AEE 2414: Why Do Native English Speakers Make This Mistake?

Summary

All Ears English Podcast - Episode 2414: Why Do Native English Speakers Make This Mistake?

Hosts: Lindsey McMahon and Aubrey Carter
Release Date: May 26, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 2414 of the All Ears English Podcast, hosts Lindsey McMahon and Aubrey Carter delve into the intriguing topic of why native English speakers occasionally make grammatical mistakes. This episode is sparked by a listener's question about the usage of the word "rethunk," prompting an in-depth exploration of common grammatical errors, their origins, and their implications for English learners.

Listener Question: The Case of "Rethunk"

The episode begins with a listener named Mauro reaching out with an interesting query:

Aubrey Carter [03:02]: "I have a question for you. The other day I was watching an interview and the guy said, 'so then I rethunk the whole way I approached playing.' The whole way I approached playing, I was intrigued by the word rethunk. Maybe I heard it wrong. Is it the past tense of rethink? Because I could not find it in Merriam Webster."

Lindsey and Aubrey confirm that "rethunk" is not a standard past tense of "rethink" and proceed to dissect why such mistakes occur even among native speakers.

Common Grammar Mistakes Among Natives

The discussion reveals that "rethunk" likely arises from confusion with irregular verbs. While "thought" is the correct past tense of "think," regional dialects and speech patterns can lead to variations like "rethunk." Aubrey explains:

Aubrey Carter [05:08]: "Thought is the past tense of think. I thought. So it should be, I thought. Anything else is a mistake."

Lindsey adds that similar errors are prevalent with other irregular verbs:

Lindsey McMahon [05:32]: "Yeah, and other mistakes that we hear a lot. Aubry. I mean, here's an example. 'She's ran a lot this week.' And again, just to be clear, this is a mistake. Right. We should say 'she has run a lot this week.'"

Regional and Contextual Influences

The hosts explore how regional dialects and education levels influence these grammatical errors. They note that certain mistakes are more common in specific areas and social settings:

Aubrey Carter [06:09]: "There are a lot of past tense verbs that you'll hear errors with in the United States."

Lindsey McMahon [07:09]: "I don't think it's as clean as saying in the East vs. West. I mean, definitely there are parts too."

They emphasize that factors such as region, rural vs. urban settings, and the company one keeps all play roles in how language is used and how errors manifest.

Intentional Usage for Humor and Self-Deprecation

Interestingly, not all grammatical mistakes are accidental. Sometimes native speakers intentionally use incorrect forms for humorous or self-deprecating purposes. Aubrey describes scenarios where speakers might say "rethunk" on purpose:

Aubrey Carter [09:21]: "It's this idiomatic chunk that you're intentionally using this."

Lindsey McMahon [10:37]: "It's like they're knocking themselves over the head as they say that. Like 'I thought what I thunk.' Right. It's like, oh, I was so silly in that moment."

This intentional misuse serves as a rhetorical device to lighten the conversation or acknowledge a mistake in a playful manner.

Examples and Role-Plays

To illustrate these points, Lindsey and Aubrey engage in a role-play demonstrating the use of informal expressions like "derp" and "doy." For instance:

Aubrey Carter [11:04]: "I think you left your water bottle at my house, Lindsay."

Lindsey McMahon [11:08]: "Oh, derp. I leave that thing everywhere. That is derp."

They further showcase how these expressions function similarly to "oops" or "whoops," conveying acknowledgment of a minor mistake in a lighthearted way.

Additional Resources and Related Episodes

The hosts recommend additional resources for listeners interested in related topics, such as the Business English Podcast Episode 380, which discusses how to articulate mistakes in a professional setting:

Aubrey Carter [14:34]: "There's a great episode over on the Business English Podcast 380."

They caution that the informal phrases discussed in this episode are not suitable for workplace environments, highlighting the importance of contextual appropriateness in language use.

Conclusion

Lindsey McMahon and Aubrey Carter conclude the episode by reinforcing the complexity of native speaker grammar usage. They stress the importance for English learners to understand these nuances to navigate real-world conversations effectively. By dissecting both accidental and intentional grammatical variations, the episode provides valuable insights into the dynamic nature of the English language.

Lindsey McMahon [15:31]: "This has actually been a very high-level episode because we're talking about using sarcasm. We're talking about making fun of ourselves in our grammatical choice to make a grammatical mistake."

The hosts encourage listeners to stay tuned for more episodes that unravel the intricacies of English, emphasizing the podcast's mission of fostering connection over perfection.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Aubrey Carter [03:02]: "So it might have just been a grammar mistake, but possibly a grammar error that is very common in their regional dialect."
• Lindsey McMahon [07:09]: "Education level would influence that. Where we live, who we're around would. These are all factors that could influence that."
• Aubrey Carter [09:21]: "If Maro heard this on an interview, it's impossible to know actually if it was a grammar mistake."
• Lindsey McMahon [14:17]: "So this is not so much the scenario where we want to speak like the people around us or that we don't know the grammar."

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for English learners to understand the subtle and sometimes perplexing grammatical variations among native speakers, enhancing their ability to engage in natural and effective conversations.

Transcript

[Aubrey Carter]

This is an All Ears English podcast. Episode 2414 why Do Native English speakers make this mistake?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz and Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, usa. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com subscribe can you say the word rethunk in English? Today? We answer a question from a listener who heard this and wants to know more. We get to the bottom of it today.

[Aubrey Carter]

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[Lindsey McMahon]

Hey there, Aubry. What's shaking?

[Aubrey Carter]

I'm great. How are you, Lindsay?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Oh, I'm doing well. I think we're gonna have a lot of fun today on Allers English.

[Aubrey Carter]

This is gonna be fun. I have a question for you. To start it out, what do you say when you realize that you made a mistake?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Oh, sometimes I say duh. Right?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yes.

[Lindsey McMahon]

How did I make that mistake? Or I do say my bad sometimes. And definitely I say oops, whoops, oopsie, whoopsie.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. There's a lot of options actually. For sure.

[Lindsey McMahon]

These are such silly and fun words. I'm excited to talk about them today. Is today's episode inspired by a list question?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yes. We got this great question from Mauro. I'll read it for us. Okay, first of all, great episode on no Pain, no Gain. That was a good one. I remember that episode. Then he said, I have a question for you. The other day I was watching an interview and the guy said, so then I rethunk. The whole way I approached playing, I was intrigued by the word rethunk. Maybe I heard it wrong. Is it the past tense of rethink? Because I could not find it in Merriam Webster. Great question. No, it is of rethink. But you also probably didn't hear it wrong. That's probably exactly what they said.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yes. And Mauro is doing all the right things by going out into the world and consuming natural native English. I love that. And so inevitably, you're going to hear weird things spoken when you do that, right? It does happen, but we're here to help. Don't worry, Mauro. Love it. Guys, go ahead and, go ahead and hit the follow button to make sure you don't miss a single episode of All Ears English. We publish five episodes, episodes a week just for you and you want it to drop right into your queue. So just go ahead and tap that follow button and you will get all ours. English to you five days a week. Love it.

[Aubrey Carter]

Awesome. Yes. Be sure to hit follow, guys. All right, let's dive in here. There are two reasons that the person in this interview might have said rethunk. The first one is it might have just been a grammar mistake, but possibly a grammar error that is very common in their regional dialect. I have definitely heard this mistake and you. Sometimes by someone who doesn't realize it's a grammar error, sometimes someone will say it and they realize it's a grammar error, but that's just what everyone who lives by them says, so they're used to it.

[Lindsey McMahon]

And again, you know, this is not the kind of thing that's going to be covered in any textbook. No textbook would take the time to talk about this. But we think it's important because you are going, you guys are immersing yourselves in real English. If you're traveling to the US or the UK you're going to hear these things. Aubrey, you and of I have been in debates here on the show about this topic, right? These intentional grammar mistakes and when should we do them? What company are we in exactly?

[Aubrey Carter]

That's tricky because I want to ask you, Lindsay, I have definitely heard this grammar error where I grew up in the northwest. But what about you, Lindsay? Have you ever heard someone say I rethunk what I did? Something like that?

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, I've heard. Well, I've heard I. I thunk, right? I as people mistaken not knowing the past tense or mistakenly saying the wrong past tense of for sure. And it's cultural, right? So, yeah, this is tough for me.

[Aubrey Carter]

It's interesting because there's a reason these mistakes are made, right? There are so many irregular verbs, right? Yes. Thought is the past tense of Yes. I think I thought.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yes.

[Aubrey Carter]

Let's make sure that's participle. Yeah. So it should be I thought. Anything else is a mistake. But there are past participles of other words, like drunk. I have drunk a lot of Water. That's correct. So you can see how people might assume a word changes a certain way because of other words they've heard irregular verbs, and they're trying to follow that pattern. So this does happen.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. And other mistakes that we hear a lot. Aubry. I mean, here's an example. She's ran a lot this week. And again, just to be clear, this is a mistake. Right. We should say she has run a lot this week. Right, Aubrey?

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. But that's tricky because past tense, she ran. But then if you're using present perfect and you need that past participle, it should be she has run a lot this week. I have run a lot this week. I hear this mistake all the time. People who were from cities from not, you know, but it is maybe more common in the West. There are a lot of past tense verbs that you'll hear errors with in the United States.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. And again, we've talked on other episodes how maybe someone who lives in a western town in a rural area would use the grammar mistake on the weekend at a barbecue, and then they would go to work, let's say, in the city, and they would never use that mistake at work.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right. Maybe. Maybe not. Right. So I worked for a land developer here in Arizona, and I remember all the time, and a lot of them were from Phoenix or like California. And I would hear these errors with verbs all the time.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah.

[Aubrey Carter]

And it was like, you know, people are kind of trying to uplevel their language. Sometimes it's because they just don't realize it's a mistake. Yeah. And often it's because it's such a part of their regional dialect that it's like an accepted error. But then if they went to the east coast, they might not hear that error very often. So for a lot of. A lot of the episodes we've done here on Allers English, we've shared with you which errors are more common, more accepted, and which are going to be less common or sound more glaring.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah.

[Aubrey Carter]

You would want to avoid. This is one of those. Rethunk. I don't recommend you say it because it's common in less areas. A lot of people who hear you say it would maybe be confused, definitely recognize it as an error. So though you might hear someone say it, we wouldn't recommend it.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah. So we're just going ahead and answering Mauro's question here. I also think it's. It's not entirely East Coast. West Coast. East, East, West. I think it's education level. I mean, I think it's Fair enough to say that, you know, in, in one way it's education level would influence that. Where we live, who we're around would. These are all factors that could influence that. I, I don't think it's as clean as saying in the EAs. I mean, definitely there are parts too.

[Aubrey Carter]

It's not just east, west. Right. It depends on the region. But sometimes it is education level and sometimes not. Right. I have friends who have master's degree PhD, and then when I go back home, they're still going to speak like everyone else around them so that they're not being judged for being hoity toity. Right. And condescending with their grammar. So you can't really make assumptions about education level either. So it's really interesting.

[Lindsey McMahon]

So it's a combination of region, rural, urban, education and who we're around. Like we said, who we're around and what our choices are in that moment. Do we choose to fit in or do we choose to say it correctly? Right. So it's difficult.

[Aubrey Carter]

This is a hot topic. This is the nice one about rethink and rethunk is. It is rare enough that even if you, you know, even if you hear other people in a certain area say rethunk once or twice, you can still say rethought or rethink. We wouldn't even say I rethought about this. We'd say, I thought about this again. We don't really say. No, we don't even. Although that's the other thing that's interesting.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Although I do say I'll have to rethink that. So we do say it in the present, we just don't say it in the past.

[Aubrey Carter]

Exactly. If we're going to say in the past, I would say I, you know, was rethinking that. I would either use past continuous or I rethought that. No, I really thought, I thought about it again. That's what I would say. And I changed my mind.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, I would say I thought about it again. Right. Or I revisited that in my mind.

[Aubrey Carter]

Exactly.

[Lindsey McMahon]

And I changed my mind. Okay.

[Aubrey Carter]

Yeah, that's maybe where, where this rethunk is coming from. Because we don't really say rethought, so they. Someone also hasn't heard that much. So in the, you know, split second, like, what do I say? Re. Thunk.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Tricky. All right, let's get back to it. Aubry. So what else do we need to know here?

[Aubrey Carter]

This is really, this is interesting. So the second thing is it might not be a grammar mistake. Or I guess it is a grammar mistake, but it might be intentional. Native speakers will sometimes say rethunk or thunk as a joke. A self like, self deprecating humor. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Happens. It's because someone made some kind of decision or. Or made an action that they then realize was not the correct decision. Right. They're recognizing a mistake. They're saying hindsight is 20 20. They're saying I should have done something different. Yeah. And I' them say something like I thought what I thunk, but now I realize I was wrong. So they're sort of intentionally making a grammar error to poke fun at themselves.

[Lindsey McMahon]

It's like they're literally like knocking themselves over the head as they say that. Like I thought what I thunk. Right. It's like, oh, I was so silly in that moment. Right?

[Aubrey Carter]

Exactly. So that could be as well. It's like this chunk. Like, oh, I need. I. I rethunk what I did. And really what you're saying is, oh, I really made a big mistake there.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Making. Making fun of yourself. Right. It's just self deprecating. It's sarcastic in a way. Okay.

[Aubrey Carter]

And then we want to share a couple other very quick options here at the top. Lindsay, you said a lot of the things that we say when we realize we've made a mistake. Right. Oof. Oops, Whoops. All of these. And then we have a couple that are less common, that are very fun. One of them is derp. So let's do a little mini role play. I'll start us what this would look like. I think you left your water bottle at my house, Lindsay.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Oh, derp. I leave that thing everywhere. That is derp.

[Aubrey Carter]

It's funny, but it's the same as like, oops, whoops. Oh, my bad. Right? It all. They all mean the same thing.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yep, yep. And this next one, doy was very hot in the 90s, I think. So here's the next one. Aubry. Yeah, right. It looks like the restaurant closed an hour ago.

[Aubrey Carter]

Oh, doy. I should have looked up their hours before we drove here. So it means the same as like duh. Oh, duh. It just. Yeah, I made a mistake.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Maybe it's like a variation off of duh. Like we had duh and then we created doy as a way of just enhancing that. I don't know.

[Aubrey Carter]

These are, I think Lindsay and I both remember from the 90s would say no doy, and it was the same as no duh, which is a way of saying like, that's obvious. Like I Already knew that. No duh. No doy.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yep. Yep. And if you ever said that to your parents as a teenager, I know my parents would definitely be mad at me.

[Aubrey Carter]

Mine would be mad too.

[Lindsey McMahon]

So funny.

[Aubrey Carter]

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[Lindsey McMahon]

Okay, Aubry, let's bring all this into a role play here. I'm asking you about a recent vacation.

[Aubrey Carter]

Okay. You start us out.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Did you swim with sharks like you were hoping to?

[Aubrey Carter]

No, I rethunk that and decided not to.

[Lindsey McMahon]

I don't blame you. I don't think I could do that.

[Aubrey Carter]

Bummer is I didn't change my mind in time to get my money back. So I was like, oh, derp, goodbye, deposit.

[Lindsey McMahon]

So you're really poking fun at your own misjudgment here. Let's say. Right.

[Aubrey Carter]

Exactly. Right. When you hear this, and you might hear this, I am very intentionally like making bad grammar to say like, I don't know what I was thinking swimming with sharks. I decided not to do that. It was a mistake.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yes.

[Aubrey Carter]

Oh, I'm the type of person that would use bad grammar. I did something so silly. Right. And that's. Right. I rethunk it.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Right. So in that choice of grammar, you're actually saying I'm so silly. Right. Is what you're doing.

[Aubrey Carter]

Exactly. So there's this implied meaning, like I'm intentionally using this to self deprecate.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Right. So this is not, you know, this is not so much the scenario where we want to speak like the people around us or that we don't know the grammar. Right. This is the third scenario where you're actually making fun of yourself in your word choice.

[Aubrey Carter]

Exactly. It's this idiomatic chunk that you're intentionally using this. So when Maro heard this on an interview, it's impossible to know actually if it was a grammar mistake. It might have been and they just used the wrong past tense verb. Or if they were intentionally saying, you know, saying that, sort of poking them fun at themselves, saying, I had this whole plan and that did not work out. So I rethunk the whole process maybe.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yep. So that's the grammar choice you use there. And then you said, so I was like, like, oh, derp, goodbye, deposit. So again, it's like this, the face smash, right? You're like, I'm so silly. I can't believe I did that.

[Aubrey Carter]

Right, exactly. And here we're narrating thoughts, right? I probably didn't actually say this. I'm like, oh. I was like, oh, derp, goodbye, deposit. I just thought this, like, whoops, I made a big mistake.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yes, exactly. I love it. Aubrey, is there another episode our listeners should go over to listen to right now?

[Aubrey Carter]

Yes, there is a great episode over on the business English podcast 380 very recent accidents happen. How to say you made a mistake at work. And this. So it's interesting because, yes, we do this in everyday conversations. We have these words that we use when we make a mistake when we're, we're trying to make it more light hearted. And then we have some different phrases that we use at work. So if you work in English, don't miss that episode.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Yeah, I mean, we, we wouldn't necessarily recommend these phrases at work that we taught today. Don't you think, Aubrey?

[Aubrey Carter]

Much too informal. And we probably wouldn't say accidents happen in a daily conversation that's much more common at work.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Work. Yes. All right, good stuff. So there's a lot for our listeners to think about. This has actually been a very high level episode because we're talking about using sarcasm. We're talking about making fun of ourselves in our grammatical, in our choice to make a grammatical mistake. Aubry. We're talking about regional differences, educational, different. There's so much here. I love it.

[Aubrey Carter]

Yes. Right. A lot to think about. And we always, we always try to let you guys know when we share about a common native grammar error, should you be making that mistake too or not? We want you to have all of that info because this can be confusing when you hear native English speaker speakers making these grammar mistakes.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Really good stuff. Thanks for bringing this topic to the show today, Aubrey. And guys, go ahead and hit that follow button right now to get five days a week of All Ears English. All right, awesome.

[Aubrey Carter]

Thanks, Lindsay.

[Lindsey McMahon]

Bye bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our 2 minute quiz, go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore and if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time. This episode is brought to you by Disney's Lilo and Stitch, now playing only in theaters. A reimagining of Disney's animated classic Lilo.

[Aubrey Carter]

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[Lindsey McMahon]

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