Speaker 1: Okay, are you ready for huh Hey, did you hear that? Hmm?
It's probably just the wind, or was it.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine oh five. Creepy,
spooky and downright scary Halloween Words in English. Welcome back
to another episode of the Happy English Podcast. As I
mentioned the other day, I wanted you to know that
the full catalog of the Happy English Podcast is now
available on YouTube. That means more video episodes and live
YouTube episodes. To find out, just go to YouTube and
search Happy English Podcast. Okay, here we go. With Halloween
right around the corner, I think it'd be fun to
do a little Halloween themed English. So for the next
couple of weeks, we're gonna dive into some spooky vocabulary,
creepy idioms, and even take a look at how Halloween
came about and is celebrated in the US. Let's kick
it off today with something super useful Halloween vocabulary. Now
you might be thinking, oh, Michael, I'm not a fan
of horror movies. That's totally fine. But you know what,
these words aren't just for Halloween. Native speakers use them
in everyday conversation, often in a humorous or exaggerated way way.
So let's jump in before something jumps out. First, up,
let's talk about spooky itself. We use spooky to describe
something that's a little scary, maybe mysterious, but not too terrifying,
like this old house feels kind of spooky at night,
or that foggy forest looked spooky so we turned around.
Or the subway station at like one am that's spooky.
And closely related to spooky is creepy. Now, creepy has
a more uncomfortable or unsettling feeling, like when you see
a weird old doll with cracked eyes. Ugh, that thing
is so creepy. People also say things like this place
gives me the creeps, which means it makes them uncomfortable
or nervous. Or on the train, when someone stares at
you a little too long, you might say that guy
is kind of creepy. Yeah, people who make you feel
uncomfortable are creepy, and not just around Halloween and then
we have eerie. Eerie is a quiet kind of scary,
usually when something feels strange and unnatural, like I remember
after a bad hurricane the power went out in New
York City and walking around there was nobody around the
town was almost completely empty. That was eerie, Or like
after the earthquake last week, there was an eerie silence
in the office. Luckily it wasn't that strong. Spooky, creepy,
and eerie. Now, let's level things up a notch. When
something is really scary, you can use words like terrifying,
like terrible and scary. That horror movie was terrifying. I
couldn't sleep after watching it. Chilling, like so scary you
feel cold. His story about the haunted house was chilling,
bone chilling. That's the next level. There was a bone
chilling scream in the woods last night, so scary. My
bones were chilled. And then the king of scary words,
blood curdling. It sounds intense because it is. That scream
was blood curdling, so scary it makes your blood feel
like it froze. And hey, don't forget about haunted. We
usually use this to describe places like haunted houses or
haunted old hotels, people say that old hotel is haunted.
Lights flicker and doors open on their own huh, And
honestly we use it jokingly too, like my apartment might
be haunted. The light was turning on and off last night.
Now here's the cool part of all of this. These
spooky words often sneak into everyday conversations, especially for a
little humor. Like your coworker brings in their lunch and
it smells How can I say this politely? His lunch
smells strong? You might say that smell is creepy. Or
like if your dog starts barking at the corner of
the room for no reason, Yeah, that's kind of spooky.
Or if your friend tells you that their ex suddenly
texted them out of the blue asking for a date,
you can say, whoa, that's eerie. And if your least
favorite boss sends you a message on your day off,
maybe bone chilling. Okay, not really, but you get the
joke right. So yeah, English is full of creepy, spooky, eerie, haunted,
and bone chilling words. And even if you're not into
halloween or horror, you'll hear these words used in a
funny sarcastic or dramatic way all year round. So here's
your challenge. Try using one or two of these words week.
Tell someone that movie was terrifying, or my cat was
staring at the wall super creepy, or maybe just say spooky.
Season is here. And Hey, if you want to practice
the language in this and all of my podcast lessons
in a friendly group, come join the podcast Learner's Study Group.
We meet once a week and go over the English
in these episodes together. It's a great way to build
your skills and your confidence. You'll find the link where
you're listening to this podcast right now, or just visit
Myhappy English dot com and click episode nine to oh
five for all the info. Thanks for listening, and remember,
learning another language isn't easy or spooky, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
Speaker 2: This podcast was brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy
English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,
Happy English.