Root for
Today’s expression is “root for.” To “root for” someone is to hope that person succeeds.
The most common way to use this phrase, believe it or not , is with sports. Who were you rooting for in the Super Bowl? I was rooting for Kansas City. I wanted them to win. One of the commenters in our Facebook group was rooting for the Eagles. He wanted Philadelphia to win. He said he’s devastated.
You can say this in a general sense or in a specific competition. For example, I generally root for the Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers in baseball. Those are the teams I support in a general, ongoing sense. But when neither team is playing, I’ll root for a different team in that game.
But it’s not just in sports, it can be in life too. In the movie Titanic , Rose is caught between two men. Her fiancé is arrogant, possessive, condescending, entitled. Then she meets Jack. Jack is freewheeling, poor, not a refined, upper-class gentleman. As viewers, we’re rooting for Rose and Jack to be together. We’re rooting for Jack. We want Jack to be the one to win Rose’s affection. We want Jack to succeed; we want Jack and Rose to succeed. We’re rooting for them. We’re not rooting for the fiancé. I don’t even remember his name.
It’s important to use “root for” when you don’t have a say in the outcome. For example, if you’re at work and your team is going to hire someone, imagine there are three applicants. You have a favorite. You are part of the team making the decision about who to hire. This is not a case for using “root for” because you’re not a spectator. You are participating in the outcome, so you cannot use “root for.”
But you can use this if you’re not a decision-maker. We had an intern at my office once, and I thought he did a really good job. He didn’t get a job offer from us. But I was rooting for him. I wasn’t involved in the decision to hire him or not. It turned out he didn’t get an offer.
And after he left our firm, I was still rooting for him. I wanted him to succeed. And you know what? He went straight to a competitor, got hired, got promoted multiple times, and he has a great career.
Sometimes you’ll know someone—maybe you don’t know them well, but you know someone who’s having some trouble. Maybe he’s having trouble finding a job. Maybe she’s struggling with drugs or alcohol. Whatever. And you just kind of hear about the person through friends, neighbors, relatives. And you’ve always liked the person, but you’re not really involved in his or her life.
And let’s pretend you heard good news—the person has had some better luck, got a better job, quit drinking or gambling, got married, whatever. You can say, “Oh, I’m glad to hear that. I was always rooting for her.” Or, “I’m glad he got back on track in his career. I was rooting for him to succeed.”
JR’s song of the week
Time for the song of the week. Did you know—and I mis-remembered this—but did you know this song doesn’t appear until the closing credits?
Oh—I’m talking about Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” just in case there was any doubt what the song of the week would be today. The song, with the full lyrics, doesn’t come on until the closing credits of Titanic.
I mis-remembered that. The way I remembered it, I thought that song was interspersed in the drama. But it isn’t. You hear notes of it. But you don’t hear the full song, the lyrics, until the movie is over and the credits are rolling.
But the melody, the basis of the song is used throughout the film in the soundtrack. And it actually originated that way. The notes, the melody was part of the soundtrack. And only later did they make it into a song with lyrics.
Titanic had a way of elevating stars. And it elevated Leonardo DiCaprio, it elevated Kate Winslet. But it also really elevated Celine Dion—and it’s all the more remarkable because the full song only comes on at the end.
“My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion is the second-best-selling single by a woman of all time, the best-selling single of 1998, and it’s considered Celine Dion’s signature song. And to add to its many accolades, it’s the Plain English song of the week for March 9, 2023. Somebody update Wikipedia.
See you next time!
That’s all for today. Congratulations on reaching the end of another Plain English lesson. I know you are doing great work out there, and it’s such a pleasure and an honor to be part of your English studies each and every week.
Remember, the full lesson resources are at PlainEnglish.com/553. If you’re not yet a member of PlainEnglish.com, go check that out—there’s a free membership, which is always free, and includes transcripts and extra study resources. PlainEnglish.com.
Have a great weekend; we will be back here again on Monday, as always. See you then.
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
