Nod off

Nod off

This is an easy one. To “nod off” is to fall asleep . But, it means to fall asleep for just a little bit of time, and not in a bed, and not in a situation where you’re trying to sleep.

So here are some times when you cannot use nod off. I go to bed, these days, between about 10:00 and 11:00 at night. I don’t nod off in bed because I’m trying to go to sleep. I often take naps in the afternoon. It gives me more energy and helps me stay alert for the rest of the day. Sometimes only about five or ten minutes of sleep is enough. But I still don’t use “nod off” because I lie down on the couch and prepare for my nap.

“Nod off” is not for times when you’re trying to sleep.

You might go to a movie—maybe one of those long, three-hour movies they’re making these days—and you might nod off during the movie. Admit it : this has happened to you. It doesn’t mean the movie is boring . You’re just tired and you nod off for a few minutes. You fall asleep for a few minutes. You wake up—the movie is still going—you leave, and you say to your spouse or your date, “I think I nodded off for a few minutes.”

Another place you might nod off is in the passenger seat of a car. I love to be the one driving, so on long trips, I’m often behind the wheel . But imagine this scenario. You’re driving and having a nice conversation with the passenger. Then, there’s a lull in the conversation . Fifteen, twenty minutes pass and nobody says anything. Your passenger then comments on the progress you’ve made or on the weather or the traffic.

“Did you nod off?” you might ask. That’s not an accusation —just a question. Did you fall asleep for a few minutes?

It’s really not good to nod off if you’re driving. A lot of car crashes are caused by drivers nodding off—during the day or at night. So if you’re feeling tired as you’re driving, stop, get out, go for a walk, take a nap, whatever you have to do . Because you don’t want to nod off behind the wheel.

Here’s something funny. “Nod off” is a polite term . There’s nothing wrong with “nodding off,” not the way most people use the term. But “fall asleep:” that one can seem bad, even though it means almost the same thing.

Imagine you’re at a conference and there’s a speaker at the front of the room and rows of chairs in the audience. This is prime territory for nodding off! But listen to this. If you say, “I think Elena fell asleep during the presentation.” Ummmm that sounds like an accusation. Like, “Can you believe it? Can you believe she was so rude ? She fell asleep.”

But if instead you say, “I think Elena may have nodded off during the presentation,” well that’s much softer. That’s like a winking acknowledgement —”oh, it could have happened to anyone.” She just nodded off, it’s not that bad.

Donald Trump finds himself in an unusual situation . No, not in court; he’s frequently in court these days. What I mean is, Trump is not generating attention and media coverage for himself. In court, he has to sit in his seat and not talk— a Herculean effort for him. His lawyers do the talking in the courtroom.

And so the reporters focus their attention on the minutiae of the trial. What color is Trump’s tie? Is he leaning in or leaning back? Does he appear to be paying attention ? How much is he writing down? What might he be whispering to his lawyers? And finally, is he nodding off? One reporter said Trump’s mouth went slack and his chin fell forward —evidence that he was nodding off.

See you next time!

Now today, in this lesson number 676, we took a look back at a lot of previous stories we’ve talked about. And it’s fun doing this; we do this twice a year. It’s a bit of a tradition to do this once in the spring and once in the fall.

But listen, in between these update episodes, I sometimes see an article. And I think of you! Yes, you! And I think, wow, I’d really like to share that with all my friends at Plain English.

So what I do in those situations is I send it to the team and the team puts the article in the lesson emails that JR sends out on Mondays and Thursdays. So the topic of the story is one thing, but in the email, I put a link to an article I think you would like, usually one related to a past story.

I mean, there was more I couldn’t talk about today. I have a list of updates I couldn’t fit even in today’s story: Rikers Island, Boeing, Threads. I just couldn’t get to them today. But I can put updates about those things in the emails and that is what I do.

So if you’re not signed up to get those emails, then go do that now. PlainEnglish.com/mail . And you’ll start getting emails from JR on Mondays and Thursdays, and you’ll see what I mean. PlainEnglish.com/mail .

All right, on Thursday we’re going to be talking about Daniel Kahneman, one of the most influential social scientists —ever. He recently passed away . And we’ll talk about his life on Thursday and his contributions to psychology and economics next Monday.

They are really, really good episodes. I’ve written them already, so I already know you’re going to like them. Don’t miss it, starting on Thursday.