Podcast 76 - Expressions with 'mind'

The thinking mind

the-mind

Hello, and today I'm going to talk to you about the word mind.

Now, this word is a common word, and it's used in a lot of different expressions and has different meanings. First of all, the mind, we think, is in your head - your brain. We talk about the mind as the place where we think or where we feel about things. We talk about the conscious mind or the subconscious mind. So we say things like

Oh at the moment, I'm not relaxed at all. I've got a lot of things running through my mind.

Or,

I've got a lot of things on my mind.

Mind and intelligence

Now, although the main meaning is just really about the place where we think about things, we also use it to talk about intelligence. We say that somebody has a very good mind. They are very intelligent, and a very quick or a brilliant mind. We could say somebody like Einstein, Albert Einstein had a brilliant mind. We use words like lively and sharp with mind.

She has a very lively mind,

meaning that she is very imaginative and very bright and clever or she's very sharp. She's really quick and thinks of things very quickly.

Mind and thought

We also use mind to talk about our thoughts, our interests and things. So for example, if you're meant to be studying, and you get distracted, look out the window and your study-mate or somebody says to you,

Come on. Keep your mind on your studies.

Keep your mind on your studies - don't get distracted and sometimes we get distracted. Again, if something is boring - if we're listening to a lecture and we start thinking about something else. So we say,

My mind wandered,

it started thinking about something different.

Mind and being annoyed

Now, besides memory, we also use mind to talk about being upset or annoyed at something. So if somebody, for example, wasn't invited to a birthday party, and afterwards he was upset,

He minded very much not being invited.

He minded very much. He was upset. And then we use it in the negative as well.

Oh, I don't mind the cold.

I like the code. I don't mind it at all. It doesn't worry me. It doesn't bother me. If we're playing some loud music while classmates or colleagues are working or studying.

Oh, I hope you don't mind the noise. Is it too loud? I hope you don't mind.

Well, I do mind actually. I can't concentrate. Yes, I mind. Please turn it off.

Mind and asking permission

We also use it (and this is quite common) to ask permission.

Do you mind if I open the window? it's been hot in here.

No, I don't mind. Go ahead.

Mind and warnings

And then there's one which is quite a well-known one. When we are warning somebody about something we use the word mind to say watch out. Be careful. So for example, if a tall person comes into your house, and the ceiling is quite low so you say to that tall person,

Mind your head! The ceiling is low.

Be careful you don't hit your head on the ceiling. There is a famous use of the word mind if you have been on the London Underground trains. When the trains stop in some stations, there is a gap or space between the train and the platform. And if you step out and don't look you can fall down that gap! So there's a loud-speaker system, which says to all the passengers getting off the train, it says,

Mind the Gap! Mind the Gap!

That's all I'm going to talk to you about mind today. You may need to go through the recording again and listen and repeat the examples.

Thanks for listening. Bye for now!