Transcript of AEE 2713: Take a Crack at These English Phrases

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2713: Take a crack at these English phrases. 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 host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS quiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

I have a couple of neighbors who are really funny, and pretty much anytime we get together, they're cracking jokes and I'll always crack up, like laughing so hard.

Oh, that's awesome. What about you? Do you have friends that you laugh really hard with?

Oh, for sure. I feel like just this weekend I had my friend visiting, and she was so excited to meet my son, and it's, you know, babies can be funny sometimes, just the way they act. So we cracked up a lot.

Oh, that's so fun. Yes, that's true. The expressions they're making, little funny things that happen. Yes, I remember those days.

For sure.

So we're cracking up a lot over here, but this episode is inspired by one of our listeners on YouTube, SteelFan3T91. Aubrey, do you want to read the question?

Absolutely. They said, "Thanks a lot for the awesome job you've been doing so far. Great channel. The best ESL source on YouTube, hands down. Thank you."

Oh, thank you.

That's a huge compliment.

Yeah. Guys, hit subscribe. If you're watching on YouTube, that's always an option. Hit the subscribe button now. Great.

Yes, absolutely. And then they said, they asked for more American idioms, slang terms, phrasal verbs, and jokes related to all aspects of life in the US would be really appreciated. We feel that without that part of the language, we won't be able to take the process of communicating with native speakers of American English to the next level. Keep up the good work. And this was from a few ESL students, so I love this. It's so true. It's interesting because we'll get questions like this a lot, where they're like, "We need more slang and idioms," but not about something specific.

Yes, that is an amazing course, especially if you know you have learned all of this vocabulary, but you're not able to use it when you have the conversations. You need strategies to be able to access that vocabulary.

Exactly. But for today, let's go into this word "crack." So it's used in a lot of different ways, right?

Yeah. So I saw this, and I had wanted to do this episode because I heard a football commentator say our crack crew is doing its best. So we use this adjective, but not only do we use it as slang this way, it's in idioms and phrasal verbs. So I thought this would be fun, sort of a way to give one of each.

Yeah, so many different ways that it comes out. So the first one is kind of as a slangy adjective, like meaning an expert, right?

Exactly.

So this is something I don't really do you use this? Aubrey, I don't use this very much.

I don't use it a ton, but I do feel like I hear it collocated with certain words, like a crack pilot, a crack crew, a crack, right? There are a few things where instead of saying an expert or a professional, we'll say crack.

Awesome. Okay, so for example, the company hired a crack lawyer to handle the negotiations. So we're saying this person is really good at what they do, right?

Exactly. I've heard this too, a crack lawyer, meaning an expert lawyer, or he's a crack marksman and never misses the target. I hear that too. When someone's like a sharpshooter, they'll call them a crack marksman.

Yeah, meaning someone that essentially shoots guns at a target, whether it's in the military.

Right, and has really good aim, like they hit the target every time.

Okay, so that one I personally don't use very much. Aubrey uses it sometimes. But the next one, I like this one, an idiom to take a crack at something, just to try something. A humble way of saying you're going to try something.

Exactly. Usually something difficult. You're admitting, like, I might not be able to do this, but I'm going to try. I'm going to take a crack at it.

Exactly. So I'll take a crack at fixing the computer, but I'm not sure I'll be able to figure out what's wrong. So you're just humbly saying, I'll try, but I'm not really a computer expert.

Exactly. Or nobody's been able to solve the puzzle, so I decided to take a crack at it. Yeah, it's true. There's humility here. You're not like, I'm for sure going to be able to figure this out. You're just like, I'll try, but no guarantees.

For sure, yeah. So yeah, again, means I'll try. So let's do a little role play. So can you figure out how to open this, Aubrey?

Sure, I'll take a crack at it.

Yeah.

Yeah, that humility of like, I have no guarantee that I'm able to do it, but I'll try.

You're open to helping, to trying. Yes.

And sometimes I feel like we use this in order to not sort of criticize the person who couldn't do it the first time. If someone's saying like, I couldn't figure this out, can you try it?

Yeah, that's a good.

Yeah, right? That's sort of polite to be like, I'll take a crack at it. You're saying like, if you couldn't do it, I'm sure I can't either.

And I think that's the connection piece of today's episode, right? It's really important at the B2, C1 level, you guys are ready for this, not to just speak in isolation, right? We never speak in isolation because we're always speaking relative to what someone else has said or what they've failed at or succeeded at. So it's a really important point you're making, Aubrey, for what we focus on in the show.

Absolutely. Yeah, there's so much implied here, right, that if when someone asks you to try to do something that they have already tried and failed, there are so many things you could say that could hurt the connection. That would be really rude. Be like, oh yeah, move out of the way. I got this.

Yeah, or even just saying a plain yes, I'll do it. That implies this will be easy, right? So at this level, we start to think about what's the implication of our words, not just what are the straightforward words to say.

Yes, I'm realizing there's a few ways we say this. I'll take a crack at it. I'll give it a shot. I'll give it a try. There's so many ways we say that because we're sparing their feelings. We're recognizing they've admitted they couldn't do this. So we have all these thoughtful ways to say like, I'll try, but we'll see.

Yeah. Aubrey, I think that would make a great other episode for another day, right? How to say you'll try something when someone else has failed. We can take that in a whole other direction. Guys, if you love that idea, that's a true connection episode. Hit the follow button or the subscribe button, right? Good.

Yes. Awesome. And then we use this other ways. Here's another fun idiom that means to tell a joke. We'll say crack a joke.

Yes, exactly. Crack a joke, cracking jokes, right? When I get nervous, I sometimes crack a joke. Some people will do that when they feel nervous. They go to humor.

I definitely do that. Do you ever do that, Lindsay? I crack a joke if I'm awkward or nervous.

Not so much. Or he's always cracking jokes at work, even when everyone else is trying to be serious. Yeah? Some people do that.

That's also me.

Yeah. Interesting.

You may have noticed, Lindsay, I do find that I'm like, okay, stop. It's time to be serious.

Right. I didn't really notice that about you, Aubrey. That's interesting. So when you're nervous, you start cracking like joke after joke after joke.

Yeah, and it's not like I'm telling like dad jokes. I'll just like make a funny comment about whatever's happening. You know, I do find myself doing that a lot. And then sometimes I have to dial it back when I'm like this mysterious situation. I'm trying to be serious.

We all have our coping mechanisms for things, right? Yeah. All right, number four is crack up as a phrasal verb just to laugh, right? So Aubrey, what does this feel like when we put it into a sentence?

Yeah, so you might say, my sister always cracks up when she watches funny cat videos. Yeah, it's just a fun way to say laugh, a phrasal verb we use with crack. Very informal. Like I asked you at the beginning of the episode, do you have any friends that you crack up with a lot, right? It means laughing hard.

Yep. Or we were cracking up at the stand-up comedy show. Yes.

That's a good example, right? You're always end up laughing really hard and loud. Maybe part of it to like encourage the comedian to have good energy there, but also like stuff will be really funny. So you end up laughing out loud.

I know. Is it funny? Do you go to a lot of stand-up comedy, Aubrey? Do you watch a lot of stand-up? I mean, you've done some yourself, I know, but as an audience member.

I do go pretty often. Yeah, I haven't in a little while, but there are a couple of great stand-up places here. There's one just around the corner from my house. And it's like free entry, but then it's a two-drink minimum. So I'm like, yeah, same, yeah.

Yeah, you know, it's funny. My partner always says that it's really important. Like who you go to stand-up comedy with matters a lot. Because, right, because if you, you know, it tells a lot about who you are, what you laugh at in a way. And, you know, you could have some people might be really offended by certain comments and other people just take it lightly. It's comedy. We're just going to laugh, right? So you might have like a mismatch with who you're with.

That's such a good point. I would never go to stand-up comedy like on a first date. I need it to be someone that we see eye to eye. We're going to laugh at the same thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because that could be really awkward if the person you're with is laughing really hard at something you don't find funny or vice versa.

Right, right. Exactly. It's fascinating. So you have to really know the person well and have an established relationship. Even like another couple, for example, if you go with your husband or your partner or the other couple, you have to know them well. And it would not be an early like getting to know someone.

No. That could be a friendship ender.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You realize like, oh, we have very different senses of humor.

So funny. All right, good stuff.

Okay, Aubrey, we are back for a role play. So here we're coworkers, and I'm having a computer issue. Okay?

Yeah, okay. I'll start us out. Oh, I heard you're having trouble with your computer.

Yeah, it keeps freezing, and I can't figure out why.

Samantha might be able to help. She is a crack computer technician.

Good idea. I took a crack at, sorry, I took a crack at it this morning, but didn't get anywhere.

Wait, before you call her, can I crack a joke?

Sure, make it good.

Okay. Why did the computer go to the doctor?

Why?

Because it had a virus.

That was terrible, Aubrey. Terrible.

Oh, man. I told it to my son, and he was cracking up.

There's always an audience for dad jokes, you know, right?

Maybe not at work with someone having computer issues. Wait.

Wait, I've got a great joke.

Yeah, that's probably not the time to tell a joke. We've all known that person though, right? Just like puns, terrible jokes.

Right, right, right.

Save these for your kids.

Yeah, I mean, while the person's like panicking, they have a presentation in an hour where they need their laptop, and you're telling a joke. Oh my God.

I'd probably just say no. They're like, before you call, can I crack a joke? No, sorry, I have no time for that.

Walk away, yeah.

Another time.

All right, let's see what we did here. So I said, yeah, it keeps freezing, and I can't figure out why. And what did you say, Aubrey?

Yeah, and then I recommended Samantha, who I said she's a crack computer technician. This might be a small company where there's no IT department, but there are people who are like good with troubleshooting computers. And you could say this like she's a crack IT specialist or a crack computer tech.

And then I said, good idea. I took a crack at it this morning, but didn't get anywhere. So I tried to fix it this morning, right? Is what I'm saying there.

Exactly. And there is a little humility there too. Even when you're just talking about your own efforts, you're like, I'm no computer expert, but I took a crack at it.

Perfect, yeah. And then you said, wait, wait, wait. Before you go, before you call her, can I crack a joke? And then I made the mistake of saying, sure, tell me the joke. I should have walked away.

Exactly.

I had a, this is a little bit tricky to stick this phrase into this conversation. Sometimes I do that. I'm like, how can I get this to work?

Yes, yes.

Because this is probably pretty rare, but maybe not. We all know people who do like to crack a joke whenever they can get away with it.

Sure, for sure. And then, let's see, the word virus was not a key word, so we don't need to worry about that one. The last one, what was that, Aubrey? And then I said, I told it to my son. He was cracking up, right? So I'm saying this joke worked really well for my son. He was laughing really hard. So I would use that phrasal verb. He was cracking up, meaning he was laughing.

All right, good stuff, guys. Go over to 2709. When ugly doesn't mean what you think it means. That's a thought-provoking title. Don't miss that episode. Aubrey, what's the connection takeaway for today?

Yeah, I love what you pointed out there, right? Often, we do want to show that humility. It could hurt the connection. If someone's admitting vulnerability, they're admitting they weren't able to do something, they're asking for help. The way we respond is really going to make a difference for the connection.

Yeah, huge. And connection is our entire angle because we believe that's what leads to a happy life, right? So that's the kind of English we're teaching you. We're not teaching you English in isolation of grammar or vocabulary. We're teaching it to you so that you can connect, okay?

Absolutely. Yeah. So use these phrases. If ever someone asks you for help, this is the perfect way to do it without, you know, being rude or maybe making them feel like they failed in some way.

Exactly. All right, good stuff, Aubrey. You take care. I'll talk to you soon.

All right.

Awesome. See you next time.