Your American friend tastes your cooking and says, "Not bad!" Are they happy or disappointed? Many learners feel hurt, because the direct translation of "not bad" sounds cold in their language. Others say "very delicious" or "very exhausted", because their language puts "very" in front of every adjective. In this episode: • The strength scale • Extreme adjectives don't take very • Stress and the emphatic do • Understatement and polite vagueness • Sarcasm and how to check • Practice • Self-check questions with answers Key phrases from this episode: a little cold — slightly cold (neutral) kind of tired — somewhat tired (casual) pretty good — good, but not amazing (casual) really good — clearly good (neutral) so good — very good, with feeling (casual) super easy — very easy (casual) totally fine — completely fine (casual) way too salty — much too salty (casual) absolutely perfect — one hundred percent perfect (neutral) very good → amazing — The cake was absolutely amazing. very cold → freezing — It's freezing out there! very hungry → starving — I'm starving. When's dinner? very tired → exhausted — I'm exhausted after all that laundry. very small → tiny — Their kitchen is tiny. very big → huge — That pizza is huge! very dirty → filthy — The car is filthy. It was SO good — "so" is longer and higher That's REALLY nice of you — strong thanks I DO like it — really, I like it (answering doubt) I DID call — I really called (someone thinks you didn't) She DOES help with the dishes — she really helps Not bad — good, often quite good (casual) Not too shabby — good (casual, playful) Season 2 · Real American English: the complete spoken course for learners worldwide — accent, everyday grammar, prepositions, articles, phrasal verbs, idioms, slang and real conversations at home. Listen, repeat out loud, then take the 52-question quiz. Audio voiced with AI from an original script by Dr. Rashmi R Nair.