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, hello.
How are you?
I hope you're doing well.
But even if you're not feeling great today, if you're feeling a bit sad, don't worry, because today I'm going to teach you some vocabulary to talk about that, because today the story is about negative feelings.
Hey, is everything okay with Tracy?
You know, I don't know.
She's been acting weird all day.
You notice that too?
Yeah, I mean, it's hard not to notice the long face.
Honestly, I didn't do anything.
We woke up this morning and she was already like this.
She's been moping around the house all day.
I asked her a few times if there was something wrong, but she kept telling me everything was fine.
I don't understand why she wouldn't just tell me what's wrong instead of spending a whole day sulking like that.
Well, you better figure out what you did.
She seemed pretty mad.
I don't know if you noticed, but earlier, when we were talking about Sam's birthday party, she gave you this dirty look.
I'm telling you, if looks could kill... Wait a second.
What was it that we were talking about?
I think Sam's birthday party.
Why?
I... What day is it today?
Tuesday.
No, I mean what day of the month?
It's April 12th.
Oh, no.
Don't tell me you've forgotten your girlfriend's... Birthday.
Birthday. ready for some new expressions?
Let's begin with expression number one, long face.
It's hard not to notice the long face.
If you have a long face, how are you feeling?
Happy and content or sad and disappointed?
If you have a long face, you're feeling sad and disappointed.
You don't literally have a longer face, but just I think because of your facial expression you might give that impression.
But yeah, so to have a long face means to be sad and disappointed.
What could cause you to have a long face?
I don't know, lots of things.
Maybe somebody's forgotten your birthday, like in the story, or you just broke up with your partner, or you just had a, I don't know.
Somebody made a mean comment about you.
Whatever.
Anything that might cause you to be sad or disappointed.
What was the last time you had a long face?
Hmm.
I'm not exactly sure.
I don't think I have a long face very often.
Okay, no, wait, I'll take that back.
Because usually what happens to me, it's either I'm super happy or I am crying and I'm you know, just like devastated.
I don't experience anything in the middle.
But I guess, I don't know, maybe a couple days ago, I wasn't feeling my best.
And so I had a long face.
But nothing major had happened.
It was just a bad day.
Expression number two, mope around.
She's been moping around the house all day.
If you mope around a place, How do you move in a sad, slow way or in a happy and energetic way?
If you mope around a place, your house or a room, you move in a sad and slow way.
And why would you mope around a place?
No, because you're feeling sad.
So whenever you're feeling sad, especially if you're like pretty sad, you're not going to like bounce from one place to another.
You're not going to be very fast in your movements.
Everything feels harder, like as if you had no energy in you almost.
When was the last time you moped around your house?
Maybe three weeks ago, was it two?
I don't know, two or three weeks ago, I was alone for four days because my boyfriend was away.
And I don't like being alone.
I do okay for a few hours, but then if it's anything more than... say a day, I get really sad.
And so I was stuck in the house.
I wasn't stuck in the house, but I had to work.
So I was at home for four days straight by myself.
And so I felt pretty sad.
I felt pretty lonely.
And I was moping around the house all day.
And I moped around the house all day, every day for four days until my boyfriend came back.
Expression number three, sulk.
I don't understand why she wouldn't just tell me what's wrong instead of spending a whole day sulking like that.
If you sulk, are you acting friendly or angry?
If you sulk, you act angry or you feel angry.
You feel frustrated or And when sulking, do you want to discuss what bothers you?
No, that's the thing about sulking.
So when you sulk, you are mostly silent.
You don't want to talk about what bothers you.
And whenever someone talks to you, you answer to them in an angry way.
So yeah, you're not facing the problem.
You're not having an open conversation about what's bothering you.
You just like kind of keep it in and stay angry.
And yeah, that's what sulking is.
It's not the best behavior, but a lot of people do it.
A lot of people.
Instead of opening up and telling other people what's wrong they're, they will just sulk.
So they will be silent and angry and whenever you talk to me, I will lash out at you and yeah, it's not great.
Do you normally sulk when you get angry?
Oh boy, I used to do this all the time.
My mom is the queen of sulking, and so I learned that from her, and I think it wasn't until I was maybe 20 yeah, 21 when I learned that sulking is not good.
It doesn't do anybody good.
When you're sulking, you're not really solving a problem.
You're just making it worse.
You're making it bigger in your head.
So I think it's better to just have an open conversation with someone, telling the other person how you're feeling.
It's not always easy because sometimes you just, you're so frustrated.
You just want the other person to figure it out on their own.
But, you know, people aren't mind readers.
So sometimes you have to tell them what bothers you.
And so, no, I don't sulk as much.
I sometimes still do, but I try not to because I know it can be very upsetting for other people and for me as well.
Expression number four, give someone a dirty look.
When we're talking about Sam's birthday party, she gave you this dirty look.
If you give someone a dirty look, how do you look at them? lovingly or with disapproval.
If you give someone a dirty look, it means that you look at them with disapproval.
Kind of like, oh, I can't believe you or, oh, I hate you.
You know, it's just like, it's a very powerful look that you would give them.
Have you ever given someone a dirty look?
Why?
What had they done?
So, yes.
Back when I was in high school I almost used that as a weapon against a kid because he used to make fun of me a lot for some reason.
He thought it was funny.
And I never really I can never tell for sure, like I never heard him, but I could see the laughs and I could see the way, you know, he was looking at me whenever he was talking with these friends.
They were all laughing and looking at me.
So I knew something was going on, but I couldn't confront them.
Because, you know, they could have just said, no, that's not true.
We're not making fun of you.
But I was sure that they were.
They were making at least comments about me and probably my body.
So anyway, the only thing that I was left with that I could do was giving him a dirty look every now and then.
So whenever we were in class and whenever he would look at me, I would give him a dirty look.
So yeah, and I think that worked.
I think he stopped because he knew that I was really, really mad.
But yeah.
Expression number five, if looks could kill.
I'm telling you, if looks could kill.
When is the expression if looks could kill used?
When someone looks at you angrily or when someone doesn't look at you at all.
The expression if looks could kill is used when someone looks at you angrily, with lots of anger, lots of even hate in their eyes.
So it's kind of like you know giving someone a dirty look, but it's a lot more powerful because you're talking about.
You could almost kill with just a look.
That's what you're saying.
The full expression is, if looks could kill, I'd be dead right now.
Because it's such a powerful, such an intense look that you feel it could almost have the power to kill you.
Has anybody ever looked at you in a way that made you think, if looks could kill?
I, I think my mom, I remember this one time I, okay, to be fair, I had lied to her.
I told her I was going, I think, out with some friends, but really I was going out with a guy.
I think I was maybe 14 at that time.
And so we were supposed to meet and silly me instead of parting ways with this guy.
Before I had to meet my mom, I was still hanging out with him and I was actually kissing him when I like move a little bit.
And right behind him I see my mom and I'm telling you if looks could kill, She was so furious, so so mad.
And I was, that lasted a while.
I think she didn't speak to me for, I don't know, quite a few days because I, she was really mad.
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.
