Name: Overheard in an English café! ☕️???| DAILY English! | REAL conversations! | British English ??
Uploaded: 2024-06-30T03:25:53.000Z
Duration: 19 min 21 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel English with Catherine. On this channel you can expect to find daily natural English used by British natives. I'm British so that's my expertise so that's all I can really teach and I hope you've had a really good week and you haven't been working too hard and you're looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. I definitely am,

I'm gonna be honest, it's been a very hectic week. So today's video, I can't wait to share this one with you. Every Wednesday, I think I've told you this before, but every Wednesday

I go to a cafe and I journal and I plan the videos and I text my mum and I just catch up with everything that I need to do. I work really well in cafes, I don't know what it is about them. Is there anyone that can relate? Tell me in the comments below. I'm not so good in libraries, I find them too quiet and awkward. I feel like I'm just gonna make a sound and disrupt everyone. I do love libraries just for going there, generally though, if

I'm not doing something really serious, I love libraries. Anyway, recently I have discovered a new cafe and it's kind of a bookshop and a cafe in one, like my dream cafe. This cafe has a real buzz about it, it's really busy and if I get distracted I can just put on my headphones and listen to some classical music. And it was during one of these cafe visits that gave me the idea for this video. I started picking up on conversations happening around me. It was just easy because people were quite loud and I was thinking, oh, that would be perfect for a video. I love people watching, but I didn't realise that I actually love people listening as well. It's actually called eavesdropping and I'll put the meaning on the screen. But eavesdropping is when you're listening to other people's conversations.

So in this video, you're going to hear lots of different people talking, so different conversations happening. And there are over 15 language points and culture points as well, a mix of language and culture to learn. And I think this is an excellent way to learn daily English, because this is language in real life, real situations, in cafes, people having conversations. That's exactly what you need to be learning.

Number one, a mother or a mum and her child. Shall we have fish fingers tonight? Shall we have fish fingers tonight? That's what she said. I heard it and I made a note of it. Now, this is more of a culture point. Fish fingers are an absolute staple for any mother who is busy, who is working and just wants something easy and nutritious to put on the table for their children. When I was younger, we used to have fish fingers with alphabytes, which were potato letters. They were like chips, but they were like alphabet numbers, numbers, letters. And I would be a real little diva and make my mum spell my name out with these letters, potato letters. And if there was a letter missing, I didn't eat it. My name is quite long, so that was quite, quite a task for her. Anyway, fish fingers are delicious.

Sometimes I even have cravings for them in my adult life. And no British freezer is complete without some fish fingers in there somewhere and some oven chips, of course. So no language point there, but we have got shall we? And I have talked about this before. When we want to make a suggestion or a recommendation for a plan or something to do, we often say, shall we? Number two, an old, cute couple. They must have been in their 80s. I mean, they were really old, but they were, you know, in this cafe having a nice time. This is what they said to each other. Badgers are really vicious. I wish they wouldn't keep coming into our garden. Sooner or later, they're going to get at the chickens. So obviously, this couple lives in quite a rural location. Rural, that's one of our favourite words to pronounce. Notoriously impossible to say. Rural. And they have chickens, which is so cute. I've always had a kind of dream to have a chicken. I feel like I just want two chickens and I would call them Peggy and Omelette. Anyway, some interesting language here.

We've got vicious. A synonym for vicious is aggressive. Okay, so badgers, they look really cute. Yes, black and white, very sweet, furry, but they're really vicious. They're really horrible.

And they have this thing called lockjaw. So if they bite you, they don't let go. Horrible. We also have the use of wish. Now, I've got to explain this properly in another video, but wish is so important in UK English. We use this hundreds of times a day. We're always being quite whimsical and hypothetical with our language. We're always talking about things that are impossible, like wishing it would stop raining. You know, when it's raining outside, you will hear people saying, oh, I wish it would stop raining. You know, we just like to lament. We're very dramatic and romantic people. We just like to gaze out of the window and just wish things that aren't really very possible things. So this old couple wishes the badgers would stop coming into their garden.

There's actually no way of stopping the badgers. They are relentless creatures. They will find a way in. And we have the phrasal verb to get at, which means to reach or gain access to something.

So the badgers are going to gain access to the chickens, and then it's game over for the chickens. Number three, romantic couple holding hands over the table. I'm afraid we'll have to put off date night because of the cat. Now, this is all I managed to catch from their conversation because everything got a little bit louder at that point. It was lunchtime and people were coming in to get their sandwiches and paninis and whatever they were ordering. Here we have the phrasal verb to put off. Now, to put off is to postpone. So they're having to postpone their date night, which, by the way, is a new trend. You must have seen this on social media. Date night is when a couple who could have been married for years or maybe they've been together for a while and they just need something to keep their relationship alive. They go on date nights, which is just means spending some time together as if they were going on a date. You know, it's kind of a play on words in that way. And don't even get me started on cats. We are a nation of pet lovers and pet havers. I don't even know what the statistics are, but most of us have pets, cats or dogs.

So an interesting point as well. I know that in some other countries you have stray dogs and cats, like wild ones walking around. You would never see that in the UK. If there is a dog walking around, then usually someone calls the RSPCA, which is a charity that protects animals. OK, so if you see a dog wandering around without an owner, normally you call up the RSPCA and they will come and rescue the dog. We take our animals very seriously. And I'm not saying that other countries don't, but we just so happen to be obsessed with pets. So obviously the cat was very important in this couple's life and has even come between them in their date night. So heaven knows what happened to the cat or what the situation was. Number four, a group of girl students catching up. Now, this was definitely the most interesting conversation that I overheard. And I had to very sort of sneakily sip my cappuccino whilst listening. I probably looked completely insane. But, you know, you just got to do what you got to do when you're a YouTuber. The conversation was really interesting because they were talking about relationships. OK, they were talking about recent dates and how the dates were going and how the relationships were going. And they used this following expression.

Yeah, they went on a few dates, but in the end it just fizzled out. Yeah, they went on a few dates, but in the end it just fizzled out. So to fizzle out is strictly speaking a phrasal verb. And this is very context specific to relationship language or dating language. So to fizzle out is to gradually end, often in a very disappointing way, disappointing and weak. So if a relationship just fizzles out, it just stops. It just two people just don't have enough chemistry to keep the fire alive or to keep the fire burning. And this just happens, doesn't it? Some relationships just fizzle out before they've even really begun. And that just means it's not the right person. Number five, two women. They look like best friends catching up. This was a bit sad for me because it reminded me of my best friend, Sarah, who sadly moved away to Devon, miles away from me. So I see her once in a blue moon, quite frankly, and that's really sad. Hopefully in the future we might live nearer each other. It's such a blustery day today. I nearly lost my hat outside Tesco's. Tesco's is a very popular supermarket here. Very affordable, very reasonably priced. Now the word she used, as you just heard, was blustery. One of my favourite words in the world. I don't know what it is. For me it's slightly onomatopoeic, which means it sounds like what it actually is describing. And it just means really windy. So in England we have these crazy windy days. It's not stormy, so there's no thunder and lightning and rain. It's just really windy and often quite mild in temperature. So a blustery day is actually really nice because the trees are just moving and it's not that cold, so you can still go out and enjoy it. I also managed to catch another thing that they said and that was, it's all hands on deck at the moment for my brother's wedding. All hands on deck. What do you think that means?

Well, this is very popular slang. I use this a lot. A particular situation that requires everyone to put in maximum effort in order to achieve a goal. So something like a wedding, it requires a lot of team effort. So it's all hands on deck for her brother's wedding. One more thing I managed to overhear was, my lips are sealed. My lips are sealed. So obviously one of them had just told the other one a secret and said, don't tell anyone. And she said, my lips are sealed. This means, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me. Number six, sorry, it's really hot in here and it's still quite mild weather because it's September and Septembers in the UK are now quite mild. So here's the dress that I'm wearing. Number six, a businessman very loudly on the phone.

Now just to tell you, this goes against British etiquette in that usually the etiquette is to not be on your phone really loudly in a cafe because other people might like to concentrate or, you know, hear themselves think. But there's always one, isn't there? And this guy was a very good example of that.

So he was typing away on his laptop, really, I swear he was like the loudest typer I've ever heard.

It was like, and he was on the phone like, yeah, yeah, yeah, follow up this and follow up that.

So that's what I heard, follow up. OK, follow up is kind of business English. So it's not just used for business English, but you will hear this a lot in business English. So to follow up is to pursue or investigate something further. So normally, if you've had an email exchange with someone, another businessman or woman, and you want to get a response and you want to kind of like remind them that you need a response, you send a follow up email or you follow it up.

That's just what we say. He also kept saying, bear with me, bear with me. Yeah, just bear with me.

Just bear with me. What does that mean? Nothing to do with bears. You probably know that. Again, this is used in British English. Bear with me just means please have some patience.

Could you just wait? Give me some time. I will deliver. Number seven, a coffee order.

So I just so happened to overhear a coffee order and I was quite sort of impressed with it because it was very simple. So the woman walked up to the till and just said, can I have a coffee, please?

And the barista was like, what kind of coffee? Because in this day and age, now that the cappuccino has come to the UK and the latte and the flat white, you know, just to order a coffee is no longer very clear. You have to sort of elaborate on what kind of coffee you want. And she just said, just as it comes, just as it comes. That just means give me some coffee, just some basic coffee in a cup and I'll pay for it and I'll drink it. And that's the end of it. I found this quite refreshing because I used to be a waitress in a cafe and I used to have to take the coffee orders.

And some of the coffee orders were just, as you probably know, what some of you probably do order this. Decaf, one shot, skinny, half fat, semi-skimmed, oat milk, you know, there was like at least four or five things you'd have to remember. And then you'd have to ask them if they want sugar and then you'd have to ask them if they wanted to take away or have here. There was just so many things to remember.

But this woman, no, just as it comes. Number eight, two colleagues catching up. Now, I knew they were colleagues because they were both wearing a lanyard, which is like a kind of thing that they give you when you join a new job. And it's like a kind of necklace with a laminated piece of card on with some information. One of them said, oh, my brain is scrambled. They were obviously quite stressed. Maybe things were a bit stressful at work and they were just having some time out to have a coffee and kind of relate to each other. So to say that your brain is scrambled.

Yes, you guessed it. It is something to do with eggs. Imagine, I mean, it's a horrible thought, but imagine a scrambled egg brain. Your brain is not in good shape if you're saying that your brain is scrambled. So this really just means that you've had enough. You're really overworked.

You're tired. You probably need a holiday. Your brain is scrambled, not poached or fried. It has to be scrambled. And then the cafe got really busy again. There was another tea rush, all the people coming in for their four o'clock tea, which seems to be a thing here. But I just about made out what one of them said, and it was, it's not set in stone yet. It's not set in stone yet. Now, this is a really good expression. We use this a lot. So when something is not set in stone, it means it hasn't been properly organized yet. It's not completely definite. There's a degree of uncertainty about something happening. Okay. So if someone asks you, when are you going to have your party that you've been talking about? You can say, ah, well, it's just not set in stone yet. You could say, well, it's probably going to be the 12th of April, but it's not set in stone yet. That means it's not completely certain yet. Number nine, a mother or a mum and her daughter.

This time the daughter is grown up and not a child. Like in the first example, I just remember she was really cool. She had a really nice outfit on and I was kind of distracted by that. And then

I tried to listen to their conversation. Now the mum, I think asked her about something that she was a bit touchy on. She was a bit sensitive. She didn't really want to discuss it. So she just said, mum, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. And that's a lovely expression to cross that bridge when you get to it. That means I'll deal with that when it comes up. So there's no point in worrying about it now. I'll just deal with it when the situation arises, whenever it does. Usually mums ask like, what's your plan? When are you getting married? You know, all these things. And you know, sometimes these are, you know, sensitive subjects. We don't really feel like talking about them. So we need expressions like, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Another one that I really like is, I'm just playing it by ear. So here's, here's one of my personal favourites. And that's kind of got a similar meaning. It just means I'm just going to see what happens. I'm not going to plan too far ahead. I'm just going to roll with it. Go with the flow and see where life takes me.

A subject that the daughter was more comfortable about discussing, though, was flat hunting. So we say hunting when we talk about looking for a property. So we can be house hunting, job hunting, or flat hunting. You'll notice that with English, it can be really creative. And often this is a direct result of the youth of society. So the young people creating different ways to talk about something, and then it just becomes generally accepted as a way to talk about it. Because of social media is actually easier now for language change to happen. So people are using all kinds of things now. Number 10, two guys catching up. So these two were obviously really good friends.

I think they worked at the same charity together. Like they met while they were volunteering at the church or something. I couldn't quite catch it. By the way, these observations were over a period of time. They weren't all in one day. I think that would have been quite tiring. I think I would have had to order about four or five coffees to do all of that in one day. Anyway, I managed to catch from that conversation, one of them asked the other, so when are you tying the knot? Now, do you know what tying the knot or to tie the knot means? That means to get married. So obviously, one of them had just got engaged and he was asking when's the wedding going to be? Is it going to be soon or not soon? So that's a really nice expression that I really like. But that's all I've got for today. I will be making more like this. It was a really, really fun thing to do. I had my journal out and was just making notes. And I think teaching you guys everyday English is probably the most useful thing to do, right? If you have any creative ideas for videos that you'd like to see me make, by all means, feel free to put those in the comments. I'm all ears for suggestions. As usual, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for turning up and watching my classes every

Friday. I just am so grateful for all of you. So as usual, again, I'm wishing you a lovely weekend.

 I hope it's full of fun and magic and I'll see you next Friday for another video. Bye!