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Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2603. This episode is no joke. Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.
with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward slash app.
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Chapter 2: How can you become fearless and fluent in English?
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Okay. Hey, Michelle, how's it going today? Hey, Lindsay, I'm doing well. How are you? Good. We've been doing a lot of great recording this week, so really excited. But Michelle, do you have a good sense of humor? Are you always laughing or making jokes?
Yes, I think I do have a good sense of humor. I love to laugh. I love to joke around. So yeah, I would say so. What about you?
That's good. Yeah. I mean, I'm not like someone that really tells jokes. I don't really know any jokes, but I definitely am pretty lighthearted a lot of times. And I like to laugh. It feels good to laugh, right? Like releases all these chemicals in the body. It's good. It's good. It's the best.
It's the best. Do you ever laugh till you cry? No.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
I love that feeling.
Yeah, it's kind of painful.
But then, yeah, but it's the best. It's the best. So today, we're going to talk about a word that I've heard recently used as an expression. And it's no joke. Yes.
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Chapter 3: What does 'no joke' mean in different contexts?
They might think it's no big deal, but once you get to it, it's actually really hard. That's, yeah. So, yeah. But how, so how is it different if I say that hike is no joke or it's no joke versus just saying no joke?
Well, I guess it's different than it like, okay, you could say this is the toughest hike I've ever been on. No joke, right? Yeah, sure. So it's not totally different in meaning necessarily. It's just different how you would use it. Like I'm thinking, okay, if I said, yeah, I mean, we're recording a lot of episodes, right? Lindsay, I could say our recording sessions are no joke.
I don't mean that they're not funny. I mean that they're... Of course. Yeah. They're substantial, right? Yeah. The idea of funny is not... It doesn't really apply.
Chapter 4: How has the expression 'no joke' evolved in modern English?
Right. It's not about... like a typical, oh, haha joke. I'm not trying to say... I'm not actually talking about haha jokes. Yes, exactly.
Exactly. And I think in terms of using this at work, I think it could be okay. Obviously, if you are reviewing results of your company and maybe your manager's there and the results aren't good, it might be looked at as you're not taking things seriously. If you say, oh, we lost a lot of money last year. No joke, right? I mean, that's very... It might be disrespectful or something, right?
Right, right, right.
I mean, but or even let's say you're applying to jobs and you get to some application and it's really extensive. And it's just a lot of information you have to put in. You might say to someone, oh my gosh, this job application is no joke, right?
Or if you have to go in and do like a demonstration or a presentation, if you get to the final round, you could say that. What they put me through was no joke, right? Exactly.
Exactly. So it's really interesting. So let's talk about some other words that we can use that are similar. So the first one would be
seriously and we've talked a lot about this word before but yes yeah thousands of episodes ago um so so here we go um i'm taking the first train out tomorrow seriously or this was only 599 seriously right so you're just saying like it's the same thing you're saying the same thing take this seriously right yeah
Yeah. Or I'm not kidding, right? Cheryl told us to leave at three. Cheryl again. Cheryl told us to leave at three. I'm not kidding.
or you've got, you have to be quiet now. I'm not kidding. So this could be a little bit more serious too.
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Chapter 5: What are examples of using 'no joke' in everyday conversations?
She confessed to messing up my project. I mean it.
Or we have to leave now. I mean it. You might say this to your kids if you're trying to get them out the door, right? They're not taking you seriously. I mean it.
Sure. Sure. What else? Or finally, we have no lie. So this is very similar to no joke, right? The traffic is crazy. No lie.
Be careful. Yeah, or I made the soccer team. No lie, right? I don't really say that myself, but I guess some people do, for sure.
Everyone has their own style, right? Exactly, exactly. Again, like I said, some of these are a little bit more childish sounding. Some are more trendy. Like, for example, saying something is no joke. Oh, this hike is no joke. To me, even though you're still saying no joke, it's still a little bit more elevated sounding than... Oh, this hike is tough. No joke, right?
That's just how it sounds to me. Maybe it's just my opinion.
Yeah, interesting. Michelle, why would you say that this is a connection skill? I mean, what are we doing? We're essentially, on the connection level, we're kind of warning people. that this is a serious thing, that we should give this a serious look, whatever we're embarking on, right?
Right, right. That, you know, or just whatever is shocking to you is true. Yes. I'm telling you something shocking, but it's actually, it's real. It's actually true. Yeah. So sometimes we really need to convey this kind of message.
Or maybe you want to prevent someone from asking you, are you joking? Are you kidding? So instead you front load that and you say, you know, this person cheated on that person. No joke, right?
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