This is the All Ears English podcast, sarcasm and surprise. 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 hosts, Lindsay
McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. 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.
Today, we answer a listener question about the phrase, you don't say, how can you use this and other ways to show surprise both genuinely and in a sarcastic way?
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hello michelle how are you today i'm good i'm good lindsay how are you doing good good michelle has anyone surprised you recently with something they've said i feel like we both probably are thinking of something similar but there yeah there i mean like there are some news stories where people have surprised me yeah what things i said are done um by
But yeah, I would say that's the first thing that comes to mind. How about you? Yeah, maybe politics. Yeah. A never ending surprise. Yeah. But nothing else really comes to mind. But certainly when this happens for our listeners, we're all in this moment sometimes.
The question is, you know, what do we say? How do we react? And we have a great listener question, which was the inspiration for today's episode from Sophia. Yeah. Yes. Sophia asks awesome questions. Thank you, Sophia. We love you. Really. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And she's a listener over there on YouTube. So check out YouTube. Check out Allers English over on YouTube. If you didn't know, we have a channel. We do. You can leave comments, you can subscribe and you can see us on video, which is another way to consume the show.
I'm going to go ahead and read Sophia's question. All right. All right. Here we go. So she says, Hey, I'm Sophia. I love starting my morning with coffee and your podcast. Oh, Michelle, that is so nice. I've heard people say you don't say, but I'm totally, I'm not totally sure how to use it. Does it always express surprise or can it mean something else too? I'd love some examples. Thank you for your answer. Excellent question, Sophia.
Another great one, Sophia. Love it. So let's get into it. What does it mean when someone says you don't say? Yeah, you don't say. So basically it expresses surprise. Sophia was right in what her hunch is here is that it expresses surprise. It's kind of like saying, wow, really?
um and maybe you're impressed with something but you're expressing that you are surprised i personally don't really use this that much michelle do you use this one this expression i i don't think so i think it is maybe a little bit old-fashioned dated yeah yeah a little bit yeah however i do want to point something out do we if you are going to say it do people usually say you don't say
it's usually you don't you know yeah we never say a connected speech here right um you don't say right you don't say you don't say you want to connect that totally exactly so um before we get into some examples we also want to say thank you to dan b 303 yes we have an amazing listener who reviewed our podcast in the
the iOS app so huge thank you to Dan B 303 thank you for your amazing five-star review I'm actually gonna send this to the team right away Thank You Dan B and guys if you want to let us know what you think of the show leave us a review we love seeing these reviews it keeps us going for you here at all ears English so review the show all right all right perfect Thank You Dan B so let's do some examples we have some little role plays here we go all right
I ran four miles yesterday. You don't say. I thought you hated running. I do, but I do it every once in a while. All right. Is that true, Michelle?
Absolutely not. No way. Here's the next one. I just got back from the mall. Oh, you don't say I was there too. Yeah, I'm rarely found at the mall only if I have to be there. To be honest, only if I have to be there. That's funny. I actually on a cold day.
i like to go to the mall like i don't i don't i don't go there when it's nice outside i'm not gonna go sit in the mall but when it's cold and i still want to move around and walk and yeah you know just kind of i don't know there's something nostalgic about them all i like there is absolutely something it reminds me of being a teenager in the 90s right you get dropped off for the first time you know by your parents oh my gosh no that never happened to me because i lived in the
in the middle of nowhere. So malls for me were actually an adventure with my mom. So she came with me, we shopped together. I never had the, I wanna meet my friends at the mall thing 'cause my town was so isolated.
There was no mall. There was no real mall. There was like kind of a mill, but it wasn't the same as your typical commercial mall. Yeah. I miss that. Yeah. I had, it was Lake forest mall and yeah, it was always so, I mean, I loved going with my parents too. I loved going shopping with my mom and, um, yeah, with my, with, uh,
But it was very much, oh, let's go. Let's everybody meet at the mall and we go to the court at the mall. And I think I think a great movie for our listeners to check out to get the sense of this 90s consumer culture and teenager culture. Right. Would be clueless.
Clueless is always on TV. And it's a fantastic movie just to get a glimpse into 1990s California teenager culture, mall culture. So check that out, guys. All right. Okay. So Lindsay, would you say this is mostly when you say you don't say, would you say it's mostly for positive surprises
or also for negatives. Yeah, I would say, yeah, if someone says something really bad, I would definitely not, not if someone's family member died, I would never say you don't say no, no, no, this is not, it's not for that. Even, you know, anything, anything it's for positive things. Things are maybe a little surprising and they're positive, but they're not a huge deal either. Like if you say, Oh, I won the lottery. You
You don't say it's a little, I would say, oh my gosh, are you serious? That's amazing. What are you going to do? I wouldn't say you don't say. Yeah. It's kind of like, you don't say it's kind of like, oh, that's interesting. Right. Basically that idea. However, I do want to talk about one other thing.
similar, I mean, well, a little bit different way that we do use you don't say so this one would be it's also expressing surprise, but that might be a little bit more sarcastic. Let's do let's do this role play and then we'll talk about how like what how it sounds. Yeah, we love sarcasm. Here we go. Oh, no, buddy ate another shoe.
you don't say I told you to put them away yeah so that we've said earlier that this uh idiom in the in the non-sarcastic sense in the genuine sense might be a little dated and I agree with that 80s 90s right but if you use it sarcastically maybe it's even more relevant right now okay right so this is this is basically saying like
Oh, really? I knew that was going to happen. Like almost maybe, uh, maybe kind of like I told you so, right? I told you so. Exactly. Exactly. Let's try another so our listeners can get the vibe. Okay. Oh, I feel terrible after that meal. You don't say McDonald's isn't healthy.
Yeah. I'm being really, yeah. And I can see myself saying this. Like, well, you ate McDonald's. What do you expect? You know, that's essentially what you're saying, right? Right. So this is just another way that you can use it. Yeah. Love it.
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All right, Michelle, we are back to talk a little bit about tone of voice and context. What do we need to know here? Right. Well, so we've given you kind of two ways, a more sarcastic way and a more genuine way that this is used. And so first of all, Lindsay, to ask you which way you would hear it most, it sounds like you think that the more sarcastic way is more relevant to now and maybe the other one is more dated, right? Yeah. I watched this great show, which our listeners would
love this if you're studying language and history uh the show called ghost ghosts i've mentioned this before but what it is it's a story of this old mansion in upstate new york and there are all these ghosts that died in the house at different times throughout history like there's a viking there's someone from the 1800s like a wife of a robber baron there is a singer from like the blues ages like the uh yeah and anyways there's a guy from the 80s and you can
every line that's written in that show is based on their time of living. So they speak in a certain way. They speak in a certain way. So this guy, Pete, he is from the 80s. And I could totally say have him hear him saying genuinely,
Oh, we got tickets for the concert. You don't say, right? Yeah. Very 80s, genuine, smiley way. What I'm trying to say is watch that show, number one, to get historical references. And number two, it is a little dated. So I would use the sarcastic way probably at this point. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Maybe I don't know what that says about us as a society. I know. What does that say about us? We became more sarcastic. Yeah. Good question. Oh,
But again, you have to think about the context if you're hearing it. How is it going to, like, which way is it being used? So the first one, it's more like, oh, you don't say. And the second one is more, oh, you don't say, right? So you have to think about that and think, is this being used more in a sarcastic way? Is this person actually genuinely surprised by what I said? Or are they kind of saying, I told you so, I knew it, or duh. Yeah.
that's it's so important to pay attention to tone of voice and context a hundred percent and if we want to get away from you don't say if we just don't like it for whatever reason we can say other things right michelle uh and these might be a little more relevant genuinely for you know 2025 like no way right this one is very relevant no way yeah so no way you're coming to visit
right and this is yeah this one do you find yourself using michelle i do i certainly do i think so yeah i i would say so this is pretty common yeah yeah yeah uh you were gonna say something i cut you off i was gonna say would you say i mean it could also be i i was gonna say is it would you hear this one in the sarcastic sense as well like the oh no way right
Yeah, I would. Yes. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think it could be as you expected. You got this right? That's the cynical, sarcastic way of saying yeah, right. Mm hmm. Yep. Yep. Um, what else? Get out of here. Oh, isn't this? Isn't there some kind of reference to a movie?
I feel like there's something there, Michelle, but I don't know. No, no, no, no, there is. Well, I always think people also say, wait, hold on. I'm seeing if I can find it. Get out of here. Meme. Let's see. Yeah. Not sure. It may have to be a follow-up episode. We'll have to. Exactly. Exactly. It looks like it's in a lot of movies anyway, but also sometimes people just say, get out, right? Get out. And that was,
one to me that makes me think of Elaine from Seinfeld because she if somebody says something surprising, she'll say get out and she pushes that person. That's so this is I'm so glad you mentioned the get out because if our listeners didn't know,
We might make the mistake of thinking this person's asking me to leave and we turn around and we leave, right? No, we're not being asked to leave. The person is basically shortening the expression, get out of here. And she's saying, get out. I hear this more with women for some reason. Maybe it is because of Elaine. I don't know. It feels like a more female. Have you heard her say that? Yeah, for sure. And it feels like something she would say too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So here we go. Here's an example. It's raining again.
again, get out of here. So that is more the I'm surprised, but I'm also annoyed. Right. So like, again, it can have that kind of sarcastic tone or it can be more genuine. Yeah. And I think I almost feel like get out is even more extreme. Like you want tickets to the concert? Get out.
get out, get out. It's like, you're almost pause. Yeah. It's kind of like, you're saying, I don't believe you get out of this room. Right? Like, you know, but you're not saying get out. Don't leave the room guys. Don't leave the room. Now I'm just imagining. Yeah. Oh, I'm so glad we're going over this. Yeah. So that somebody doesn't just actually walk out the door. Exactly. And I think, you know, this also comes into people's personal vocabulary, you know, like Elaine, some people tend to say this more than others. Right. Interesting. Exactly. Or what's another one, Lindsay?
Is that so? Right. So for example, is that so you're leaving tomorrow? Right. So again, this is a way of receiving news that maybe you didn't know and maybe you're a little surprised. And this one I would say is a little more formal sounding. Yes, I agree. Maybe a little older as well.
um like I don't I don't picture you know Jen's ears saying this you know I don't picture anyone under age 50 maybe saying it it feels it feels older to me yeah yeah a little bit older um or then there's do you guys know this really right really you can't you can't make it really yeah yeah yeah which one of these do you tell you I like Michelle
i would say no way or i mean or i mean there's nothing wrong with just saying really yeah really for me it's no way no way no way you put a lot of uh tone into that response right right love it let's do a role play all right all right here we go we are friends and you are telling me about your trip all right here we go okay so was it amazing well i ate my way through all of london
Oh, you don't say I know you're a foodie. Yeah, I ate Indian food every single night. Is that so? Was it delicious? Incredible. I haven't eaten Indian food in ages. Really? I thought it's your favorite.
I know. I just haven't had it. I don't know why. I've actually been cooking a lot at home. Get out of here. I didn't know you cook. I do now. So how was the weather in London? Rain, rain, rain. No way. Were you being sarcastic there? No way. Yes, because we know it rains in London. Exactly.
Although the times I've been to London, it's been beautiful. I'm going again at the end of May. So I will update that. You are? Yeah, I'm going for a conference. I'm going for a conference and then for a little vacay to travel around Belgium and different parts of Europe. Yeah, should be good. Nice. That's where I studied abroad. I think, you know. Yeah, you're going to have to tell me all your haunts. All your haunts, Michelle. When's the last time you were there? My haunts. I haven't been there in a long, long time. Like 25 years. I don't know.
Oh, okay. That's a long time. Yeah. I was there a couple of years ago. So I, I, I'll, I'll, uh, yeah, maybe I can give you some suggestions. Excellent. Looking forward to that. All right. Let's go through this Michelle. So, all right. So I started when I said, oh, I ate my way through London, meaning I just sampled all the food. All right. Yeah. That's something common when people talk about their vacations, where they ate a lot, they might say, oh, I ate my way through this place. And I highly recommend doing that. Anytime you travel, I love to do food tours, you know, things like that. Oh, me too. Oh, me too. Yeah.
And I said, you don't say. I know you're a foodie. Now, this is interesting because I'm, am I using this genuinely or sarcastically? I don't know if it's,
like I don't think it's sarcastic with like a meanness to it but kind of uh it's so I think it's sarcastic in a way of like oh I'm not surprised I know exactly that's what I think it is too so it's not really genuine you're not telling me something surprising right because that's what we talked about the genuine response there is sarcasm in there but it's not a cynical sarcasm it's a positive sarcasm you don't say like I'm not surprised that you ate your way through London right
right right right um yeah and then you said i think i ate indian food every night london has some amazing indian food and so i said is that so was it delicious yeah and maybe this one is a little more genuine maybe i didn't know that or something but yeah a lot of indian food in london right uh and then you said i haven't eaten indian food in ages
And then I said, what? I said, really? I thought it's your favorite. So that's a genuine. Exactly. And then you said, I've actually been cooking a lot at home. And I said, get out of here. I didn't know you cook. And I'm sort of saying, oh, you're not telling the truth. You're, you're, you know, I don't believe you. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And then when you, I asked about the weather in London, you said rain, rain, rain. And I said, no way. Like I,
I I know yeah I'm sarcastic because I know it's common rain to rain in London yes I love that this episode has actually been an exploration in sarcasm actually yeah that's really interesting very cool so guys don't forget to hit the follow button as we finish up today's episode that is your next assignment hit follow on the show so you don't miss our next episodes Michelle where should we leave our listeners here
Oh, man. Well, this was just there's a lot to unpack here. There's so much you could do. This is really about English being language, being an art form, because you can use these. You can sprinkle these in. You can use them genuinely. You can change your tone of voice and totally change the meaning. It can show that, you know, something really well or someone really well. Oh, you don't say I know you like to shop.
something like that. So it can, it can really do a lot. These are, these are pretty versatile and you can have a lot of fun and play with them with your language. Yes. Really good stuff. Thank you to Sophia for the question. And guys, send us your question to support at allersenglish.com. If you have a good one, like these specific questions that Sophia is sending in, send it to us. We want to see that question. All right. Definitely.
All right, Lindsay. Well, this was fun and I'll talk to you on the next one. Take care, Michelle. 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.