Something feels off.
Scenario: Project update meeting. A colleague presents numbers that don’t match last week’s report.
Crude thought:
These numbers make no sense. What are they doing?
Spoken version:
Something feels off with these figures. Can we double-check them?

That doesn’t sit right with me.
Scenario: Your manager reallocates part of your project without informing you.
Crude thought:
So my work just doesn’t matter now?
Spoken version:
It doesn’t sit right with me that the scope changed without a heads-up. Can we clarify expectations?

That raises a red flag.
Scenario: A new supplier refuses to include standard clauses in the contract.
Crude thought:
Why are they hiding something?
Spoken version:
The refusal to include standard clauses raises a red flag for me. What’s the reasoning behind it?

That rings alarm bells.
Scenario: A candidate avoids answering direct questions in an interview.
Crude thought:
They’re dodging. This is shady.
Spoken version:
The lack of direct answers rings alarm bells for me. I’d like to revisit that point.

That’s a cause for concern.
Scenario: A team member has missed three deadlines in a row.
Crude thought:
This is getting ridiculous.
Spoken version:
Missing three consecutive deadlines is becoming a cause for concern. What’s blocking progress?

​That’s a dealbreaker.
Scenario: A client insists on unpaid additional work “as a gesture of goodwill.”
Crude thought:
They want free work? Absolutely not.
Spoken version:
Unpaid additional scope is a dealbreaker for us. We’d need to formalize that in a new agreement.

Common 
Think frequency.
Something is common if it exists in many places or many people have it.

• It’s common to drink coffee in the morning.
• Colds are common in winter.
• Black clothes are common in offices.

Popular
Think preference.
Something is popular if many people like it, choose it, or support it.

• That café is popular because people love it.
• She’s a popular teacher.
• This podcast is popular right now.

The key difference

• Common = many instances
• Popular = many fans

Very important contrast

• Something can be common but not popular
  Traffic jams, spam emails, bureaucracy.
• Something can be popular but not common
  A niche sport, a luxury brand, a hard-to-get course.

Today in Vocabulary Booster we have something a bit different.
It’s a term you can easily use in a sentence, but it’s also something we usually want to avoid in speaking, especially when someone expects us to be concrete rather than vague.
A blanket judgment is a broad, sweeping evaluation that treats all people, things, or situations in a group as if they were the same.
It often sounds like:

• Everyone is like this;
  
• Nothing from that group is good;
  
• Polish people do that;
  
• Germans are known for that.
  

These are all blanket judgments.


Now, how do we actually use this phrase in language?

We can make a blanket judgment about something. We can also talk about a blanket statement or a blanket assumption; they are close cousins and work in very similar ways. Very often, we use it with the phrase avoid blanket judgments.
Examples:

• It’s risky to make a blanket judgment about someone based on one meeting;
  
• That’s a blanket statement and it ignores important differences;
  
• We shouldn’t work on blanket assumptions when making decisions;
  
• Good communicators avoid blanket judgments, especially in feedback.
  
  
  
  

One important note.

When we use the phrase blanket judgment, we are usually being critical. 
As for how common it is,

this phrase is quite natural in professional, academic, and reflective language. You’ll hear it in feedback, analysis, coaching, HR, and media, but much less in everyday chit-chat. When you use this phrase, people tend to register it as thoughtful and slightly formal.

All the expressions below are more idiomatic versions of I am sick(ish). Hopefully, you are not but try to choose 1 or 2 to boost your vocab today.

🤒I’m feeling under the weather.
 classic “I’m not well,” mild to moderate.
🤒I’m coming down with something.
 you feel it starting.
🤒 I think I’m fighting something off.
 early stage, body battling a bug.
🤒 I’m feeling a bit run-down.
tired, low energy, immunity dipping.
🤒I’m not 100% today.
 mild, polite, very natural.
🤒I’m feeling a bit off. / I’m a bit off today.
 vague “not well,” super common.
🤒I’m a bit sniffly.
mild cold symptoms.
🤒I’m all bunged up.
blocked nose; very winter-authentic.
🤒I’m feeling rough.
moderate to strong “I feel terrible.”
🤒 I’ve picked up some bug.
you caught something.
🤒Something’s going around.
winter viruses everywhere.
🤒I’ve been laid low by a cold.
knocked out by it, old-school but still used.
🤒I’m a bit achey today.
flu-ish body aches.
🤒I’ve got a touch of something.
light version, very polite, indirect.
🤒I feel wiped out.
total exhaustion, post-virus or during.

Based on the latest lesson in my “Learn English with Abby” Insta-series, here’s a quick breakdown of those three fantastic words and how to use them. All of them signal a moment of surprise — just different flavours of it. Gobsmacked and flabbergasted are the funky, flamboyant ones, yet still completely mainstream. Perplexed is your safe, everyday option when you want something simple and clear.

Flabbergasted
A very expressive, dramatic word meaning “deeply shocked or amazed,” but still absolutely mainstream and widely used.

I was flabbergasted when they approved the project in five minutes.

Gobsmacked
A strong British word meaning “stunned by surprise,” often with a humorous edge. Very common in the UK, well-understood elsewhere.

She was completely gobsmacked when they announced her name.
​
Perplexed
A polite, softer word for “confused and unsure what to think,” often used when someone is trying to figure something out.

​I was perplexed by the instructions—they didn’t match the diagram.

“Learn English with Abby” is now my irregular Instagram series — a playful mix of vocabulary, storytelling, and canine charisma. 🐾

Last week, a few interesting language ideas popped into my sessions, and I thought I’d share three of them with you. They all look perfectly fine at first glance — but each one hides a small trap.
​
📌Lukewarm tea
Can you order lukewarm tea in a café?
You could — and people would understand you — but it’s not something native speakers normally say.
Lukewarm usually has a negative meaning. It describes something not hot enough and often sounds like a complaint.
So if you say My tea is lukewarm, you’re probably not happy about it.
If that’s actually how you like your drink, it’s better to say:
Could I have it warm, not hot?
Just slightly warm, please.

Understandable — yes. Natural — not really.

📌Grow up (plants)
Can your plants grow up? 🌱
Not quite.
We say children or people grow up — they become adults.
Plants don’t grow up, they just grow.
I grow tomatoes in my garden.
My plants are growing fast this year.
So: People grow up. Plants grow.

📌​Sympathetic dog
Can your dog be sympathetic? 
In English, sympathetic doesn’t mean (miły, przyjazny) — it means understanding someone’s feelings.
She was very sympathetic when I told her about my problem.
If you want to describe your dog’s personality, use friendly instead:
My dog is very friendly.

In the Conversations, we briefly touched on the topic of balance and balancing poses. While I’m already familiar with different poses, my student reminded me of another one that is quite popular in our region. She confidently claimed she could do it.
At that moment, all sorts of bird names starting with "S" came to mind—sparrow, swan, stork—but the one we needed was the swallow. (You might recognize this word as a verb, but in this case, it has nothing to do with that—though that’s a story for another time.)
In English, the posture that involves standing on one leg, extending the other leg backward, and stretching the arms out to the sides is called the swallow.

And if you need to brush up your knowledge on most common birds have a look into this QUIZLET SET.

On Thursday, some of you and I discussed Polish doughnuts and the whole idea of Fat Thursday. Of course, I assume you are all familiar with the word doughnut, so there’s no need to explain it. However, it might be worth noting that doughnuts in Poland can be a little different from what’s traditionally understood in other cultures.

Polish doughnuts, or pączki, are round and fluffy. During our discussion, the word nadziany came up, and I think the best English equivalent would be filled, as it’s the most natural and commonly used term. So, for example, you would say -📌a doughnut filled with jam.

That said, there are also a few other words that could work, such as stuffed, loaded, or bursting with, depending on the context. These words can sometimes be used to translate nadziany in different situations. Here are some examples:
📌Stuffed 
A chocolate-stuffed doughnut
📌Loaded 
A loaded raspberry doughnut
📌Bursting with 
A doughnut bursting with cream