Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.
My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 18, Day 1 of Your English
Five a Day, the series that aims to increase your active vocabulary by
deep-diving into five pieces every day of the week from Monday to Friday.
Today we start with a noun and it is aversion, aversion.
We spell this A V E R S I O N.
We have an aversion to something.
To have an aversion to something means to have a very strong
dislike of it or of the person.
So, cats tend to have an aversion to water.
They have a strong dislike of water.
But notice that I say aversion to.
You have an aversion to something or an aversion to someone.
I have an aversion to really, really hot weather.
I have an aversion to busy, chaotic places.
Well, not the places — I just don't like crowds, there we go.
I have an aversion to crowds.
I don't like being in a busy crowd, especially on the Tube.
So, you could say,
"I have an aversion to enclosed spaces, particularly when they
are busy, full of people."
I literally will not get on a train or a Tube if it's packed.
I can't stand it.
As soon as the doors close, my heart starts beating a little faster.
Right, so let's have an example sentence of aversion,
"I have a strong aversion to exercise.
It takes too much effort!"
What do you have a strong aversion to?
Next on our list is a verb and it is perceive, perceive.
To perceive something.
We spell this P E R C E I V E.
Perceive.
To perceive something is to have an opinion about someone or something,
or to see it in a particular way.
It's how you view a thing or a person.
Now your view of a thing or a person might be different to how
it is in reality or it might be different to how other people see it.
So, how do you perceive the situation?
How do you perceive the actions that unfolded?
Here's an example sentence,
" How do you perceive the new entertainment team?
They look a bit boring to me."
So, how do you view this new team?
To me, they seem boring.
They might be the most exciting group of people ever.
To you, they might seem laid-back, relaxed, approachable, friendly.
But to me, they seem boring.
That's my perception of them.
That's how I perceive them.
How do people perceive you, generally?
Moving on, we have an adjective and it is naive naive.
Now this is one I've always struggled to spell in the past.
Let's have a look at it.
It's N A I V E.
N A I V E.
Naive.
naive.
If you are described as being naive, it means that you don't
have much knowledge or experience.
And so, maybe you accept what other people tell you without questioning.
Just like a child would because they don't have knowledge and experience.
If you tell them that the Earth is flat, then they'll say,
"Oh, okay."
And usually, they won't question that.
They'll go around and say,
"My mummy says the Earth is flat."
Although, to be honest, my eldest son, Jacob, would question whether the Earth
was flat because he questions everything.
He's at that age now where he questions everything.
I keep getting the question,
"Mummy, where do babies come from?
Mummy, how do babies get in your tummy?"
"Let's talk about something else, Jacob."
Here's an example sentence,
"It was very naive of you to believe that salesman, you should have
asked him for ID before handing over your credit card details."
Next on our list is another adjective and it is chaotic, chaotic.
We spell this C H A O T I C.
Chaotic.
I'm sure you're quite familiar with this word.
Chaotic describes a state of chaos, which is confusion and disorder.
Here's an example sentence,
"The last few weeks organising my sister's wedding have been so chaotic, I'll be
glad when it's all over and done with!"
OK, last on our list is a phrasal verb and it is freak out, freak out.
We spell this F R E A K, freak.
Out, OUT.
Freak out.
To freak out is to become extremely emotional or excited.
For example, my three-year-old freaked out this morning when I
put peanut butter on his breakfast, but on the wrong side of the bowl.
I put it on his yoghurt rather than on the fruit and he absolutely freaked out.
He became very emotional, he was crying, he was whining at me,
"Why did you put it on my yoghurt?
I didn't want it there."
And even when I moved it and put it on his fruit, he continued to freak out.
He freaked out even more,
"No!
I didn't want it there!"
Oh my goodness.
It took about 30 minutes for him to calm down.
But it's quite common for three-year-olds to freak out about seemingly petty things.
Sometimes adults freak out about all sorts of things.
When was the last time you freaked out?
Here's an example sentence,
"My mum totally freaked out when I told her I had won the lottery, I
think she was more excited than I was."
Okay, so that's our five.
Let's have a quick recap.
We started with the noun aversion, aversion, to have a very strong
dislike of something or someone.
Then we had the verb perceive, perceive.
How you see or view something.
What's your opinion of that thing or person.
Then we had the adjective naive, naive to have a lack of experience
and knowledge, so you just accept what people say without questioning.
Then we had another adjective chaotic, a state of chaos, a
state of confusion and disorder.
And we finished with the phrasal verb freak out, to become extremely
emotional or excited, to freak out.
So let's do this now for pronunciation purposes, please repeat after me.
Aversion.
Perceive.
Naive.
Chaotic.
Freak out.
Fantastic.
Alright, I'm going to test you.
If I see a young man as being a threat, that is how I view him.
What other verb could I use instead of 'view' or 'see'?
My opinion of him is my perception, so it's how I perceive him.
And if I have a strong dislike to men in general, what other noun could we
use instead of saying I dislike them?
I have an aversion to them.
Now, if this aversion comes from everything that my
parents told me about men.
They told me that men were terrible, that they were to be feared and
avoided and I accepted everything they said without questioning.
What adjective would you use to describe me?
Naive.
I am naive for accepting without questioning.
And if I were to head into town today, and it's absolutely full of people,
there's traffic jams everywhere you go.
There's also a big hoo-ha in the centre of town.
A big hoo-ha is like an incident, something's gone on.
So, there's police everywhere and it's just crazy.
It's confusing and disordered.
I don't know where I'm supposed to go.
I don't know what's going on.
What adjective would I use to describe this scene?
Chaotic.
"It's chaotic in town.
Do not go in there.
Not today."
And if I find out something that makes me extremely emotional or extremely
excited, what phrasal verb would you use to describe my reaction?
Freak out.
Yes, I freaked out.
Okay, well done.
Let's now bring all of these words and phrases together in a little story.
Hi Mum, how's it going?
I know, I still can't believe I actually got the job!
Head of Youth Entertainment at one of the most popular holiday resorts in Greece.
I've only been working with children for 12 months and I only speak one language.
What was I thinking?
How did my first day go?
Well, as I approached the children's play area, I could feel my aversion
to chaotic situations kicking in.
You know better than anyone that I have always perceived myself as a
calm and level-headed person, but this was a whole new level of chaos.
I tried my best to keep my cool, but I was starting to feel overwhelmed.
These kids looked like a pack of wild animals and I had
no idea how to control them.
And then there was this little girl who only spoke Arabic.
I felt so naive because I couldn't communicate with her.
I could see the disappointment in her eyes and it broke my heart.
I was about to freak out and I thought,
"How am I going to survive this job?
What would Mum do?"
But then I noticed something.
The children were actually having a great time despite my language
barrier and lack of experience.
They didn't care about my mistakes, they just wanted to have fun.
I think it was in that moment, Mum, that I realised, it's not about
being perfect or knowing everything, it's about having fun and making
memories with these amazing kids.
Now I embrace the chaos and I'm trying to be the best
children's entertainer I can be.
It may have been a rocky start, but it's the start of an unforgettable journey.
If I've learned anything from this so far, it's that sometimes the most
chaotic and unexpected situations can lead us to the most beautiful memories.
Oh, sorry Mum, I've gotta go.
I'll call you back later.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope you found it useful.
Until next time take very good care, and goodbye.