In this mini episode, you will learn what we mean when we say that something “makes someone tick.”
Episode 437 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you what we mean when we say that something “makes someone tick.” 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 Ilahe, from Azerbaijan. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 437 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 expression. The expression is something “makes someone tick.” Something makes someone tick.
I’m going to tell you what this expression means. I’m going to tell you why it means that, and then I’m going to tell you how we use this expression. Something “makes someone tick.”
When we talk about something that makes someone tick, we are talking about the thing that motivates someone, or the thing that makes someone act the way they do, or the thing that they care about the most, or maybe even the thing that makes someone who they are.
To understand why this expression has this kind of meaning, we need to look at this word tick: Something that makes someone tick.
The word tick—t-i-c-k—has many meanings. As a verb, tick means “to make a ticking sound.” A ticking sound is a sound like this: tk tk, tk tk, tk tk. That is a ticking.
Often when we think of a ticking sound, we think of a clock or a watch. I think in this expression, tick refers to the sound of any kind of machine or mechanism that is working. Any kind of machine or mechanism that is operating. It is on. It is doing something. When a machine or a mechanism is working, it is ticking. It is making these little mechanical sounds. That’s how we can tell that it’s working. We can hear it. We can hear it ticking. Tk tk, tk tk, tk tk.
When we talk about something that makes someone tick, we are talking about the thing that makes someone function. The thing that makes someone work like a machine or a mechanism. What makes that person function? What makes that person work like some kind of machine? What makes that person tick?
Imagine that you have a coworker who is very mysterious. Let’s say that you have worked with this person for a long time. Maybe you have worked with this person for several years. But you still feel like you don’t really know him. He still seems mysterious. You don’t really know what he’s like. Who is he as a person? You really don’t know.
One day, you say to another coworker, “I want to find out what makes him tick.” I want to find out what makes him tick.
In other words, “I want to find out what motivates him. What makes him do the things that he does? What makes him the person he is? What makes his mechanism work?”
If we think of people as machines—maybe if we think of people having a machine inside them, maybe like your heart is a kind of machine or mechanism—well, what makes that machine work? What keeps someone functioning? What makes them operate? What makes them do what they do?
After you get to know your coworker a little bit, you might say, “Now I understand him. Now I know what he’s like. I know what makes him tick. He isn’t so mysterious anymore because now I know what makes him the person he is, what motivates him to be the way he is and to do the things he does. Now I know what makes him tick.”
And that is something that “makes someone tick” (or “to make someone tick”), a very interesting and useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 437 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any 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 Ilahe 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!