📘 Part 3: Losing and forgetting things

This episode's vocabulary

Lanyard (noun) - a cord worn around the neck, shoulder, etc, to hold something such as a whistle or knife.

Prominent (adj.) - something that is prominent is very noticeable or is an important part of something else.

Automatically (adverb) - if you do something automatically, you do it without thinking about it.

To double-check (verb) - if you double-check something, you make certain it is correct or safe, usually by examining it again.

In the first instance (phrase) - as the first attempt or effort.

To curse (verb) - to use a word or an expression that is not polite, usually when you are very angry.

To take stock of (something) (phrasal verb) - to examine a situation carefully.

Scattered (adj.) - covering a wide area.

To reflect on someone/something (phrasal verb) - to affect other people's opinion of someone or something, especially in a bad way.

To get something across (phrasal verb) - to manage to make someone understand or believe something.

Questions and Answers

M: What are some common items that people tend to lose easily?

R: I think keys are the thing I most often hear about, and I can never understand why. But then, I have like one key and my door is almost never locked. Maybe if you don't have them on some kind of lanyard or keychain, it's easier to lose them. As for other things that could be lost, I actually can't think of anything else.

M: Why do people often misplace or lose things?

R: Probably because they're not paying attention. They might be tired, or their focus could be elsewhere, and it's just not that prominent in their minds as a result. I mean, if you're leaving work and you have a load of things to do at home, then you may just not have it in your head to check you picked up the keys. I mean, it seems fairly obvious you would do that almost automatically.

M: What do people often do after losing things?

R: Well, we're feeling creatures in the first instance, so probably the initial impulse is to panic. Double-check for the lost thing, and then curse when you find out it's really actually not there. And then you get to work hunting for it, and ideally, you come up with a plan to avoid losing whatever it is again. But that's not always true, is it?

M: What should parents do to teach their children not to lose things?

R: Well, probably highlighting the lengths that they go to in order to avoid it, like using a key chain or a bowl for keys or some sort of routine or inventory in their heads to take stock of everything, including their keys.

M: What are good ways to remind us not to forget or lose things?

R: Well, some people use alarms on their phones to remind them to pick things up that they might have scattered around. And, oh, if you have a routine in your head, it's kind of like an algorithm that reminds you to pick stuff up before you go too.

M: Is it important for students to be organized?

R: It's probably important for everyone to be organized, don't you think. In the case of students, they could at least attempt to think about things in advance and reflect on what's happened to become more efficient in terms of learning and participating in classes. If that's the goal of studying, then you'd think it would be important to organize the ideas in your head. At least the ones that you want to get across at the very least.

M: How can we avoid losing things?

R: Well, setting reminders seems to be quite a good idea, and so does having a routine. As for what else that could be done... Well, if you have fewer things, then there are reduced opportunities for you to lose them, I suppose.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: No worries. I hope you didn't lose yourself in all of the vocabulary.

Discussion

M: What could be synonyms for losing things? Like people lose things.

R: Misplacing, forgetting where you left something, or just leaving something somewhere, in general.

M: Yeah, people are unable to find something. Okay? They can't find it. Misplace. They are not able to find it. Common items people usually lose, common items or objects. Well, keys, documents, smartphones.

R: Oh, yeah. I never thought of those. Although, to be honest, what I said would work quite well in the exam, if you said, as for the other things that could be lost. And then saying, I actually can't think of anything else after a pause would be effective also.

M: Yeah, that's absolutely fine if you can't answer the question. You can say, ooh, maybe keys. And then I can't think of anything else. That's okay. The examiner will then move to another question. Also umbrellas. Very often people lose umbrellas, even expensive umbrellas.

R: Why?

M: Well, because kind of you leave an umbrella. Like you go to a restaurant, you leave an umbrella there, and then you just forget it, you know, because you don't normally carry an umbrella on you. So it's not something that kind of you have with you all the time. Maybe some jewellery items, like rings, chains, diamonds, gold. People often misplace things. So misplace? But is it the same as lose? Because like misplace, I put it in another place, and then I find it.

R: No. Misplace can also be used for talking about losing things.

M: Misplace is a C2, word, dear listener, band nine, proficiency. So to lose something temporarily, according to Cambridge online dictionary. By forgetting where you have put it. So, for example, your smartphones, you put it on your bed, then you go have lunch, and then, I forgot, where's my smartphone? You kind of lost it. But you didn't lose it because you kind of put it in an interesting place. And then you forgot where you have put it. Usually we misplace our keys, our clothes, everything. People do it because they don't pay attention. So they aren't focused. They might be tired. They might lose their focus.

R: That just means they're not focused on it, though.

M: They have a load of things to do. A load of things means a lot of things.

R: Busy, busy, busy.

M: First, people feel panic. So they can start panicking, like, ah, my phone, I've lost my phone. Like this. It's time to panic.

R: Or maybe just go, oh, I've lost my phone.

M: Yeah. But panic is something like you are panicking.

R: Well, yeah. But there's different levels of panic. There's like, and then there's like, oh, God. So it's not just like lose your mind.

M: Yeah. Then double-check for the lost thing. Like check your bag three times, make sure it's not there. Then you curse. Curse? You use bad words like... Beep, beep, beep, beep. In your mother tongue, you use bad words to kind of, to get it out of you, right? To get this panic, frustration, shock, anger out of you. Then you get to work hunting for it. Then people start hunting for the lost object. Hunting? Like, oh, where is it? Where are you? Where are you, my phone. Come on, come on. Where are you? Like go hunting for it. And then you come up with a plan how to find it. Come up with a plan. You create a plan. And then you come up with a plan how to avoid losing it again. Avoid losing, avoid doing something. So I've lost my passport several times, for example. I've come up with a plan how to avoid losing it. Now it's in a special bag.

R: Is that true?

M: No, no.

R: Okay.

M: Yeah, it's quite dreadful to lose documents.

R: Yes. I know, because I have lost my passport, and it was horrific.

M: Yeah, I've lost my passport I think, what, two or three times.

R: Wow.

M: I know, look at me.

R: Maria now has nerves of steel after all of those experiences.

M: Parents usually teach their children not to lose things. They teach their children not to be absent-minded, to be more focused. How? Well, parents should highlight the lengths. Lengths, that they go to in order to avoid... Rory, we don't understand this. It's too difficult.

R: What do you mean? The lengths you go to are the things that you do, and usually very intensive thing. The lengths you go to in order to avoid losing something. There is nothing wrong with that. It's the difficult things you do or the very intensive things that you do to avoid losing things. For example, I have to force myself to set a reminder on my phone whenever I have my USB with me in a new school because I am terrified I will forget it. So I set like five alarms, which seems excessive, but I need to remember my USB, because it's got everything on it.

M: Wow. Nice. Other examples, parents teach their children to use a key chain, not to lose their keys, or a ball for keys. So when they come home, they put the keys in a special place, in a bowl. Like a bowl of rice. And teach them to follow a special routine. Routine? You go home, you put the keys there, you put your hat here, in a special place. So to be organized. What does it mean to take stock of something?

R: It just means to review and reflect on things and realize what is there and what is not.

M: Take stock of something is an idiom. To examine a situation carefully.

R: Nice.

M: For example, take stock of the damage. You examine the damage after the storm. Something could remind us not to forget or lose things. For example, Rory told us that he set a reminder on his phone to remind him to take his USB. Yeah? So we can set reminders on our phone or ask some people to tell us to take things with us. Use alarms on our phone to pick up things. So you go to a new place, you leave your umbrella, and then you set up an alarm on your phone. Take your umbrella. Take your umbrella. This is actually a genius thing to do. I've never done it myself. Wow.

R: I honestly, I've never forgotten anything because of that.

M: Nice. Very nice. Because usually, like, I just leave lots of things.

R: But the thing is, you have to remind yourself to do that. So it's like, you have to set a reminder to set a reminder. But I have it written in my diary. So that's okay.

M: Nice. So your things might be scattered around. So if you go to a birthday party, or if you go, I don't know, to visit your friends, so your things get scattered around. So your things cover a wide area. For example, like my books were scattered around the room, so they were all over the room. Yeah. C2 word again, dear listener.

R: Really?

M: Yeah.

R: My God. The criteria for C2 must be wild.

M: No, but scatter is an advanced word. Well, proficiency word.

R: Is it?

M: Yeah, scattered. It's very rare. Like English learners don't usually use this word. It's okay for native speakers. Yeah? Because it's natural, but...

R: No, it's for everyone.

M: For everyone. Give us another example with a scattered around.

R: Well, usually there's nothing scattered around my house because I'm very organized. There we go. That's an absolute lie. My house is a tip during the week, and then on Friday, I tidy everything.

M: Then if you have a routine in your head, this could help you not to forget or lose things.

R: Yeah, it's like an algorithm.

M: Like an algorithm in mathematics that reminds you to pick stuff up. So pick stuff up? Pick up my things before I leave. We can also talk about being organized. So plan everything to be a well-organized person. And students should be organized. Here, Rory uses a tag question.

R: Do I?

M: Ah, no, you just use a question. Don't you think? Yeah. So kind of you ask a question. We don't usually ask examiners any questions. But here it's like a rhetorical question. It's like, I think everybody should be organized, don't you think? And then you continue answering the question. Yeah, so it's a good one.

R: It's kind of a tag question.

M: Well, yeah. Like don't you think? You can have a tag question if you say it's important for everyone to be organized, isn't it?

R: It is very important. Muy importante. In Spanish for very important.

M: It's not mui, it's muy importante.

R: Oh, whatever.

M: Spanish is like very, you know, like you should pronounce the sounds. It's muy importante.

R: Unlike, unlike any other English, any other language, you don't need to pronounce the sound.

M: No, no, no. Because like in English, you go, like, students are organized. Important. You do like this. Well, in Spanish, yeah, it's pretty much the same.

R: I said muy importante. Why is that... Oh, that's... Well, okay... Spanish-speaking, people who are listening, I apologize.

M: Students could attempt to think about things in an organized way. They could make attempts. If they are not organized, they can attempt to be organized. They can try. It would be important for students to organize their ideas in their head. So they can organize their things, and also they can organize their ideas to achieve a goal, for example. Yeah, nice. So they can set reminders. They can write everything down in a diary or online diary.

R: Or on a notebook. Literally anything, anything to organize your ideas will be helpful.

M: Sweet. Dear listener, are you an organized person? Have you ever lost your documents? Maybe umbrellas? No, yes? Do you have a diary, an English diary for your IELTS classes, for example? Or are your things scattered around the room? Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in our next episode! Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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