This is the All Ears English Podcast.
Do you have FOMO?
YOLO!
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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.
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You have probably heard these acronyms, but today let's dive deep into when to use them and how to pronounce each one.
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Hello, Aubrey.
How are you?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you today?
Good, Aubrey.
I'm curious.
Do you often get FOMO?
Are you someone that experiences that emotion a lot?
Absolutely.
I get FOMO all the time.
If I can't go to a party or if I miss out on something, I know I'm missing fun times.
I hate it.
I would almost rather go somewhere sick in order to not miss out.
Really?
That's so funny.
Or if I'm too tired.
That's so funny.
I'm like, I'm going to go anyway because I don't want to miss out on all the fun.
That's so funny.
And what is FOMO, by the way?
Just in case any, I mean, I think our listeners all know what it is, but just in case.
Yeah, it stands for fear of missing out.
So I get that.
I get that fear of missing out on something fun if I'm not there.
Yes.
And Mateo's asked a question, which is inspiring this episode today.
I'll go ahead and just read the question.
Mateos said, I've been hearing the word FOMO a lot lately.
Could you help me out with this word?
I hope you can make this one crystal clear to me as always.
Have a great new year.
I'm closing out the year with an All Ears English episode, Mateos.
Amazing.
Sounds like a super fan.
We love that.
Mateus has sent in a lot of amazing questions.
I loved this one.
So we're talking about FOMO today and also YOLO.
These are both so common in the States, at least right now, and you should be using them.
They've both been common for a couple of years now, right, Aubrey?
They've been around for a little while for sure.
Guys, hit the follow button if you just like Mateo's love the show.
Make sure you make it part of your daily routine.
We do do five episodes a week.
And so you could almost listen to All Ears English every day of the week. almost.
And the other days you can listen to Business English or IELTS Energy.
We've actually scheduled it so that you could technically listen to an episode every day of the week from our brand, from us.
So Business English is our other show and IELTS Energy is our third podcast.
Go and search for those as well.
You can get a new one every day and then you'll never have FOMO. for the English episodes.
Exactly.
Good stuff.
All right.
So again, it comes down to fear of missing out.
I feel like I used to experience this a little bit more when I was younger than I do now.
I feel like it's kind of dissipated for me a little bit.
Interesting.
Now you're okay to miss out on things.
Great.
I would love to miss out.
I'd love to miss out, please.
It's interesting.
This is written, it's an acronym.
It's always written in all caps, right?
So capital F-O-M-O.
And yeah, it's interesting.
We'll use it like if someone makes plans and we can't attend, we often use it very playfully, right?
We'll just be like, oh, I have FOMO, meaning like you're sad you can't make it.
You know you're going to miss out on a fun time.
But often, like you might even say this Lindsay, if you're actually glad you can't attend because it's such a a way to make someone it's.
It's more about building connection, to let them know you wish you could be there.
You would love to attend.
That's a good point.
Here's a question about this usage here.
Can we use it when it refers to something that's already happening?
Like someone's telling a story and maybe for whatever reason you didn't go.
Yes.
Right.
Just interrupt and say, Oh, that sounds so fun.
I have so much FOMO right now.
FOMO right now.
Yes, absolutely.
Okay.
Good.
What else do we need to know?
We'll also use this when someone is sharing, like you said, about a fun time you missed, right?
Just like, sounds amazing.
I have so much FOMO.
And I think it's important to point out that it's not just slang that's used by like, teenagers and young people.
Like you said, Lindsay, it's been around a couple of years.
It's very much been adopted into the vernacular.
Anyone of any age can say this.
Everyone's going to know what you mean.
Yeah.
And I think this these two, YOLO and FOMO, have kind of transcended this pitfall where it becomes uncool when adults adopt it.
Like last week, we talked about six, seven, six, seven.
Right.
We don't know what that means still.
But now that adults are trying to know, you know what it means.
Now that adults are trying to know what it means, it's not cool anymore.
But these acronyms, especially FOMO, really kind of transcended that trap.
Don't you think?
Yes.
So let's use, let's share a couple of examples here, right?
So for example, I went to the party because I had FOMO, even though I was exhausted.
This is me.
I'm going anyway.
I have FOMO.
That's so funny.
That's so funny.
Or his FOMO kicked in when he saw everyone traveling without him.
I mean, Social media is ultimately the worst with this.
It's what, yeah.
It's really compounded it, right?
Because once upon a time, we didn't know that much what other people were doing, what our friends were doing.
So there wasn't as much FOMO.
Now we can see their posts on social media and be bummed that we're missing out on all of it.
And it can show up anywhere.
For me.
I said earlier, I don't experience it as much as I used to, but actually now I experience professional FOMO.
So when I go to LinkedIn and I scroll the feed in LinkedIn.
I see, oh, this person presented at this conference or this.
I get a little bit of FOMO for that kind of thing.
It's funny.
I'm glad you're pointing that out because it's not just about parties, right?
Someone could tell me they were able to sneak in an afternoon nap and I might be like oh, I have FOMO.
Oh, sure, sure.
I'm missing out on napping.
Yeah, luxury.
So you could have FOMO for someone's not doing anything, right?
Exactly.
That person Yeah, I wish I was able to do nothing.
Right.
Totally.
Then YOLO.
And I love this one.
Yes, this one's fun.
It stands for you only live once.
So we often use this to justify taking a risk, being spontaneous, doing something indulgent or adventurous.
Or maybe like if you have FOMO, you're going to go even though you're tired because YOLO.
Yeah, I only live once.
I know.
It's funny because I feel like when I was a kid, my dad used to say this a lot of like oh order the banana split.
You only live once.
Come on.
Right.
But then I don't think it was an acronym then when I like in the 80s and the 90s.
They had to say the whole thing.
What a waste of time.
I know, but it almost feels more authentic before it became an acronym in some way.
It's true.
Now it's YOLO.
It did become sort of more lighthearted and fun sounding with the acronym.
It did.
More Instagram-y kind of, right?
So for example, I'm headed to Australia next month.
YOLO, right?
So you kind of say it as a way of justifying what you're doing, that you're living your life, sort of
And we often do use that sing-songy tone that you're hearing there, right?
YOLO, kind of emphasize it like that.
Exactly.
And how would you say the next one?
So they decided to quit their jobs and move abroad because YOLO, right?
So it doesn't always have to be YOLO.
Right.
Yeah.
The intonation is different there between the two examples, because you kind of paused after because, and then you sort of pause there when you're giving it as a reason.
Right.
Exactly.
Right.
I'm like, yeah, they're doing this big change because you only live once.
Right.
But you can also say YOLO there sort of a little more seriously.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Interesting.
All right.
What else do we need to know?
What emotions does this come from?
This is interesting.
So this is sort of a pro tip to remember the difference between them.
FOMO is sort of a little more anxiety driven.
I don't want to miss out.
Whereas YOLO is sort of about risk embracing or fun embracing, right?
I should do it now because I only live once.
Exactly.
I love it.
So they are different.
The meaning is different, but they're both rampant and common, right?
Totally.
Totally.
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All right, Aubrey, let's get into a role play.
We are college buddies, college friends.
I'll start us out.
Okay.
Are you coming to Jamie's birthday this weekend?
I'm not sure.
I have so much studying to catch up on.
Same, but everyone's going.
Oh, now I'm getting FOMO.
I know I'll regret it if I don't go.
Me too.
I think I'm going to go and you should too.
We could both use a break.
True.
You know what?
YOLO.
Nice.
I feel like college is probably where people are often like the worst FOMO that they have.
Yeah, because there's so many fun things going on and they're so busy with school and work and they're not able to go to all of it.
You have to miss out on some things.
Or even just if because I remember in college, the kids would go together to dinner, right?
Go to the dining hall.
And like if they went without me, I would get FOMO for sure.
Be like, oh, I missed out on that.
It's just a group going to dinner.
Right.
But it's so simple just because there was constantly something fun to do with peers.
Right.
For sure.
It's true.
College is a trip.
But if you didn't have FOMO at least a few times in college, you probably failed out.
There's so many things you're going to have to miss if you're studying.
It's so true.
It's so true.
All right.
So we used both here.
And so you said, oh, are you coming to the party?
I said, I have to study.
And you said, come on, everyone's going.
I know I'm peer pressuring you.
Everyone's going.
And then I said, oh, now I'm getting FOMO.
Right.
Yep.
And I said, me too.
I'm going to go.
And you should too.
And then I'm like, we could both use a break from studying.
You can only study for so long before you need a break.
Yeah.
And our listeners who have the transcripts from today's episode are going to see I'm going to go.
But what Aubrey just said is so native and natural.
She said, me too.
I'm going to go.
Right.
I'm going to go.
So we scram it all together.
Yes.
And you guys can learn more about that in our pronunciation course, right?
Go to allersenglish.com slash pronunciation.
We cover that in a really key part of the course.
And the feedback from the course is turning out to be really good, Aubrey.
You've had some really nice feedback.
And that's so true.
This is one of the most native natural things you can do is to find out when you should be dropping letters, when you should be assimilating sounds.
So many things that natives do naturally that a lot of language learners don't realize they need to do.
Yes, 100%.
Guys, keep learning with us.
If you're feeling really good about today's episode and you want to go right into another one, you can check out 2555.
Capture the connection when you agree with someone in English.
Yes, this is amazing.
Those phrases like same, me too, where you're connecting by agreeing, but in a really natural way.
Yeah, I love when we can.
Just I love the episodes that are just so connection-based Aubrey, because it reminds us why we're here and why we published this podcast.
Exactly, right?
You guys don't want to have that FOMO that comes from missing out on all of these connections and conversations, right?
When you're just sort of in a group but not able to participate, you have FOMO, even though you're right there.
That's happened to me before.
You want to be able to participate.
Interesting.
Interesting.
I feel like even dogs can get FOMO.
I think my dog gets FOMO when he sees two other dogs playing and they don't want to play with him.
You know, it's such a universal, not just human, but it's like universal and aspect of being alive.
It's such a, yeah, I'm sure.
Right.
Animals, humans, we all feel this.
Nobody wants to be left out.
We want to feel included.
It's so true.
All right.
Great topic today, Aubrey, and we'll see you back on the show soon.
All right.
Have a good week.
You too.
See you next time.
Bye, thanks for listening to all ears english.
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