Hey everyone, welcome to Catchword, the QLIP series that helps you build your English vocabulary by learning useful expressions and how to use them naturally. I'm Andrew, and my co-host Indiana will be joining me in just a moment. In today's lesson, we're going to talk about three suffixes. File, head... and buff. And these are commonly used in English to describe people who are big fans of something like movies, music, or even chocolate.
To help you really master today's expressions, don't forget to check out the study guide. It includes an interactive transcript, detailed vocabulary breakdowns, explanations and examples, a quiz and more. Plus, with a QLips membership, you also get access to exclusive special member-only learning materials like our Fluency Files series, our speaking classes, bonus contents, and our full... library of lessons, all ad-free. To sign up and become a member today, just visit our website, QLips.com.
And guys, if you haven't already joined our QLips Discord server, I highly recommend it. It's a friendly place where you can connect with other English learners just like you. You can ask questions and you can practice English every single day. The link to join is in the description for this episode, and it's free to join, so we'll see you there. Okay, it's time to get started with this lesson. Here we go. Enjoy.
Hey there, Indiana. How is it going? I'm good. How are you, Andrew? I'm doing good. And we'll get started just by saying that the three expressions that we'll explore in this lesson... all relate to being a fan, okay? If you're a fan of something, or if you love something, or if you're really into something, then we can use one of these expressions to talk about that.
Although these expressions are connected in that way and that they all talk about being a fan of something, they are very different and there are some rules about when you can use them and when you can't use them. So we'll get into all of the details here and Indiana, our first expression. And actually, when I say expression, it's not really a standalone expression, right? It's like this chunk of a word or little part of a word.
that we can combine with other words to make a new word. So it's like a word ending, guys. If you think about it that way, I think that's the simplest way to imagine it is a word ending. And so our word ending here, Indiana, the first one that we'll check out is file. File. And...
Indiana, maybe you could spell that for us because a lot of people will think about a computer file or like a file in their cabinet or something, but it's not that. It's a different spelling. Could you spell it for us? Yes. So this one is P H. I-L-E, file. P-H-I-L-E. And of course, sometimes that PH sound does make a kind of F.
sound in English, right? So file. And I think maybe some of our listeners who speak a romance language, probably they'll understand this one quite easily, I think. But maybe some of our listeners from other parts of the world.
We'll need some more details. So that's what we're here for, guys. And Indiana, could you break it down for us and explain what file means when we add it to the end of a noun? So file implies that... not only are you a fan of something or interested in it, but that it's something perhaps a bit more intellectual that you have a deep passion about.
And we often tack this on to Latin words or words in English that come from Latin. And the first thing that I could think of for this would be cinephile. So coming from cinema. and file after cine. So it's just basically saying you're a movie fan. But it sort of implies that you have a deep knowledge or deep intellectual interest in this hobby.
When I hear cinephile, it sounds a little bit snobby. It's like you're really into maybe art films or really... high-level films, not just like rom-coms and maybe animated movies and blockbusters that you can see on the weekend, but maybe you're going to art house cinema or independent cinema or watching foreign films. Right. Or you're really into obscure. You know, we have the criterion collection, which is this collection of films which are.
have been labeled as having a lot of value that they're really like classic, amazing, well-made films, right? If you're really into the Criterion collection, then maybe you're a cinephile. And so, yeah, that's the nuance that I think that comes with it. It's not just that you like movies. It's like you like movies that are more high level and intellectual, something like that. So cinephile is somebody who likes high-level cinema. What are some other examples of using file?
So perhaps similar to the cinephile example would be audiophile. So, of course, we all love music and like it when things sound good and music isn't playing out of... bad tinny speakers, but an audiophile would really, really appreciate and probably curate, like collect some really high quality sound equipment because they're that into how good.
the music sounds or the movie sounds that they're watching an audiophile yeah so an audiophile is someone who's really particular really picky about having a high quality music listening experience or audio listening experience. I guess technically you could be an audiophile and into listening to audiobooks or podcasts, but mostly we think about it as listening to music, right? Yeah.
A couple of years ago, I went down the audiophile path in life and I bought a stereo system and I got some speakers that were kind of... Mid-range, they're not really expensive speakers. They're not cheap speakers either, kind of mid-range speakers. And I started following audiophile groups on Reddit, some Reddit communities and Instagram. And wow, it's a rabbit hole.
You can go down the audiophile rabbit hole and you could spend a lot of money. And there are some people who are really into this hobby to try and set up the perfect stereo with a really high, high quality listening experience. And yeah, I guess. Indiana, I think it sounds like from talking with you in the past you're a bit of a cinephile. Would you agree that you're a cinephile? I think so.
I don't go around reading film essays all the time, but I do love to see the classics and I love the Criterion collection. So yeah, perhaps I'm a cinephile. Maybe perhaps I'm a bit of a cinephile too. I'm not super, super... Intuit, like you said, there are people, you know, there are people who work at universities who study film, right? And they're real cinephiles or movie directors are real cinephiles.
But I could say to an extent, I'm a cinephile. And I think to an extent, I'm an audiophile as well. Although I probably wouldn't call myself one of those things. But if somebody called me that, it would be hard to disagree completely with it. Okay, so we got cinephile, we got audiophile. What would we call someone who loves studying the English language? even English culture. And when we say English culture here, I'm talking about England in the UK. So what would we call this kind of person?
I would call them an Anglophile, but especially if they're interested not only in English, but that British English culture, history, culture, music, all things England. I think that would be an Anglophile. Yeah, an Anglophile. So again, guys, we're using the more academic word here. The word that has a Greek or Latin root is the one that we use with file. So we don't say England file.
Right. We say Anglophile. And similarly, there are some words for other countries and cultures, too. If you're really into French culture, we'd call that person a Francophile. If you're really into Chinese culture. Quiz, Indiana. Do you know what we call somebody who's really into Chinese culture? I'm guessing it sounds a bit like cinephile. It would be sinophile, perhaps? Yeah, yeah. Something like that. Sinophile. Are there other ones?
You know, for me, I love Korean culture. I love the Korean language. I live here in Korea. And it would be weird to say Korea file. Like it just doesn't work. And we have a lot of people. who are into Japan as well, right? Japanophile. I understand it, but I don't think that would work so much. So yeah, it's really just Anglophile, Francophile. Those are the most common ones, at least.
Yeah, so I would definitely recommend for listeners who are looking to expand their vocabulary and use some of these words. to check out lists of the common words with file. You can't just necessarily go making up random words that end with file. Like there are definitely some established terms that people use quite often. That's a very good point. It's not really an ending that we are creative with. You wouldn't say I'm a Q-Lips file, for example. Maybe we can coin the term, but not yet.
Maybe we should start using it so that it becomes popular. So with that being said, are there any others that we didn't talk about? Any other files that we should mention that are really popular words that are out there? Not that I can think of. Do you have any, Andrew? Our co-host, Cassie, I could describe her as a bibliophile because she reads like 100 books a year. She loves reading. Although...
I don't think she would call herself that term. I don't think she'd be going around saying I'm a bibliophile because that sounds really like we mentioned before, really high level and really snobby, but it is a word that.
we could use to describe her although she'd probably say something more like i'm a bookworm she loves reading and that's the word that she would use to describe herself but yeah bibliophile is another example i can think of that we can use to talk about somebody who really loves reading
And I think those are all the ones that come to mind now for me. So why don't we move on to our next expression, next key expression for this episode, Indiana, and I'll let you do the honors. Do you want to introduce it? So the next one that we want to talk about today is head, like the head on your shoulders or your neck rather. A head. So head is often paired with things that you're a fan of.
perhaps a little more casually, or could even sound a bit like counterculture. I think this word often shows up with music. Like, for example, I could describe my husband as a metalhead. because one of his favorite genres of music is metal. Or you might hear jazz head. You could even hear this paired with...
like specific band names or parts of band names. Like if somebody is a beetle head, they're really into the Beatles or a dead head is a huge fan of the grateful dead, which is like a jam band from. 70s or 80s i don't know don't don't quote me but yeah if i had to guess i'd say probably they started like late 60s or early 70s and then went all the way through the 80s and 90s but
Yeah, they have a very cult following, right? A fan base that is very, very loyal. And if you love the Grateful Dead, then we call that fandom. Dead heads. Dead heads. Yes. So we often use this word with a big fan of music, certain kind of music, the arts. Those are the first things that come to mind for me for somebody who is a something head. Can you think of any others, Andrew? What would you add to this? Well, there's gearhead. So a gearhead is someone usually who likes tinkering.
with cars or motorcycles, right? They do a lot of their own automotive repairs and they are really good with fixing cars and fixing motorcycles. And yeah, so we call that kind of person a gear head.
Someone who loves smoking marijuana, we could call a pothead. So there's a pothead. And let me think, you know, I also see this word used sometimes as... referring to a certain group of people and this is especially true i think in the music community especially in the underground music community as calling a group of dedicated fans Heads, heads. So for example, I like a lot of electronic music and ambient music, and I'm signed up.
for some email mailing lists for some like niche record stores who deal with these kinds of releases. And sometimes I'll see like on the weekly mailing list, there'll be a new record that's released and it will say something. like this one is for the heads this one is for the heads and it just means people who are really really really into that sort of niche genre of music now i don't know if people go around saying this too much
But yeah, that expression for the heads means for the hardcore fans of a particular genre. So those are some of the other examples that... come to mind. But I think you're right, Indiana, that this has a connotation, a nuance of being connected to counterculture. And maybe we should just explain what counterculture is quickly.
Do you want to try and take a stab at it? What is counterculture? Just in a nutshell, in a simple way. I think counterculture, there's many different kinds of counterculture, but it's basically anything. that is perhaps a social movement or a broad interest in something, some activity or some scene that goes against the mainstream or the typical.
The first thing that comes to mind for counterculture in the 60s, hippies, right, that movement of free love and being a hippie, that was a counterculture. against or to what was popular at that time, rejecting the typical norms and the typical scene, the typical beliefs in American society. Countercultures, yeah, they could be with music or art, and it's anything that...
goes against the mainstream. So I think it has a kind of counterculture nuance to it, right? We're talking about metalhead. Heavy metal music is not really the most popular genre of music. deadhead right they're kind of a counterculture band in a way they're not really accepted by the mainstream
These days in many parts of North America, certainly in my country, you know, marijuana is legalized now in Canada and many parts of the USA as well. And so maybe it's not... as counterculture as it used to be it's more accepted now but back in the day i think when this kind of slang first emerged then a pothead was very counterculture right this was an illegal activity that was seen as being very bad right and so yeah it has this kind of nuance this feeling as being
counterculture. And I guess Indiana, maybe the final thing we should talk about with this one is how can we use this in our own English speaking? Like I was thinking, for example, you know, if I were someone who is really into rock climbing. Could I call myself a rock climbing head? Would that work? Are there some rules governing how we can use it and when we can use it? I don't think that would sound quite right.
And I think it could come down to the number of syllables, too. Like, I think head, like a lot of the examples we've shared, we have metalhead, pothead, gearhead. Jazz head. Those are all short, snappy nouns. And the longer you get, it doesn't quite sound good with this word head attached to it.
So yeah, again, just like file, I would say look up a list of the common words if you're not sure. But yeah, I think we see this much more often with a shorter noun. I would recommend just sticking to the accepted. slang that we already have the accepted expressions ending with head that we already have you know if you want to say gear head if you want to say metal head then that's okay
Although we do see from time to time that new ones emerge, right? New ones are created. Like I could see someone calling themselves a Harry Potter head or a Potter head or something like that would kind of make sense to me. But creating your... own maybe could cause some confusion for some people. So I wouldn't recommend being too creative with this one. Very good. So, Indiana, why don't we move on to our final expression for this episode, which is going to be buff. Buff.
And the spelling for this one is B-U-F-F. And we actually use this as like a noun phrase. You're like, ah, something buff. And in that something slot, you can put in whatever subject or topic that you're really interested in or really knowledgeable about or really a fan of. So you could say, I'm a history buff or I'm a movie buff. If you are describing me as a history buff, and I'm not really a history buff, but if I were a history buff, what would that mean exactly?
If you were a history buff, I would think that I could go to you with just about any question. about the Civil War, World War II, or I don't know why I'm thinking of wars, but we have that military history buff. People get really into these periods of time, right? But if you were a history buff, you would know a lot of facts. You would be very...
heavy into researching and reading books about different historical political figures. So this isn't just a word to use to describe somebody who's... casually interested in something, you really know a lot about this subject, history buff or... Civil War buff. I think we do hear it with some more specific, specific interests like that, a specific period of time. Movie buff is another one that I hear often, and probably a movie buff would know a lot of the details about.
tons of different movies and not just about like the plot lines of the movies or the stories of the movies but Really specific facts like who is the director? Who are the producers? Who wrote the screenplay? What was the production company that financed the movie? You know, all of these different things that are connected that way. And usually someone who's a buff in something, like a history buff,
or a movie buff. These are the people that you want on your trivia team when you play trivia, because they're going to know all of the little facts and background information that are really, really helpful to know when you're playing a trivia game. Yeah, those are the ones that come to my mind, at least is a movie buff. And like you said, Indiana, sometimes we can also use it more specifically to talk about a certain...
period of history. And usually that has to do with a war, military history, right? You could be like a World War II buff or a Vietnam War buff, something like that. Can you think of any other examples where we might use this expression a something buff yeah i think those are the most common ones but
I think I've heard science buff before as well. Maybe if you have a lot of facts and you can easily explain, you know, how something works, some scientific process, I could see that being used, science buff. Yeah, I could also perhaps see this being used if you are talking about knowing a lot of details about a celebrity too. You know, if you're really, really knowledgeable about...
Tom Cruise, you could say I'm a Tom Cruise buff. I don't think that's common, but I also would totally understand what that means in context. And I wouldn't think that's weird in the context of talking about a Tom. cruise mega fan i'd be like yeah that's totally fine to say in that situation but i guess guys our main point here is that you don't want to be too creative with these expressions that they're all pretty established and if you just go making up your own
version of them, then it might cause some confusion to the person that you're talking with. And we don't want to cause that right. Confusion is not good for communication and getting our ideas across.
At the end of the day, I think it's great to know what these expressions mean so that when you're listening to English, you can easily understand them when you hear them. And it's great to add them to your vocabulary in the established... categories that we already have like a movie buff or a history buff but don't go being too creative with them or else it could
break down the communication between you and your conversation partner. So just be aware of that. If you do need to express yourself and you get confused and you're like, I don't know, should I use file? Should I use head? Should I use buff? Then I'd recommend not using them.
at all and just use something simple like, I like this, or I'm into this, or I'm passionate about this, right? One of those more basic sentences would probably be a better fit for making sure that you communicate clearly with whoever you're talking to. Actually, Andrew, I do have a tip about that. I was thinking about how, yeah, there really isn't a surefire way.
to know, okay, this is an expression, unless you've heard it a bunch of times, something buff, something head. But one idea I had for this would be, if a listener is curious, you know, you're thinking about, oh, is this an expression that's commonly heard in English? You could go to Google and then put the expression in with buffer head. For example, let's say you're not sure if movie buff.
is really a common expression. If you put in quotation marks, quote, movie buff, unquote, and you search that on Google, you'll see all of the hits, the search results. that have that exact phrasing in them. So then you can see, oh, there's a million search results for this. This must be an expression. Or, oh, okay, I only got like 10 search results. Maybe this is not a standard expression. It's not safe to use.
So that could be a way to test it out if you don't have a native English speaker or an English teacher to ask. Yeah. Is this really like a commonly used expression? Very good. I love that tip. And I used to do this on Twitter as well. And it used to be really, really helpful for me. I'm not sure. I haven't spent as much time on that platform recently. So I know it's changed a bit. So I'm not sure if you still.
could do this, but I imagine it would work. So any, I think social media, any site where English speakers are posting on the daily, you know, if it's a common expression and you search and you see people using it. then it's going to be okay for you to use as well. But yeah, if you go to Google and you search and you get like three hits, three results, that is probably not so common. But if you get 3 million, then you're...
going to be a lot more confident that it's used by English speakers on the daily. And guys, also in the study guide for this episode, we'll put a list of the most common file, buff, head words so that you know what English speakers are using. So make sure to check the study guide out if you're a Qloops member for that list.
And speaking of Qloops members, Indiana, we have some bonus content for our Qloops members, and we're going to keep our conversation going a little bit longer for them. But for all of our listeners who are not members, well, guys, we want to sign off now and we're going to.
say thank you to you for listening all the way to the end of this episode. We hope that you enjoyed this one and were able to improve your English here with us today. If you're interested in signing up and becoming a QLips member so you can get the helpful stuff. You can get a lot more as well, like our weekly speaking classes and our member-only series, The Fluency Files.
then just visit our website, QLips.com, and you can sign up and become a member today. All right, so that's it for us, everyone. Please take care, and we'll talk to you in the next QLips episode. Until then, bye-bye. See you next time.