AEE 2383: English Vocabulary Should Be the Least of Your Worries!
17:54 Share

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2383. English vocabulary should be the least of your worries. Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? 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. Hey.

To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward slash app.

Sometimes we need a way to put a positive spin on things. This is super common in American culture. What about your culture? Today, get four ways to use variations of the phrase at least in English.

Do you know your English level? Knowledge is power, as they say, and knowing your English level is the first step to actually reach your goals. Take our free two-minute specialized quiz to discover where you're at now and get custom tips for how to reach the next level. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score, answer eight questions, and get your results immediately. Go now to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score.

Hello, Aubrey. What's going on today? Oh, man. Well, I wanted to record an interview for one of our courses, and I did not get that done because there was a lot of background noise. My neighbors are trimming trees, but we're getting recording done at least. All right, good. And you can always reschedule that interesting role play interview. Interview role play. Interviews are important, aren't they, Aubrey?

Absolutely, right? This is so vital for work, getting the job you want. And we want to make sure you are prepared. And we have a very exciting announcement about an amazing course that will be available very soon. Yes, we are excited to announce that very soon we're going to be going live with our brand new Professional English Level 1 course. This is going to be a fantastic way to build your business English foundation, right?

right especially with a heavy focus on meetings and presentations this is what we need as well as socializing and small talk so guys we do have an exclusive list to get on that list so that you will be one of the first to hear about the course when it does go live in a couple of weeks so go over to allairsenglish.com slash professional and sign up

All right. Yes. And then you will get to hear the interview that I was supposed to record this morning, but we'll do later. This is going to be an amazing course. I can't wait for you guys to check it out. I'm super excited. It's going to be groundbreaking. So guys, sign up for the list at allersenglish.com slash professional.

But in your answer, you also said something interesting at the very end, Aubrey. What did you say? Right? At least, I said. At least, you know, I said, we're getting recording done, at least. And I could have put it before that and said, at least we're getting recording done. This is an interesting chunk that we use so much.

I'm excited to dive into this today. Oh my gosh, yeah. It's tacked on in the end, in the beginning, maybe in the middle. I don't know. We're going to explore it today, right, Aubrey? Yes, and stay to the end because this is inspired by a recent episode where Lindsay said this. And so we will share at the end that episode so you can go check it out if you missed it.

The cool thing about Allers English is because we have the transcripts available in the app and available at allersenglish.com/subscribe, Aubrey, you go through the transcripts every week and you're able to identify native and natural phrases we use kind of in passing on the show.

Exactly. These are human created transcripts, which is rare anymore with AI doing so many of them. We have human created transcripts. We want them to be as accurate as possible for you. I go through those and I'm pulling keywords, the most important vocabulary for you to add to your power list in the app.

And then I also notice a lot of interesting chunks and language features that we're able to highlight on later episodes. Yeah, that's actually really cool. So we're able to examine what we say on the show and then create new episodes for you based on what we say naturally. Okay. So good stuff, guys. Hit the follow button if you love the show. Let's start with at least. Just at least. Alone, Aubrey. Tell us about this.

Yeah. So it's an adverb phrase. It means the minimum that is true or possible. We use it at the end, the beginning, the middle. Let's share a few examples here. Okay. I know you wanted her to call, but she texted at least. And my tone of voice is a little different too, isn't it? True. The intonation is important. We're giving...

what's the word? We are acknowledging that at least she did the very minimum. She may not have done what you expected, but she did this at least. Yeah, exactly. And so your tone goes up in a positive way, right? It feels lighter. We're glass half full people here. We're trying to look at the positive when we say at least. Yeah, yeah, exactly. What about the Mediterranean cruise? I might say, I won't be able to do the Mediterranean cruise I wanted, but at least we're going on a trip to the mountains.

Yeah. Some cruise has fallen through. We're replacing it with maybe a trip that's not quite as exciting, but I'm trying to look at the bright side, be positive. At least we're doing this trip. Yeah. And that makes me think of culture. I mean, I would be fascinated to know from our listeners if you have a function in your language, like at least where you end a lot of statements,

On the bright side, I don't know if we can assume it's global, this way of speaking necessarily, Aubrey. I think the American culture, we're a young culture, right, compared to a lot of ancient cultures. And I think we have more of a vibe towards...

like presenting a positive message sometimes. Absolutely. And this comes up a lot in our culture in movies and TV. There's a film, Pollyanna, where she's always positive, always looking at the bright side. This came up in one of our interviews as part of one of our courses. It's a big part of our culture.

Yeah. So that's really, I mean, maybe we can formulate a survey question at the end of the episode for this to learn more from our listeners about their cultures. So look out for that. All right. Here's the next one. At least you called your mom on her birthday. I totally forgot.

Yeah, so here we're seeing it at the beginning, right? At least you called your mom on her birthday. I totally forgot to call mine. So the important thing is it can show up at the end, it can show up at the beginning. We're presenting a positive side of something. Exactly. Such a native chunk. And we use least or at least in so many ways in English, we're going to share a few of these other chunks. So for example, in the least, we're

or the least bit. These both mean not even a little bit. Yeah, I love that. So first example here, I'm not upset about in a, sorry, I'm not upset about that in the least.

Yeah. So you're emphasizing here, right? You could say, I am not upset about that at all, or I am not upset even a little bit, but we use this chunk. I'm not upset about that in the least. Love that. Interesting. What else, Aubrey? What's another one? And then this, the least bit has the same meaning. So we might say he apologized, but didn't seem the least bit

sincere. And again, to emphasize, he didn't even seem a little bit sincere. Yeah, really interesting. And then we move on to another way this comes out is at the very least, I feel like I use this a lot. Do you use this? Yeah. It means the minimum that is expected

So, for example, at the very least, you could have called to let me know you'd be late. You're letting someone know you didn't even do the bare minimum. Didn't do the bare minimum. I like that. Didn't meet expectations in any way. Right? So, for example, I thought he'd text back at the very least. Right? Right.

Right. I feel like this does come up a lot in dating. It's like we have certain expectations. Maybe you would love a date, a phone call. I was like, I thought at least he'd text back. Right. Or I thought he'd text back at the very least. Or if you've had a horrible date and it's like a personal hygiene issue, I thought he'd brush his hair at the very least or change his shirt at the very least. I thought he'd wear shoes at the very least.

we can tell some horror stories i'm sure we all have them so that's fun that's a way to connect for our listeners telling dating horror stories absolutely and this is such a great way to exaggerate a little or really emphasize they didn't even meet the barest minimum of expectations now one question i'll break for this very least i find myself putting emphasis on very at the very least i thought he'd brush his hair is that what you do too

Yes, same. At the very least, you could have called to let me know you'd be late. Exactly. We hit very a little bit harder. You do not want to use these in a monotone because you are creating emphasis. So it would be very strange to have a flat tone. You want to slow down enough that you can emphasize that word more. Love it. All right. And there is a fourth. What is it?

Now, this is the least of one's worries. So this chunk means something that seems unimportant compared to greater concerns. Okay, so for example, I should be worried about my health, but it's the least of my worries.

Yeah, I've said this recently because I'm dealing with so much with kids and all these things. And then I'll realize at the end of the day that I have not drunk any water. Oh, no. Like, I should be concerned about my hydration, but it's the least of my worries. I have so many other things to think about. Wow. So challenging to be a mom, right? Yes. Oh, my gosh. Or sleep, I would imagine. Sleep as well as one of those things. That too, right? This is the least of my worries. It's, you know, it should be a huge concern. It's debilitating to be, you know...

tired all the time, but so many other things to worry about. All right, next one. We have another example here. Aubrey, what's that one? Yeah, we're just glad you're okay. Fixing the car is the least of our worries. So we said this to our daughter when she wrecked her car. It was a terrible accident, but luckily she was okay. And this was we're like, we're just happy that you are not injured. Fixing the car is the least of our worries, even though it was totaled and was actually a huge pain.

That compared to the other concern that she could have been injured worse. Perfect time to use this phrase. No, that's perfect. I love that. So good. These are great examples. Are you in charge of hiring at your company? There are great candidates out there, but they tend to get hired fast. That's why speed matters. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites. Indeed's sponsored jobs helps you stand out and hire fast.

With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. And it makes a huge difference. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45% more applications than non-sponsored jobs.

One of the things that I love about Indeed is that it makes hiring fast and easy so that I can get the most high quality applications for my job openings. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com slash A-E-E.

Just go to indeed.com slash A-E-E right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash A-E-E. That's I-N-D-E-E-D dot com slash A-E-E. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need.

Okay, Aubrey, let's hop into a roleplay because we know that our listeners love seeing these phrases come to life. Absolutely. So I am sharing with you, Lindsay, about someone that ghosted me. So if this were recent, you know, must be not me. I'm either not myself in this roleplay or I'm talking about 30 years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's okay. That works. So here we go. All right. I'll start us. He could have called to let me know he's not interested at least.

So rude. He doesn't seem the least bit concerned about your feelings. Exactly. At the very least, he could have sent a text. I'm sorry. Such a bummer. I'm better off without him. I won't miss him in the least. Besides, with everything going on at work, dating is the least of my worries.

Yeah, it's always a challenge. I mean, I don't feel like I have these conversations much anymore because most of my friends are married with kids at this point. But, you know, in the day, if you were partnered up and happy and your friend was getting ghosted and still in the thick of things with the dating world, which is supposed to be really challenging these days, what to say when this happened, right? Because you find yourself using cliches and then rolling your eyes at what you're saying. Totally.

Exactly. And we recently did an episode with trendy dating vocabulary, ghosting, breadcrumbing. If you missed that, scroll up. You got to check it out. It was amazing. Yeah, really challenging to know what to say. So let's see what we did say though, vocabulary wise. So you started by saying he could have called to let me know he's not interested at least.

Right. So this is where I just never heard from someone again, right? They ghosted me. And I'm saying like, I would have loved a call to say, you know, I'm sorry, we're not the match. That's the bare minimum of my expectation there. So I say, he could have called at least. Yeah. And then I said, oh, so rude. He doesn't seem the least bit concerned about your feelings. Okay.

Yeah. And this just means not even a little bit. He doesn't seem even a little bit concerned about your feelings. Love that. And then Aubrey, what'd you say after that? I said exactly at the very least he could have sent a text.

So this phrase I'm saying like, this would have been under minimum expectations, but at least he could have, at the very least he could have sent a text to let me know he's not interested. Yeah. I said, I'm sorry, such a bummer. And then you kept going on. You said, I'm better off without him. I won't miss him in the least. Right? Yeah. Again, this means like not even a little. I won't miss him even a little bit. And this is probably, I mean, if I care that he ghosted me, it's probably not true. This is me convincing myself that I don't care. It's fine. Yeah.

We do all kinds of things, right? When this sort of thing happens. And then you said, besides with everything going on at work, dating is the least of my worries. So you're trying to end in a positive tone. You might still be really hurt, but you know, these are things we can say to at least end in a positive. And sometimes when we speak in a positive way, the mind follows that.

right absolutely right it keeps us in a positive mindset this is definitely something i would say right if something goes badly then say like well that's the least of my worries i'm going to focus on things that are more important that i should be that i should be more concerned with and i think in terms of the dating world that's exactly right with this kind of like oh you went out once you got ghosted it's really it's annoying but it's not something is that you need to process for

too, too long. If it's a long relationship, then probably there's more to work through. Right. And I love that you're doing the good friend thing to be like, he doesn't seem the least bit concerned when really you're probably thinking like he probably just didn't want that awkward conversation. It's easier to just never reach out again because a lot of people find that very awkward to say to someone or even text, I'm sorry, we're not the match. But that's the kind thing to do. Yeah. I was just having this conversation with

someone recently and it's becoming more and more common for sure. And we've talked about on the show too. So interesting. Aubrey, is there another episode we can go to?

Yeah, we want to make sure you don't miss the episode that inspired this. Lindsay said, that's what our listeners have told us at least in episode 2373, grammar answers to a well-written question. This was about compound adjectives. When should you hyphenate them? And we want to make sure you didn't miss that. So scroll up and check it out. All right, good stuff. How should we finish today? What should we leave our listeners with?

Yeah, a great way to connect is to share the bare minimum that was expected or received. It's a great way to emphasize disappointment. But like you said, also put a positive spin on things. Yeah, and I think also reflect on your own culture. Are there a lot of ways in your language to, yeah, put a positive spin on what you're saying? Or do you feel like that's not as valued in your culture? Maybe that will be our, like I said, our poll question for today. Yeah, I love that.

if you are not in spotify you could always come over to youtube and tell us in the comments of this episode right right aubry yeah this is so interesting because in your culture it might be that it is seen as almost dishonest to put this positive spin it's a very cultural so we would be interested in that fascinating i love it all right aubry we are finished up for today i'll see you very soon awesome see you next time all right bye bye

Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.