A to Z Quick Chat 05 (Re-upload) | What are you afraid of?

In this re-upload, Kevin and Jack discuss the things that make them feel afraid. Let us know what you're scared of by sending us an email or leaving a comment on our website!Vocabulary:confront a situation or thing that you are afraid ofOutgrow To become too old or too big for something To plague To continue to cause problems for someone or something Paranoid Constant fear of something that does not exist Irrational Illogical or unreasonable Transcript:00:00:02JackYou are listening to the A-Z English podcast.00:00:11KevinWelcome to an A-Z English quick chat. We're going to surprise each other with a topic for the day and see where the conversation goes. Check our site for a study guide with vocabulary notes and discussion questions, as well as links to our WhatsApp or other social media where you can join in the discussion.00:00:27KevinSo, Jack, what? What do you want to talk about today? What's your topic?00:00:30JackYeah. So today I want to talk about phobias, and I'm curious. Yeah, if you have any phobias and then I'll share, you know, my phobia.00:00:42KevinI I I mean, I'm sure there's things that I'm kind of afraid of, but I can't really think of too.00:00:48KevinMany big phobias.00:00:50KevinThey definitely do not like bugs.00:00:52KevinVery much. It depends on the kind of bug, but yeah, those they that is definitely something I'm not not a fan of. At least it's not so much of A phobia exactly though.00:01:06JackWho kills the spiders in your family?00:01:08JackThen does. Does your wife kill them?00:01:11KevinI don't kill spiders. I save spiders.00:01:13JackUh, you save spiders because they eat.00:01:15KevinYour friends. Spiders. Exactly. Spiders eat other bugs, so if I see a spider, I either just leave it alone, or if it's a big creepy one, I'll put it in a.00:01:15JackDevice, yeah.00:01:22KevinCup and take it outside.00:01:24JackWow, OK.00:01:25KevinSo like I said for for me this is a a tough topic because I'm not sure what I'm really like truly afraid of like phobia wise bugs is one of the big ones, but I've managed to kind of get over that a little bit actually.00:01:42KevinAnd the way I kind of did this was I'll tell a quick story here, but a bunch of years ago when I was a student in university, I was at a a party with some friends and some of my friends were older than I was, so some of them had kids at the party and we were just hanging out and and the kids were.00:02:01KevinPlaying doing kids thing.00:02:04KevinAnd one of the kids, he was probably.00:02:08Kevin7-8 nine years old. Something like this and I'm an adult. Of course. At the time I was like in my early 20s.00:02:14KevinAnd this kid's hobby was collecting bugs like he just loved bugs, which I still did not understand, but he just loved them. So we're hanging out outside, and this kid is running around in the backyard just picking up bugs and playing around and just doing doing what?00:02:29KevinThat's due, and suddenly he ran up to me and he holds his hand out to me. And he's like, here. Take this. And I was like, oh, oh, God, what what are you going to give me? And I hold my hand out and he just drops this, like kind of beetle bug in my hand.00:02:44KevinAnd I'm just like like.00:02:46KevinFreaking out because now I'm holding this bug which I I do not want to be.00:02:50JackRight.00:02:50KevinGreat. But ever since then, whenever I see some.00:02:55KevinBug or insect in my house that I don't like that I don't want to deal with. I just remember this kid like, OK, so there was this eight-year.00:03:04KevinOld kid who's not afraid of bugs and there's me adult who is afraid of bugs. So like, OK, Kevin, be brave and then I do what needs to be done.00:03:10JackRight.00:03:16KevinFor the bug, either capture the spider or smack it with a newspaper, depending on the bug.00:03:21JackIf you he accidentally gave you what is called CBT, it's a type of it's cognitive behavioral therapy. And so if you have a, if you have a.00:03:27KevinCD3.00:03:30발표자There you go.00:03:33JackIf you have a phobia, one of the ways that they treat the phobia is by facing the fear directly head on. So if you're afraid of bugs, then they will make you sit near a bug or hold like ultimately holding a bug would be like the you've conquered your fear.00:03:42KevinMM.00:03:53JackYour phobia like your, that's the last step. The first step would be like, you know, a phobia is a pretty serious medical condition or mental condition. It's not. It's more than just a fear. It's like a medical disorder. So even people with phobias of bugs cannot even look at photo.00:03:54KevinThat's the last step.00:04:06KevinRight, right.00:04:12JackThose of bugs.00:04:13KevinYeah, phobia is definitely more serious. But I mean, we can just talk about general fears that we.00:04:19KevinHave for for today.00:04:19JackYeah, mine. Exactly. I don't really have phobias that mine are not that serious, but I I would say my daughter has like a.00:04:27JackIt kind of a a mild phobia because it's more than normal.00:04:32JackFear of bugs.00:04:33JackSo when you said that I was thinking of my daughter because.00:04:34KevinOK.00:04:36JackEspecially when she was a little bit.00:04:38JackYounger she would just scream.00:04:41JackYou know, yell for me. And I thought, you know, there was an emergency. And so I remember running and what's wrong. And then she's pointing to a bug and it's the smallest and most innocent little bug you've ever seen, like, not even like a big, you know, creepy crawly. Yeah. I mean, even smaller than that.00:04:58KevinLike a ladybug or something, right?00:05:02JackIt's just a little tiny, you know, flea or something. I don't know. Like, just nothing. And or an Ant or something. And yeah, she really, really hated bugs and. And she. She doesn't like them.00:05:13JackNow, but yeah, she has kind of outgrown it a little bit. Did you ever have you ever had a fear of, like, flying? Did you ever have any sort of anxiety about getting in an airplane or anything like that?00:05:30KevinNo, like I said, if you remember, we talked about this a while ago. The first time I I flew in an airplane, I was quite young. I was maybe.00:05:39KevinEight or nine and I flew alone well with just my brother and and the flight attendants to help. But no, that wasn't the problem. Heights. I I like heights. I've gone skydiving. Bungee jumping. That's that's no problem.00:05:50JackOhh wow. So heights is a big problem for me. I've got a I've got two phobias there, 22 fears that are kind of that have kind of plagued me or bothered me for the last like 20 years or 30 years.00:06:04JackOne is heights, which is ironic because I'm very tall, but yeah.00:06:09KevinRight.00:06:10KevinYou're already at a height.00:06:11JackIf I if I'm standing, if I go hiking up a mountain and there's like a, you know, a Cliff and and and embankment.00:06:20JackI just I cannot get too close to the edge like I start to get my knees get wobbly. I start to feel dizzy and I feel like like if I get too close, I'm going to lose control and just fall over the edge like I just. And also I cannot.00:06:37JackTolerate other people getting close to the edge, especially like if it were like my daughter or something. I'm super paranoid about those kinds of things and my daughter is not a young child. She's 13 years old. Fourteen. She'll be 14 years old soon. So yeah, it's it's not a. It's definitely just a.00:06:57JackIn irrational fear because.00:07:00JackBut anyone, anytime I get close to an edge or something, you know, in a high place, I do get a little bit lightheaded and my knees get wobbly and I start sweating a little bit and yeah, it's it's, it's uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable.00:07:14KevinHeights are a pretty common one. My wife is not very good at heights either.00:07:17JackYeah, I don't like it. I don't like him at all. I'm not. Yeah, I don't need that. That kind of adventure in my life. I I used to think that I had a claustrophobia. And claustrophobia is like the is the kind of the opposite of.00:07:25KevinFair enough.00:07:33JackLike, well, it's the opposite of open spaces, you know, cause a claustrophobia is being in a small space, like an elevator or a coffin or something like that. However, I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and had an MRI. And if you've ever had an MRI before, you're basically in a tiny tube.00:07:55KevinRight. I I haven't done it yet, but I've.00:07:55JackFor about 30 minutes.00:07:57KevinI've seen it on TV.00:07:58JackYeah. And I I fell asleep inside of it.00:08:02JackSo there's no way I have claustrophobia because you. No. Nobody with with that disorder is going to sleep inside of a an MRI tube where a lot of people have anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Inside of those things, it's very common.00:08:17KevinYeah, those are those are quite loud from what I understand. So if you fell asleep in there, that's you must have been quite tired.00:08:21JackThey had. I had.00:08:22JackEar plugs and a couple and like you know, kind of those like airplane worker, you know, yeah, your your ***** or whatever, I'm not sure.00:08:27KevinOK, OK.00:08:31JackYeah, my other fear is this one is has actually bothered me for a long time and it's a fear of rats. I really, really cannot.00:08:39KevinThat's OK.00:08:43JackI cannot look at a rat if I see a rat just run across the street.00:08:48JackI I have to go the other way. My biggest fear would be like a rat.00:08:50KevinOhh wow.00:08:54JackRunning over my.00:08:55JackFeet like I couldn't even I couldn't tolerate that. Like, yeah, having a rat just anywhere near me and I I kind of put mice in the same in the same basket. Like they're just disgusting creatures. They're so gross.00:08:57KevinDoesn't sound fun.00:09:07KevinI was going to.00:09:08KevinAsk what about other what about like gerbils or hamsters?00:09:13KevinOr or those.00:09:13JackMy daughter had two hamsters and the first one died really quickly. I don't it was sick when we bought it. The second one lived forever and she lost interest in it after a week, so I became the sole caretaker of this hamster for like.00:09:32JackA year and I hate hamsters and rats and gerbils and Guinea pigs and all of those things are disgusting. They're just vermin, you know, they they eat trash and live on the ground and.00:09:40KevinThose burdens.00:09:45KevinRight.00:09:48JackYeah, they're just.00:09:49JackDisgusting. And I I I just. Hey, I hate rats. And so yeah.00:09:53KevinI would say for for rats defense, you know that there's some rats that are trained to sniff out landmines.00:10:00KevinAnd so they're very helpful pets for that, for sniffing out landmines in countries that had had a lot of land mines drop. And so they're, there's actually some rats who have, like, medals of honor for finding many, many, many land mines.00:10:13JackThat's pretty interesting that there's there are rats out there that have a Medal of Honor. Do they? Do you think they wear the metal all the time or do?00:10:19JackThey take it off when they sleep.00:10:21KevinI I.00:10:21KevinI think they take it off when they go back to their rat home to their to their rat family.00:10:25JackTo go back to their maize and and cheese, right?00:10:27KevinRight.00:10:28JackNo, I I.00:10:28JackKnow rats are really useful. They we we have Lab Rats. You know that they do a lot of lot of testing to to help cure diseases sniffing out landmines. That's amazing.00:10:41JackBut I'm thinking more of the like sewer rat kind and so and and also I I they they spread disease, you know, like the black plague and and things like that. So I think it's it's probably just a long history of humans kind of.00:10:44KevinWell, yeah.00:10:52KevinThis this is true.00:10:59JackBad relationship with rats that that I inherited from my ancestors, I think.00:11:04KevinRight.00:11:05JackThat's probably what happened.00:11:07JackBut yeah, that's it, those are.00:11:08JackMy 2, my 2 fears.00:11:08KevinYeah, St. rides are definitely.00:11:10KevinThe Dirty creatures that I that I I don't want to mess with, but pet rats. I I don't have any problems with.00:11:17JackSo if you want, if you want to, you know, put me in a terrible place, put me in a hot air balloon high above the ground with a couple of rats inside of the basket. And I don't think I could think of a worse nightmare.00:11:31JackSituation than that so.00:11:33KevinWell, now I know your weakness is dark, so be be careful.00:11:35JackThat's those are my feet.00:11:38KevinCome on for you.00:11:39JackThose are my weaknesses, yeah.00:11:42KevinWell, yeah, try and avoid try and avoid heights and and avoid those those sewers as well.00:11:47JackRight, right. So I have a couple more listeners comments if if I can. As you know, Kevin, we've got a a WhatsApp group chat and you go to our website, you can just hit the WhatsApp link, it'll take you to a form you can fill out the form and.00:11:53KevinNice. So let's move to those.00:12:05JackThen join the group and.00:12:07JackAnd once you join the group, you can, you know, chat with me and.00:12:10JackKevin and you can chat with other.00:12:11JackStudents in the group.00:12:13JackThat and you can also do the homework, the study guide, and you can post your answers up there if you would like, and we'll take a look at those and give you a little feedback or, you know, help you out a little bit and as well as the other students in the group. So it's a really cool community, and if you're an English language learner, don't be shy, just join.00:12:34JackYeah. And everybody's really friendly in that group. So yeah, just come and chat. Just come and chat. So we did an episode a couple episodes ago. We talked about books. I believe the episode was called. What are you reading?00:12:37KevinThis comment chat.00:12:49JackAnd Kevin and I talked about some of the books that we're reading right now and our our reading habits. And Layla wrote a comment about this episode. She said I have just finished listening to the newest episode. I enjoyed it because.00:13:03JackIt was about books.00:13:05JackIn my case, I prefer to read historical books.00:13:09JackAnd those kinds.00:13:09JackOf books which talk about cultures of different.00:13:12JackPeople, however, I read them in Arabic because I can't read the high level of English books, although there is there are tons of extensive information and there is tons of extensive information in English, so she said. Therefore in English I read only stories and novels which are suitable with my level and in addition I listen to audio books and read them.00:13:34JackAt the same time, so Leila is using, you know, English books to help improve her English and her her vocabulary. Her. Yeah. Reading ability. So good job, Layla. Excellent to work and.00:13:44KevinThat's great.00:13:48JackAnd we would love to get more comments from other listeners, so please send us your comments and we'll read them on the show.00:13:59KevinNice. Yeah. Come and join the conversation as well. Yeah. So nice. Thanks for listening. Hopefully we'll we'll see you in our WhatsApp or other social media groups. Come join our conversation. See you next time.00:14:10JackAlright, bye bye.Podcast Website:https://atozenglishpodcast.com/do-you-have-any-phobias/Social Media:Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/671098974684413/Tik Tok:@atozenglish1Instagram:@atozenglish22Twitter:@atozenglish22A to Z Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/theatozenglishpodcastCheck out our You Tube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCds7JR-5dbarBfas4Ve4h8ADonate to the show: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/9472af5c-8580-45e1-b0dd-ff211db08a90/donationsRobin and Jack started a new You Tube channel called English Word Master. 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