Speaker 1: I had an awesome lunch today. I went for Tay
Food and I had green curry. It had a kick
to it, but it was so tasty. That restaurant is
always kicking at lunchtime. Actually, I'm kind of on a
green curry kick these days. I go there almost every day.
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 seven eighty one.
Using kick, when you strike something with your foot, you
kick it. So we use kick as a verb, like
let's kick the ball, Hey, nice kick. Kick is also
used as a noun, Yeah, nice kick. What an interesting
word kick is. Let's check it out. Beyond using your foot,
we have a lot of interesting uses for kick, Like
when we talk about alcoholic drinks where there is a
strong sensation from strong alcohol, you can say that it
has a kick. Like there's a pretty famous cocktail that
comes from Brazil. It's made with a local liquor called Kashasa,
lime and sugar. It's a very smooth drink and sweet tasting.
But it certainly has a kick, especially after drinking two
of them. I like to drink Japanese sake too, and
despite the smooth taste, it has a kick. And the
same goes for food, especially spicy food like I like
tay green curry, but at the Thai restaurant in my neighborhood,
the green curry there totally has a kick. And if
you happen to live here in the States or visit here,
you have to try buffalo wings. No, it's not like
the buffalo have wings. Buffalo wings are spicy chicken wings
and depending on who's cooking, they can have quite a
serious kick. If you know someone who has a short
term or temporary interest in something, you can also use kick.
This usually happens when someone gets into something trendy, like
I remember when the vegetable kale was new. My sister
was on a kale kick. My cousin is on a
jogging kick. I'm not sure if she's gonna continue doing
that now that the weather is getting cold. And I
was on an ice cream kick for a while and
then I stepped on the scale. Yikes. We also use
kick when we talk about something that gives us enjoyment
or excitement. In cases like this, you can say that
you get a kick out of something like I'm not
a kid anymore, but I still get a kick out
of the Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. My
friend Fabrizio gets a kick out of driving his sports
car on the track. My brother in law gets a
kick playing the slot machines at the casino. I'm not
so sure if my sister is too happy about that, though.
You can also get a kick out of someone. Remember
that old song I get a kick out of you.
When you get a kick out of someone, you enjoy
being with them. Maybe it's a friend who makes you laugh,
like I get a kick out of my buddy Ed
he's a riot, or like that old Frank Sinatra song.
If you get a kick out of someone, it's because maybe,
just maybe you're attracted to them romantically. Do you have
any regrets? If so, you can say I could kick myself,
like I remember back when the first iPod came out
Applestock was around nineteen dollars a shit. I could kick
myself for not buying it then, and then there was
the one that got away. One of my friends often
mentions the fact that he could kick himself for breaking
up with his old girlfriend. He still thinks about her
after all these years. We also have a few slang
meanings for kicking, which we usually pronounce as kickin' kickin'.
When something is excellent or great, you can say that
it's kicking, like the concert we went to last night
was totally kicking. Are you going to Jack's party on Saturday?
You should go? His parties are always kicking. Also, in slang,
kicking means stylish or fashionable, like Tommy's new suit is
really kicking, and did you see Jenny's new dress? Oh man,
it's kicking. I hope for you that this podcast English
lesson is kicking. Keep in mind the best way to
remember vocabulary like this and any other word or phrase
in English is to take that word or phrase, write
it in a sentence that's true for you or true
in your world, and then memorize your sentences. And did
you know? You can get more practice using your English
when you join my podcast Learner's Study Group. There you
can make new friends, join us for live group lessons
every week where we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus
you get access to the pdf transcript and audio download
for every Happy English podcast in the past and in
the future. And on top of that, each episode has
exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking
and writing checked by me. To learn more, just visit
my Happy English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven
eighty one. 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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