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Conversational Vocabulary

Hi there, ladies and gentlemen. This is Aaron Campbell of “Deep English,” and I’m now going to talk about some of the words and phrases that Dan and I used in our conversation about mistaken identity, so let’s get started.

1. milk it

The first is “milk it.” “Milk it.” What do you think that means? This is something that I say to Dan when he’s talking about these high school girls who thought that he was Keanu Reeves. They were deaf girls and they thought that Dan was Keanu Reeves, who is a famous actor in the United States.

I asked Dan, I said, “You didn’t milk it?” Dan says, “No, I didn’t milk it,” so to milk something means to take advantage of a situation, to get as much out of it as you can in terms of personal gain. It’s really taking advantage of an opportunity or a situation for your own gain. If you imagine a cow who has milk inside of the cow, in order to milk that cow you have to get down on your hands and knees and you have to squeeze the udder until all the milk comes out, and the more that you squeeze and the longer that you take you can get more and more milk out of that cow, so to milk something, think of it as milking a cow. It takes some effort, but you can get something out of a situation that will benefit you.

Children often do this. They’ll milk situations. For example, maybe a child doesn’t like school very much and one day the child wakes up and he has a very small fever. His temperature is up. He doesn’t feel that bad, but he pretends that he’s very, very sick and when his mother comes to measure his temperature, she realizes, yes, he does have a fever and oh, he’s in so much pain and he’s suffering so much, I think we should keep him home from school, so the child, even though the child actually doesn’t feel that bad, that child is manipulating the situation, milking the situation for all it’s worth.

We often add that to milk it. Milk it for all it’s worth. You’ll hear people say this. “You should milk it for all it’s worth,” like that. That means get as much out of the situation as you can. Have you ever milked a situation for your own benefit, for all it was worth?

1. Are you kidding me?

Okay, let’s move onto the next one. “Are you kidding me?” This is something that I say in response to Dan talking about the most common last names, actually the most common combination of first name and last name in the United States, which was James Smith, but what he says is John Smith, which we think is a very common name, actually doesn’t make the top 10, and that surprised me. I thought John Smith would be the most popular name or, if not the most popular, at least the second most popular, but Dan says it doesn’t even make the top 10, and I say, “Are you kidding me?” I just couldn’t believe it.

When you can’t believe something, when something really surprises you or shocks you, you can use this phrase, “Are you kidding me?” like that. “Really? No way. I can’t believe it,” like this.

It’s very important your intonation when using this, because if you want it to mean, “No way, I can’t believe it. Wow, incredible, unbelievable,” then your intonation needs to go up. “Really?

Are you kidding me?” like this, in that way.

If your intonation goes down, then this phrase has a slightly different meaning. It also means that you’re surprised, but in a disappointed way or a disgusted way, an unhappy way, like this, so if someone tells you, “Hey, the stock market just crashed today,” you might say, “Oh, no. Are you kidding me? Aw, you’re kidding me, right? You’re kidding me,” so that kind of down tone would indicate disappointment or disgust or unhappiness of some sort. “Aw, you’re kidding me. They got divorced? Aw, you’re kidding me. What? He got hit by a car? Aw, no, you’re kidding me,” like this, so your intonation matters here. It changes the meaning for this phrase.

1. Put that in your back pocket.

Let’s move onto the next one. “Put that in your back pocket.” Wow, that’s a nice interesting phrase that I don’t hear that often, but it is common. Some people say this. Depends on where you’re from, but this is what Dan tells me when he gives me the information that James Smith is the most common name in the US followed by Michael Smith, and the top three combinations are all Smiths, and I said, “Wow, I didn’t know that,” and he said, “Put that in your back pocket. Use that to impress someone.”

To put something in your back pocket, if you imagine that literally, what would you put in your back pocket? Well, you’d probably put something in your back pocket that you would use in a situation, maybe a pocket knife or a handkerchief or some tissues or maybe your wallet.

Something really useful goes in your back pocket so you can easily get it, and when Dan uses this phrase what he’s telling me is, “Don’t forget what I just told you. It’s very useful. You can use it to impress someone,” like this.

You can actually use this phrase when you want to tell someone to remember something. “Put that in your back pocket. Use it in the future. It will be helpful for you. Put that in your back pocket. Don’t forget it. Remember it,” like this.

1. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Interestingly, I respond to Dan by saying, “I’ll put that in my pipe and smoke it.” This is a little bit different, and actually, it’s a little strange the way I actually use this, and it’s strange because when Dan said, “Put that in your back pocket,” it made me think of the phrase, “Put that in your pipe and smoke it,” like this, and they have slightly different meanings.

As we mentioned before, “Put that in your back pocket” means remember it, use it someday.

“Put that in your pipe and smoke it,” if you tell someone, “Hey, put that in your pipe and smoke it,” it means that someone should listen to what you just said and accept it even if you don’t like it, even if it’s untrue, whatever. It’s kind of rude. You shouldn’t use this unless you’re trying to be rude or unless you’re goofing around with friends.

You might say, “Hey, I’m number one and I’m going to do whatever I want to do, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.” It means you should accept what I said, doesn’t matter what you think, what I said is true and you should just accept it, even if you don’t like it. “Put that in your pipe and smoke it,” so Dan gave me some information about the Smiths being a very common name, and I said, “Yeah, okay, I’ll put that in my pipe and smoke it,” meaning, “I’ll accept what you say, Dan, even if it’s true or not,” like this. “Put that in your pipe and smoke it.” Be careful using that. It’s a bit strong.

1. How about that?

Okay, let’s move onto the next one. This is a really useful phrase. You should definitely learn this one, definitely start using it, and it’s, “How about that? Oh, how about that? How about that? How about that?” This is kind of a way of saying, “Really? Oh, interesting. Okay, I understand.”

It’s kind of like a rejoinder. It’s a sound that you make to tell someone that you’re listening and you’re interested in what they’re saying, so Dan talking about how this guy, John Smith or Lord Willoughby, went on to become the personal physician of the King of Hawaii, and I said, “Are you kidding me? Really?” so I’m surprised there. I’m using the upward intonation. Dan says “Yeah,” and I say, “How about that?” What that means is, “Oh, interesting. How about that? How about that?” but we pronounce it, “How ‘bout that? How ‘bout that? How ‘bout that?” like this.

Use that. Anytime someone says something even mildly interesting, say, “Oh, how about that?

That’s interesting. Really? How about that,” like this.

1. go sour

All right, let’s move on. This is something that Dan says a little bit later. He uses the phrase, “go sour,” so he’s talking about this guy and he had a history of different business investments, and Dan says, “All of them went sour.” They went sour. Of course, sour is a taste, a taste that’s not necessarily very good, a taste that some people don’t like. Lemons are sour, like this, so they’re not so easy to eat. They’re sour, so when something goes sour it turns sour. It becomes sour, and in this case, if it’s a business investment that goes sour, that means it goes bad.

Something negative. It’s turned into something very negative. It’s gone sour, so sometimes investments can go sour when they lose their value unexpectedly.

A business deal can go sour if things go wrong. A political negotiation can go sour. Lots of relationships go sour. A man and a woman, they fall in love, they get married, and after a few years they realize that living with each other is very difficult and their relationship goes sour, and one of them starts sleeping with someone else and they get into arguments and they can’t stand each other anymore. That’s a relationship that has gone sour. Anytime something turns negative, you can use this. It goes sour. Hopefully when things go sour, you don’t feed them.

You can let them go. You can try to turn them into something good, so that’s go sour.

Remember that one.

1. throw the book at (someone)

All right, next one. Next one is hard to guess, actually, the meaning of it. It’s an idiom, and it’s something that Dan used, and it’s called, “throw the book at.” Throw the book at someone.

Throw the book at him. Throw the book at her. Throw the book at them. We’re talking about this con artist and we’re wondering what happened to him, and Dan says, “Yeah, I wonder if they threw the book at him,” so what this means is, to throw the book at someone means to punish them to the full extent of the law. This is what judges do in a court of law. They can throw the book at you. That means to punish you to the maximum extent of their power.

If you imagine a book, that this is the book of law, so there’s lots of laws and it’s a very big, thick book, and if they throw the book at you it means they’re not even bothering to read all of the punishments and all the different rules. They’re going to give you all of them, so no point in reading them. I’ll just throw the book at you as the judge, and that’s your punishment. You’re going to get the full extent of the punishment, whatever it is, so anytime you hear that, it has a legal sense in terms of punishing or sentencing someone to prison time or some other kind of punishment, to throw the book at someone. Hopefully you’ve never had the book thrown at you. I hope not.

1. in your dreams

Let’s move on. The next one is a good one, too. I use this sometimes. “In your dreams.” In your dreams. This is a phrase that you can use. Dan’s talking, he’s just joking, of course, and he’s saying that when we started “Deep English,” Aaron, which is me, recognized that, “Dan, you’re going to be the boss. You have the vision. You’re the skipper. You’re the captain. Wherever you go, I will follow you,” and this is Dan talking about what he thinks that I said to him, and I said, “Yeah, that’s right, Dan. In your dreams, buddy,” like this. “In your dreams,” so basically it’s a way of telling someone that whatever they’re saying, whatever they’re thinking, “No way.

You’re just dreaming. There’s no way that’s ever going to happen. It’s just totally separated from reality.” It’s another way of saying, “Yeah, you wish. You wish,” as if you’re wishing this were true but it’s not true at all.

You can use that anytime someone says something crazy or outlandish. You can say, “Yeah, in your dreams. In your dreams,” and I use the term “buddy,” and “buddy” is a slang way, a very casual way, of saying friend. “In your dreams, buddy. In your dreams, dude. In your dreams, bro. In your dreams, man,” like this. It’s a very casual way of speaking.

1. off the charts

All right. Next one, “off the charts.” You should learn this one too. This is a good one. When something is “off the charts,” it means it’s at an extreme level, so Dan is talking about when someone dies on the other side of the world in an earthquake you think it’s terrible, but it’s hard to empathize with it, but in this case, with these two daughters, one of them died and one of them survived but they mixed them up and the empathy levels must be, he says, “off the charts.” That means just very, very extreme situation. The compassion, the pain, the suffering that people are feeling in that situation must be very extreme, so it’s off the charts.

The chart is something that measures. Actually, the chart doesn’t measure. The chart represents a measurement of reality, of some kind of experiment or some kind of measurement of a phenomenon, so if it’s off the charts, if the level is off the charts, it means it’s so extreme that it doesn’t even fit on the chart, so you can say things like, “I had my blood tested last week and the doctor said that my cholesterol is off the charts. My cholesterol levels are off the charts. It’s very dangerous. I’m going to need to make drastic measures to bring my cholesterol level down,” or we might talk about a young girl and she’s amazing. She can do anything, and the teachers say, “Yeah, her IQ, her intelligence, is off the charts. She’s a genius.

She can do anything.“

Nowadays with global warming and some places the temperature, especially in the summer, is off the charts. It’s just outrageously high. I think the average global temperature in the past year has been higher than it’s ever been in recorded history, so you can say the world temperature is off the charts, like this. Maybe if you continue with “Deep English” your fluency levels will be off the charts. That would make us very, very happy.

1. it goes to show

Okay, let’s move onto the next one, and this one is something that Dan says, and it is, “It goes to show.” It goes to show. It’s a nice little phrase that a lot of people say, and it’s not so easy to figure out, necessarily, so we’re talking about this Chinese man who mistakenly ended up as a refugee in Germany even though he was a tourist, and Dan says, “Yeah, it just goes to show you’ve got to study that English, otherwise you can end up in this situation.” Then I say, “Yeah, if you can’t communicate in English, man, you’re in trouble,” so Dan’s saying, “It goes to show.”

This situation goes to show that you’ve got to study English.

What this means is it’s a good example of. It’s a case in point. This is a perfect example that you need to study English, you have to be able to use English to explain yourself in this situation, which this man could not do, and because he could not communicate well with the German authorities, he ended up in a bad situation, and Dan is pointing to that situation, saying, “Yeah, that situation goes to show you’ve got to study that English. It’s a perfect example of the fact that you need to study that English. It’s a case in point. It goes to show,” like this, so remember that. That’s good.

1. telling

Here’s another one. This is something that I say, and I say, “Yeah, that’s very telling.” That’s very telling. Telling. To tell means to say or to speak or to communicate, and if something is very telling, it’s communicating very clearly, very loudly, very boldly, something to us, so we’re talking about this Chinese guy and because he’s dressed differently and he’s totally confused, he’s out of place, how did they solve this problem? Well, one of the German guards or one of the German staff members or whatever took out his smart phone and used an app on his smart phone to do the translation. Wow. I said, “Yeah, that’s telling of the times. That’s very telling.” It’s like saying, “That’s very revealing. That’s very insightful.”

The fact that he used an app to solve this problem is very 2016. This is not 1994 anymore.

We’re in 2016, and that’s how we’re going to solve problems, with using apps, getting on the Internet, using technology to overcome our communication difficulties. It makes sense. It’s very telling, like this, so something that’s telling is something that’s very revealing. It shows you very clearly and represents what it is that you’re pointing at, so that’s a good phrase to use.

1. chalk it up

We’re getting close to the end here. The last one, “chalk it up.” Nice little phrasal verb there.

Chalk it up. To chalk it up, what does that mean? Chalk, as we know, is a powdery, hard stick that you use to write on a blackboard in schools, basically, so to chalk something means to write it on the chalkboard literally, literally write something up on the chalkboard for other people to see, and maybe it stays up there a while. Basically this means to let something go, to acknowledge it and let it go as experience, so let me give you the example that we used in the conversation that this Chinese guy, once he finally solved his problem with the help of the German guard and the app on his smart phone, he was set free and instead of going back home he continued on his travels, which is pretty cool.

I’m saying to Dan, that’s the part I really like about this story, is the guy didn’t get really upset and try to sue the German government were try to take some kind of legal action. He let it go.

He chalked it up for experience and moved on with his original plan to do sightseeing, so what he did was he let it go. He acknowledged it, set it aside, and attributed it to experience. “This is something I’m going to learn from. Yes, it was painful or it was difficult, but now I’m just going to let it go. I’m not going to let it bother me anymore. I’m going to live and learn.” It’s just a way to give credit to that. Chalk it up. Just chalk it up. Don’t worry about it. Chalk it up. Let it go. Put it behind you. Move on. Learn from it, like this. Chalk it up. I like that one.

Okay, that brings me to the end of my commentary this month. I hope that you found these 12 words and phrases useful, and yeah. Please do try to use them when you can. If you have any questions, ask us in the forum. Okay, enjoy.