42) Bad Decisions

Hello and welcome to Learning English with Lyrics. I am your host Jake, and today we are discussing the song "Bad Decisions" by Benny Blanco, with BTS and Snoop Dogg. This is not to be confused with the last song "Bad Habit"! I'm not sure why this "Bad" theme is continuing, but we're just going to roll with it! Before we get started, I do want to say that I have a bit of a cold this week, so if my voice sounds funnier than usual...I'm sorry in advance! Alright, let's get started.

The line I'd like to talk about, is just after the first chorus, and is sung by Snoop Dogg himself. "Everybody see me lookin' fly". We can ignore the bad grammar here...well...actually, we can't. Ok, while it is completely acceptable to talk this way, it's not actually correct grammar. I don't want you guys failing a test because of this.

The word "everybody", although it refers to a large amount of people (all of them in fact), is actually what's called an "indefinite noun". This is exactly like its counterpart, the word "nobody. One means all the people in the world, and the other means literally none of them. Weirdly, that makes them both singular, not pluralm so we need to use the correct form of the verb here. It's a third person noun, and  it's singular, so we need to says "sees", not "see". "Everybody *sees* me looking fly". Alright, now that we've solved that, let's move on to the word "fly".

The word fly can mean several things, but there are two very common ways to use it. The first usage is as a noun. It refers to a small, winged insect. You've probably seen them. They aren't dangerous. There is a variety called a "fruit fly" that tends to be attracted to things like rotting fruit or rotting meat.

The other common usage of the  word "fly", is as a verb. "To fly" means to move through the air without touching the ground. Birds fly. An airplane flies through the skies. Superman flies. Even flies...fly.

There is a very famous quote, with a pun in it that plays on this idea. See if you understand it.

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana"

Did you catch the joke? Let me know! You can always contact us on instagram at lelpodcast, or via email, [email protected]

Alright, let's get back to our song. Obviously, none of these meanings of the word "fly" work in our song. In this case, fly is being used as an adjective. It's describing someone. More specifically, it's describing how someone looks. To look "fly" is to look stylish. It means that you look very cool. To be fly, or to look fly, is definitely something you want. This word isn't as common as it used to be, so I wouldn't recommend using it, except to be funny. However, you'll still see it from time to time in songs and movies.

Well, that's all we have for today. Keep looking fly, and I hope to talk to you soon!