hey aubrey how's it going today hi lindsay i am excellent what about you i'm so good
i'm so good guys i want to let you know today's episode is over on youtube as well
as on the podcast good stuff well aubry i have a question for you today all right let's hear it
all right so what is the last time that your heart was racing oh my daughter penelope scared
me so bad the other night we had just watched the ring i don't know if you've ever seen that scary
movie i have seen it i loved it and we showed it to our daughter she's 14. yeah and she loved it
but then a few minutes later it was late it was at night and we were getting ready to go to bed
and i went to get a glass of water and she was just standing outside my bedroom door with her
hair in front of her face like this just standing there i my heart was definitely racing after that
i screamed and jumped it was pretty good but also i'm like never do that again ever yeah i'd never
do that oh my god that's so funny and she was waiting to scare you she's just waiting outside
in there wow you know it's commitment i'm sure she knew that like oh she's gonna come out to
something make sure the kids are in bed or something oh my goodness i love that yeah so
your heart was racing and i guess what that is is that's adrenaline pumping through your body right
right definitely that makes your heart beat faster because yeah that certainly happens
when we're exercising and our heart rate gets up but also if we're scared or really nervous just
like you said that adrenaline gets our heart beating faster it really does so why are we
talking about this today aubry for our listeners we had a really great listener question about this
idiom for your heart to be racing let's go ahead and read this okay so i'll start off reading here
we go i'm saying chung from south korea i listen to your podcast every day on the way to school
it's so instructive and i love your show that's awesome thank you for listening
to this listener thank you by the way i have a question about the phrase my heart is racing is
it okay to use this phrase when i'm excited or is this phrase only used when i'm scared if so are
there any phrases that i can say when i'm excited thank you for reading my email and have a good day
sean chung awesome such a good question this is really intuitive of this student to recognize
idiomatic idioms have such specific meanings and often we might be using it in more ways than it's
appropriate so a really high level question here yeah guys we love your questions so send them in
to lindsey alleersenglish.com let us know what your questions are and if it's a good question
we'll do an episode on it all right yes for sure so this is interesting i would say heart is racing
is definitely appropriate for both scared and excited and definitely also nervous oh my gosh
but i when i use it the most be like oh my heart is racing is more often for nervous and scared for
me yeah i'm excited i feel like there are other things i would say what do you think lindsay yeah
i would agree with that i think we reserve um the heart racing for kind of yeah nervousness or fear
and there's lots more fun things that we can say as you said let's have more fun when we're excited
yeah right i feel like that heart is racing has just enough negative connotation yeah that it
it sort of yeah brings up those feelings of either fear or nervousness whereas being excited like you
said has more of a positive connotation so natives would understand what you meant if you say like oh
i'm really excited to go on this roller coaster my heart is racing sure right yeah it's okay more
often yeah we use it with just that little bit of a negative of something scary yeah because i don't
know if your heart really races when you're excited like i don't know if mine does it's
other feelings right but it's not the same where the adrenaline is kicking in like that right
that's like it has to be nerves and excitement yeah i would only say my heart is racing
if i'm excited about something but also i think of roller coasters also nervous and scared oh god
yeah and the reason my heart is racing is that part of it is the
nervousness part of it oh so like if if i'm just excited that my sister's going to have a baby
i would never say my heart is racing no i would use something else to talk about how excited i am
yeah so again the hardest racing is about the physical response right the body's responding
to fear or giving you a pump of adrenaline and so let's talk now aubrey about what we can say when
we're excited we're going to go in that direction today right exactly we have four idioms that you
can use to say that you're excited about something instead of my heart is racing that would be more
native more appropriate let's dive into that i love it all right all right this first one is good
this one i've always thought of this as like kind of california english a little bit like i'm stoked
i know i feel like it used to be more like surfer dudes that said this but i think it's
become a little more mainstream because i use it all the time i hear people usually
become more mainstream for sure i think in the 90s if you said this people were like you're stoked
you know they would probably make fun of you a little bit maybe but now everyone says it getting
there getting used to it yeah yeah all right so stoked about something about what aubry what are
some examples for our listeners yeah you might say i'm stoked about the concert i'm attending
next week i actually just went to ajr i don't know if you've heard of them but we went two nights ago
okay to ajr in a huge venue and i was very stoked that's awesome what kind of music is ajr
what what like it's sort of pop but they use a lot of synthesizers to make really fun beat drops and
stuff these three brothers they actually talked a lot during the show and they started in new york
city performing in parks and subways with like no one there and they've become quite popular they
have several albums now you'll have to check them out and so it was fun to hear yeah how
they started and how they just stuck with it even though for like 10 years they had no following ten
years most people after 10 years would say okay this is just like we don't have the talent or
something's not right here let's move on i wonder i would like to interview them i wonder what got
them to continue you know continue i think part of it is because it was three brothers so okay
they're also getting to hang out together yeah and i feel like they really knew like this is good
this is unique this is a good sound it's going to catch on and it just took longer than they hoped
but they believed in it and they were right and now they're really good there were 10 000 people
at this concert oh guys if you have something that you know is true talent you know you're
making something different music art whatever it is writing you know just kind of take care
of that right you know cradle it and take care of it and nurture it and make it better and
better and don't give up on it right unless you're 100 sure it's not going to work out
keep going for it such a good yes give it the time sometimes it takes more time than we would like
yeah for sure all right here's another example when they told me i did well on the interview
i was stoked right i was stoked yeah good and i often hear this collocated with super super
stoked i'm super stoked to go to the boobies later yeah yeah i love it i love it all right good so
guys write that one down that is number one what's number two yes is to be on the edge of one's seat
and this can be literal or idiomatic it definitely means excited also maybe sometimes
nervous anticipation yeah so for example if you say the movie was very suspenseful
i was on the edge of my seat you maybe literally were sitting on the edge of your seat but you
could also have been using it idiomatically maybe you're laying in bed watching a movie but you're
on the edge of your seat because there's so much suspense you're like biting your fingernails right
nervous and and excited for what's going to happen next oh i know yeah here in denver there's been a
lot of sport i haven't really i don't really care too much about basketball and hockey but
you know people in my world really love sports and so there's been abs are in the stanley cup i think
the avalanche colorado avalanche and then our basketball team played against the golden state
warriors we lost but they had a great run so i think all of denver was on the edge of their seats
sports games guys are a good example movies also voting night right election night is a great
example of when you would be on the edge of your seat right yes right watching the polling results
come in we're all on the edge of our seats hoping that our candidate wins yeah sure oh my gosh good
example good example all right do we have anything else here obviously one more example there i think
the times in my life when i've been the most on the edge of my seat is waiting to hear how
i did for a job interview or if i'm going to get a promotion at work you know just that anticipation
hope so you could say i'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear back about this promotion
yeah or other examples from my childhood report cards getting tests back exactly oh getting scores
back i used to get your ect scores sap scores i was definitely on the edge of my seat yeah or when
the teacher goes around just hands out tests or quiz scores with a big red on the top you're great
on the top like oh god i'm so nervous yeah i just saw a show oh it was on stranger things on one of
the new episodes where she's passing them out and commenting on each one she's like i'm disappointed
in you you could have done better you did great i'm like do teachers really do that that is a
terrible thing awful that's awful it's so mean so mean everyone a target like that all right let's
keep going let's do the next one so what's the next one aubry bright-eyed and bushy-tailed oh
my gosh i love this i use it all the time have you heard this one lindsay it's maybe a little
more rare yeah i thought this is something you'd say to someone when they wake up oh you look
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed could be sarcastic but am i wrong i could have been wrong well i
don't know it is it is part of that right meaning that you're like awake and alert like okay i've
had my coffee i'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed it means like wide awake and ready to go okay but
we also will use it if someone seems excited or really prepared right it's just a way to describe
someone who's like very alert for whatever reason okay got it it makes me think of like a rabbit a
little rabbit hopping around like are we trying to say you're like a right open eyes energy
what are we trying to say because we don't have tails you know it's just funny i don't know it is
funny it's just the opposite of that lethargic feeling where you're just like
you know clearly no energy yeah that is not bright and bushy-tailed right this is very much someone
who's high energy wide awake ready to go i love it i love it and then another example you know i need
some coffee if you expect me to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the meeting right do you
need your coffee in the morning aubry to be ready to go good to go not really i feel like i drink
coffee because i love the taste yeah i started using almond milk vanilla creamer oh my goodness
it's so delicious um but i love often in the morning i won't have it i don't feel any different
yeah i've been off of coffee for the last seven days the first time in probably 12 years that
i've been off of coffee just to see what happens and i feel pretty clear minded like i feel good
i haven't felt the fogginess that i feel sometimes in the morning but i'm not sure if the coffee is
creating that fogginess or if it's just something i don't know it's interesting like it's a placebo
you just like think it's so it probably is i want to point out a really native expression you
use to be off of something great we really don't usually say like i stopped drinking coffee we'll
always say it like you did say like okay i'm off coffee i've been off coffee for seven days
exactly that would be another great episode idea how to say when you stop doing something
right a habit um guys we'll cover that another day hit follow to make sure you don't miss it do
we have time for the next one aubry what do you think yes we got one last one here raring to go
okay this is really funny it means you're excited but also really eager so i'll say this about my
kids sometimes if they're in the car 10 minutes before i'm ready i'll be like oh they're raring
to go yeah yeah for sure or you know we're raring to go on this new project at work raring to go
i love that i love that yep all right here we go all right aubrey let's do a role play shall we
yes let's do it so you and i are attending an industry conference here we go i'm seriously
stoked about the keynote speaker i've heard she's amazing yes a friend of mine heard her speak and
said he was on the edge of his seat the entire time that is impressive sometimes these speakers
can be pretty dull i know i'll wake up and be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before a talk and
then if it's not engaging before long i'm falling asleep oh yep same here i was raring to go before
a talk on the first day and then it was a bit of a letdown what is the letdown oh yeah that's a good
bonus phrase it means a disappointment that's a disappointing thing that yeah you feel let down
uh i was let down by that exactly exactly should we really quickly go through these just to quickly
show our listeners how we used them yeah let's do it so first you said you're seriously stoked
super stoked or seriously stoked about the keynote speaker and then you said uh he said
he was on the edge of his seat the entire time right yeah he was excited for this
and then i said i'll sometimes wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like i'm excited i'm ready lots
of energy and then if a talk is boring yes i lose it yeah i get really tired exactly
exactly and then the last one i said yep same i was raring to go before a talk on the first day
right so you're talking about you were excited and then unfortunately the speakers weren't so good
so you lost your energy exactly you experienced that let down such a bummer that has definitely
happened to me before and it's really sad i love that all right what's the takeaway for
our listeners today yeah this is a very common conversation topic guys to talk about what we're
excited about what's coming up next weekend or a trip we're going to take soon so you want to
be ready to chat with other people about this with native interesting vocabulary like today's idioms
yeah i mean you know connection starts when you're excited about things right
you know it's harder to connect with someone who's just kind of feeling kind of plain and things
aren't exciting you know guys be excited i'm sure you are excited but have a way to say it so
use these expressions okay that's exactly you don't want to have to every time say i'm excited
about the trip i'm about to take right now say you're super stoked say you're raring to go
yeah yeah much more interesting um so guys that is the way we can actually connect in english
and that's what we want for you guys is connection all right good stuff okay aubry all right this has
been fun as always and i'll see you in the next one yes awesome see you later take care bye bye