Speaker 1: I'm glad you popped in today. Now, this lesson may
not make your eyes pop out, but before you pop
out or pop the question, you're gonna want to learn
these phrases and idioms with pop.
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 forty nine.
Pop Phrases in American English. Hello and welcome. Thanks for
popping in for another episode of the Happy English Podcast.
You know, the word pop is such a fun little
word in English. It's short, quick, kind of energetic, and
actually that's kind of how we use it right to
describe things that happen quickly or suddenly, like popcorn. Each
kernel of popcorn bursts open quickly and suddenly. With that image,
the word pop pops up in a lot of everyday phrases.
So today we're going to check out some of the
most common and useful pop expressions that native English speakers
use all the time. Let's get right into it. So
first up, we've got pop up. When something pops up
it means it shows up or happens suddenly, usually when
you're not expecting it. Like the other day, a staff
meeting popped up in my office at nine o'clock, no warning,
just boom meeting time. Or sometimes a song from way
back in your past pops up in your head. That
happened to me this morning. This old eighties pop song
just popped up and I couldn't stop humming it all morning.
And hey, here's a fun one. When I say the
word cute, what's the first thing that pops up in
your mind? Oh? By the way, in the computer world,
we've got pop ups too, you know those little windows
that just appear out of nowhere when you're online, usually
when you least want them. Next up, Have you ever
popped in somewhere? To pop in or pop into a
place means to visit for a short time. It's just
like say saying stop by or drop in, but it
sounds more casual and friendly. Like this morning, I popped
into the coffee shop on the way to work, and
later on I popped into Jack's office to talk about
his next business trip. You know what, I think I'm
gonna pop into shake Shack for lunch, pop in short visits,
no appointment, just pop in, get what you need, and
pop out. And speaking of visits, you can also pop
over or pop on over to someone's place. That means
to go to someone's house or someone's location for a
short time, like I've got nothing planned this weekend, so
feel free to pop over anytime after work. I'm gonna
pop over to Tommy's house and wish him a happy birthday.
By the way, I know it's hot out there, but
if you want to help me in the garden, pop
on over. Pop over. It's super casual and friendly. Great
for inviting someone without making it a big formal thing.
Next up, let's get romantic. Have you ever heard the
phrase pop the question. When someone pops the question, they're
proposing marriage, usually in an unexpected way or at an
unexpected time. By the way, the question in pop the
question is will you marry me? Like I heard that
last weekend. Mark popped the question to Lucy in Paris.
That's like a movie moment. Or Tommy finally popped the
question after five years of dating Randy, Oh yeah, and
my dad heep pop the question to my mom at
a little Italian place in New York's Little Italy classic.
Right now, here's a fun one. When something is super
shocking or surprising, we say that it makes your eyes
pop out. Think Tom and Jerry or any other cartoon
when the character is surprised their eyes pop out of
their heads. With this image, we say that something makes
your eyes pop out. The first time I walked into
that department store on Fifth Avenue, the prices made my
eyes pop out. Oh and in the office yesterday, Johnny's
eyes popped out when his boss offered him a job
in London. And when Nowko saw those kappy barres, she
said it made her eyes pop out, especially when they
were eating celery. Oh yeah, if something is shocking, good
or bad, it's gonna make your eyes pop out. Let's
shift gears a bit and talk about money. In casual
American English, we use the phrase a pop to talk
about the cost of one thing, like each ticket, each donut,
each water bottle, and so on. For example, at Yankee Stadium,
bottled water is eight bucks a pop. Eight bucks a pop,
that means one bottle of water costs eight dollars. So
when we use a pop to talk about a price,
it means we're talking about the cost of one those
donuts at Krispy Kreme. They're just a dollar a pop.
And I recently got tickets to see Cheap Trick at
the Buddhicon and the tickets were like two hundred bucks
a pop. Wow, that's crazy. Now, let's say it's time
to celebrate. What do you do well on a really
special occasion, You probably open a bottle of champagne or
sparkling wine, and when you do, you pop the cork. Literally,
pop the cork means to open a bottle of champagne,
and we use pop the cork to mean both open
the bottle and to celebrate some event, like it's Jack's
sixtieth birthday next month and we definitely need to pop
the cork. And we always pop the cork at midnight
on New Year's Eve. And finally, we have pop out,
which means to leave for a short time, like to
run an errand like, I'm just popping out to the store.
Do you need anything? And I out to get some
coffee this morning? Oh yeah, the boss said he needs
to pop out to the bank after lunch. Simple and
useful pop out. You can use it with friends or
even at the workplace. That's a lot of pop. Which
one of these made your eyes pop out the most today,
Leave a comment and let me know, and as always,
thanks for listening. Keep in mind, the best way to
remember English 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. Oh yeah,
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you can practice this English point with speaking and writing
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English dot com and choose podcast lesson eight forty nine.
Remember learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
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