Your English Five a Day #6.1

E111: Ever wonder how idioms like "turn the tide" and "turn upside down" came into play? Or perhaps you're curious about what "indelible" really means? We're back with Week 6 of the Your English Five a Day series, and we're dropping vocab bombs every single day - five brand-new words to spice up your language game! Get ready for an intense language immersion as we decode these terms and set out on an unforgettable journey of storytelling. Brace yourself for a tale of a vacation in Indonesia that spun out of control due to catastrophic weather conditions.

⭐ ENGLlSH LIKE A NATIVE PLUS ⭐

Join English Like A Native Plus - a membership allowing you to access the bonus episodes, plus a weekly email with the most recent podcasts' transcript.
Become a PLUS member here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2038858/subscribe

If you enjoy this podcast, please leave a rating/review - it is a simple, free way to support us.

Transcript

Rebuilding After a Natural Disaster

Speaker 1 0:03

Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast. My name is Anna and we are doing week 6.1 of the English Five a Day series. So in this series we are exploring five new pieces of vocabulary every day of the working week from Monday to Friday. This week is very exciting because all the vocabulary we cover this week will be revisited in our Christmas episode that you'll hear on Saturday, entitled Quirky Not Turkey. So pay close attention this week and you'll have a chance to hear the vocabulary once again in context on Saturday. So, without further ado, let's dive into today's list. Number one is an idiom, and it's the idiom turn upside down. So if we talk about something being turned upside down, then we're saying that a situation has been completely changed, and we usually use this to say that something's changed in a bad way. So you might say my world has been turned upside down or my life has been turned upside down. Those are very common things to couple with this idiom my life or my world or my work has been turned upside down. So this is spelt T-U-R-N. Turn upside, u-p-s-i-d-e. Hyphen down, d-o-w-n. Turn upside down to turn something upside down, and we can separate that. So turn my life, turn my world or turn something upside down. Here's an example sentence. Oh, my life was turned upside down when I lost my job. I'd been at the company for 23 years, so it was like losing all my second family in one big hit. Next on the list is an adjective, and it's the adjective indelible Indelible. If something is indelible, then it is a memory or an action or something that's impossible to forget. It has a permanent influence or effect. We spell indelible, i-n-d-e-l-i-b-l-e, indelible. Here's an example sentence. My memories of that holiday to the Maldives are indelible. I don't think we'll ever be able to beat that wonderful week in paradise. Alright, moving on to a noun. This noun is disorder, disorder. This is pretty much the opposite of order. Disorder describes a state of untidiness, something that lacks organization. Disorder is spelled D-I-S-O-R-D-E-R. Disorder. Here's an example sentence. Oh, this house is in a total state of disorder. If you don't tidy everything up this weekend, there'll be no Christmas tree this year. Right, moving on, here's another idiom. This is the idiom turn the tide. If you turn the tide, then you change things dramatically, usually for the better. Turn the tide is spelt T-U-R-N, the T-H-E, and then tide, t-i-d-e. Turn the tide. Here's an example sentence. This new machine could really turn the tide for the recycling industry. As long as we get the right approvals, we could be up and running within the next 12 months. Ok, last on our list is a phrasal verb, and it is set out. Set out. If you've done my phrasal verb booster course, you'll know that there are multiple meanings for many of the phrasal verbs, and set out is no different. But today we are just going to look at one version of set out, and it is to start or begin a journey. So you set out to work early in the morning, I set out to climb a mountain and I set out at 6am. So I'm starting my journey and this is what I hope to achieve. Set out is not separable in this case, so the spelling is very simple S-E-T set out, o-u-t set out. Here's an example sentence what time are you setting out on your road trip tomorrow? I want to set my alarm so I can wave you off. So that was our five. Let's recap. We started with the idiom turn upside down. When something is completely changed, usually in a negative way, we have the adjective indelible a permanent thing or something like an action that has a permanent influence or effect. We had the noun disorder, which is the opposite of order. It means untidiness, a state of no organisation. We had another idiom, to turn the tide, which means to change things dramatically, usually for the better. And we finished with the phrasal verb set out, which means to start or begin a journey. Four pronunciation, please repeat after me Turn upside down, indelible, disorder. Turn the tide, set out, fantastic. Now let's bring all those words and phrases together in a little story. This is not a true story, by the way. In December 2004 my fiance and I were feeling so excited about going on holiday for Christmas and the new year. We were setting out for the airport at the crack of dawn, so made sure that we got to bed early and were well rested for the seven hour flight that was ahead. The flight was pretty uneventful. I can't remember what I watched, but I know I got through three films and my favourite episode of Only Fools and Horses. We landed, collected our luggage and were transferred swiftly to our hotel. The first couple of days were very chilled, just lounging by the pool and enjoying a few cocktails. On Christmas day, we found a local restaurant where we had the most delicious seafood for lunch and then spent the rest of the day back by the pool, celebrating with the other guests. The next day, boxing Day, would turn the country and its neighbours upside down. We were relaxing on the grassy area between the beach and the pool when suddenly we heard screams and rustling footsteps. I looked up to see people running towards me. When I glanced a little higher, all I saw was a huge black wall. A devastating tsunami had hit Indonesia, and this huge black wall was, in fact, the ocean. It quickly engulfed the entire area and as we fled into the hotel building, we watched the water slowly seep into the pool, turning it from bright blue to muddy brown. The grounds were left in a total state of disorder. Chairs and clothes were floating everywhere, boats were upturned and people were desperately looking for family and friends who were not in the safe zone. We were instructed to stay in our rooms for the next 24 hours while the authorities assessed the immediate danger and further possible threats. When we were eventually allowed to leave our room, we went straight down to the main restaurant to see how everyone was. Luckily, everyone who had been staying or working at the hotel was safe. However, one staff member told us that the majority of guests had actually checked out or cancelled their upcoming trip, so we were one of the few who had chosen to stay. The following few days were spent helping clear up the hotel grounds and supporting the staff whose livelihood depended on us, as tourists, being there to keep them in work. I took the country nearly eight years to turn the tide. The progress they made over that time was remarkable. It certainly was an eye-opener for me and it's left me with indelible memories that will stay with me forever. Okay, that brings us to the end of today's episode. As always, I do hope that it was useful for you and until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.