AEE 2312: Them’s the Breaks! When to Throw Out Grammar Rules
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This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2312, Them's the Breaks, when to throw out grammar rules.

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz.

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In English, there are certain moments when you get to throw out the rules when it comes to grammar. Today, learn three of these phrases and get a famous movie reference that you definitely don't want to miss. Are you in charge of hiring at your company? When you're hiring, it feels amazing to finally close out a job search. But what if you could get rid of the search and just match? You can with Indeed.

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Hey there, Aubrey. How's it going? I'm great, Lindsay. What are you up to today? Oh my gosh, it's a Friday and I have to go over to FedEx and drop off some papers later. Boring. Oh no. Well, them's the breaks. That's what happens when you're a high-powered CEO, Lindsay. I know, FedEx. Oh gosh.

So you guys will notice I use this great phrase, them's the breaks. That might sound strange to you. It is definitely incorrect grammar. This is a native chunk that we use sometimes, especially to emphasize. I am excited to get into this episode today because this is not the kind of topic you're going to find on your average podcast, Aubrey.

Just on All Ears English. So go ahead and hit that follow button so that we fall right into your listening queue five days a week. Guys, hit follow now. Aubrey, let's start with our question from our listener. Should I go ahead and read it? Yeah, let's do it. All right. So...

This person says, "Hey guys, I'm Kostya. First of all, I wanna say thank you for the work you've done for all English learners around the world. My level is pretty high, confidence C1, and you definitely played a role in getting there. So double thank you." Aubrey, that's amazing. - That is amazing. I love, so glad Kostya sent this. I'm so happy to hear it. - Yeah, it's great. "You've taught me many things and out of all the podcasts I've listened to, you're my favorite.

My question to y'all is why and when people use them before nouns. I've watched a lot of movies, stand-ups, and they often use them plus noun. For example, I watched a documentary about them basketball players.

All right. It's a great question. So thank you to Kostya for this question. Yeah. Yes. It is a very good question. If you haven't noticed this yet, I guarantee you will now that we're talking about it because it is pretty common both in the UK and the US in certain regional dialects. It's very common in informal speech to use this incorrect grammar, right? You might hear someone say, look at them kids over there. Taste them cookies. They're delicious. Oh, or how about them Red Sox?

However, that one might go into a slightly different category at times, right? This is tricky, right? It's interesting. So for all of these, correct grammar, of course, would be to say those instead. Look at those kids. Taste those cookies. But we hear this. It's common in some dialects.

And there are also some chunks where whether this is part of your regional dialect or not, you might use these chunks that intentionally break this or use this incorrect grammar. Yeah, so for Kostya's question today, there's kind of two answers. Number one is that sometimes this is an intentional grammatical mistake in certain, as Aubrey said, certain dialects within the U.S., certain regions of the U.S.,

and the UK. But then in the second part of the episode now, we're going to talk about the idioms that exist that make this more of a chunk, where even if you're not making that intentional grammar mistake in everyday language, you might still use these chunks.

Which is fascinating. Yeah. So we might say these on the podcast. I grew up hearing my dad say the first one we're going to talk about. And he would not have said, you know, look at them kids, taste them cookies, because this was not common in our regional dialect. But he did say them's the breaks a lot, which meant like it is what it is. Whatever outcome to the situation is not maybe what you wanted or expected, but there's nothing you can do about it. Yeah. So this is our first idiom chunk here.

And today's episode is an ode to our dads, both of our dads. I love that. Because what you get when, you know, my dad is in his mid-70s, you know, and I imagine your dad's also in his 70s. Yeah. And so...

exposure to another generation, right? I mean, my dad was born in 1950 and the movies that he watched as a kid could have been made in the 40s or something. I guess they got TVs in the home in the 50s and the 60s, but exposure to different kinds of culture that we didn't have exposure to as kids, right? So our dads, our moms brought us that as kids from another generation. - Exactly, and you're bringing up an interesting point that in these older films, if a film is about like

maybe gangsters in the 20s or like, you know, cowboys in the Old West, you might hear this grammar, these like broken grammar rules more often. They're either trying to depict maybe the way people spoke at the time or someone from this regional dialect. Right. Or it could even be reality, current reality television from a region where this is common, you know, so that people speak this way.

Yeah. Super interesting. So the first chunk is them's the breaks. And it's funny because I had never heard that one. But 100%, it sounds very similar to the next one. Did we do that example, Aubrey? Yeah. I'm going to give an example first. So imagine you say like, everything is going wrong this week, but I guess them's the breaks, right? It just means like, I guess that's just the way it is, right? Yeah. And I...

I guess people do say those are the breaks sometimes, but I don't know, just because I grew up with my parents both saying them's the breaks. Yeah, so used to that. I for sure say it to my kids to them's the breaks. Like, well, they used up all their screen time or they ate all their Halloween candy. I'll be like, them's the breaks. Like, that's what you get.

Right. It's kind of related to tough break, right? Exactly. Or lucky break. It's the same meaning, the break, right? If something is going well or tough break, exactly, right? Just the outcome will say break. Right. Exactly. I love that. And then the second one comes from what my dad used to say, right? He used to say, them's the rules, right? So...

It's kind of funny how when you're in a more authoritative position, let's say he was setting the rule, maybe he went into another character too to use this phrase to make it easier to set standards and rules for his kids, right? For sure, right? And there is emphasis here. If he just said, well, those are the rules or because I said so, there's not quite the playfulness and the emphasis as this expression would be like, them's the rules. Yeah.

That is totally it. So my dad was always pretty playful, like a fun guy, you know, used to joke around, but he also had to get his kids to bed, you know, and up for school in the morning. And so that makes sense in the context of, you know, what he was doing, right. To say something like them's the rules, meaning you have to do this.

Yeah, and I might say this one too, right? I feel like I did hear my dad as well say this. So I think it's pretty common. I think you guys are going to start hearing it on TV, movies. These are chunks that are pretty common. You can use them if you want. You don't have to, but it's not incorrect to break the grammar rules for these chunks. They're idiomatic, right? You could say those are the rules or those are the breaks, or you can say them this way with this incorrect grammar. Exactly.

Exactly. And again, if you want to just listen for them in movies and just understand it, that is totally fine. If for whatever reason you don't feel comfortable using it, you don't have to. But the next one I actually think is so fun. Number three. It is so fun. This one is how you like them apples or how do you like them apples? And this is said when something unexpected or maybe ironic happens. And there's a famous scene from a movie that has this, right? Yeah.

I love this. I love this expression because we're not only getting a movie reference, but we're getting a phrase, right? How you like them apples. So it's from Good Will Hunting. It's the scene I just watched, rewatched Good Will Hunting. So good. I watched it with my 16 year old not long ago. So good. It's so good. It's the scene where

You know, there was a guy, the guys were in the bar and in Harvard over in Cambridge. And this supposedly smart guy was trying to flirt with a cute girl. And he was trying to impress her by basically plagiarizing, you know, everything he had ever read. And then Good Will Hunting, who's he's a good or will he's a genius, right? He comes in and he's, oh, you're just plagiarizing this guy. And what about this? And what about this? And the guy steps down.

He gets the girl's number. He sees him later in Dunkin' Donuts and he sticks his hand on the glass and says, how do you like them apples? No, he's like, I got her number. How do you like them apples? Yeah, he goes, you like apples? You like apples? Yeah. How do you like them apples? That's right. He says, do you like apples?

apples yes and of course he says it with his southie accent and you can only do it with a southie accent right but you that's not you can use this you can use this um if you can insert this i've heard people actually insert this into anecdotes and it's super fun right absolutely let's do a little mini role play to show how this could come up in a conversation i'll start us okay i didn't study for the exam at all and i got a 95.

What? I studied for weeks and got a 75. How do you like them apples? I'm not doing a selfie accent. You don't have to do a selfie accent. But right, you're saying this to me like this, like this is ironic. This is unfair. I'm like, how do you like them apples? Yes, I love it. I love it. So just very classic, right? Yes, absolutely. What if you could hear your favorite song for the first time again?

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Okay, so Aubrey, let's go into a role play here. So you are arriving at a print shop and I'm locking the door, meaning I'm closing the shop. Is that what's happening? Exactly. You're like closing the shop and leaving right as I get there. Okay, here we go. Oh, sorry, we're closed. Oh, you closed at five? Well, them's the breaks. I should have gotten here earlier. We used to stay open later, but didn't have enough business to justify it.

Oh, I almost came this afternoon, but I was sure you'd be open until five. How do you like them apples? That's what I get for procrastinating. Nice. All right. So here's something I would do. Probably I'm a bit of a procrastinator. I leave everything for the last minute. I get, I get that. I get that. It's hard to stay on top of everything all the time, right? Cause things are always coming in things you have to do.

That's the thing. Something else gets priority, so you're pushing it. You just end up having to push some things back for sure. It's always just, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow. Yep. So let's go through this. I first said, oh, no, you close at five. Well, them's the breaks.

Yeah. I'm just kind of saying like too bad, you know, sort of my bad luck, my bad fortune. Yes, exactly. So you're and you're kind of saying that to yourself in a way, right? Right. That's what it is. There's nothing to be done about it. Right. Yeah. It's interesting how they're.

I almost how else would we say this, Lindsay, I feel like them's the brakes. It's like the perfect way to, to summarize, like kind of the bummer feeling. And the kind of like, oh, well, like, I'm still being kind of laid back about it. I'm not like, begging them to keep the place open. I'm just like, oh, that's how it is.

Yeah, that's how it is. Maybe something like that, or that's how it goes, or it happens. Often I say it happens. Oh, yeah. I was like, oh, it happens. Right? Or, oh, bummer. Yeah, there are some other things we say, but I like this one. Them's the break. Yeah. It's a nice, I mean, these phrases have unique meaning, each of them, right? Yes. It's hard to replicate certain

meanings and feelings. Right. So then I said, let's see, you said, I almost can't. I kind of wish we had added here. If I had said like, Oh, is there any way you could keep it open for a few minutes? And you'd be like, sorry, I'm not like them's the rules. It's not up to me. Right. You'd be kind of saying like, that's the rule is I close it at five. I don't have an option here. A hundred percent. All

Although I feel like, well, for them's rules, I guess with a store owner, I don't know if- - It'd be like too informal. It feels informal because your dad said it. Your dad said it to you very casually. - Yeah, it feels like something that you need to know the person well in a way. - Yeah, that's a good point. 'Cause I'm not saying them's the breaks to them. I'm kind of saying it to myself. - Under your breath. - Because these are like we were saying playful, like really friendly expressions. So it probably would be kind of strange to say that to a stranger.

Right. You say it to a friend, right? Nope. Them's the rules. To the FedEx later. And if she said that to me, I'd be like, interesting. Yeah. Maybe like you're driving there with a friend and you asked to drive their car and they're like, no way. I'm the only one that drives this car. Them's the rules. That's perfect. Yes. A hundred percent. And then of course we brought in the apples, which we love. You said, I almost came this afternoon, but I was sure you'd be open until five. How do you like them apples? Right. So you're just kind of saying, you know, ah, well,

bad luck. Yep, exactly. Like, oh man, go figure is another way to say that. Like, of course, you know, of course I would come late, whatever. Yes. And by the way, if you guys are in the mood after this episode to hear a true Boston accent, you can go back to aldersenglish.com. And I interviewed my roommate at the time in Cambridge who

I think she was actually from Southie or somewhere in South Boston. So she brings you a genuine Southie accent. Just type in Boston right on the search bar and she should come up. It was a long time ago, but it's a great accent. That's such a fun accent. Or go watch Good Will Hunting. Yes. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have great Southie accents in that movie. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. So Aubrey, where should our listeners go as we finish up today?

Yeah, so we just did a great grammar episode. If you're in the mood for some more grammar, 2310, just scroll up to last week. Do not miss these English grammar tips. And we talked and we answered a really good question about how to use not. Sometimes it's a little tricky.

Yes, 100%. What's the takeaway? I mean, so for today, we're not saying this needs to be in your vocabulary, but we're not saying we can't, we shouldn't use it either. Right, Aubrey? Yeah, this is one of those where we're not saying make this change immediately, use this vocab, like you want to know what they mean, you want to be aware you're going to hear this and why.

so that you understand what's creating these, because it is just breaking a grammar rule. So like why? There is a reason that we're doing it. We're not just making mistakes, right? It's very much adapted, adopted into some regional dialects.

But if you didn't grow up using that regional dialect, then it might feel strange to you. It might sound strange if you use these mistakes. But there are these chunks that you could add if you want. Yeah, this is where we can really bring life into our English. We can have fun. You know, language can be...

reminiscent of other times in our lives right so see if you can bring it in if you want to and if not just listen up for it right good stuff absolutely so fun don't forget to hit follow on allers english aubry i'll see you next time all right see you next time take care bye

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