AEE 2384: Don't Be Hit or Miss With Your English
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This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2384. Don't be hit or miss with your English.

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 to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe. Sometimes in English, we need a way to convey that the quality of something is inconsistent. Today, get native and natural ways to say this in the English language. Listen in today.

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Hello, Michelle. How are you? Good, Lindsay. How are you? I'm feeling great today. What are we getting into in our episode today? Okay, so I have a question. Is there any restaurant you love that's good and reliable pretty much almost 100% of the time?

Oh, man. There used to be this little lobster roll shack that I used to like to go to in my parents' town of Scituate right on the ocean. That was pretty much good 100% of the time, but it was an exception. Most places are more like hit or miss, right? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, back near where I used to live, there was this Indian place called Karma Cafe. And to me, that was good.

100% of the time, I'm gonna say it was so reliable. And the service there, everybody there is so friendly. We were the regulars there. So I would not say that place was hit or miss. I would say it was just hit, just hit all the time. I love it. What was your favorite? What was your favorite dish there? What do you typically order? What do you go for Indian food? Oh, I love the paneer makhani. Okay. I would say that's my favorite. I love

I like any, I like all Indian. So good. What about you? What do you have when you have it? I like curry, any kind of curry. I love it. I made curry the other night. Ooh, how did it turn out, Michelle? Actually,

- Not bad, I was shocked. I mean, listen, it's not authentic or at a good restaurant or anything like that, but for me, it was pretty, I was proud. - That's pretty awesome. Now, Michelle, you mentioned in our little natural conversation there, hit or miss, right? We mentioned that and you said it's always hit.

Are we talking about taking a baseball bat to the restaurant or what's going on here? No, no, no, no, no. Exactly. So this is this expression. Actually, we don't ever say something is, well, actually, that's

Actually, that's not true. We would say it's a hit. Oh, we do say it's a hit. That's true. But we don't say something is hit. It's a little bit different. So I was just really making a joke. But the expression is hit or miss. And this is the opposite of something is always great. Well, no, it's not the opposite. It's kind of in the middle, right? The opposite would be it's always terrible. But if something is hit or miss, basically, it's inconsistent in terms of the results.

And, you know, we kind of don't know what we're going to get. Is it going to be great? Is it going to be not so good? So what do you think about this, Lindsay? Do you use this? Well, when I think about this, you know how we have these weird memories from childhood? It's kind of like...

scenes that we remember I remember there was a store in my town and that was the name of the store it was like a retail shop like dresses and I'm thinking why would you name and now now that I didn't realize it then but now when I think about it why would you name your shop hit or miss that's funny that's really funny it was a thing in the 90s you know it was the 90s yeah exactly so

But yeah, I would say that this expression comes up pretty frequently. So this is going to be super useful to our listeners. Absolutely. And Michelle, do you say this a lot yourself? Is this one of your go-to's? I would say so. I think that it comes up pretty naturally. How about for you?

I would say so. Yeah, I don't use it a ton, but I think, I mean, I know it. I've heard it around. It's an important one for our listeners to know. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I would say so. So guys, before we get into it a little bit more, we want to give you some results from a poll we did on Spotify. It was episode 2356, which was learn some new English while you're at it. I remember that one, Lindsay. I do, yeah, me too.

Yeah, so guys, if you haven't heard this one, this is really good. It's about while you're at it. So the question was for the poll was, do you piecemeal tasks, right? So basically, do you do things just in smaller chunks or do you prefer to get everything done at once? So Lindsay, would you like to read the results for us?

Yes, this is very interesting because we were talking in the episode about our own styles, Michelle, right? Yeah. Now remind me what your style is before I announce the results. It's funny because I forget. I...

I think I I want to say piecemeal yeah I think you said piecemeal uh we're talking about cleaning talking about so yeah right right right and I'm actually kind of surprised that most of the audience is on my side so 68 of the audience wants to do things all at once like let's say you're going to clean your house you just write it down in a three-hour Sprint and not do it again for two weeks or a week

And then 31% want a piecemeal. You had said in that episode you want to just pick things up every evening, a little bit at a time. But to me, that makes it feel like you're just cleaning every night. All the time. Yeah. Yeah, but then it gets so overwhelming if you leave everything. Even food.

for me when I leave the laundry for a few days, I was I was being so good about the laundry and I was putting everything away on the day of and but I was doing laundry like every single day. And now I've left it and that pile of days and days of laundry to me, it's not really worth

the smaller amount of work, you know? I don't know. For me, I like to see results. Like if I vacuum, I want the rug to be dirty so I can see it be very clean, you know? Oh my God. But maybe because you, I mean, you have two kids, you know, you have a lot more laundry than I do in my house. So maybe that's what it is. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. All right. So let's talk

about hit or miss. So what kinds of things do we use this for? I mean, this is for, I would say, a lot of opinions. I mean, we were talking about restaurants. So that's a common one. Or you were a retail store. Who names their store that? I have no idea. But yeah, I think this is good when you make a recommendation to someone and then you're trying to pull back a little bit and say, oh, it's kind of hit or miss. You could try it.

Right? Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, it could be used for really...

a lot of things. I mean, it could even be about like a director's movies, right? So, oh, this, I like this director, but sometimes I find his, his material is hit or miss. Yeah. That's a good one. Musicians, right? So if you go to a concert, maybe there's one, there's a singer you like, and you went to one concert, which was great. And then, you know, the other one wasn't so good. So you say in concert, he's hit or miss. Right. But,

Yeah, exactly. So let's do some examples. All right, you want to start with the first one? Sure, here we go. I really think we should go with the Marriott for the trip. The other places always hit or miss and I just want to know I'm in a good hotel.

Yeah, I understand that feeling a little more as I'm getting older, actually. Yeah, I mean, so maybe you've stayed at a lot of Marriott's before and you find them to be reliable, whatever you think of Marriott. I don't know. I just use this for example. But, you know, and then there's another chain or another smaller brand.

hotel that's hit or miss and you just want to have a good place that you can trust right exactly a comfortable bed and yeah sometimes we're in this kind of mood right we want to go for the hit what we know is going to be a hit um here's another example her books are kind of hit or miss i've liked a lot of them but there have been some duds too now dud dud that is a good bonus for our listeners today michelle yes i'm gonna add it to the list so yeah a dud is

not so good it's like as some yeah a dud is a specific yeah not so good it just does the thing just turns out to not be great maybe you had high expectations for it and it just kind of fell flat ah that's another good one yes fell flat yeah so um yeah there are some authors maybe

you like some of their books and then do you ever read one? Like, do you have any specific authors that you read a lot of their books? Not really. No, I go more from book to book. It's more about the cover. It's usually about the cover. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, me too. Oh, I'm terrible. I definitely judge books by the cover. Yeah, I know. We shouldn't do that. Right. But we do. Some of them are so beautiful. They are. They are. Yeah. It's about the title or maybe just there's a recommended book list or maybe it's just on my bookshelf and I needed something to read. Yeah. Yeah. What's the next example, Michelle? All right. The next one is that restaurant's food is hit or miss. I think we should go somewhere else this time. Yeah. So yeah, exactly. I mean, is it

is hit or miss. Here's a good question. Does it usually follow with, we should try it or we shouldn't try it? Well, looking at my examples, I would say that it ends up being more of a negative introduction. So maybe I take back what I said earlier, which is that we would say it when we, we recommend something. I may not do that because right. If I don't miss it, it does have more of a, it's not so much of a, yeah,

Yeah, it's more of kind of this emphasis on the miss part than the hit. Yeah, kind of, right? So I'm going to recommend a restaurant if you're coming to my town, which I know is going to be great. Consistently great, right? Right. You don't want to recommend something and then say, oh, it's hit or miss. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Any examples in your life, Michelle, of something that has been hit or miss? Anything else you can think of? Hit or miss. Ooh, I'm trying to think.

Well, maybe next time we'll come back to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, okay, how about this? Like some exercise classes I've tried, like this is a little bit different, but maybe the times I've tried yoga. Okay. Because it can be very different depending on your instructor or what kind of yoga. So I could say like, oh, these, the classes like have been like, not necessarily that I'm talking about one place's yoga class, but sometimes I could say my experience is hit or miss with yoga. Yeah.

That makes sense. That makes sense. And another example I just thought of is ski terrain. So I ski a lot on the weekends. Certain mountains can be hit or miss in terms of the terrain. You know, certain mountains don't groom as much. So they're more prone to being icy when the conditions aren't good overnight. If it rains or something and then it ices over, you're skiing on a skating rink.

Right. So it's pretty hit or miss. Conditions are pretty hit or miss. Maybe try a different mountain. That's an example. That's a good example. That's a good example. All right.

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All right, Michelle. So we've talked about what this means and there are other more technical ways to say this and some fun ones here. The word inconsistent, right? Her work is kind of inconsistent and I don't know why. Yeah. And what we mean here is in terms of the quality, inconsistent. The quality. This is about quality, right? This one is also a fun one. It's spotty. Now, I would say most of the time we use this for the internet.

Oh, yeah. That's my reality right now. Or service, like some sort of, you know, your phone, your internet, whatever it is. Would you use this about anything else? Not really. Yeah. I think the coverage, maybe the phone lines, like this is very similar to the internet, right? The coverage is spotty. The internet is spotty. You can't rely on it, right? Right, right, right. So yeah, the internet here is spotty. Make sure you have a backup.

up yeah exactly that runs into the next one which i already use this word yeah unreliable so perfect i can't deal with a carpool that's unreliable i need to get to work on time oh my gosh no yeah that's probably why a lot of people drive to work right um yes unreliable interesting yeah i mean what do you think about i i mean are there times you think in your life where you

really want to just always know that something is going to be a sure thing? Or are you sometimes just okay with, oh, this is hit or miss. It could be a hit, so I'm going to give it a try. Well, I think it's important to... I guess when I'm thinking of learning, so I'm learning tango now. Did I tell you that, Michelle? I'm taking tango classes. Yes, you did. How's it going? Well, I'm proud to say I've graduated to tango too. So I'm in tango too now. Yes. And...

And also I was at the gym this week and the instructor said, you know, the key to success is repetition, just repetition. So I think if we think about our own actions, it's important to be consistent, to make sure we are reliable with what we're doing. Go to the class, repeat the steps, do the reps.

That is kind of a huge unsung hero of success is repetition, consistency. Yeah, exactly. I definitely find that too with things I'm learning. I'm actually starting to sing again. Oh, Michelle, that's awesome. My friend and I are practicing to start doing our first open mics.

So, yeah. So, but yeah, we're like open mics. I could say, oh, I don't know. You know, there are some in the area, but open mics can be kind of hit or miss. Right. Sometimes they're really great. There's like a lot of people that's a good vibe or sometimes it's kind of, I don't know, awkward.

You'll have to share with us, with the audience when you have your first one and how it goes. That is so exciting. Yeah. So that I'm, I'm really happy about that. All right, let's do a role play. Let's do it. So here, uh, I'm asking you for a coffee shop suggestions in your town. Maybe I came to visit you in your town. I have to get a coffee. So let's see. All right. All right. I saw a place on Google called preppy coffee. Is it any good? Um,

kind of hit or miss. I like their cappuccinos, but the atmosphere isn't always great. Try Love My Coffee down the street. I don't want you wasting your money on somewhere that's unreliable. Plus, the internet is always spotty and I know you need to do work. Ooh, thanks. Yeah. I don't want to go to a place that's quality is inconsistent. Yeah. Go to a place that's or whose quality is inconsistent. Whose quality. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know. That was weird. I don't know.

Where the quality is inconsistent. Exactly. Yeah. I love it. I love it. And this is a typical conversation you might have. Maybe I came to visit you, but I have to work during the day while you're working. I work remote. I'm looking for a coffee shop to park in for a while. Right. Yep. Um,

Perfect. All right. So let's go through it, Michelle. What did I say first? What did you say? So I said, you said, is this coffee place any good? And I said, um, it's kind of hit or miss. And I just wanted to highlight that because sometimes we, yeah, I could say, um, it's hit or miss, but sometimes we would say kind of hit or miss. It's kind of hit or miss, right? So incredibly natural. I, we do this a lot when we, I think the reason we do that is because we're trying to soften the blow for the coffee shop. Yeah.

yeah exactly yeah and then you said you said i don't want to i don't want you wasting your money on somewhere that's unreliable now michelle that gave me a great idea for another episode i don't want you doing something i don't want you doing this fantastic a lot of context in which we use that guys hit the follow button to get that episode coming up soon all right

Okay, good idea, Lindsay. All right. And then I said, plus the internet is always spotty. So something specifically that we use for some sort of connection. And I know you need to do work.

Exactly. So inconsistent again, right? Inconsistent quality. And then I said, thanks. Yeah. I don't want to go to a place where the quality is inconsistent. Yes. And that just tops off the conversation. Right? Exactly. All right. Well, yeah, this was fantastic.

fun. And guys, we also want to remind you don't be hit or miss when you listen to all ears English, you got to hit follow so that you can be there 100% of the time. We don't want you to be inconsistent with your English learning. Yeah, exactly. And for a takeaway, I mean, think about times in your life where consistent quality matters. Maybe if you have your own business, or if you provide a service, even if you work for a company,

you know what would people think about your work right this is a good inquiry into our into ourselves is your quality consistent of what you're delivering on a daily basis good to have that inquiry don't you think yeah i like that yes exactly all right guys well this was fun and lindsay have a good day and i'll see you in the next one all right bye michelle have a good one bye

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