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 Have you noticed all the red hearts in the stores?

Absolutely!

Soon it will be February 14th -  St. Valentine’s Day! 

 Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day?

That’s a long story! It started as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine hundreds of years ago – in the 3rd century. 

What is a martyr?

A martyr is a person who is persecuted or killed because of their beliefs.

And Valentine was a martyr. He lived in the 3rd century. He was a priest in the Roman Empire who was killed because he ministered to persecuted Christians.

He was buried on February 14 and after his death, the church made him a saint.

Since at least the 8th century February 14th has been a religious feast day celebrating St. Valentine.

Interesting! How did the feast day of this Christian martyr, St Valentine, become the holiday we celebrate today with cards, flowers and chocolates?

Good question! Somehow hundreds of years later in 14th to 18th century England St. Valentine’s Day became a day when couples express their love for each other.

How did that happen?

Some people think it was because of an English poet named Chaucer.

Chaucer?

Yup. He was an English poet. In 1832 he wrote a poem about lovebird’s  choosing their mates. 

“lovebirds” huh?

Are we talking about actual birds?

We are talking about actual birds! 

This is a strange story.

I agree. And other poets around that time wrote poems about love that associated St. Valentine’s Day with love.

So -  over the centuries February 14, that started as a day to remember a Christian martyr, has become a day when people send cards, flowers, and chocolates to people to express their love and affection.

You got it!  

I’ll say it again! That’s a strange story! Maybe people were just looking for an excuse to express their feelings.

You might be right.  In the early 1800’s people wrote notes and letters to express their love and affection.

 Those were the days of simple expressions of love and affection.

Those days of simple expression of love on Valentine’s Day became a business in the 1800’s when the first commercial Valentine’s Day cards were manufactured. In 1913 the greeting card company Hallmark began selling Valentine’s Day Cards.

That was the beginning of the commercialization of St. Valentine’s Day. 

Now it’s a very commercial holiday! 

Dear listener, can you guess how much the average American spent of Valentine’s Day  in 2025?

Each American?

About $ 188 according to a AI. Can you guess what the top 5 Valentines gifts were?

 1.      Candy

2.      Flowers

3.      Greeting cards

4.      An evening out

5.      Jewelry

Well, Valentine’s Day is a far cry from its beginning as a martyred saint’s feast day – “a far cry from" means that one thing is very different from something else. The way we celebrate Valentine’s Day is very different from its origins as a day celebrating a Christian martyr.  

How do people celebrate Valentine’s Day in your home country, dear listener? Please send us a message at [email protected] and let us know.            

Speaking of Valentine’s Day. Look for our “Idioms from the Heart” episode.

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How are you this morning? I’m happy.

How is the weather today? It’s warm. 

I want to know how happy you are and how warm it is.

OK! I can use qualifiers and intensifiers to tell you how happy I am or how warm it is. We use them to express more precisely or exactly what we want to say.

Qualifiers are words we use to limit or restrict the meaning of describing words (adverbs or adjectives). We use qualifiers to decrease the strength of a describing word.. 

You said that you are happy.  Happy in that sentence is an adjective that describes you.  If you say “I am sort of happy.” You are qualifying  - taking a little away from how happy you feel. “sort of”  is a qualifier.

Some other words that take away/ limit/qualify the strength of an adjective or adverb: “slightly” and  “somewhat” are others. “kind of” and “sort of” are phrases – two words together that do the same thing. If you say you are “kind of happy”, I know that you are  on the low end of “happy”.

if I want to tell you I am on the higher end of “happy” I  use an intensifier to make the “happy feeling stronger or more intense. The most common intensifier is “very”. “I am very happy.“ If we say “I am very, very happy!' that happy is even stronger  A similar intensifier is “really” . We can repeat “really”, too. We can say “I am really, really happy that I got a new job.”

“quite”  (q-u-i-t-e) is another word that makes descriptions stronger. I can say "I had quite a nice time at the party.” "Quite"  less strong or intense than very or really.

Another intensifier is “pretty”. When we use pretty to describe attractive females or clothing that belongs to females. We can also use “pretty” to describe an object that looks nice, like a pretty picture or to describe the  weather. “It’s a pretty day”.

A different use of “pretty” is to intensify a description:“The test was “pretty hard.” “Pretty and “quite” are about equal. “extremely” is a strong intensifier. It makes a description very, very strong. 

To rank the qualifiers we have talked about from weakest to strongest: sort of, kind of, slightly and somewhat are all equal qualifiers. "I am sort of/kind of/somewhat/slightly/ tired.”  all tell you that I am a little tired. 

And Intensifiers from lowest to highest in intensity: “quite” & “pretty “are equal, “very” & “really” are a little stronger. If you repeat very, very or really, really it makes them even stronger. “extremely” is a high intensity intensifier.

There are quite a few others intensifiers and qualifiers! We hope you will recognize them when you hear those we talked about today. Now, dear listener, listen for the qualifiers and intensifiers in our short conversation.

A: Did you watch that last World Series Game?

B: I did! I usually think baseball is pretty boring and quite slow, but that game was really exciting.

A: Yeah! It was very, very exciting!

B : I was kind of sad that Toronto lost. 

A: I was sort of sad, too. But both teams played extremely well.

A: I agree. The game was quite long.  I stayed up pretty late to watch it until the end, though.

B: Me, too! This morning I woke up quite late. 

A: Same for me! But the World Series is only once a year, right?

B: You are very right!

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I have to say one thing this morning.

What’s that?

Aaaaah ! Autumn! 

Yes, it’s officially autumn, isn’t it? 

The first day of autumn began on the 22nd of September. It was also the fall equinox in the northern hemisphere. On that day the number of hours of daylight and darkness are nearly the same - about 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

Every day until December 21, we will have fewer and fewer hours of daylight.  We have been having fewer hours of daylight since the first day of summer, June 20, but in the fall, we really start to notice that our days are getting shorter.

It is correct to say  fall or autumn? “Autumn” is a little more formal. It is used more in British English. The use of “fall” comes from the “fall” of leaves from the trees. “Fall” is used more in the U S. In the US “autumn” is still used more  in literature and songs. It’s a more “poetic” word.

In the fall in western Washington the weather gets cooler. It's chilly-especially in the mornings and evenings.  We often have foggy mornings with “pockets” of fog - fog in a very limited area like a pocket. 

It starts to rain in the fall. In September and the beginning of October we have light rain. In late October into December and November we get heavy rain.  December and November are the  wettest months in the Seattle area. Notice that superlative: the wettest of all the months. We use “the” before the superlative adjective.

If I am comparing two months, I use wetter – the comparative form of the adjective wet. October is wetter than September, and December and November are the wettest months in the year. 

With the rain we can have a lot of wind in the fall. Sometimes there is just a little wind and we say, “It is breezy today.” When the cool weather moves in from the Pacific Ocean, it can bring strong winds.

Notice that we often use “it” when we talk about the weather. We can say “The weather is nice today.” But we often say “It is nice today.”  It is not correct to say, “Is nice today.” In English we always need a subject in our sentences, and if we don’t use “the weather” as a subject, we have to use “it” as our subject. 

It isn’t rainy and windy every day in the fall, is it?

No, it is not rainy and windy every day in the fall! Some days are cloudy or overcast (when the sky is cast -covered over) with clouds. We can also have beautiful clear blue-sky days in the fall. Those days are even more beautiful – spectacular – because the leaves on the deciduous trees are turning orange, red and yellow.  A deciduous tree is a tree that loses its leaves every fall. Some examples of deciduous trees in Western Washington:

Cottonwood trees are deciduous trees that grow very tall and have heart shaped leaves. You often see cottonwoods in moist soil near rivers. Cottonwood leaves often turn bright yellow in the fall.

Maple trees are another deciduous tree native to Western Washington. Big leaf maples live up to their name. They are huge! Big leaf maple leaf leaves also turn bright yellow in the fall. 

There are many more deciduous trees that add their color to the painting of a beautiful fall day. When leaves fall from the trees, they don’t fall fast like a rock, they float slowly down to the ground.

An autumn day with yellow and orange trees outlined by a deep blue sky and red and yellow leaves floating in the breeze is like magic.

What do you like to do in the fall, dear listener?

Look for the “rain” episode!

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Yesterday that young man was yelling!”  - practice with the  beginning “y”  sound

D: Did you hear about that young man in Yelm, Latonya? 

L: Yes, yesterday that young man was in his yard yelling something.

D: What was he yelling?

L: He was yelling that he couldn’t sleep because his neighbor’s dog yapped (yap! yap! yap!) every night of the year.

D: Every night of the year?? That’s a lot of yapping.

L: Yeah! That’s why the young man in the yellow jacket was yelling.

D: Yes! And he was also yawning  (yawn)– because he couldn’t sleep!

L: Yikes!

Well, that was an unusual conversation to start our podcast today!

It was! There was a reason we had that silly conversation, dear listener. Can you guess what it is?

We were practicing the sound the letter “y” makes when it is at the beginning of a word.

What letter is that?

The letter “y” .

Take a moment to look at the title of this podcast to make sure you know what the letter “y” looks like.

The name of the letter “y” is pronounced just like the question word “why” isn’t it?

Yes, it is.

The sound that the letter “y” makes when it starts a word can be challenging or tricky for English learners!

It can be! That’s why we thought we would practice that sound today. 

How do we make that sound?

We open our mouth slightly and put the tip of our tongue against our bottom teeth.  Then we press the middle of our tongue against the roof of our mouth.

Stop right there please! I thought a “roof” is the top covering of a building. For example:  “The roof protects my house from the weather.”?

You are 100 % correct about that.  We also call the top of our mouth the “roof “ of our mouth. It is hard and bony in the front and soft and muscular at the back.

The roof of the mouth is also called the palate, isn’t it?

It is! The hard, bony part at the front is the hard palate and the soft muscular part at the back is the soft palate.

Got it! So, how do we make that beginning “y” sound?

Follow these steps:

1.      press the middle of your tongue against the roof of your mouth

2.      put the tip of your tongue behind your lower front teeth 

3.      make a sound with your throat as your tongue slides forward a little

“y”

You have it! It might take a little practice, dear listener. For native Spanish speakers, it is the same sound the “y” in “mayonesa”.

Remember the letter “y” can make different sounds when it is in the middle or at the end of words. 

That’s right!  English is complicated.

Here is the good news: When we see :”y” at the beginning of a word almost always is  pronounced “Y”.            

Stop right now! Take a moment to give yourself a “pat on the back”  say “good for me” for “sticking with” or continuing your English learning journey.

Here’s a sentence from our silly conversation to practice that beginning “ y “sound.

“Yes, yesterday that young man wearing a yellow jacket was in his yard yelling something.”

Let’s say that together one more time slowly.

Yes, yesterday that young man wearing a yellow jacket was in his yard yelling something.

So, dear listener, please don’t yell or yawn, just continue learning day by day, step by step. 

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I have a riddle for you. 

Shoot!  "Shoot” is an expression we use when we want someone to tell us something! So, “shoot”! Tell me!        !

OK! Here’s the riddle; I’m red or green, a tasty delight, a fruit to munch, morning, noon or night.” What am I? (Munch is one of those wonderful words that sounds what it means - to eat something - often loudly. if I have "the munchies" I want to eat something.)

Hmm. I think you’re an apple. 

Right-O! - and that’s our subject for the day - apples!

Delicious idea! We recently talked about autumn or fall and apples are a fruit that ripens – or becomes mature in the fall. The state of Washington grows 60% of all apples grown in the US and ships apples all over the world.

Apples are a 2 billion dollar crop in Washington state.  2 billion! That’s an extremely big number.  How do we write 2 billion? 2 comma 000 comma 000 comma 000. That’s 9 zeroes! Most commercial apple orchards are east of the Cascade Mountain Range where there is more sun than in western Washington and not as much rain as in western Washington. Podcast # 38 is about the Cascade Mountain Range. 

 An orchard is a place where trees that produce fruit or nuts are grown.

There’s a small city just east of the Cascades, kind of right in the middle of Washington state, that is known as the “apple capital of the world’” -  Wenatchee.

The name of the city Wenatchee comes from the name of the indigenous people, the Winatchi, who are native to the area. The most common meaning given for the word “Winatchi” is “river flowing from a canyon”. About 31,000 people live in Wenatchee. The city has an apple blossom festival in the spring to celebrate the apples that are grown on the orchards there.

What do people do with all those apples beside munching on them? 

Well, people  make apple pies or apple muffins. You can also cook them on the stove with a little water and cinnamon and make apple sauce. You can press the apples and squeeze the juice from them and make apple cider. The apple cider taste is sweet, but a little tangy – a strong   or citrusy taste. Tangy means just a little sourness. Sweet is the opposite of sour.

Cider is not filtered like apple juice, so it is cloudy, not clear like apple juice. It can be fermented and then it contains alcohol. We call cider that is fermented “hard cider”.

There are some “apple idioms or expressions” that are kind of fun.  If I say ‘My niece is the apple of my eye.” I mean that she is loved and treasured very much.

How about  “That person is a  bad apple”? Now, that’s the opposite of “the apple of my eye”. A person who is a “bad apple” is a person who has a bad or negative influence on others.

“He upset the apple cart”  means he ruined a plan or a situation.

If I say “ That apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” I am talking about a child that resembles their parent or parents in the way they look or behave.

And if I call you an “apple polisher”?  “To polish” means to rub something and make it shine. – like polishing the furniture.   If you call me an “apple polisher” you mean that I say or do nice things just to get something from someone else – usually someone who is an authority. 

One more idiom – not an apple idiom but a “polish” idiom: to “polish off” means to finish something. So, let’s polish off our apple episode by reminding you, dear listeners, that you are the apples our eye – or … our eyes. 

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D: How are you? L:  Well, I haven’t felt well the past few days, but today I feel better. I think I’m on the mend. D: I’m glad to hear that. I heard you use an interesting idiom: “on the mend”. L: You “have an ear” for idioms! “on the mend” is an idiom that we English speakers use often.

An idiom is a group of words- that together have a meaning that you can’t translate word by word. Idioms are colorful expressions. Let's look at “on the mend”  What does mend mean?

“Mend” can be a verb or a noun. When used as a verb “mend” means to repair a physical object that is broken or to improve a situation. “My grandma always mends holes in her socks.” We use “mend” when we repair fabric or glass objects, but not machines. I mend a broken vase, but I fix or repair my broken dishwasher.  

We also use mend as a verb to talk about  broken bones or other damaged body parts that are healing and to talk about improving a situation: John needs to mend his relationship with his father. 

We use mend as a noun, too, to talk about the repair. “The mend in her shirt is perfect.In our idiom,  “On the mend”,“mend” is used as a noun.  “On the mend” means getting better or improving. We often use it when we are talking about improving health, but we can also use it for other situations. For example: The climate situation is on the mend. Or.. Their relationship is on the mend.

There are many other very common idioms that begin with “on the” .

You are “on the ball” to think about that! Hey! You just used one of those “on the” idioms: “on the ball” When I said you were on the ball, I meant to say that you are quick to understand and react to things. I imagine a person standing on a big ball and needing to react quickly, so they don’t fall off. If I say, “I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m not on the ball this morning.” I mean that I’m not as alert and mentally sharp as usual. What is another idiom that begins with “on the” ?

 “On the way” is one that I use a lot.  If I say I’m “on the way”, I mean that I’m in the process of coming or I will soon be there. Both  “I’m on my way.”  or " I’m on the way" mean the same thing. We can also say “Winter is on the way.” Or “Rain is on the way.”

On the mend, on the ball, on the way…let’s talk about two more “on the….” Idioms. “On the go” and “on the move” both mean to be busy and active. We use both expressions to talk about being busy.  “My mom likes to be on the go.” or “My mom likes to be on the move.” 

You are saying that your mom likes to be busy.  “on the move” can have more emphasis on physically moving from place to place.  “I will be traveling this week so I will be on the move.”  We also use “on the move’ to talk about a situation or person that is making progress. “He’s a man on the move.” Or “The economy is on the move again.” There are dozens of idioms that begin with "on the"!  Maybe we will return to others in future podcasts, but for now let’s have a short conversation practicing those using the 5 that we talked about today.

A: Hey, long time no see! B: I’ve been on the go from morning to night for the past few weeks. I have had a lot going on.A: Yes, I heard that your daughter broke her leg.  How is she doing?B: Yes, she had a bike accident two weeks ago. Fortunately, her leg is on the mend now.A: How are you?B: Well, I’m not really on the ball this morning. Our new puppy was on the move and whining all night, so nobody slept. A: Maybe you need a nap. B: I agree. I’m on the way home to take a nap

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L: Do you know me?

D: Yes, of course I know you ,Latonya.

 L: When did we meet?

D: We met about 3 years ago.

 L: That’s right. 5 years ago, I didn’t know you, and you didn’t know me. We didn’t know each other. 

D: Do you know my son?L: No, I’ve never met your son. I don’t know him.

We’ve been using meet and know – two words that can be challenging for English learners. Let’s focus on meet and know today. Let’s start with meet. “m – e – e -t” not  “ m-e-a-t” – like hamburger or steak. We use “meet” to talk about the first time we see someone and talk with them and learn their name. “I like to meet new people.” The past tense of “meet” is “met” For example, “ I met you 3 years ago.”  Or “We met 3 years ago.” - if I am talking about both of us.

After we meet someone for the first time, we “get to know” them - we learn about their interests, their family,  their work.

When talking about the past, we say “got to know”. Let’s talk about the verb  “know”:  k-n-o-w (remember when we see   “kn”  together, we know the “k” is silent. “Know”  we pronounce “NO”)

We use “know” in two ways. The first way is when we are talking about people we are acquainted with. “She knows my mom.” “I know your teacher.” I could say. “I met you three years ago, and I got to know you when we started working together. If someone asks me, “Do you know Diana?” I can say, “Yes, I know her.”  When we are talking about the past, we use “knew”. For example, “Did you know me two years ago when we started doing this podcast?” “Yes, knew you when we started the podcast.”

So, one way we use “know”  is when we talk about being acquainted with a person. Another way we use “know” is to talk about having information about something. For example, “I know your address.” Or “ I know that the park will close at 8:00.” or "She knows my cousin’s name.”

Do you hear the two different uses of “know?”  

 #1. “She knows my cousin. -  to be familiar with a person after you have met them

#2. “She knows my cousin’s name”       to have information – in this case my cousin’s name

Here’s a hint for Spanish speakers:  to know or meet a person – is the verb conocer;  to know information – is the verb saber

We talked about using the verb “meet” when we talk about being introduced to someone for the first time. Do we use “meet” in any other way?

We use “meet” to talk about arranging to be at a specific place at a specific time. “We always meet at the park on Wednesdays at 7:30 in the morning for lunch.”  or “Meet me at the restaurant at 5 this afternoon.” When people meet at a specific place and time we call it  a “meeting”.

Listen to our short conversation as we use know, knew, meet, met and meeting. 

A: Remember that we have a department meeting at 1:30 with our new boss.

B: Yeah, I know, but thanks for reminding me. Do you know the new guy?

A: Well, I met him yesterday. I know his name, and I know he worked in the Portland office before, but I really don’t know much about him.

B:  I met a woman from the Portland office at a conference last year.   I’ll ask him if he knows her when I meet him this afternoon.

A: OK. See you at the meeting.

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May 18th of this year was the 45th anniversary of a big event in southwestern Washington state.  This huge geological event happened on May 18th 1980. It reshaped a mountain and the area surrounding that mountain. 

We are talking about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.  We mentioned Mt. St. Helens in podcast # 38 - “Mt Rainier and the Cascade Mountain Range”. Mt. St. Helens, like Mt. Rainier, is one of the mountains in the “Cascade Volcanic Arc." The Cascade Volcanic Arc is a chain of volcanoes that extends over 700 miles from Western British Columbia in Canada to northern California. There are several major volcanoes in that chain. One of those volcanoes is Mt. Rainier, which last erupted s about 500 years ago.  Geologists say that it will erupt again sometime in the future.

Mt. St. Helens is the volcano in the Cascade Arc that last erupted.  Geologists and volcanologists (scientists who study volcanoes) knew that something was happening  - that “something was  up” -  with the mountain starting in March of 1980. They observed some small earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and they were watching the mountain carefully during March and April.

They were worried because they noticed that the activity was increasing. On April 30 the governor of Washington created a “red zone” around the volcano. No one was allowed to enter this zone. The last week of April 1980 geologists noticed a bulge on the north side of the mountain. A bulge is a swelling on the surface of something – when the surface sticks out or projects.

The scientists watched this bulge grow bigger every day; more earthquakes occurred below this bulge. At 8:32 on May 18 it happened! There was an earthquake on the north slope or incline of the mountain followed by a volcanic blast or explosion.

There was a plume of ash 80,000 feet in the sky. A plume is a feather of a bird, but we also use “plume” to describe something that is the shape of a feather – long and narrow. 

This plume of ash from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens reached 11 states and some Canadian provinces. There was also a big landslide. The north side of the mountain slid away. (slide – present; slid -past). Volcanic mudflows called lahars, made of melted snow and ice mixed with the rocks and ash from the eruption, flowed down the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers, rivers that flow down from the mountain. Unfortunately, 57 people lost their lives in the eruption. One man who died was a volcanologist who was observing the mountain, another was a photographer who had been taking pictures of the activity on the mountain.

An 83-year-old man named Harry Truman had a lodge on Spirit Lake at the base of the mountain. He lived there with his 32 cats!  State officials ordered everyone to leave the area where he lived, but Harry refused. He said, “If the mountain goes, I’m going with it.” And he died in the eruption. Most of the other people who were killed were outside the area that officials thought was dangerous.

In addition to the loss of life, the eruption killed thousands of animals, caused damage to homes, bridges and roads and destroyed 200 square miles of forest. The eruption blew the top off the mountain and left a 1 mile wide horseshoe shaped crater (round bowl shaped depression). The eruption of Mt. St. Helens is considered the most disastrous volcanic eruption in US history. 

Today Mt. St. Helens is in a quiet “dormant” or sleeping state, Scientists still watch it closely for signs of activity. Plants and animals have returned. There are visitor centers, exhibits, trails. The area is now the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. 

Check out the Mt. St. Helens website for more information.

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D: Can I borrow $10 from you? L: Sure, I can lend you $10. D:  Thanks million! I’ll pay you back next week.

“Borrow” and “lend” are two verbs that English learners often find challenging.  Let’s practice those verbs today. Shall we start with “borrow”? In our short conversation at the beginning of this podcast Diana asked Latonya if she could borrow $10 from her. 

 When I ask if I can borrow $10 - or anything else – from you, the understanding is that I will give it back to you in the future.  “To give (something) back” is a phrasal verb that means to return something to its original owner.  A phrasal verb is a verb plus another word or words that together have a meaning separate from the original words. In “give back” give is the verb and back is the word that is added. And give back “ means to return something. We can also say “bring back”, “take back”  or, if it is money, “pay back”.

 Let’s return to “borrow”. If I borrow something from you, I plan to give it back or pay it back sometime in the future.  I often borrow  books from the library. I read the book, and then I return it – or take it back to the library. Sometimes I drop the book in a slot – a narrow opening – that says “returns”.

Notice that we said borrow from the library.  We borrow something from someone or, in our example, from the library. And the library lends books to us.  When the library lends books to us, they expect that we will return them or take them back within a certain time.

If you lend $10 to me, you expect that I will give you the $10 back sometime in the future. And maybe you hope that I will give you the $10 back soon right?

You can use “loan” in place of “lend “ and the meaning will not change. Notice that “loan” is also a noun. We use loan, for money that is borrowed. For example  “The bank loaned me $500. I need to pay the loan back in 1 year.” 

How do we use borrow and lend and loan in the past?

Well, borrow is a regular past tense verb… So we add an “ed” to make it past tense, right?

Yes, I can say “I borrowed a sweater from my sister yesterday.”Loan"is also a regular past tense verb.  “My daughter loaned her car to me last week.”

The past tense form of “lend” is irregular - “lent”. “My sister lent her sweater to me yesterday.”

Listen for the present and past forms of “lend” “loan” and “borrow” in the conversation between neighbors, Latonya and Diana.

D: Hi Latonya,  I need to rake up all those leaves in my yard. May I borrow a rake from you?

L: Sure, I have an extra rake. I can lend it to you.

D: Thanks, and after I rake the leaves, I need to mow the grass. Can I borrow your lawn mower?

L: Well, I’ll loan my lawn mower to you, but you need to bring it back tomorrow. I need to mow my lawn, too.  

D: No problem! I will return it this afternoon, I’m sorry to ask, but can I borrow a few gallons of gas from you too. I need it for the lawnmower.

L: I can’t lend any gas to you because I lent you my gas can last week and you didn’t bring it back.

D; Gosh! Now I remember that I borrowed your gas can last week, but it’s empty now. Can I borrow $10 to fill it up?

L: No! I’m not going to lend you $10 to fill up my gas can!  You need to give the gas can back to me today. And please fill it before you return it. 

Please email us at [email protected] to tell us if you have borrowed or lent anything lately, dear listener.

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