Episode 24 • Family
Be the spitting image of someone
Take after
Grow up to become...
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree
Name someone after someone
Story
Claire: Oh my gosh! Look at him! He’s adorable! How old is he? He can’t be more than two months old…
Becky: Well…
Claire: He’s the spitting image of Brad! Yeah, he definitely takes after his father. Look, same eyes, same ears.
Becky: In reality…
Claire: I bet he’ll grow up to become a great football player, just like his daddy! Yes, you will, won’t you? After all, you know what they say… The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Becky: The thing is…
Claire: So what’s his name? I bet you’ve named him after his grandpa… so what is it? George or perhaps George Jr. Am I right?
Becky: Actually…
Claire: And just look at…
Becky: Janet. Her name is Janet! She’s a girl!
Questions
Has that ever happened to you? It happened to me probably two weeks ago when I thought that-- There was this little boy, but I thought it was a girl because he had this beautiful blonde hair, and then the dad told me that it was a boy, and I was like, "Oopsie." It happens, especially with newborns. You can't really tell. All righty. Let's begin with the expression number one.
Be the spitting image of someone
'He’s the spitting image of Brad.'
• If you are the spitting image of someone, do you look like them or do you look very different?
To be the spitting image of someone means that you look exactly the same. You're very, very similar.
• Are you referring to a similarity in the character or in the looks?
In this case, we're only referring to the looks.
• Are you the spitting image of someone?
I don't think so. I have my dad's nose, but I wouldn't consider myself the spitting image of my dad, so no, not really.
Take after
'He definitely takes after his father.'
• If you take after someone, do you resemble that someone or not?
Yes, taking after someone means resembling someone, being similar to that someone.
• And does the resemblance have to do with the behavior, the looks or both?
Remember, we just said that to be the spitting image of someone means being very similar for what concerns looks. If you say you take after your father, for example, that means that you could either look like them physically, or you could act like them. That your behavior is similar.
• Do you take after someone is your family?
I definitely take after my dad in terms of looks, but I think in terms of personality, I take after my mom. We're both introvert and a little bit shy at times. Yes, I think I take after both my dad and my mom.
Grow up to become ...
'I bet he’ll grow up to become a great football player!'
• What’s the difference between ‘He grew up AND became a football player” vs. “He grew up TO become a football player’?
What is the difference between the two sentences? In the first one, when you use 'and,' "He grew up and became a football player," it sounds like, first, this is what happened. First, he grew up, and then he became a football player. When you use the expression "to grow up to become something or someone," that means that the circumstances in your life have brought you to that place. If you say, "He grew up to become a football player," it means maybe he was part of the high school team, and then he was recruited by a famous football team. All of those circumstances contributed to him becoming a football player.
• When you were younger, who did you think you would grow up to be?
I thought I was going to grow up to be a Hollywood star. I promise you 100%, I thought I was going to marry Brad Pitt. This was when I was what? Seven years old. I thought I would grow up to become an actress, that that's where my life was going to take me. Not sure if you can tell, but that's not how things went.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
'You know what they say... The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree/'
• You use this expression to indicate a usual similarity between parents and children or between friends?
We're talking about family. If you say, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," you mean that children often resemble their parents.
• What kind of similarity are we talking about? The looks or their behavior?
In this case, you talk about their behavior. Maybe he's very smart. Well, in this case, it's not the behavior, but it's more like the personality trait. He's very smart. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree means his parents or his dad or his mom was also very smart.
• Do you agree with the expression ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’?
I, 100%, agree because I think our parents influence you a lot. I think anybody who raises you influenced you a lot, and you end up somehow resembling them in the way you act, at least. Yes, I totally agree with the fact that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Name someone after someone
'I bet you’ve named him after his grandpa.'
This does not mean that first, you named the grandpa, "Hey, grandpa, you're going to be Charles," and then you named the baby because you've named him after him. No, that means-- Well, actually, you tell me what it means.
• If you name a baby after someone, do you give them the same name as that someone or a similar name?
It means giving the baby the same name as that person. If the grandpa's name is, for example, Charles, then the baby's going to be named after him. He's going to be named Charles as well.
• In your country, do you traditionally name children after their relatives?
I think so. In the States, sometimes they do that. I think in Italy, not so much. It used to be done in the past, especially in the south, where the child would be named after the grandma or the grandpa depending whether it was a boy or a girl. I don't think it's done that much anymore, because I think parents like to choose their baby's name and have fun with them and come up with the craziest names ever.
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