hello michelle how's it going today how's everything this is good it's good how are
you good i'm excited to be on video today guys this episode is also on youtube occasionally
we put our episodes on youtube so you can actually see our recording studios
you know and see us chatting with each other here and have another dimension
yeah into our homes exactly i don't have my dog here today but usually he sits here behind me
so anyways michelle what's going on with you how are things uh things are good things are good
lindsay do you believe that you ever get like a a sign to do something or to not do something maybe
when you're making a decision do you believe in that i kind of do i kind of believe in signs
yeah i mean i think that obviously i have to spend my time doing my thinking and doing my
feeling into intuiting i guess is the word right thinking into things making my decision but then
if i see a sign it could push me in the decision i've kind of already made it could finalize that
but i wouldn't sit here and think oh someone give me a sign yeah i'm waiting yeah well wait are
you talking about like a sign like a stop sign or like a yield sign oh good question not a stop sign
actually more like um well it's hard to think of an example but they're you know they're everywhere
right uh maybe you run into someone that has to do with your decision right or someone says something
on tv that makes it clear right but not a stop sign no no no no we don't mean guys so when we're
talking about signs uh really in this episode like yeah we know a stop sign but it and now
we're talking about this more like a metaphorical symbol of like something to to that sometimes
people think is trying to guide them yeah as a metaphor exactly it's a metaphor so are there
any examples in your life of signs that you've seen lately michelle or anyone a sign oh man
you knew that was coming right i know i know um any signs that i've seen lately um no
i can't think of an example but you know certainly you know sometimes there are signs that like maybe
maybe you shouldn't do something yeah like i don't know if it's it makes me think of that
it it's not the same thing but it kind of makes me think of ironic by alanis forsett oh my gosh
i love that movie i love that song even though it's not that's not really about signs it's like
oh like right like one is like you know rain to quote the song like rain on your wedding day it's
like yes it's like oh maybe is that like some people might take that as like a bad sign or like
yeah that's okay you know i used to actually use that song in my english classes in new york as i
used to use hotel california oh nice and ironic and i would print out the lyrics and we would go
through and talk about what it meant and i really enjoyed because irony is something that is is
pretty challenging in another language right for for our listeners um so that was always fun
yeah but yeah those are signs i would say or maybe you know you were planning on going somewhere and
you felt like maybe you shouldn't and then all of a sudden there was a huge snowstorm
so it became dangerous and that was a sign that you shouldn't have gone right right right right
something with the weather i feel like that's like can be looked at as a sign frequently
but yeah it's kind of like this magic if you say it's a sign it's kind of like a signal magical
mysterious so another example could be like i want to decide where to go to college so if i'm like
okay this isn't a sentence but like if i i mean a specific example of the usage
but like let's say i'm trying to side between two schools for college yes and i see somebody
walk past me as i'm like in my hardest like my my agonizing decision and then i see somebody
walk past with the sweatshirt of one of the schools and i say oh well maybe that's a sign
right yeah that would be a good example fairly straightforward and yeah and some people do
let themselves be swayed by that but again i think you have to do the thinking on your own first and
then you can maybe look for the signs or have that that metaphysical aspect of things right
right right right and some people might say oh well like that's a sign i can actually do it and
be you know believe in that that kind of aspect of it i feel like i myself um would still just
be like oh okay there's a there's a sweatshirt i don't know what to do you know you wouldn't
even let the signs help you michelle no i don't think so but yeah you have a hard time making
decisions right you've shared yeah so i don't think there's anything that really can help you
but but saying it's a sign that's an actual expression right to say it's a sign yeah so
let's let's do a little role play and show how this might work i don't know if i should get a
dog or not okay uh yeah i know it's tough oh look at that adorable little puppy wow its owners look
so happy see lindsay it's a sign you're right i'll get a puppy i don't need another puppy oh my gosh
puppies are fun but there's so much work oh yeah uh yeah i couldn't deal with a puppy now
but they're so cute yeah they're so cute i know oh i know i know i know they are um so yeah you
know you're trying to make this decision and then you say uh then you see an adorable puppy and you
see how happy it's making the owner and i say see lindsay it's a sign yes i love it i love it
see what is the sign what is that what is signed by that is the fact that i saw the puppy right i
was thinking should i get a dog should i not and maybe we walked past like a shelter or something
and i saw the puppy and i thought oh that's a sign that i should have my own puppy i should
have my own right and then you see it and you see that has an owner and the owner looks really happy
yes so yes you also see how happy it's making someone and so i say it's a sign like it's a
so is that a sign to get a dog or to not get it off uh well it's probably a sign to get a dog if
i want to be happy you know right exactly exactly what's another what's another uh idiom with sign
yeah there are a few of them guys that we're going to give you today so the first one is a sign of
the times um so this is some of the time so this is different right completely different something
that is significant to a specific period of time so if i think about right now michelle well i
guess we talk about the health crisis masking everyone wearing masks everyone now has photos
like even travel photos with masks you know right right right it's kind of interesting yeah and it's
very much so you so you could say something like i'm asking during the health crisis so in the u.s
this is very much a sign of the times um like so sometimes we'll like i'll be um you know uh
out of nowhere dan will say to me like if you ever saw if you like two years ago you saw a
picture of yourself in a mask you know doing this and doing that like what would you think happened
i know i know well even when things got started in march of 2020 we were like oh we're not gonna
have to wear masks we don't wear masks in the u.s right we would we thought that we really did and
even you know our health department said no masks for the very beginning is really interesting yeah
exactly exactly so that's a sign of the times or a lot of times people talk about like a kind
of music or an artist that's a sign of the times right sure sure oh my gosh so much i was telling
you the other day that i watched um never been kissed and there's so much in there that's or even
this is us i actually watched that last night a little bit um and there's so much in there that is
so 90s you know it's so much just the fashion the the furniture everything it's amazing it's true
it's true that's very like time specific because they switch for back and forth between specific
time periods um on that show and so there's always like i mean i don't want to spoil did you you saw
the first episode right yeah of the of this season you mean or of the whole show um i mean
i think i just jumped in the middle but it's okay i'm not going to go back and see no i just first
episode for anybody else there's something in the first episode like where there are certain things
where then you realize when you are and it's because certain things are a sign of the times
okay interesting i love that yeah that show does that very well they don't have like that much
well there's drama in that show but it's not like manufactured drama it's just real life
drama i guess so it's kind of like real life stuff yeah it's very intense but it's good yeah
um let's do an let's do a role play so uh here we go okay wow okay you had oh that's me right
uh wow i never thought i'd be eating in an igloo yeah michelle it's definitely a sign of the times
okay so what do i mean do you have any igloos for outdoor dining until until the health crisis it
would i would be like igloos like in the north far north what are you talking about no um that
means like the indoor dining little huts yeah i mean yeah yes we did yeah they're not that warm
but there's one right on near me that is actually pretty good so like guys it's become popular
with the outdoor dining too for the winter they put out these they call them igloos
and it's like these little huts and yeah so yeah that's a sign of the times like i have never done
that before for sure it is absolutely and then the next one guys is sign your name right which is
your signature and i really like that people say um i need your john hancock is another
way that they say that and just recently someone said that to me i was signing something i can't
remember what uh why do we say i need your john hancock as a bonus well we actually did
the whole episode on this we did i know yeah i think we did yeah because it's about signing
uh the declaration of independence right yes exactly exactly so john hancock was one of the
was he the first signer or one of the original signers i'm not sure why he became the name but
anyway if someone says i need your john hancock it means they need your signature okay guys exactly
exactly so put john hancock into the search bar and you will probably find an episode all about
that and i'm sure at the time we had researched that more i'm sure yeah um okay so here we go
uh okay so what do what do i need to do now just sign your name and we are good to go
okay exactly exactly so that's not so much an idiom but it's more of a chunk it's an
important chunk yes i love it i love it and then of course we we do say and our
listeners maybe love to talk about this too is your sign your star sign your astrology
sign michelle what's your sign i don't think we've really talked about this on the show much
i'm a capricorn what are you are you a leo mm-hmm yeah leo leos are known for like
oh not good personalities really yes ego based ego based personalities
oh i didn't know that oh you're the lion right the lion yeah the fire sign exactly exactly what
is capricorn like what is the i don't know is it i i don't know i don't pay much attention to
no i don't really know much about astrology at all like i i you know it's one of those things
where like i've you know skimmed thing you know skimmed information and then i just forget it and
but i mean it's kind of cool yeah it's kind of cool i feel like capricorns are considered to be
um like loyal friends oh i think that's one thing about capricorns yeah so i could see that in you
for sure thank you okay so your sign so let's just just go back and forth a little bit a little role
play so what's your sign michelle okay capricorn oh i can tell tell you so much about that
okay yeah because some people are really into it and then they hear it and then they're like oh let
me tell you about your sign oh i know i know i i think you can't read into it too too much you know
yeah yeah because it's kind of that idea of like when we hear the characteristics we could say oh
yeah i am that but every other characteristic we are too like i am an aquarius right a
cancer i'm all those yeah i think that's part of the trick to it is that you know you can read your
horoscope and then be like oh identify with this but some of the stuff is like so general that yeah
any day any given day you could be like that or like this it's it's it's it's crazy but maybe
we'll have an astrology expert on and that would be cool that would be kind of cool i
bet our listeners would love that how cool right yeah i i would i would like to hear more about it
i'm curious i'm definitely curious about it um so lindsay just some quick discussion questions um
i mean why do you think people care about astrology and science like
sounds like we have similar opinions yeah like what what is interesting about it i think it's the
same as when you take a quiz like even our fluency quiz listeners want to know what their level is
right they want to know what bucket they fit into right we as human beings want to know
where we belong right and if i meet another leo i want to have a moment of connection with them
and say oh yeah oh you have that personality oh all right you know it's it's we want to know
who are our people where do we belong it's it's evolutionary you know it's
like i said the other day it goes back to who what it means to be human what do you think michelle
yeah i think that people like to learn about themselves i think like to be kind of self-aware
and maybe um like the things that like uncover mysteries about themselves that they didn't know
yeah and i think it seems it's just kind of mysterious and cool and and maybe and people
like getting into like which signs work well together or have good relationships oh totally
yeah and i love learning about people so you so you would think i would be more into this stuff
but um i do i do find it interesting whenever i talk to someone who like my sister-in-law is very
interested one of my very good friends is also very interested in it so um i mean it's cool
when you probably if you learn a lot about it you can get more into it yeah i would think
so i i i just you know it's fun it's fun for a conversation at a party and it may come up and
we could do an episode on that too on how to you know if the conversation comes up about your star
sign your astrology yeah that's not going to do how to participate in that i think that's a great
episode idea but keep it in perspective at least i do everyone has their own opinion who knows
exactly yeah exactly yeah all right one one more question one more question okay i'm ready have
you changed your signature over the years oh my gosh my signature is almost unrecognizable
i don't even know if it's a legitimate set it's just a squiggle like because i really
tell people that now i know everyone's gonna be signing for me um have i changed it not
really i remember seeing my dad you know how they always say that doctors have like squiggles right
so my dad is an optometrist kind of a doctor eye doctor basically i remember seeing his being like
total squiggles and thinking oh okay i'll just do that yeah that's funny yeah um it's it's i
i have fun with my signature but i haven't really changed it in a while but oh no no now i'm curious
what your signature looks like michelle that's kind of see you later okay okay when i was an
yeah yes i will send you my auto thank you but yeah it's it's fun to play with like sometimes
i just like write it or like you know i'll write like my son's name or like what signature and i'm
trying to decide on my daughter's name and i can't and so i'm always like you know trying to
write things out so sometimes it's visualizing so exciting oh my gosh you're in that stage i won't
ask don't worry because i know it's a sensitive topic not supposed to that would be a good episode
too why you should not you know necessarily ask what people are going to name their kid
or make any comments on it ever pretty much great episode i will definitely plan that for the next
couple weeks that is good that would be fantastic like the cultural can you ask someone yes awesome
i love it so good okay we've gotten a lot of great ideas out of this episode so let's wrap it up for
today guys and you know you know if you enjoy astrology then talk about it right talk about
signs today we've given you some great vocabulary for it so just go for it and go and check out our
allers english app we have an ios version and an android version so go to slash allersenglish.com
all right absolutely all right this is fun lindsay have a good one bye michelle bye