hey Lindsay how are you I'm feeling awesome Michelle how are things in New York City today
uh you know what my rent is too expensive really oh your rent is too expensive oh I
mean that sounds pretty typical right um yeah it depends to happen pretty far from the course in
New York City I mean it pretty much is isn't it part for the course yes yeah it's pretty
par for the course yeah so we're repeating hard for the course over five times so can
you guys tell what this episode is going to be about guys right right right exactly exactly
um okay cool Michelle I think I'm lost in the notes where are you in the notes I know I'm
right here okay cannot find you oh it was in a different episode okay we're good we
don't need to stop we're good let's go okay all right okay here we go so um part for the course
guys so today we are going to talk about this useful expression par for the course um on over
to episode 956 was how to spice up your typical weather conversations in English so this part for
the course uh deals with things that are typical so we'll talk about that in a minute um and why
is this useful Michelle for you know well first of all let's talk about why why do we need to
be able to say what's typical or what standard in English yeah well it shows that you know something
I think first of all you're you know something uh is is typical so you have some knowledge
um you have some background knowledge of something and um you know just I would say that that's one
of the main things and also to kind of um right in a way this way about New York was kind of venting
about it and I was like yeah that I agree it's too expensive what do you think yeah it's kind of
setting expectations it's kind of saying it's kind of showing that you're a little bit worldly like
you know that rent is high in New York or like we know that that that happens in that sense or
we know that in La people drive a ton right you that you live in your car in Los Angeles things
like that where we can hint at kind of it's a little bit of a vanity thing like we know we
can show the world that we know stuff true true like in a way like you saying I mean in a way I
said my rent is too expensive and you said that's kind of par for the course in a little way that's
a little annoying right also a little diminishing too right right it's like okay well yeah I know it
is but I'm just saying it's expensive like I know that it's far for the course you know so like well
Michelle you want it in the role play like what were they supposed I know I did it Lindsay why are
you being so annoying it's almost like somebody wrote it for you yeah how could you say that
um but you know it really it really kind of depends yeah so I use this uh I wanted to do
an episode on this because my mom used it with me recently uh so it's one of those real life
examples unfortunately I can't remember what she said okay um but but um it it was it could have
been something something similar um but I was like oh I'm gonna take that one um Lindsay do
you use this expression par for the course uh I don't use it but I use I think I use similar ones
um this reminds me of the moment when I might sound a little weird but so when I was in high
school I kind of didn't get the whole working you work 40 hours a week as an adult like I didn't
I didn't realize that that was how life works I don't think anybody does you don't realize like
a loss of Innocence so I remember as a freshman in high school my best friend Emma she took on
a job all day on Saturdays like she worked at a candy shop which was great for me because I would
go in and get candy but I could not believe that she was working the whole day like this
might sound a little tone Dev I don't know but I was I was like 15 years old right and I didn't
know at when I got older I was gonna have to work like for 40 hours of my life every week
and someone could have said to me oh that's just run-of-the-mill career that's just par for the
course this is being an adult and it's like losing your innocence you're like oh my God that's what
my life is gonna be when I get older sometimes I think about that with like my son I'm like oh
he's so innocent I'm like one day he's gonna be like working working working and then I'm like
oh like enjoy little one enjoy yeah it's kind of interesting so that's kind of a situation where we
realize what the reality is about something and that's why it could sound a little diminishing
like people aren't listening I don't like this well that's just that's how it is that's standard
yeah it's like that expression it is what it is it is what it is exactly you know exactly
um do you think it's formal informal could you use it on a job interview what are your thoughts you
mean par for the course yeah I think uh it's you know it's an idiom I guess you could use it on a
job interview I don't think it's informal I think it's it's fine it's standard I think it's fine I
think it's a pretty diverse uh expression yeah um let's give a couple other examples so you could
say uh late hours are par for the course when you work in finance yes and finding out that that's
going to be the case right if maybe you you decide to major in finance as a freshman but you don't
realize that if that that means that after college you're going to be working until 11 pm on Wall
Street right like yeah that's hard I remember I remember when I had my first my internship in New
York and I interned at a record company and you know I worked hard and I had but I I loved it and
um um I remember one of my roommates she interned in finance and uh she she worked really hard even
as an intern and she would come home in her business soon and we'd all been home for hours
like going out is for New York having fun and she would be like in the shower like ah you know it's
a certain kind of life I know someone that works at Goldman Sachs and I know I'm sure you know
investment bankers too right like it is a choice it for sure is and I don't know how sustainable it
is over the long long term like 20 years of a career I don't know how sustainable it is
I don't know but I know that like I remember her saying that you know a lot of people they make
like their Fortune like yes in the beginning just work really really hard and then they can
relax so I don't know if that how true that is well I mean I guess if you put your money
on the stock market or something it could be true if you're investing that young but
that's another conversation yes anyways anyway but late hours are par for the course what's
another example here we go uh we could say I don't like missing out on sleep but it's par
for the course as a parent oh gosh yes yes even as a non-parent I know this right I know that
you guys are getting up in the middle of the night and babies crying and oh my gosh how do you do it
I don't know I'm too tired yes I'm exhausted all the time I am exhausted all the time but I don't
know I guess I just got used to it but it still can be really hard um but yeah but if somebody
said if I said to someone like oh I'm so tired yeah my kids got up like and they just said like
oh yeah that's pretty par for the course that's like um like yeah I know like but it doesn't
mean that I can't you know vent or say that I'm tired it doesn't like yeah it's diminishing it's
diminishing it's like it's kind of like you're not being heard right yeah yeah and I think but but
that doesn't mean guys that whenever you say this expression is diminishing I think it can be that
way if somebody's venting to you about something and you like just use that to say well yeah that's
I mean yeah it's almost like saying like what do you expect yeah yeah it's like yeah so but that
doesn't mean that you know there aren't other ways to to use it um you know that aren't obnoxious
yeah for sure for sure so you can decide you know what does that person need this is a connection
skill in English what does the person need in that moment do they need you to say oh my gosh I can't
imagine how you do it or do they need you to say yeah that's all what all parents do you know okay
maybe sometimes they do need you to just normalize that for them true so they know they're in it with
everyone else we're all in the same boat something like that but that's for another episode for
another another that's a good no that's a good that's a good question that's a good thing to
bring up um so Lindsay um so uh I don't know this uh like if you say okay something is typical or
something as usual I mean I feel like par for the course is more Zippy as we like to say I feel like
it's fun I feel like it has a little bit more attitude yeah um but there there are other ways
to do this and I I have a question I mean Lindsay what is par for the course as a business owner
I would say par for the course the thing that all business owners could share in general if they
have a team is is stress about payroll a payroll is a source of stress for every business owner
like par for the course it's just part of owning a business thinking about it worrying about it
that's just how it is right it's normal it's okay like these are things that are okay about
life but they're typical for a certain group of people right right yep yep yep exactly exactly
um and do you think this expression has a negative or a positive connotation or it
really just depends I think it really depends I guess this probably comes from golf right because
car for the course yeah I guess isn't it engulf like a par five or is the expectation of how
many swings you'll need I I oh yeah something like that right okay we're not golfers guys if
you're a golfers let us know you should look that up too it's just to be clear but yeah I
I think it's uh it's a little bit of both depends on what you're saying yeah yeah exactly so let's
talk about some other ways to express this idea so we talked about this we already used some of these
um uh standard right yeah and I think I also threw that in when I was talking about seeing
that Emma was working 40 hours a week like or eight hours a day on a Saturday it's standard
this is what we do as adults it's typical right standard is good run-of-the-mill right as we've
just said I love this one I would use more often than par for the course it's just more it's in my
vocabulary a little bit more yeah yeah yeah and then I don't even know how to spell this so I
meant to say the huge we may have talked about this a little bit right so oh yeah but that's
the huge you could say oh that's cool yeah per usual you could say something like that
um so yeah but these are all ways to you know you have to think about how you're using them
and why you're using them um and but they can be very useful in conversations I think so so
let's give our listeners a role play because we know our listeners love that to see how this is
actually used so here we go I know um let's see I know it's standard to feel tired when
you're sick but I'm just exhausted Michelle sounds like you're run-of-the-mill cold yeah
apart for the course when you don't get enough sleep yeah definitely the huge for me huge I
like that interesting do you use that in your normal conversations that you you might they
use it's the use yeah I could I might oh cool all right cool so what did we say here what did
we say you said I know it's standard to feel tired when you're sick but I'm just exhausted
um yeah so and then you said it sounds like your run-of-the-mill cold right yeah so you could have
said your typical cold or you could said say it said you're that cold Town's par for the course
so but here you said par for the course when you don't get enough sleep yeah it's expected
when you don't sleep enough we can expect this to happen right and then you said yeah definitely the
huge for me so you're saying usually when you don't sleep enough you get sick right yes yes
um and yeah so that's what we said um and Lindsay is there anything that in your life
that you think of to being standard far from the corsia sunshine and Hiking Michelle yeah
life is good yeah just I think getting outside right on the weekends not trying not to be
inside as much as I can what about you Michelle what's par for the course outside of the kids
just like I don't know something like what's par for the course for you like what do you expect to
experience on a daily basis walking yes that's so true that is so true in New York right yes
that is what of course of course but it's great I love it it's my favorite thing I love that so good
I really miss I miss all that walking I miss uh the New York lifestyle you know oh my God
yeah it's great it's great do you do you like can you walk everywhere from your apartment or
um the thing is Denver is wider like I think it's multiple miles the city span it's more spread out
the Western cities are just more spread out whereas East Coast cities Boston New York
are very condensed and so I can't really walk as many places I do a lot of scooting
I don't know oh really I scoop more yeah I didn't know that oh oh it's hot here yeah yeah cool oh
that's fine it's actually super fun you feel like you're a kid again you get on these little
scooters and it goes about 15 miles an hour Max and you rent it like a lift oh cool do you do you
wear a helmet Lindsay I don't no I don't do that I know that's crazy it's just not I don't carry
one with me and I never know when I'm gonna jump on a scooter but I should yeah I should I know
uh you should anyway well stay safe out there yeah all right Michelle I
will talk to you later all right take care have a good one bye all right bye foreign