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Speaker 1: Well, fall is right around the corner. Soon there will

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be a nip in the air as you look at

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the harvest moon while sipping your pumpkins spice latte. So

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before Indian summer comes, let's have a look at some

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fall vocabulary.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode eight eighty two.

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Fall vocabulary in American English. Thanks for tuning in and

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welcome back to the Happy English Podcast. Well, fall is

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just around the corner, and I gotta say I'm down

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for it. There's a nip in the air, the leaves

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are starting to turn. But just in case you were wondering,

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I'll have to pass on the pumpkin spice latte. It's

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not my thing. But hey, when the season changes, so

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does the way we talk. So today let's dive into

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some seasonal vocabulary and phrases that'll help you talk about

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fall just like a native speaker. First of all, let's

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talk about the word fall itself. In American English, we

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usually say fall instead of autumn. When we talk about

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the season, you'll hear it everywhere. People say things like

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fall weather, fall break, fall semester, or fall colors. Like

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just this morning, I was walking Rosy and I said

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to my neighbor, I love this fall weather. It's not

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hot anymore, but it's not cold yet either. And when

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my niece started college last week, she said, the fall

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semester is already super busy. And who doesn't love to

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see the fall foliage. Now, the word autumn is totally correct,

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and Native speakers understand it, of course, but autumn just

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sounds a little more formal or poetic. Like you can

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probably hear someone in a TV documentary say the autumn

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foliage in New England is breathtaking, or you might see

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a sign for an autumn festival. If you're into fashion,

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you've probably already seen the twenty twenty five autumn collection

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in a fashion magazine. Autumn has this kind of elegant

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ring to it, but most Americans just stick with fall

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in everyday talk. Now, let me give you one that's

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kind of official, the autumnal equinox. This is the name

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of the first official day of fall. It's the moment

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when day and night are just about the same length.

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A lot of cultures celebrate the autumnal equinox in different ways.

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In Japan, for example, it's a public holiday. In the US,

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it's more of a fun fact than a celebration. But

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you might hear one say, well, the autumnal equinox is

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this weekend, so summer's really over now, and personally, considering

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how muggy it's been, all I can say about summer

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this year is good riddance. Speaking of changes in the season,

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have you ever heard of a harvest moon? That's the

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full moon that shows up in early fall, like in

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September and October and looks big, bright and orange in

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the sky. Farmers used to rely on it to keep

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harvesting their crops late into the evening. Last week, I

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took a walk after dinner and wow, the harvest moon

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lit up the whole sky. It was huge. I actually

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texted my friend and said, you gotta check out the

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moon tonight. It's gorgeous. That's the harvest moon, Nature's fall flashlight.

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Now we can't talk about fall in the US without

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mentioning pumpkins spice. It's a flavor that shows up everywhere

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this time of year, and despite the name, there's generally

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no pumpkin in it at all. Pumpkin spice is the

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set of spices that are used to make pumpkin pie, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove,

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allspice and ginger, and thanks to a famous coffee shop chain,

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the pumpkin spice shows up everywhere. We're talking coffee, doughnuts, yogurt, potato, chips,

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and even pumpkin spice candles. For a lot of people,

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pumpkin spice has become the smell and taste of fall.

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My sister gets so into it she bakes pumpkin spice

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cookies and muffins every weekend in October. So what does

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fall feel like? Well, there's a phrase that I love

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for that a nip in the air. The word nip

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itself is it's like a sharp bite or pinch. With

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this image, that first burst of chilly air after weeks

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of hot, muggy weather feels like it's biting you. That's

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a nip in the air. There's just a chill outside,

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not freezing, but enough to grab a hoodie or a scarf,

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like this morning when I took Max out for our

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six am stroll, I thought, wow, there's a nip in

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the air today. By the time we hit October, there's

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always a little nip in the air at night, even

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if the days are still warm. And when the weather's

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really nice, we say it's crisp and clear. That means

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the air is cool and dry, kind of refreshing. I

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love waking up on a Saturday looking out the window

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and thinking, yes, it's crisp and clear, perfect weather for

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a walk. Or like after a rainy day the sky

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clears up and it just feels fresh outside. That's crisp

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and clear. Now here's one more fun phrase, Indian summer.

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This is when it suddenly gets warm again during the fall,

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Like maybe it's been chilly for a few weeks, then

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all of a sudden, boom, it's back up to thirty

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degrees celsius. I remember last October when I was wearing

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a sweater and jacket all week, and then the weekend

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came and I was backing a T shirt. That's an

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Indian summer. And when it happens, everyone talks about it.

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Can you believe this Indian summer? It's like summer came

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back for a visit. So yeah, fall has its own flavor,

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and that flavor comes through the words we use. Whether

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you or grabbing a pumpkin spice latte, heading out into

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the crisp and clear morning, or looking up at a

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big harvest moon, there's just something special about the language

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of fall. Let's wrap up with a quick recap. In

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casual conversation, Americans usually say fall instead of autumn. The

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autumnal equinox is the official start of fall. The harvest

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moon lights up the sky and signals harvest time. Pumpkin

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spice is the unofficial flavor of the season in everything.

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A nip in the air means a little chilly outside,

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crisp and clear describes perfect fall weather, cool and refreshing,

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and Indian summer is that surprise return of warm weather

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in the middle of fall. So here's your challenge. Think

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about out the weather where you live right now. Try

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describing it using one or two of today's expressions. Is

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there a nip in the air or maybe you're still

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in flip flops waiting for an Indian summer. Either way,

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try putting these phrases into your English this week and

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fall into more natural conversation. See what I did there,

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and hey, If you want to practice the English from

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this and all of my podcasts with me and a

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group of other awesome English learners, come check out my

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podcast Learner's Study Group. We meet once a week and

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go over the language from these podcasts lessons together. It's

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a great way to build confidence and improve your speaking.

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Just click the link where you're listening to this podcast

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right now, or visit Myhappy English dot com and choose

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podcast episode eight eighty two for more info. Thanks for listening,

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and remember, learning another language is not easy, but it's

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not impossible, and I'm here to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy English dot com show your support for Happy

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