AEE 2647: Is This Episode a Doozy? How to Talk Something Intense but Light

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2647. Is this episode a doozy? How to talk about something intense, but light. 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

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Sometimes you need to describe something that is hard and intense, but not so serious. Today, get one winning way to do this naturally in English. You've studied English in school. You've taken courses, watched videos, listened to podcasts.

So why does speaking still feel difficult sometimes? Because knowledge and fluency are not the same thing. You can know hundreds of grammar rules and thousands of words, but still struggle to use them quickly in real conversations and to connect. Our free two-minute fluency quiz helps you discover where that gap exists and what to do about it.

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 there, Michelle. How are you? Has it been a busy week for you?

Has it been a doozy? It's been a little bit of a doozy. I feel like every week is a doozy, but yeah, everything is good. How about you? Oh, it's been a doozy for me too, Michelle.

Yeah, just sleeping and just exercising and keeping things going here, keeping the podcast going. We are doing our best here. So what does this mean, a doozy? A doozy.

It's such a funny word. Yeah. But it's actually really useful for connection. And I mean, Lindsay, would you say that you use this? Do you hear it? I would say I do.

But it's so funny when people say it because it does sound a little strange. I know. It's so funny. I mean, there are not many words that sound like this, right?

Yeah. But it actually is pretty common, you know, to say, oh, it's a doozy. Like, even since planning this episode, I'll find myself just randomly say, you know, it'll just pop out. That's pretty funny.

That's pretty funny. I can't help it. But I hear it too. It's not just that I say it. This is not just my language. But so today we're going to talk about this word and how it can be really useful for connection, actually.

I know. Yes. Yeah. But before we get into it, guys, we want to remind you to hit the follow button wherever you're listening to All Ears English. Yes, go ahead and hit follow, guys, right here on the show so you don't miss a single episode of All Ears English.

And if you're hearing a little construction in my background, we're having construction done in my house. So that should be over in just a few minutes here. That's right. Good.

All right. So what does it mean when you say that something is a doozy or was a doozy? Yeah. So a doozy means something was intense or is intense in some way.

It could be in a good way. It could be in a bad way. It's just, it's a lot. And this is a very theatrical word. Yes. For example, so let's give some examples for our listeners here so they can really grab onto this because I'm pretty sure, Michelle, this word has not been in many textbooks, right?

This is not something our listeners maybe haven't, maybe they haven't heard it yet, right? It might be brand new. So here's an example. That test was a doozy.

I hope I passed. So what do you mean when you say here? I mean, that test was hard, right? That was a hard test. Yep. Yeah. Or this winter has been a doozy.

I am ready for spring. Yes. Or election night was a doozy. I barely got any sleep. Yeah, we have that. Yeah. I mean, gosh, sometimes the elections can, it can take days to get results or staying up late.

And I, yeah, it's a doozy for sure. Our trip was fun, but it was also a doozy. I'll tell you everything. So, so something happened, something, something happened.

I mean, I mean, how does this sound to you, Lindsay, though? Like, does it when you when you hear it? You mean the word in general or that example? The word in general.

Oh, it's funny sounding, but it definitely, it feels like you went through something kind of intense. Yeah. Right. Yeah. But it, but in a way you're still being kind of fun and playful about it.

It's like, I don't think you would use it. No. For something super, super, super serious. No. Notice like intense and serious are not necessarily the same thing.

That's a good point. Right. Yeah. That's really. So yeah. Like I, I, I don't think I would say like that funeral was a doozy, you know, like I know. Yeah.

But, you know, other things that are just intense would be you could say they're a doozy. And you also might hear someone say a real doozy, right? That performance was a real doozy. I don't know what went wrong.

So, yeah, you just you also have to know the context. Yes. When to know what doozy means, because it can be fairly versatile. So Lindsay, should we give some examples?

Let's show our listeners what we mean by that. So my time living abroad was a real doozy. I loved every second of it. So here, this is saying it was, it was great.

Right. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it was intense, but in a good way. I do think that overall doozy implies something more challenging, tricky or challenging, right.

Then, then maybe just like, Oh, it was perfect. Right. So yeah. However, I mean, yeah. Um, Yeah. You could use it for positive things. Here's another one.

My meeting with my boss was a real doozy. I didn't love some of the things she told me and she definitely surprised me. So that's a more common usage of it, right?

So Lindsay, is there anything in your life that has been a real doozy? Oh yeah. All this construction that's going on behind my microphone today, Michelle, has been a real doozy. We've been living in

our in-laws condo and airbnbs and i've been recording i've had all sorts of different studios over the last three or four months it's been a real doozy yeah well it's yeah it's funny yeah moving or construction a lot of things like that can oh yeah you can use doozy about like for me i don't know if you guys remember but a couple summers ago i had we recorded one that was like michelle's topsy-turvy summer yeah Yeah. I was living in this B&B. I was waiting to move into my house.

Everything was crazy. And so I could have said, oh, my topsy-turvy summer was a doozy. I remember when we talked about that and our listeners got to learn that term, topsy-turvy. So fun.

So anytime your life is kind of in flux, you're going through something that's maybe a little annoying or hard or intense or challenging or something that's pushing you, this is a great way to apply this word. Okay. Okay. Definitely.

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So other similar things that we might say that are equally lighthearted, right? So it's important that we get at this idea of lightheartedness, that we're not, this is not about a death in the family or an injury where you're in, you know, you're in the hospital or something that's serious, right?

So a toughie, a toughie would be another good one. Yeah, toughie. So that piano piece was a toughie. I hope the judges don't take off too many points.

Yeah. Or a whopper. Now that is also the word used for a famous burger from I think Wendy's or Burger King. Is it Burger King? It's got to be Burger King.

I want to say Burger King. Yeah. But in this case, we take the word and we use it to apply to something that is difficult, right? This could be for weather or other things.

The meeting was a whopper. There are so many changes going on right now. So the meeting was just kind of intense. Yeah. Right. Exactly. But yeah, definitely you can use it for weather.

Like that snowstorm was a whopper. Oh my gosh. I got, we got 10 inches, right? Yes. Yes, for sure. And you just had one of those in the New York, New Jersey area.

This whole winter you've had a lot of whoppers. Yeah. A lot of whoppers. And yeah, it was enough. I had my fill. So this is a little bit different. A stunner.

So this could be about looks or some sort of performance. Yeah. So this, and this is generally a good thing, right? So that flip was a stunner. She will definitely be in the Olympics.

Yeah. Or my new dress is a stunner. I can't believe I got it on sale. So this is a good thing. It's intensely beautiful, right? It's stunning, right? It's stunning.

Exactly. Michelle, should we go into a role play and show our listeners? Let's do it. So here we are classmates and we're talking about a test that we just had.

Okay, let's do it. Okay, so what did you think? Oh, man, it was a real doozy. Oh, I totally agree. I can't believe that question from the end. What a whopper.

Yeah, we never even learned about that section. Section A was a toughie, too. Yeah, oh, man. Oh, hey, did you get your new school shirt? No, but I saw it.

It's a stunner. Yeah. I'm really impressed with the design. All right. Nice. So we went through this and a very common use is a test talking about an exam, right?

How was the exam? It was a real doozy. It was a doozy, right? It was hard, but it's not a serious, serious thing, like such a big deal. Right. Um, so I asked you, Oh, no, no, go ahead.

No, just, I was going to go through the role play here, Michelle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Sorry. So I asked you, what'd you think about the test? Right.

And what did I say? You said, oh, man, it was a real doozy. And I feel like when you hear – I mean, Lindsay, if you – in this moment when somebody is asking about the test and they hear that someone else thought it was hard, it's like this relief, right? Because –

Yeah. Yeah. You're like, okay, I thought so too. And it was, you know, you're not like, oh, if you ask someone and you thought it was hard and they're like, oh, it was, it was nothing.

Oh yeah. That's the worst. Yeah. I remember having so many conversations in, you know, middle school and high school about tests, you know, before and after around this topic, right?

Was it hard? Was it easy? What did other people think about it? Yeah. Yeah. Test anxiety. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So then I said, totally agree. I can't believe that question from the end.

What a whopper. So what do I mean by that? What an intense question, right? That was a very intense question. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like it was hard. And then you said we never even learned about that, right?

Yeah. And section A was a toughie too. And now you're adding on to what I've said. Another section was also hard, right? Yes. Yes. Exactly. And then I said, oh, hey, did you get your new school shirt?

And you said, no, but I saw it. It's a stunner. So again, this is a bit different, right? Yeah. Here we're just saying that it's similar to doozy in the way it's intense or great in some way, like more than...

more than usual of something but this one is here about looks so i'm saying it's it's you're saying it's beautiful yeah exactly michelle would you call someone a stunner like a person would you would you would you go there what uh would i go there uh i don't think really no

Yeah, that you'd have to be careful with that. I mean, if you want to say that someone is attractive, you say, Oh, beautiful, or I don't know if there's just, that's a whole other conversation. But I don't think I would call someone a son. Yeah, the reason why in my mind is that it's a little bit objectifies a person a little bit.

I think, yeah, a stunner is better used for inanimate objects. Things that are not living, right? Yeah. So just be careful there with a human being. It does objectify the thing just a bit.

Why is this good for connection, Michelle? Yeah. Well, I mean, I think if you say something was a duty, you're connecting to someone about how intense something is. And everybody can relate to that, whether you're just telling a story or you're trying to feel them out and see if they agreed with you.

Exactly. Like about the test example. So it's just adding a little bit of color. It's just so much different than saying, oh, yeah. That test was hard.

Yeah, my weekend was intense. There's just so much more to it. There's so much more personality behind it. Yeah. I mean, a lot of what our listeners want to do is add personality to their English and this does it instantly, guys.

All right. So give this one a try. And while you're at it, go over to 2629. More Allers English? Yes, please. Go and listen to that episode. And that is the takeaway.

I mean, it's a connection moment because... Inherently, along with this, we understand the nuance. We understand we're not talking about something profoundly intense and important necessarily, but things that are of moderate importance, light to moderate importance, but you still have a certain lightness about it, a certain levity there inside your mind when you're talking about it, right? Right.

Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. All right. Well, I'm glad we talked about this today and I hope your construction ends soon and that it's not a doozy anymore. It's been a real doozy of a season, Michelle, here.

So all right. We're doing our best here. All right. Bye, Lindsay. Bye, guys. Take care. Bye. See you next time. I have Ornod in 2013 built. We make clothes.

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