📘 Part 3: Losing things

This episode's vocabulary

Initially (adverb) - at the beginning.

To retrace (verb) - to go back over something, for example a path or a series of past actions.

Temperament (noun) - the part of your character that affects your moods and the way you behave.

To be prone to sth/do sth - likely to show a particular characteristic, usually a negative one, or to be affected by something bad, such as damage or an illness.

To have sth. on your plate (idiom) - to have something, usually a large amount of important work, to deal with.

To divert (verb) - to cause something or someone to change direction.

Inevitable (adj.) - certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented.

Rack (noun) - a frame or shelf, often formed of bars, that is used to hold things.

To incentivise (verb) - to make someone want to do something.

Inadvertently (adverb) - in a way that is not intentional.

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Questions and Answers

M: What do people often do when they lose things?

R: Well, try to find them? In most cases, it's not as initially hopeless as the one I described in my part two answer there. They retrace their steps, either mentally or physically, look for clues under various items of furniture, and they can ask for help. I mean, two sites of eyes is always better than one. Sometimes there's a place where people leave things. I went through a phase a few years ago of leaving my food in the fridge by accident, and I would find it there no worse for wear, but it was just a really unusual place to keep leaving something.

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

R: Well, people can have varying temperaments and can be more sensitive or prone to worrying than others. They can also invest more emotional value in objects, and losing them can feel like losing part of themselves. They can have some sensitive information or, well, they could keep some sensitive information on whatever they lost as well.

M: What kinds of things do people usually lose?

R: Oh, keys always seem to be a big one for people, as do phones. It's ironic because we spend so much time with them in our hands or close to our person that it seems really unlikely that you would lose them. And yet people do.

M: What kinds of people may lose things often?

R: Well, ones that don't pay attention to what they're doing or where they're putting things, I suppose. If you have a lot on your plate, it's going to be more difficult to remember where everything is. So busy people can have difficulties in this respect too, I suppose.

M: Why is it easy to lose things?

R: There's so much going on that people need to pay attention to and they can so easily have their attention diverted by different things, that pretty much becomes inevitable that someone is going to lose something at some point.

M: How can people avoid losing things?

R: Well, lots of people have a set place for everything in their home, whether it's a key rack or a bowl for keys or other small things that you might need. Usually located close to the door so you can find it easily. Sometimes having a mental checklist or routine to go through every morning can also be handy because if something isn't where you need it in the routine, then you would notice it not being there very easily.

M: Is it an effective way to use rewards to find lost things?

R: Well, having never done it, I honestly wouldn't know. I imagine it would incentivise other people to care about what people had lost. But I'm not an expert in lost and found statistics, so I couldn't comment on how effective it is.

M: What can parents do to help children not lose things?

R: Setting a good example helps, at least initially. So the children can see their parents take measures to avoid losing things and then they can copy them. Similarly, parents can also help their children set up their own systems to avoid losing things. They already do inadvertently when they make them tidy their rooms.

M: What should people do to find what they lost?

R: Other than the things I've already mentioned? I'm not sure. The steps that they currently take already seem to be pretty effective. And if they weren't, then we would know because people would be losing things and the world would be much more unpleasant.

M: And what do people usually do when they find something valuable on the street?

R: That will depend on where you are and the kind of culture that you have. In most of the places where I've lived, most people take it to a police station or try to find the person. Usually they're nearby looking for it. So it's easy to find them.

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

R: No problem. Hopefully, no one got lost along the way!

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Discussion

M: Yeah. So losing. Losing and finding used to be in speaking part 1 topic. Also same for concentration. So dear listener, you can go to our part 1 episodes and using an app, you can just scroll back and forth and find the topic of concentration and also losing and finding things as part one, right? This is going to be useful for this part three section in terms of grammar and vocabulary. But again, speaking part three is about in general, I mean, is about general things, not about you, right? But I think other people, some people, other people in my country. Right? And yeah, your opinions. So we don't tend to speak, as for me, you know, last time I lost my keys. Okay. And what do people do when they lose things? So they retrace their steps. Retrace their steps mentally or physically.

R: So that's just going back the way you came and physically would be actually looking and mentally would be doing it in your head.

M: Right. Yeah. This is actually a very effective way, I think. Thinking, aha, so this is where I started, then I went there, then I went there. So you are retracing your steps. You can look for clues under various items of furniture, look under the bed, ask for help, obviously. And Rory says two sets of eyes is always better than one set of eyes. Okay? Also, write it down. Rory quote. And Rory said that he himself went through a phase of leaving his phone in the fridge. Nice one, Rory. Did you actually leave your phone in the fridge?

R: All the time.

M: What are you doing in the fridge for so long? Really?

R: I think...

M: So you open the fridge, you put your phone, you can take some eggs.

R: No, I think what happened was, it was always when, now I think about it, now that I've retraced my steps mentally. It was always when I came home from the supermarket and I had all of my shopping and then I had to carry it. So that was why. And I would put my phone on one of the shelves while I was unpacking everything from the bags.

M: Nice. And how long did it take you to find it? Because it's like an unconscious act. So you put your phone, then you call the fridge and then you pretty much forget, you know?

R: Yeah. But because I had the wireless earphones, I was able to wander around with my phone cooling in the fridge while I, while I just wandered around.

M: Sweet, sweet. Nice one. So what's our keyword? Our super word of the day and apparently of all our episodes from now on? Temperaments, dear listener. It depends on the temperament. And people have different temperaments. So pretty much this is our strategy. We just say it's temperament, depends on the temperament.

R: If I, yeah. I mean, we should invest more thought into this. We should really have like a different fixed magic word or strategy for every month. But we don't, this is actually just something that happens to me naturally. I just use like a word or a phrase repeatedly for a few months, and then we drop it and it never comes back.

M: Nice. Yeah. And we've had a couple of strategies. Yeah, I'm not an expert, but if... Yeah, this, you remember that one. So temperament. Why do some people worry more than others? Well, because people have different temperaments. And some people are prone to worrying. This is a great one. To be prone to doing something. It's a great piece of vocabulary. So some people are prone to worrying. Some people like tend to worry more, right? So, for example, Rory is laid back. He kind of it's okay, everything's fine. He's, like, chilling. Hey, all calm and peaceful.

R: That is not me.

M: Whereas me, I'm prone to worrying. No, let's imagine that's you.

R: I exist in a constant state of being worried.

M: You know, you are Zen. And I'm always like fidgeting like what, our listeners, podcast... I'm prone to worrying. Right? So I tend to worry. Also people could be prone to what?

R: Prone to anything, prone to violence, prone to eating too much. It's usually to describe something negative, like a habit that you... Yeah, a negative habit.

M: Yeah, yeah. So prone to shopaholism, impulsive, making impulsive purchases. Yeah. So prone, prone to something negative. And some people invest more emotional value.

R: And it's always invest emotional value in something.

M: In, yeah. In something. Invest in. So yeah, for example, my mother, if she loses something, even if it's a small thing, she's like, oh, she's so upset. And I go, oh, come on, mom, like, you know, it was an old purse and it didn't have any money in there, so, okay, fine, we'll get you a new one. But she's still upset for a couple of days because she invests more emotional value in her things, in her objects than me, for example, or than other people. And also, I had a friend who would lose like something of sentimental value to him, but he was kind of, okay, it's gone it's gone, you know, he was totally fine. Kind of I was upset because he lost it, because I knew how important that thing was to him, but he was okay, fine, he just moved on very quickly. Yeah, you see, so some people are more prone to worrying. They invest more emotional value in objects and they can feel like losing a part of themselves. Wow, Rory, have you ever lost something like you felt you lost a part of yourself? Like you lost your arm, or a leg, or an ear? No?

R: I lost a USB once and that had a lot of my work on it. I backed it up, but it was still a pain.

M: Oh, okay. Well, good to back it up. What kinds of people lose things? Well, we can call these people absent-minded people. What other adjectives can we use to describe such people?

R: Careless.

M: Careless. Yeah.

R: Carefree.

M: Carefree people usually lose things. And if you have a lot on your plate, we don't mean food. It's an idiomatic phrase, to have a lot on your plate. You could lose things. Right? So you have a lot of things to do. You have a lot on your plate. If you have a lot on your plate, it's going to be difficult to remember where everything is. Your attention could be diverted by different things and this is a great one. To divert or be diverted. We can actually use it describing a line graph when, you know, you see two lines going in different direction, like, oh, like they were similar and then one goes left, another goes right. So the trends diverted. Rory, what do you mean about attention? So your attention could easily be diverted by.

R: Yeah, you become distracted. But we've talked about distracted so much in previous episodes that we should use another word beginning with "di".

M: The D-word. And it becomes inevitable that someone is going to lose something at some point. Yeah? Inevitable. If you have too much on your plate, if you have a lot on your plate, you're going to lose something inevitably. Inevitably. Then Rory used specific vocabulary. So how can people avoid losing things? He goes like, lots of people have a set place for everything, so a special place for everything. For example, it's a key rack. A key rack. So the place where you put your keys, right?

R: Where you hang your keys.

M: Oh, you hang it. Ah, right, so it's on the wall, right?

R: Yeah. It's got little hooks that come out of it.

M: Oh, yeah, hook. Yeah, like a hook on the wall. And you kind of hang your key. A key wreck, right? Or a bowl for keys, a nice bowl, designer bowl. This is how I see it. It should be designer.

R: Should it? Why?

M: Well, I don't know. It should be pretty, yeah? So designer, handmade, you know, super expensive, half gold. No, it may not be gold, but still, you know, ceramics, for example. Right, okay, I stop. So a bowl of cookies, you see, a specific word, and then other small things are usually located close to the door. Again, we can have some baskets, cute little baskets for certain things. And then about rewards. So if, for example, I lose something, what, I lose my shoe. Yes. I just, I was really careless the other day and I lost my favourite Manolo Blahnik shoe.

R: Just the one?

M: Yeah, just one, one shoe, I just lost it. Didn't notice. And then I give you rewards, right? So I... If you give me my shoe back, if you find it, you get a hug from me and I smile. Or some money. Right? So rewards. And Rory paraphrased it with incentive. Right? You use it as a verb. I imagine it would incentivise. Incentivise?

R: Yeah. And that just means create the motivation for people to do something.

M: Yeah. Motivate. So rewards could motivate, motivate, motivate, or could incentivise other people to care about something more. Or to motivate them to find it. To incentivise other people to find it. And then Rory used the strategy. I'm not an expert in lost and found statistics. I'm not an expert in lost and found statistics. Rory, this is my impression of you. Okay? So this is how you speak.

R: This is not how I speak.

Speaker 1 M: I'm not an expert in lost and found statistics.

R: I'm not. What was I supposed to say? Like maybe.

M: Yeah. If the question is like, all right, how many people are obese in your country? Obese like super fat.

R: Many. I am not an expert in obesity statistics. So I couldn't comment on how many obese people there are.

M: Parents surely can help children not to lose things. What can they do? Take measures, special measures to avoid losing things, right?

R: And it's always "take measures".

M: Take measures. Yeah. Yeah. We can also implement measures.

R: Yes.

M: They can help children to set up their own systems to avoid losing things. Tidy their rooms, have designated places for certain objects. Sweet. Thank you very much for listening! We hope that everything you want to be with you stays with you. So let's not lose things. Just like let's, even if we lose things sometimes, let's just not worry about it because we are not prone to worrying. We don't invest any emotional value in objects. Let's not do that.

R: We need Bob Marley.

M: Happiness and joy and sun shining.

R: Don't worry about the things. Every little thing is gonna be alright. Bye!

M: Yes. This is happiness injection into your body, dear listener. Now, off you go. Thank you very much! And we'll see you in our next episode! Bye!

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