In honor of Blue Monday, Robin is teaching us alternatives to telling someone to “cheer up”. You can participate by writing in the comments. Enjoy!
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Exercise
Tap all the highlighted words in the transcript below to see their definitions. ⇩See Transcript
Hello, welcome to another class. I’m Robin and today I’m going to talk to you about other ways to tell someone to cheer up. So why have I chosen this topic? Because January 18 is Blue Monday. So you may have heard of this day before, you might not have. But let me tell you why this day, Blue Monday, exists. So people say, it has been said that Blue Monday this day, January 18, is the most depressing day of the year. But why? Well, because of the weather in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter, so the weather is probably cold, maybe you don’t want to go outside. This is a date that comes after the holidays, after Christmas. So you might be feeling a bit sad after the holidays. Maybe you are in debt because of the money that you have spent on Christmas gifts. Okay, so there are many reasons for this specific day to be called Blue Monday. Now, you may agree you may disagree. But it’s a day that exists. So I have chosen this topic, other ways to say “cheer up” because this is something that we tend to say in English to people when we see that they’re feeling sad, or we can also say that they’re feeling blue. If you feel blue, it means that you feel a bit sad or depressed. But because of the current situation, what’s happening, we never know exactly what’s what people are feeling or what’s happening in people’s lives. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic. So maybe telling someone to cheer up, which is another way to say be happy. Maybe that’s not the most appropriate thing to say to someone. So I’m going to give you some other ideas. Other examples. If you do see a friend or a family member or someone you know, feeling a bit sad or blue around this time of year. Here are some things that you can say to them. Okay, I’m going to give you my top 10, basically.
Alright, so my first one is You’ve got a friend in me. Okay, this is also a song, but basically offering your friendship to someone so if they feel sad, you can say “You’ve got a friend in me” I’m your friend. You can tell me what, what’s going on.
Another one would be You can count on me. Okay, so this is a phrasal verb to count on. That means, it’s another way to say to depend on someone, to rely on someone. It means I will help you, I’m here, you can count on me means that I will help you with whatever you need.
Okay, another one. I’m here to listen. So maybe someone, you see someone and it seems like they need to talk. So you can say hey, I’m here to listen.
Another one. Do you need some quiet time or space? Maybe you’re in a stressful situation and you see that someone needs to leave or escape that situation, even if it’s just for a few minutes. You can ask them? Do you need some quiet time or space? Maybe you can take a walk with them or offer to let them take a walk.
Okay, that’s another one. Would you like to go for a walk? Or just in general, would you like to… So offer to do something. Would you like to go for a walk? Would you like to grab lunch? Would you like to go sit down? Okay, so just offering this “would you like to” plus infinitive. This is a good way to offer your friendship, basically, to someone.
All right, another one. If you feel like talking, I’m here for you. Okay, so maybe they don’t feel like talking but if they do, if you feel like talking, I am here for you.
Okay, another option. Do you want me to keep you company? Okay to keep someone company that means to stay with them, to be with them so that they aren’t alone, so that they don’t feel alone. So do you want me to keep you company means “do you want me to stay with you?” and that means you could do whatever, go for a walk, have a meal, etc. So if you keep someone company it means that you do something with them.
Okay, here’s a good one. Can I take something off your plate? Now this is not a literal plate with things on it. To take something off someone’s plate means to do something, maybe someone is very busy. If someone has a lot on their plate, it means they have a lot of things to do. Maybe they’re worried about something, maybe they’re sad about something you say “I have a lot on my plate”, I have a lot of responsibilities, etc. So “can I take something off your plate?” means “Can I do something for you?” Like, can I do your grocery shopping? Can I drive you somewhere, etc? So can I take something off your plate, one of your tasks or responsibilities? Can I do that for you?
Okay, and another one. Let it out, don’t bottle it up. So this is to encourage someone to talk to you, to tell you how they are feeling. Because “to bottle it up”, to bottle something up means that you keep your emotions inside you. And then after a while you kind of explode. You can’t, you can’t handle your emotions anymore. So if you tell someone “don’t bottle it up”, it means don’t hide your emotions. Don’t hide what you’re feeling. Don’t keep it to yourself. So don’t not tell anyone. So let it out. That means tell me, tell me what you’re feeling. Tell me what’s happening. Tell me what’s going on.
Okay, so these are my alternatives to telling someone to cheer up. And for my 10th one, I want to give you a kind of inspirational quote that I think works really well for these kinds of situations. When you see someone feeling blue, this is a really nice quote. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and more loved than you know. Okay, so if someone is not feeling very strong, or not feeling very loved, this is a great quote, to remind them that you can do all of these things. And I as a friend or family member, I am here for you. Okay, so this is a good quote that you can share with someone if you see that they are feeling blue.
So now I want you to tell me in the comments, what are you going to do to beat the blues? Okay, so this is another way to say to overcome, to beat the blues means to overcome this feeling of sadness, of feeling blue on Blue Monday. So maybe you don’t feel sad, and that’s wonderful. But there are many ways that you can also, apart from comforting someone, you yourself can do things like exercise, journal, if you watched my video last week. So there are many things that you can do to make yourself feel happy and energized on a day like Blue Monday. I’m going to exercise, for example. So tell me what you are going to do to beat the blues on Blue Monday or any other day around this time that you might be feeling a bit blue or a bit sad. Okay, so tell me in the comments, and I hope that this video has been useful for you. You have learned some new expressions for instead of selling, instead of telling, excuse me, instead of telling someone to cheer up, you can use some of these alternatives to make them feel better and let them know that you are there for them. Okay, so take care. Have a great week and I will see you next time. Bye!
Cheer Up Comprehension
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I told for my sad friends: Do you want me to keep you company?
I can’t hear the video…. there is a problem with the audio.
Quem I’m feeling Blue I cook listening rock music.
I had not heard of this, but I felt blue that day. 🙁
When I am feeling sad, I play with my dog Cavalier King Charles