have no clue what she meant by that.
Really common, been around since the 80s, probably will be around for a long time.
Absolutely, right?
All three great ways to just say, I don't know, I have no idea.
Exactly.
Exactly.
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All right, Aubrey, let's put it into a role play.
So here you and I are talking about an argument that we witnessed at a wedding.
Uh-oh, never good.
No, right?
Okay, I'll start us out.
This is not what you want to see.
Yeah, I know.
The argument was about the seating chart.
I guess so.
This seating stuff is all Greek to me.
I guess I was supposed to put Jack and Stephanie at different tables, but I didn't know that.
Oh, yeah, they don't get along.
I wasn't aware of that, though.
I never have the foggiest idea about that stuff.
I guess I should have consulted with someone on seating.
I have no clue why they couldn't just sit at the same table for one dinner, though.
I agree.
Definitely not something I'd make a scene over.
Yeah, seating charts at weddings can take months to do this.
I can only imagine, right?
You're like someone's texting you.
No matter what, don't put so and so on at the same table as so and so.
And do you ever go like when you go to weddings, do you ever think like maybe you're with your partner?
And then you think, why did we get placed here?
And then you start to kind of work backwards in the couple's minds.
Then you understand where you belong in their minds.
Totally.
It is so telling.
I agree.
So telling.
That's interesting.
There's a lot there.
And that's another connection topic right there.
Yes.
And that phrase I'm just realizing we might need to do another episode about something being telling and other ways that we say that.
Yep.
Let's write that one down.
That's a great one too.
Yeah.
All right.
So let's go through this.
Yeah.
So the first thing you said, the argument was about the seating chart.
And I said, I guess so.
The seating stuff is all Greek to me.
And I'm kind of taking a pass here.
I'm just saying like, I don't know.
I didn't know.
I made a mistake.
Right.
Exactly.
And this is a great way to say it, right?
Like maybe you were the bride.
You were the one that had come up with the seating.
And you're like, this seating stuff is all Greek to me.
I guess I was supposed to put them at different tables.
I didn't know that.
It was not tuned into the current drama of the day, right?
I'm like, you should have asked me.
I know they don't get along.
Exactly.
And then you, and then I said, you said, oh yeah, they don't get along.
And then I said, oh, I wasn't aware of that.
I never have the foggiest idea about that stuff.
So I'm really saying like, this is not my thing.
Yeah.
You're like, I never know who's getting along with who and who's breaking up.
Like a lot of people just don't care.
They don't like.
Yeah. care about that kind of gossip.
And so it would be tricky to make a seating chart.
You wouldn't know.
Yeah, that's true.
That's true.
And then what did you say, Aubrey?
I said, I have no clue why they couldn't just sit at the same table for one dinner.
Because that's really true.
Even if you don't get along, you can be civil for an hour.
Yeah, just deal with it.
I mean especially because everyone's dressed up really nice and it's fancy and this wedding has probably cost a lot of money for the family, right?
Yes.
And as I'm saying that, there are a few other ways you can say this.
This is I have no clue.
You can also say I don't have a clue or I haven't a clue or maybe like I haven't any clue.
There's sort of some flexibility with the wording of this.
You're going to hear all of those.
Yeah, although I think the last two you said I haven't a clue, I haven't any clue are a little more formal, right.
Yeah, that does sound a little more formal for just a regular conversation.
Yeah.
But you could, if you want to drop in a formal feeling to what you're saying, you can do that too.
That's the art of communication.
Yeah.
Right.
If I really, I haven't any clue.
Yeah, for sure.
I love it.
Guys go over to 2560.
That was, do you want the long or short version?
Again, great way to open up a story by asking someone how much they want to know.
Yes, that's such a good idea.
Don't miss that episode.
Yeah, don't be that person, right?
Don't be that person that goes into too much detail.
Absolutely.
Oh, and for a takeaway, I love this to have multiple ways, like you were saying Lindsay, to be vulnerable, to admit when you don't understand.
You're a little bit lost because you're probably not the only one there in that boat.
Yes.
Yeah, really good stuff.
Such a relief.
Often leads to a laugh, like you said, Aubrey.
And it definitely leads to connection when you can be honest, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
When people see who you really are, that's who they want to connect with, right?
It's not the fake version of you.
Exactly.
So really good stuff.
Yes, I agree.
Awesome.
I'm excited for you to use all of these fun phrases.
Thank you, Heli, for the question.
Yeah, thank you so much.
Aubrey, we'll see you back on the show very soon.
You have a good rest of your day.
Awesome.
See you guys next time.
Bye.
Bye.
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