This is the All Ears English Podcast, Episode 2422. Don't be loathe to speak English.
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Reach the top 25% of all native speakers by understanding these three ways to say that
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Hey there, Aubrey, what's shaking?
Not much. How are you, Lindsay?
Feeling great today, but I have a key question for you today. You ready?
Yeah, let's hear it.
So Aubrey, in your daily life or just maybe right now in this moment,
is there anything you are loathe to do?
You know, I am loathe to swim with my kids right now. Our pool is still ice cold,
in my opinion. It's way too cold and they are ready to swim. They're getting in. They're like,
mom, come swim with me. And it's way too cold for me. So I make excuses and I really, I'm like,
I'll just dip my toes in. It's crazy. So I am really loathe to get in that cold swimming pool.
It's funny how we lose our nerves as we get older. It becomes harder and harder to get into
swimming pools or cold lakes or the ocean. When we're kids, we just run in like,
we didn't mind at all. I know. Maybe our nerve endings are less sensitive when we're younger.
I don't know. We just don't care.
We just don't care. I don't know. We don't think about it. I don't know. We think a lot as adults,
don't we?
Yeah, for sure. Well, this is interesting. This word loathe came up in a recent episode.
Stay to the end and we'll share which one it is in case you missed it. But I realized when
proofreading the transcripts that it is spelled differently if it's an adjective or a verb.
That's a really good insight.
So I noticed like the misspelling and I was like, but usually I thought it did end with
an E. So this is interesting. We're going to share this today. This is a common error
by native speakers as well. So not something you really need to stress about. But if you can make
this improvement, there will be times where people are impressed. If it's an email or a written memo or
something, especially at work, and you spell this correctly, you're doing better than probably
80% of native English speakers.
Oh, for sure. And I think even beyond just spelling it correctly, just using it is going
to put you probably in the top 25% of native speakers, I think. I don't think this is an
average word. I think this is an above average word to use, Aubrey. Don't you think?
Yes, it's an impressive word. We're going to go into both the verb and the adjective. And we're also
going to share a few more interesting ways to share this because connection isn't just about things you have
in common and things you like. We also connect about things we loathe, things we dread, things we hate.
So this is interesting too. You need to also have this vocab.
Yeah. And it doesn't mean that you're a negative person. If you're always connecting, there can be
very positive connection around something you don't want to do, especially if you share that in
common with someone else. That can be a true connection moment as well.
Yes, for sure. We also want to give a shout out. There was a comment on YouTube
from Rehaman from India. And there wasn't a question, but they just said, I love all your
podcasts. Could you please call out my name in your next podcast? So hello, Rehaman. Thank you
for the YouTube comment. And we wanted to give you a shout out. Wonderful. And guys, don't forget to go
ahead and hit that follow button wherever you're listening. Now, if you're over on YouTube, you can
hit the subscribe button. Just subscribe right there. However, if you're on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
go ahead and hit follow. So you make sure you get all there's English five days a week. Okay. Yes.
Awesome. All right. Let's dive in with this interesting vocabulary. So when we use the adjective
loathe, it's always in this chunk loathe to, loathe to do something. And this means to intensely dislike
or hate something. So like at the top of the episode, I'm loathe to swim in our pool. Or you might say,
I'm loathe to go through haunted houses. I really don't like them. This is true for me.
I don't like jump scares. I don't want to be like, that's not fun. Do you like haunted houses?
I'm kind of the same way. I love, opposite word, I love going on ghost tours.
Oh yeah, that I would like.
Yeah. You could be on the sidewalk and you're safe and it's happening in that house, right? It's not
happening to you. It's very different when you're in a haunted house and things are jumping out at you.
Right. I think this is for my brother would do this when I was young. He would jump out from behind a door,
and grab you and scream. And I really hate that now. I'm like, please don't jump scare.
Yeah, no jump scare. I love it.
But what's interesting is loathe this way as an adjective is spelled without an E. It's just
L-O-A-T-H, loathe to do something. So that's tricky. What's another example of using it this way?
So someone's habits, right? They're nocturnal. How awake are they? What are their habits? He has always
been loathe to get up early. Okay. Yes. He's just a nighttime person, not a morning person.
Exactly. Right. And like Lindsay said, this is a little less common, but it is impressive. It's
impressive vocabulary. You will hear it. You definitely can use it, but the spelling's a
little tricky because there's no E there. What about when there is an E, Lindsay? This is when
it's a verb in the sentence. To be honest, this is a good review for me too, right? Remembering
where the E goes. So we put an E at the end in this case, right? L-O-A-T-H-E, and that becomes a
verb. Okay. So for example, I loathe driving in snowy weather. And I think native speakers tend to
punch that loathe too. I agree. That almost would be strange because it's like intense hatred or dread.
So it would be strange to be like, I loathe driving in snowy weather. Yeah.
Emphasize it. I loathe driving in snowy weather.
And it's also one of those kind of full mouth words. You need everything happening. So we really
indulge in saying that word. Okay. I agree. Absolutely. Or maybe she loathes doing homework,
right? This has, it can't be something that you just sort of don't like a little bit.
It really has to be a pretty intense feeling.
Love it. Love it. All right, Aubrey, where to now? What else do we need to know?
Yeah. So just the main thing is that these are pronounced exactly the same. So when you're
speaking, you don't have to worry about this at all. It's like effect and effect that we've talked
about recently. Yes. Doesn't matter when you're speaking, but they are spelled differently. So
when you're writing, if you see the word loathe, you need to take a second. Okay. Is this being used
as an adjective or a verb? And the big pro tip here is if it's loathe to, loathe to do something,
that's when there's no E because it's an adjective.
Hmm. Really good to know. So if we're taking the IELTS exam, for example,
or if we're just writing a business email, we need to know, or even a text message to a friend,
we need to know the difference here. Okay. Absolutely. But let's share some other
interesting options because if you're talking about being upset about something or angry or
something you dread or hate doing, there are so many interesting words to ways to say this,
right? Yes. Yes. I really like the word abhor. Yeah. This is actually even stronger than loathe,
if you can believe it, because loathe is pretty strong. But if you say you abhor something,
that's like the most intense dislike that you can get.
Ooh. Okay. So for example, I abhor small spaces. I'm definitely claustrophobic. Are you
claustrophobic, Aubrey? Do you mind being in an elevator?
I don't think so. What about you?
No, I don't think so. I had an apartment in New York or Tokyo too.
Right. If ever you lived in New York, you can't be claustrophobic.
Basically living in a closet. Yeah, for sure. But if I had to be in an elevator for
hours and hours, then I might start getting claustrophobic. I can imagine the length of
time definitely would affect that. Yeah. Because your mind would start running,
right? That's the key. Absolutely.
Okay. What's another?
Or maybe this is about Michelle. She pours olives. She doesn't even like the smell of them.
I know. I think Michelle doesn't love olives. I love them so much.
And I'm sure a lot of our listeners love. I mean, it's a Mediterranean food. I love olives. I can't
imagine a life without olives or olive oil. I mean, I eat so much olive oil.
I have a feeling Michelle does eat olive oil. I think it's just the taste of like actual olives,
a bowl of green and Kalamata olives, but she is missing out. I love them so much.
So abhor is a good one. And then disdain is good. This is a noun, right?
Well, this is tricky. It exists as a noun and a verb. So let's go over the noun first. So this
is the feeling that something isn't worthy of respect or consideration. So maybe like
she looked at him with disdain. So this is a noun here, right? It's what she's using to look that her
expression has disdain in it. Disdain, like not giving the person a chance, very close-minded,
very negative, right? Absolutely.
Or he's always treated her with disdain. Oh, strange word.
Yes. Yeah, it is kind of a strange word. And it also exists as a verb. They are spelled the
same, luckily, unlike loathe. Good.
So this is like, if you treat someone like they're not worthy of respect, you can use this as a verb.
So the main way I've seen this is if you disdain to answer questions. This is very rare
in English that we use this as a verb. When I saw this in the dictionary, there's a verb and
a noun. I had to think, I'm like, I don't hear that very often. So maybe if someone say like,
I disdained to answer the questions or in present. And this is like, because you dislike the questions
or maybe if it were like on a crime show, be like, she disdained to answer. But this is definitely a
connotation of you are not answering them because you disagree with them. Something like that,
right? Interesting.
You don't respect the questions for whatever reason.
Yeah. I mean, the courtroom idea, I know in a courtroom, well, at least on courtroom dramas,
we hear the word sustained a lot, right? A different word, but maybe in a similar family
sort of thing. I don't know.
Good point. Good point. So this is really interesting too, to think about.
Some of these we use more often in the past tense, right? We wouldn't really use abhor in
the past tense. We're like, I abhorred that film. I loathed that restaurant. Not really, right?
Instead, we usually use these in the present because they're such strong feelings. It's more like,
this is something I always will always abhor or loathe because it's a strong, it's hard to like
hate something that strongly that just happened once, like one trip to a restaurant or something,
right? I see what you're saying. So it's almost like a state of being, this feeling.
Yes. Almost like state of being.
Exactly. That's how strong it is, right? If it's something we don't like, we probably would say
like, oh, I really hated that. I absolutely detested it. Or I would say, I couldn't stand it.
Yes.
I mean, I really didn't like it.
Yes. I love that. That's a really important point. So it's the things that we really hate
and we've always hated. We just don't identify with those things. We're using abhor or loathe,
whereas it's a single experience or a movie or a meal, lighter things like hate. I mean,
light is not, hate is not light, but like we don't get that passionate about like an individual
experience, right? So these words, this is what's important to, to pay attention to here is
these words really signify that a passionate dislike. And so it is strange if you use them.
We don't even really use them jokingly to talk about how much we dislike something. I guess you
could be like, oh, I loathe spinach. And you're just joking, right? But for the most part, it's for
things that you really hate, feel very strongly about.
All right. Good to know. Excellent. Okay, Aubrey, we are back from break. Let's do a role play for
today. Here we are discussing the foods that we dislike. Okay. Let's see.
I'll start us out. I'm not usually picky, but I absolutely abhor eel.
Really? I love eel rolls at a sushi place. Eel sauce is delicious.
Yeah. It's not for me. I'm loathe to even think about eating eel. What about you? Are there any
foods that you can't stand? Hmm. Yeah. I've always had disdain for masago.
Oh, that's fish eggs, right? Yeah. I don't know what it is, but I loathe it.
Okay. Nice. So this is possible that you like really dislike certain foods and we would use,
you know, abhor, loathe, whatever. But if you just mean to say like, I don't really like that very much,
we wouldn't use these bigger, stronger words. I think a lot of people have issues around texture,
right? The texture of things. Even some people don't like the texture of eggs,
but sort of fish eggs, the texture, I think people probably struggle with.
That's why I like eel, but I know someone who doesn't and I think it's a texture thing.
Yeah. No, eel is great. When I lived in Japan for my last meal there, my friends,
my Japanese friends took me to an eel restaurant, a place like in the mountains that specialized just in
eel. It was amazing. Wow. That's awesome. And I do love eel sauce. This is me. I think it's so
tasty. It's a little bit sweeter on some rolls. Oh, so delicious. Yes, exactly. Let's go through
this. So again, you said, I'm usually not picky, but I absolutely abhor eel. It's kind of a weird
word too, because we are kind of pronouncing the H, aren't we, Aubrey? Yes, we do have to,
right? You hit that H kind of hard, abhor. And this is another one where you have to like
hit the word hard. You have to emphasize it just like loathe. It's a little strange. We're like,
I really abhor that. No, you need the intonation needs to be powerful because the emotion,
the passion about the dislike is powerful. The word implies that.
Yeah. We don't want to have that flat affect, right? We want to make sure we're
putting life into our words here. What else, Aubrey?
Yeah. And then I said, oh, it's not for me. I'm loathe to even think about eating eel. So this is where
it's an adjective. I'm describing myself, myself as loathe to think about something.
Hmm. Very interesting construction too. I'm loathe to even think.
Yeah. So it would be written without the E there, right?
Okay. No E there. Good. And then I said, hmm, yeah, I've always had disdain for masago.
Hmm. Yeah. Since I've always, and this is an interesting thing to say, like disdain,
because it does often imply more of like a lack of respect. So this would be sort of joking even to
say this about food. Be like, oh, I have such disdain for masago. Like I would probably laugh
at that. I'd be like, that's really funny because it usually does imply more like, um,
you, you, you are critical of something. You, you disrespect something.
Right. For bigger things than just food. Like food is just a taste. That's all it is. It's
sort of one dimensional. Right. But for example, like political parties or certain ways of thinking
would be more common for disdain, right? That's where you would use it more literally,
right? This is kind of more joking, but yeah, you could say you have disdain for a certain
political candidate or people who agree with a certain policy. That would be more because it's
more of a lack of respect for that for sure. And then the last thing that was said was, yeah,
I don't know what it is, but I loathe it. Right. So they just mean like, I really hate it. Yeah.
And this is because it's a verb. This would be spelled with an E L O A T H E. All right. Good
high level episode for our listeners today at the B2 C1 level. I love it. Yes, absolutely. We want to
make sure that you don't miss the episode that inspired this and 2402 right here on All There's
English. Should you call someone cheap in English where we said sometimes people are loathe to spend
money. So use it as an adjective there. So it wouldn't have an E. Yes. And the connection piece
here guys for today is it's not always, it doesn't have to be about these positive, amazing things
that you're connecting over. You can build just as strong of a connection over things that you loathe
and have disdain for. Okay. Absolutely. Yes. Right. I feel like that would even bond you closer with
someone if you are sort of willing to admit these more negative things. I don't love everything,
right? The people I'm close to, I want to build a stronger connection with. I'm going to admit the things
that I really abhor. Especially if it's very, like most people love this thing, but you actually
have disdain for it, right? Yeah. A hot take. Yes, exactly. That could build a really strong sense
of trust and connection right there. So that's what we're going for. All right. Good stuff, Aubrey.
We'll see you in the next episode of All There's English and guys hit the follow button now.
Yes. Awesome. We'll see you guys next time. All right. Take care. Bye. Bye.
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