Speaker 1: Hey, did you know that honey never spoils? Seriously?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw this post on TikTok they found three
thousand year old honey in an Egyptian tomb and it
was still good.
Speaker 1: Get out of here.
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 In. Thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine thirty six.
Get out of here. Casual English phrases that show surprise.
Thanks for tuning in. So let me ask you something.
Have you ever been surprised, like really surprised and you
just didn't know what to say in English? You're talking
to a friend and they say something totally unexpected, like hey,
did you hear Lisa is moving to Australia or maybe oh,
you won't believe this, I won the lottery, and you
want to respond like a native speaker with something more
natural than just wow or really. That's what we're going
to look at today, casual, real life English phrases that
native speakers use to show surprise and hey, this isn't
just fun stuff. These phrases help you sound more natural
and more confident when you speak. So let's jump in
first up, and probably one of the most common is
no way. This is short strong, and we use it
all the time. When someone says something you didn't expect,
you can just reply with no way, like this, Oh,
I guess what I saw Taylor Swift at the airport.
No way, are you serious? We say no way to
mean that's unbelievable or I can't believe it, and the
intonation fits the message. No way and speaking of disbelief.
Two other similar phrases we often use r you're kidding
and you're joking. We use these when something sounds so
surprising that it almost feels like a joke, like Oh,
my grandmother just got a tattoo. You're joking, right, Nope,
it's a heart with an arrow through it. You're kidding.
Your grandmother is pretty hip? What a grandma? Right? And
notice the intonation there, you're kidding and you're joking. Tone
is important with all of the phrases we'll look at today,
and that brings us to our next phrase, which is
for real. For real. It's like saying are you serious,
but even more casual we use for real with friends
or in informal situations, like yeah, my grandma has also
got a little dragon tattoo on her shoulder for real,
that's awesome. And here's a pronunciation tip. The R sound
of four combines with the R sound in real, so
the sound is for real with the stress on real
for real. Now, let's talk about the phrase that's in
today's episode title, get out of here. Get out of
here is the casual pronunciation of get out of here,
which normally means go away right. Get out of here
might sound a little strange at first, but it's very
common in American English. And don't worry, we don't actually
mean that we want the person to leave. Get out
of here just means no way, or that's crazy or
that's unbelievable. Like, Hey, did you know Chris proposed to
just at a basketball game get out of here? Yeah,
right in the middle of the game. Wow, they love
more than sports. And here's another one that you might
find a little strange. Shut up now. I want to
be clear. Normally, shut up is a not very polite
way to tell someone to stop talking, but recently we
use shut up in a friendly way, and with this
kind of intonation to mean that's so unbelievable, or you
can't be serious, like dude, I just got tickets to
the super Bowl? Shut up? Are you serious? That's amazing?
Shut up. It's all about the tone here, your voice,
your expression. So in this context, shut up has a
playful sound as a conversational response. It's not used as
a rude request for silence. Now sometimes we just say
seriously with rising intonation. Seriously. This is another way to
show that what you heard is surprising. It's short, and
it works in a lot of situations, like hey, Tom
quit his job and decided to move to Thailand. Seriously,
I had no idea, Or oh, they put pineapple on
one half of the pizza and olives on the other. Seriously,
who ordered that? Combo? And one more thing. Body language
plays a big role when expressing surprise. Native speakers often
raise their eyebrows, open their mouths a little, or put
a hand over their chest or mouth when they say
these things. Try it out. It adds to the natural vibe.
Here's a list of what we cover today. No way,
you're kidding, for real, get out of here, shut up, seriously.
All of these are great for casual English, use them
at friends, with your coworkers, or even when reacting to
someone's social media post. So here's your challenge this week.
Try using one or two of these surprise phrases in
your daily English. The next time someone tells you something
interesting or unexpected. Don't just say wow, say get out
of here, or seriously and seriously. If you want to
practice the English from this and all of my podcasts
with me and a group of other English learners, come
check out my Podcast Learners study group. We meet once
a week and go over the language from these podcast
lessons together. It's a great way to build confidence and
improve your speaking. Just check the link where you're listening
to this podcast, or visit Myhappy English dot com and
choose podcast episode nine thirty six 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.
Speaker 2: This podcast is 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.