176 - Expression: What Goes Around Comes Around

Hi, everybody. My name is Shauna, and this is the American English Podcast. My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States. Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories, I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting. Let's do it. Hi, everyone. I hope you're having a nice day. It's sunny and somewhat cold here in Asheville, North Carolina. I've got warm socks on, pajama pants.

I'm ready to start today's lesson, which is all about the expression, what goes around, comes around. For the cultural topic of this lesson, which will be posted next week, we'll be talking about the origin of the Ferris wheel, which you might know as the giant wheel you can ride at amusement parks. In English, we call it a Ferris wheel.

because of George Ferris, the man from Illinois who invented it. Now stay tuned for that episode once again that will be posted next week. Before we begin the lesson, I just want to say thank you to everyone who wrote to me regarding Hurricane Helene. I mentioned in last week's episode that it swept through my area of Asheville late September. and that we were staying at my parents' house. We are safe. We're back in Asheville. It's a long, complex story of what happened during that hurricane.

I plan on talking about it in a future episode. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's written. I really appreciate it. Today, we'll start with a joke. We'll go through the expression of the day. and then we'll work on a pronunciation exercise. To start off on a light note, we'll start with the joke. Are you ready? Why did the oval go to school? Do you know? To become well-rounded. Do you hear the play on words? In geometry, an oval, O-V-A-L, is a shape...

That's similar to a circle, but it's an elongated circle. Imagine if you grab a hula hoop at one end and your friend grabs on the other side and you pull it. An oval looks like a stretched out circle, just as a hula hoop would look stretched out if you pulled on both sides. It's not perfectly round. The joke plays on the idea that the oval wants to go to school to become well-rounded. Well-rounded has two meanings. Literally, an oval might want to be more like a circle, which is...

Perfectly round or well-rounded. And figuratively, it's an adjective used to describe someone who is knowledgeable, cultured, or skilled in many areas. An oval. might want to improve itself and become well-rounded, so knowledgeable and cultured and skilled, by going to school. So the humor comes from that double meaning of well-rounded. Let's hear the joke one more time. Why did the oval go to school? To become well-rounded. All right, let's move on to the expression of the day.

We'll start by going through the definitions of each individual word. Once again, the expression is what goes around comes around. What. So what is a pronoun? And it's used to ask for information about something. It's a question word. What is your favorite ride at an amusement park? What ride is your favorite? Goes is a verb, and it's the third-person singular form of to go, which of course means to move or travel from one place to another.

The dog goes to the park every day. Around is either a preposition or an adverb, and it means in a circular motion or surrounding something. The wheels on the bus go around and around, or in the song, round and round for short. Comes is the third person singular form of the verb to come. And it means to arrive at a place or to move forward. Our teacher comes to class every day. And last we have around again.

Once again, that indicates the idea of a repeated cyclical pattern, such as something coming back after it has gone away. We often say, what goes around comes around. to remind us that what we do in the world has an effect. How we treat others is how we will be treated. If we do good things, good things will happen to us.

If we do bad things, bad things will happen to us. As you can probably tell, what goes around comes around has its roots in the idea of karma, which can be traced back to Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Eastern philosophies, if I'm not mistaken. Now, the expression likely entered the English language during the 20th century when Eastern ideas were entering Western culture.

Now, what goes around comes around is a very common expression, and just know that it's similar to the English proverb, you reap what you sow. To reap what you sow is a little bit more formal. And it means, you know, if you plant good seeds, you'll have good plants to harvest. If you plant bad seeds, you'll have bad plants. You reap what you sow. Now, what goes around comes around is a little bit more modern, more informal, but these are both reminders of balance or reciprocity in the universe.

Some of you don't believe in karma. That's okay. Take what you will from these examples. This is about the language. Example number one. Imagine a girl named Emily. who was very generous. Every year she donated money and food to her local food bank. A food bank is an organization that passes food out. to people that don't have it or people who are in need. So Emily donated money and food to her local food bank even when she didn't have much to give. One winter,

She hit a rough patch. In other words, she went through a difficult time, and she couldn't pay her bills. She didn't know what to do. When out of the blue, she received an anonymous donation to help her out. a check. It was a reminder that the good she'd done came back to her when she needed it most. When she told her mom, her mom said, see, what goes around comes around.

In other words, what you give or what you put in will come back to you. Good karma. Now that was an example, but truth be told, my mom always told me to live by the golden rule. Treat others as you want to be treated. And if you don't, remember what goes around comes around. In other words, karma is going to bite you in the butt. Now, excuse my language.

That's how we say it. Karma will bite you in the butt. Now let's use what goes around comes around in a negative situation. Do you know what it's like to work with someone who's rude? and unhappy? It stinks. Let's imagine a very unpleasant man named Devin. Now, Devin worked in your office, and on a daily basis, he was rude and demanding.

When you were new, he made you feel unwelcome. And you often left the office at the end of the day with a bad taste in your mouth. You just didn't feel so great about the whole vibe. of the office. When he left to start a new job, you were thrilled. Devin, on the other hand, was not. When he got to his new job, his co-workers were cold and demanding.

and it made him reflect on his own behavior with his former colleagues. When you hear about it, you say, see, what goes around comes around. In other words, Devin put negative energy into the world. and he got negative energy in return. We could also say Devin got a taste of his own medicine, or Devin reaped what he sowed, or just simply karma bit him in the butt.

Let's end on a positive example. Imagine a girl named Alicia. And Alicia spent hours helping her friend Laura study for an important exam. even though it meant sacrificing her own time and her own energy. Later that year, when Alicia faced a tough time preparing for a big presentation, Laura remembered, how much Alicia had helped her. So Laura was willing to help also, helping her practice and ease her nerves. Alicia realized that the support she gave had come back to her.

Exactly when she needed it. What goes around comes around. She reaped what she sowed. Once again, we use what goes around comes around as a reminder. that what we put into the world, we're going to get back. Whether that's good or bad behavior, our energy, our effort, yeah, it'll all come back to us. And I say reminder because that's how we often use it. We always use it in the present form. What goes around comes around. See, what goes around comes around, or look.

That's what happens. What goes around comes around. I don't think I've ever heard anybody use it in the past tense. What went around came around. It sounds so funny. I think maybe if someone uses it that way, they're trying to be funny or different, but...

It's typically used in the present. Let's go through the pronunciation exercise. We'll use the expression, see? What goes around comes around. Repeat after me. See? See? What goes around? See? What goes around comes around. See? What goes around comes around. For the second exercise, we're going to do something related to... Ferris wheels. After all, Ferris wheels go around and come around. So this next one is a tongue twister.

I'll do it one time all the way through slowly, and then we'll break it up into pieces. So here's the tongue twister. Ferris wheels whirl. while wild riders wish for wilder rides. Oh, it's so hard. All right, repeat after me. Ferris wheels. Ferris wheels whirl. In other words, they spin. Ferris wheels whirl while... Ferris wheels whirl while wild riders. Ferris wheels whirl while wild riders wish for wilder rides.

Ferris wheels whirl while wild riders wish for wilder rides. Now let's do it three times fast. I'll go first and then you try. Ferris wheels whirl while wild riders wish for wilder rides. It's easier when you see it written down on a piece of paper. Trying to do this while you're on the road, just don't crash your car. It's pretty difficult. In any case, if you're having trouble with the word whirl,

Whirl. It's sort of like world. These dark L's at the ends of words. It's good to break the word up into two words. Practice whir, whir, whir. And then whir, whir, whir. Once you practice that enough, getting that position of the tongue right in your throat. And with time, of course, you'll say whirl, whirl, whirl. Great job. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Remember...

What goes around comes around. So put some good into the world today. Even if it's just a warm smile when you see someone, I bet it will be reciprocated. In other words, you're going to get a warm smile back. Enjoy the rest of your day. Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the American English Podcast. If you want to receive the full transcript for this episode, or you just want to support this podcast,

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