This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2625.
Who is an unsung hero in your life?
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Does your culture love heroes?
Today get a lesser known term to recognize someone who may be even more important than the main hero of the story?
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Hello, Michelle.
How's it going today?
I'm good, Lindsay.
Lindsay, who is someone in your life who you consider to be a hero?
Oh, man.
The concept of a hero.
I mean, my parents were both heroes in some ways, I guess you could say that.
Yeah.
Like, you know, in my life, right?
Right.
They raised me well.
They taught me the right things.
And so on a small, small scale, I would say they are.
What about you, Michelle, in your life?
It's funny.
I mean, I was thinking of my parents, too.
You know it's like it's funny because you don't often think.
I mean you think of superhero, maybe not parents, but that's true.
It is that that smaller concept of a hero, like personal to you.
And then there's, you know, the larger concepts.
Yes.
I mean, of course, I think, like healthcare workers firefighters, all of those people in those kinds of professions scientists, you know, are heroes.
Yes.
So, yeah.
During the pandemic.
Do you remember when we had the nurse?
– I can't remember what it was, but at 8 pm we used to – Yeah, the pots and pans.
Was it pots and pans would make some noise for nurses coming off their shifts?
Yep.
Yeah, that is really a good example of heroes during COVID, willing to go to work and risk their lives.
Exactly.
We're going to have an example of that later on.
Because definitely I was thinking of that too.
But what about unsung heroes?
And yeah, how was that the same or different?
Yeah, well, in American culture, we love the concept of a hero.
It's in all our movies, our narratives.
But there's also the unsung hero is usually something or someone who is not as recognized but is kind of under the surface but is making a big difference.
Is really, you know, creating the success of the thing or the person.
Right.
Right.
Right.
So they don't necessarily get the credit.
They're not necessarily noticed or praised as much for what they do as are the people really more in the spotlight?
But they may do things that are very appreciated or expected, but they just don't get that praise.
So the word unsung here...
Would mean in a way no one's singing about them.
Like we talk about singing your praises, right?
Is another expression.
No one's singing.
No one's praising.
Maybe they don't get recognized, but they are essential.
Yeah, maybe this is someone who works behind the scenes of a Hollywood movie or something, and they're not the famous Hollywood name and face, but they're making everything work.
The assistant to the producer or something, right?
Something like that.
Exactly.
I mean, do you think that If someone's called an unsung hero, do you think it's insulting or?
No, I don't think it's insulting.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't think so.
I think it's recognizing them or the thing that doesn't get recognized.
So I think it's not an insult.
What do you think, Michelle?
No, I don't think so either.
But it is important to always thank people who make a difference in our lives.
And yeah guys, we also want to let you know that if you haven't hit follow yet, wherever you're listening to the All Ears English podcast, we want to make sure that you do that so you never miss anything from us.
Yes um, yes.
So yeah, go ahead and hit that button, follow or subscribe on youtube.
But um so lindsey, we were just talking about this before we got on the mic.
Yes, it can also be a thing or a concept.
Yeah.
Lindsay, you used this recently.
Yeah, we were talking about consistency in our podcast, that consistency is the unsung hero.
So consistency isn't a person.
Yeah.
But it doesn't have to be.
Yeah, exactly.
So when you talk about podcasting success, the reason our show has become so successful is the unsexy concept of consistency, right?
Sometimes the unsung hero is also a little unsexy if it's a concept, right?
Because you think about it, it's not flashy, it's not our colors, it's not our cover art, our photography, it's not our music, it's the fact that we never miss an episode when we say we're going to publish, And that is actually more rare than you would think.
Podcasting for most people is not a full-time job.
It's more of a hobby for many people still.
And they don't meet those benchmarks of that consistency.
So it has been a major way to propel us to success.
So that's why I said consistency is the unsung hero of podcasting success.
So here we're not talking about a human being, right?
We're talking about a habit, I guess.
Right.
Right.
Exactly.
So let's do some sample sentences.
So this is...
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Someone who is maybe a peacemaker or someone who, you know, we say like we might call somebody.
Well, we're actually.
I'm going to save this, because there's another word that I'm going to teach later that I think is good for this.
But yeah.
Yeah, so that would be an unsung hero.
Lindsay, what's another one?
The cast was amazing, but the unsung heroes were definitely the crew.
Did you see them moving the huge set pieces?
Yeah, this is an example I thought of earlier.
Someone working behind the scenes of a Broadway show or a movie right yeah yeah, you don't see them coming out in black, or yeah yeah, working incredibly hard right Oh, yeah.
Or I liked my professors this year, but the unsung heroes were actually the assistants.
They really helped me out when I was having trouble understanding some of the more complex topics.
Right, because sometimes when you go to a large university, you don't necessarily have access to the main professor.
They're doing a lot of research, right?
Was that the case for you, Michelle, at University of Maryland?
Yes.
Yeah, I think so.
It was Yeah.
Well, like my theater professors, I knew them well.
That was smaller, but for the larger classes, the core classes, things like that, certainly you don't really get to know the professor.
So what about you?
You went to a smaller school.
Went to a smaller school.
And so I kind of knew my professors a little better.
They still did research, but it wasn't like a, a huge research university, right?
So I think at the big state universities there's a lot of pressure on professors to publish new research, right.
And so they'll put their teaching assistant in charge of really interactions with students and that kind of thing.
Grading, all these things.
Explaining things to maybe extra sessions or whatever it is.
Right.
Yeah.
So sometimes those TAs, we call them TAs.
Maybe some of our listeners are TAs at a university.
We call them unsung heroes sometimes, right?
Yeah, exactly.
So and then this goes back to our conversation from earlier.
So here's one more.
During COVID, the Instacart shoppers were the unsung heroes.
Yeah.
So.
No one was banging pots and pans for them.
You know what I mean?
But they were really also putting themselves in harm's way.
You know, people who were doing shopping for others.
And so, yeah, you could call them the unsung heroes as well.
Or really anyone that just was in a, what was the term that was used?
Just a necessary job or a, I can't remember the term that they called it.
But anyways, a job that just, a supermarket cashier.
The supermarket can't really shut down.
We have to eat.
So they were required to go to work.
Right.
But that's scary, especially in a supermarket, because you're exposing yourself face to face to people all day, every day.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay, Michelle.
So what are some situations when we might talk about the unsung hero?
Yeah.
Well, just sharing appreciation for someone or explaining their value.
Or what else, Lindsay?
Yeah.
So let's see.
When you're talking about people as a part of a group, for example, there's always the quarterback right.
The star, the person in the spotlight.
And then there's i don't know what the equivalent would be in football, what the positions are, or maybe it's a type of player or an on the field personality that maybe doesn't get quite as much um, you know attention, but they're making the game happen right right, right.
Or in theater, like we said about.
You know the people backstage, so they're the crew um, The school parents even right.
They might be on Song Heroes.
Maybe mothers sometimes, you know?
I feel like sometimes like the moms are the ones often, you know, doing a lot of the work.
It's not always true, but a lot of like the tough, nitty gritty work day to day and maybe getting a little less credit at times sometimes.
It's not always true.
Like things change and gender is flexible.
But there is a little bit.
There is.
There's always that thing where they say, you know, a dad out with his kids, you know, everybody.
Oh, he's such a good dad.
But nobody thinks that when it's a mom.
It's like, oh, because it's expected.
Right.
With the dad.
Oh, look, he's such a good dad.
Yeah.
Everyone thinks it's so cute to see a dad holding his baby.
And I've been the victim of that, too.
Like just thinking that as I see a dad out with a kid versus a mom, it's totally normal versus a dad.
Oh, my God.
That's so nice.
Right.
There's a little something there in moms being unsung heroes kind of.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So, and even people in the office, I mean the people you know deliver, like the people delivering mail, the people you know just keeping things together that we don't give them credit for.
I wonder if sometimes an unsung hero can feel underappreciated.
So it could be good to just draw attention to them and sometimes give these people that credit.
Yes.
Turn them from an unsung hero to a sung hero.
No, to a regular hero.
It's true.
You're a mail delivery person, right?
The people that pick up trash.
I mean, there's so many people in your day-to-day life that just keep life moving that we don't really think about as much, but just saying thank you right.
I mean, absolutely.
What would be another quote, Rochelle?
Yeah.
Well, another example could be you were the unsung hero of that game.
Yeah.
Thomas made the points, but they were all coordinated plays through you.
Yeah, exactly.
So sometimes the person who like strategizes the plays is not necessarily the one that delivers it and gets to be seen as the person who You know pulling off the score or the goal right.
Yeah.
Right.
Like in basketball, they, you know, they always count who's doing the assist.
Okay.
You know, so they call it the assist.
And then, you know, so that's the person who did the pass, right?
Yeah.
And I like that in basketball.
You know, they do kind of value that as well.
Okay.
Yeah.
True.
So but what about in American society?
I mean, do you think because we talk about like, oh, you know, we love a hero, right?
Love a hero.
Yeah.
So do you think that we value the unsung heroes?
I think we know they matter, but I think American culture can be very surface level, very superficial, at times very fast paced, very market driven, money driven.
And so I really think that most of our attention goes towards the hero, not the unsung hero.
Right.
Right.
Like the celebrities get the attention.
You know, it's always amazing, you know like, how much attention the celebrities get over the people who are saving lives and things like that.
Yes.
Let's talk about some other ways that we can describe this type of a person.
So the first one is the backbone.
Yeah, that's a good one.
Yeah, the backbone.
I mean, if you didn't have a backbone, you wouldn't be able to sit straight up, right?
It's absolutely essential in our bodies for our body structure.
And so it can also mean a bit of an unsung hero.
Consistency is the backbone of All Ears English.
Right?
Yes.
Love that.
And this is the one that I was thinking about earlier.
So the glue, right?
If you, you know, the glue, it's just it holds it together, right?
Everything would fall apart without the glue, but you're not thinking about the glue.
You're looking at the big, oh, look at this.
Sure.
In an art project.
Look at the beautiful colors, look at this.
But you're not thinking about how that, if that glue weren't there, what would happen?
So you might hear something like, she is the glue that holds our group together.
Perfect.
Exactly.
And then the person behind the scenes.
This makes me think of the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which I love that one, Michelle.
You love it too?
Yeah yeah well because yeah, it makes me think of remember that quote where they say the man is the head, but the woman is the neck.
Remember that there's so many great quotes from that movie.
Oh well it's yeah, it's.
I just watched it recently again and it's still.
It is still hilarious, even the parts where you know they're coming So funny.
That movie just came up in our conversation in an open conversation club, which is a free conversation club for students in our courses.
Last week it came up.
Someone had an example of a quote.
So people are still quoting that movie.
So guys, if you haven't seen it yet, please go watch it.
Yep.
Yep.
So but yeah, you might hear like, I want to take a minute to recognize the person behind the scenes.
She does everything for us.
Mrs. Copper, please come out.
Yeah, that's really nice.
And sometimes, if there's some kind of award ceremony or moment to recognize the staff, you could.
You could draw attention to an unsung hero in that way, right.
And then the real mvp right.
You could say something like i know you don't get credit, but i think you're the real mvp.
You are always there for us and everyone can come to you for help Yeah.
And what does MVP stand for?
Most valuable player.
Most valuable player.
Yes.
Usually that's in sports.
And then I know, in sports, in my college sports, we had like a I played Division three tennis and we had a like a luncheon.
For the whole sports, like all sports, all athletes at the school.
And there was an unsung.
There was, I think there were like most valuable players, and then there were unsung heroes on each team.
Or maybe just within the whole collegiate athletics department.
So sometimes you see this being given out as a literally as an award sometimes.
Yeah yeah yeah, exactly so guys, there are so many more, but we and we can do a follow-up someday, but these are some of the really good main ones, so let's do a role play, all right.
Um, and here, we just held a surprise party for our friend and we are reflecting on it.
All right, let's do it.
Michelle, here we go.
Okay, i think it went well, don't you absolutely?
She was so surprised.
I don't feel like you got credit for this, but thank you for being the backbone of this party.
You did so much planning.
Oh my gosh, thank you.
But I think you're the real MVP.
You came up with the secret plan.
Thank you, thank you.
I'm so glad we could celebrate Jasmine.
She's always been the glue that holds our group together.
She really deserved it.
Yeah, she's kind of our unsung hero.
I don't think people realize how much she does for all her friends.
Yeah, she's always the person behind the scenes when someone needs help.
Definitely.
Yeah.
And I think the people that are the unsung heroes, usually they don't necessarily need or want that huge recognition, right.
Usually that person just wants to be the glue, wants to make things work and contribute.
But it is really nice to kind of call it out sometimes because we are human, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
It is nice to still say something to someone even if you don't think that they need it.
I don't think it can ever hurt.
Totally.
Yes, 100%.
This has been a good episode.
Um, Michelle, wait, did we go over it?
Oh my gosh.
I'm getting ahead of myself is what we would say in that case.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
That's all right.
So you said, thank you for being the backbone of this party.
You did so much planning.
So I really held it together.
I held it up without me, without the backbone, there is no party.
Exactly, exactly.
And then you said, oh, thank you.
I think you're the real MVP, right?
The real most valuable player.
And of course, we're not talking about sports here, right?
So MVP can go way beyond just sporting awards.
Okay.
Yeah.
Important to know.
And then we're talking about our friend and you said she has always been the glue that holds our group together.
Yes.
And then you said she's kind of our unsung hero.
And then you said, yeah, she's always the person behind the scenes when someone needs help.
Yes, beautiful.
So Michelle, what's the final takeaway about Unsung Heroes?
Any final thoughts here?
Yeah, well, think about it in your life.
Who's an unsung hero?
Is that someone you can think of now, who maybe, maybe you want to think of that person now and tell them how thankful you are for them.
That can certainly help you connect to someone.
Of course, you know, letting them know how much you appreciate them.
And then also it's just an interesting concept.
And remember that it doesn't have to just be a person.
It could be a concept.
It could be a habit.
So think of the different ways that you could use this in your life, man.
Also think about your culture.
As we've said, American culture is like a hero culture.
We also use heroes in politics for, you know, sometimes to create narratives, right?
For better or for worse.
This hero, you know heroic idea, is really used in movies um, you know performances politics, all over American culture.
So ask yourself does your culture bring in heroes in any way into the narrative that it's telling itself about itself or about other places in the world?
Right.
It's just super interesting to think about that.
So, yeah, good.
Definitely.
All right, Lindsay.
Well, thanks so much for chatting about this with me today and we'll talk to you guys later.
All right, Michelle.
Take care.
Bye.
All right.
Bye.
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