This mini episode teaches you the common and useful expression “sweet spot.”
Episode 183 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the common and useful expression “sweet spot.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
Welcome to episode 183 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let's get on with this mini episode.
The episode
The expression I want to teach you today is sweet spot. That's two words—sweet: s-w-e-e-t. And spot: s-p-o-t. Sweet spot.
What does sweet spot mean? It's a place or a condition where you find enough of the things that you want to make something work or to make something acceptable. I understand that that definition did not sound very clear. Let me give you an example of sweet spot that I think will help you understand.
Let's say you want to buy a new car. So, you are researching many different kinds of cars. When you are thinking about the perfect car for you—the kind of car that you would most like to buy—what things are important to you? Well, in this example, let's say there are two things that are important: you want a car that can go very, very fast. And you also want a car that is safe. So you have these two different things that you need to balance: you want speed, and you want safety.
The problem is many fast cars are not very safe, and many safe cars do not go very fast. So you need to find the sweet spot. You need to find a car that can somehow meet both of your requirements. Somehow, you need to find a car that has those two different things in balance. You need to find a car that is fast enough for you and also safe enough for you. That is your sweet spot: a car that has enough of those two different things. That is the sweet spot.
You will also hear sweet spot used in sports. You might hear about one place on a tennis racket that is the sweet spot. That is the perfect place to hit the ball. Or you might hear about the sweet spot of a baseball bat. That is the perfect place to hit the ball. The sweet spot.
In all of these different examples, sweet spot means the perfect place, the right place, the place where things are balanced, the place where you get enough of all of the things that you need. That is the sweet spot.
I think this is an interesting expression, and I think it is an expression that you should know.
Outro
And that's the end of episode 183 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Lucas recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I'll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye. I'll see you soon.