039 Gaming Slang

In this episode, we talk about three slang phrases that came from gaming: meta, grinding/farming, and all in.

Chapter Bookmarks:

00:00 Start
01:59 Meta
09:20 Meta Red Lobster smoothies
12:59 Grinding/farming
20:06 All in

Chapters

• 0:00 Start
• 1:59 Meta
• 9:20 Meta Red Lobster smoothies
• 12:59 Grinding/farming
• 20:06 All in

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Kuli English Podcast. I'll be your host today. My name is Chris. I'm always your host. 

So I've been thinking about what to talk about in this episode for some time now. And I decided in this episode, I want to talk about, I really want to talk about slang because slang is like a really popular topic.

Sometimes when I, I used to teach events in Japan, and sometimes like when I run these kinds of events, a lot of people always request, Hey, can you teach us some like slang that native English speakers use, or can you teach us some slang that American people use? And I think it's always just kind of interesting to teach people slang and also learn slang in another language because, you know, these are things that aren't really commonly used in textbooks, but people use them a lot in everyday life. So they are actually probably pretty useful. And so this time, the slang that I'll be talking about is actually all slang that came from like games.

And if you are someone who doesn't really like games, then, you know, like, sorry, but actually I don't think you really need to worry because these like phrases, these slang phrases that come from games, they're so common that even if you don't really play games, these are probably pretty good phrases to use in general. And so the three phrases that I'm going to be talking about are number one, meta, number two, grinding or farming, and number three, all in. And I'll give, I'll give like proper explanations in the next sections when we actually talk about it.

But first, as always, let's take a short little music break.

All right, so let's go ahead and get started. And so I'm going to be telling you about three gaming slang phrases.

But before I tell you about these three and what they mean, I got to talk about games in general. And so that's something that I actually think is going to be pretty fun. But when I talk about games and stuff, I'm not telling you about like, oh, like this game was really fun.

Oh, that game was really fun. I'm actually going to be explaining some basic ideas from games. And these are things that probably if you've played games before, you probably already know what they are.

But, you know, if you played games in another language, or maybe you've never played games before, then maybe this explanation might be useful. And if it's boring, I'm sorry, you can just like tune it out, you can listen to something else. But I'm going to be trying to explain, I'm going to try to explain everything as if you aren't someone that normally plays a lot of games.

So in games, there is this concept called leveling up. And this is probably something that you already know, even if you haven't played any games. But like, you know, leveling up from, let's say, level three to level four, that's called leveling up.

And then you usually get like stronger or something. Like if your character levels up from level three to level four, you get more power or you get more health, or maybe you get some nice items or it's like generally good, you like get stronger. And then there is also this other concept besides leveling up where you like fight a boss, it's like a boss fight.

And then when you fight the boss, usually it's like a little bit harder, it's not so easy. And then if you win, you get stuff, you get like a reward, you get like treasure or something. And then so in a lot of games, there's like always a choice that you have to make.

It's like, how much do I level up before I fight the boss? And so maybe I'll level up to level three, and then I'll fight the boss. And then, you know, if that seems kind of hard, actually, I could do a different strategy. I could level up not to level three, but I could level up to level four, or maybe level five and be a little bit stronger than what I need to be.

And then when I go fight the boss, it should be easier. And then when I go fight the boss, you know, I fight them and it's like easier because I have more health or I have more items or something like that. So there's always this like trade off of like, you know, do I want to power up more? Or do I want to go ahead and fight the boss now? And I want to beat the boss as soon as I can so I can get the rewards, but I want to fight the boss when I can win. 

And so, you know, someone who's watching you play this and think about this, like you're thinking, oh, should I level up more? Oh, what items should I get? Like, how can I beat this boss? Like somebody might be thinking, hey, what's the best strategy here? Or like, you know, what do most people do? And in this case, then comes in the first phrase that I'm going to be talking about meta. So what is the meta? The meta means like, what is the best strategy? Meta is best strategy, or like, what do most people do? So again, in that same example, it's not really like a real game or anything.

But in the game example, if you are level five and you're fighting the boss, then if most other people who play this game level up to level five and then fight the boss, then that is meta. That's what you say. That is the meta or that is meta.

You can use it as a noun or you can use it as an adjective. And if level five and fighting the boss is meta, then if you level up to level six or level seven, and then you fight the boss, then that's not meta. That's not what most people do.

And maybe that's not the best strategy. But the truth is, you know, whatever works for you is fine. But the way that you use the phrase meta is kind of like, it's kind of like, is it the same as what most people do? And so, you know, like, meta can actually be used outside of games as well.

So in the gaming context, you can ask like, oh, that's pretty meta. Meaning, oh, that is what most people do. Oh, that is like the best strategy.

But you can also use it in like totally non-gaming related settings. And I do remember, I think one time that I thought was like, that I thought was like, oh, that's a pretty good usage is that once I had a friend and that friend is a year older than me. And we just started working at the same company.

And when you work at a company, you have to like choose some money stuff, like for tax. And these things are like really hard things for me to explain on the podcast. Like just because tax and stuff is really difficult, so I'm not going to talk about it. But basically, you have to choose. Do you like choose like option A, option B or option C? And then like your money is going to come to you, but they have like different rules for taxes.

So if you choose A and if you choose B and if you choose C, they all have different rules in taxes. So then like, these are pretty hard things to understand. And if you read the rules or rules, meaning like the laws, if you read the tax laws, then then yeah, like you can maybe understand it, but it's just hard.

You have to study and you have to like understand it. And a lot of people who like, you know, live in the US probably don't fully understand all of these tax rules. But someone was asking me and, you know, since we started at the same date, they were like, hey, what's the meta for these tax options? So again, the meta means like, you know, the best strategy or the choice that most people choose.

And then so in that case, I could just say, oh, the meta is you choose like plan A and then you choose like plan C once you've been working at the company for like five years or something like that. And then that is like some strategy. That's not the real answer that I told my friend.

I'm making it a little bit easier because the real answer is kind of like, oh, well, you know, 401k, it's going to come in like pre-tax or post-tax. You're going to have to choose what age you're going to retire. And then based on your income, it's like very complicated.

So, you know, you can just ignore that like 10, 15 seconds of whatever that I said. But anyways, you can use meta like that. And let me talk about one more thing.

And then that's also like related to meta stuff. But there is a meta in life. Okay.

So the meta in life is to study hard and then, you know, go to a good school. And then once you go to a good school, you study hard there. And then you go to a good college.

And once you go to college, you like study hard there and you get good grades. And because you have good grades, then you should get like a great job. And then the job gives you a lot of money.

And then that's like, that is the meta. So that is supposed to be the best strategy. That is the strategy that most people believe to be the best.

And again, this is a really good example of meta being something that, you know, most people believe this is the best. But it doesn't really mean that that's like the best for you. So if you are someone who, you know, ended up not going to college because you ended up like working at some company directly out of high school, that's totally fine.

You know, whatever works for you. So the meta in life is like that. And I think that's a really good way to put it.

The meta is something that is considered the best strategy, but it's not really the best strategy because what's best really depends on the person. So that's meta. Now let's take a short little break and then we'll continue and talk about the next phrase.

All right. So let's go ahead and continue. But before we continue, I got to tell you some more stuff about meta because I just thought of a really great story that's kind of related.

So I used to go to this restaurant called Red Lobster a lot. Like uhh Red Lobster is kind of like a famous chain restaurant in the U.S. And it's not really that famous. I don't even know if it's that popular, but it definitely made the news a lot because they're like not doing well as a company. Like they like changed their CEO a lot of times. And so they're not really doing well. They need your business. They need your help. 

So anyways, as a kid, I went to Red Lobster a lot and I didn't really order the lobster a lot. I like the shrimp.

But the main part of the story that I want to talk about is the smoothies. So at Red Lobster, they sell smoothies and they have like a couple different flavors of smoothies. So they've got like a banana smoothie, they've got a strawberry smoothie, and they've got a strawberry banana smoothie, which is like it has kind of both of them.

And then there are some other flavors, but I don't really recommend those. I think I've had them all before. I've been to Red Lobster like a lot.

So anyways, the strawberry banana smoothie is the best thing. And back then it used to be $5 for a smoothie. So, you know, that's the price back then.

I'm sure the price has changed now. It's been over like, what, 15 years, I think. Because I'm thinking of like the pricing from like when I went in Oklahoma.

So anyways, it's $5 for a smoothie. But you can also order a kid-sized smoothie. So the normal smoothie is like kind of like big and, you know, it's got some whipped cream.

Maybe it's got a strawberry on it. But you can also order a kid-sized strawberry banana smoothie or any flavor. Any flavor is okay.

The kid-sized smoothie is $1.50. So, you know, you've got $5 for the normal smoothie or $1.50 for the kid-sized smoothie. And, you know, how big are they? Well, the big one's like pretty big. The small one is not that small.

But for the price of $5 versus $1.50, you could get three kid-sized smoothies for $5. You could actually get it for less than $5. It would cost $4.50. So for the same price, actually a little bit cheaper, you can get three kid-sized smoothies.

And then I found out that the kid-sized smoothies, if you get three of them, that's much more than, you know, just one of the normal ones. So then that became the meta. It's not really like a game that a lot of people play.

Like I think people don't even really go to Red Lobster. But it was the meta for me. And it was the meta for my sister too.

Actually, I don't know if I told her about it. But it was definitely the meta for me. So if you wanted to order a smoothie, the meta, the best strategy, the more efficient way to spend that money is to get three kid-sized smoothies.

But it is kind of weird to order that. Because, you know, I would go to Red Lobster by myself. And then I would say, I want three kid-sized smoothies.

It's like a really weird order. Because then the waitress is, I'm sorry, what? Like you don't even have any kids. But, you know, there is nothing in the rules that say that you can't order from the kids menu unless you have a kid.

And so, you know, I didn't have a kid. But I just say like, oh, I want it. And then they're like, okay, yeah, sure.

And then they bring it.

So that is like a meta that I discovered. So I found this meta.

And I teach this meta to other people. And the truth is, I actually don't know if the prices are still that cheap. I'm pretty sure they're not that cheap anymore.

So anyways, that was like one little review story about meta. And now for the next part, I got to talk about grinding or farming. So again, I'm going to mention those three phrases.

Number one was meta. Number two is grinding or farming. And number three is all in.

And now we're going to be talking about grinding or farming. And so first, before we talk about this in like the slang phrase, in the slang meaning, let's talk about farming like in real life. So farming, you probably already know what that means.

It means like you plant like food or vegetables or plants in general, and then you like harvest them. So maybe like I plant potatoes because I'm a farmer. And then, you know, after the potatoes grow up, then I pick the potatoes or like I harvest the potatoes.

And then I eat the potatoes. And that's like the farming cycle. And so farming usually means like plants.

But in games, in games, you know, you can use farming as like the normal meaning, like to actually plant potatoes or something. But in games, farming also means like, just like leveling up or doing something repetitive. So instead of saying like, oh, I'm farming potatoes, you can also say I'm farming raccoons or I'm farming rabbits.

So, you know, in real life, if you are raising rabbits, and maybe you're like, you know, raising rabbits and selling them as pets, or maybe you're raising rabbits because you like to eat rabbit meat or something. Then you wouldn't say I'm farming rabbits because farming is for plants. But in games, you can say I'm farming rabbits.

And that means I'm like going out to, you know, the woods where the rabbits are in the game. And then I kill the rabbits and I collect the meat or I collect the gold or I collect the experience and level up or something like that. So that's farming in games.

And you can also use the word grinding for the same thing. So I'm grinding rabbits, meaning I like kill a lot of rabbits and it's kind of boring. Because grinding, it kind of means the same thing as farming.

But there is this like image. So the real physical meaning of grinding is like, if you have like two, imagine like two stones. And then you want to turn one of the stones or both of the stones into dust.

So you just take one in each hand and then you like rub them against each other. And then it like makes a little noise like krlrlrl, and then you're like just grinding and it's very boring. Like the image of grinding is very boring and very consistent.

But you have to do it because maybe you want something. You want to like level up or you need the products. So again, in games, you can say I'm grinding, which means I'm leveling up.

Or you can say like I'm grinding rabbits or I'm grinding this skill, which means I'm working on this skill. And maybe it's a little bit boring. Maybe it's a little bit repetitive, but I'm doing it because I want something from it.

And you can always, you can also use these phrases in real life as well. So farming, uh, I think farming is like, it's, it's probably more for like gaming context stuff, although in the younger, younger generation, so younger than me. So like people who use like TikTok and stuff, they have certain phrases where they, they use farming, like farming aura.

I'm not going to talk about that. But for grinding, you can use that in everyday life and people in, you know, my generation or even a little bit higher or people who just play games in general, uh, they understand grinding. So a good example is kind of like, Hey, uh, Chris, what have you been doing this week? And I would say, oh, I've been grinding at the gym, uh, every day this week.

And, and grinding means like, you know, like it's a little bit boring and it's a little bit repetitive, but I'm doing it so that something about me can level up or maybe I'm doing it for money. And, you know, to the, for that example at the gym, then when I'm grinding at the gym, I'm working out because I want the results. I want my body to be healthier.

I want to be stronger or something like that. And then you can also say I'm grinding at work. So work, uh, maybe the image of work is, oh, it's kind of boring.

It's kind of repetitive, but I need money. So I've been grinding at work. And then you can also say, um, like in a different way, like grinding instead of like the verb form, you can say, oh, it's, it's a real grind or something.

So you can also use it as the noun as well. And so grinding is just like, uh, it's like, um, it means like a little bit boring, but very repetitive. And I've been doing it consistently.

And, uh, you know, again, so to combine these things, um, I'm going to talk about like meta and grinding in the same sentence. And it's something that I've already mentioned before, but you know how I mentioned before that the meta in a lot of life, according to like most like societies is you're supposed to study as a student. And then, you know, get smart and then you get a job and then you use your, your smart brain to like, get a good job and make a lot of money at work.

And that is supposed to be like the meta. And another way to say that is, uh, the meta, and this is going to use the other phrase, the meta for most people is to grind at school and level up your brain. And then you go find a job and then you go grind at the job and make a lot of money.

And then you win. Like that is like the, that's the really game terminology way to say what I just said before. Um, so anyways, that was grind, that was farming, that was grinding.

And, uh, let's take a short little break and then we'll continue to our last section.

All right. So let's go ahead and get started.

So, uh, before we get started, we got to review because reviewing is good for you. And if you're ever studying something, you should always review every now and then. So first off, uh, was the word meta.

So what does meta mean? Meta means like the best strategy or the strategy that other people think is the best. It's the strategy that the pros think is the best. And my favorite example of meta is if you want to go to Red Lobster and you want some really good smoothies, but you want to make sure that you're paying the least amount of money for the most amount of smoothie, then the meta is to order kids sized smoothies because they are cheap.

And by the way, these, these, this, this story, unfortunately, is probably no longer true. I haven't been to Red Lobster in a long time. 

Uh, so anyways, let's move on.

So the first was meta and number two is grinding or farming. And so the image in your mind should be something that's kind of boring, something that I have to do, uh, something that I don't really want to do. It's kind of repetitive.

For example, grinding at the gym or grinding at work, or, you know, people can also say, oh, work is a real grind. And that really focuses on the boring part or the repetitive part. But grinding at work, uh, you do that because you want money or you do that because you want a promotion or you do it because you are choosing to do it and you have some reason.

And anyways, the third phrase, which we are now going to talk about is all in. So all in means to bet everything on the next thing or to bet everything on one thing. So as an example, if we are buying stocks, so stocks is something that you should buy, and I'm not going to give you individual stock advice ever, but let's say that, um, I believe that some company, and I'm not actually going to mention any company name because I don't want it to seem like I'm like telling you to buy that one company, but let's say that there is a company called Chris, uh, Kuli English company.

And that stock is going to do really, really well in this year. Then what I could do is I could buy that stock. I could spend all of my spare money on buying that stock.

And then the way that you would describe that is I'm going all in on Kuli English stock or something like that. You can also say, I'm buying tons of Kuli English stock, but all in means all of my available money, I'm putting it in.

And if you're gambling in like a game, uh, so for example, poker or like blackjack or something, uh, usually you can choose the amount that you're going to bet. And so, you know, you can bet $1 or you can bet $5, maybe you can bet $20. And at some point, uh, you can usually increase the amount of money that you're betting in the middle of the game.

And if you want, you can say, I'm going to go all in. So the way they use it is number one, you can just say it straight up all in, or you can say I'm going all in, or you can say I'm gonna go all in. So it's usually a set phrase with, with go the verb go.

So go all in or going all in. And again, I also said in the previous example, I'm going all in on this stock. Um, but, uh, when you're gambling, you can also just say, I'm going to go all in, or you can just say all in.

And it comes from like the phrase, like all. So all is like everything, all of my money goes in, into the betting area.

And then I say the phrase all in. So all in, um, you can also use it in life. And so now let me go ahead and tell you like a story about my life, I guess.

Again, it's kind of a personal story, but, uh, I'm going to try to explain it in a way that's like kind of simple, but so I, uh, in college, I changed my major. So the major is like the main thing that you're supposed to study. And my initial major was chemical engineering.

And then I changed it to a major called electrical engineering, computer science. It's kind of long also called EECS, but you can just call it computer science for short, even though the real name is something else. So I used to have a major called the chemical engineering, which you don't have to know what it is.

It's like a major that basically, if you're working, you're probably making big machines that like make medicine, and then you're selling medicine to people. But, uh, it was chemical engineering. And then I changed my major to computer science.

And to change your major at my college, it was actually really, really hard because they don't like it when you change your major, especially to computer science, which was kind of popular at the time. So when you change your major, you have to like apply, you have to write an essay. So I have to write like a two page essay about why I want to do this.

And then they also require a lot of additional things. So they say like, your grades have to, you have to have like this, your grades have to be at least this level. And you have to have taken at least these classes.

And there's like four or five classes. And so most people who are doing a major that is not that target major, they would have to take a lot of classes to be able to change their major. So it's kind of impossible.

But if you give up on your first major on whatever major you're, you're currently are. So for me, it was chemical engineering. I like gave up and I said, okay, I'm not going to take any more chemical engineering classes.

I'm just going to take the, the computer science classes. Then maybe I have a better chance at like passing this thing. So I basically went all in on this major switch.

And the sad thing is like, it's not even guaranteed. It's not like if you get an A in this class, then you can change your major. They basically say on the front page, they're like, Hey, 3% of people will get accepted.

And so, you know, you should be prepared to not be accepted. But, you know, I kind of gambled it. I was kind of younger back then.

And I guess I didn't really care if I failed. But so I basically went all in on this major switch. And so I gave up on my previous stuff.

I like stopped taking those classes that I was supposed to. And I just started taking the new classes that I wanted to. And then I applied.

And then the all in is always kind of scary. Because, you know, if you're playing a gambling game and you gamble all in and you win, then that's really good. You get a lot of stuff.

But if you lose, it's like really sad because, you know, you lose all your stuff. So for me, if I succeeded, then I would get the major that I wanted to. And if I didn't succeed, then I had decided, Oh, I would probably quit college and do something else.

But in my case, I was kind of lucky. And then I made it into the major. And then I didn't quit college.

So actually, that was kind of lucky. So that's an example of like an all in story. And people can also, you know, you can also say all in for stuff that's not really that serious.

Like all in usually implies it's a big deal. But another good example is, let's say I have a friend who recently said, like, he's been starting to eat more potatoes. And he believes that potatoes are like better than rice because potatoes make you feel fuller and they're less calories.

And this guy cares a lot about like, you know, going to the gym and stuff like that and trying to be healthy for his body. And then so he says he's going to go all in on potatoes, which means every meal where he would be eating rice instead, he tries to eat potatoes instead. So that's going all in.

And so it's kind of like a bet, I guess, because, you know, if he wins, then, you know, like he's like eating potatoes and that's supposed to be better. And then if he's wrong, like he finds out later that potatoes are actually really bad for you and they cause like cancer or something. Then he loses his bet.

He loses the all in and that's like really bad because then he won't be healthy. But again, you know, potatoes versus rice, is it really that much of a difference? And also it's not like he is like going out of his way to like change restaurants. So instead of offering rice, it's potatoes.

So he's actually still eating like a lot of normal stuff that other people eat. It's not like he's only eating potatoes. So that's an example of all in, but it's not exactly like a super strong meaning.

It's just like, oh, I'm kind of betting on it. 

And so there, well, I have like other examples, but I feel like you kind of get the point. So all in generally means that you are supposed to, you know, like bet everything on one thing.

And that's what all in means. So again, I'm going to try to combine all those three things and I'm going to talk about stuff in like a gamer kind of way. So normally in this podcast, I talk in kind of like a slower, easier to understand way.

And I try to avoid using slang, but I'm going to try using those three things today that we talked about. And I'm going to talk about the exact same thing, which I already said before, but let's talk about the meta in life. So the meta in life, life in general, is that you are supposed to go all in on book smarts.

So you're supposed to go to school and grind out smarts, grind out your grades, and then you get into a good college and that's still meta, right? So that's part of the big meta. You go to college and then you grind out some good grades there. You go all in on one major, ideally a major that makes a lot of money.

And then from there, the meta is to go and get a nice job and make a lot of money. And then from there, I don't know what it is. It depends on the person, but that is the meta that society has always said.

But of course, as with all things, you need to decide what works best for you. So same goes for these slang phrases as well. So if you don't want to use these slang phrases, that's totally fine.

But I just wanted to suggest these because I think they kind of make for good stories. So anyways, with that, let's go ahead and end this episode. So thank you so much for listening until the end of Kuli English Podcast.

I was your host, Chris. And as always, if you want to support me, then feel free to follow or subscribe to me. And if you don't want to, it's totally fine.

And if you have a friend that you think would enjoy this episode or would enjoy the podcast, then definitely feel free to share this podcast with them. But until then, thank you so much for listening. And I'll see you next Tuesday.