In this mini episode, you will learn the useful idiom “change your tune.”
Episode 380 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful idiom “change your tune.” Send your questions about English and your comments and suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“This is Elena, from Russia. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 380 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 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
In this episode, I am going to teach you an interesting idiom. The idiom is “to change your tune.” To change your tune.
That’s c-h-a-n-g-e, y-o-u-r, t-u-n-e. Change your tune.
First of all, do you know what a tune is? Tune is another word for a song or a melody.
So, what do you think it might mean if we say that somebody has changed their tune? They are singing a different song? Or they are playing a different song? Well, it kind of means that. In a way.
“To change your tune” is a lot like saying “to change your opinion.” But it’s not exactly the same. It’s not exactly the same as “to change your opinion.” Because it’s a little bit more specific than that.
We say that someone changes their tune when they change the way they think and talk about something. If they used to have a certain opinion—and everyone knew that because they told people that opinion—but then, for some reason, they change their opinion, they change the way they think about something and talk about something, then we can say, “That person has changed their tune.”
So it’s more specific than just having a new idea or a different opinion.
Let me give you an example of a situation where we might use the idiom “change your tune.”
Let’s say you have a friend who always says that math is the easiest subject. Math is so easy. Your friend is always saying, “Well, I think math is very easy. I’m so good at math. I know more about math than anybody. Math is simple.” Okay, that’s your friend. Your friend has made this opinion very clear. This is the way your friend has talked about math and math class. But now, your friend takes a math class in college, let’s say, and she finds that math is actually pretty difficult.
She always said that math was very easy, but now she has a very different attitude because she has seen that it’s not easy. It’s difficult. Now, when she talks about math, she doesn’t say, “Math is so easy.” Now she says, “Math is a very difficult subject.”
We could say that she has changed her tune. It’s not just that she has a new opinion about math. It’s that she has changed the way she thinks and talks about math. She had an opinion before that everybody knew about because she used to share this opinion. But now she is sharing a different opinion. So we can say that she changed her tune.
It’s almost like saying that now she is singing a different song about math. Now she is singing a song that says math is hard. So the tune that she is singing has changed. She has a whole different attitude about math.
And that is “change your tune,” a very interesting and useful idiom that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 380 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Elena recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode. And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!