AEE 2390: Make Up Your Mind About These English Expressions
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This is the All Ears English Podcast, Episode 2390. Make up your mind about these English expressions.

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Do you get confused about when to use I don't mind and when to use I don't care? Today, get the answer plus five other ways to use the word mind in English.

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Hello, Aubrey. How are you today? How's it going? I'm great, Lindsay. How are you? Good. I'm feeling pretty good today. Yeah. Aubrey, when's the last time you had a hard time making up your mind about something? Long question, but...

Yeah, this is going to be interesting. We're talking about making up our minds today. I'm usually a pretty decisive person. I usually am able to make up my mind quickly about something. But I can think of something. Recently, I was trying to decide what to do as far as my daughter sharing a vehicle.

We're like, should we get it? And it's tricky, right? When you have one for two girls who are both working and in school and how do we figure this out? So I finally made up my mind that they were just going to have to share the car and we will give them rides if needed, right? One of our daughters is riding the school bus to school. So I made up my mind.

Nice. We're not buying another car. It's really, that would be crazy, right? That would be a lot to buy cars for all the kids. It's good for them to share. They just can't each have their own car. It's just not feasible. No, my gosh. Sharing is a great thing to learn, you know, for kids, I think. Yeah, absolutely. Wow. Okay. So what are we getting into today, Aubrey?

Now we're going to answer a question that was put on one of our YouTube videos. And we're sharing about making up our mind and a lot of related idioms. We use the word mind so many ways in English, a shocking amount, actually. When I went to like look up idioms with mind, like hundreds. Yeah, it's true. Almost a hundred, so many.

Yeah. So we have to know. So this episode came from a question from YouTube. Should I go ahead and read the question? Yeah. So this is from Graziella de la Souza Ferreira. Here we go. Hi, guys. I love All Ears English. I have a question.

How about I don't mind? Could I use it to be more polite and more flexible? It's a good question. It is a good question. Yes, it absolutely is more polite than like, I don't care, right? But we're going to go into this with some examples today and lots of related phrases. But first, we want to say thank you to some of our reviewers. Yeah, huge thank you to a couple of people that reviewed us right in the

iOS app or the Android app or in the podcast. So special thank you to who do we have here? Someone in Turkey on March 9th with a five-star review and they said fun. It's pretty fun to listen to you guys. That's a nice compliment. We love that. Max from Taiwan said big thanks with a five-star review on March 7th. Thank you to Max from Taiwan and thank you to Margarita Sanz.

Siller from the US on March 4th. Guys, if you want to hear your name being read on the show, go ahead and leave us a review for All Ears English. Yes, and thank you for all of the reviews. We really appreciate them. It's like a little gift to us and it helps other people find the podcast as well. So thank you. Love it. All right, Aubrey, let's break it down, this I Don't Mind podcast.

Yeah. So this means it doesn't bother me. It is a little different than saying, I don't care because in English that has a pretty negative connotation. If you ever say, I don't care about something, we have these more polite, less harsh ways to say it. Either that doesn't bother me or I don't mind. Yeah, exactly. I've heard other native English speakers

from other countries say things when they're making a choice saying, "I don't mind," but we don't use it that way, do we Aubrey? No, that's a good point. We also don't get to say like, "Yes," or "I'm good either way." We don't really say that in the United States to say, "I don't mind." We really just use this for something doesn't bother me. Yeah. I want to say that some of my Australian coworkers in Japan

used. I don't mind, but I'm not 100% sure. Interesting. I'm curious. Yeah, be careful. I've heard that as well. Yeah. Yeah. But I do think we actually do say, I don't care if you don't have a preference for something. If it is in that scenario, a choice, don't you think?

Even though we don't recommend it. I'm good either way. Yeah. It's interesting because I would rarely, I almost never say I don't care. I would either say maybe I don't mind or I would say I'm good either way. I'm good with either. I'm good with either choice. Yeah. We maybe don't. I will say that I do sometimes, especially around people close to me. If I'm being lazy, I don't care what we eat. I don't care. What do you want for dinner? I don't care. Thai or Indian food.

but it can convey a sense of being really blase and not having an opinion. So something more positive, I agree with you, Aubrey, I'm good either way.

Right? Yeah. Here's a good example. You might say, I usually don't mind if people are late, but every now and then it really frustrates me. And it is interesting how it would be just the slightest different meaning if I said, I usually don't care if people are late, but every now and then it's more like, maybe I care, but I don't let it bother me if I say I don't mind. Yeah. It's a little bit more buttoned up. I don't mind. I don't know. It feels a little more...

Polite, maybe the way you're saying it. Definitely. And that's often a response. Let's do just a mini role play here to show how that might look. All right, here we go. Would it bother you if we rain check for next week?

No, I don't mind at all. Today has become really busy actually. So that works out well for me. Nice. Yeah. So that's a better response. If you said, no, I don't care at all. I don't know. That's strange. It does have more of a connotation of like you were saying, maybe apathy or just, it's just a little more blunt. Yeah. I don't care. I would rarely say it to a coworker. It's interesting. Yeah. I don't mind.

It doesn't bother me. Those are both polite and professional, like you said, buttoned up. Exactly. Let's come back to mind. So number two, the next one, do you mind? Right. That means does it bother you or would it bother you if something happened? Right. And this one's really interesting because often we just use it that way. We might say, do you mind if we rain check for next week? Right. That same question. Like, no, I don't mind. Like, doesn't bother me. But if we change the tone, this can have a very different meaning. Right, Lindsay? Yeah.

Sometimes we'll say, "Do you mind?" as a way of coming back to someone and saying they're being annoying. Is that what you mean, Abra? Really what it would mean is like, why are you being so rude or inconsiderate? Let's say somebody steps on the back of your shoe when you're walking and you might turn and be like, "Do you mind?" You're showing frustration.

for rudeness, right? I sometimes will say this sarcastically too. Like my kids will do this where they'll accidentally step on the back of my shoe and my shoe comes off my heel and I might be like, do you mind? And I'm sort of being playful and teasing, but also saying like, stop walking on the backs of my shoes. Yeah. We call that getting a flat tire, right? Right. Stop giving me a flat tire. Yeah.

Because you always have to stop and fix your shoe and it's very awkward and all these things. So yeah, that would be a good use of do you mind? And you say it with a tone of voice that is clearly conveying that this person is being a nuisance to you. Right. You have to add annoyance to your voice. Do you mind? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's very different from, hey, do you mind if we take a raid check for next week? Right. Exactly. Same words, but depending on the tone, a very different meaning. Yeah.

And to have something on your mind, completely different, Aubrey. Right? Yeah. This means thinking about something a lot. But we'll say this a lot. I have a lot on my mind. Sorry, I'm distracted. I have a lot on my mind. Yes, exactly. Or if it seems like someone is distracted, you might say, hey, is there something on your mind? Do you want to chat about it? Right? Yes, exactly. And I'm realizing this does the same thing if we change our tone. Right?

Um, if someone maybe is, you'll hear this in movies, a lot of someone's giving you a funny look or like staring at you, someone will be like something on your mind. Yeah. It's kind of like, why are you looking at me weird? Like, do you have something you want to say to me? Yeah. Right. Sure. Yeah. I love it. Um,

And then to have something in mind, Aubrey, is different from having something on your mind. This is where English can get really annoying sometimes. Exactly. These really need to be used word for word for these meanings. So on one's mind, on my mind, on your mind, that you're thinking about it a lot. And then something in

mind means you have a specific idea about something. So you might say, don't make plans tonight. I have something in mind, but it's a surprise. Yeah. You have a plan, right? There is going to be something happening or I haven't bought your gift yet, but I've got something in mind. Meaning I have an idea again.

Exactly. And like you said, these are so similar, just very slight word change and have quite a different meaning. For sure. And then the last one for today, make up your mind just to decide, right? Sometimes we can be very indecisive between two things.

Exactly. Right. I can't make up my mind which to choose just means I can't decide. Yeah. Make up. And then we might say, come on, make up your mind already. Uh, I am notoriously very slow, especially when we go to breweries, uh,

I'll read the menu and I'll try to find what I like. And then I'll debate. Should I get the stout? Should I get the porter? Should I get the imperial stout? Ice cream flavor, not ice cream, actually. Ice cream is very clear for me, but it's beer. I really struggle a lot. Because I look at the nuances. Make up your mind already. Yeah, because the beer, you know, it's complicated, right? And so I'll stand there for a long time and people will say that to me.

right? It's nice when they'll do like a tasting flight. There's a place we go to here in Arizona. It's just like a little bit of several different ones so that you can try them and then decide. That's nice. That's good too. Funny.

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Okay, Aubrey, let's bring it into a role play. And I want to encourage our listeners to really pay attention. This is a tough episode. Really nuanced differences between these expressions. Exactly. All right. In this role play, you and I are waiting for parent-teacher conference appointments. So imagine we're sitting on the chairs outside of the classroom waiting to go in for our appointment. I'll start us out. Here we go. Do you mind if I sit here? Oh, no, I don't mind at all. Go ahead.

Sorry, did you ask me a question a moment ago? My head is in the clouds. I have a lot on my mind. Oh yeah, no worries. I was just asking if you saw that email from Ms. Green asking for classroom activity ideas. Wondering if you have something in mind.

Oh, I do have a few ideas, but I can't make up my mind which to suggest. Impressive. I haven't come up with anything. That's a bonus right there at the end, come up with, right? It kind of means to produce something, especially like if you're challenged or pressured. That's an interesting phrasal verb. Exactly. And I also want to highlight one thing here. You said, do you mind if I sit here? And I didn't say go ahead. I said, go ahead. Oh, go ahead. Right? So I took off the uh.

of a head. And I said, go ahead. And I gestured probably, right? Yes. There's often elision of that sound, right? When we say go ahead, if we're speaking, we're speaking quickly, we're dropping sounds. What's tricky, I've been talking to students a lot about pronunciation lately. This doesn't work for all sounds, right? There are a lot of sounds like T's at the ends of words, for example, or S's at the ends of words that if we don't hear it, if it's dropped, it makes the grammar wrong, or it could be an entirely different

word. So it's really important to pay attention to English and notice when you can drop sounds and when you can't. Yeah, that's so true. So let's go through this, Aubrey. So you started with, do you mind if I sit here? Right. And then I said, no, I don't mind at all. So it doesn't bother me. I'm okay with that. Exactly. And of course, there are other options here. You could just say, go for it. Yeah, no problem. Right. A million things you could say, but you could also say this. Oh, no, I don't mind at all. And then what did you say?

And then I said, I'm like, oh, you know, I had missed something. I'm realizing you had maybe asked me a question. I say, sorry, I missed it. I have a lot on my mind. So a lot that I'm thinking about. And this happens to me a lot as a mom. I'll realize someone's asked me something, but I'm so distracted by my own thoughts that I didn't realize they were talking to me. That's so funny. Yeah. You're in your own world, right? Yes, absolutely. I love that. Um,

And then I said, oh, I was asking if you saw that email from Miss Green, probably the classroom teacher, wondering if you have something in mind. Because the teachers asked, I guess, the parents to come up with an idea for class, which seems weird. Yeah.

This has happened to me where they're like, yeah, every now and then, I think they're just trying to get parents involved and to have buy-in for their kids' education. So maybe for like an event, like a reward event, they're like, I want to do something at the end to reward them, maybe some kind of party. Let me know if you have any ideas for something fun, like a theme or something. And then some parents, I think,

would love that to be able to like give their ideas. Got it. Interesting. Okay. There's a whole world that I'm not tuned into at all. But this role play, it's interesting, this conversation. I can imagine like if you're both sitting there waiting for parent-teacher conference to start. Yeah. Maybe you're both on your phones or...

maybe you have met once somewhere you feel so this would be a great way to like jumpstart a conversation. Ask them about an email that you know you both got, right? This is what you had done. You're like, oh, did you see that email?

And that's a great way to spark a conversation with another parent. I love that idea. Maybe we should do an episode on that. I think we've done a few, but how to start spark conversations with other parents or where we have something in common. Right? Yeah. Always, always good. Yes. All right. So wondering if you have something in mind and then Aubrey, what did you say in response?

I said, I have a few ideas, but I can't make up my mind which to suggest. So like, I can't decide. I've got a bunch of ideas. I can't decide. I don't want to give her a whole list. I need to make up my mind, decide which to suggest. I love it. So good. And again, guys, go back and listen to this role play again, because a lot of these phrases are quite similar to each other. So we want to make sure we're not getting confused between them. Right, Aubrey?

Yes, and it is, they do have to be used word for word because they are idiomatic. If you drop a word or use a different preposition, the meaning changes and it would be confusing. Yes. Now, this is part one of a three-part series. So, where will the next part be, Aubrey? Exactly. Part two is going to be on Allers English, English vocabulary that will help you speak English.

your mind. And this is going to be like, you know, speak your mind, mind your business, out of your mind, peace of mind, a lot of other really interesting idioms and phrases that we use in English. And then part three will be where, Lindsay? That will be on the Business English podcast. So we're going to learn things like come to mind, bear in mind, keep in mind, and more.

So guys, make sure you are following the Business English podcast. So open up your search bar, type in Business English. The yellow will come up. You'll find Allers English. You'll find the Business English show. Hit follow on that show. All right. Yes, because all of that vocabulary we do use at work, but also in our daily lives. So you don't want to miss out on those idioms as well. You got it. Aubrey, where

where shall we leave our listeners today? Yeah, I loved this question. Thank you for sending it in. We do use, you know, do you mind or I don't mind to add politeness to expressing that we don't care that something doesn't bother us, right? And this is a great way to connect with others to share what does bother you and what doesn't. Yes, it's always, you know, we spend a lot of time in our heads. I think that's the bottom line. So when you can connect

share what's on your mind. That is a form of connection. That's a way of connecting. Let's get out of our heads and into connection with the person sitting next to us waiting for the parent-teacher conference or another scenario like that, Aubrey. Right? Absolutely. Right. Put away your phone and spark up that conversation. Yeah, it's true. The competition is our phone and what's in our minds. So let's get out of both. Exactly.

I love it. So good. All right, Aubrey, I'll see you back here on the show very soon. All right. Awesome. See you next time. Take care. Bye. Bye.

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