AEE 2619: Do You Think Two is a Party and Three is a Crowd?

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2619. Do you think two is a party and three is a crowd? 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 lindsey mcmahon the english adventurer and michelle kaplan the new york radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.

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Things happen in threes. Find out what we mean today and learn new expressions with the number three in our series on numbers in English. There's a big difference between understanding English and participating in English. Understanding means you follow the conversation.

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Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. Hey, Michelle, I got a question. Yes. Ready? So do you think that two is a party, but three is a crowd?

What are your thoughts there on hanging out in groups of two versus three? I think it really depends. I remember when I was growing up, I was really... So it was...

I mean, this is when I was like a little, little kid. There were a group of three of us as friends who are still friends today, but there was like one base friend and we both wanted to be her friend. And so the two of us would kind of argue over her. Sure, yeah.

That can happen. Yeah, but... Then we just became friends. And then it was all fine. But like, so that's an example from when I was little, I would probably say three is a crowd.

But now I'm like, oh, the more the merrier, right? Yeah, most of the time, though, I still think that that vibe can come out with adults too. It just comes out in a different way.

When there's three, the jealousy can still come out sometimes. Someone can still feel left out because feeling left out is a human emotion. It's not just a childish thing, right? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's absolutely true. So, Lindsay, we're talking about this because today we're going to do part three, the final part of our three-part series on the numbers one, two, and three. I love it. Love it.

What were the other episodes and where were they? All right. So episode, the first episode was back on April 25th. That was a Saturday episode. And I don't remember the title now, Michelle.

Oh, it's the title. Yes. Is All Ears English One in a Million? Yes. Is All Ears English Your One in a Million, right? Your One in a Million. Yep. And then part two was on Business English.

That was Business English 564. Put two and two together with these idioms. All right. Excellent. All right. So definitely check that out. And guys, if you're not following the Business English podcast, you should also be following that show because we do a lot of crossover.

We do a lot of series. And also when there's so much on the Business English podcast that can be used in your daily life as well. So definitely check it out. Yes, for sure.

So I love the letter three. Sorry, the number three. I love the number three. It's a letter three. What am I even talking about? We're losing it here.

I love the number three. It's just like, I like to do things in threes. I think three is a good number. I don't know. What are your thoughts? Do you have any preferences for three, two, one?

Yeah. Um, sure. I like the number three. It kind of rounds things out, right? It does. One, two, three. If you're counting down, counting up, I mean, yeah, it kind of rounds things out.

So that's good. I like the number three. We're going to give you guys these expressions with three today. So the first one today is two. Well, we just said it.

Two is a party. Three is a crowd. Right. Which technically includes two also, but we're focusing on three. Yeah. Yeah. So two is a party. Three is a crowd.

So, yeah, that's this idea that two people get along and a third kind of it's too much. It messes things up in a way. Yep. Yep. It makes my friends I was sharing about.

Or there's jealousy that happens or things are just not like lining. They don't line up as well when they're a three, right? Yes. Yes, exactly. And then what's the next one, Lindsay?

Well, of course, in baseball, we know three strikes and you're out, but it's not just about baseball, right? So this is used when someone has had warnings, maybe if you're disciplining your kids and they get some form of discipline on that third offense, right? Yeah. Yeah.

So for example, I gave you warnings. Remember, three strikes, you're out. Yeah. I think my mom definitely used to say this to me, to us. It's really a cliche, right?

When it's used as a discipline, but it's still probably used, I'm sure. Oh, it's still, it's for sure used. Third time's a charm, right? And this is cool because this can be used to encourage people.

And I know we've taught this before, but way back on the show, it means sometimes on the third try, you get something right. Yeah. Yeah. So for example, I'm so proud I didn't give up.

You know what they say, third time's a charm, or you might hear three times a charm. Yeah, exactly. Maybe someone started three businesses and the first two failed, the third succeeded. Maybe they got married three times and

And the first two marriages failed. The third one they think will be successful. This could be used to talk about a lot of things. Yes, exactly. If you're ready to start your business, go ahead with the business platform for entrepreneurs.

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You can find your period of 1 euro per month on Shopify.eu. All right. So next one is not actually an idiom. Can you tell us about this one, Michelle?

Yeah. It's more of a lesson, I would say, right? I wouldn't necessarily say this is an idiom. Yes. But I mean, I don't know. Maybe technically it is, but well, whatever it is, it's three leaves, let it be.

Have you heard that? I've heard this. This means that you're looking at poison ivy, right? If you're hiking, you're probably in North America. um and have you ever had poison ivy michelle no have you i don't think i have i don't think i have um but you're very scared of it and that there's poison ivy there's poison oak my mom has had poison oak um poison sumac i think is another thing that i've heard of

yeah really do you so because you hike a lot so do you um yeah are you looking for it are you you know I probably should look for it more I'm more worried about on the east coast I'm more worried about ticks actually oh oh I'm so scared yes yeah yeah for sure yeah that is taking over the east coast and i don't think we have it i don't know actually i don't know if we even have it in colorado because we hike more on like the the clay like the dirt you know it's more less uh brush and fresh trees and more like in the sun on the clay and the dirt and the switchbacks and things like that so yeah oh the next one interesting so what is it michelle

this one this is a little bit of a risque one um no it's three sheets to the wind um and lindsey what does three sheets to the wind mean this is a classic i mean like it's been around forever this expression to say someone is very drunk tommy is three sheets to the wind he didn't realize he had too many margaritas and that can happen

Yeah. So she's three sheets to the wind. Someone is drunk. You might hear that in a movie. Yes. Right. I don't know. Commercial, a TV show, you know, and friends might say it sometimes.

Right. It's just it's been around for a long time. It's like a time. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good one to know. Lindsay, what do you like the most? Oh, man.

Well, let's see. Third time's a charm because it's optimistic. It's optimistic. It's like, this might be the time that it's going to work. Yeah. right right i think i like three sheets to the wind just because it's it sounds funny and when you it's just it's generally i think it's like more lighthearted you know like i don't think you would say this about someone who is like drunk and sick right no no we're like kind of right it's more a little on the front like oh they're they're three sheets to the wind they don't know yeah it's kind of like you when you know they can handle themselves and they don't need any help and they're not going to get into trouble right right right kind of poking fun at them a little bit

Right. Right. Exactly. All right. Shall we put them together? Yes. We are friends hanging out. All right. So I finally found out that I passed my exam.

Third time's a charm. Oh, wow. Congrats. Should we invite Cynthia? Yeah. Um, it's been so long since I've seen you. Two's a party, three's a crowd. Do you want another glass of wine?

No, then I'll be three sheets to the wind. Okay, okay. So I got poison ivy last month. Oh, that's awful. Yeah, I totally forgot the expression. Three leaves, let it be.

Clearly. Glad you're okay, though. Thanks, I'm fine. Okay. Yeah. So here it's a good example because native speakers really do move between topics quickly.

And we did hear, right? Yeah. We move from talking about the exam to talking about a glass of wine to talking about poison ivy and Cynthia. We're all over the place, but that's normal in English.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So first you said, I finally, I finally found out that I passed my exam third time's a charm. So what does that mean? So you're saying you probably took the exam three times total, and this is the third time you've taken it.

And what happened the first two times? And you failed the first two times. This is the third time. This could also be for the driving test. We've talked about the driving test.

You know, the parallel parking. We talked about that sometime last month. Yeah, this all ties in. It's when you've tried. It's why I like it. It's optimistic, like I said before.

Yeah, yeah. exactly it's saying like there's no shame that it took me a few times right you're kind of making fun of yourself a little bit when you say that because you're like it took me three times and there's no shame but i'm gonna shame myself just a tiny bit right don't you think yeah yeah but we but we definitely did a whole episode on this guys so i would i would put that into a search um and see if you can find that one um but it's from a while ago um and then you you said should we invite cynthia and i said it's been so long since i've seen you and then i said two is a party three is a crowd so yeah it's just saying no not very nice of me but um sometimes you just want to catch up with the one person yeah for sure so and so i guess we're not going to invite cynthia i guess she's being left out right um and i'm asking you do you not want another glass of wine and you said no that'll be three sheets to the wind so you know your limits in terms of alcohol right how much you can handle

Right. Exactly. And then I told her I got poison ivy last month and you said, that's awful. And I said, yeah, I forgot the expression three leaves, let it be.

So basically I was on this hike touching all the greenery and just went to it. And I think that expression is something kids probably learn if they go to nature camp or they go to school and they go on a day hike with their teacher or something is generally where you might learn that. Right. In American culture.

Right. Yes, exactly. So guys, remember, check out the other episodes. Remember we had, uh, is all ears English? You're one in a million and business English.

Part two was, uh, uh, five 64 put two and two together with these idioms. Nice. Michelle, any final takeaway for today when it comes to connection and these phrases? Uh,

Yeah, these are all super, super expressive, very useful. And I think that, you know, again, listening to these episodes and getting remembering, okay, these are the ones, these are the twos, these are the threes. I mean, you're already going to pick up so many idioms in all of these episodes.

And you'll probably remember them better because they have a theme. Yes, I love it. I love it. So don't be afraid to use these fun expressions. Numbers do come up all the time in our language.

And these are great examples of that. All right. Good stuff. All right, Lindsay. Well, thanks for doing the series with me. And guys, we'll see you next time.

All right. Take care. Bye. Bye. See you next time.