Mind the Gap!
A: In today’s podcast, I am going to talk about the English word “mind”, and about some expressions which contain the word “mind”.
B: Your “mind” means the things which happen inside your head, or inside your brain
– your thinking, in other word. We can say, for example, that someone has “a good mind” – that means, that they think clearly and logically. Or we can say that someone has mathematical mind – they are naturally good at math’s. Or we can say about someone “she has a mind of her own”- that means, she thinks for herself, she thinks for herself, she does not just accept what other people say.
A: We also use “mind” as a verb. To mind something means to be aware of something, to be careful about something, to “have it in your mind”. If you have visited London, I am sure you have travelled on the Underground and seen the sings or heard the loudspeaker announcements which tell you to “mind the gap”. There is often a gap between the railway carriage and the station platform. If you “mind the gap”, you think about the gap and take care when you get on or off the train. If you don’t mind the gap, you may trip or fall and hurt yourself.
B: You can mind other things as well – children, for example, or animals. Joanne has a friend called Susan. Susan looks after small children in her own home while their parents are at work. She plays with the children, she feeds them, and she takes them for a walk to the park and to the shops. She is what we call a “childminder”.