AEE 2661: Splash Into Summer Part 1: Are You a Beach Bum?

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2661. Splash into summer part one. Are you a beach bum? 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, Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA.

What are your summer plans? Are you going to spend any time on the beach? Today we share fun phrases for connecting about summer activities. I'll see you next time.

Search for All Ears English Business English wherever you listen and listen to Aubrey, Michelle, and Lindsay three days a week. See you there. Hey, Michelle, how are you today? Hi, Aubrey.

It is getting warmer. I am excited. Everything is good. I hope you're doing well. Yes, I am. This is the hottest part of the summer, but we are spending a lot of time in the pool.

We've gone to the beach and we are so excited to bring you this Splash Into Summer series here at All Ears English. We're sharing a few of our best episodes that are packed with phrases to help you connect in English this summer. That's right. So today you are going to hear the first episode in this really fun summer series with amazing summertime expressions.

All right. Are we ready for the episode, Aubrey? Yes. All right. Enjoy. Enjoy. Hello, Michelle. How you doing? Are you feeling summery? I am. Oh my gosh.

You know how much I complain about the cold, Lindsay. You've pointed it out before. What is actually your favorite season, Michelle? Would you say it's winter, summer, spring, fall?

It's a good question. I guess I'm going to have to go with like the month of maybe the month of May. Can I just choose one month? Yeah, sure. You can change the question.

Okay. No, May is a really nice month. I really like May and October. I like October too because it's crisp. You know, it's really nice. Yeah, it's like cooling down, but it's not too cold some days maybe.

And you're like, ooh, a sweater. And then like by the time, you know, you're past October, you're like, oh, oh no. Yeah, I also like it because it's like cool leather jacket weather. You know what I mean?

You can wear your leather jacket. You don't have to be in like a, you know, puffy, awful jacket. And you're not in a t-shirt. Like a space suit. Right, exactly.

That's how I always feel. When I was little, I had – well, a teenager, I had like – It was a puffy, silver, you know, one of those. And I just felt like an astronaut.

That's true. Winter clothing is not I don't know if it's really that fashionable, but I don't even know fashion, to be honest. So maybe we should get off that topic.

Never mind. Yeah. So so but do you have a favorite season? Or are we just going with those two months for maybe the fall ah no i'm gonna say summer because just because the possibilities are endless in the summer you can travel abroad you can stay home you can do pretty much anything it's also sometimes lighter work-wise like we try to take it easy in the summer so i'd say summer is my favorite season yeah yeah i'd say okay overall i'll agree with you but i do get very hot anyway you do i don't like to be too hot and i don't like to be too cold yeah true true true

So, but today, well, we're approaching July 4th already. I know. And I know, Lindsay, this is your favorite holiday. I know this about you, right? Thank you for remembering.

You love the 4th of July. Of course. I know. After seven years... You should remember by now. I know. I do love it. I love it. In case you guys haven't heard, I love it because it's so simple.

It doesn't require buying any gifts. It doesn't require any politics of the family. Who's going to go where, right? No flights unless you want it to be.

You could just go to the beach, have a barbecue, backyard, sandals, hot dogs, hamburgers. Ideal. Yeah. You're right about that because it's not necessarily – like some holidays are like –

family holidays where like it's thought of to be the family and you have to figure it out and if you have a partner you have to you know have that conversation yeah like where are you going and and that can be tricky so fourth of july is more like all right like we could be with friends we could be with family it's less pressure Yeah, but you usually have the day off. Obviously, it's a holiday. It's a national holiday if it falls during a week.

And so everyone just – it's just simple. I like things that are simple. Yeah, I hear you. I definitely hear you on that. Yeah. soon it is fourth of july and we are in summer now so we've been doing you know these some these season series um and it started in the winter in the winter right um it was uh 1711 ugly sweaters and stocking stocking stuffers

Phrases you only use in winter. And this was because we had done a YouTube series. Right. We realized that to call someone a Scrooge, like that's not something you really say in the summer, right?

So we decided to do this series. Yeah, it would just be weird. Like there are certain things that you generally say only in certain seasons. And we realized that.

So we went ahead. So that was 1711. And in the spring, we did 1763, which was Springtime Love and English Expressions. So today, in honor of July 4th coming up, we are going to do summer.

I love it. And again, I mean, yeah, these words that we're going to show you today, guys, yeah, you probably shouldn't say them in the winter. So we're going to say that. It's kind of, it's because the words we choose come from a mindset that we have, right?

And that mindset is usually based on the seasons. So that's why this is perfect. Exactly, exactly. So some of these are kind of funny. I realize the summer ones are kind of silly.

Especially this first one. I like this. I know. Should we get into it? Yeah, let's get into it. So the first one, guys, is Beach Bod. Now, I feel like I remember using the word bod more when I was like a teenager, like commenting on guys, like cute guys, models, you know what I mean, in magazines.

Well, what is bod short for? Bod is short for body. So if you have a beach bod, it means you have a body for the beach, right? Maybe if you're a guy, you have a six pack, right?

We say a six pack, which means what, Michelle? Bonus for today. It's that abs. It's a six pack abs. Exactly. But actually, I guess people do start talking about this beach bod.

I need to get my beach bod ready before people start wearing. Yeah. Even in the office with your colleagues, you might, I mean, don't bring it up. Wait until you hear it.

But some of your colleagues closer to you might say, oh, I don't, you know, I don't have a beach bod yet. So I wanted to go to that party I got invited to, but I can't, you know, things like that. Right. Yeah.

And it's interesting. I wonder if this is going to get phased out because as we focus more on like things like body positivity, you know, it might. Yeah. And like, you know, just kind of being, you know,

Not, not so critical of, you know, how people's bodies look. I wonder if like saying things like beach bod is going to start to sound kind of like old fashioned. I already think it's starting to sound a little 90s, I would say. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But but it is important to know. So body is, you know, body shortened sometimes to bod. So that's kind of fun. Who are you in your native language? Confident, funny, opinionated.

Now, who are you in English? If you feel smaller, quieter, or less expressive, that's not because you're bad at English. It's because fluency is tied to identity. When you're unsure, you hold back.

And when you hold back, people don't see the real you. You don't need perfect grammar. You need clarity about what is holding you back. In just two minutes, you can discover your English level and what's slowing your progress for free.

Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. My phone is always ringing these days. It's crazy.

All right. You're so popular. No. I think it's spam calls, actually. I don't know what it is. Oh, that's a problem. We have that too. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, the next one is beach bum.

Yeah. So what would that be? Who's a beach bum? I think a beach bum is like somebody who really likes to spend a lot of time at the beach, right? Yeah.

So would you say you're a beach bum? Do you spend a lot of time at the beach? No. Well, first of all, I live in a landlocked state, first of all. Right.

That's true. What does that mean? What does that mean, landlocked? Yeah, that's a great expression. A state or country, right, that does not have access to the water.

So we think about different countries, like Bolivia comes to mind, is landlocked. It's right in the middle. There's no ocean line, right? Yeah, Colorado's landlocked.

And even if I were living in Mass or California, no, I wouldn't be a beach bum. What about you, Michelle? Are you? No. No. No. Okay. okay we've we've i think we've talked about this before so i knew your answer it's funny i ask you a lot of questions and you know i often know your answer one of these days but we've been talking well but we've been talking so many years we know a lot true um so beach bum yeah no i am not a beach bum i prefer i know i i prefer like

Walking on the boardwalk. I like to be on the boardwalk. That's fun. Going to places like the Jersey Shore. Yeah. That would be a good time. But I don't like, I'm not, like when I think of beach bum, I think of somebody like feet in the sand all day long.

Yes. You know, and I can't. Yeah, it's true. You walk past people on the beach and they've got these dark, dark tans and they've just been there all day and you think, oh, it looks painful.

If I do that, I need to be under an umbrella. You know, I just don't want to have my skin that exposed to the sun. I just feel like I'm going to regret it someday if I do.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So the next thing is work on my tan. So, Lindsay, are you someone who tries to get a good tan? Michelle, I used to be. I would say that I used to be.

And I even made the mistake. This is going to date me and this is a little embarrassing. I even made the mistake a few times of going tanning when I was in high school.

Oh, like to a salon. A tanning bed. Yeah. It was before we knew how bad it was, but maybe I still had a hunch that it was very weird. It was like 97, 98.

And my friend Emma and I, she convinced me to go, you know, her mom was going all the time and we got the goggles. We went a few times, but you stand there and you just like look up at the, or you just like let the lights come on your, on your skin. I don't, have you ever been tanning?

Uh, I've never been to like a tanning bed, but I have been spray tanning. Oh, geez. Okay. I've been to a spray tan. So that's not much better, Lindsay.

Isn't there a funny episode of Friends? Is it Friends? Oh, yeah, that's a good one. I was hoping you might say that. Yes. That is the only episode of Friends my mom has ever laughed at.

laughed at are you did your mom not have a sense of humor no my mom has an amazing sense of like it's not funny enough for her yeah she just like doesn't find it funny and as a kid i mean if she saw this she would laugh like as a kid i would get so excited about friends and i would be like i would be looking for the episode that will finally like get my mom to be a fan and we would just we would just watch it and i would be like laughing and i would always look over at her to see if she was laughing and she'd just be like

interesting interesting okay there's a high bar so okay she's a high bar yes that episode got her and to this day like even just a couple weeks ago we were talking about it so yeah if you guys don't know what we're talking about is it ross or is it chandler it's ross right he goes to get tan a spray tan and he just stands in the same place for too long he gets confused about the instructions and he ends up getting like a super heavy tan really really dark

Yeah, that makes me never want to get a spray tan. That's for sure. Yeah, it's not... I don't know. I didn't... I realized... You know, because... You know, in high school and everything, people would want to work on their tan and this and that.

And I would always, you know, I'm rather pale, if you didn't notice. And I would always want to be tan. And I don't know. Then I learned to embrace the paleness because I've seen myself with a spray tan and I've seen myself when I get even a little bit of color.

It's not, it doesn't fit. You know, like you're meant to be who you're meant to be. fair enough and that's one of the gifts of getting older honestly is you know regardless of the trend i didn't need you to point that out yeah yeah you knew that already right you knew that yeah we can start to embrace ourselves absolutely i love that idea yes okay yeah thanks it's because i'm old no i'm just joking oh michelle come on don't worry i'm always going to be older so don't worry

Um, okay. So the last one we're going to teach is summer fling. Yes. Okay. So do you think that summer flings are ever a good idea? Oh, first of all, what is a summer fling?

It's like a quick relationship that usually like, it's not very realistic that it will continue. Maybe it's in a, Maybe you're traveling or, you know, I don't know, a cruise or just like working at a summer camp together or something like that. It's just like a fling.

You can use fling for other times of the year. But summer fling, it's like in that song from Greece. Yeah. Summer fling. Yes. Yes. I yeah. Generally, I don't think they work out.

But I'm sure there are some. What do you think? There are some examples of some. I think it's fun. I think summer has a certain and we can see it in these words.

Summer has a certain lightness to it, a lack of seriousness. Right. I think in people's minds, like between Memorial Day and Labor Day, that's when you can kind of just goof off and have fun. But as soon as Labor Day comes around, it's like even in the economy, the stock market, people pull out of their stocks in the summer.

Right. And then they go back in in the fall. And so it's shown everywhere. We just kind of loosen up and relax. So, yeah, summer flings can be fun, but don't necessarily expect it to be something that's going to turn into.

Yeah. I also think of like if you're a lifeguard at a pool, maybe someone else who's lifeguarding, that kind of thing, that kind of summer job fling. Right. Mm hmm.

Yeah, right. Oh, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So guys, these are expressions that you will most likely talk about either slightly before the summer or during the summer, but you're probably not going to be talking about summer flings unless you're telling a story about the summer when it's when it's snowing.

Probably not. Yeah, unless you're going back to let me tell you about my summer fling last summer. Right. That kind of thing. Right. Yeah, exactly. So should we do a role play?

Yeah, let's do it. All right. So we are going to the beach. Oh, geez. All right. I can't wait to get out there and work on my tan. Yeah, but don't get a sunburn.

I'll sit for a bit, but I'm not really much of a beach bum. So I'll probably spend some time playing games on the boardwalk. Yeah, Tracy's coming too. And she won't stop talking about her summer flings beach bod.

Oh, boy, I'll be sure to take a walk for that discussion. Nice. So yeah, typical, we're getting ready to go to the beach. Michelle, do you think that you could ever live in a place like California more of a beach culture?

Could you ever live like in Santa Monica or on the coast, you know, Laguna Beach? I think maybe because I think there's still a lot of nice things there. There really are. Yeah.

I don't know it so well. I will say that when I do visit beach towns, even the Jersey Shore, I have this moment where I'm like, should I be living on the beach? It's so relaxing. Sometimes I think...

if life could feel a little bit simpler or something like that and then I always start looking up real estate and then things get complicated right and then I think and then I think like maybe I could do like a month in the summer or something like that but then I just um I think it's one of those things when you're there when you're there it seems like oh wow but if I were to I don't know if I could do it year-round Yeah, I know what you mean. It's something about the smell of the salt water, right? In the air, the salt air is really, really healing and relaxing for the body, the hair.

It just feels great. But yeah, I'm not sure if I would necessarily want to live full time at the beach, but who knows? Maybe another lifetime, right? Who knows?

Maybe, maybe. Anyway, guys, well, let's go through this. So you said, I can't wait to get out there and work on my tans. Very common, right? Work on my tan.

Again, that right there is a chunk. You're going to hear this from your colleagues on a Friday before a summer weekend, right? Work on my tan. Okay, really common, guys.

And then I'm not really much of a beach bum is what I said, meaning I don't spend an entire day at the beach. I have to do other things. Right. Exactly.

Exactly. And then I said, she won't, you said she won't stop talking about her summer flings beach bod. Right. So this person, she has a fling with this person's body.

Yeah. And their six pack, maybe. Exactly. And if you guys are on the app, you're going to be able to see this in the transcripts. I could see how this little chunk could be a little confusing because we're combining two of the key word, right?

Keywords. So summer flings that person's beach bod. Okay. OK, so just to be clear, guys, good stuff. Any takeaway for our listeners today? Should they go out and just have a crazy summer?

Have a great summer. Have a great time and enjoy. And these, you know, listen for these expressions and enjoy the enjoy a good weather. All right. Good stuff.

Enjoy it, guys. Happy summer. Happy summer. Bye. Bye. All right. So my favorite expression from this episode is definitely beach bum. So my favorite summertime activity is being a beach bum, hanging out all day on the beach, playing in the waves, building sandcastles with my kids, playing sand volleyball and spike ball.

That's my favorite. Sand volleyball and spike ball is all I want to do when I'm on the beach. It's so fun. Although I will say that I will say that I am practicing these phrases, but that is actually not true.

Oh, that's so funny. Listeners are like, is that true? Yeah, they're like, we've heard you probably talk about the beach before. But Aubrey are example sentences.

for michelle all of that is true for me i love sports on the beach hanging out on the beach and we hope that you guys are able to be a beach bum this summer and maybe have a summer fling that was another fun phrase from this episode but like michelle said in the role play don't get a sunburn use sunscreen everyone that's right be careful and also be sure to hit follow to get the rest of this splash into summer series all right see you next time

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