[00:00:00] On today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast, I'll be teaching you 30 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms to talk about personality. You'll be learning words like "stand out," "wild card," "slacker," "bubbly," "follow through," and more. Let's get to it.
Hey there, welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.
Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.
Hey, hey, hey, greetings from the one and only New York City. Today, we're talking about how [00:01:00] to describe someone's personality or character. This is a really fun and really important topic. Normally, there are tons of adjectives that we use to describe people. But did you know that there are also a lot of other types of words that we can use to describe someone's personality?
And aside from the basic adjectives, there is rich vocabulary just waiting for you to use. Here are the words that I'm going to be teaching you today: "stand out," "blend in," "light up a room," "speak up," "act up," "put up with," "slacker," "drama king" or "drama queen," "social butterfly," "workhorse," "lone wolf," "life of the party," "big mouth," "people person," [00:02:00] "klutz" or "clumsy," "doormat," "cocky," "troublemaker," "ditzy" or an "airhead," "bubbly," "to be driven," "to keep to yourself," "a free spirit," "a wild card," "a rock star" or "a team player," "jack of all trades," "step up," "pitch in," "follow through," and "lend a hand."
Today's format is a bit different than how it normally is. Normally, I read you a real-life scenario through a story, and then we review the vocabulary. But today, I decided to switch things up a little bit. Today, I'm going to describe people's personalities, one character at a time. So it's a boss describing his employees to someone else. There are five different characters being described and five to six [00:03:00] words each describing them.
Before we get started, don't forget that every episode comes with a free study guide that you can use to really learn the new vocabulary that I teach you in each episode. The study guide comes with a full transcript, definitions, examples, and practice activities. Using the study guide each week will help you learn these words better so that you can learn to use them confidently in your speaking. To get the study guide, click on the link in the episode description.
Okay. So let's get into today's new vocabulary. As I mentioned earlier, today's story is not a typical story. It's a manager who's talking to a newly hired assistant manager and describing the rest of the employees. So let's get into [00:04:00] it.
Hey, Jamie. As my new assistant manager, I just want to tell you about the employees that you're going to be meeting and working with today.
First, there's Josh. Josh is a nice, quiet guy. He's a bit of a lone wolf who usually keeps to himself. During work meetings and events, he kind of blends in and doesn't really stand out much. Sometimes he'll speak up if something is really bothering him or if he has something helpful to contribute. Overall, he's a good employee because he always steps up when something really needs to be done.
Then there's Kyle. Uh, Kyle. Saying his name gives me a headache. Kyle is our workplace troublemaker. He's a great [00:05:00] salesman and he knows it. He's extremely cocky about his skills and abilities. Honestly, he's a real wild card in situations where he has to contribute. He likes to make sales, but that's it. He always acts up with any type of teamwork because he's a drama king. If there's anything he doesn't like, he makes a big deal out of it. We only put up with him because he's the number one salesman in the company.
Next is Bethany. You're gonna love Bethany. As soon as you meet her, she's a total rock star and the ultimate team player. Bethany lights up a room. As soon as she enters, she's definitely the life of the party at any meeting or event. She's a social butterfly and has a beautiful, bubbly [00:06:00] personality, so she loves to engage and talk with her coworkers and with management. Even though she's a free spirit, you can always rely on her.
Then there's Carol. You're going to have your hands full with her. She's a bit of a klutz who's always making a mess and breaking things accidentally. She's also kind of ditzy and doesn't understand a lot of things, so make sure you explain very slowly. She can seem like a slacker at times, but usually it's only because she doesn't understand what's happening or she forgot about the deadline. However, she'll also pitch in and lend a hand whenever needed. Oh, and one more thing about Carol. She's a bit of a doormat. [00:07:00] So make sure the others don't take advantage. They try to do it often because she never tells them no.
Finally, we have Landon. Landon is extremely driven, so he's a real workhorse. He's a jack of all trades, so he can pretty much do anything you ask him to do. You can rely on him to follow through with all of his projects and assignments. He works well with his colleagues because he's a people person. His only flaw is that he has a big mouth, so be careful what you tell him.
All right. So those were some really cool descriptions. Some of them are words that my students in the past have never heard before I teach it to them. So let's go ahead and review. So the first group of words is describing the [00:08:00] first employee, which is Josh. So Josh is described as being a lone wolf. A lone wolf is someone who prefers to be alone.
And then it says that he keeps to himself. This is similar to lone wolf. It's someone who prefers to be alone. Oftentimes they'll keep their thoughts and opinions to themselves as well.
Next we have three phrasal verbs. The first one is step up. Step up means to show increased effort or more responsibility. And it's often in response to a challenge or a new opportunity. So if someone's been kind of lazy and you challenge them, they're going to step up or increase their effort.
Then we have the phrasal verb stand out. To stand out [00:09:00] is to be different than everyone else in a very noticeable and often positive way. So if you stand out, that means that people notice you for some reason that's different than everyone else.
And we have the opposite of standout, which is the phrasal verb blend in. Blend in is to fit with everyone else. You don't draw any attention to yourself and you don't stand out.
The next employee is described as being cocky. This is a really important word that you need because we use this very often. The word cocky means overly confident or arrogant. Typically, we use it to refer to men, not always, but a lot of times we use it to refer to men. And when you use the word [00:10:00] cocky, it's usually because the person being cocky is being disrespectful to other people.
The next word is troublemaker. A troublemaker is someone who causes a lot of problems. Often they do this on purpose just because they want to be funny or entertaining.
Next, we have the phrasal verb act up. Act up is when you behave badly and you are being disruptive. Typically, someone who's acting up is doing it because they want attention.
Then we have a three-word phrasal verb put up with. Put up with means to tolerate or endure someone's behavior. A lot of times we don't want to tolerate what they're [00:11:00] saying, but we have to.
Then we have a drama queen or a drama king. This is someone who tends to overreact or create too much drama. A lot of times it's because this person wants attention.
Then we have a wild card. This is someone or something that is unpredictable. We don't know what's going to happen with this person.
The next story is a really fun description of a woman named Bethany.
It's described that Bethany lights up a room or lights up any room she's in. This is when someone has a presence to them that attracts energy from other people. It positively impacts the atmosphere of the room. So if someone [00:12:00] enters the room and all of a sudden there's just all of this positive energy, you're going to say, wow, they really know how to light up a room.
Next, we have a rock star. I put this with the expression a team player because in this context they're being used the same way. So if you call someone a rock star at work, that typically means that they're good at everything and everyone gets along with them at the job.
Next, the word bubbly is used to describe her personality. Bubbly means very lively, energetic, and enthusiastic. People who are bubbly are often very positive, and that positivity and energy usually rubs off on other people. So they start to feel it too.
Then we have the popular expression social butterfly. A social [00:13:00] butterfly is someone who is extremely social. They very much enjoy being around people, lots of different people.
Next, to be the life of the party. I'm sure you figured out what this means. But basically, being the life of the party is someone who is very lively, very entertaining, very outgoing, and often they are the center of attention at social gatherings.
The next way that she's described is as being a free spirit. A free spirit is someone who is very independent and they think and act very freely without worrying about normal social rules or rules that fit the situation. So someone who's a free spirit kind of lives by their own rules.
The next [00:14:00] descriptions include the word klutz or clumsy. Someone who's a klutz or clumsy is someone who's a little bit awkward, but they have a lot of accidents. We say accident-prone. So I'm actually a pretty clumsy person because I bump into things all the time. I drop things all the time. So I definitely understand when the word clumsy or klutz is used to describe someone.
Okay. So we have the expression to be a doormat. This is actually a very offensive thing to say to someone. Calling someone a doormat means that that person is very passive and they allow others to take advantage of them. So they never want to defend or stand up for themselves. The reason why we say doormat [00:15:00] is because people walk all over you. They just totally take advantage of you. So you are a doormat.
Next, we have the word ditzy. We kind of use as an updated version of the word airhead. Both of these words apply to someone who is seen as being very unintelligent. A lot of times, though, they don't know information just because they lack focus and they're not really paying attention. But if someone calls you ditsy, a doormat, or clumsy, typically it's negative.
Then we have the phrasal verb pitch in. This is a really good one. Pitch in is when you contribute or help out with a task or project. So you work together with someone else to achieve a common goal. So if I say, oh, he's [00:16:00] great, he always pitches in. That means he always helps wherever it's needed.
And then we have the word slacker. You've probably heard this word, but if you haven't, it's extremely popular because we use it as a joke. We use it seriously. We use it in a lot of different ways. But a slacker is someone who's lazy or just totally unmotivated. So they put very little effort into whatever they have to accomplish, like the least amount of energy that they can.
And then the last group of descriptions are somewhat positive. But there is a negative word here. First, let's describe being driven. To be driven means highly motivated. You are determined to succeed and achieve all of your goals.
Because he's driven, he is [00:17:00] a workhorse. A workhorse is an employee or worker who's very reliable, very hardworking, and they're able to have a really heavy workload without complaining. So they can handle a lot of work and still be positive and successful.
Then we have the expression a big mouth. Okay, so a big mouth is typically used in one main way to describe someone who tells a lot of secrets. So if you have a secret, you say, oh my gosh, do not tell Kelly. She has such a big mouth. She's going to tell everyone. So that's one context of having a big mouth. The other definition is just someone who talks too much, but normally they don't think about the consequences.
So someone who's a big mouth will say a lot of words, and then later [00:18:00] on regret what they said.
Then you have a people person. A people person is someone who enjoys being around people and interacting with them. So someone who's a people person, that means that they have a lot of skills when it comes to building relationships and connecting with people.
So typically when people are being interviewed, it'll come up whether they are a people person. And basically when they ask you that at an interview, it means, okay, do you want to be front-facing and work with people? Or do you want to be behind the scenes and work at a desk by yourself?
Well, can you believe that was 30 new vocabulary words and expressions? Now I have a question for you. How would you describe your personality using the words that I just taught you?
For example, looking at the list, I would say that I have [00:19:00] a bubbly personality and that I'm definitely a social butterfly. So these are two words that I would use to describe myself. I would also say that I'm clumsy and that I will pitch in or lend a hand anytime someone needs it.
All right. So there you have it. Now you've got 30 new words that you can use to describe someone's personality. Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
