hello Michelle how are you today what's going on I'm good Lindsay
Lindsay are you excited to be here I had a great weekend I went skiing over the weekend
um yeah lots of good stuff lots of good stuff feeling great what about you did you spend a
little time in Manhattan over the weekend yes I did I I went to another part I I actually stayed
in or there was a good deal and I know it sounds very funny to to do that for someone who is very
familiar with the city but um as uh it's not easy to get someone to take care of my son and yeah so
we were able to get his grandparents to watch him and we just said let's just do it there's
a good deal and just to just to go to a hotel and you know feel like you're away even though
you're not so I love that idea it's kind of like a staycation in a way right you're in your own City
you're in a touristy part of your own City but you're in a hotel so you could be anywhere and
you can get room service you could really enjoy the evening I love that idea we make the most of
what we have in that moment right Michelle right exactly it would kind of go much further than that
um so so we just decided to do it so it was it was a fun time but definitely reminded me that
as much as I love New York Times Square is not my favorite neighborhood oh yeah no no
we've talked about that on the show we told all our listeners don't go to Times Square right
don't hang out there right don't hang out there because that really is a very touristy area
things are really expensive you know hang out in Union Square right yes or West Village or the East
Village Alphabet City where else Michelle you love the Upper West Side Central Park um you can find
a lot of locals jogging in Central Park like do the local thing get a coffee get a paper if
anyone even gets papers anymore Chelsea yeah the art galleries right yeah it's just there's so much
to explore so if you want to stay in Times Square stay there take a walk around get some pictures
and then move yeah totally totally I love it and you know Times Square does kind of have a bad rap
but I think there's a reason for it look at what you just did there I love the show I'm usually
not as good as you are but at the transitions like that but uh today I'm bringing it out yeah no you
are always very good at that but yes we are going to talk about this expression you use to have a
bad rap okay so what a what a funny what a funny expression so we're gonna get into that today but
guys we want to remind you that if you haven't checked it out yet or if you have checked it
out yet we have the IELTS energy podcast with um Aubry and Jessica and it is amazing over there if
you're preparing for IELTS it is entertaining it is educational it is all of the good stuff right
Lindsay all the good stuff guys and it's real because Jessica was an examiner for 14 years and
Aubry has now learned everything Jessica knows so you are working with true IELTS experts over there
so go over and hit follow on the IELTS energy podcast guys so Michelle I'm excited you know to
be honest I've always wondered about this phrase I've always been a little confused what confuses
me is why I guess we're talking about reputation here right Times Square gets a bad rap but why
are we saying rap when it seems like we should say rep like that's a good question right but we
don't say it we don't say a bad rep we say about rap right yeah why that's so weird I don't know
um I don't know I I I want to talk about the usage today I don't quite know the origins or
why it happens but it's just interesting so yeah a bad rap r-a-p and it means a bad reputation
um so Times Square gets a bad rap right um in New York City because it's expensive and it's
busy and all sorts of things um so I mean do you think that however I mean you agree you don't
really love Times Square so maybe you know you would use another expression for it but do you
think in general like it's fair like if you say something has a bad rap does it mean it's fair or
is it saying like oh that has a bad rap but like it doesn't deserve it oh that's a good question oh
I think okay I think it's all about what you put before it if you say it gets a bad rap maybe that
means it's unfair oh it gets a bad rap but it's actually okay oh right but oh don't go there it
has a bad rep I think it's actually sometimes pointing to the fact that it's unfair a lot of
times and it actually isn't that bad what do you think Michelle yeah I think the offend it's used
like that it's kind of like oh it has a better reputation right I don't know why but like that
it's it doesn't necessarily deserve to deserve it but it could be used the other way like for
example she got a bad rap for being uh picky after she couldn't choose anything to eat at the company
dinner yeah so maybe this is fair maybe she really is very picky but maybe it's like oh that was that
one incident and now everyone kind of knows her for that which is unfair you gotta be careful what
you do the first two weeks at a new workplace right right right right right I think it just
points to the fact that it's reputations kind of essentialize people or things no matter what it's
essentializing something right which isn't always Fair it's never really fair if you say you are
this one thing right Times Square I guess could be many things it could be excitement maybe there's
good food in Times Square somewhere I haven't found it yet well it's just so expensive and yeah
um it's actually you know what my first date with Dan wasn't too far from Times Square but
unfortunately the place shut down oh like a house kind of thing yeah yeah so Hell's Kitchen it's
interesting because you walk one or two Avenues over and then you have a whole bunch of good stuff
so it's really I'm just talking about like the real I mean you also have Bryant Park nearby which
oh yeah there's some options but I don't know I think you know more like 9th Avenue has a lot
of good stuff um so it's like yes if you just go a little bit outside there's exactly good places
exactly yeah so I think you know today we're talking about reputations and reputations do
just point at they make someone or something just one way and it may may not be true because
nothing is that simple right that's why it's the deceiving factor of this right let's give
some more examples Michelle are you ready here's why okay all right so two-year-olds get a bad rap
for being difficult now that's probably true for the majority of two-year-olds right I mean
I have a three-year-old now so but as a two-year-old he was
um uh yeah I mean I think all I you know what it is I think it's like oh the terrible twos you know
people know that expression so they think you know I I partially think that what happens is
a kid gets to be two and it's like oh gosh you know and yeah it's coming it's not necessarily
fair and also you know developmentally there's so much going on so it's it's not really just
oh they're difficult it's like their brains are it's more than that yeah it's more complicated
but Society just makes it so simple like oh they're terrible but actually they're just
developing they need a little extra help or they're just they're confused or or something
exactly or here's another example so strict teachers can get a bad rap with their students
but sometimes they are the best at what they do so Lindsay did you ever have a really strict
teacher that and that ended up being like your favorite because you realize they were wonderful
yeah this definitely happens when you're growing up right there's always always that teacher that
everyone has is a little afraid of throughout the whole school because they have a bad rap
but when you get in their class you realize yes they're Stern and that's another great
key word for today if you're in the app guys they're stirring they're strict they may be a
little mean at times but they actually are the best teacher and they care about you learning
the most yeah and then usually when you as time goes on then you realize like how great they are
and then at the end you're crying and they're like that's the best teacher I ever had right
exactly like I remember there was this kid this teacher in third grade Mr Sullivan and he was
the math teacher and everyone thought he was so mean but I remember seeing he had his students
like marching and and uh you know reciting all the times tables way before my class was and I
was like oh my gosh he must be doing something right because all these kids are they know their
times tables too early so then you get respect for the teacher um it's kind of interesting yeah
yeah I had teachers a lot a a lot of teachers like that you know that seemed you know the first day
you're like oh my gosh you know and that's going to be so tough and then when I think about it
um yeah I think my favorite teacher ever was just kind of like that um yes yes yeah yeah
so that teachers can get a bad rap when they seem like that maybe they're not like the goofy
one from the beginning or they have a serious look or they give a lot of work and then yeah
um or what's oh let's do another example one more okay uh that store got a bad rap for their
terrible customer service right and this is hard too because the fact is not every you know happy
customers don't always leave a review they just go on with their day because their life has been
made easier at that store right that's it's really just like either you have an amazing
experience and you you know maybe you have the time or you're used to leaving a review or you
have a terrible experience so I think reviews of stores and restaurants are not always there you
know no it's it's not and you know people can be just like very bitter and be like well I'm gonna
write something terrible and yeah you know and it's really not fair and especially I think with
things that went out with like the global Health crisis like I think people had to kind of be nicer
about stuff because you know we have to like give people Grace and like let things let some things
go because it was just so hard for everybody and especially in things like the service industry
um oh my God you know to to get through it and so I think I would have never especially during
you know the worst of that time written a bad review about a restaurant or anything
yeah no I mean even now I mean restaurants are struggling to hire to get a full staff right so
you got to give them a pass and that might be another phrase for today you know give them a
pass you know Let it go right guys that's such a native and natural phrase you're not going to
learn that in your textbooks so Michelle did you ever get a bad rap for doing something as
a kid maybe you climbed a tree or you I don't know maybe you like stole candy from a store
or something and you didn't know any better did you ever get a bad rap for doing something oh
my gosh that's a great question um that I can't quite think of an answer to do you have an answer
um I got a bad rap for doing stupid things when I was a kid like once I put my head through a
railing at a furniture store and got it stuck oh no oh my gosh yeah like I was like oh let's see
what happens if I put my head in here because I was three or four I was bored my parents were
looking at furniture and I got stuck and I don't know if they had to like use the I don't know like
the daughter or something I'm not sure how they got me out but I definitely yeah so I
guess I got a bad rap for being a troublemaker sometimes that's pretty that's pretty funny I
mean my friend I think I've talked about it before actually you know in maybe the past couple months
um my friend she had a bad rap for like always breaking bones
uh a horse bringing her own her bones yeah yeah yeah yeah and it would just always be
like up she fell again like it was just like like I needed a bad rap for that
um but yeah I mean Lindsay how important do you think reputation is in the world today because
I I think that like you mentioned you know like there's all these sites you know where you can
put your reputation new reviews and it's gotten a little scary with social media things like that
yeah for sure I mean we this brings up the concept of cancel culture cancel culture I hadn't even
heard of that term until a couple of years ago yeah and now it's all over the place and some of
it's deserved fully and then sometimes I think we do make snap judgments when we could allow people
to just kind of talk a little bit more explain a little bit more let's hear the context like where
they're coming from so it depends on the person and the situation but yeah I think the internet
is unforgiving you know absolutely unforgiving one wrong move if you're famous nowadays and
you're you're canceled you're gone right that's so what do you do yeah that is true and I think
it can be scary for people to speak sometimes um and and we do need to be careful with what we say
um of course very sensitive to those things but I do think that sometimes there's just like a a
new fear that you know because everything is everywhere right so yeah it can be a little
scary probably yeah so if we we don't talk if we're not allowed to like talk then that that
creates an even worse environment right like we don't learn if we don't talk through things and
understand things so it's really tricky at the same time we're fully responsible for everything
we say so that's really tricky and yeah I do think that social media just makes this
even worse a hundred percent yeah right right right oh my gosh so much to talk we could do a
whole episode on this topic but yeah things are happening it seems like every day there's a new
story of something that comes out and somebody said something and then I was like oh gosh
um I know it's really interesting so bad rap easy to get a bad rap or a bad reputation um and then
so I guess you know we have to worry about of course we have to be very conscious of you know
what we're saying and the impact of our words especially if we're famous that's right if you're
famous like your words do have an impact Michelle right are there any other ways to say this that we
you know our listeners love multiple ways to say things so what can we teach absolutely absolutely
well one is a bad name it makes me think of is that uh Jon Bon Jovi song You Give Love a Bad Name
so you could say like that office got a bad name for always posting the wrong opening
times on their window so does that literally mean like they gotta like they have a poor
name for their office a restaurant like or meeting a bad reputation right that's what
a bad reputation exactly exactly so like I don't know if you've ever been somewhere on
like that it has the wrong time on the website or wrong time and then it's like you know can
get pretty frustrating yeah that's happened to me even just in the last week where you
show up like well is it on Google that you're awesome but you're closed and yeah yeah yeah
and then the one that we've just been coming back to our whole conversation Michelle it's
just a bad reputation yeah right so instead of a bad rap yeah so she has a bad reputation for being
snarky to her colleagues that's a good bonus word for today Michelle yeah like a little bit nasty
nasty a little nasty right some rude comments here and there um do you know anyone who can be snarky
of course I do of course I do um uh I'm sure I could name a lot of people but you won't you
won't name them no I won't but everybody knows snarky people or you know so it's never easy but
I know a lot of nice people so this has been interesting today Michelle talking about this
very common phrase that's always confused me personally right wrath rep and we still don't
know exactly why it's rap um but mate you know what maybe it comes from like Rapport
report r-a-p-p-o-r-t a good rapport it could be that right Rapport means profession like a
relationship so that could be something like that but what's the takeaway for our listeners today
guys this is a useful phrase uh We've taught you how to use it and some other ones um and
it's also important to consider why something has a bad reputation like is it fair is it deserved um
so to think deeper about it not just listen to oh this review said this uh so I think that I think
that's important to think about it on deeper level yeah for sure I mean that's really what politics
is right if we just go with the slogans and the commercials and the news coverage on Fox or even
CNN like we just assume we think like everyone else but if we go a little deeper understand
Viewpoint and then decide for ourselves what we think it's better right we can live a smarter
life yes I love it so good Michelle this has been fun guys remember go over and get the IELTS energy
podcast good stuff Michelle I'll see you soon take care all right bye Lindsay bye guys foreign