The Fearless Fluency Club: Vocabulary
[00:00]
Vanessa and Dan:

Welcome to the vocabulary lesson.

Vanessa:

Here in the Fearless Fluency Club. I'm so glad that you're joining us. I'm
here with my husband, Dan.

Dan:

Hello.

Vanessa:

And we're going to talk about each of the vocabulary expressions that you
learned in the conversation lesson. After our explanation, you're going to
see a short clip from the conversation so that you can see how it was
originally used with Lana. Are you ready to get started?

Dan:

I'm ready.

Vanessa:

Okay, let's do it. The first expression, there's no way.

Dan:

There's no way.

Vanessa:

And this is a way to talk about certainty that something will not happen.
This is very definite and certain. Now, is there anything in your life that is
definite and certain and you think there's no way it will happen.

Dan:

Funnily enough, the first thing that came to my mind is there's no way I
would ever fall in love with a man.

Vanessa:

Oh, okay.

Dan:

I don't know why that's the first thing that came to my mind. Not that
there's anything wrong with that. It's just not me. There's no way. I can't
look at a man and think, "Wow. That's hot." No. I look at my wife and say,
"Yeah, I like that."

Vanessa:

Okay. So maybe for you there's things that you're certain or definite about
that will never happen. And in the conversation with Lana, that's exactly
how she used it. She said, "There is no way." And we can use this to talk

about maybe extreme activities as well. Like, if someone asks me, "Do you
want to go skydiving?" I could say, "There's no way."

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[1:28]
Dan:

Really?

Vanessa:

There's no way.

Dan:

Never?

Vanessa:

I don't know if it's actually true. I think that maybe at some point in my
life I would do it, but right now, there's no way.

Dan:


She's got to be older apparently.

Vanessa:

I think that I cannot have a baby.

Dan:

Oh, yeah.

Vanessa:

Because there's a little bit too much risk.

Dan:

Yeah, it's a little scary.

Vanessa:

Yeah, if I died it would be really tragic for our baby.

Dan:

A little bit.

Vanessa:

So I think that maybe when our kids are older and I don't know. I don't
know. I'm not going to rule it out completely if you remember that

expression from a couple months ago. I'm not going to rule it out
completely, but right now, there's no way that I would go skydiving.

Dan:

Okay.

Vanessa:

Yeah, yeah. All right. So let's take a look at the conversation to see when
Lana said it to talk about her parents seeing her newly pierced ears.
There's no way that my parents would see it. All right. Let's watch the clip.

Lana:

And stuff like that. There's no way that my parents would ever come and
like look at my ears.

Vanessa:

You're like dripping blood.

Lana:

Exactly.

Lana:

And stuff like that. There's no way that my parents would ever come and
like look at my ears.


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[2:32]
Vanessa:

You're like dripping blood.

Lana:

Exactly.

Dan:

The next expression is to come out or to come of. And we mean this in
just the way to make something disappear or erase. I would use this a lot
maybe while I'm cleaning. If you're cleaning the carpet, you're scrubbing
really hard and maybe you can't clean it so you'd say, "I can't get this stain
out. It won't come out." And you're just scrubbing. I would use it in the
negative sense a lot. How about you?

Vanessa:

I think it's definitely used in the negative sense a lot, to talk about trying
to clean something and then you can't. So here Dan used come out to talk

about something that's deeply in the carpet. Maybe you spilled paint or
you spilled wine and it's in the carpet. It's soaked into the carpet, so you
would say, "I can't get it to come out. I can't get this stain out." But what
about to come off? Would you ever say, "I can't get the stain to come off
something?"

Dan:

Maybe. Maybe on like your shirt. I can't get it-

Vanessa:

Kind of like a surface-

Dan:

It won't come off, yeah.

Vanessa:

I feel like this is used when it's on the surface. Now there's not a strict
rule for this so I'm just trying to come up with a general idea for when you
can use these two phrase-overs, but they both mean to disappear or to
erase. You could say, "I died my hair purple and I can't get the color to
come out. It's deeply soaked into my hair and my hair's going to..."
What about if I had a tattoo? What would you say? Would it be coming
out of my skin? Or how would you use this?

Dan:


I mean technically, it's probably coming out of your skin, but you'd say, "It
won't come off."

Vanessa:

Yeah.

Dan:

It will never come off.

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[4:19]
Vanessa:

It will never come off. You can kind of imagine a sticker on a piece of
paper. The sticker comes off the paper. It's just on the surface of the
paper, but maybe it's stuck really tightly. Maybe you have superglue on
your fingers and the glue won't come off. It's kind of on the surface.
That's the general idea for these words. Lana used them a couple times in
the conversation, so I wanted to make sure that you heard them, knew
that they mean something similar. There's a little difference. But just feel
more comfortable with them. Let's listen to the clip from the
conversation, and you can check out the lesson guide for some more

examples. Let's watch it.

Lana:

I used Kool-Aid the first time.

Vanessa:

Kool-Aid? Did it work?

Lana:

It did, yeah. Well it came out right away and stained my poor mildewed
tub, but it was like bright red for a couple of days.

Lana:

I used Kool-Aid the first time.

Vanessa:

Kool-Aid? Did it work?

Lana:

It did, yeah. Well it came out right away and stained my poor mildewed
tub, but it was like bright red for a couple of-

Vanessa:


The next expression is an idiom, and it is cookie-cutter. When do you use
cookie-cutters?

Dan:

Oh, when do you use actual cookie-cutters?

Vanessa:

Yes.

Dan:

At Christmas.

Vanessa:

Yes. You might know-

Dan:

Or you make gingerbread men so you use a little shaped knife and you cut
out the cookies from the sheet of dough.

Vanessa:

So, you have a little shape that looks like a man and you're cutting the
cookies. This is a cookie-cutter. But every time that you cut the cookies,
they look exactly the same. There's no difference because you're using a


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[5:48]
cookie-cutter, this kind of tool, to cut the cookies. So here, we're using
this figuratively in this idiom. Lana said, "My parents are very cookiecutter." What does that mean when you're talking about someone or
something?
Dan:

It means they're boring. Or that everybody around them, they're like the
same.

Vanessa:

Yeah, they're doing the same thing as everyone around them. They want
to fit in. It's not always a bad thing, but a lot of people, especially a lot of
13-year-olds like Lana didn't want to be like that. They didn't want to be
cookie-cutter. They wanted to be unique.

Dan:

If you say it's cookie-cutter or somebody is cookie-cutter, then it's not
good.

Vanessa:


It's usually just generic or nothing too interesting or special. For us, we
might say, we don't want to live in a cookie-cutter neighborhood.

Dan:

True.

Vanessa:

What is a cookie-cutter neighborhood?

Dan:

That means every single house looks the same. Everybody's doing
something the same, driving their cars to work. Nobody's walking outside.
There's no-

Vanessa:

Variety or difference.

Dan:

... differences between neighbors or houses.

Vanessa:

We can kind of imagine that some architect had a big stamp and he
stamped one house and then the next house and the next house and they
all look the same and there's a lot of neighborhoods like this in the U.S.


Dan:

Yeah, and Asia, too, I remember.

Vanessa:

A lot of apartments are kind of cookie-cutter apartments. They look the
same and they are built in the same way, so they're-

Dan:

And you know, it's okay because you guys don't have very much space.

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[7:13]
Vanessa:

Sure, you have to build in that way because it's necessary. So, I'm curious
for you how you would use this expression, this idiom, cookie-cutter, and
make sure that you use it not directly towards someone. "You're so
cookie-cutter." Oh, like, you're not unique. You're not special. You're just
like everybody else. But you can use this to talk about a place or about an
experience, no problem.


Dan:

I'd say we use it more for places or things.

Vanessa:

You might even use it for this course. You could say, this course, the
Fearless Fluency Club is not cookie-cutter. It's different from other
courses. When I took previous English courses, they were all just cookiecutter; same idea, same things, nothing unique. But this course is not
cookie-cutter. I would take that as a compliment.

Dan:

It's the best.

Vanessa:

I hope it's helpful to you. All right. Let's watch the clip so that you can see
how Lana used this.

Lana:

Always being like very boxed and cookie-cutter, not in a way that's bad or
anything like that. I just don't think that my... they were very comfortable
with it.
Always being like very boxed and cookie-cutter, not in a way that's bad or
anything like that. I just don't think that my… they were very comfortable
with it.


Dan:

The next expression is, there's going to come a time when or where, and
this is just a phrase we use to talk about a future situation that we will
feel different than right now, feel or act different.

Vanessa:

Something's going to be different in the future.

Dan:

Right. So just as a very basic example, I could say, "There's going to come
a time when I'm old."

Vanessa:

Yep, it's inevitable.

Dan:

It's very basic. Or "There's going to come a time when I'll need more
money to pay for my health expenses."

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[8:54]
Vanessa:

Sure.

Dan:

That's just a very basic example.

Vanessa:

This means that at the moment, you're not old. At the moment, you don't
need a lot of money to pay for your health expenses, but some day, some
day I will be old. Some day I will need to pay for my health expenses that
will be more expensive.

Dan:

Yeah, and you'd probably use this if you want to remind yourself or
somebody that, "Hey, you're not young forever, buddy. There's going to
come a time when you're old and weak and poor and you need money to
buy your health expenses."

Vanessa:

So you have to save now.

Dan:


So save now, youngin'.

Vanessa:

In this expression, there's two different words that you can finish this
with. You could say, "There's going to come a time when you'll be old." Or
"There's going to come a time where you'll be old." And really, both of
these are interchangeable. It's not a big deal which one you decide to use,
but I wanted to make sure that you have both options. And in the
conversation with Lana, she said, "There's going to come a time when I
won't want to die my hair." Okay, maybe she'll be 50 years old and she'll
think, "I want brown hair again."

Dan:

I wonder when that will be.

Vanessa:

I don't know. Do you think it will ever be?

Dan:

She likes colors a lot.

Vanessa:

Yeah, but she admitted that maybe someday I won't. Someday, instead of
using, "Well, there's going to come a time." There will inevitably be a time
when I don't want to die my hair anymore. Great. So this is talking about

something in the future that's changing. All right. Let's watch the clip.

Lana:

But, there's going to come a time where I'm not going to want to do it
anymore.

Vanessa:

Yeah.

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[10:21]
Lana:

But, there's going to come a time where I'm not going to want to do it
anymore.

Vanessa:

The next expression is to cave.

Dan:


To cave.

Vanessa:

To cave. If we imagine a cave, what's a cave?

Dan:

A cave is basically a big hole in the ground.

Vanessa:

Yes, maybe bats live there. You can go and see some really cool geography
inside a cave sometimes.

Dan:

It's a hollowed out place in the earth. Empty place in the earth. In the
ground.

Vanessa:

What's something dangerous about a cave that could happen?

Dan:

Well a cave could cave in.

Vanessa:


Oh, and what's that mean?

Dan:

So if you say cave in, that means it collapses or it falls down on top of
itself.

Vanessa:

Here, we can use this word cave in a more figurative sense. There's
something that's strong. It has integrity. It's strong. The cave is strong, but
it might break. It might fall in, and that strength kind of disappears. So we
could use it to say, as a verb, "I caved." Or we could say, "I caved in." But
usually, we just cut it and say, "I caved." We could imagine that if I tried to
be a vegetarian for one month but then, Dan says...

Dan:

Then, I caved.

Vanessa:

Oh, I really want to eat a hamburger. Oh, let's go eat a hamburger. And
then we do. We eat a hamburger. We caved. We had strong principles.
We thought we were going to do this, and then, we gave in. We allowed
something that we didn't want to allow. Or we didn't allow previously.
And that's how Lana used it in the conversation to talk about her mom.
She said her mom caved. She didn't want Lana to get a tattoo, but then

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[12:01]
she allowed it. So, was there ever time when your mom caved? She didn't
allow something and then she allowed something?
Dan:

My mom, she caved a lot when I was child. It usually had to do with
things like when we wanted a treat, like ice cream. We'd say, "Hey, mom.
You know what would be really good right now? Ice cream." And she
would cave, and we would go get ice cream. So that would happen.

Vanessa:

Maybe she secretly wanted it herself?

Dan:

Yeah, I think so. This is a kind of strange expression.

Vanessa:

Cave.

Dan:


Yeah, because if it's a noun, it's strong. But if it's a verb, it means to break,
break down.

Vanessa:

I think it's just short for cave in because you would say physically the cave
caved in, but when you're using it to talk about figurative, other things,
we cut off in. My mom caved-

Dan:

Could be.

Vanessa:

... and she let us eat ice cream. My mom caved in. You could say that, but
I think it's less common. It doesn't sound grammatically wrong but it's
less common. Maybe Dan's mom caved, and she let them eat ice cream
occasionally. I know that that was usually my dad whenever we went to
the grocery store. We liked to go to the grocery store with him because
he would often cave. My mom had a list and we needed to stick to the
list, but he often caved and he let us get waffles. I remember-

Dan:

Go dad.

Vanessa:

... It was always waffles.


Dan:

Waffles?

Vanessa:

Because we wanted waffles-

Dan:

Like Eggos?

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[13:23]
Vanessa:

Yeah, breakfast waffles and he secretly wanted them, so he caved when I
asked, "Please, can we have waffles?" And he got them.

Dan:

Classic.


Vanessa:

Yes. All right. Let's watch the clip so that you can see how we used caved
to talk about Lana's mom.

Lana:

Actually, my mother took me to get my first tattoo when I was 16 years
old.

Vanessa:

Oh, so she caved?

Lana:

Yeah, well I was like one of those super rebellious-

Lana:

Actually, my mother took me to get my first tattoo when I was 16 years
old.

Vanessa:

Oh, so she caved?

Lana:

Yeah, well I was like one of those super rebellious-


Dan:

The next expression is to get back on track, and this is an idiom that
means to continue with things as planned after you got off the plan.
Maybe you're at a meeting and you're discussing very important business
topics and then all of a sudden you start talking about Pokemon. Maybe
you're saying, "Yeah, I caught Pikachu yesterday and it was really great
and I'm the best." You know, the boss is going to say, "You guys, we need
to get back on track. Stop talking about Pokemon."

Vanessa:

We need to talk about what we originally planned to talk about which
was-

Dan:

Business.

Vanessa:

The business, yes. So you can use this to get back on track. Track here is
kind of like a railroad track. It's going in one direction. It's focused, but
maybe you went off the track.

Dan:

Off the rails.


Vanessa:

Off the rails. You're doing something completely different.

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[14:48]
Dan:

We have a lot of train metaphors.

Vanessa:

Yeah, lots of train idioms. You might say that you were trying to study
English, but then you got a notification on your phone. You looked at your
phone, and then you realized, uh, it's been 30 minutes. I've been looking
at my phone for 30 minutes. I need to get back on track, and I need to
continue studying. You got distracted, but you're going to get back on
track.

Dan:

Yeah, and you can use it in the negative, too. I got off track.

Vanessa:


Ooh, I got off track. I got off track; now, I need to get back on track. That's
kind of the way that Lana used it to talk about her relationship with her
mom. She said that my mom thought that we needed to get our
relationship back on track. Their relationship was off track. Their
relationship was difficult and rocky, so she wanted to do something
special with Lana to get their relationship back on track.

Dan:

I guess that doesn't necessarily mean it's a explicit plan, but it just means
into a better place. A good place.

Vanessa:

Yeah, and maybe as a child, her mom hoped that they would have a good
relationship and then something happened, and now they are trying to
have a good relationship again. As you're going to hear in the
conversation with Lana, she split this expression. She put relationship in
the middle. Get our relationship back on track. That's perfectly fine. You
can do that as well. Let's listen to the clip.

Lana:

It's like drifted away from my parents a little bit. My mom was like, "We
got to get back together. We need to get our relationship back on track.
Let's go to New Orleans."
It's like drifted away from my parents a little bit. My mom was like, "We
got to get back together. We need to get our relationship back on track.
Let's go to New Orleans."


Vanessa:

The next expression is spur of the moment. And this is often pronounced
spur uh the moment, spur uh the moment. Of is pronounced uh. Spur of
the moment. This means to do something spontaneously. It wasn't
planned, but we just decided to do it.

Dan:

Some may say you got off track.

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[16:43]
Vanessa:

Oh, you got off track and you decided to do something spur of the
moment.

Dan:

Spur of the moment, yeah.

Vanessa:


So, Lana used this in the conversation to talk about a trip that she took
with her mom, and she said that spur of the moment she decided to take
me to New Orleans. This is a pretty cool city in Louisiana. So, it was a
spontaneous trip. It wasn't planned for months. She just said, "Hey, Lana.
Do you want to go to New Orleans?" And Lana said, "Sure." So this was a
spur of the moment decision, spur of the moment trip. And you can use
that really just before a noun as an adjective. Spur of the moment trip.
Spur of the moment decision. Have you ever done something spur of the
moment?

Dan:

Of course. I think both of us are pretty spur of the moment-type people. I
mean, she likes to plan more than me, I think. But-

Vanessa:

I'm open to doing things spur of the moment.

Dan:

I feel like I like to do something spur of the moment every day.

Vanessa:

I think that's kind of healthy, you know?

Dan:


Yeah. So maybe one day I'll say, "I want to choose a random restaurant
and go to it." Or I like to go see new things, right? I'll spur of the moment
think, "I want to go on a different hike today and choose a different kind
of place." Although, I guess I do a lot of the same things quite often.

Vanessa:

Sure, I think that's kind of typical.

Dan:

But you know what I mean.

Vanessa:

I want to know for you, do you like to do things spur of the moment or do
you like to plan things? It probably depends. If you're going to Thailand on
vacation, maybe you want to plan more? Or do you want to just do things
spur of the moment?

Dan:

I don't think either of us are very spur of the moment when it comes to
vacations. We usually plan our vacations.

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[18:18]
Vanessa:

I think we're kind of in the middle, because I remember when we went to
Thailand. I was just thinking about this. We had some general plans. We
were going to go to Bangkok.

Dan:

We didn't plan well. That was the problem.

Vanessa:

Then, we were going to go somewhere else. But for the time that we
spent in Bangkok, we didn't really have every day, this is what we're going
to do.

Dan:

That's true.

Vanessa:

We had general ideas.

Dan:

We just knew, we'll be in Bangkok for three days, which was way too short

if you ever go to Bangkok. Spend longer.

Vanessa:

Yes, at least two weeks.

Dan:

Yeah.

Vanessa:

But we planned as we went along, kind of had a general plan. I want to
know for you, are you the kind of person who likes to travel and do things
spur of the moment? Or do you like to plan? Are you the same as your
husband or wife? Or maybe you're different?

Dan:

Many a fight about it.

Vanessa:

All right. Let's watch the clip so that you can see how this idiom was used.

Lana:

So she took me to New Orleans on a spur of the moment trip over
Christmas. We actually spent Christmas that year like in a Waffle House,
but it was wonderful.

So she took me to New Orleans on a spur of the moment trip over
Christmas. We actually spent Christmas that year like in a Waffle House,
but it was wonderful.

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[00:00]
Dan:

The next expression is to decide against something, to decide against
something. This just means to not decide to do something. But it means
you really don't want to do it, I think. So if you said, "I decided against
going to the movies." That means you really didn't want to do it that day.
You had something else going on.

Vanessa:

Yeah, so you could say, "I decided not to go to the movies," and that's just
kind of simple. You decided to do something else. But when you say, "I
decided against doing it," it is pretty strong.

Dan:

I would say it's probably for bigger decisions usually.


Vanessa:

Like getting a tattoo?

Dan:

Yeah, like getting a tattoo or maybe going to college. You might have
maybe three universities in mind, and you're thinking about one and you
said, "I decided against going to this university."

Vanessa:

That's a pretty big decision and in the conversation, it was used for a big
thing, for getting a tattoo. Lana said that she was going with her mom to
get a tattoo, and I asked, "Did your mom get a tattoo?" And she said, "Oh,
she decided against it." She was going to do it, but then she changed her
mind. It felt like a big deal to her mom. She decided against it, so she
didn't do it. That's kind of just a strong way to say decided not to do
something. All right. Let's watch the clip so that you can see how it was
used.

Lana:

That's when I got my Maori tattoo, and she was going to get one then but
decided against it. She's like, "I can't." Like we made the appointment.
She like didn't make it to the appointment.
That's when I got my Maori tattoo, and she was going to get one then but
decided against it. She's like, "I can't." Like we made the appointment.
She like didn't make it to the appointment.


Vanessa:

The next expression is to get it out of your system. First of all, this is an
idiom, so let's talk about it literally. What do you think getting something
out of your system literally means?

Dan:

Literally, well I would think that means something about your body.

Vanessa:

Yes. Maybe if you-

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[1:53]
Dan:

You have to go to the bathroom.

Vanessa:

Yeah, maybe you eat something that isn't very good. Your body is trying
to get it out of its system. Maybe your digestive system or your lymphatic

system. There's a bunch of different systems in your body. Getting
something out of your system kind of means cleansing. You're getting the
toxins out. You're feeling better. We can use this figuratively as an idiom,
kind of in a similar way. It means that you're doing something one time in
order to not do it again. You're going to kind of cleanse your mind. This
was used to talk about tattoos with Lana. When she said my mom
thought that she could get it out of my system, to get a tattoo once.

Dan:

Didn't work.

Vanessa:

What do you think that means?

Dan:

That means that she would have her tattoo and then she'd be finished
with it. She got it out of her system.

Vanessa:

She didn't want to do it anymore. Her mom was hoping that she could get
one tattoo, she'd be finished and that's it because maybe Lana had been
talking about tattoos for awhile. But that wasn't the case. It kind of just
started this process of getting more and more tattoos. How about you?
How would you use this, getting it out of my system? Is there anything
you've ever done that you felt like "I just need to get it out of my
system?"


Dan:

My mom used to use this for me as a kid a lot.

Vanessa:

Oh yeah?

Dan:

Yeah. If I was very energetic-

Vanessa:

Oh, that's a good example.

Dan:

... or kind of going crazy, she would open the door to go outside and she'd
say, "Go get it out of your system." That's very vague. She meant run
around outside, calm down, do whatever you need to do to be calm and
quiet. It was usually before bed.

Vanessa:

This is a really good expression to use to talk about energy. If you feel
really energetic, maybe you need to run outside. Maybe you're a kid and

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[3:32]
you need to run outside. Or your dog is running around in your house and
kind of going crazy, you might take him on a walk so that he can get it out
of his system. It here is just talking about energy, something that's inside
of him that's making him crazy. A lot of times kids say this.
Dan:

You might not even know what it is, just let's get it out of your system.

Vanessa:

Lana's mom took her to get a tattoo to get it out of her system, to get
getting a tattoo out of her system. We'll often just say it in the middle
here because it's kind of implied. We already know based on the
conversation what it is. You want to get it out of your system, try it, and
then hopefully you'll be cleansed and feel better. All right. Let's watch the
clip so you can see how it was used.

Lana:

I took you to get your first one. I thought we'd get it out of your system
and-

Vanessa:


I heard it's kind of contagious.

Lana:

It is.

Vanessa:

Oh, I did once. I want to do more.

Lana:

Yeah.

Lana:

I took you to get your first one. I thought we'd get it out of your system
and-

Vanessa:

I heard it's kind of contagious.

Lana:

It is.

Vanessa:


Oh, I did once. I want to do more.

Lana:

Yeah.

Dan:

The next expression is one way or another. This is an expression we use
when we want to say we're going to do something for certain and then
you don't know how you're going to do it.

Vanessa:

But you're going to find a way to do it.

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[4:58]
Dan:

But you're going to find a way to do it.

Vanessa:


You're determined. You're motivated.

Dan:

Yeah, it's kind of showing that you're motivated. For example, "I'm going
to get an A on my test one way or another." So, when you say that, that
could mean that you're going to cheat, really.

Vanessa:

It could mean you're going to use any method in order to get an A.

Dan:

If you heard that, you'd say, okay, maybe he's going to cheat. Maybe he's
going to study really hard. You know, you don't know.

Vanessa:

But he's really determined. You might say, "I'm going to speak English this
week one way or another." This means, I might look into the mirror and
speak English to myself. Cool. I might record myself on my phone and
speak to myself. I might find an awesome person in the Fearless Fluency
Club to talk with. I'm going to speak English this week. I'm determined.
I'm going to speak English one way or another. That's how Lana used it in
the conversation with doing things that your parents don't really want
you to do. She said kids will do what they want one way or another. If
your mom says, "Don't pierce your ears," if a child is really determined,
they will pierce their ears. Maybe they'll use a safety pin like Lana. Maybe
they'll save some money and go get it done at a shop. But they will find a

method. They are determined to get what they want.
I know when I was a kid and now when I want something I am often really
determined to make it happen and sometimes it's a good thing.
Sometimes it's not a good thing.

Dan:

Yes, but you're always ethical.

Vanessa:

I try to be ethical. Not cheat. Not steal.

Dan:

She doesn't steal things, you know.

Vanessa:

Right. But I feel like when you really want something, maybe you want to
be on the volleyball team because when I was in middle school, I wanted
to be on the volleyball team, but I was before I grew in puberty, I was
pretty short. I was pretty small and I wasn't-

Dan:

Quiet.

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[6:59]
Vanessa:

... quiet. I wasn't a good fit for the volleyball team, but I practiced really
hard. My dad built a volleyball net in our backyard. My sister and I and my
dad practiced with us, and I really wanted to get a spot on the volleyball
team. So I said, "I want to be on the volleyball team one way or another."
I'm going to practice really hard. I'm determined. After one or two years, I
got on the volleyball team. I wasn't the most amazing person on the
volleyball team, but I was really happy because I reached that goal. So I
did it one way or another. Worked really hard. All right. Let's watch the
clip so that you can see how it was used.

Lana:

The thing is once kids get to a certain age, they're going to do it one way
or another. So if you just be supportive and like let them have little things,
you know, I think it would've changed how... been very different for me.
The thing is once kids get to a certain age, they're going to do it one way
or another. So if you just be supportive and like let them have little things,
you know, I think it would've changed how... been very different for me.

Vanessa:

The next expression is I had my fill. I had my fill. The word fill or full is

often used to talk about food. I had a lot of food so I am full. My stomach
cannot contain anymore food. I'm full. But we could use this idiom, I had
my fill, to talk about other things that are complete or maybe you're
finished with them. I had my fill. I'm done. I traveled around the world
and went to 200 countries. I had my fill. I'm ready to settle in one city. I
don't want to travel anymore or not so frequently. I had my fill. I'm feeling
complete and finished. What about for you? How would you use I had my
fill?

Dan:

I feel like I would always use this for food and just when I'm full. If
somebody said, "Hey, would you like some more chicken?" "No, thank
you. I've had my feel." My feel? My fill.

Vanessa:

My fill, sure, so make sure you pronounce this correctly.

Dan:

Fill.

Vanessa:

Fill, fill, fill.

Dan:

I've had my feel.


Vanessa:

That has a different meaning. So, if you would like to use this for food,
great. Or you can use it for other things that you're just finished with, and

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[9:02]
that's how Lana used it. She said, "When I was 16, I had one tattoo. I had
had my fill and I didn't want another tattoo until I was 18." So she waited
for two years which is probably the longest that she's waited to have a
tattoo since then and she said, "I had my fill." I was done just for that
limited period of time.
Dan:

But then ...

Vanessa:

Then, she decided to get more. All right. Let's watch the clip.

Lana:

And I had had my fill. I wasn't going to do anything else like under age or

anything like that.
And I had had my fill. I wasn't going to do anything else like under age or
anything like that.

Dan:

The next expression is like to think of. This is a statement that we make
when we want to share an opinion about something that we think is true,
but, you know, maybe it's exaggerated or half true or maybe it's even
100% true, but you basically want it to be true. So, as an example, I might
say, "I like to think of myself as a nice guy." Maybe I'll give a lot of
examples as to why I'm a nice guy, but if you just said, "I like to think of
myself as a nice guy." That means that you do see yourself as a nice guy
and you think you have reasons.

Vanessa:

It also is something that pleases you. You're happy when you think of that
thing. Dan wants to be a nice guy, so he says, "I like it. I like to think of
myself as a nice guy." I might say for this course, that I like to think of this
course as useful, as interesting. In reality, I don't know how you feel about
it. I hope that you think it's useful and interesting, but it's my dream that
you will think those things. I like to think, I really hope, and it makes me
happy to think that it's helpful and useful to you.
That's how Lana used it. She said, "I like to think of myself as a unique and
a generic person." Both of those things and kind of balancing being
unique and yet being generic or relatable and like everybody else. This
kind of duality or two different ways that you can be. I like to think of
myself. It makes her happy to think of herself in that way.
The sentence structure that we've used for all of these sentences is like to

think of something as. I like to think of myself as a nice person. I like to
think of this course as helpful. Make sure that you check out the lesson

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[11:36]
guide to look at the sample sentences so that you can try to create your
own. Use the conversation questions to try to use this expression because
it's pretty common. It's used a lot in daily conversation, but the
grammar's a little bit tricky so make sure you use it correctly. All right.
Let's watch the clip.
Lana:

I like to think of myself as unique in some ways and generic in others. I
love the complexity of having both things.
I like to think of myself as unique in some ways and generic in others. I
love the complexity of having both things.

Vanessa:

The next expression is to be along the lines of. This means that it's
something that's not exactly something but it's generally like something.
You might say that well the course that I took the other day, it was along
the lines of Vanessa's course, but it wasn't exactly the same. Maybe it
focused on some vocabulary, on some grammar, but it wasn't exactly the

same. It had some similar ideas. It was along the lines of Vanessa's
course, but it wasn't exactly the same. What about you? How would you
use this?

Dan:

I would probably use this if I was trying to give somebody an idea of
maybe how to change something or what I was doing. If you want
somebody to change something, you might say, "Um, I was thinking of
something more along the lines of this outfit."

Vanessa:

Oh, it's a polite way to suggest something else.

Dan:

Right, yeah. So, if somebody was trying to give you tips for your clothes
and they give you a shirt, and you don't like that shirt. You'd say, I was
thinking of something more along the lines of-

Vanessa:

This shirt.

Dan:

... this shirt.

Vanessa:


Yeah, I think that's a really polite way-

Dan:

It's kind of complicated, for sure.

Vanessa:

That sentence structure and all of those words together. This is how Lana
used it, actually, because I was talking about her pink tiger tattoo here. I

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[13:30]
said, "Oh, do you like tigers?" And, she said, "Well, when I got this tattoo,
I got it because it was more along the lines of something fierce and
something that's caged and something that's feminine." It has those
flowers. So I said something, and she kind of corrected me. It wasn't, you
know, such a big deal.
Dan:

It's polite.

Vanessa:


But she politely said, "Oh, this is what I was thinking instead." Maybe if
someone says to you, "Do you want the talk on Skype tomorrow at 2
p.m.?" You could say simply, "No, I'm busy. Let's do it at 5 p.m." No
problem. That's great. Or you could say, "Oh, I was thinking of talking
maybe more along the lines of nighttime instead of the afternoon." So
you can use this just to give a polite suggestion but there are a lot of
words in this expression so make sure that you put them in the right
places. Check out the lesson guide. Try to read those sentences, write
your own, and feel more comfortable with it. All right. Let's watch the
clip.

Lana:

But I mean more along the lines of having something be like so fierce and
so... I don't know how to explain it... in a way that's like a tenderness that
comes along with also being fierce.
But I mean more along the lines of having something be like so fierce and
so... I don't know how to explain it... in a way that's like a tenderness that
comes along with also being fierce.

Dan:

The next expression is to be wary which just means to be cautious. It
probably also means you're a little bit scared about something, right? "I
was wary when I walked into the dark woods."

Vanessa:

Oh, that's a good thing.


Dan:

Or "You need to be wary when you walk outside in the city by yourself."

Vanessa:

So this means cautious, a little bit worried, a little bit uncertain, and that's
how Lana used it when she was talking about the tattoo on her neck.
Maybe if you want to get a tattoo, one of your first thoughts is, "Will my
employer be okay with this? I'm going to get a tattoo that's kind of
hidden. Maybe I'll get it-

Dan:

How visible is it?

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[15:35]
Vanessa:

Maybe I'll get it on my back or on my leg or somewhere that other people
won't be able to see it, but when it's on your neck it is highly visible. So
she said, "I was wary." I was cautious and worried about getting a tattoo

on my neck, but I did it anyway. So she's talking about that kind of feeling
that she had. I was wary about it.
Maybe you were wary to buy something online, to buy this course. I don't
like putting my credit card online. I feel uncomfortable about it. That's a
good thing. Be cautious about where you use your credit card online, but
you might say, "I was wary about paying for this course, but thankfully it's
legitimate. I actually got lessons, and I'm enjoying it." That's good. But it's
okay to feel cautious about something. All right. Let's watch the clip so
that you can see how it was used.

Lana:

I was really wary about getting something on the front of my neck, but
I've never had an issue getting any employerI was really wary about getting something on the front of my neck, but
I've never had an issue getting any employer-

Vanessa:

The next expression is to take the time to do something. Lana suggested
you take the time to research the tattoo artist. This just means, spend
time. Spend time researching who you get to do your tattoo because it's
going to be there forever.

Dan:

Yeah, you might say this as a warning to somebody.

Vanessa:

Take the time to research.


Dan:

Yeah, make sure you take the time to study before the test or you're going
to fail.

Vanessa:

Yes, make sure that you spend this time wisely and you're careful. Take
the time to study all of these vocabulary words. Take the time to say them
out loud. Set this time aside. Really make sure that you find the time to
do it because it's really important and if you're going to meet your goal,
get a good tattoo artist, to learn these vocabulary words, whatever your
goal is, you need to take the time. So, this is something that's really
important. Take the time to do something. All right. Let's watch the clip.

Lana:

So take the time, do that, don't do it at home no matter what is on the
media.

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[17:46]
So take the time, do that, don't do it at home no matter what is on the

media.
Dan:

The next expression is on the cheap. This means to choose to do
something that's not expensive. We went to the restaurant on the cheap.
That means that you chose a restaurant that was not expensive on
purpose because you didn't want to spend a lot of money.

Vanessa:

Or maybe you chose items on the menu that were not very expensive. So
you could say, "We ate cheap food at the restaurant." Or you could say,
"We went to the restaurant on the cheap." This is an expression that
actually I don't use so much, but I know that other people use it. Instead I
use a different expression that it has a different meaning, but the
sentence structure, the grammar is the same.

Dan:

Yeah, totally different meaning.

Vanessa:

But the sentence structure is the same, on the fly. I did it on the fly. What
does this mean to you if I said, "I made dinner on the fly."

Dan:

That means you were doing something else at the same time. Or maybe
you're out somewhere doing something.


Vanessa:

Yeah, you're just zooming by. You're flying. You don't really-

Dan:

Maybe you're on the phone at the same time.

Vanessa:

Yeah, you're multitasking. It's not done really well in detail. Maybe it's
done fast. It's done just to finish. "Oh, I just did it on the fly." I answered
this question on the fly, but I didn't know what I was saying. It was just
something that I did spontaneously. These two expression use the same
grammatical structure. On the cheap, on the fly. Maybe there's some
others as well, but those were the first ones I thought of.

Dan:

On the go.

Vanessa:

On the go, yes, yes. We are on the go. Wow. That baby is on the go. It's
always going, going, going. Yes, somewhere to go. There's a couple
expression you can use that use the same grammatical structure. Check
out the lesson guides to be comfortable with all of those, and let's watch
the clip with Lana to see how she used it.


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[19:48]
Lana:

And also, if they're like, "Oh, I'll give you a tattoo on the cheap." Also say
no. Because who... No, that's just something that you should not do.
And also, if they're like, "Oh, I'll give you a tattoo on the cheap." Also say
no. Because who... No, that's just something that you should not do.

Vanessa and Dan:

Thanks so much for watching...

Vanessa:

... this vocabulary lesson. Thanks so much for joining this vocabulary
lesson. Thanks so much for joining us and thanks, Dan, for taking the time
to do this.

Dan:

No problem.

Vanessa:


You took the time to talk about these expressions.

Dan:

I did. I took all the time.

Vanessa:

Wow, and you did it on the fly, too.

Dan:

I did.

Vanessa:

I hope that these expressions are useful to you and I recommend going
back, checking out the lesson guide, looking at all of the sample
sentences, try to make your own sentences, use the conversation
questions, answer them yourself, read them out loud, talk about them
with a conversation partner from our group, make sure that you really use
them as much as possible because I know that it's tricky to remember
expressions long term but the more you use them, the better it will be. So
thanks so much for learning with us.

Vanessa and Dan:

Bye!


Vanessa:

The moment I decided to join Vanessa's live lesson-

Dan:

Nobody hears that, do they?

Vanessa:

I try to edit it out but it's fearful that I might miss something.

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Transcript Index
This index will help you to quickly match the page and the time in the lesson so that you can
easily follow along and understand each word.
Page 1: 0:00 – 1:28
Page 2: 1:28 – 2:32
Page 3: 2:32 – 4:19
Page 4: 4:19 – 5:48
Page 5: 5:48 – 7:13
Page 6: 7:13 – 8:54
Page 7: 8:54 – 10:21
Page 8: 10:21 – 12:01

Page 9: 12:01 – 13:23
Page 10: 13:23 – 14:48
Page 11: 14:48 – 16:43
Page 12: 16:43 – 18:18
Page 13: 18:18 – 00:00
Page 14: 00:00 – 1:53
Page 15: 1:53 – 3:32
Page 16: 3:32 – 4:58
Page 17: 4:58 – 6:59
Page 18: 6:59 – 9:02
Page 19: 9:02 – 11:36

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