So, as many of you know, I work in a high
school, and when you work with teenagers, sometimes you hear them
say things to each other that aren't very nice.
So in this English lesson, I'm going to teach
you eight phrases, eight things that people say to
each other that are kind of mean.
You shouldn't learn these so that you could use them,
but you should learn them so that if you do
hear them when you're watching a TV show or a
movie, you'll understand what people are saying.
So the first phrase I want to teach
you is the phrase, "I told you so."
This is a phrase that people say after people do
something where you told them they probably shouldn't do it.
So let's say that someone is stacking all of
their books up near the corner of their desk
and their friend says, don't do that. They might fall.
And then if they do all fall, the
friend might say, I told you so.
That's not a very nice thing to say.
Obviously, the person whose books fell on the ground
realizes that that wasn't a good thing to do.
And having a friend say, I told you so
simply makes them feel a little bit worse.
So number one phrase or the first phrase I told
you so. Another phrase you might hear someone say that's
a little bit mean is the phrase, "Grow up!"
Sometimes people act childish.
Sometimes adults even act childish.
That means you kind of act like a kid.
And if someone doesn't like that behavior,
if someone doesn't like the way you're
acting, they might say, ah, grow up.
They're basically saying, hey, you're acting like a child
and you should act more like an adult.
I don't really like this phrase because
sometimes it's fun just to act childish. Sometimes.
Sometimes it's fun to just have a little bit of fun.
But if you are someone who doesn't like that behavior, maybe
you would use this mean phrase and say, grow up.
So this next phrase is actually an insult,
and it's the phrase good for nothing.
Sometimes students work together in a group, and maybe one
person in the group has left for some reason.
Maybe they went to the washroom or bathroom, and you
might hear students say, oh, I wish so and so
wasn't in our group because they're good for nothing.
Basically, they're saying that the person isn't really good at
any of the things the group needs to do.
So it's not a very nice thing to say.
Adults say this as well.
Sometimes adults in the workplace will be talking.
Maybe they're on coffee break.
And they say, oh, I wish I wasn't working with Joe.
He's good for nothing.
Basically saying that Joe isn't good at anything.
So the third phrase you can use, please
don't use it, that's very, very mean, is
to say someone is good for nothing.
So the next rude or mean thing that you can
say is just one word, and it's the word whatever.
This is a phrase that sometimes disrespectful students
will say to a teacher, let's say that
students were writing a math test.
And I said to a student, oh, I see
you have your calculator and your phone out.
You need to put them away.
You're not allowed to use them during the test.
If the student wanted to be rude, they could
take their phone and calculator, and as they're putting
them away, just kind of say whatever.
Basically what they're saying is they don't like that
I told them to put those things away and
they're just going to say that one word to
express the fact that they're unhappy about it.
So please put your phone away.
Please put your calculator away. Whatever.
That's exactly how you would say it, by the way.
Whatever.
And by the way, you shouldn't say it, but you
should recognize this word in case you hear it.
This next mean or rude thing is also
just one word, and it's the word useless.
When you say that someone is useless, it's
similar to saying that they're good for nothing.
It means that you don't think they're very
helpful or good at what they do.
And I have heard this before.
I have heard students say, oh,
Joe's in our group, he's useless.
I wish he wasn't in our group.
And I've heard adults say this as well.
When they're putting teams together to do certain
projects, sometimes someone will whisper to someone else,
oh no, Joe's in our group, he's useless.
So again, when someone is useful, it means
that they're helpful and good at things.
But when someone is useless, it means
they're not really good at anything.
This next phrase is a phrase you might
use to tell someone that they need to
concentrate or focus on what they're doing.
You might say to, ah, wake up.
And you heard me kind of express with
a little sound, ah, wake up, Joe.
This is something that you might say.
It's very direct.
I wouldn't say it's rude
necessarily, but it's very direct.
It's something you would say to someone who isn't doing
their job well or isn't doing their job at all.
So maybe you have a coworker who, when
they're trying to do something, they're making little
mistakes and they're not really focused or concentrating
well on the task you are doing.
You might say to them, hey, wake up.
Let's do this job properly.
This next saying is also not exactly rude,
but you might say it's very direct and
it's the phrase, "We don't have all day."
This is a phrase you would say to someone who is working
slowly on a job with you that you need to get done.
Maybe you're in a hurry to get something done and
the person you're working with is working very slowly.
You might, ah, speed up.
We don't have all day.
I know once when Jen and I were loading
the van for market, I was working really slowly.
And Jen is a very nice person.
She would never say that phrase, but she could have.
She could have said to me, Bob,
can you walk a little faster?
We don't have all day.
So if you're working with someone who's working slowly, more
slowly than you want them to, you might be a
little bit direct and say to them, speed up a
little bit, we don't have all day.
This next phrase is a phrase you would use
when talking about food that you are eating.
Maybe you're at someone's house and they're
serving you something that they think is
yummy and you don't think it is.
If you were to say, this is disgusting,
that would be considered very, very rude.
There are nicer ways to say you don't
like food that someone is serving you.
You might say, oh, this isn't quite my cup of tea.
That's a lighter way of saying it.
But if you were to take a bite and
say, this is disgusting, that would be kind of
rude and kind of mean because maybe the person
spent a lot of time making that food.
This is a phrase I've heard from one
of my children every once in a while.
And we try to teach them that it's
not a polite way to talk about food.
Usually they're talking about something I made.
I made glazed carrots with brown sugar once and
two of my kids actually said, this is disgusting.
I kind of liked it, though.
But anyways, I guess it's an acquired taste.
So we have this phrase in
English, you snooze, you lose.
And it's a phrase that we use when there's
not enough of something and someone didn't get something.
Let me explain.
Let's say there's a plate with three cookies on it
and there's four people in a room and everyone rushes
and grabs a cookie and one person doesn't get one.
One of the people who got a cookie
could then say, well, you snooze, you lose.
Basically what they're saying is if you don't
move fast enough, you don't get one.
Not a very nice thing to say.
The person who didn't get a cookie is
going to be a little bit upset.
By the way, in that scenario, if my mom was
in charge, she would cut the cookies in pieces and
everyone would get the same amount of cookie.
My mom was always very, very fair.
But if you're in a situation where there are two
things and three people and two people grab those things
and one person doesn't get one, the people who got
one could say, you snooze, you lose.
But it would be a little bit
rude and a little bit direct.
So sometimes I'm in a bad mood.
I'm a normal human being.
There are times when I'm in a bad mood
and the last thing I want is for someone
to say, wow, you're in a bad mood today.
When you're in a bad mood, it's not
very nice when someone points it out.
The other day, Jen, actually, this was Jen's idea.
The other day Jen was in a bad mood.
And I think I might have said something like that.
I might have said, oh, you're not
in a very good mood today.
So I didn't say it as directly
as, wow, you're in a bad mood.
But it certainly wasn't a nice thing to say.
I'm sure you have the same thing.
When you have a day where you're in a bad mood,
you expect the people in your life to be nice to
you, not to point out that you're in a bad mood.
Well, thank you so much
for watching this English lesson.
About eight phrases that are kind of mean,
kind of rude and sometimes just direct.
I hope that you were able to
learn something new in this English lesson.
Remember, these phrases are not for you to go out
and use, but hopefully you can now recognize them and
understand them if you hear them on a TV show
or in a movie or if you read them.
Thanks again for watching.
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And if you have some more time, why don't
you stick around and watch another English lesson. Bye.