Speaker 1: Well, fall is right around the corner. Soon there will
be a nip in the air as you look at
the harvest moon while sipping your pumpkins spice latte. So
before Indian summer comes, let's have a look at some
fall vocabulary.
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 eight eighty two.
Fall vocabulary in American English. Thanks for tuning in and
welcome back to the Happy English Podcast. Well, fall is
just around the corner, and I gotta say I'm down
for it. There's a nip in the air, the leaves
are starting to turn. But just in case you were wondering,
I'll have to pass on the pumpkin spice latte. It's
not my thing. But hey, when the season changes, so
does the way we talk. So today let's dive into
some seasonal vocabulary and phrases that'll help you talk about
fall just like a native speaker. First of all, let's
talk about the word fall itself. In American English, we
usually say fall instead of autumn. When we talk about
the season, you'll hear it everywhere. People say things like
fall weather, fall break, fall semester, or fall colors. Like
just this morning, I was walking Rosy and I said
to my neighbor, I love this fall weather. It's not
hot anymore, but it's not cold yet either. And when
my niece started college last week, she said, the fall
semester is already super busy. And who doesn't love to
see the fall foliage. Now, the word autumn is totally correct,
and Native speakers understand it, of course, but autumn just
sounds a little more formal or poetic. Like you can
probably hear someone in a TV documentary say the autumn
foliage in New England is breathtaking, or you might see
a sign for an autumn festival. If you're into fashion,
you've probably already seen the twenty twenty five autumn collection
in a fashion magazine. Autumn has this kind of elegant
ring to it, but most Americans just stick with fall
in everyday talk. Now, let me give you one that's
kind of official, the autumnal equinox. This is the name
of the first official day of fall. It's the moment
when day and night are just about the same length.
A lot of cultures celebrate the autumnal equinox in different ways.
In Japan, for example, it's a public holiday. In the US,
it's more of a fun fact than a celebration. But
you might hear one say, well, the autumnal equinox is
this weekend, so summer's really over now, and personally, considering
how muggy it's been, all I can say about summer
this year is good riddance. Speaking of changes in the season,
have you ever heard of a harvest moon? That's the
full moon that shows up in early fall, like in
September and October and looks big, bright and orange in
the sky. Farmers used to rely on it to keep
harvesting their crops late into the evening. Last week, I
took a walk after dinner and wow, the harvest moon
lit up the whole sky. It was huge. I actually
texted my friend and said, you gotta check out the
moon tonight. It's gorgeous. That's the harvest moon, Nature's fall flashlight.
Now we can't talk about fall in the US without
mentioning pumpkins spice. It's a flavor that shows up everywhere
this time of year, and despite the name, there's generally
no pumpkin in it at all. Pumpkin spice is the
set of spices that are used to make pumpkin pie, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove,
allspice and ginger, and thanks to a famous coffee shop chain,
the pumpkin spice shows up everywhere. We're talking coffee, doughnuts, yogurt, potato, chips,
and even pumpkin spice candles. For a lot of people,
pumpkin spice has become the smell and taste of fall.
My sister gets so into it she bakes pumpkin spice
cookies and muffins every weekend in October. So what does
fall feel like? Well, there's a phrase that I love
for that a nip in the air. The word nip
itself is it's like a sharp bite or pinch. With
this image, that first burst of chilly air after weeks
of hot, muggy weather feels like it's biting you. That's
a nip in the air. There's just a chill outside,
not freezing, but enough to grab a hoodie or a scarf,
like this morning when I took Max out for our
six am stroll, I thought, wow, there's a nip in
the air today. By the time we hit October, there's
always a little nip in the air at night, even
if the days are still warm. And when the weather's
really nice, we say it's crisp and clear. That means
the air is cool and dry, kind of refreshing. I
love waking up on a Saturday looking out the window
and thinking, yes, it's crisp and clear, perfect weather for
a walk. Or like after a rainy day the sky
clears up and it just feels fresh outside. That's crisp
and clear. Now here's one more fun phrase, Indian summer.
This is when it suddenly gets warm again during the fall,
Like maybe it's been chilly for a few weeks, then
all of a sudden, boom, it's back up to thirty
degrees celsius. I remember last October when I was wearing
a sweater and jacket all week, and then the weekend
came and I was backing a T shirt. That's an
Indian summer. And when it happens, everyone talks about it.
Can you believe this Indian summer? It's like summer came
back for a visit. So yeah, fall has its own flavor,
and that flavor comes through the words we use. Whether
you or grabbing a pumpkin spice latte, heading out into
the crisp and clear morning, or looking up at a
big harvest moon, there's just something special about the language
of fall. Let's wrap up with a quick recap. In
casual conversation, Americans usually say fall instead of autumn. The
autumnal equinox is the official start of fall. The harvest
moon lights up the sky and signals harvest time. Pumpkin
spice is the unofficial flavor of the season in everything.
A nip in the air means a little chilly outside,
crisp and clear describes perfect fall weather, cool and refreshing,
and Indian summer is that surprise return of warm weather
in the middle of fall. So here's your challenge. Think
about out the weather where you live right now. Try
describing it using one or two of today's expressions. Is
there a nip in the air or maybe you're still
in flip flops waiting for an Indian summer. Either way,
try putting these phrases into your English this week and
fall into more natural conversation. See what I did there,
and hey, If you want to practice the English from
this and all of my podcasts with me and a
group of other awesome English learners, come check out my
podcast Learner's Study Group. We meet once a week and
go over the language from these podcasts lessons together. It's
a great way to build confidence and improve your speaking.
Just click the link where you're listening to this podcast
right now, or visit Myhappy English dot com and choose
podcast episode eight eighty two for more info. Thanks for listening,
and remember, learning another language is not easy, but it's
not impossible, and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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