this is an all ears English podcast episode 1899.
don't knock it till you try it how to get people to experiment in English
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 Lindsay McMahon the English Adventurer and Michelle
Kaplan the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City USA to get real-time
transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list try the all ears
English app for IOS and Android start your seven day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward slash
app [Music] do you like to try new things if you have someone in your life who refuses to
try something new what can you say to them in English learn one key vocabulary phrase today
[Music] hey Lindsay how are you hey Michelle I'm doing great with shaking on your end oh nothing
nothing nothing have you tried anything new lately like a new food or a new experience any
anything different yes you know what I tried the other night which I regretted actually because my
mouth was on fire was buffalo sauce wait you never tried it I really had never tried buffalo sauce
really because I was always confused what it meant like you might is this buffalo wings buffalo sauce
I think we've talked about this before actually on the show but I really had never tried buffalo
sauce but the problem is I ate it in a bowl so I took a bowl of white rice like sushi rice and
then I added this weird mixture of um celery and jalapenos that I had gotten from Whole Foods and
then I put buffalo sauce on that and I think I ate at the same time a potent jalapeno along with the
buffalo sauce it sounds like a crazy time lens my mouth was on fire Michelle I was gonna say I
was like I cannot breathe it was so yeah stay away from Buffalo sauce well wait but do you think it
was just because you added the jalapeno like you think it was just too much or like do you like
like will you try it again if it was that's the problem I don't know if it was the buffalo sauce
or the jalapeno or both but it was really my mouth was on fire it was crazy well I like buffalo sauce
but um that's pretty funny so I mean are you would you say you really open to trying new things like
like there are some people who like will not try a certain type of food or you know you know yeah
um yeah I would say you know for me I like trying new things but sometimes like for example a couple
weekends ago we were in Santa Barbara with some family California and you know Santa Barbara's a
town with a lot of good wine right it's famous for wine and they we went to two different wineries
or kind of not wineries or just shops in town it's not like we're going out to the vineyard
they wanted to do tastings but sometimes like flights like a little little tiny bit of this
that that but for me it's not super satisfying I just want to choose a wine and have a glass I want
to fully enjoy it and just relax I don't want to try all these different kinds of wine right
um but by the time I've had a tasting I can't have any more wine it's like I want the experience of
sometimes trying something new I could waste an opportunity to enjoy the thing if I don't like
it you know right right right right interesting interesting yeah yeah yeah I mean like for me I
hate olives I'm sure I've said that I know that was so crazy I can't even believe that well
uh so if there's like an olive spread you know like it isn't something that has right exactly
like I I probably wouldn't try it but I could actually be missing out on something good right
like you could be yeah right like or I mean I think that we also like as as people in general
I think there's a tendency to think that you might not like something not like movie not like a like
like I think okay like I don't particularly love running but I've also you know I've run I've I've
you know a little bit in my life you know but like if I actually like tried and was motivated
with your running shoes went out there right like and and I met I was training you know like you
you never know what you could get into like or my son with food I mean it's a it's a crazy game out
there my constant battle is it a constant battle trying to get him to try new things yeah it used
to not he used to be like a great eater and now uh huh he became interesting like yeah he's in
like kind of a pickier stage but he's not too bad um but yeah like so anyway but let's get to
this expression because okay uh there's a there's an expression that someone can use to encourage
um you know someone else to try something new and stop like just kind of like it's basically trying
to tell someone to be open-minded right yes yes so let's see what is that expression okay guys write
this one down this is going to be a great takeaway for today don't knock it till you try it I love
this let's break this down for our listeners you know what is it what does it mean exactly
okay so it means don't say something bad or think something bad about something because you don't
know if it will actually be good so it's basically like you don't even know if you like something you
know like you haven't opened yourself up to the chance that you might like you might actually
like something a little bit different yeah and the expression to knock something what exactly
does that mean on its own Michelle I think knock would just be like more like being critical in
some way right right or right and do we use that in any other like times any other situations I
don't really like I don't think we like you know you might just really right yeah I don't think I
would say like oh she was knocking the you know like I wouldn't say like oh she was knocking the
restaurant I don't know I guess I I think I actually would maybe you would yeah I think I
would say that right oh you know well you know maybe don't knock that restaurant I would use
it more in the negative form so right I just want to make sure our listeners are clear Michelle the
difference between knock like criticize and knock like knock right knock on the door right exactly
okay so that's different meanings right I mean but Lindsay so do you say don't knock it till you try
it I do I do I like that absolutely I could to try to get someone to try something new like I
think there are still people out there who don't want to try sushi they're afraid to try sushi I
feel like as a as a world culture we have started to eat sushi I feel like in the 80s no one really
ate sushi in American culture you know I think people didn't really know what it was they're
afraid of it so this might have been a good one to use back in the 80s don't knock it till you
try it raw fish it's actually great right don't be afraid yeah right right right exactly exactly
but do you think if somebody says this to you do you could you could you find it irritating or a
little annoying I don't know it depends I guess um no I think it wouldn't bother me I think it's good
to have people in your life that always remind you that you should try something new get out of
your comfort zone that's kind of you know my dad used to do that for me he would encourage I would
always go I share the story about the McDonald's Happy Meal but also when I was a kid I always at
restaurants not McDonald's but just restaurants I would always order a hamburger and he would
challenge me every time I say order something other than a hamburger you know don't always order
the same thing so it's good to have these people in our lives I think it's okay as long as you're
not being like calling someone out or embarrassing them in any way what do you think Michelle
um yeah yeah I think that's true like if you're on yeah exactly as long as you're not like calling
them out and you know away and yeah if your intention is good like we've talked about that
you know if you have like a sincere kind of like fun intention I think that's fine but if you're
just like I don't know sometimes you know people don't want to be bothered all the time like if
you use it like every single time with somebody who's like you know that they only like you know
that they're kind of picky and they're eating or something and you're like constantly you
know it just can be like bugging them right or uh sometimes people have very serious allergies right
um and you may not know that so that may be the reason they're not gonna try that thing
like I know two people and actually at my wedding this past summer we could not serve fish for this
reason we had two good friends who are deadly allergic to fish like if they're anywhere around
fish if they get the tiniest bit on their fork or even if they kind of like smell it they can their
throats can close that it's bad it's bad bad bad so you know that could be a reason someone
might not be trying Sushi it's not that they're closed-minded it means that they have some kind of
allergy or stomach issue or something that could be dangerous right right that's true so that's a
very good point like you don't know why you know yeah you have to be careful of that yeah for sure
yeah so so Michelle this concept of till let's just let our listeners know about that too what
do we need to know there right right we didn't say don't knock it until you try it right we just say
tell like which is short for until right so why do you think we don't say until I think we like
to take the easy way out when it comes to English you know what I mean we like to just say what's
easy to say and we don't shorten till just in this phrase right Michelle there are other times we
would shorten until and say till right right right right yeah right exactly exactly a tons of times
um right we were out till midnight you know having drinks and and dancing right out till
midnight all the time we would use it not just in specific phrases exactly exactly till is very very
common mm-hmm okay Michelle so where do we go from here should we show our listeners a couple of role
plays let's do it all right here we go so oh wow look at that delicious olive spread ew Lindsay I
hate olives that spread must be gross hey don't knock it till you try it oh Michelle I can't
believe you hate olives you'll never get it I'm gonna play that role now how when did you first
realize that you hate hated olives when you were a kid yeah I think so and I mean I can't have an
olive touch anything that I was gonna like you know it just like has such a strong taste like
if it was like on a pizza or like in a salad and I just like gave it no but but olive oil
I like olive oil like have you tried all kinds of all is it all like if you go to Whole Foods
they always have those bars the Mediterranean bar yeah yeah yeah like is it all the olives or just
certain ones I haven't sampled all the olives yeah exactly right maybe I mean maybe there
would be one Olive out of the bunch maybe I would like I mean that's true because I like pickles so
I feel like oh okay yeah like it's not like I don't like that kind of like a strong taste but
I don't know you might be able to find it kind of all of you like you know like there's a very
different taste between the um what are they called the the black ones the brown black ones
and like the more meaty green ones I think they're very different in taste so give it a try give it
a try yeah well you never there maybe there's an olive out for me something there might be
for your role play all right here we go Lindsay you're doing hot yoga again yeah you should come
with me I can't I think it would be too hard uh come on don't knock it till you try it so guys
you're just seeing a lot of examples of where this would fit in right where this would make sense
exactly all right and let's do one more okay okay uh I'm going skydiving with my cat what it's the
latest craze I did it once before and it was so much fun that's wild I would never do that don't
knock it till you try it I hope that's not a thing oh my God yeah just the other day Dan asked me if
I would ever go skydiving and I was like no with a cat any any Sky time would you say no would you
um I'm on the fence about that I think I would have a hard time stepping like taking that step
yeah off the off the helicopter or the plane or whatever you go I think I think I would struggle
I'd probably waste my money yeah I'd come down yeah bye exactly um so yeah but guys also I
wanted to highlight something we like we usually say it like this don't knock it till you try it
right yeah yeah it's all about the intonation guys make sure you use that intonation don't
knock it till you try it all right very clear clearly challenging the person a little bit and
it's kind of a positive feeling to it right right right right exactly I don't unlock till you try it
should we go over a few more do we have time or I think I think let's save those for another episode
stay tuned all right yeah stay tuned guys so what's the takeaway for today well first of
all guys go ahead and hit follow on aller's English right now so you don't miss these
next episodes where we're gonna follow up and if you have a question about today's episode
send your question to Lindsay at allersenglish.com we got a lot of good student questions that we're
going to be answering in the next couple of episodes Michelle where should we leave our
listeners though about today's topic okay well yeah I mean don't knock it till you try it that's
a really commonly used expression it's a way to try and get someone to get out of their comfort
zone Lindsay which is what you mention yes and two you know just like because I think that it
can be easy when you're in that moment to just feel like no I'm not doing that and when someone
says don't knock it till you try it it kind of like snaps you out of that for a second yeah
exactly yeah exactly so Michelle what you have to do now is go to Whole Foods immediately and
take a sample of every Olive at the olive bar and tell us tell us on the next episode if you
found an olive that you like all of the perfect Olive for me the perfect Olive the olive search
I love it I love it so good all right well this was fun Lindsay and uh let's time to
go skydiving with a cat yeah good luck good luck with that I'll talk to you soon bye bye
[Music]
thanks for listening to all ears English would you like to know your English level take our two
minute quiz go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score and if you believe in connection
not Perfection then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything see you next time
[Music]