In this mini episode, you will learn the expression “to take your sweet time.”
Episode 468 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the expression “to take your sweet time.” 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
“Hello, everyone. This is Leonardo, from Venezuela. You are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 468 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 and useful expression. The expression is “take your sweet time.” To take your sweet time.
That is, sweet, s-w-e-e-t. To take your sweet time.
We do not actually always say, “Take your sweet time.” It could be “I take my sweet time,” or “He takes his sweet time,” “She takes her sweet time,” “We take our sweet time,” and so on.
What does it mean if somebody takes his or her sweet time? Or if I take my sweet time?
Before I get into that, let me make sure that you understand what it means to take your time. Not your sweet time—just to take your time.
“To take your time” means to do something at a comfortable speed or at a comfortable pace. It means to avoid hurrying. If someone asks you to do something and then says, “Take your time,” that means you do not need to rush. This is not urgent. It does not need to happen immediately. You do not need to do this right now. “Please, don't rush. Do it at a comfortable pace.” That's what it means to take your time.
So, what does it mean to take your sweet time?
It's very interesting to me because sweet is a very positive word. We use it in all kinds of positive ways. But in this expression, sweet sounds very negative because we use “Take your sweet time” to mean something like this:
To go very slowly, even though that is inconvenient for other people. In other words, it means to go too slowly. Or maybe it means to go slowly in a way that is somehow rude or selfish or inconsiderate of other people.
If I accuse you of taking your sweet time, I am criticizing you. I'm saying, “I don't like the way you're doing this. You are doing this too slowly. You should do it more quickly. You should care more about it. You should be more concerned. But the way you're doing it feels rude or disrespectful. You are doing this too slow.”
And it also makes it sound like you are doing this too slow on purpose. You know that you're doing this too slowly, but you're doing it that way anyway.
So you are kind of accusing somebody of being rude or selfish by taking too long to do something, by treating something as not very important.
Here is an example of a situation where somebody might use this phrase, “to take your sweet time”:
Imagine that you go to someone's apartment, and you knock on their apartment door. Maybe you had an arrangement that you would meet this person at their apartment at this time. You knock on the door. Nothing happens. You knock some more. Nobody comes to the door. You wait a little bit longer. You're starting to feel a little bit frustrated. Where is the person? Why is this person not coming to the door and opening the door? You knock again.
Finally, the person comes to the door and opens it. And you say, “Well, you took your sweet time.” You took your sweet time.
That means “You took too long to come to the door. You made me wait too long. You were rude. You were somehow selfish by taking so long to come to the door.”
Sometimes we use this expression with the word own. O-W-N. Own.
You might hear people say, “You took your own sweet time.” Or “I'm just going to take my own sweet time.”
You will hear this expression with own and without own. And I don't think it really makes a difference. I think this expression means the same thing with own and without own. To take your sweet time. To take your own sweet time.
Often, people use this expression when they are angry. They're angry that somebody is doing something too slowly. They are not taking it seriously enough. Or they don't think it's very important.
And sometimes people will use this expression in a joking way with their friends.
That is “to take your sweet time,” an interesting expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 468 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 Leonardo 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!