hello Michelle how are you hi Lindsay how are you I'm awesome I'm awesome what's going on in
your world well maybe you guys have noticed but I've got I got a new mic right Lindsay uh sent me
over this very fancy mic I haven't talked about it so far but there's a reason I'm talking about it
um guys some some of you have sometimes commented on my mic and so I just want to let you know we
heard you and we have a new mic over here so we hope things are good with that um and uh
so professional yeah did you happen to know the name of the mic yeah I do actually it's a Shore
mic we like these Shore mics we switched from the ATR we won't go into the boring technical details
but we like the shore mic yeah so guys this all goes into a question that we have today from a
listener so Lindsay could you read the question for us yes okay The Listener says hi Lindsay I
love your podcast so much oh that is so nice to hear Michelle don't you love that yes I've been
listening to your podcast since 2021. it's been really helpful to upgrade my English skills now I
work at a global Corporation thanks to you Awesome by the way can Michelle change her mic please
it doesn't sound clear the volume is unstable between you and Michelle well I think sometimes
this can happen if you're moving back and forth Michelle from them yeah and we'll just say
it um like right now and I'm doing that our listeners can tell if we're not literally
these mics we got to be right on top of them but anyways we'll keep going so and I also want to
learn how I can use happens to for example did you happen to hear the noise thank you great
question from this listener we don't have the name but we appreciate this list yes this is a
good question this is a good question guys we wanted to direct you just for fun over
to all ears English 1952 which was since when time phrases for sharing your past in English
so just a fun one just sprinkle in sometimes yeah I just like to do that I love that guys
hit follow on this show right now so you don't miss anything and don't forget that this episode
is on YouTube as are most of the allers English episodes these days right so if you guys would
prefer to watch us you know our funny gestures and our cool mics you can go over to YouTube and
you can watch there four days a week yeah yes yes that's great so let's talk about happen too
um there are a couple ways that it's used but we're gonna focus on one special way today so
I said to you did you happen to know the name of the mic what did I mean by that
yeah so this is an interesting construction that I think are listed need to know right so I'm glad
we're talking about this today do you happen to know the name of the mic so it's kind of a way of
taking the pressure off of me the person being asked and you're not saying what's the name of
that mic would you agree that's the essence I think so too I mean I could have just said do
you know the name of the mic this is kind of I I do agree um it's it's a little bit softer um so
and it's interesting because we you could say Do you happen to know the name of the mic or did you
mm-hmm yeah like it's kind of interesting you can you can use either in that situation yeah I guess
you could I guess you could and that would be another episode where we could talk about do did
um putting did in there if it's actually a present question is that what we're talking
about here Michelle yeah yeah well I mean that's just for that one example that one example yeah
so like so I mean in The Listener example it was did you happen to hear the noise right so
um asked about you know a noise that already happened so past tense so that's that's clear
but how is this different from yeah so did you hear the noise so just giving another example
of how was that different yeah so well actually why don't you go for that Michelle well I mean
that's answer sure I mean it's basically saying that there's a chance that the noise wasn't heard
um it's saying is it possible like is there a possibility that this happened uh that you
heard this noise so let's let's go through some more examples sometimes that's just the best way
to explain it so what's up next example okay here we go did you happen to call my mom or have you
not had a chance yet okay so did you happen to call my mom or did you happen to buy tomatoes
okay right so this is it's like this is kind of saying you think that perhaps not right like you
think like you know okay so I mean okay we don't have a printer um in my apartment so whenever we
need to print something Dan prints it at work and I can't tell you how many times he's left
work and then said oh my God I forgot him I got to print something yeah so I might say I might like
you know like when we're talking on the phone while he's coming home or you know if he texts
me he's on his way home I I might say oh did you happen to bring home that paper because you know
I'm asking in a nice way and I'm thinking you know maybe there's a chance he did you're taking
this stress well that's very polite especially towards your partner impressive uh I feel like
most people like don't forget to do this I didn't say that's what I do say but maybe that's what I
should say I know right right right so did you have it's it's a light suggestion right or it's
it's and you're acknowledging that it's possible they forgot to do it or just didn't do it right
there I think so it's like saying is there is there any way that this is what occurred right
um and I mean again there could be other ways of using happen too and but where you know guys we're
trying to keep it focused today um so like with the noise one from The Listener did you happen
to hear Do you happen to did you happen to hear that noise you're like it's like a real genuine
question like I think maybe you didn't hear it um yeah so right um how do you think happened
to sounds Lindsay do you do you use it or do you think you use like more direct language oh ah I
think it would really depend on who I'm talking to how close I am to them and how direct how urgent
the thing is it kind of has an air of this thing is not the most important thing because I'm not
I I guess I would be more direct if it were super important yeah right you know oh I might say to
my neighbor Don I'd be like oh did you happen to see that someone plowed our sidewalk right
something or someone cut the grass in front of our townhouses it's not like the most important thing
that he saw that that's how I would approach this phrase does that make sense yeah I feel like I I
feel like I would use it a lot for if I like what I said with the down example like if I
think somebody may have forgotten something like did you did you happen to like did you happen to
read that article that I sent you like in a low pressure way if you're trying to not put
pressure on them right yeah the light indirectly that's how I feel like I might use it the most
so I think it's pretty indirect it definitely has it so either using it for indirect functions when
you want to be nice or when it doesn't really matter that that much like I said right right
I agree I agree it's low pressure it's low low pressure yeah that might be the the key piece
right yeah yeah yeah exactly exactly um and then I said that we're gonna Focus but now I'm just gonna
use it in one in another way uh just for fun so if we're not using it in a question just with happen
um how does this sound Lindsay could you read the example sure I happen to know the director at The
Company You Are interested in let me introduce you um that's very useful yes reactions connections
connections yeah so what is this what is this mean okay so this is different right this is
different this is when so a substitute for this what I just said I happen to know the director
um it just so happens very similar or it's a coincidence that you are looking to meet this
person and or you want to work for this company and I happen to know the director right it's a
coincidence yeah it's a little surprise maybe like surprise oh like wow so um or you could say oh I
happen to have a free slot at 12 p.m I usually never do are you free then yeah and here you're
saying it's random it's it's a coincidence again you're lucky right there's some luck involved here
some Fortune don't you think yeah yeah I agree so that's kind of another separate little way
to use it okay Michelle that's interesting so so far we've shown our listeners kind of two ways
to use it right in a question and then to show luck or circumstance or something good is kind
of happening that I wouldn't expect right and you already mentioned this Lindsay I love when this
happens when you bring up a an expression and then it's already written out because and that
goes to show that like it really is I mean when when you think of it and I've already written it
it's like you know it shows that it's very natural um and that we both agree clearly Michelle is not
going to vocabulary list on the internet to get our dictionaries even worse to get these phrases
we're showing you things that we actually say so that you guys can truly truly connect okay right
let's see that's the whole reason aller's English exists right so this one is it just so happens
which is what Lindsay said so what's an example of that it just so happens that I have one more piece
of candy for you yeah so the kid maybe the kid was begging it's like oh I really didn't get my candy
right my brothers and sisters took my candy my Halloween candy for example right I stole it let's
say and you as the parent can be like oh it just so happens I have one so again it's showing this
in of luck you're lucky right right right right or it just so happens that I'll be by your office
in the morning this morning want to get coffee it's like a little a little surprise this reminds
me of an episode we did on like I'll be in your neighborhood remember when we talked about that
how not to sound stalkery yes yes yeah that was a fun one see if you guys can go back and find that
one but yeah it just so happens that I'll be by your office this morning right showing you don't
do that every day uh it maybe you have another appointment randomly it's a coincidence that
you'll be near that person I love this right yes so there's so much more we could do here uh but we
could do a follow-up so I know I said we'd focus and then I we and then we taught you more ways but
I guess I got so excited but yeah guys it just so happens I have a new mic so um should we should we
do uh uh role play yeah let's do it here we go so here we are colleagues and we are having lunch so
are you free tomorrow for lunch too um I don't think so oh wait it just so happens my meeting
got canceled so yes amazing I happen to have a friend in town who would like to join us oh that's
great hey did you happen to get that file into Molly yeah oh thanks so much all right good so
you know life is full of these really fun moments that and we can talk about this in the takeaway
but things happen coincidentally and if you jump on those moments it's great you can take
advantage of things right so let's go back through this real quick Michelle starting at the top
um you said oh wait it just so happens my meeting got canceled so what are we saying here oh we're
lucky like something worked out oh what a surprise I thought I couldn't but I can yeah exactly
um and then I said amazing I happen to have a friend in town who would like to join us
so I'm just saying it's a coincidence that I I have a friend here and and we can have a better
event we can have a better lunch because this person could come right right right right and
then I kind of changed the subject I remembered something work hey did you happen to get that
file in tamale so somebody we worked with um so I'm saying like you know I think maybe maybe
you forgot and I want to be nice how I bring it up it's a little indirect that's great actually
this really shows that a completely different use but a very useful one at work right did you happen
to do this it's a way to check up to make sure things got done right I I would say be careful
you don't use it too much make sure that if you're assigning work to people you don't want to oh wait
did you happen to do this a little yeah yeah but if if you're not necessarily someone's boss but
you need to know if work got done that would be an interesting time to use that because they're right
right like here it sounds like we're friendly and we're also at lunch so like I'm bringing it up in
a light way you know exactly and I just want to contrast this with kind of the opposite Michelle
I know a lot of our listeners are super addicted to allergic English and I love that they listen
four days a week so could our listeners say I have if a regular listener that listens every
day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday would it make sense if they say oh I just happen
to listen to aller's English this morning would that makes sense what do you think
um I think if they are talking to someone about it and and let's say okay let's say
they're talking to someone and that person says oh I listened to this show all ears
English do you like it and they might just say oh I just so happened to listen to it this morning
it's my favorite show them I think yeah okay because the surprising piece The Coincidence
there is that you're sharing that with that person right like oh they brought it up and
then it's like right so the surprising piece isn't that you listen to it right Rising piece
is that oh you both like oh I just so I'm gonna introduce this you brought it up and I'm saying
this it's a coincidence it's kind of funny that you brought it up it just so happens that's my
favorite show yeah that's perfect I love that use but if I'm just talking about my habits oh I just
happen to listen to aller's English on Tuesday it doesn't work because I do it every Tuesday right
right right right right so I just want to nail home that we don't use this for habits things
that we do regularly that are not kind of prize this is for those Sensational surprising moments
and I feel like it's especially useful for connections you know I mean how many times
we've done an episode on this before when we think back to all the connections that we've made in our
lives through other people yeah right you know very common again as I think we mentioned this
earlier in the episode if you say oh I really want to get into the advertising industry and
you're at an event and someone says I I just I I happen to be married to the president of CNN yeah
right yeah great so that's just that's a very common place you might hear this in networking
I think Michelle yeah yeah I think that's true I think that's true so this was a great question
um a lot came out of it and we can even talk more about it in the future but
um it's a good expression it's a good way with happened to you can talk about chance
possibility or maybe surprise a little bit or to take a little pressure off so lots of
things there but definitely try this in your conversations but don't use it all the time
yeah I mean what what is life if we don't have surprises if we don't have these Sensational
moments Michelle right and if we don't have the language to highlight those it becomes
a little boring right so take advantage of the connection moment here a surprise is a
connection moment so use this phrase I love it so good definitely oh this was fun Lindsay I hope you
have a great day and uh I will talk to you next time all right Michelle take care talk soon bye
thank you