This is an all English podcast, episode one thousand five hundred thirty nine is that vintage English vocabulary to ask about hand me downs.

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Do you shop at second hand stores?

What is the attitude in your culture towards wearing secondhand clothing? Today we dive into this topic and why it can be a great conversation starter and way to build connection in English.

Hey, Michelle, how's it going today? Today's episode is on YouTube, so good to see you. Oh, my gosh. Hey, Lindsay, good to see you, too. Hey, guys. How's it going? How are you, Lindsay? Oh, my gosh. I'm good. How are you? Is the question because you guys just came out of a big snowstorm in New York City. Yes. How is the house New York doing the snow?

It's it's this was like the best snow snow storm ever because my husband got off from work. And so it was just like really, really fun. And it was I felt like a little kid, just like, OK, I hope it's going to snow. I hope it's going to snow. And yeah, it was great. I was I was on the end of a long weekend, so I just I loved it. But yeah, we've been going out in the snow and it's piled up.

It's it's crazy to see it and like the city environment, because it's just piled up next to the sidewalk, you have the sidewalk and then it's like, you know, two feet of snow.

Oh, that's.

Oh, my gosh. I remember a huge snowstorm when I lived in New York and we were like the only ones out. We were down in Chinatown and there was just snow everywhere. It was insane. It was like the apocalypse or something. I don't know.

Yeah. Yes, it can be like that. But this was like I don't know. This is like a very happy storm for me.

That's cool. I'm glad to hear it. I'm glad to hear it. Well, are we talking about snow today or are we talking about something else? We are not talking about snow today, sadly. Maybe we'll do that another night. You know what? I almost plan to snow episode, but then I realized we had done one already. But I'll I'll make a new angle another time. Yeah, I stay tuned for a new snowy episode, but today we are actually talking about I guess I'll just say the word hand-me-down.

OK, you don't have to say the word because there is no other word for Michelle. Actually when you think about it. I mean, Lindsey, do you have any hand-me-down. Oh my gosh, yes. I feel like well, my entire ski outfit, like everything I wear when I go skiing nowadays is hand me downs, my skis, not my poles, my skis, my jacket. Like everything is a hand-me-down because ski equipment and fashion is really expensive.

So I just take hand-me-down ones. I accept them. I hear you on that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh so that's cool. Yeah. So skiing stuff I mean. Well so what is a hand-me-down. You've been describing it a little bit so I bet our listeners are getting the idea but yeah. What is it. Yeah.

So this is really common when you talk about siblings. Right. So maybe like an older sister would hand down a dress to a younger sister, for example. That's when I hear it being used the most. But but it can also be from a friend and they just don't want that thing anymore. They've outgrown it or they just don't want it and they give it to you. That's a hand-me-down. Right, right.

Right. Exactly, exactly. And sometimes, like you were saying, siblings might hand it down. It might even be a boy to a girl or girl to a boy. And then they like, you know, want to stop. You'll have like a boy and like a very girly pajamas or something like that. And it's like it doesn't matter. Right. It's a hand-me-down. Yeah. Plus it is just pajamas. Who cares or even cares.

That's why my parents tried to buy a lot of gender neutral clothes when I was a kid. Like, I feel like I wore a lot of red when I was a kid. They wanted to hand down my jacket to my brother a couple of years later. What about you, Michelle? Uh, yeah.

I don't know. I don't have too many handmaidens, I don't think, from my brother. I mean, he is like six years older than me. So probably they had gotten rid of a lot of stuff at that point. But we still do have a lot of old things. But yeah. No, I know I remember you saying that your parents like like a lot of yellow and things like that. And I and I just I always think about that actually, because I think it is the coolest thing.

But I do sometimes see, you know, babies like, you know, not necessarily yellow, but it's like very like not gender neutral clothing because their sibling is passed it down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Exactly.

So yeah, we're going to talk more about this in a little bit. But guys, before we do, wherever you are listening to the All Ears English podcast, make sure you take a second and hit subscribe. Right, Lindsey.

Yeah, guys, go and hit subscribe because if you don't subscribe, you will miss all of our bonus episodes, which is where we announce what is happening on the show. Right. When's our next webinar? What are the free offers? We have available courses coming out, apps, all that good stuff. You have to be subscribe to find out about it. Right.

Michel is so important. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. So take a second hit. Subscribe wherever you're listening. Yes. Love it.

And we also have some reviewers that I want to say thank you to. Before we get into the vocabulary today, guys, these are the reviewers that reviewed us. Thank you. To marry him. Mode from Bahrain. Thank you. To foreign language beginner from Taiwan, Hanieh Hashemi from Iran. So many students, Sarah Roshini from the United States. And let's see. Oh, wow. Michelle, we have a lot of names. It's hard to name them all.

But guys, go ahead and leave us a review and we will try to read your name on the show, OK? Oh, fantastic. Thank you guys so much. OK, so let's get into it more. Yeah, I definitely I also have for my son, I have a lot of hand me downs from my nephew. Right. So, yeah, I think hand me downs, especially with kids. Like for some reason whenever I hear the word hand-me-down, I think of children.

Yes. Yeah. Like we said, clothes are so expensive and then they grow out of them so quickly. So you just feel like why am I buying clothes. Yeah, it's true.

It's true. I you I imagine I mean just raising a kid is so expensive. Yeah. Yeah. So you have to save money wherever you can. For sure.

For sure. I mean do you think culturally people are OK with the idea of hand me downs is never looked down upon or is just kind of a regular thing. What do you think?

That's such a good question. I'd like to ask our listeners, you know what I mean? I'd like you to come back to the blog. And this is this is episode what Michelle what is this? Fifteen thirty nine and comment. Leave a comment and let us know. I would imagine in some cultures it's not looked upon very favorably, especially fashion centric cultures. But I don't know which ones. Michelle. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. I think here it's pretty usual. So I think I think it's OK. I mean, who I mean, I even saw, you know, Anderson Cooper. Yeah. Cause I like coarsen.

Yeah. He was he gets all his like a son like all these hand me downs from Andy Cohen and it's like they're both, they both clearly have a lot of money they could pay for the clothes, but even among them. Right. So it doesn't necessarily like have any financial implications to do hand-me-down. Yeah.

It's more like you just maybe I mean you could have a lot of money, but you just don't feel like going shopping and you value your time more or you value the connection between you and the person that can take down this thing.

I don't actually know who Andy Cohen is that like another another newscaster or he's he's a he's a talk show host, but he hosted New Year's Eve with Anderson. I love it. I love Anderson Cooper. Like me, too. He's cool. He's cool. Yeah.

I love him. Like, I want to be best friends with him. But Andy Cohen is his best friend. I don't know. I have to replace Andy Cohen. I don't know. How are you going to do that, Michel? I have a lot of, like, random feelings for all the CNN newscasters, so we can talk about that all the time. So anyway. All right. But back to hand me downs. OK, so let's let's talk about some ways to describe similar ideas here.

So, Lindsey, what's the first word we want to teach today?

Hey, guys, do you want to go deeper with us on English? We're on social media, so check us out on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, we chat and even tick tock so we can connect and learn English in different ways. See you over there.

So second hand, and this is one word, right, Michel? So here's a sample sentence, guys. I got this at the second hand store, all right. No, sorry. Well, that could work, too, right? Yeah. I got you this second hand at the store. I got this second hand. OK, so you're saying the way you got it is second hand, not first hand. Right, right. Right.

Well, we don't really do we know ones that no one says first hand?

I never even thought about that. But that's funny. Yeah. I mean, so this could mean maybe you're got it at a thrift shop, maybe, you know. I mean, someone has owned it before.

Yes. Hmm. Do you buy things at thrift shops? Yeah, I do. I over the years have gone to thrift shops. I don't religiously buy them at thrift shops. Like every time I'll go outside of a thrift shop. I'm fine with that. But if there's a thrift shop around and I know it's good, I know I'm going to find cool stuff, I will definitely go there. Definitely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I had a favorite dress from a thrift shop. I don't, I'm kind of the same as the like I don't really have too much from them but my favorite dress was from there and then. And then it broke so broke.

I don't know, I think the strap broke definitely could have sewn it but I had you know, it was a long time. I had it anyway, so I'm not sure what I did with it, but it could be in my closet. Who knows? All right. The next word is vintage. I love this one. Vintage. So Lendee, this is generally something that's older, not necessarily like from like hundreds of years ago, but older.

Right. Like so maybe it's something from even maybe the 20s or the 30s or the 40s or the 70s. Right.

Yeah, I think I really think of the 70s when I think of vintage, I think of older. Yeah. But not too old, but I guess it could be any decade. It also has an undertone of cool. Right.

Vintage does it does it does sound cool. Like you could say, I love your vintage style. Not everyone can pull off glasses like that. So yeah. That even in that example it has the sound of like oh it's cool. Like it's a compliment. Right. Your vintage style. Exactly. I love it. I love it.

Vintage. Yeah. I don't have a lot of things that are vintage but I do, I do see that one are coming back. Michelle onesies.

So like pajamas or for Perski at first I'm talking about skiing clothing a lot today just because I've been skiing lately. But when onesies were a big deal in the 90s, my mom had a onesie that was so cool. It was like orange and yellow, bright orange and yellow. Oh, cool.

Now I'm seeing people on the slopes with onesies again.

Lundie Well, one thing, I mean, I'm thinking about like a pajama or like I don't know what they look like. Yeah. It's just like I've seen a lot of them too. And it's just that it's like what babies where it's there's no pants and separate shirt, it's all connected. And I, I don't know that I can handle that.

It's a one. So if you think of it like a ski suit that a kid would wear, that's what it is. But adults are wearing these again. They're coming back. So get ready for it. Exactly.

Exactly. All right. So the next one is an expression.

Lindsy what is OK, so pass down from generation to generation. So this is for like a family heirloom. And actually that's the next word, right? An heirloom like a Woj or something special. Important you could say something like, do you like this watch? I've it's been passed down from generation to generation in my family.

Right. So it's or I could think of like wedding sometimes engagement rings, you know, that's what people do, right? Like a wedding ring or an engagement ring. It could be an heirloom. Right. Right, right.

Right. Exactly. So, yeah. So heirloom and or family heirloom goes right into this one, right. Yeah. So similar to pass down. I like I feel like this is used more for something that might be worth something like.

I feel like for some reason when I hear family heirloom I think of a brooch. What's like Roache.

What is it. Just like I think I, I think it's like a pin with like it's like a very old I mean like, like some sort of pin with a gem maybe. I don't know how it works. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. But yeah. So I mean but when I hear heirloom I for some reason I think of jewelry right away like a watch or like you said maybe an engagement ring or something like that.

Yeah I could see that, I could see that something you wear usually jewelry or something nicer. Not so much clothing.

I guess that's what I was thinking. Yeah. It's, I don't I don't necessarily feel like I would say like oh this is like a family heirloom about a pair of pants. Like it just doesn't. Well I guess same, the same.

Could you say that though about furniture. I agree with you about the clothing, but could you say I feel like you could because maybe like an old chest. Like a family chest.

Yeah. Yes, yes. You know. Yes. Just now I got it. Yes. Yeah. I hear what you're saying. Yeah. Oh.

Do you have any heirlooms, Lindsey. Oh, I'm sure I. But not as many now that my parents have moved out of their old house, the house where I grew up. So I wish I had collected more things when they left. So I don't really. But I'm hoping to get my hands on a box of Christmas tree ornaments next year so I don't lose those days. Yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah, I have. I actually wore on my wedding day both of my grandmothers, their rings like, wow. So yeah, not there. It was nothing like too fancy or anything but you know the rings that they had. So I wore like on my wedding day, I remember I had my ring and then my two grandmother's ring so that like heirlooms are definitely like this special feeling I think. Is that because of the whole what is that whole thing that you're supposed to wear on your wedding day?

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. I wonder if our listeners have that saying in their culture to add some other variation of it.

And I know where that comes from. I don't I don't think that I was necessarily trying to do that. But my one of my grandmother's hurring had had some blue in it, so I had to go. Yeah, it really it really kind of worked out. Very worked out. All right.

What else, Michelle? What else for our listeners.

So I mean, Lindsey, why are these older things special? I mean, either of vintage things or just hand me downs or heirlooms. Like what? What's special about them?

I personally think it's about the people that own them, like it's about thinking about how it makes you remember that person or it's about the family.

There's something nice about an item that just gets passed down within a family for years and generations. It's kind of special and it's not something you can go and buy in a store. So it's irreplaceable. That's true.

Yeah. I mean, and this is also I mean, this is a huge connection topic for conversations, right? Because you can ask someone about their heirlooms or you can comment on something that you have. You can share information. Right. So I feel like this is like really, really key to kind of connecting with people on a different level because it allows them to share information about their family or if it's not something from their family just about their taste.

Yeah.

Agree with style that like, I feel like people who really shop at a lot of thrift shops, I feel like they're like that's kind of part of their identity in a weird way, like, you know what I mean.

Oh yeah, I know what you mean.

I know there are some cities that have more of these shops and others. Portland, Oregon would be one of them for sure.

So yeah, definitely it becomes part of the identity that you shop only a thrift stores or it's just a fashion identity thing, like a values thing. It shows that your values are not towards flashy things like wealth.

It's more about looking cool with spending less money, I guess. Right, right.

Right. That's true. And it reminds you of that, quote, One man's trash is another man's treasure. You know that.

That's a good quote. Yes, I like that quote. It's a good one. Absolutely. So should we do a role play before we go? Yeah, let's do a quick roll play. Here we go, Michelle. So here I have a beautiful necklace and you are going to compliment me on this, right? Yes, exactly.

Yes. Here we go. My beautiful necklace here. All right.

So, OK. OK, Michelle, are you there? Hello? Yeah, I'm here. Can you hear me? OK, so my first line is thanks so much. It was my great grandfathers. Grandmothers.

Wow. A family heirloom. Yeah. I love it. It is passed down from generation to generation.

That's great.

I don't have anything like that. Just hand me downs for my older sister.

You should get some secondhand stuff. It tells a story so true.

You know, I love vintage style, especially stuff from the eighties actually. Should we go to that thrift shop later, what do you think? Let's do it. All right, cool. So I guess you complimented me on that necklace and I said thank you. Right. And then what did you say, Michelle?

I said, wow, a family heirloom. Nice.

And then I said, yeah, it it is passed down from generation to generation.

So from my grandmother to my mother to me, OK. Exactly.

And I said, oh, I don't have anything like that, you know, like nothing special. I said, just hand me downs for my older sister. Yes.

OK. And then I said, you should get some secondhand stuff. It tells a story.

Mm hmm. And then I said, I love vintage style. I love it. Do you do you like vintage style, Michelle yourself? Are you like would you like to dress vintage?

I don't really have that as a part of my style, but I mean, I'm not against it.

What about you know, I guess when I was in high school, I used to grab some of my mom's old vests. Like I remember she had one blue and white vest and it was very vintage. It was very 70s. And I thought it was cool. So I'd wear it in high school. I would grab some of her clothes or like a suede jacket, a little things like that, but not so much anymore.

Awesome.

Awesome. I love it. So, Lindsey, what's the takeaway for today, guys?

This is a good conversation starter when it comes to asking people if something is an heirloom, maybe you notice a ring and you ask them, is that a family heirloom or let them tell the story. This is the way to connect with people in English. It's not by obsessing about grammar vocabulary. It's about asking people about their family and the history of a piece of fashion, right?

Absolutely.

I love it. Lindsey, this was so much fun. It guys, let us know your thoughts on heirlooms, hand me downs, all those things. And yet again, remember to hit subscribe wherever you're listening to all is English.

So thanks for listening, everyone. All right. Sounds good. Michelle, talk to you soon. Bye bye.

Thanks for listening to all ears English, would you like to know your English level, take our two minute quiz. Go to all ears, English dot 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.