📘 Part 3: Losing things

This episode's vocabulary

To juggle (verb) - to succeed in arranging your life so that you have time to involve yourself in two or more different activities or groups of people.

Rapid (adj.) - fast or sudden.

To lose track of something (phrase) - to stop keeping a record of something, or stop being certain that you know or remember what has happened.

Unattached (adj.) - not physically joined to something else.

Noticeable (adj.) - easy to see or recognize.

Tolerance (noun) - the ability to deal with something unpleasant or annoying, or to continue existing despite bad or difficult conditions.

To replace (verb) - if you replace something broken, damaged, or lost, you provide a new one.

Conscientious (adj.) - putting a lot of effort into your work.

Neurotic (adj.) - behaving strangely or in an anxious (= worried and nervous) way, often because you have a mental illness.

Angsty (adj.) - often worried or unhappy, especially about personal problems.

Ramification (noun) - the possible results of an action.

Desperate (adj.) - needing or wanting something very much.

Hard up (adj.) - having very little money.

Explicitly (adverb) - in a way that is clear and exact.

Regimented (adj.) - too organized and controlled.

Fall into place (idiom) - when things fall into place, they happen in a satisfactory way, without problems.

To set (something) up (phrasal verb) - to prepare something for use, especially by putting the different parts of it together.

Questions and Answers

M: What kinds of people tend to lose things more often than others?

R: I imagine people with a lot on their plate. If they're constantly juggling tasks and switching attention from things, well, from one thing to another in rapid succession, they might overlook something or leave it behind. I'm not sure whether that's a type of person or just a situation you could get into. Disorganized people might also be more at risk of losing track of things.

M: What kind of things do people often lose?

R: Well, I think keys or any loose items like that, to be honest. I mean, they're just sitting there unattached to anything in your pocket. So something is bound to go missing at some point, especially if it's a small and not very noticeable item. You might not even feel it drop out if it's a... If you have a big pocket.

M: Why do some people worry more than others when they lose things?

R: I guess people have different tolerances for loss, don't they? You might have a lot of money, and so can afford to replace things easily. Or you might just not be very conscientious about that sort of thing. And by contrast, poor people or really neurotic people might get really angsty about losing their personal possessions.

M: Should parents teach their children to return things lost by others?

R: Oh, if it's something important, yes. So I'm not sure they really need to teach this beyond saying that it's a good idea. I mean, how often does the opportunity to do that come up? I imagine it's a pretty rare experience. Usually, the context does the prompting for you and people lose things, you have to decide whether or not to give them back.

M: What do you think are the reasons why some people pick up lost things and do not give them back?

R: It might just not be that important, really. I mean, something like a penny has almost no value, and people are unlikely to go looking for it. So you could just keep a hold of it. And there would be no ramifications. Other than that people might be really desperate and need the money or seriously benefit from not giving something back. It is of course sad when that happens. But some people really are that hard up, they might not have a choice.

M: Do you believe that schools should teach organizational skills to children?

R: Well, they probably do in their head and curriculum. That's the name for things that aren't taught explicitly at schools. Most schools have a timetable or fairly regimented affairs, so they impart things just from the contact with the institution. They could do it explicitly though, since knowing how to organize yourself independently is valuable for running a business or a household. You can do things more efficiently because things just seem to fall into place once you set them up.

M: What are some methods people can use to improve their administrative* skills?

R: Well, I think a diary is a pretty good way of getting things in order, as is having a set routine you can just follow automatically. Something else that seems to work for a lot of people is tidying things up. So they're easier to find. Like with bookshelves, having a shelf of particular books could be useful. You could also set reminders on your phone to go off throughout the day and remind you to do things after you plan them out.

M: Hey! Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: I hope you didn't get lost in all the vocabulary.