This mini episode teaches you the useful word “earworm.” What does it mean, and how do we use it?
Episode 209 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you how to use the word “earworm.” 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
“Hi, everyone. This is Mobina from Iran, and you are listening to this amazing podcast, Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 209 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
I am going to teach you an interesting word today. And that word is earworm. Earworm. That’s e-a-r-w-o-r-m. Earworm.
What do you think an earworm is? Well, it sounds like the name of a kind of worm or some kind of bug or insect. Maybe you might think that an earworm is a kind of worm that crawls into your ear and gets stuck inside your ear. That is an awful thought. That’s an awful thing to think about. But it’s close to the real meaning of the word earworm. Because an earworm is a song that you cannot stop thinking about. It is a song that you cannot get out of your head. You keep thinking about it. You keep singing it. You keep humming it to yourself.
That is what an earworm is—a song that you cannot get out of your head. And I think it’s easy to see why we call this kind of song an earworm. Because a song like this is like a worm that gets into your ear and gets stuck. Once you hear this song, you’re in trouble. You cannot stop thinking about this song.
And now that I have told you about the word earworm, I should probably tell you about a word with a similar meaning. This is the adjective catchy. Catchy. C-a-t-c-h-y. Catchy. If something is catchy, it is very easy to remember, or it attracts your attention easily. We often describe songs as catchy, if they are easy to remember and if we enjoy listening to them and enjoy singing them.
If you put these two new words together, you could say a sentence like this: “That catchy new song is a real earworm.” And that means as soon as you hear that song, it is stuck inside your head, and you cannot stop singing it. You cannot stop thinking about it.
Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever had an earworm stuck inside your head? Well, if you have, I have learned a trick for getting rid of an earworm. And here is the trick: if you sing the song to yourself all the way to the end, sometimes that is enough to remove the earworm from your mind. Sing it all the way to the end. Don’t stop yourself halfway through. Keep singing it all the way to the end, and that might solve your problem.
And that is earworm, a very interesting and useful word that I think you should know.
Outro
And we have reached the end of episode 209 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 Mobina 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.