Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster.
My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA-certified English teacher.
Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient.
In every episode, we'll learn how to use five new English words or expressions, so that you too can start speaking like a native.
So let's get learning.
Hello, you guys.
What is up?
So I am currently in Toulouse, France.
And so I've been wanting to record this episode for...
I think a little over a week.
But last week I had a really bad sore throat.
I had a terrible cold.
So I was just like, okay, you know what?
I'm going to record it next week.
Hoping, you know, I'm going to be feeling a little bit better.
And well, one thing led to another.
And yesterday I went and I got tested for COVID.
And I tested positive.
So yeah, I don't know how I got it.
I mean, I'm basically over it now.
But I really, I don't know.
Like I'm probably the least social person that you know.
I only have been hanging out with my boyfriend.
You know, we're in a foreign country.
So it's not like we're socializing a bunch.
But yeah, apparently I got it.
And so yeah, but I'm feeling better now, which means I can finally record this episode.
So yeah, let's get to it.
Today we're talking about heaven and hell.
Hey Joey.
Sup Bella.
Let's just wait for Jimmy, then we can get going.
Okay, yeah, he said he's on his way.
By the way, are you okay?
I heard something happened at the club yesterday.
Wait, who told you?
Sam, the bartender.
We're friends.
But he didn't tell me what happened exactly.
Yeah, well, it was a hell of a night.
I don't remember much because I drank too much.
Again?
Oh, Joey.
Well, you must remember something.
I mean, I remember that I went to the spa with Jimmy to watch the game.
We drank, you know, maybe a little too much.
And then this dude I don't know where I'm telling you, he comes and tells me I need to stop drinking and takes away my glass.
And I'm like, You know, like, what the hell?
Like, you know, like, you're not my mom.
Anyway, I may have gotten a little angry, I'll admit it.
And then I think I punched the guy.
And that's when all hell broke loose in the bar.
Everybody started screaming, fighting, and throwing chairs.
It was crazy.
Joey, this needs to stop.
You can't keep doing this.
You need to find this guy and apologize.
Hell no.
I mean, what right did it have to tell me what to do?
He doesn't even know me.
It doesn't matter, Joey.
I'm serious.
These anger issues that you have, you need help.
This kind of stuff is going to get you in trouble.
And listen, what about the guy you punched?
Is he fine?
I heard somebody called an ambulance.
Heaven forbid something happens to this guy and then you end up... Oh, come on.
I barely touched the guy.
Oh, here comes Jimmy.
Oh my gosh, Jimmy.
What happened to your face?
Well, somebody punched me last night.
Wait, you were the guy I punched?
Alrighty, so let's move on to the expressions.
A hell of a something.
Yeah, well, it was a hell of a night.
If you say it was a hell of a night, what does that mean?
That it was a great night or a terrible night?
Well, if you listen to the story, you might notice that the way this expression was used was to indicate that that night had been a terrible night.
So this is one of the two possible meanings that this expression can have.
You know, it was a hell of a night.
It was awful.
It was horrible.
But it can also have the opposite meaning, meaning, oh my gosh, we had so much fun.
It was a hell of a night.
So, depending on the context, a lot of times this expression can have these two completely opposite meanings.
And what else could you replace night with?
Well, probably with pretty much anything.
It was a hell of a ride, for example, or it was a hell of a movie, or maybe he was a hell of a man.
Really, pretty much with anything.
Can you think of a recent night that was a hell of a night?
I think, well, my nuts are usually pretty quiet because I don't do much.
But when I got my vaccine the second time, I got a fever and I was by myself in the house.
And no matter what medications I would take, the fever wouldn't go down.
And so, yeah, it was a rough night.
I could definitely say that it was a hell of a night.
I'm not looking forward to spending another night like that again.
Expression number two, what the hell?
Like, what the hell?
You know, like you're not my mom.
When would you say what the hell?
When you're angry or when you hear something funny.
You usually say what the hell when you're angry.
Now, I should probably say that the expression, the word hell is not seen as a great word.
In fact, some people may even consider it sort of a bad word.
You know, children are not allowed to use it usually.
So careful with that.
Just keep that in mind when you want to use this expression.
But if you don't have any problems with that and you want to use it with a friend, you know, That's fine.
It's not a terrible, terrible word.
It's not like a super, like one of those big swear words.
How else do you feel when saying what the hell?
Shocked and surprised or excited and enthusiastic?
We already said that when you say what the hell, you're usually angry, but you're also shocked and surprised.
So something unexpected happened and that made you angry.
You would react by saying what the hell?
Like, you know, like, what were you thinking?
When was the last time you thought, what the hell?
I get frustrated easily, so I say that probably once a day.
But I remember very vividly this one time when I was working on putting together the language journal and I thought I was done.
Like I had been working night and day for weeks on this thing and I was ready to send it to finally get printed.
And I look at the preview and it looked nothing like what I wanted it to look.
There was some like format issues.
I don't know what was wrong, but I remember looking at it and being like, what the hell?
Like, what else do you want me to do?
And then I fixed it and everything was fine.
But you know, every now and then, getting that what the hell out, it helps.
It helps relieve the stress in a way.
Expression number three, all hell breaks loose.
And that's when all hell broke loose in the bar.
What happens when all hell breaks loose?
Do people start shouting and fighting?
Or do people start smiling at each other?
No, people don't start smiling at each other if all hell breaks loose.
People start shouting and fighting.
It gets chaotic.
It's a mess.
Have you ever been in a situation where all hell broke loose?
No, I mean, I never go to bars.
All the concerts that I've been to, you know, they were fine.
Nothing major happened.
And this is usually something that you would say when there's a lot of people.
But I think a good example would be Black Friday.
Because, you know, on Black Friday you got people lining up to be the first ones to make a purchase at the store that they chose.
And a lot of times, you know, as soon as the door is open, all hell breaks loose.
Meaning there's people that just like start walking on top of each other because they want to get to the product first.
And people that are just like becoming very aggressive.
And So I think you know, if you have that picture in mind of when like, people are starting to get ready to get into a store when it's opening time, and then the moment when the doors open and everybody just swarms in and they start, you know they do what they got to do to get what they want to get.
I think that is a very good image to understand what the expression all hell breaks loose means.
Expression number four, hell no.
Hell no.
I mean, what right did he have to tell me what to do?
What's a synonym for hell no?
Absolutely not or I'll think about it.
A synonym for hell no is absolutely not.
It means there's no way this is going to happen.
And it's obviously used to answer or to respond to someone's suggestion, okay?
Do you want to do this?
Oh, hell no, I don't want to do this.
Or maybe you should do this.
Hell no, I'm not going to do that.
Is hell no formal or informal?
It's definitely informal.
Plus, like I said, the word hell is not the best word.
So it's formal and slightly vulgar, if you will.
I mean, it's not a big deal if you say it.
What's a question you definitely answer with a hell no?
Anything that has to do with extreme sports, that would be my first response.
Say you ask me, hey, Lara, we're going parachuting this weekend.
You want to come?
I couldn't just say no.
I'd be like, hell no.
There's no way I'm going with you.
There's nothing that I would rather do less.
Expression number five, heaven forbid.
Heaven forbid, something happens to this guy and then you end up.
If you begin a sentence with heaven forbid, does that mean you wish for what you're about to say to happen, or not?
No.
When you say heaven forbid and then you say, whatever the situation is, for example, heaven forbid, something happens to this guy, that means I really hope that that's not going to happen.
I'm like seriously hoping that, you know, this is not going to happen.
So the way it works, as you can see, you have heaven forbid, and then you have the verb in the affirmative form.
So heaven forbid this happens, means that I absolutely don't even want to think about the possibility of this happening, because I don't want it to happen in the least.
Think of something that you don't want to happen to you and then create a sentence using heaven forbid.
Well, if I had recorded this episode a week ago, I probably would have said Heaven forbid Marcos and I get COVID and we got to change our travel plans.
Well, obviously, I cannot say that anymore because it has happened.
But, you know, it is what it is.
And we're still going to try and make the best of it, I guess.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com.
Have a great day.
