Episode summary
A transformative concert leads somewhere unexpected: the tiny words English loves to clip. 'Apps' might mean the ones on your phone, or the ones you order before dinner.
T.E.A. Time is hosted by English teacher Tayvin Bayless. Read the full transcript.
Hello, hello, and welcome to T.E.A. Time with Tayvin Bayless. For those of you returning for another episode, life been treating you well? I’m glad to have you here with me today. For any of you listening for the first time, thanks for joining me. Whoever you are, I think you’re in for a treat with today’s story.
But before I get into that, I want to share a word that will come up before we’re done. The word is: apps. Apps. Now, you’ve probably heard this one before. But here’s what’s interesting about it. Almost every language has the tendency to shorten words in casual speech. And sometimes, multiple words that sound completely different in their full form end up abbreviated in the same way. In English, apps is a perfect example of this. Most people today will hear apps and immediately think of the applications on their phone. But in a restaurant, if someone says “should we order some apps?” they’re not talking about your phone at all. They’re talking about appetizers. Apps is short for appetizers. Appetizers are the small dishes you order before the main meal, like some chips and salsa or stuffed jalapeños. Here’s a quick example: we got to the restaurant early, so we decided to order some apps while we waited. Keep that word in mind, because you’ll be hearing it again before we’re done.
The year was 2016. A few of my close friends and I were at a concert in Salt Lake City. The tickets were affordable, the venue was moderately sized with a capacity of around 1,000 people, and the headliner’s popularity was on the rise. My friends and I had been listening to his songs for at least a year at that point, and we were optimistic about an exciting performance.
The concert was more than just good. It was transformative.
I’ve been to all kinds of concerts. Some in spaces that could only fit 50 people, and others in mega stadiums that seat tens of thousands. I’ve been to piano recitals and concertos, symphonies, concerts for jazz bands, pop musicians, country singers, and heavy metal bands. At one concert I stood at the side of the stage and chatted with the lead singer for ten minutes before he went on. And yet I have never been to a concert where the artist could connect with the audience as personally and comfortably as this one did.
March 9th, 2016. I saw Ben Rector live for the first time.
In the ten years since that night, I’ve seen Ben in five other concerts across three different states. Every year his venues get a little larger as his popularity grows. The concert he had in Salt Lake City last year sold out the Delta Center, a stadium that seats 14,000 people.
One of the things I love most about Ben’s music is how relatable it is. I first heard one of his songs as a 14 or 15 year old in high school. Fourteen years later, I’m a husband and a father, and I still listen to his music all the time. While he is a very talented vocalist and instrumentalist, what I love most is his lyricism. His songs are filled with an understated kind of poetry. They capture the beauty of everyday moments while also being charming and funny. If you’ve never heard him before, I highly encourage you to give him a shot.
So, today for lunch my wife and I decided to go to a restaurant called Applebee’s. Every day between 2pm and 5pm their appetizers are half price, so we decided to make it an apps-only meal. We got loaded cheese fries, nachos, and spinach artichoke dip. The meal, while being very carb-heavy, was incredibly delicious.
As I was eating this lunch of apps, it reminded me of a Ben Rector song. The song is called “Crazy,” and it was written as an anthem for people whose lives aren’t glamorous or flashy. It’s a celebration of everyday life. I’m going to quote the line at the end of the second verse that leads into the chorus here. It says:
“We’ve got dinner reservations with our friends later tonight, And it might get crazy, We probably won’t get crazy, Unless you guys want appetizers?”
And then he yells out: apps for everyone!
It’s a funny line. But there’s real warmth underneath it.
Alright, let’s take a closer look at something that came up in today’s story.
We talked about apps, short for appetizers. But that’s just one example of something English does constantly. We take long words and we clip them. We shorten them. And the clipped version becomes so common that people can forget the full word even exists.
Think about a few you probably already use. Fridge. That’s short for refrigerator. Flu. Short for influenza. Phone. Short for telephone. Lab. Short for laboratory. Even the word gym comes from gymnasium. We clip things so naturally in English that the short version often feels more like the real word than the original.
And here’s what I find interesting. The clipped word sometimes takes on a slightly different feeling from the original. Appetizers sounds formal. Something you might see on a printed menu. But apps sounds casual, friendly, fun. It’s the word you use with people you’re comfortable with. Same food. Different energy.
That’s true of a lot of clipped words. Telephone sounds official. Phone sounds like you’re talking to a friend. Refrigerator sounds like an appliance manual. Fridge sounds like your kitchen.
The Ben Rector line works because of this exactly. He follows the line “unless you all want appetizers” by shouting “apps for everyone.” That choice turns a dinner plan into a party.
One of the reasons I love Ben’s songs so much is that they help me reflect on my relatively normal life and feel grateful for it. Sometimes the focus that society places on the glitz and glamor of the rich and famous makes the life of the average person look like failure. That’s a mistake.
Someone going to work every day to provide food and shelter for their family is doing some of the most important work any of us can do. A mother and father taking care of their kids, helping them become who they can be and showing them what love looks like: they’re what heroes actually look like. A son or daughter taking care of their aging parents is someone we could all aspire to be.
Hollywood stars are fun to watch on television. But I hope we don’t let the images we see on a screen take away from the meaning to be found in our own day-to-day lives.
And with that, my cup is empty. Thanks for joining me for T.E.A. Time. Until the next pot.
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