This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2575.
Five English idioms that hit hard.
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Hey there, Aubrey.
How's everything?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you?
Have you ever done a cold plunge?
Yes, I started doing a cold plunge in our pool.
So it's not like ice cold.
I know a lot of people do like ice baths, but it's cold.
I bet it's 55 degrees right now, maybe even a little bit colder.
So I'll go in and I was reading about all the health benefits and it does say I'm like so revived after and like wide awake.
Interesting.
I've tried kind of creating a version of that in the shower, like the last one minute, turn it cold.
But then I was like, this is not comfortable.
And I'm not sure.
Like, I guess I've heard about the health benefits, but I'm not 100% sure about them.
You don't believe enough for the discomfort.
Yeah, I think I just like my hot showers.
Yeah, it's funny.
Well, I was asking you that.
That was inspired by a student posted in our community.
The phrase swimming really does a number on my hair.
They were talking about the chlorine and swimming.
If you don't wear a swim cap, it really hurts your hair.
And I've been doing these cold plunges and I'm like I maybe should wear a swim cap because I notice it damaging my hair.
But I was so impressed by this vocabulary, the student saying that it really does a number on their hair.
And so today we're talking about that phrase and a few related phrases.
Yes, I remember as a kid swimming every day.
By the end of the summer, I had green hair because of the chlorine.
Dyeing your hair green and it's like straw.
It feels all dry and crispy.
Yeah, but when you're a kid, you don't care that it's doing a number on your hair.
You're just like, I want to swim, right?
Love it.
So, before we get into today's episode, I want to say a huge thank you to those who reviewed us in Spotify.
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Thank you to Dago Cordero, Louise Now, and those were our reviewers.
Guys, these reviews are incredible.
Aubrey, they're fantastic.
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I love to read them.
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We read them all.
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Okay, good.
Absolutely.
So let's dive into this fun vocab.
First that one to do a number on someone or something, which just means to have a big effect in some way.
So for example, the late nights really did a number on my focus, right?
So you're staying up late, not sleeping as well, and it's affecting your focus.
You could say, oh, that did a number on my focus.
In a negative way, right?
Usually, would you say usually- Not a positive effect, good point.
These are negative effects, right?
Or that cold winter did a number on my car battery.
So maybe now your car battery is dead or dying because of the cold winters.
Instead of just saying it really affected my battery.
This is so much more fun.
It did a number on my battery.
Do you feel like living in Arizona, the Mountain West does a number on your skin, Aubrey?
I thought you're going to ask about my battery.
The heat kills batteries here.
We have to replace batteries so often because of the heat in Arizona.
But yes, The dry air does a number on my skin.
I have to lotion constantly and I still have dry skin.
I know.
I've been living here for like four years and I feel like my skin's aged 10 years compared to being on the East Coast.
Honestly,
Absolutely.
But yeah, we get a lot of sunshine, so that helps.
Right.
Trade-offs.
Trade-offs.
And then another way to say the same thing would be take a toll on.
So you could say the constant stress took a toll on her health.
Again.
Mm-hmm. just meaning a great effect, right?
So what were you saying?
I was going to say.
Sometimes we can have an underlying low level of stress and it is taking a toll on our health, but maybe we don't realize it.
Right, Aubrey?
Absolutely.
This happened to me once.
I ended up having a panic attack and I didn't even realize how stressed I had been until that happened.
And I was so surprised.
I didn't understand.
So for someone who doesn't experience that a lot, You might not even realize this stress is building until suddenly you're having these physical effects.
Oh, my gosh.
Until it's all too far along.
So, yeah, interesting.
Or another example, years of night shifts took a toll on his sleep patterns.
So, yeah, this could happen.
Then you get a day shift, but you can't sleep at night.
That would be tricky.
Yep.
Huge thank you to any of our nurses or doctors or other crucial employees who do work those night shifts.
I mean, I couldn't do it.
I know.
Thank goodness someone does.
Or any factory workers.
Yeah.
Security guards.
I have a neighbor that does a graveyard shift as a security guard.
I'm like there are so many jobs where people have to work those night shifts in order for our society to function.
It's true.
It's true.
And then another way to say it is hit hard.
So that news hit him hard, right?
You have to put something in between a pronoun.
It hit me hard to hit him hard.
Right.
So this means what, Aubrey?
And we could just say, you know, that news hit hard.
Yeah, I guess you're right.
And really it's implied that you mean it hit me hard, right?
Yes.
But yeah, this means it had some kind of great effect.
This could be the news a death of a loved one or you know something, very serious news that had a great effect on like, your emotional state.
You would say it hit me hard.
Right.
Or if your company does pay cuts, for example, the sudden pay cut hit her hard.
Or you could get more slangy and you could say, oh, that really hits or that hit in the past tense.
Yes, this is like newer slang.
I feel like maybe it's been around a while, but I'm hearing it a lot now that it's to say like that's really good.
Maybe a song. or something you eat.
So they'll be like, oh, that hits.
And it means that's really good.
Okay.
So maybe this is like a new and emerging slang that we can get on board with then?
Yeah, it's a fun one.
And I feel like it's getting more common.
I was hearing my kids, my teenagers use it more, but now I'll hear it on podcasts and TV and stuff.
Oh, but now it's going to become uncool already.
Maybe.
Or maybe it'll get adopted.
We'll see what happens.
We'll cross the chasm, right?
Right.
Exactly.
All right.
What's number four?
So this is mess with again means, you know, have some kind of big effect.
You could say like jet lag really messes with my sleep.
And really what you're saying is that has a big effect on it, a negative effect, like you pointed out.
Yeah, it messes with it.
Do you feel like jet lag has gotten worse for you throughout life as you've gotten a little bit older?
Do you feel like it's harder than it used to be in your teens and 20s?
It has been a while since I have taken like a transatlantic flight, to be honest.
So I will find out the next time I'm able to like travel very far, right?
We've got four kids.
If we go, we like drive four hours to Rocky Point.
And when it's like we flew to Cancun, but I haven't done like a red eye.
I haven't really had jet lag since I was younger.
So I don't know.
What about you?
I can say yes.
It's gotten a lot harder, especially just trips that don't seem like they should be that hard like going to Western Europe.
Those are really hard for me now because you are just messed up for the first two days.
Then you finally sync up and then you get home and you're kind of messed up for three or four days.
And it used to be just like, oh, I'm a little tired, but whatever.
But now it's like, no, I'm falling asleep in museums.
This has happened to me the last two times I've gone to Western Europe.
I've fallen asleep in museums.
Oh wow, sitting on a bench and zonking out with my head back and people start laughing because like you shouldn't sleep in a museum right, like you should be looking at the art.
That's a really funny i.
I mean, i i'll need to do a trip to find out, but i have a feeling it would be the same.
But maybe my sleep is already so messed up now.
Maybe i need to get jet lag to correct it.
That could.
Then it would be fixed.
Maybe there you go.
Or here's another example.
Too much caffeine messes with my stomach or my sleep.
If I drink caffeine after like 2 p.m., I will be up all night.
It really affects me a lot.
Yeah, for sure.
Or some people even vomit if they have caffeine without eating.
That happens.
Some people have a really – I've seen that just today.
I saw that happen to someone.
So that can absolutely happen too.
Um good, and then wear someone down is our last one for the day, so the long commute is wearing me down.
Is this more of a gradual thing, or is this like a sudden yeah, usually not sudden right, so also like a big effect, but this is usually an effect.
Over time you get worn down by something.
So maybe like all the back and forth emails wore me down by the end of the day.
So it doesn't have to be over years, right?
This could be throughout the course of a day.
Yeah.
And it doesn't have to be a terrible thing.
It could just mean even by Friday afternoon, I'm pretty worn down, right?
I'm ready to get off my laptop, right?
Yeah.
Put that away message up and move on with life with your weekend.
Exactly.
But good point that that one does is more overtime, whereas all of the rest of these could be sort of immediate.
Something did a number, took a toll on me, right?
Yep, exactly.
So we have a lot of choices here.
Good.
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Okay, Aubrey, what are we doing in today's role play?
All right.
You and I are friends here and I just yawned.
So you go ahead and start us out.
All right, here we go.
You're yawning and it's only 3 p.m.
Oh, yeah.
These late nights are doing a number on me.
My focus is completely gone.
Yeah, I can imagine.
Constant stress will take a toll on anyone after a while.
For real.
And then I got an email about budget cuts that hit hard.
Right.
Plus, you've been traveling a lot, right?
Yes.
And the jet lag from my last trip is still messing with my sleep.
I wake up at 2 a.m. every night.
That'll wear you down fast if it keeps if it keeps up.
Yeah.
This is how you know it's not me because I haven't had jet lag in several years.
Yeah.
So really good stuff here.
Very realistic conversation, I think.
Absolutely.
Yes.
Right.
We used all of these.
I started by saying these late nights are doing a number on me.
So I'm being kind of vague here.
Right.
But it's more interesting to use a phrase like this instead of these late nights are keeping me from sleeping.
Right.
It's just fun to be like, they're doing a number on me.
Yeah.
Don't always say I'm tired.
How are you?
I'm tired.
Right.
I think a lot of college kids don't say that.
I feel like in our culture, that is almost a like standard response for people.
Do you notice that?
Um, just like out in the world, if you're at a party or something, that is a very standard response.
How are you?
I'm tired right yes, it's true, and it's like the worst because then what do you say from there?
It's horrible.
And also another related bit of advice don't tell someone they look tired.
Yes, i actually used ai to give me a jumping off point with this role play and it started with you look tired.
I was like no, oh no, we're not using that.
Don't say that.
Don't say it to a woman yeah, because maybe that person has been sleeping great and but you just don't know the difference in how they look and that could the They might be like I'm just not wearing makeup.
Thanks for the compliment.
I think in general, maybe we could do another episode and our listeners should hit follow to not miss it.
Just on saying you look anything.
You look X, avoid.
I say to my kids, don't comment on people's appearances.
And that's just a good general rule.
Like it's also kind of a trap saying, oh, you look like you lost weight.
That could be a trap.
We'll do another episode.
What do you think, Aubrey?
Yes, I love that.
That's a great idea.
All of the good advice.
All right.
Then you said, I said, I can imagine constant stress will take a toll on anyone after a while.
Yeah.
And this is interesting.
This is a great way to use this.
These phrases as well, sort of in general.
Instead of saying like this took a toll on me, it took a toll on you, to just that solidarity being like oh, I can imagine stress will take a toll on anyone.
Stress will do a number on anyone after a while.
Anyone after a while.
Right.
And then you talked about budget cuts at your work and that hit hard.
Right.
So here you didn't say that hit me hard.
You kept it a little bit more distant.
Because it's implied.
Right.
You know, I'm talking about me.
I'm sharing about some budget cut at my job.
So because that's already implied, it's already understood that you know I'm talking about me, I can just say that hit hard.
Love it.
If I'm talking about other friends, then I would need to say that hit him hard or her hard.
I would need to make it clear who I'm referring to.
You need to be more specific, right?
Yes.
100% agree.
And then you said, yep, and the jet lag from my last trip is still messing with my sleep.
Yes.
And of course you can just say it's still affecting my sleep.
But imagine if we just said affecting four times here.
The late nights are affecting me.
Constant stress will affect anyone.
So boring.
These are way more interesting phrases.
This is kind of what we're learning here.
Like these are good alternatives for the word affect, right?
This is what these are.
Really good.
And then finally, that'll wear you down fast if it keeps up.
Yeah.
And again, this is another one of those episodes that could lead to great conversation about the things that give you energy.
You know, we talk about introverts, extroverts.
What gives you energy?
What wears you down?
It's not the same for everyone.
Right, Aubrey?
Exactly.
And I love what you said, Lindsay.
Don't be the person who's always saying I'm tired, who's always talking about everything that's wearing them down.
Yes, it's good to share this sometimes.
But you don't want to be the one that people turn around and walk the other way, because they know you're going to talk about how tired you are.
It's such a downer, right?
Try to find something that energizes you and maybe talk about that or decide how much you're going to share, depending on who's asking the question, right?
For sure.
Absolutely.
Really good stuff.
Good connection topic for today, Aubrey.
And thanks for being on the mic.
I'll see you later in the week.
Awesome.
See you next time.
All right.
Bye.
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