Episode 140 - Crying

Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster. My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA certified English teacher. Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient. Hello, you guys, and welcome to a new episode. I hope you're ready for today's story. Today we're going to be talking about crying. So I had to warn my boyfriend that I was going to cry at some point because I didn't want him to get worried. in the other room so um

Yeah, at least he knows, at least he's prepared and you should be prepared too. Nothing's wrong with me, at least not today. So if you hear me cry, don't worry, it's just for this episode. All right, let's get into it and let's listen to today's story. Come in. What happened? Ugh. I get a C- on my stupid math test and now my mom won't let me go to the concert. For real? Yeah, for real. But I mean, I've been planning this thing for months.

It's not like we get to see the Rufuses live all the time. Who knows when we're going to have this opportunity again. I don't know what to tell you, okay? I've tried everything. You sure? Have you cried in front of her? That usually helps when I want to get something from my mom. What? No, I, you know I never cry. No, I'm not talking about crying for real. Wait, you can fake it?

Are you kidding me? I learned to cry on cue when I was four and it changed my life. Why do you think my mom lets me buy all these clothes? To be honest with you, even if I could do it... I don't think that shedding a few tears work with my mom. No, I'm not talking about shedding a few tears. I'm talking about actually crying, sobbing and everything. Come on, let's try it. I can teach you. All right.

What should I do? Okay, open your mouth really wide. Keep it open until you feel like you want to yawn. Okay, now hold it in. See? Your eyes are getting watery. You're right. It's working. Okay, now you gotta open your mouth and then close it, but not all the way. Like this. See? Oh my gosh. That looks so real. Okay, I think I got it. Go call my mom. Okay, I'll be right back. Mrs. Gomez!

There's something wrong with Clara. She's like crying uncontrollably. Could you come real quick? Alright, alright. What is happening? I just... I really want to go to the concert. If I don't go tonight, then... Oh, cry me a river. This is not going to work with me, miss. You'll be able to go out once you start bringing home good grades. Wow, your mom's tough. I told you. Listen, you're not going, right? Listen, Clara.

I'm sorry, but I can't miss it. I feel bad leaving you here, but... You can't go without me. Hey, you can't use that with me. I'm the one who taught you that. Oh, darn it. All right. So just so you know I don't know if the steps that I mentioned in the story actually work if you want to cry. I totally made them up so you can test them out and then let me know if they work because I haven't tried them.

All right, let's take a look at some expressions. Let's begin with expression number one, cry on cue. I learned to cry on cue when I was four and it changed my life. If you cry on cue, can you decide when to cry or does the crying happen when you don't expect it? If you cry on cue, that means that you can decide when to cry. Somebody tells you, go cry, and boom, you start crying. That's what crying on cue is. Why would someone want to cry on cue?

Well, I think that the main reason why somebody would want to learn to cry on cue is because they're an actor. So they need that for their performances. Because obviously, if you're... shooting like this very dramatic scene and you have to cry you can't wait to have like a bad day and be like well no I'm actually pretty happy today I don't think I can shoot these scene and then wait for something bad to happen

shoot it you have to shoot it no matter what so um yeah actors do have to learn to cry on cue Um, but you know, you can also learn to cry on cue just like in the story because it's convenient, because it helps you get out of situations. Now, it's not very ethical. I don't recommend it, but there's people who do do it.

Can you cry on cue? Well I think I've mentioned before that I wanted to be an actress when I was little so I actually I would try to cry on cue when I was younger like 10 or something and I was pretty good at it I remember I could get a couple tears out but in order to do that I had to kind of go in a very dark space I had to think of like something sad that it happened or something like that and then that would get the the tears started and I could take it from there.

But right now, I haven't tried in so long. I feel like I've been sad enough in my life. I don't want to force it on me. You know, I don't want to. put myself in that space just to see if I can cry because I don't need it anyway. So I honestly, I don't know if I can still cry on cue, but I used to be able to do it. Expression number two, shed a few tears.

I don't think that shedding a few tears would work with my mom. If you shed a few tears, are you crying noisily or not? No, usually if you shed a few tears, you are not producing any sounds with... your mouth with your voice. Shedding a few tears just literally means just having a few tears run down my face. Expression number three, sob. I'm talking about actually crying, sobbing and everything.

If you sob, do you cry noisily or not? Yes, if you sob, you do cry noisily. You produce different sounds with your mouth. And what sound do you make when sobbing? All right. This is what sobbing sounds like. Alright, this is my impression of someone sobbing. So you see, you're kind of like gasping for air. At the same time, you're making this very loud noise with your voice. And you're trying to like... You know you're trying to speak but a lot of times if you're trying to speak while sobbing.

Which, you know, doesn't necessarily happen. You might just be sobbing and not speaking. But if you're trying to speak while sobbing, it might be really hard for you to put together a sentence because every time that you catch your breath, you need to pause. Do you usually sob when crying? Yes, I usually sob when crying. I find it super cathartic. If I'm sad and then I cry and I sob.

Then I feel so much lighter afterwards. So I actually kind of like it. I mean, I don't like being sad, but if I am sad, I do prefer to let it out. Expression number four, cry uncontrollably.

There's something wrong with Clara. She's like crying uncontrollably. If you cry uncontrollably, can you contain your crying or not? Obviously not, because if you're crying uncontrollably, that means that you cannot control your crying. You might be sobbing, you might be... be making very loud noises. It feels when you look at someone crying uncontrollably, it feels like no matter what you tell them, no matter what you do, they have no control over.

They're crying. When was the last time you cried uncontrollably? Well, the last time I cried uncontrollably was on New Year's Eve. And you're probably going to be thinking... What? Lara, but New Year's Eve is such a fun time. Well, not for me. I hate New Year's Eve. I've always hated it, but especially the last few years, I think it's gotten even worse. And I think it's because...

There's so much pressure around that holiday. I think it's a holiday. I think it's a day for... extroverted people so it's a it's a time to be loud it's a time to be wild to be around a lot of people to kind of act a little crazy

And that is just so not me. Like, I just want a fun, quiet night in front of the TV, maybe play a few board games, whatever. But I just want a chill night. That's like... my idea of a perfect night and so I think that on New Year's Eve I get super sad because I feel so different and I you know I feel different on a lot of other days of the year. But on that one day specifically, I feel like the whole world wants something, wants kind of the same thing. And I go in the opposite direction.

And so yeah, I was feeling very lonely even though I was not alone. But I was just feeling very different, very lonely. And so yeah, I spent quite a bit of time crying uncontrollably in bed by myself. But it's okay.

That's okay. Don't feel bad for me. It's only one night out of the year. I can deal with that. Expression number five. Cry me a river. Oh, cry me a river. This is not going to work with me, miss. All right, if you used to be a Justin Timberlake's fan, when the song Cry Me a River came out, you're going to love this expression. Because I remember I was, I don't know, maybe like...

13 when that song came out and I it used to drive me crazy because I had I couldn't understand what the meaning of crimey a river was um and I couldn't look it up at the time um and so when I finally realized I was like Oh, okay. So if you are a 90s kid like me and you had this doubt yourself, you're not going to have this doubt after this episode. If you tell someone...

cry me a river, does that mean you're feeling sympathy for them or not? No. If you tell someone, cry me a river, that means that you're not feeling any sort of sympathy for them. And who would you say cry me a river to? To someone who was crying or complaining or to someone who was telling a joke? You would say cry me a river to someone who's crying or complaining. So if someone is talking to you.

telling you, complaining about their life, complaining about something that happened, maybe whining. And you think that their sadness or their complaining, their crying is not justified. for whatever reason and you're not feeling any sympathy towards them you can tell them oh cry me a river and you know kind of like oh please just like

shut up. Like you're not entitled to cry right now. You know, your crying doesn't make sense. Have you ever witnessed someone cry or complain and thought, cry me a river? I think I've already told you this story but I don't know because I have I've never been in that position where I was in front of someone who's crying. I never felt bad for them. I've always felt bad for them.

except for this one time so I was in the states I was in um I was an au pair at the time and I was taking care of two girls two very wealthy girls and I remember I was helping one of them get ready in the morning, we were in her closet. And mind you, she had this huge walk-in closet filled with clothes. All sorts of clothes. And that morning she was getting ready to go to school and she started crying because she didn't have anything to wear. You know, that's what she kept saying. And...

I just, I remember being so angry. You know, it was frustrating. We were kind of... um late and she was having this meltdown and on top of that like you think oh my gosh you're one of the luckiest girls in the world you're rich you got a great family you have everything you could ever ask for and Yet here you are. You don't even realize it. And you're sad and complaining to me because you don't have enough clothes.

and in that moment I didn't say it to her well first of all she was like five years old I'm not gonna say that to a five-year-old and secondly I wanted to still be professional but I guess if you know she was my daughter I would have definitely told her Cry me a river. Like, please, just look at all the stuff that you have. No, her crying was just not justified at that time.

And that is it for today. And remember, if you want to access the transcript as well as lots of other resources, visit enboo.com. That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com. Have a great day.