Let loose

Let loose

Today’s expression is to “let loose.” We use this expression when you can finally relax and be yourself.

Golfers are typically modest and reserved. They sometimes show their emotions on the course, but even the most expressive golfer is still pretty reserved compared with stars in other sports. Even in a sport made up of people who generally keep their emotions under control, Hideki Matsuyama is very cool, very calm, and he doesn’t show very much of what he’s thinking and feeling. He doesn’t yell, doesn’t smile much while he’s playing, doesn’t jump for joy, doesn’t hug his caddie, doesn’t show anger or disappointment.

I said in today’s lesson that he’s “famously stoic.” He’s level-headed. He doesn’t complain. He goes about his business in a gentlemanly way without showing much emotion. He has the emotions: he just doesn’t show them while he’s playing. So he’s keeping his emotions in check and hidden from view during the tournament while he concentrates.

But he could finally let loose on the 18th green after his final putt went in to win the 2021 Master’s . To let loose means you allow yourself to relax a little. You don’t have to follow all the normal rules. You release some of the restrictions you place on yourself. Only after his final putt went in the hole—only after the tournament was over—only then did he allow himself to celebrate. He could finally let loose.

So often we say this when a person puts a restriction on himself and then finally lifts the restriction. Someone might work hard in a high-pressure job all week, and act professional, wear a suit, present to their bosses and clients, climb the corporate ladder. But Saturday comes and he lets loose, going out to the clubs and dancing and just having fun. That’s a great example of letting loose. You force yourself to act all professional during the whole week—but the weekend comes and you can let loose.

If you’re on a diet, you might decide to make an exemption if you go on vacation. After months of dieting, you might decide to let loose a little on vacation and have ice cream during the day and a margarita at night.

Recess is the time of the school day where the kids go outside and let loose. All morning long, the kids are inside at their desks, studying math, reading, history. Sitting at their desks. Raising their hands. Forming a single-file line. Using their inside voices. In other words, complete torture. Kids are a bundle of energy. Then the bell rings, or lunchtime is over, and it’s time for recess. Kids can let loose, playing sports, running around, having fun outside. They can relax the rules, the discipline they normally have to follow.

After the year we’ve just had, I think the whole world is ready to let loose. American Airlines said it would be running a full schedule of summer flights: they think their customers are going to be traveling this summer at pre-pandemic levels. After the vaccine is distributed to enough people, the world’s tourist destinations are getting ready for a surge in business. The tourism industry as a whole thinks everyone is going to be ready to let loose as soon as it’s possible to do real vacations again.

Back to our example from the lesson. What does it mean when a golfer “lets loose” on the 18th green after winning a big tournament? Well, for some golfers it means dropping to their knees. For others, it’s a fist pump—that’s Tiger Woods’s style. Many run up to their wives or families for a huge hug. But letting loose can look different for everyone. Matsuyama took off his hat, saluted the applauding crowd, hugged his caddie—and allowed himself a hint of a smile.

Quote of the Week

Today’s quote of the week is a bit on the serious side. I read this in a book last week and I wanted to share it with you.

The quote is by Martin Luther King, Jr., and here it is: “The person who picks up our garbage is…as significant as the physician, for if he doesn’t do his job, diseases are rampant.”

The book was talking about how society views different professions. And it was talking also about how important it is for people to feel their jobs make a contribution to society. The reason I like the quote is that it reminds us of the real value that so many professions have, even if they don’t come with a lot of social prestige. A physician—a doctor—has a high-prestige job. A trash collector has a lower-prestige job. But if they both don’t do their jobs, the effect is the same: diseases would be rampant.

And so it’s just a good reminder that everyone may make a different amount of money, every different job may come with a different level of prestige. But every contribution matters in its own way. And that’s especially true after this pandemic, where some jobs that are often considered lower prestige were some of the most critical jobs of all—delivery, grocery stores, transportation, sanitation, things like that.

So here’s that quote one more time, Martin Luther King, Jr: “The person who picks up our garbage is…as significant as the physician, for if he doesn’t do his job, diseases are rampant.”

See you next time!

And that’s all for today’s lesson. Great to have you with us, as always, thanks for including Plain English in your English studies. If you haven’t seen our web site yet, check that out at PlainEnglish.com. With a free membership to Plain English, you can see transcripts of each lesson and browse our history of 360 other fascinating lessons going all the way back to 2017. You can even listen to the lesson about Tiger Woods making a remarkable career comeback to win the 2019 Master’s tournament: that was lesson 150.

In that lesson, I said he was ranked 1,199th in the world in 2017—and then came back to win his fifteenth major tournament in Augusta. That one is at PlainEnglish.com/150 . You can browse that, and all others, organized and cataloged, in a lesson library, available for members—and it’s all free at PlainEnglish.com. Check it out!