Change your ways

Change your ways

Today’s English expression is to change your ways. Ways, w-a-y-s. This is informal, and it simply means to change the way that you do things. It’s not about adding or subtracting habits from your life. It’s about how you do the things you do, and “change your ways” usually means to improve the way you do things.

Earlier today, I told you that I say “water fountain” to describe the public place where you practically kiss a metal dispenser to drink free water . I grew up calling this a “water fountain.” Like you would ask, “Is there a water fountain nearby?” Or, “hold on, let me get a quick drink at this water fountain.”

Part of the U.S. calls this a drinking fountain. And I think this makes more sense, since almost every type of fountain is a water fountain. When I told JR this, he helpfully—or unhelpfully?—pointed out that there are chocolate fountains. But regardless : if you want to take a drink, it makes sense to ask for a drinking fountain, since you’re looking for a fountain that you can drink out of. And I said, you know, “drinking fountain” makes a lot more sense, maybe I’ll change my ways.

Maybe I’ll change my ways: maybe I’ll improve the way that I do this one thing. I used to call it a water fountain; now I’ll call it a drinking fountain. I’ll change the way that I do that thing.

If someone ever tells you that you need to change your ways, that person is telling you to improve the way you do things. Imagine you have a younger person working with you at the office, and that employee comes to work late every day. Last person in, guaranteed. If you’re his supervisor, you should tell him that he needs to change his ways if he wants to keep that job. He has to improve his behavior, improve the way he does something. He gets in late now—he needs to improve that and be there at 8:30 sharp every day. He needs to change his ways.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone keeps treating you badly? You hope they change, but you doubt it will ever happen? Maybe you have a supervisor at work that’s not supportive. Or you work with a client that has unreasonable expectations. Or even a romantic partner that doesn’t treat you the way you want to be treated. That can happen, right? If that happens, ask yourself: is she realistically going to change her ways? Or will she always be that abusive client, that unsupportive boss, that uncommunicative partner? People don’t change their ways unless they want to.

Sometimes you’ll hear someone say, “I’m too old to change my ways.” That’s just an excuse, if you want my opinion. You’re never too old to change your ways, but you do sometimes hear people say that. I know I should quit smoking, but I’m too old to change my ways. I know I should move from this big house into a smaller, one-level apartment as I get older, but I’m too old to change my ways.

JR’s song of the week

How about a song of the week? Here we go: “I’m No Angel,” by The Gregg Allman Band. Here’s a story of someone who freely admits that he won’t change his ways. He sings, “I might steal your diamonds, but I’ll bring you back some gold.” I don’t know about that. I don’t like that bargain.

I do like the song. This was on the radio all the time when I was growing up, it came out in 1987. I was young when it came out, but Gregg Allman was popular in the 80s and 90s.

Speaking of not changing your ways, one of the early, early Plain English lessons was about “musical paralysis.” It’s the idea that, you hit a certain age and you just stop absorbing and liking and listening to new kinds of music. That was Lesson 72, at PlainEnglish.com/72 .

You settle into the music you like at a certain age and you primarily listen to that as you get older. It doesn’t mean you’ll never like a new song, you’ll never like a new band. But it does mean you don’t really change your ways, musically-speaking, after a certain point. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but it did happen to me. And “I’m No Angel” is a good example of the kind of song I listened to as a kid, and that I still like to listen to today. Most people hit their musical paralysis around age 30; I think I hit mine at like age fourteen.

So thanks JR for working today’s expression into the song of the week. “I’m No Angel” by the Gregg Allman Band.

See you next time!

That’s all for today’s Plain English. I hope you didn’t mind taking a slight break from the important issues of the day so that we could debate exactly what a “coke” is or whether you really need to play tennis in your tennis shoes.

I have a feeling this might be a topic for a future live conversation call with Plain English Plus+ members. So if you’re a Plus+ member, keep an eye on your dashboard for this one, and start thinking about whether there are funny variations of words within your own country’s borders.

That’s all for today—we’ll be back on Monday with a new lesson. See you then!