Subtitles section Play video
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Feifei: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
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I'm Feifei.
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Neil: And I'm Neil.
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Feifei: Where's... your beard?
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Neil: I, uh, shaved it off. I fancied a change.
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Beards are such a thing these days.
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Feifei: Yup, ever since beards became a thing,
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I've found them a bit boring.
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Neil: 'A thing'. Of course, we know what the word
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'thing' normally means, but what does
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'a thing' mean here?
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Feifei: Our phrase for today means 'a trend'
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or 'something recognisable in popular culture'.
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If beards are 'a thing', it means they've become
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fashionable: lots of people have them.
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Neil: Yes. Cats on the internet - they're a thing.
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Feifei: Oh, fidget spinners. They're definitely a thing.
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Neil: Fidget spinners?
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Feifei: Yes, those little metal or plastic toys
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that you spin on your finger. Know them?
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Neil: Oh, those things that kids everywhere
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are playing with.
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Feifei: Not just kids. Anyway. What else is a thing?
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Listen to these examples.
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Examples: Using funny GIFs in your message
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is such a thing.
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You know parkour: the sport of running and jumping
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across buildings? Why is that such a thing?
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Organic powdered food.
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Since when has that been a thing?
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Feifei: A well-known use of this phrase was after
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American personality Kim Kardashian
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posted a picture of herself pregnant,
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with the words "pregnancy lips".
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Neil: It's not a term that many people had heard of,
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and prompted responses like this:
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"Pregnancy lips? Is that even a thing?"
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Feifei: Yes, when someone refers to a trend
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you haven't heard of, or that you doubt exists,
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feel free to respond with
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'is that even a thing?'
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Neil: But there's little doubt the phrase 'a thing'
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is itself 'a thing' -
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it's now been included in major dictionaries.
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Feifei: There we are. A thing.
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No plans to grow the beard back, then?
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Neil: Only when being clean-shaven
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becomes too much of a thing!
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Feifei and Neil: Bye.