AEE 2314: Mock Versus Mimic - What's the Difference?
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This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2314, Mock vs. Mimic. What's the difference?

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 hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado.

Colorado and New York City, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com/subscribe. When it comes to pretending to be like someone or doing an impression of someone, there are a few different words that you can use. Listen in today to get the tips on these words. Plus, find out about one of our favorite TV shows.

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Hey there, Michelle. How's it going today? Good, Lindsay. Lindsay, can you do any impressions of people, maybe a celebrity or anything like that? Not very well. I usually have to hear their voice immediately and they have to have a very distinctive voice or accent. I'm good at mimicking accents right after I hear them, but I'm not very good at just out of the blue doing someone. Do you know what I mean? Without calling it up and hearing and listening to it.

So that's my quirk. What about you, Michelle? I would imagine you're pretty good at it. Well, I used to do this game with my brother when I was younger, maybe 10 or in my teenage years, and he would play the piano and I would sing and he would call out a celebrity, a singer, and we would be doing the same song and I would always switch songs.

and try and do impressions of that singer singing the same song. So we use it. I don't know if I'm good at it. My brother thought I was, but I don't know. But I haven't really done that in a long time. But today we're actually going to talk about the differences between the words mock and mimic. So, Lindsay, you mentioned the word mimic.

Mimic. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So this is this is going to be a good one. I'm excited for this episode. But before we get into that, we have some reviewers that we really want to thank. Yeah, guys, reviews are huge for us. It is so important for us to know what you think about the show. So go and leave a review anywhere you listen. Also in the app, the Android or iOS is also a great place to leave a review as well as the podcast.

I want to call out two reviewers. We have a five-star review. The name is anonymous, so the person didn't want to leave their name, but they reviewed us on November 3rd. So special thank you to that person. Thank you. And Jian Zhang also left a five-star review on November 1st. So that is amazing, Michelle. And guys, we will call your name aloud on the show if you leave a review. So go ahead and leave that review. Yeah, Michelle?

Yes, absolutely. Please do. We love hearing from you. Thank you so much. Yeah. All right. So where do we go here with mock and mimic? Important. It sounds like they could be the same thing, but they're really not. Right, Michelle? Yeah. No, they're not. Well, so let's get into it. So they are we're going to be talking about both of them as verbs today. So we have a mock and

To me, when you hear mock, it's a little bit more potentially mean-spirited. More about teasing someone. So maybe, again, they're similar in the way that it's both kind of copying or trying to impersonate in some way. So in that way, they're similar. But to me, mock sounds a little bit more mean-spirited. So for example, if you said, Sarah hated it when people mocked her voice.

Yeah, essentially it means T it really means teasing. It's, it's a way of teasing someone. Right. But it's a special, it doesn't mean teasing. It's a kind of teasing is what I mean by that. Yeah. And right. It's exactly. And it doesn't have to be that they're doing an impression of her voice, but at me, but likely they're kind of doing some sort of impression, but it could just be, Oh, they mocked it. They talked about it. They made fun of it. Um, so it has that, uh, use as well. Um,

Oh, that's really, this is kind of high level actually when you think about it because people do use mocking in a way when someone says, are you mocking me? Right? When you're maybe using sarcasm to respond to what someone said, it's not just sarcasm.

let me do an impression of you in a way that's teasing or degrading to you. It's not just that simple. It's not that simple. Right? Right. Do you remember? And you've seen My Cousin Vinny, right? Yeah, I love that movie. Do you remember when he comes in the ridiculous suit? Do you remember that scene? And the judge says, are you mocking me? Yeah. Yeah.

I have to watch that movie again, honestly. Yeah, oh, it's so funny. This might be the right time for a good funny movie. I could watch that now. But yeah, basically, just to give a little bit of background, because I think it's helpful. So this judge, so this guy Vinny, he's coming in to be a lawyer, but he has kind of this...

wild personality and he's not a very good lawyer. He doesn't really know much, but so he's trying. And so the judge keeps on getting him in trouble because he's wearing inappropriate clothes to be a lawyer in the courtroom. So then he tries to get a suit, but his suit gets covered in mud somehow and he can't find a new suit. So he just finds this like red tuxedo and

It's very over the top. And he goes into the courtroom and the judge looks at him and he says, are you mocking me? That's perfect. Yeah. So that's an example of he wasn't actually saying anything. He wasn't doing an impression of him, but it was that he was doing something in this sarcastic way to tease him, even though he actually wasn't trying to.

Yeah, that's a great example. So mocking actually is quite a high level term, how to know when to use it when it goes beyond just the actions that someone is taking. Right. So that is that is definitely for the advanced level here as our listeners move up into that C1 level. All right. Should we flip over then to mimic?

Michelle, let's do it. How is this different? Right. So mimic is really imitating someone. I suppose you could wear clothes to mimic someone. But to me, when I hear mimic, I think more of actually doing an impression and that it's not necessarily it doesn't mean that it's mean spirited. Right. Whereas mock is definitely mean spirited.

Yes, completely. So for example, here's a couple sample sentences for our listeners, guys. Her daughter mimicked her every move. Now this is interesting because this doesn't mean her daughter is verbally mimicking her. It means she's physically doing the same thing, but it's not about what she's saying. It's about what she's doing.

Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Right. I mean, they say a lot of times kids will mimic their parents in their actions or in their words. Yes, I definitely, sometimes you don't realize it until you hear your kids say something and then you're like, oh, that's from me. That's me. Oh my God. The

my partner's nephew with my nephew, we were camping this summer. Okay, this is a two, like a three-year-old child, okay? So we're camping and he's got a little bit of an attitude. He's his own person. Wait, sorry, how old again? He's like three years old. He's young, young, young, young. He doesn't have vocabulary yet, very good vocabulary yet.

And we're throwing around the ball and all of a sudden he gets upset and he stands there and we're all outside by our tents and he stands there, crosses his arms and he goes, when did this come up? Right? So clearly he doesn't know what he's saying. What does that mean when someone says, when did this come up? When did this come up? I'm like, you're asking for...

i don't even know like the story about something like he's basically he's mimicking his mom he's taking it totally out of context he doesn't know usually when someone says when did this come up it's like when did someone talk about this when did this topic arise in the conversation right but we're just throwing around a ball and he's getting upset and he just says it he only knows that his mom said that and maybe she was upset at some point or something right so he brought it totally out of context

but he's mimicking his mom or his dad and we it was so funny because it just made no sense for the scenario that we were in so i love it those are the funniest things well the scary thing is if they ever curse and yeah oh sure that's the worst kind of mimicking yeah yeah that's definitely happened to me with i because my husband dan tends to if somebody falls

He's very bad about not cursing. And so, and there was one time when my daughter just started saying a certain word. And yeah, so that's when you're like, oh, I better stop it. That is the ultimate definition of mimic at the lowest level, right? At the most basic level, it's what kids do before they have the context for things.

And they're just mimicking their parents, right? Yep. That's a great example of mimic. And then, of course, as you said, can you mimic J-Lo or can you mimic this celebrity, that celebrity? Sure, we do that too. Actors, celebrities, singers. Elvis. Right. Oh, yeah. And Elvis impersonator. Oh, my gosh. So fun. So fun. So, yeah. Another thing you could say is she practiced mimicking celebrities for the school talent show. So, yeah.

So basically mocking may be mimicking someone, but it's a bit mean spirited. Mimicking, it's tough to say that, may be more just a little bit neutral, doing something funny, doing an impression. - Yes, I totally agree. I love that. It's important to notice the difference

All right. So what about the expression imitation is the highest form of flattery, Michelle? What do we think about that? Have you heard that expression? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I always like that one. I think...

It reminds me of... Have you ever shown up somewhere or heard about people showing up somewhere and they're wearing the same outfit? Yeah, sometimes. Like they took your style or something. Yeah. Right. Exactly. I mean, so sometimes people can get upset if somebody... They feel that somebody copied their style.

or something like that. But then you have to say, oh, well, imitation is the highest form of flattery. What does that mean? It just means that they see what you do, maybe how you dress or how you speak, and they want to be like you, right? And kids will do this too. Maybe they'll play certain games. Maybe a good example of that could be if...

if a kid's dad or mom is a nurse or a doctor and they want to play that game at home with their sibling all the time. Right. Very good example. For sure. Yes. Yes. And actually I, I, one of my favorite people to imitate in the whole world is my dad. Um, I, he's my favorite person in the world to do an impression of, but it's all in good fun and I do it in front of him and everybody in my family just cracks up when I do it. It's just my, sometimes I'll just break out into being my dad. Um,

And so sometimes I'll say to him, oh, you know, imitation is the highest form of flattery. It's all in good fun. He laughs. It's just a lot of fun. So that's like if I could imitate one person, it's my job. Oh, that's and that makes me actually think of SNL, right? Because SNL just had our elections and maybe this will go away. But for the last year or so, there have been there's been a Kamala impersonator, right? Yeah. What's her name?

Maya Rudolph. And that's what they do during election seasons on SNL is they're on there all the time mimicking. And it is really, really funny. I mean, they come up with the quirkiest parts. I think for a while, who was it? The bald one of the Baldwin's.

Donald Trump. Yes. It's just, I don't know. That's another example of mimicking people. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's huge. I mean, people love when they can hear a celebrity impersonations. I think it's just so much fun. Exactly. And if you guys aren't sure what we're talking about by SNL, it's Saturday night live, which is one of the most famous TV shows in American culture. Um,

I'm not sure if it streams globally. I don't actually know, but check it out if you have access to it for sure. All right. Okay. So yeah, I think after the break, we're going to do some other words that go along with this topic. Sounds good, Michelle. See you in a few minutes. For over 50 years, Burlington's legacy has been great deals on coats for all weather conditions. So before you're caught unprepared for the winter weather...

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All right. Not a few minutes. We're back in a few seconds here. Here we are. All right. So, all right. There's a few other words that go into these buckets here that we need to address because they do come up when we talk about different topics. What's the first one, Michelle? It's to copy, right? But a lot of times people say copycat.

So it's a similar, it's a similar idea. Usually copycat is more negative. So if you just say, oh, my sister copies everything I do, it can be frustrating. Okay. So that's a negative spin. But especially if, you know, a kid might call another kid like you're,

copycat. Your copycat. Yeah, exactly. That's where it's used the most. It's also used, unfortunately, when there's a crime, like when there's a shooting, you might be on alert for copycat shooters. And that does sometimes happen. So that's another place where we use it. We just want to show you guys all the broad places in society where we do use these terms. Okay. Okay. What's the next one, Lindsay? All right. Perry.

I like this one. It comes back to just what parrots do, right? Right. Yeah. She just parrots what her friends say and she needs to think for herself. So yeah, parrots are the ones that can speak, right? The birds. Have you ever interacted with a parrot? Have you ever been mimicked by a parrot? No, but I have seen parrots. But no, I haven't had that happen to me. What about you? No.

I don't think I have, but definitely when I'm in the presence of a parrot, I'm like, oh my gosh. But watch what you say. Is this bird going to make fun of me now? You know what I mean?

I sort of, it feels weird. It feels weird. Yeah, no, it's true. It's true. So you might say, uh, she, oh wait, did you already say the example? Yeah. I'll say it again though, just to solidify for our listeners. Because in this case, we talked about a parrot as a noun, an animal, a bird, but this is used as a verb, right? So we just take that noun and we turn it into a verb. She just parrots what her friends say and she needs to think for herself. I

And of course, yeah. Yeah. I think that I think it is mostly a negative when you say somebody parrots something, someone. I think it's more like, oh, that they don't they're not thinking for themselves or they're just, you know, going with what the other person says. So to me, that one is usually more negative.

Right. And then in society, we see this where if you say certain people will parrot what they hear on the news or maybe on podcasts or on certain channels, that sort of thing, or what they read. Right. So you might see that when you're having broader conversations in society. OK, good. What else, Michelle? The last one we'll do is impersonate. So that's also a similar idea. And this goes a lot with those with an actual person.

vocal impersonation, I think. Tom does the best impersonation of Jimmy Fallon. And we're going to bring in Jimmy Fallon. I haven't really heard that many of Jimmy Fallon's impersonations, actually. Yeah, no, he does some pretty good ones. So Jimmy Fallon also, yeah, as Lindsay mentioned, SNL stars. There's this new comedian, Matt Frick,

friend. He does a lot of good celebrity impersonations. And then, you know, Dana, Dana Carvey is the one who did. Yeah. He did Biden. Oh, he did Biden. Okay. Okay. All right. Yeah. I didn't see him doing Biden, but that's interesting. He did it on the most recent ones on the most recent episodes. That's it's Dana Carvey. Are you an SNL fan? Do you watch it all the time? Yeah. Okay. I'm, I'm, I skip around. I usually watch, I usually watch the beginning and

And then especially in the best time to watch SNL is when there's an election, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. I don't always watch it, but then I do. And I do like weekend update. I think that's funny. Got it. All right, Michelle, let's get into a real quick role play and then we'll hop off because we're running out of time here. So here we are old friends that knew each other in high school and we're talking about high school. So reflecting on it. Right. OK, here we go.

It was a lot of fun, but we went to school with some mean people. Oh, I remember. Jerry used to mock all the teachers. It was funny sometimes, but not that nice.

Yeah, it was pretty rude when he would imitate everything Ms. Smith said. Definitely. Remember when April got mad at Leah for copying her outfit? Of course. She didn't seem to think imitation was the highest form of flattery. I guess not. One of my favorite times in high school was when all the students had that assembly where they would impersonate the teachers.

so fun that they had an ass I can't see it was so fun sorry it was so fun that they had an assembly for that every year crazy yeah they were pretty good at mimicking them okay sorry about that no that was me sorry um

All right. So basically, yeah, we're reflecting on our high school experience. And maybe there was a lot of mocking, mimicking and imitating in high school. Right. Teenagers will do that. Right. So I said, oh, I remember Jerry used to mock all the teachers. And again, just reflecting on the meaning of mock, Michelle.

- Imitate but with a little bit of a mean spirit. - Yes, and then we used imitate, right? You said, "Yeah, it was pretty rude that he would imitate everything Ms. Smith said." So now we're just reaching for different vocabulary. You don't wanna just say mock again in that scenario. You need the vocabulary range, right? - Yes, yes, exactly. And then you said, "Remember when April got mad at Leah for copying her outfit?"

Mm-hmm. Nice, nice. And then you said, of course, she didn't seem to think imitation was the highest form of flattery. So that means April wasn't happy, didn't consider that a compliment. Right, right. She was just mad. And

And you said, "One of my favorite times in high school is when all the students had that assembly where they would impersonate the teachers." - Yes. And then you said, "Yeah, they were pretty good at mimicking them." Nice. It makes me think of fashion. Isn't fashion just like the ultimate form of mimicking?

We all just mimic each other. Like the new gene trends, now we're wide leg jeans. I searched the internet to get skinny jeans still. I will not leave my skinny jeans. I will pay whatever I need to to still get skinny. But eventually, I'm sure I'll take on the wide leg. But it is true. Fashion is the ultimate mimicking.

in a sense. Yeah, that's true. And we all do. Yeah, because sometimes then it takes a little while for everybody to catch on new trends. But then when you see it enough, then eventually it happens to you too. And then you're like, oh, now I'm wearing wide leg pants. Yep, it will happen. So Michelle, is there another episode we should check out before we finish up today? Yes, guys, check out episode 2299 was do you know these expressions all too well? All

All right. Any takeaway for our listener? I think we've been super clear about the differences between mock and mimic. Where should we leave our listeners today? Well, guys, let us know if there are any celebrity impressions you can do. I want to know. And just in general, you know, think about with each of these words, they have positive or more negative connotations. So really think about which ones you're using. And like in the role play, you're not going to use mock or

Just over and over and over. And this is like a common conversation that could happen. So we really do need these tools. We need many different words to describe. Yeah. Situations. Yes, 100%. So we've taken away some interesting cultural tips here. We've gotten into Saturday Night Live, a lot of cultural pieces. And also, this is an episode for your vocabulary range. As Michelle said, don't just...

Don't just parrot the same words over and over again, right? No, right. Yeah. Different words. Okay. Throw in a different word to mean the same thing. That's what we're doing at the B1, B2, C1 level. You guys are ready for that. And that creates more connection. Okay. For sure. Love it. Excellent, Michelle. I'll see you next time. All right. Bye, Lindsay. Bye. Bye.

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