📘 Part 3: Losing things

This episode's vocabulary

To overlook (verb) - to fail to notice or consider something or someoneю

To lose track (idiom) - to no longer know what is happening, or not to remember something.

To faff about/around (phrasal verb) - to spend your time doing a lot of things that are not important instead of the thing that you should be doing.

To have/keep (all) your wits about you (idiom) - to be ready to think quickly in a situation and react to things that you are not expecting.

Vigilant (adj.) - always being careful to notice things, especially possible danger.

To highlight (verb) - to attract attention to or emphasize something important.

Reminder (noun) - a written or spoken message that reminds someone to do something.

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, what kinds of things do people usually lose?

R: Well, it seems like the most obvious things are keys and other small things that are easy to overlook or drop just by accident. It would be difficult to lose something big, like a car, since it's so easy to see and so clearly marked.

M: Why do people often misplace or lose things?

R: Well, there are probably as many reasons as there are people. Probably. Though, if you're particularly forgetful or distracted by something, then you're more likely to lose track of where things are in general.

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

R: I suppose the usual process is to panic and faff around trying to find whatever it is, and then ideally, come up with a way to avoid losing the same thing again, or to keep your wits about or keep their wits about them the next time a similar situation comes up.

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

R: I'm honestly not sure. I mean, I've seen posters offering rewards for missing pets, but I've no clue if they make people more vigilant or helpful or not. I've never even thought about it before now. Though, it seems logical that they might help, since it gives people a reason to keep an eye out for things that don't belong to them.

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

R: Well, as always leading by example usually seems to be the best way to do the job. They could highlight when and how they are doing things that come... Well, that come naturally. Rather than trying to manufacture some unrealistic situation or getting children to learn from their mistakes when it happens, which seems a bit cruel.

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

R: The most effective ones I've seen have been setting reminders on phones to make you remember to check things before you leave a place, and marking things with bright colours to make them easier to find, and definitely having a routine to make the process almost automatic. Some people also use certain types of attachments for keys and luggage to make them easier to find, which is quite cool, but I don't think you could do that for everything, certainly not big things.

M: Is it important for students to be organized?

R: As much as possible, yes. If you're more organized, then you probably find it easier to get more things done than if you're not. That just makes sense. And then you're not losing track of information or whatever it is you're supposed to be paying attention to.

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

Discussion

R: Hopefully no one lost their mind with my vocabulary.

M: What could be some synonyms for losing things? Misplace?

R: Misplacing, overlooking them, or losing track of things. Or losing track of where things are in particular.

M: Yeah, and sometimes we can say, like, leave things. So I've left my umbrella, so I like forgot to take it with me, so I've left it in a cafe. So people leave their umbrellas, leave their hats in restaurants, for example. People tend to lose the obvious things, like keys, small things, because they are easy to overlook. So they're easy to overlook, meaning that it's very easy just to leave them somewhere, kind of it's easy to drop them by accident. So you drop your keys or cards, or I don't know, some tickets, some small papers.

R: Anything small.

M: So you drop them by accident. And it would be very difficult to lose something big, like a car. Although some people manage to lose their cars in massive parking. You know, like they, oh, I forgot where I parked it. Where is my car? Yeah, a common situation. Yeah, but it will be very difficult to lose like your, I don't know, suitcase, although people do lose their suitcases. They just leave them on the train. Hey!

R: How? I still, to this day, don't understand how that's possible. I mean, it's your suitcase. It's got your important things in it.

M: Yeah, crazy. People often misplace things. Again, like keys. And for different reasons, they drop them by accident. They are forgetful, so they just forget things. They are distracted by something, and they forget the suitcase, their documents. And they are likely to lose track of where things are. To lose track of where your things are is just like to forget where you put your things. People usually panic. Like... I lost my suitcase. That's it. The end of the world. I'll die now. And then Rory used my favourite phrasal verb. Rory, what's my favourite phrasal verb of all?

R: What is your favourite phrasal verb of all?

M: Faff about.

R: Oh, yes, or faff around.

M: Faff around, faff about. It's UK, informal, phrasal verb. Idiomatic phrasal verb. So band mine. Spend your time doing a lot of things that are not important. So you are running around doing unimportant little things, instead of focusing on one thing which is useful. And very often we just say, stop faffing around and start studying. Like stop faffing about and write this essay. And when people lose things, they start faffing around. They try to find it, they try to fuss, you know. They start being nervous. They start freaking out... Like that. So they get very emotional, some people. And ideally, people should come up with a way to avoid losing things. So come up with something, create, invent, make up. And again, we avoid doing something, we avoid losing things again.

R: Ideally.

M: What does it mean to keep their wits about them? To keep one's wits about something.

R: Yes, to stay alert and focused when you're looking for whatever it is.

M: Could you give me an example?

R: Well, you've got to keep your wits about you when you're... Well, if you lose things, then you have to keep your wits about you on a train, for example.

M: Some people use rewards to find their lost things. For example, we often see a situation like, oh, a cat was lost. So $10,000 if you find this cat.

R: My God, who has $10,000 to help people, to tell people to find their cat?

M: Yeah, it's a special cat.

R: What kind of special cat? What's special about it?

R: Made of gold. Okay? It's, it's a cat made of gold and diamonds. Yes, it's a, you know, a key ring. The keys are not important, but the cat attached to the keys. So people put up posters offering rewards for missing pets. A pet is missing, so they put up posters. You can say, yeah, it's a good idea, or no, I'm not sure it's a good idea.

R: Yeah, I was thinking about that when you asked the question and I thought, I don't really know, how often do you think about that? I remember now I walked past a poster the other day, and it was talking about a missing cat, but that cat had been missing since the 29th of November, and here we are in December. So, yeah, it's a bit strange. I don't know. I honestly have no idea. So there we go. We have different ways of talking about things. I'm honestly not sure. I have no clue. I've never even thought about it.

M: Yeah, and these posters may not make people more vigilant. Vigilant? Always being careful to notice things. Especially in possible danger. So like, the stuff, the bodyguards should always be vigilant. The stuff in the shopping centre, security guards should always be vigilant. Yeah, you can say, like, I've never thought about this. Yeah. And posters may not give people a reason to keep an eye out for things. So our expression. Keep an eye out for things. So kind of to watch things, to notice things that don't belong to them. So if this thing doesn't belong to the person, people don't notice. And you can say that it's a nice idea to reward people who found your documents or who found your stuff. I actually, once I found the passport, I contacted the lady, and then, like she gave me some money. I refused, but she insisted. Ooh, yeah, like, um, I rewarded the taxi driver where I left my phone. I left my phone in the taxi, you know. So I rewarded the taxi driver.

R: Oh, that's good.

M: Parents should teach their children not to lose things by setting their own example.

R: Or leading by example.

M: So we can say, like, parents should lead by example.

R: Yeah, but leading by example is just you give the example and people follow you or follow it.

M: Parents should highlight how to manage things.

R: Yeah. But that just means they give it extra attention to it.

M: We can remind ourselves not to forget or lose things. So remind us about something or of something? I think it can be both here. We can also set reminders on your phone. So people can set reminders to make them remember to check things before they leave. So you're just like a set reminder on your phone, like... Rory, remember to take your necklace.

R: Or, in my case, I set reminders to pick up my USB drives whenever I'm in a new school.

M: So the most effective thing to do is to set reminders on your phone to remember to check things before you leave. Also, people could mark things with bright colours. So it's mine. So write, write your name on different things, like put stickers and have a routine to make the process more automatic. So to have a routine, like do something all of the time. So the process of taking your things is automatic, and also using some types of attachments for keys or luggage to make them easier to find.

R: There are special tags that you can get which are linked to your phone, and then you find them that way. Although I don't want to mention any particular ones, because we don't want to give anyone free advertising, but I'm sure we could all think of an obvious example or two.

M: Yeah, like some special attachments or tags, when you write your phone, your name, and just like, please, if you find it, contact this number. And people should be organized. So they should be vigilant, organized to get things done, to do things in life, so to get more things done. Hey! Lovely! 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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