Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 25, Day 5 of Your English Five a Day. This is a very healthy series that tries to improve the health and vitality of your English vocabulary by deep-diving into five pieces every day of the working week from Monday to Friday. Then on Saturday, there is an additional episode. And if you are Plus Members, you get a bonus episode on Sunday, along with transcripts and a vocabulary list. So, if you'd like to learn more about Plus Membership, please click on the link in the description. Otherwise, let's get started with today's list. We begin with the verb RECOUNT. Recount. To recount, we spell this R E C O U N T, recount. To recount a story or an event is to remember the details and tell them to somebody else. So, an obvious example of this is if there was an incident and I'm trying to describe what happened to another person, maybe to the police or to my friends and family."Oh my goodness, you'll never guess what happened. I went to the supermarket as I usually do on a Friday afternoon, but when I arrived, there was a huge crowd gathered outside the doors." And every moment and every little detail that I tell is me recounting the event. When was the last time you recounted an event to somebody? Here's another example,"I need you to recount what happened in as much detail as possible if we're going to press charges. We can't afford to leave any stone unturned." Next on the list is another verb and it is blare. To blare. We spell this B L A R E, blare. To blare means to make an unpleasant, loud, and quite harsh noise. Often we associate the verb blare with an alarm. So, the alarm on your phone, or a smoke alarm, or a carbon monoxide alarm. Anything that has to alert you that is loud and harsh, it would normally blare out. So we often use it as part of a phrasal verb, to blare out. My alarm was blaring out while I was in the shower. It woke everybody up. People also might blare something out. The music might be blaring out in the middle of the night. Here's an example,"I could hear the music from the concert blaring out all night. I didn't sleep a wink!" One thing about living close to London is that there's often a lot of traffic and many sirens. Often in the middle of the night there's also the delivery drivers scooting around on their little mopeds and they are usually making a lot of noise. Also, the youngsters are out in their souped-up cars with their big fat noisy exhaust pipes that drive me up the wall. They make so much noise you can literally hear them tearing around the streets from miles away. Their awful exhaust noise just blaring out. I think it's very rude. Anyway, I'm having an old lady moment moaning about youngsters. Okay, next on the list is a noun and it is defeat. Defeat. We normally have to admit defeat. So, we spell this D E F E A T. Defeat. To admit defeat is to accept the fact that you cannot win. You can't succeed. You can't complete whatever it is you were trying to complete. It won't work. You admit defeat. This is normally the point where you give up as well. You stop trying to make it work. Here's an example sentence,"I had to admit defeat and accept the fact that I can't bake cakes. It looked more like a flapjack than a Black Forest Gateaux!" And that example is so true to life, unfortunately. I may have told you the story of my ambition to become an amazing cake baker. I always thought it was part and parcel of being a mother, that mums should be able to bake a decent cake. So I said I was going to bake a cake every week for a whole year until I was really good at it. And I think I baked two cakes. And after burning them, I decided it wasn't for me. Which was probably a good thing, because if I'd have baked a cake a week, that means I probably would have eaten the majority of a cake a week, and I would be a very different shape by now. That's for sure. Okay. Next on the list is another noun and it is balaclava. Balaclava. We spell this B A L A C L A V A. Balaclava. Balaclava. A balaclava is a type of, it's like a hat or a head covering, but it goes over your entire head. It also comes around and covers your nose and mouth, and it goes all the way down your neck. It's a very tight item of clothing. So, it's like a beanie hat, but it goes over your whole head and face and neck. Now it's usually used to protect you from the cold weather. If the weather is really cold, it keeps you warm. But they're also notorious for being used by criminals who want to hide their identity. So, if they have bad intentions and they have planned to do something where they don't want to get caught, then they will wear a balaclava to cover their face and conceal their true identity. Here's an example,"The thief wore a black balaclava to hide his identity while robbing the bank." Alright, next and last on today's list is a verb and it is apprehend. Apprehend. We spell this A P P R E H E N D. Apprehend. To apprehend someone is to seize them, to grab them. Often to arrest them, especially, of course, if they've committed a crime or they're suspected of committing a crime. You apprehend them, so you grab them and you stop them from running away. Here's an example sentence,"The police were able to apprehend the suspect before he could escape." Alright, that's our five. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the verb recount, which is to tell or retell a past event or experience or trying to remember all the details as you tell them. Then we had the verb blare, which is to make a loud and unpleasant sound. Then we had the noun defeat. Often we admit defeat. It's the fact that you cannot win, so you accept that fact. Then we had the noun, balaclava, balaclava. The head covering that is tight to your head, covers up your head, nose, mouth, and neck. And we finished with the verb, apprehend, apprehend, which means to arrest or to seize someone usually because they've committed a crime or they're suspected of wrongdoing. Okay, let's now do this for pronunciation. Please repeat after me. Recount. Recount. Blare. Blare. Admit defeat. Admit defeat. Balaclava. Balaclava. Apprehend. Apprehend. Very good. Now I'm going to tell you a little story about a friend of mine who got into a spot of bother a few years ago. Now this friend made an error in judgement. So, I'm going to tell you what his experience was. I was there with him, so, I can tell you exactly what I experienced with him. What verb could I use to say that I'm retelling a story of something I experienced? Recount. I'm going to recount the events of 2020 when I was hanging out with my friend who made a poor judgement. So, my friend was really struggling for money and decided that taking his very special head covering that he got for Christmas, oh, what noun would we use for this head covering? It was one of those head coverings that went all over his head, face and neck. Balaclava. Yes. He decided to take the balaclava that he got for Christmas and he was going to solve his financial problems by robbing the local jewellery store. Now I told him it was a terrible idea and that I couldn't stand by and watch him ruin his life, but he was begging me to help. So, I was like,"Okay, look, I will drive you to the jewellery store and then I'm leaving. Okay. I'll take no part in this." This is a made-up story, by the way. And so, I drove him to the jewellery store and he got out and put on his balaclava. And I said, right, I'm going, but I couldn't just leave him. I didn't have the heart to, so, I just waited there to see if he'd actually go through with this plan. And because he'd never done this before and he didn't have a clue what he was doing, he just went up to the front door and started rattling the door, grabbed the handle and rattled the door. Now, of course, the shop had an alarm and as soon as he rattled the door, it set the alarm off. And this alarm was so loud. It was making this huge, harsh, loud noise. What verb could I use to describe the alarm making this loud, harsh noise? Blare. It was blaring. The alarm was blaring out. You could see all the lights in the local flats were coming on and a passing police car was alerted to the trouble and I could hear the sirens as the police car approached. So, my friend, in a panic, jumped back into my car. and said,"Come on, let's go. I accept the fact that I've made a mistake. I'm never going to be a criminal. I can't do it. I can't complete this task." What noun or noun phrase could we use to suggest that he's accepted the fact that he cannot succeed in this line of work? He's had to admit defeat. Yes, he admits defeat. So, he jumps in the car, admits defeat, and asks me to be the getaway driver. And I'm like, hang on a minute, you've really dragged me into this. So, I start driving away, but the police are hot on my tail and they indicate for me to pull over, which of course I do because I'm a law abiding citizen and the police officer sees my friend with balaclava in hand and he is seized and arrested. What verb could I use instead of saying he was seized and arrested? He was apprehended. Apprehended and told off by the police officer. Alright, so this isn't a real story, by the way. I am not complicit in a crime. I would never support someone to go and do something as bad as robbing a jewellery store. I would not be someone's getaway driver. I am a law-abiding citizen. But let me quickly recount the story. So, the story I am recounting was about my friend who took his balaclava that he got for Christmas and decided to solve his financial woes by using his balaclava to rob a jewellery store. He went straight up to the front door of the jewellery store and he waggled the door. He pulled it around trying to open it, which set off the alarm. The alarm blared out. It blared out so loud that it alerted the police to our wrongdoing. And so they came along. He jumped into my car and admitted defeat. He said,"I can't do this. This was a terrible idea. I should never have started. I admit defeat. I'm never going to try and do this again." But as we were trying to get away, we obviously were apprehended by the police. OK, let's revisit these pieces once again in today's story time. It was just another regular Monday morning for me. I woke up to my alarm blaring, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stumbled out of bed. As I made my way to the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and let out a horrified gasp. I had been cursed with the worst bad hair day imaginable. My usually straight, manageable hair was now a tangled mess of knots and frizz. I tried to brush it, but it only made matters worse. I even attempted to put it up in a ponytail, but it refused to cooperate. I was running out of time and options. With a sigh of defeat, I grabbed my beanie and pulled it over my head, hoping it would hide my disastrous hair. If only I had known, this was just the beginning of a very eventful day. As I rushed to catch the bus, I stumbled and fell,"Ouch!" landing face-first in a puddle. I was soaking wet and covered in mud. To top it off, my beanie flew off my head, revealing my terrible hair to the world. I could feel the stares and the snickers as I made my way onto the bus. But then, things took a turn for the worse. As if they weren't bad enough already. The bus driver suddenly screeched to a halt, and a group of youths wearing balaclavas boarded the bus. They demanded all of our valuables, and panic ensued. But I refused to be a victim. I may have had a bad hair day, but I wasn't going to let these criminals get away with their actions. As they turned their attentions to me, I took action. Using my beanie as a makeshift weapon, although I'm not sure how threatening a woolly hat could be, I lunged at them, surprising them and buying enough time for other passengers to call for help. In a matter of minutes, the robbers were apprehended, and I was hailed as a hero. As I sat in the police station, recounting the events of the day, I had to laugh at the irony of it all. Who would have thought that a bad hair day would lead me to be a hero? But then again, anything is possible on a Monday morning. And that brings us to the end of Week 25 and to the end of this episode. I do hope you found it useful. If you did, please leave a like, a rating or a review and be sure to recommend The English Like a Native Podcast to your English-learning friends. Until next time, take very good care and goodbye.