#24- 16 Slang Words, Phrasal Verbs and Idioms about NYC

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Welcome to The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast! I'm SO excited for this episode that is inspired by all of you. NYC was one of the most popular topic requests, so here you are: 16 Slang Words, Phrasal Verbs and Idioms about Life in NYC. 

In this episode, I teach you popular new vocabulary about life in New York City! NYC is one of the most famous cities in the world, and now, you're going to get a closer look at what life in this city looks like. Listen along as I tell you funny and true stories about NYC while also teaching you popular vocabulary. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] On this episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast, I'm teaching you 16 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms all about life in New York City. You'll be learning words like hustle and bustle, rat race, get by, crack of dawn, 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 there. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I am so [00:01:00] excited about this episode because it's all about my beautiful city, NYC. Okay. Firstly, I just want to say thank you to all of you who give me feedback. Every week, I get a lot of emails, a lot of comments, a lot of messages about the podcast.

And I just want to say thank you to all of you who give me feedback. If there's ever a mistake with the study guides, if something is wrong, you guys always let me know right away. And I really appreciate that because then I have the opportunity to fix it. So, thank you so much. This episode is totally inspired by all of you.

When I send out emails with the study guide to those of you who are on the list, a [00:02:00] lot of times I'll get some responses like "this was awesome," "thank you," or if there's ever a question that I ask in the episode, some of you will send me answers via email. And one of the topics that has come up more than once is New York City. And one of the things that I have written in some emails is, hey, if you ever have a suggestion for topics, if there's ever a topic that you want to see, let me know, because I will consider it. There has been more than one request about New York City, so I am very excited that I'm going to be doing some episodes about New York City.

So today is all about life in New York City. What is it like to live in New York City every single day? And the next episode is all about New York [00:03:00] City slang, but more about that coming up. So again, I just want to say thank you. And if you all listening have any topics that you'd love for me to cover, you can send me a message on Instagram, you can send me an email. There are a lot of different options that you have to contact me. Also, if you love the show, please write me a review. Those of you who listen on Spotify are amazing at doing reviews.

When I was on Spotify the other day, I noticed that I have one hundred and sixty-six five-star ratings. That is crazy, and I am so thankful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am so happy with the Spotify reviews and [00:04:00] then over on Apple, I think I have like ten or fewer. So leave those reviews because it helps get this message out. Shows that have a lot of five-star reviews get shared more often. So please write me an official review.

Before I get started with talking about life in New York City, I just want to say that no city is perfect.

But let me just say that I, as you can tell, am extremely proud to be from New York City. Here's a funny thing. Okay. Now, when I have students who are from Paris, I always know because I say, okay, introduce yourself, and they'll be like, "Hi, I'm Marie, I'm from Paris." So we always make fun of them because they'll never say that they're from [00:05:00] France.

They always say they're from Paris. I just want to say that New Yorkers are the same way. When I travel, I never say I'm from the USA. Never. Because here's what happens. Okay. The USA, depending on where you go, depending on who the president is, Americans are not really that well-liked in many countries. Let's be honest. So, when I travel, if I tell people, "Yeah, I'm American," they're like, "Oh." But if I say I'm from New York, they're like, "Oh my God. You're from New York. That is so amazing. Oh my gosh. I've always wanted to go there," or, "Oh my gosh. It's my favorite city." So, USA is sometimes not seen as cool. But being from NYC is the coolest thing ever, according to people when I'm traveling. So when I'm traveling again and people say, "Where are you from?" Oh baby, I'm from New York City.

New York City fun [00:06:00] fact: it is the city that has the most songs written about it. How cool is that?

They asked artificial intelligence to find all the songs that were written about cities and countries. And New York is number one with one hundred and sixty-one single songs written about it. And surprisingly, London is number two. That really surprises me because I could have sworn that it was Paris. But yeah, London is in second place with one hundred and two songs. And then number three is LA, Los Angeles, and Paris is number four.

I'm so shocked. So anyway, New York is the most sung about city in the world.

For me, growing up, it was always amazing being able to say that I was from New York City. When I travel, like I said, I say I'm [00:07:00] from New York City, but sometimes I say I'm from Brooklyn.

Now, some people don't know Brooklyn. When I travel, everybody knows New York City. A lot of people know Brooklyn, honestly. Throughout the USA, everybody knows Brooklyn. It's one of the coolest places because so many songs, so many artists originated. A lot of hip hop originated in Brooklyn. So it's very cool. Brooklyn is notorious. Notorious means that something is generally known and talked about by people.

We always have a joke about people from Brooklyn saying that we're everywhere. And every single time I travel, I meet New Yorkers and sometimes even people from Brooklyn. I have been in some really, really small cities doing humanitarian work or charity work, and I meet people from New York. It's crazy. Even sometimes people from Brooklyn and we kind of have a joke. We say we could be on the moon and we'll meet somebody from Brooklyn or somebody from New [00:08:00] York. That's how far spread we are around the world. And I'm curious if you've ever met New Yorkers or people from Brooklyn in your cities. I'd love to hear that.

So let me know the answer.

Now, I may have a lot of pride about living in New York City and I love living here. However, I am honest that everything is not always amazing in New York City. Now, obviously, when I talk about New York City, I'm talking about the glam side of it, the glamorous side. New York is a city that has a lot of struggles, a lot of challenges. But I'm going to talk about the beauty of living in New York and why it is that so many people want to come here and visit and live.

So just keep that in mind when you're listening to the [00:09:00] story.

Just a reminder that there is a study guide waiting for you that has everything you need to use this podcast and really study it so that you can remember all the vocabulary and get some practice so that you can become a confident English speaker. To get the study guide, click the link in the episode description.

All right. Well, it's that time. Let's go ahead and get to the story. It was challenging picking just 16 words, but they're really good words. And I like 16 words because it's not overwhelming and you can study them more easily and remember them more easily.

So here's the list. Crack of dawn, commute, hustle and bustle, [00:10:00] a melting pot, look down on, the city, rat race, hangout, a small world or it's a small world, bump into, run into, catch up, get by, the big apple, the city that never sleeps, the concrete jungle, from all walks of life, and make a living.

All right. Let's get to the story.

At the crack of dawn, the city starts to awaken. New Yorkers begin their daily routines, ready to dive into another day in the city that never sleeps. The streets quickly fill with the hustle and bustle [00:11:00] of people commuting to work, and everyone moving with purpose in the concrete jungle.

The subway, which is a total melting pot, carries its passengers beneath the busy streets. The subway is a mix of people from all walks of life: a Wall Street analyst, a teacher, or even a middle school student. You never know who you're going to see on the subway. The subway is quiet as you listen to your favorite podcast when suddenly you hear, "It's showtime." You look up and see a group of teenagers dancing to make a living. You get off at your stop and pass by a Michael Jackson impersonator singing at the train station.

As you walk to work, you look to your left and you see a dog walker walking ten small dogs. [00:12:00] You look to your right and you see the naked cowboy talking to Spiderman in the middle of Times Square. You look straight ahead and you see a group of shirtless men jogging down the street with their running group. 

The amazing thing about New York City is that you can be yourself here, or you can be whoever you want to be without people looking down on you. Here in New York City, we've seen it all, and nothing phases us at all. When you get to work, you step inside your office and see the crowds from an office window, amazed by the sheer number of people all trying to get by in the Big Apple. In the heart of the rat race, the day turns into a series of meetings, deadlines, and the constant sound of activity. Yet, even in this fast-paced environment, the city has a way of reminding you that it's still a small world. You might bump into an old friend on the subway or run into a colleague at a coffee shop, which leads to having a last-minute catch-up session over a quick cup of coffee. As the workday ends, the city transforms. People hang out in parks, cafes, and rooftop bars, enjoying the vibrant nightlife. The energy shifts from the busy pace of the day to the more relaxed yet equally lively evening scene. From coworkers catching a happy hour together to families going for an evening walk in Central Park, everyone is ready for some downtime.

New York City, with its nickname "The Big Apple," is truly a unique place. It's a city where you can meet someone from halfway around the world, share a moment, and feel connected in this vast metropolis. The concrete jungle might be intense, but it's also filled with opportunities and moments of unexpected connections. Living in New York City means being a part of its endless rhythm, diversity, and never-ending story. It's also about embracing the chaos, appreciating the special moments, and living in the city that never sleeps.

Okay, so let's talk about these words in the story. The first expression is "the crack of dawn." This is a really popular expression that I normally teach with a time lesson, but I wanted to save it because I knew that I could use it in the New York City story. Dawn is the early morning. So we have dawn and we have dusk. Dawn is when the sun is rising, and dusk is when the sun is setting—that period of time where there's a transition from light to dark. So "the crack of dawn" is very early in the morning, around the time that the sun rises. That's when New Yorkers wake up.

Next up, we have the word "commute." So "commute" is a word that we use all the time in New York City and big cities all around the country. Commute is the daily travel between home and work, and for every New Yorker, the commute looks a little bit different. Those living in Brooklyn, like me, take 35 to 45 minutes to get to the city, which is Manhattan. Which is another vocabulary word—we'll come back to that shortly. People who commute back and forth to work are called commuters. This is something that we hear every day on the radio. Just driving, we'll say, "Oh, my commute today is going to take 40 minutes." The radio will say, "Give extra time to your commute today because of traffic."

Next up, we've got "hustle and bustle." Okay, so we love these words. We use these all the time. Okay, so "hustle and bustle" is busy activity, noisy activity. It's never calm. There's always something happening in big cities, and that's where "hustle and bustle" comes from. But I want to talk about the word "hustle" for a second. So the word "hustle" is definitely a word that we talk about a lot, that we use a lot in New York City. To hustle is to work hard. We always say, "He's a hustler." "I gotta hustle." It's like, I gotta work hard. I gotta make money for my family. There are numerous songs about this—pop songs and rap songs, hip-hop songs. Americans, as I'm sure you've heard, are workaholics because we live in a society that is all about money. Everybody wants to work so that they can go on vacation, so that they can have extra bonuses and benefits in life. So we have a very work-centric culture. Everything is about work. And so everybody hustles, everyone has a side job, everyone has extra things that they're doing to earn money so that we can have some of the nicer things in life. And New York City is so expensive that we all have to hustle.

Okay, next up is "a melting pot." So we say that the New York City subway is a melting pot. New York City is a melting pot. And a melting pot is a place where different cultures, different people, different ideas mix together and interact with each other. It's literally what you think—a big pot with all these different things inside, and it's being cooked together. New York City is just a center of diversity where you're going to meet people from everywhere, all types of people. And it's one of the most beautiful things about New York City.

Next up, we have a three-word phrasal verb: "to look down on." So typically, New Yorkers do not look down on anyone. "Look down on" is when you think someone is less than you, when you think someone is inferior, and when you think you are superior, better than other people, or when you think that someone is unimportant. So "looking down on" someone—you think you are better than them and you judge them. And in New York City, one of the things that my students always say that they love is that you can be who you are and nobody will judge you. You could literally say, "Oh, I'm married to a tree in Central Park," and people will be like, "Oh, cool, good for you." I could be walking next to a woman who's wearing a purple hat, purple hair, purple shirt, purple pants, purple shoes, and I'll be like, "Okay, cool." One time I was going to a comic book convention—my husband and I are nerds, as I've told you before, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter, all that stuff—and I was dressed like a zombie. And walking down the street, nobody even noticed. And then I went to get food somewhere, and they were like, "Oh, cool, are you shooting a movie?" And I was like, "Nope, just going to Comic Con." And it's that kind of culture where people are very accepting of who you want to be, as long as you're not hurting people. So yeah, in New York City, we mind our own business. We look at people, okay, and then we keep walking. So nobody here is going to look down on you for how you are expressing yourself. Another example is that you could be riding down the street on a bicycle, singing at the top of your lungs, and people are like, "Cool." Random singing and dancing on the street is very, very common here. It's really, really fun. That part of New York City life is a lot of fun.

Okay, now you notice that I've been saying "the city," "the city," "the city." Okay, so here's a little tip: New Yorkers do not say Manhattan. We say "the city." Now, yes, when we have to talk about Manhattan, we say Manhattan with that glottal T where your vocal cords close tight. We say "the city." So, for example, I live in Brooklyn, but I work in the city. I teach in the city. That's what I say. I never say, "Oh, I'm going to Manhattan." I mean, maybe sometimes we do, but the main nickname for Manhattan, not New York City, Manhattan, is "the city."

Next up, we have "rat race." This is a really cool expression. The rat race is the way of life, a lifestyle where people are caught in just a continuous struggle for success. If you picture someone who owns rats as a pet or like a lab that has rats, they're running in a wheel, even hamsters, you're running in like this hamster wheel. And it's like they're running, running, running, running, running, and they're not really getting anywhere. And so that's what a rat race is representing. There's a lifestyle where people are just running, running, running to get more money to succeed. And a lot of times we don't make a lot of progress. So we call it the rat race of the USA or the rat race of New York City. It's not a positive thing.

Next up is a phrasal verb that I think everybody knows, and it's "hang out." And this means to spend time relaxing or socializing with people. This is one of the most common phrasal verbs in American English. We use this daily, weekly, monthly. You've got to know this one, and I highly recommend that you use it.

Next up, we have an expression "What a small world" or "small world." This is an expression that we use when we see someone that we know unexpectedly or we discover a surprise connection. For example, I'm at a party, and I meet someone who knows me through someone else, or I meet someone who works with my dad, for example. And it is crazy that this happens all the time in New York City. And if you live in a big city, you have probably experienced this as well. It's really, really amazing that in this city of 8 million people, you always see people you know, or you just discover connections. It's really crazy. And this happens to me all the time. And in fact, every time I take my students out on a field trip, we typically go to the Museum of Natural History, we go to Central Park, we go to the Financial District and Wall Street. Like, we do a lot of fun things when I take my students out on field trips. 

And [00:24:00] I will always see someone I know. And I'm just like, this is crazy. And my students are always like, whoa, because I always tell them New York City is big, but it's also like such a small world. And they don't believe me because they're like, there's 8 million people in this city. But literally every time I take my students out on a field trip, we see somebody that I know. And so we say, wow, what a small world, or wow, small world. Sometimes we don't even have to say what a small world. We just say, wow, small world. So hopefully, if you're in New York City, I will randomly bump into you.

Okay, so next up, we have two phrasal verbs that mean similar things. And I've definitely used them before on the podcast, but it's bump into and run into. These are fantastic phrasal verbs to know. This is to meet someone by chance, by accident, unplanned. So for example, if [00:25:00] I'm at Starbucks, and all of a sudden, I turn around and see my friend from high school, I bumped into my friend from high school at Starbucks today. I ran into my friend from high school today at Starbucks.

Next up, we have catch up. Catch up is when you talk to someone that you haven't seen for a while, and you update each other on your lives. Let's say I haven't seen someone in a few months, I'll say, catch me up on your life. Or we don't even use catch up in the conversation, but then later I'll say, oh, I saw Bethany today and we were able to catch up and it was really nice.

Next up is get by. Okay, this is a good one. I've never seen this taught in any kind of book. Get by is when you are just managing to survive with limited resources. New York [00:26:00] City is the city that has the most millionaires and, I think, billionaires in the whole world. And I think San Francisco's number two. The reason for that is because New York City has all of the old-school, rich people from like the early 1900s, like the Rockefellers, the Hiltons, the Vanderbilts, all these famous business owners from New York City. But all these famous business owners, New York City is extremely rich.

Okay, houses next to Central Park, you know, million-dollar studio apartments. That side of New York is very crazy. But what's even crazier is that we have a lot of families that are struggling. A lot of people struggling because of how expensive New York is. And this is kind of like the dark side of New York City. So we have a lot of people who are just getting by. They are just surviving with their limited [00:27:00] salaries because the cost of living is extremely high here. And it's not just that because New York salaries are some of the highest salaries in the whole United States. People here get paid more than people in Florida or Louisiana or Arizona, Texas, but every single thing costs money here. And it's the dark side of New York City. The rising costs are very heavy on native New Yorkers because we have so many people coming from other places that have more money. And so it's very, very difficult for people to live well. So everybody is just getting by.

Next up, you'll notice that there are some nicknames for New York City that I mentioned in the story. Number one is the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps, concrete jungle. There are a lot more, but I [00:28:00] think to international people, the city that never sleeps is probably the most famous. But for Americans, we more often refer to New York City as the Big Apple and the concrete jungle. And so let's break these down for a second. The Big Apple, if you ask most New Yorkers why is New York City called the Big Apple, they're going to say, oh, because we have the largest number of apples, I think, in the U.S. or something similar. We have so many apples. Every fall we go apple picking and really cool stuff, which we'll talk about later in the year. But really, the real nickname of the Big Apple came from the early 1900s when we used to do a lot of horse racing. And the prize was a big apple because the horses would get apples, but we would say, oh, the prize is the big apple. And so they started to call New York City the Big Apple because it was the best place to be in the USA. And it was the prize to be here, which is really cool, but we all call it the Big Apple. Every New Yorker calls it the Big Apple. [00:29:00]

Okay, now concrete jungle. Concrete is a form of cement, and it's what our streets are made of and what some buildings are made of. And so the concrete jungle is a term that describes a city with lots of tall buildings and not a lot of greenery or forest. So it's not a regular jungle. It's a jungle made of concrete. Now, Manhattan is a concrete jungle. Central Park is huge. It's like half of Manhattan, and it's a nice break. And we have a lot of trees and a lot of parks, especially recently where they've put so many little parks everywhere. But we call it the concrete jungle because of all the buildings and high rises that we have.

And then lastly, the nickname that we'll talk about is the city that never sleeps. And this is, I think, the most famous nickname for New York City because there's constant activity and [00:30:00] energy. Our subway is 24 hours. And it's the only one in the USA that's like that. And so New York City is never sleeping. There's always somewhere open where you can get food, but this is only in Manhattan. My neighborhood definitely sleeps in Brooklyn. The buses and the subways are always running. Uber's always running. The transportation side is always moving, and there's always people outside. You can go to Times Square at any time for 365 days, and it's just like an extremely well-lit, bright area. There's always stuff happening, but you wouldn't want to be in Times Square at that time because that's where all the crazy people go. But anyway.

Okay, next up, we say that there are people from all walks of life. It is a really cool expression, and this just means people who come from different backgrounds and lifestyles. People from all walks [00:31:00] of life, all different types of people. It's not just talking about their ethnicity, their race, their heritage, nationality. It's not just talking about that. It's talking about age, lifestyle, sexuality, religion. It's talking about everything. Career. It is literally all walks of life. You will meet the most interesting people you've ever met in your life in New York City because New York City attracts so many not just unique people, but strange people who would never be accepted in their home cities. And that's one of the coolest parts of New York City. You will never be bored here. You just look out your window and you see something interesting happening.

Next up, we have to make a living. To make a living is to [00:32:00] earn income and get a salary. And so a lot of people will say, look, I'm just trying to make a living. I'm just trying to provide money for myself and my family. And so this is used very, very often. So again, it's make a living, earn a living. And that's why when you meet someone for the first time, one of the main questions that they're going to ask you is what do you do for a living? For a living means for employment to earn money.

Well, it looks like we're done. I am so happy that you guys suggested a living in New York theme. I had so much fun making this episode because I really worked hard to make sure that the story and all the words would paint the perfect picture of New York City life. And if you want more stories about New York City, please let me know. I would gladly talk about New York [00:33:00] City. But also I really want to talk about the other cities that I've traveled to where many of you are from. I love to travel. I have not traveled internationally since becoming a mom. Before I became a mom, I traveled all over the world. I did a lot of humanitarian trips and charity work. And maybe I'll talk about that in a future episode. But I love to travel and starting next year, I really want to get back out there internationally because all my former students are waiting for me around the world. And I'm so excited to reconnect in certain cities with my students. I literally want to go everywhere. And so this episode was very important to me, and it was so much fun. And we're continuing the New York City theme.

So next episode, I'm so excited. I'm teaching you guys 25 New York City [00:34:00] slang words that have taken over American English. Slang is very important, as you know, because I talk about it all the time in the podcast.

But just to give you guys another sneak peek that I'm really excited about, number one, I'm bringing back my YouTube channel. It's been a year, over a year since I posted anything on YouTube, and I will be bringing it back.

I'm so excited because I've reduced my teaching schedule so that I can focus more on English with Gabby. And I have a course coming out. Finally, I've been working on this for such a long time, and it's finally ready hopefully to launch next month. It's going to be a course that focuses on speaking and listening through slang, ​​phrasal, verbs, and idioms. 

And so that was actually the inspiration for the podcast. Small doses of it. And then the course is going to dive in with different topics and it's going to be live. And so you'll hear more about that. In the next few episodes. Because I'm so excited. But anyways. That's all for today.

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.