AEE 2702: Have the Last Laugh With These English Idioms

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2702. Have the last laugh with these English idioms. 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 host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer. coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

For more connection in life, lighten up. Find out what we mean by that today and get four ways to talk about laughing it off in English. Sometimes English learners think their problem is vocabulary, but often the issue is something deeper. It's hesitation.

You pause to translate. You pause to check grammar. You pause to search for the perfect word. Those small pauses add up and interrupt the natural flow of conversation.

You can respond with ease without constantly analyzing every sentence. Our free two-minute fluency quiz will show you your current level and what skills you need to improve. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e.

Hello, Lindsay. How are you today? Hey there, Aubrey. I'm feeling great today. I'm feeling great. What are we getting into on the show? I have a question for you to start us out.

Have you ever been in a situation where things went really wrong? Yeah, I feel like my dad has really bad luck. So when I was looking at colleges back when I was, you know, 17, we went down to Washington, D.C. I wanted to look at some colleges there and we flew into Dulles Airport.

And so we thought we were flying back out of Dulles Airport to go home. Of course, you would. That would make sense. I would assume that. You would think that, but no.

Yeah. Somehow our reservation was to go out of National Airport. So there are two or three airports in the DC area. So we show up at Dulles Airport and we're not on the list.

We go to check in. We're not on any list, any flight. And so we had to kind of reroute ourselves all over the East Coast. I think we ended up in Chicago and maybe Atlanta.

I don't know. Just trying to get back to the Boston area. It was wild. Wow. But yeah, I mean, we were able to laugh it off within a couple days, I think.

Nice. That's impressive. Yeah, we're talking about this phrase, laugh it off today. Sometimes when something goes really wrong, it takes a little while before you can laugh it off, right?

I'm like, I'm going to be upset about this for a few days. And then eventually you can laugh it off. What does that mean? Let's go. So we have some really interesting vocabulary today.

And we're going to share a few different phrases like this. Laugh it off phrases for when you're able to see the humor in something, right? Yeah. Aubrey, do you feel like you've gotten better at laughing things off as you've gotten older?

Do you think this is an acquired skill that comes with age? Actually, I maybe think the opposite. When I was younger, I was really good at laughing things off, right? I just like nothing seemed very high stakes.

I didn't take anything very seriously. Things would go crazy wrong. And I'm just like, whatever. Whereas now, now things have more real import. Yeah, that's true.

You have kids and everything. It's harder to laugh things off now, but usually give me a little time and I'll be able to look back and see the humor. Yeah, yeah. I feel like it's an interesting mix of both.

For me, it's like as I've gotten older, I've realized like things aren't as serious as I thought they were before. But you're right. There's higher stakes now in a way. Like maybe you've spent more money on the vacation or something or like everyone's planning to do the plan you created, for example.

That's the thing. If you're in charge, like it's your idea, it's your plan. Everyone's upset. Whereas when you're a kid, you don't have that kind of responsibility.

You're just like, whatever. You're just along for the ride. Like when my dad screwed up our flights, I was like, okay, that was a bad job. He might've been really upset about it.

You're just like chilling. You're like, oh, now we're in Chicago. It's fine. Exactly. So this is a very human thing. And on this show, we love to talk about very human moments and how to express them in English.

So this is it today. Guys, hit the follow button right here on All There's English. If you love our style of connection, not perfection. All right. Absolutely.

And this is such a connection skill to be able to, instead of getting really upset and then the situation becomes worse and worse, if you can laugh it off, if you can use maybe one of these phrases, then it will be a better experience. It's not always easy to do, but we always are glad when we can, right? Exactly. Exactly.

So the first expression is exactly that, laugh it off. It's the one we use at the top of the show. Aubrey, what does it mean exactly? Exactly. Yeah, it means to treat something upsetting or awkward or embarrassing as unimportant by laughing about it, by seeing the humor in it.

Exactly. Yeah. So, for example, when he spilled coffee in his shirt before the meeting, he just laughed it off. Yeah. I find that that's also really smart socially because when you do something like that, people that you're around are going to take cues from you on how to react.

If you're nervous, you're like embarrassed or you think it's the end of the world, other people will feel very uncomfortable. Yes. So true. It makes it so awkward for everyone.

This happened when we were in Mexico. We saw there was a woman just walking and there was sort of an uneven sidewalk and she tripped and fell. But she like got up and laughed it off. It was fine.

Whereas if she would have been like mortified and run away, it would have been so much worse. Right. It's like you just got to laugh it off when embarrassing things happen. Yeah.

Falling as an adult is definitely. That's a big one. Like you're just going to have to laugh it off. What other choice do we have? Fine. But if you're an adult, yeah, you got to laugh it off.

What's another example sentence? I panicked when I thought he dropped my phone in the lake. Luckily. Oops, I jumped here. Oops. To a different one. The kids were making fun of her, but she just laughed it off instead of getting upset.

I've seen this as well. I've been in this situation where like younger kids will be teasing you or making fun of something. And if you get angry and defensive, then it's uncomfortable for everyone. If you don't take it seriously and just laugh it off, then it's no big deal.

Yeah. And it's hard because, yeah, sometimes, you know, maybe the family that you marry into has a tradition of making fun of showing their love by making fun of you. That is kind of their love way of showing love, right? That's the case for me, the family I married into.

That's what they do. They poke fun at you to show that they love you. But that wasn't the environment I grew up in. So it's different. Was that hard to get used to?

It is. Yeah. But it becomes even more important to just laugh it off and move on, you know? Exactly. Right. Yeah. So true. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Let's jump to our second one here, which is pull someone's leg. And this is what your family is doing, right? To tease or trick someone playfully. So maybe if you're pranking them or just teasing them, we use this idiom to pull their leg.

Yeah. So she told me she was moving, but then I found out that she was just pulling my leg. Just teasing, just joking, right? Yeah. We talked recently about the difference between a joke, a pun, and a prank.

And if you pull someone's leg, it's usually more of a prank. Even if it's not an action, you might just like this, tell them something that's not true just to trick them. And we'll say this, like, stop pulling my leg. And also if someone's telling us something true, but we don't believe them at first, we might use this phrase, be like, are you pulling my leg?

Are you serious? Is that true? What you're telling me? Yeah, that's also a very common way to ask that question, right? Yes, exactly. Or you might say, I panicked when I thought he dropped my phone in the lake.

Luckily, he was just pulling my leg. Yeah, that's not good. That would be bad. Right? I have my kids will pretend to like push me in the pool or something like this.

Oh, yeah. And I'm like... Yeah. I just have to laugh it off. They just like to pull my leg. They want to see me kind of panic for a second and they're not really going to do it.

So now sometimes I fake the reaction because they just want a reaction, right? Oh, for sure. For sure. Yeah. They want attention. They want a reaction.

What about have the last laugh? What does this mean? This is a little bit different, right? This is interesting. It means to end up succeeding after others doubted you or maybe mocked you, right?

Yeah. So for example, no one thought he'd be successful when he started the business, but it's going really well. So I guess he had the last laugh. So it's like everybody was wrong.

Right. So it's not exactly about joking so much, right? It's about succeeding when other people think you wouldn't succeed, wouldn't have succeeded. I didn't think she'd get into Harvard and then she ended up getting a scholarship.

She definitely had the last laugh. Right. She came out on top. And this is what's interesting. So many idioms in English have the word laugh or joke or something like that and aren't really about humor at all.

So it's always tricky. You have to find out like, what does this mean? This one is just about being successful when people doubted you. Yes, I love that.

And there's one more phrase for our listeners today. What is it, Aubrey? Yeah, this is the jokes on you or me, the jokes on someone. So this is like you intended to make someone else look foolish or trick them, but the plan backfired and it made you look foolish instead.

Yes. Yeah, I like this one. I find myself using this in a lot of different situations. Maybe when I got fooled, right? And then I'll just say, oh, joke's on me.

Actually, this was the case, right? Exactly, right? Here's an example. I thought I was taking a shortcut, but... The joke's on me. I ended up sitting in traffic for an hour.

So this would totally happen to me. If I don't use the Waze app or something, I'm like, oh, this will be quicker. And then you get stuck in traffic. Joke's on me.

Should have gone the other way. Yeah. You got to use Waze. My partner always says, in Waze we trust, especially when you're in a place like Los Angeles.

This is not an ad, but the Waze app is really good. Yeah. It's so important, especially when you're in a place where traffic is a huge part of life, right? Like L.A., for example.

Even here, like my regular Maps app won't show heavy traffic on the freeway. But if I use Waze, well, I'll be like, then you can avoid a wreck. Oh, for sure. Another example, I laughed at my friend for bringing an umbrella, but then it poured and I got soaked.

Joke's on me. Right? So it's a way of humbling yourself a little bit, right? Admitting that like you made a mistake. I kind of like this because it's human.

I do too. This is really valued in American culture to be able to poke fun at yourself, to be able to say a phrase like this instead of getting angry and defensive and mad, like say something like this, laugh it off. Like anytime we can see the humor in something or be a little humble. We like that in a person.

Yeah. That helps you maintain the connection. And that's what it's all about. Right, Aubrey? Yes. Yeah. Have you ever listened to native speakers and thought, I understand the words, but I still feel slightly lost.

That's because real English conversations include more than vocabulary. There's speed. There's connected speech. There are cultural references and casual phrases.

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That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. Okay. Role play time. We are friends in this scenario, so let's get into it. All right. Here we go.

Did you tell Noah the coffee shop was giving away free pastries today? Yes. I was just pulling his leg. You know, he actually got up early and went before work.

Wait, seriously? Yep. He said he sent you a Venmo request to pay for his pastry and his coffee too. Well, joke's on me. I'm definitely paying for that one.

I see what you did there. Good pun. Well, at least if I Venmo him, he won't try to get me back. I wouldn't count on it. He loves to have the last laugh.

Nice. This is fun. I would like this, friend. Yeah, no, that's really funny. Like you just tell someone something pulling their leg, but then they believe it and get up early to go wait in line for something.

So yeah, let's go through this. This is fun. Okay. So I said, you know, did you tell Noah the coffee shop was giving away free pastries? And you said, yeah, but I was just pulling his leg.

You know, I wasn't serious. I was teasing. And if you're going to say something, you probably are totally fine, actually, with them like getting up early and falling for it and then being upset later and you're prepared to deal with the consequences. And I love this reaction of them Venmo requesting you for the coffee and the pastry.

Like it will be free because I love me. I would pay that Venmo request with a laugh. Yeah, for sure. That's hilarious. That's so funny. And then I said, jokes on me.

I'm definitely paying for that one. And then so this is where I'm like, okay, I tricked him, right? I made this joke, but jokes on me because now I got to pay that Venmo request. And not everybody would.

I absolutely would. I don't think it was so funny just that they sent it. Yeah. And that they fell for my little prank. I would be like, happily. Oh, for sure.

Yeah. And then I said, good pun. And we talked about puns in another episode recently in the last couple of weeks of All Airs English, right, Aubrey? Exactly right.

So if you didn't catch the pun there, paying means two things here, right? I am paying the Venmo request. I'm paying for his coffee and pastry. And also when we say, ugh, I'm paying for that one,

means there's some kind of consequence for something that you did so because there's a double meaning i might not even have intended that but i'll do just what you did i'll be like oh good pun and then the other person might be like oh you're right that was it does happen maybe no sometimes we just make puns and we don't even try to and then sometimes we might say no pun intended right but that's right i could have said that after i'd be like i'm definitely paying for that one no pun intended you know or like we'll point out after we realize we've made a pun accidentally will point it out. Yeah, exactly.

That's fun. And then you said, well, at least if I Venmo him, he won't try to get me back. And then I said, I wouldn't count on that. He loves to have the last laugh.

So he wants to come out on top. He doesn't want you to be the one laughing last, right? Exactly. Right. And that's the way to have the last laugh is to send that Venmo request, right?

Yes. And then I have egg on my face if I don't Pay for it, right? That's a couple of interesting phrases here. To have egg on your face means you're the one that's kind of looks bad, is embarrassed.

And then also this phrase to get someone back, right? He won't try to get me back. That means sort of like get revenge, but a little more lighthearted and minor, like something where you're like playing a trick on them as payback. Yeah.

So much good vocabulary here today for connection. I mean, having fun. I think today, the takeaway for today is be a little bit lighthearted in life, right? Like I lighten up, right?

Just like life is so heavy these days with the news and everything and the economy. It's like, can we find moments of levity, right? Of that lightness, that feeling of just feeling good and feeling like we can enjoy that moment, even if other things are kind of intense. Yeah.

Right. Laugh it off. Make a joke. I agree. Add some levity. I really appreciate this in a person. I'm best able to connect with someone who has a good sense of humor.

I'm able to poke fun at them and they take it well. And sometimes I'll put out a little feeler to see if someone can. And if not, I'm like, okay, that's fine. We'll keep it more formal, right?

But when someone can, I'm always like, yay. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. So guys, going over to episode 2686, joke, pun, or prank? What's the difference?

So that's the one I referenced earlier. You definitely want to know the difference between a joke, pun, and a prank. Okay? Yeah. So that you can do all three.

Yes. Yes. Good stuff. All right, Aubrey. Well, you have a good rest of your day and we'll talk very soon. All right. You too. See you guys next time. Bye.

All right. Bye. See you next time.