E47 Overrated & Overhyped: What We’re All Pretending to Like

Ep47.

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[00:00:05.160] - Oliver (Host)

Right. So there's something I've been thinking about lately, just a everyday observation about how we all move through the world. And it's this: how often do we pretend to like something just because everyone else does? Now, I don't mean lying. I don't mean even being fake. I mean those little moments when something is clearly meant to be amazing. A five-star restaurant, a trending series, some wellness trend that everyone's obsessed with, and you try it and you go, "Huh, meh." But instead of saying that out loud, you nod, you smile. Yeah, yeah, it's great. Because that's easier. That's what this episode is about, things that we don't really like, but we feel like we're supposed to, things that are maybe a little bit overrated. Now, we should be clear from the beginning that this is not about being rude or cynical or acting like we're above everything or everyone else. That's not interesting, but it is about being honest. It's about recognising those small and sometimes awkward moments when you realise, I don't think I get the hype. And those moments are funny, but also, strangely important, because in those moments, you're bumping up against something bigger: expectation, performance, conformity, all of that.

[00:01:27.330] - Oliver (Host)

We're going to talk today about taste, what genuinely like and how easy it is to let that get blurred by what we're told we should like. And of course, it reminds me of a story, a very old one, and you will almost certainly know it, The Emperor's New Clothes. It's a classic fable by Hans Christian Andersen. In this story, two weavers arrive in a royal city, and they tell the Emperor they can make him the most exquisite clothes in the world. So fine, so delicate, that only people who are truly wise can see them. Naturally, the Emperor wants them. He wants to prove that he and his court are clever, refined, elite. So the weavers get to work, except, of course, they do absolutely nothing. They pretend, they mime the movements, they present invisible fabric, and nobody dares to say anything. Why? Well, of course, because if you can't see the clothes, it means you're stupid, you're unrefined, and no one wants to be seen as stupid. So the Emperor parades through the city wearing nothing, literally nothing, and the whole town applauds, praises, and compliments him until a child, just a small child, says what everyone is really thinking.

[00:02:51.090] - Oliver (Host)

"But he's not wearing anything." And just like that, the illusion shatters. I think about this story a lot because even though it's centuries old, it's still happening, just with slightly more expensive branding and better PR. We live in a world full of hype, trends, buzzwords, influencers. You open your phone and within seconds, you're being told what's essential this week, what restaurant you have to try, what film will change your life, what TV show will make you laugh, cry, and question everything. And sometimes, I suppose it's true, but other times, it's just a regular thing with a lot of marketing behind it. You're sitting there thinking, This is fine. I'm not angry, but it's not amazing. It's okay. And yet everyone is saying it's brilliant. So you think maybe it's me. Maybe I'm the one missing something. But maybe not. Maybe, just like the Emperor's Clothes, we're all secretly wondering if we're the only ones who don't see it, and we just need someone to first. In today's episode, César and I are going to be that person, the one who gently and kindly says, I think this might be overrated. César and I are going to talk about some of the things we've tried to love, but just couldn't, or things that we do love, but are just a little bit overrated.

[00:04:20.350] - Oliver (Host)

Some might be serious, some might be silly, some might be controversial. But we'll also use this conversation to explore how we talk about taste, how we react to pressure, and how we develop our own voice in a world full of algorithms and expectations. And of course, we'll highlight some really useful Advanced English along the way, all the expressions you need to politely disagree with the hype and confess that something just didn't live up to the buzz. So we'll hear vocabulary like overrated, overhyped, mainstream, pretentious, overwhelming. And that's just me. You can find expressions like these definitions of words and phrases in the free flashcards at morethanalanguage.com, along with the full transcript of this episode. At the end of the episode, I would love to hear if there's something that you've never admitted you think is just a bit meh, something that everyone else seems to love, and you just don't. If you feel brave enough, send us a message or comment on the YouTube or Spotify version of this podcast. We'd love to hear it. We won't judge, we promise. In fact, we might even agree with you. So, before that, let's get into the episode. This is English and Beyond: the Advanced Version. And today, we're asking, what's so great about summer anyway?

[00:05:44.060] - Oliver (Host)

Okay, César, so I actually ended my little monologue today with what's so great about summer anyway? We're going to talk about a few different things that are overhyped, things that we think are overrated, that for us personally are overwhelming, so that we're just not that impressed by them. For me, the number one, one is summer. You can probably guess why I've chosen this one as well already.

[00:06:09.640] - César (Guest)

Well, yeah, because you don't tolerate heat.

[00:06:11.960] - Oliver (Host)

I don't.

[00:06:12.280] - César (Guest)

Very well. It is true that many people, it doesn't matter where they live. They're like, I can't wait for summer, blah, blah, blah.

[00:06:20.910] - Oliver (Host)

Yeah, well, British people live for summer, right? Ironically. I was going to say ironically because we don't have much of a summer, but I guess that's why so many British people love, live for summer.

[00:06:30.920] - César (Guest)

And Spanish people as well. I think it's because most people go on holidays and they have some time off. I guess that's the reason why. But I do agree that it's a bit overrated. Summer is overrated, and I've been thinking of things that I think are overhyped, overrated. One of them is Spain.

[00:07:00.200] - Oliver (Host)

Spain in general or Spain in its hot weather?

[00:07:03.020] - César (Guest)

Spain in general, Spanish weather. But firstly, there are many different types of Spanish weather. I think they're up to four different types of Spanish weather, depending on where you are.

[00:07:13.900] - Oliver (Host)

Like climates?

[00:07:15.270] - César (Guest)

The north of Spain is very different from the Canary Islands, obviously, because the Canary Islands are located in Africa, obviously. I think the idea of Spain... For me, Spain is the best country in the world.

[00:07:30.370] - Oliver (Host)

And yet it's still overrated.

[00:07:34.970] - César (Guest)

I'm looking further. I want to go with Katy Perry to the space. Okay. No, I think the idea of Spain that many people have is completely wrong.

[00:07:49.670] - Oliver (Host)

Okay.

[00:07:50.290] - César (Guest)

So yeah, I think it's slightly overrated, and especially places like... I say this because I lived there. Barcelona is a very overrated city.

[00:08:04.550] - Oliver (Host)

Okay. I think that you're maybe... Maybe with Barcelona, I can accept that. I'm not saying that I think that Barcelona is an overrated city, but I think that I feel like you might be confused with the idea of what overrated is, because I think it's hard to say in one sentence that you think Spain is the best country in the world and that it's overrated. But I will accept that taste, well, taste is subjective.

[00:08:29.190] - César (Guest)

Can you imagine what I think about the other countries?

[00:08:31.630] - Oliver (Host)

Exactly, yeah.

[00:08:34.300] - César (Guest)

Sorry, I'm a bit in the hater mood. Nothing is that special.

[00:08:40.100] - Oliver (Host)

Okay, fair enough. Fine. If nothing is that special, then that is something that you can get on board, I can get on board with. You can say, for example, that Spain is not all it's cracked up to be, but I think that that's not even really what you're saying, is it? Because I think that the tourists that come to Spain come to specific places, and those places are often quite tacky, quite naff, we might say, I quite like a lot of those places, but people in Spain, I think, often feel that those places are not actually that special. But you do like, in general, the country.

[00:09:14.690] - César (Guest)

Yeah, absolutely.

[00:09:16.060] - Oliver (Host)

I mean, part of the problem for me of summer in Spain is things like the insects, the overwhelming heat, the fact that you're always sweating, the fact that you need air conditioning just to function on a normal level. For me, all of the mosquitoes, the insects, the cockroaches, everything that Valencia is filled with in the summer. But changing totally now, I want to go with something equally mainstream, perhaps, but I think that museums are overrated.

[00:09:48.080] - César (Guest)

I don't agree with that.

[00:09:49.470] - Oliver (Host)

You like going to museums a lot.

[00:09:50.950] - César (Guest)

I like museums, and I'm not the most cultured person ever. Not at all.

[00:09:55.680] - Oliver (Host)

You're not a pretentious person. I would agree.

[00:09:57.560] - César (Guest)

Yeah, but I-

[00:09:58.690] - Oliver (Host)

How would you define pretentious?

[00:10:00.250] - César (Guest)

How would I define pretentious? I would say that someone who's pretentious is someone who pretend(s) to be, pretend(s) to care or know about things that they don't really care about.

[00:10:11.890] - Oliver (Host)

Yeah, to perhaps pretend to be more intelligent or more cultured than they really are. I think that museums are an essential tool in appearing pretentious if you want to.

[00:10:23.530] - César (Guest)

But for me, I don't go to museums because I know how to enjoy art and things like that. It's more because I want to learn more, and not with every single museum I visit, but sometimes with specific type of museums, I learn a lot and I'm like, Oh, this is very interesting. I'm glad I visited this museum. I know these things, I found them interesting. You learn about history, about the culture of the country you're visiting.

[00:10:49.980] - Oliver (Host)

You actually said, I think, something quite interesting in the middle of that, though, which is that you don't necessarily know how to enjoy art, you said. How to appreciate art, appreciate these historical artefacts, that thing in the museum. I think that's my problem with them. They're actually not a very good way to learn. There might be a good way, if you already know something, to appreciate and develop your knowledge in that. If you already know something about art and art appreciation, then you can go and you can be like, Oh, I remember that aspect, and you can see how it's reflected in this room and everything like that. But some museums don't even give the most basic explanations.

[00:11:26.040] - César (Guest)

That's true.

[00:11:27.420] - Oliver (Host)

I think that a lot of the time, for me personally, and I recognise that this will not be true for everyone, but for me personally, I guess I'm quite cynical about why people actually go to museums. I'm quite suspicious of why people go because I feel a lot of the time people go and they feel like it's a mission to walk around and look at every item and feel like they have done it properly.

[00:11:50.300] - Oliver (Host)

I think it's quite funny because when I've gone to museums, often against my will with other people, you'll do the first few rooms, and you're really slow really, with a lot of detail, really admiring and examining the art or the artefacts. Then it gets progressively quicker and quicker as you get through. I feel like lots of people do it that way as well. For me personally, I'm not actually that interested in ancient history museums, for example. I'm really interested in ancient history, but I'm more interested in the people, the psychology, and you can get that stuff a lot more from literature, or you can get it from historical textbooks. And yes, I can see that there is a value in being able to see something in real life, but I think that value is overrated. I think that you actually get more from a book where it will have great high-quality photos of the object. You can, ironically, see it closer up often, and it explains everything in an incredible amount of detail. And if you actually want to learn, I think books are better than museums.

[00:12:57.870] - César (Guest)

I agree. If you want to have a deeper knowledge about something, it's better to read the book or a book about specific things you want to learn. But I think the idea of a museum is to, firstly, to share the experience with someone you're visiting. If we go together to a museum, we can share, we can discuss something. I will probably learn from you because you are more like... Because of the degree you started, in which university you studied?

[00:13:29.870] - Oliver (Host)

Yes, very good.

[00:13:30.660] - César (Guest)

Which one?

[00:13:31.530] - Oliver (Host)

Oxford.

[00:13:31.660] - César (Guest)

I forgot. But I enjoy that experience. So I don't think... I disagree. But anyway, I've got another thing that I think is very overrated. Podcasts, and podcasters.

[00:13:46.690] - Oliver (Host)

Yes. Well, I mean, podcasts, yes, I agree. I think that I definitely am at risk of falling into this category of overrated podcasters. Well, not even overrated because who rates us? To be overrated, that implies that someone thinks you're better than you are.

[00:14:07.160] - César (Guest)

We can see how many stars have you got.

[00:14:10.610] - Oliver (Host)

Let's not. It's not a good use of our time. Potentially, it's very cringeworthy. So moving on. But anyway, why podcasters?

[00:14:19.650] - César (Guest)

Because they're always being provocative, saying things to stand out, like Spain is overrated, Barcelona is overrated, that kind of thing. Well, I was joking, by the way, I love Barcelona, I love Spain.

[00:14:33.370] - Oliver (Host)

If you are popular enough, which this podcast is not, then you can start to make something go mainstream, and then everyone will jump on the bandwagon. That is, everyone will join the movement.

[00:14:46.800] - César (Guest)

Follow suit.

[00:14:47.740] - Oliver (Host)

Follow suit, exactly. So that, for example, I don't know if you saw, but they had all those different celebrities, I don't know. What is it? Katy Perry is Over Party, that thing, where you could be like, Spain is over, hashtag. Yeah. Spain is done. Spain is passé.

[00:15:06.680] - César (Guest)

I can lead that project.

[00:15:08.420] - Oliver (Host)

Exactly.

[00:15:09.070] - César (Guest)

I'm sure that Spanish people would love me.

[00:15:11.210] - Oliver (Host)

So you're challenging the consensus that Spain is actually a nice place to go. Maybe this is a very reverse psychology attempt to get the tourists to go home, like they always say in Spain. Okay, fine. Yours is podcasters. Yeah, I wouldn't actually know because I don't really listen to podcasts.

[00:15:32.490] - César (Guest)

You listen to mine, right?

[00:15:33.720] - Oliver (Host)

I don't listen to yours, as you know. I find, I suppose, I think podcasters, I prefer podcasters to YouTubers. I feel like YouTubers, which we also are, I suppose now, are all style, no substance a lot of the time. I think that, not obviously, not always. But a lot of the time the platform pushes you in that direction. You've got to have some click bait. You've got to have something like an incredible number of edits.

[00:16:06.380] - César (Guest)

The rhythm of a video on YouTube needs to be really frenetic because people don't have attention span. It's getting shorter and shorter. So yeah, that's the issue with YouTube.

[00:16:20.510] - Oliver (Host)

Exactly. But beyond that, I don't really have that much an opinion. What prompted you to say this?

[00:16:29.920] - César (Guest)

No, because I think, since the pandemic, everyone can have a podcast, right? And especially now, the podcast is mixing with social media as well. So you see clips of people saying things as if they had the absolute truth about something just because they've got a microphone in front of them. I try to avoid that. I try many times when I write a script for my intermediate podcast, for example, I try to be... If I read it and I'm like, this is too preachy, I don't like this. Or I always try to say-

[00:17:06.590] - César (Guest)

This is this - oh, preachy.

[00:17:07.560] - César (Guest)

Preachy, yeah.

[00:17:08.950] - Oliver (Host)

You're standing on, you know, a pulpit and giving out what everyone should believe.

[00:17:16.140] - César (Guest)

Also, for example, many times, just out of curiosity, I listen to an episode from a very famous podcast and I'm like, Okay, let's see the sources that this person has used to explain this to his or her audience, and they don't offer the sources.

[00:17:35.860] - Oliver (Host)

I don't appreciate this, because I know you offer your sources, but I've never offered any sources. I am exactly like that podcaster.

[00:17:45.890] - César (Guest)

I mean, it's not mandatory, but I think it's nice to see the sources just in case you're interested.

[00:17:52.630] - Oliver (Host)

Yeah. Okay. Well, do you have any other topics you think are overrated? Yeah.

[00:17:57.600] - César (Guest)

Music festivals.

[00:17:59.010] - Oliver (Host)

Okay, fine.

[00:17:59.770] - César (Guest)

I think, I would say music festivals/concerts. Like, nowadays people are paying 200, €300 to attend concerts. Making online queues, going crazy to see someone.

[00:18:16.900] - Oliver (Host)

It's true that there is a lot of effort that goes into getting tickets for a concert that everyone in the group basically has to go and try to get tickets, and they try to buy as many tickets as they can for everybody. It's a ludicrous amount of money, as you say. It's not even ticket touts now. Before, it would be ticket resellers. They would charge you an incredible amount of money. But now, even the original artist's company is charging you an insane amount of money. Then you go and it's... For most artists, relatively underwhelming. I think that's what's very impressive, to be fair, about Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, no, because both of their concerts, although I know that they're extremely expensive, they were at least, what, three hours long? You're getting some value for money, some value for money. But I would agree. I haven't been to concert for a long time now because it's just not worth it. I remember going to one for an artist that I was a big fan of, and there were no screens. It was very expensive. The performance was not particularly good, and you just couldn't see anything.

[00:19:24.260] - Oliver (Host)

For me, I think that was the last of my big concert experiences. But I really like going to much smaller artists for much less money, and you have a much better time. So I went to see a French artist in Toulouse last year, and I'd only listened to a few songs from her, but it was suggested to me to go by a friend. It was 20 euros. It was amazing. Loved it. So I think concerts are not so much overrated as highly overvalued.

[00:19:53.190] - César (Guest)

Big concerts.

[00:19:54.410] - Oliver (Host)

Yeah, the value for money ratio is appalling now. Yeah. Okay, well, that's all. We have very little time left. So I think that that is basically it now. So thank you very much, César, for sharing your overrated topics, for challenging.

[00:20:12.990] - César (Guest)

Thank you very much for my overrated opinions.

[00:20:15.720] - Oliver (Host)

Yeah, thank you for your overrated opinions. And I think, as I said before, we have realised we have learned that taste is subjective. I'm sure that there will be people who strongly disagree with us who listen. So thank you very much, listener, for listening. As ever, please rate, share, whatever the podcast. Really appreciate it. It helps it grow. Anything you want to add there, Sam? No, thank you. Lovely. Thank you. Bye-bye.