This is an all ears English podcast, Episode 15, How to How to Sing Someone's Praises in English.

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 150 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 U. S a and to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to all ears. English dot com forward slash subscribe.

Are you tired of just saying that something is great or amazing? On today's episode, we give you new expressions to add variety to your English conversations when you review something or comment on someone listening today.

Hey, Lindsay, how are you? Hey, Michelle, I'm doing awesome. How are you doing? Happy 20 21. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm doing really well. Yeah. I don't know, just getting used to the new year still in that kind of, you know, getting over the holidays, finishing up things like that. Yes.

Did you have a good holiday season? Hopefully. Did you have a good Thanksgiving? I did. I did. You know, we really kept it very casual. It was just yeah. My son and my husband and I was there, too, of course.

And we we actually I talked about this on Instagram. We got we got Indian food. Oh, that's awesome.

So I did to completely just move away from the traditional, to be honest. I mean, American Thanksgiving food can be a little bland sometimes.

Oh, my gosh, I totally agree. I mean, it was still like Thanksgiving food, but it was from an Indian restaurant. So they were doing like Thanksgiving specials. So they had, you know, kind of twists on. So it was it was kind of a good opportunity to try something like that, because when you I mean, you know, we couldn't be with our family.

So one benefit of that was it was, you know, even though that's sad, we got to try something that probably we want didn't have to for sure.

And living in the New York area, you guys have some awesome Indian food there. That is you're so lucky.

You're so lucky. Out here in Denver, we know some of the international food is not as good as it could be, so. Right.

Yeah, I'm definitely spoiled in that way and I'm spoiled.

I can't imagine if I went somewhere and then like, yeah, that would be weird. I mean, I would get used to it, of course. But I definitely like become an international food snob.

I go, oh yeah. High expectation. Yeah. Yeah. So what are we getting into in today's episode.

What are we talking about.

Well, we are going to talk about a very special expression which is singing your praises.

OK, right. Sorry, Lindsay. Oh my gosh. I notice all the time on Instagram that listeners, our followers are singing your praises. Right? They're always talking about how much they love you or there a certain post that they love. So, yeah, you do a great job on there.

OK, I just made you uncomfortable. I know.

Yeah. I mean, I think we all just try to be ourselves at all. We just want to act normal on the camera and just speak directly to our listeners.

That's what I try to do. So yeah.

Yeah. Although I love it so. But what does it mean to. I'll stop making you uncomfortable. What does that mean to sing someone's praises.

Yeah. So to sing someone's praises is basically to compliment them, to say they're doing a great job at some point to something, to praise them as basically what it is. Right Michel. Right.

Right, right. Yeah. You're saying that something is amazing, something just great. Yeah, exactly.

So, I mean, do you use this expression? I mean, I might once in a while. I don't typically look, it's not a common part of my vocab, but it's good for our listeners to learn this native phrase for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

This is this is definitely a big one. This is one that you will hear around. So I think it's useful. I think it's fun. Listen for it. Decide if you want to use it, whatever it may be, however it may apply to your life. So let's do a few examples. Lindsey, what's the first?

OK, here's an example for these guys. So I heard you had a great date last night. Oh, Steve was singing your praises.

I guess you're going out again. Oh, so that means that this person like when I said that to you, I talked to Steve after your date, right? Yeah.

Maybe you're his friend and like, maybe you set us up or something. Exactly.

And he was saying good things about you. I feel like this is also a phrase that my mom might use or like a slightly older generation.

Do you think so? Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because I feel like I always come up with these episodes and then you always tell me how old know all the words are.

And I'm like, now, now that I think about it, I'm like, maybe I talk like maybe I mean, we're somewhere in the middle, right?

We're at our thirties, late thirties, mid thirties. Like we're not teaching you super young English are not super old English. We're going to let you know where things fall go, right? Exactly. Spectrum.

Yeah, exactly. I love it. Yeah, exactly. So here, let's do another example so I could say, do you like the look of these curtains? Everyone online is singing their praises, but I'm not sure. Yeah. So everyone.

So you're saying that they're getting good reviews. Positive reviews. People are yeah. Maybe on Amazon people are like oh five stars. These are great.

Something like that. That would be an interesting episode to talk about reviews on Amazon and like, yeah, I wonder what we could do.

Maybe we could teach our listeners, like, how to write the review.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I depend on those reviews, you know. What's another example, Lindsey? OK, Michelle.

So here's our third example. I called her references and all her old employers were singing her praises the whole time I was speaking to them. So that means that someone applied for a job and I called.

Her former employers, right, they were saying such good things about this person. Yeah, right, right. Exactly. So, I mean, you could say, oh, all her old employer said she was great. Mm hmm. Right. Yeah, that's fine. But this is like even better than great. It's like, oh, it's basically like they just really, really were enthusiastic about it. It's like extra enthusiasm. Yeah, exactly.

So guys, again, we want to get you away from the boring textbook phrases like good, great, fine. Right. Don't use those use something interesting so you can actually build that connection you want. OK, cool. Definitely.

I mean, Lindsay, have you been singing anyone or anything praises recently? Have you had a really good experience with someone or have you tried something new?

Well, that's a good question, Michel. You caught me off guard. I know. Would have to say no. Not much going on these days, you know, I mean, we're quarantining here.

We're actually recording these guys in December.

And we took a trip. We went to L.A. for around Thanksgiving. So we're kind of quarantining, staying in, making sure we're safe and healthy.

Yeah. So things are a little calm at this point in life. What about you, Michelle?

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Yeah, I mean, I guess I would say I'm singing the Indian restaurant's praises, right, because I had such a good meal, such a different meal so I could use that expression.

They're speaking of. I'm curious, like what you said it was Thanksgiving food, but from an Indian perspective, I'm curious what they served for. Was there like a replacement for the like a direct one to one like Turkey, this kind of hockey?

Yeah, kind of with a spin on it. So like, actually, it wasn't turkey. It was chicken with chicken. Oh, no, it wasn't much time. It was, it was chicken but it was biriyani stuffed chicken, OK. And then there were like tandoori potatoes instead of mashed potatoes. Yeah exactly.

And they had brussel sprouts with some special spice I can't remember and the butternut squash. But they were all with kind of like an Indian twist on it. With what. Whether it was the spices and then non of course. Oh got to have the non. Oh I love non with onions in it. So good. I like garlic non.

There's a cheesy and even just regular non. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Michelle we need to go to lunch. Yeah. I need to stop regarding and go have lunch. Right. Yes. Oh wouldn't that be nice. All right.

What else Michelle, what else can our listeners know about this phrase. Well guys, I mean this is this is really a great skill to have, right. So like we said, instead of saying, oh, they had a lot of great things to say about X, you're being fun and Zippy. I'm going to use that word again. Lindsays word.

Thank you. Yeah. With our language. So. Yeah, exactly. So we're going to talk about I mean, what are some other ways you can say this, right? You want to say the same thing over and over again. So we have a few other ways to express the same feeling. Lindsay, what's the first one? Yeah, and this is good.

So the first one, guys, is gush over. Oh I know this is not in any textbook. Yeah. Oh yeah. Right. That's why this is so good. So you could say for example, this sometimes can be romantic.

Right. Mary couldn't stop gushing over her new boyfriend last night, meaning the emotions were gushing out. What is to gush? What does that word mean, Michelle.

Yeah. Plus it's like going out. Yeah, exactly.

So gushing is like saying so many good things about her boyfriend. Right. Right, right, right. Right.

Exactly, exactly. And then another one is to go on and on about right. So you could say something like, oh, my mother loves you. She was going on and on about how you are so much fun to be around and so smart. Yeah.

And now that I think about this, this episode is going to be super useful for our listeners because we do end up having these conversations a lot once we get to that, a higher level of connection. We are talking about what someone else said about something. It's common, actually, right?

Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. So I mean, that's not to say someone was going on and on about something. It could also be a negative thing or it could just be it's kind of a more dynamic one because you could say, oh, she was going on and on about all the mistakes I made.

Or you could just say someone was talking a lot about something. It doesn't necessarily mean a happy, wonderful thing. It just could be like she she was talking a lot about it, like she was going on and on about how much she hates the subway. Some of them.

Yeah. So it can be used in a way to show that you are annoyed or you were excited to hear what she was saying. Guys, it's a diverse race. OK, so going on and on to go on and on, what else do we have? One. Maybe just one more, Michel. OK, let's.

Do you want to choose it? Yeah. OK, so I like this phrase to talk someone or something up. So this is more about anticipation.

It's before you meet someone that someone talks you up to that person or something. Right. Or, you know, let's say a blind date scenario.

Michelle, what about that? How could that look if some. Right. Right, right. Yeah.

If someone's talking someone up, it's like, oh, my friend really wanted me to meet, you know, her her best friend from childhood. She was talking him up and saying how wonderful he was. Things like.

Exactly. Or let's talk about, for example, if you're giving a presentation at work, I can't wait to see your presentation skills. Your company has been completely talking your public speaking skills up.

A long winded way to say it, but they've been saying you're great at presentations. So I have high expectations at this point.

Right, right. Right, right. Or one more you could say they were talking her up, but in the end, we could tell she didn't have the skills to match what we needed. Yeah.

Do you feel like I kind of feel like when this happens, I feel a sense of pressure. Like if someone tells me, oh, they've really been talking you up or your skill, your tennis skill.

You know, for example, I used to play a lot of tennis. And now when I meet someone, if someone finds out, they they'll say that all they've been talking up your tennis skills, but I'm not that good anymore.

Do you do you get that sense of pressure or do you just not worry about it? You just try to be yourself, do your best.

No, I can I can understand where you would feel that pressure like I mean, for I'll give an example. So my parents live in this building and they have like an activities committee and they're hoping a little holiday, a concert. And my dad asked me to submit a musical performance.

Oh, my gosh. And I yeah. And I, I unfortunately I love to sing, but I haven't really been singing that much unless it's to my son and a long time I want to get back into it. So I'm happy to do it. But a little bit of pressure. Yeah. What are you going to do.

You're just going to be do you know what you're going to sing yet at this point. Oh my gosh. If I can't tell you, if I can't even tell my dad and he's asking me to come back on, I think I'm doing White Christmas and something else.

OK, can't wait figuring it out. Like trying to buy the ukulele, too.

Oh gosh. Michelle, that is awesome. That's ambitious. No props to you for being ambitious.

That's cool. Thanks. Thank you.

Michelle, what's the takeaway with this episode today? What are what are you, our listeners go away with?

Well, these phrases, the expression, these expressions are extremely useful, right? It could be used to talk about someone else. It could be used to talk about your feelings. Right. Just to say something is amazing or maybe to get someone to anticipate how amazing something is. Right. So, you know, try these out, see how they how they go with your conversations. Right. They're a little bit more interesting than just saying something that's great or good or amazing.

Right. So, you know, that's that's what I think you should come away from today's episode with. Exactly.

Guys, these are the building blocks of that connection. You know, as you start to speak more, you're going to speak about experiences, anticipating them, reviewing them, saying your opinions. You want to be able to do that. So now you have the words to do it.

All right. Absolutely. And Michelle, we want to remind our listeners to hit subscribe on their podcast player or wherever they are listening. We know that about 90 percent of you are subscribed to the show, but there's 10 percent that are still not subscribed. And that 10 percent we're talking to you guys. We want you to hit subscribe now, right, Michelle?

Absolutely. Do it today. All the very good. Thanks for hanging out today. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, Lizzy. Bye, guys. Bye.

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