Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast
number 11. Welcome to another edition of English
as a Second Language podcast brought to you by
www .eslpod .com. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan,
Senior Researcher at the Center for Educational
Development here in Los Angeles, California.
ESL Podcast is especially made for you, those
who are trying to improve their English listening
and speaking. If this is the first time listening
to this podcast, I recommend that you go to our
website, www .eslpod .com. to read more about
how best to use this podcast to improve your
English in today's podcast we're going to talk
about expressing emotions expressing feelings
particularly when you feel sad or you don't feel
well we're going to listen to someone talking
about their feelings and as usual we'll discuss
vocabulary and expressions after we hear the
interview now Let's get started. It would be
great if I could always feel happy all the time,
day in and day out. But sometimes I feel down.
This is one of those days. Sometimes I get depressed
if something disappointing happens. like if I
interview for a job and I don't get it, or if
I have to cancel my vacation after looking forward
to it for a long time. Once in a while, I'll
even feel down if I've read a very sad book or
have seen a movie with a sad or tragic ending.
Well... None of those things happened today,
but I'm still feeling a little blue. I don't
know what the cause is, but maybe what I need
to do is to try to cheer myself up. When I've
felt this way in the past, I've found that a
change of pace helps. Getting out of the house,
going to a new restaurant for dinner, Or just
going for a walk outside can sometimes get me
out of this bad mood. Sometimes, I hate to say
it, but going out and buying myself something
new sometimes does the trick. Getting something
new, especially something I've wanted for a while,
can sometimes cheer me up. Or... Other times,
just having a long talk with a good friend helps
me put things into perspective, and I feel better.
Okay, I've got it. I'll call my friend Debbie
and invite her out to dinner. Debbie is such
a good friend, and she has a way of seeing the
bright side of things. She's one of those people
who always sees the glass half full. not half
empty. I bet she'll help me get out of my lousy
mood. And, if that doesn't work, I'm heading
to the mall. There were several expressions that
we heard that are equivalent or that mean the
same thing. All of them expressing this idea
of feeling sad. You heard the woman say, I feel
down. I feel depressed. I'm feeling a little
blue. I'm in a or I have a bad mood. All of these
are ways of saying, pretty much the same thing,
that we don't feel well, that we're not happy.
The expressions, I feel down or I get depressed
or feel depressed, those are fairly common. The
expression, I'm feeling a little blue, is a little
more old -fashioned, a little more not used quite
as often anymore in English. but to feel blue
means to feel badly, like the color blue. A bad
mood can sometimes be used when we feel sad,
but a bad mood can also be when you are angry
or when you are upset over something. A couple
of other expressions that were used. The woman
said that it would be great if I could feel happy
all the time, day in and day out. The expression
day in and day out means all of the time, that
we're trying to express the idea that it is going
on constantly. So, for example, if you... live
in a climate where it rains a lot, you can say,
it rains day in and day out, meaning every day,
all the time. The woman also said that because
she was feeling a little blue, she was going
to try to cheer herself up. To cheer yourself
up means to make yourself happy. One way she
was going to do this was she was going to have
a change of pace. Change of pace means a change
in the way that you are doing things. Now, literally,
the word pace, P -A -C -E, is related to speed,
how fast you're going relative to someone else.
For example, in a race. If you are going to run
a long race, like, say, a marathon, you want
to pace yourself, to keep your pace so that you
don't get tired. To change your pace or a change
of pace means, more generally, to do something
in a different way, to go in a new direction,
to do things to get yourself out of your depression.
to cheer yourself up. Another expression she
used was, I hate to say it. She said, other times,
I hate to say it, but, and then went on to say
something. This expression is very common in
English. When you want to say something that
you know the other person may not like or that
you're speaking perhaps in a not very positive
way about someone or something. So, for example,
you could say, Well, I hate to say it, but I
don't think my brother is a very good musician.
We use the expression before some bad news or
before something that's unpleasant that we're
going to tell the other person. The woman in
today's podcast also mentioned that she was going
to buy herself something new because sometimes
that does the trick. The expression to do the
trick means to accomplish something, to accomplish
our goal. So, for example, I want to win a million
dollars. I go out and I buy a lottery ticket
and I win. I can say, well, you see, that did
the trick. So to do the trick means to accomplish
your goal, to do something to accomplish your
goal. A couple of other expressions that we heard
today. The glass half empty, not half full. Or
the glass half full, not half empty. The expression
the glass is half full means that you are optimistic.
I always see the glass half full means I always
see the positive side of things. To see the glass
half empty means you are pessimistic. You always
see the negative side of things. Well, I hope
that you listening out there always see the glass
half full. That's going to conclude our ESL podcast
for today. Again, as we have said in the past,
please email us at eslpod at eslpod .com. That's
eslpod at eslpod .com, or go to our website,
www .eslpod .com. We'd love to hear your ideas
and your suggestions, or just to know who is
out there listening and where you are listening
from. We have heard from people in Asia, people
in Europe. Tell us what country you live in and
where you are, those you are listening. Thank
you again for listening today. We'll see you
again next time. ESL Podcast is produced by the
Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles,