Zapp! English Colloquial 3.12 – The Senses
Taught by Katie Wood — Cambridge CELTA · Cambridge DELTA · Cambridge-accredited Teacher Trainer
Recorded and taught by a team of British and North American English teachers, based in Oxford (UK) and Barcelona (Spain).
Katie asks for the phrase "as deaf as…" and Tom hesitates: "Erm…is this to do with doors?" His answer — "As deaf as a doornail? Doormouse?" — gets a gentle correction: "No I think that’s dead as a doornail." That mix-up is exactly why this unit exists. We sat down at the beach on a lovely day and worked through ten colloquial expressions about the senses, one guess at a time, with plenty of talk about who you can and can't say them to.
What you'll hear in this episode
The format is simple: Katie describes, Tom guesses. She starts by asking him to name the five senses, then feeds him the openings — as deaf as…, as blind as…, as soft as… — and he fills in the rest, sometimes after a wrong turn.
What makes the conversation useful is that they don't stop at the answer. Katie asks whether you'd really use as deaf as a post about someone born without hearing, and whether you'd say as blind as a bat about a person with a guide dog. Tom's reaction is immediate: "Absolutely not!" Both agree these are jokey, self-directed phrases — the sort of thing you say when you've left your glasses at home, or when you've had to repeat yourself four times.
In the second half they move on to sight as a noun: to have your sights set on something for goals, versus I've got my eye on for things you want to buy. Asked for another sight for sore eyes after a long walk in the heat, Tom offers "A pub selling cool beer!" and then unpacks the image — an oasis in a desert, eyes hot and dry from looking.
The last section is smells. Katie had pong and stink ready; Tom adds whiff and, later, honk, which he calls "Another multipurpose word…" His warning is worth keeping: "Don’t say that to someone that you don’t want to annoy."
Quick facts
| Episode | Zapp! English Colloquial 3.12 – The Senses |
| Pack | Colloquial 3 |
| Level | 3 |
| Duration | 17 minutes 13 seconds |
| Speakers | Katie and Tom |
| Recorded | At the beach, on a lovely day |
| Workbook | Included in the all-in-one pack (€39) |
What you'll learn
The language point running through this episode isn't the idioms themselves — it's register and who you point them at. Every one of these expressions is grammatically simple, and every one carries a social risk. Katie keeps returning to the same question in different forms: would you say this about a stranger? About yourself? As a joke to a friend? By the end you have a clear rule of thumb — these comparisons are for exaggeration and self-mockery, not description.
You'll also hear how a fixed expression bends. Katie says both "as soft as a baby’s bum" and "as soft as a baby’s bottom", so you learn that the pattern has a polite variant. She distinguishes I've got my eye on (a pair of shoes in a shop window) from to have your sights set on (a university, a car, a trip), which is a distinction learners routinely collapse.
Because this is unscripted, you get the real thing: false starts, "erm", overlapping agreement, and one moment where Katie gives away an answer and admits it — "Sorry, I’ve just told you!" The Meaning and Pronunciation drills then slow everything down: you hear a single word, produce the whole expression, and repeat after the beep in a full sentence.
Vocabulary from this unit
The workbook glossary rates each expression 1 to 3 for how informal it is. These are the entries:
- as deaf as a post (2) – has very bad hearing. Tom's near-miss with doornail opens the episode.
- as blind as a bat (2) – has very bad eyesight. Used about yourself in bad light, or without your glasses.
- as soft as a baby's bum (2) – very soft. For skin, silk or velvet.
- a sight for sore eyes (1) – something or someone you are very happy to see.
- to have your sights set on something (1) – to have something as a goal.
- to see eye to eye (1) – think in the same way as / agree about something. Often used in the negative: not seeing eye to eye on politics.
- I've got my eyes on.... (1) – you have seen something you like and want, and intent to get.
- to stink (2) – to smell bad. Tom's example: "that bin stinks".
- to honk (2) – to smell bad.
- to pong (1) – to smell bad.
- a sixth sense (1) – a special feeling or sense you get which is not from the usual five senses.
- as dead as a doornail (1) – completely dead, or a place with no people.
What's in the workbook
The workbook for 3.12 opens with a short introduction reminding you that colloquial expressions belong with friends, not in formal situations. Then come the two full conversation transcripts, so you can read along with the guessing game and catch anything the beach background swallowed. Between them sit the two Meaning and Pronunciation scripts, including the a sixth sense item that never came up in conversation.
After the summary you get the Extra Materials: the glossary with its 1–3 informality ratings, then two exercises. Practice Exercise 1 is a word snake — one long string of letters hiding stink, pong, honk, see eye to eye and the rest, which forces you to recognise the expressions without spaces to help you. Practice Exercise 2 is six anagrams to unscramble, from kohn to feadsasassopt. Answers to both are printed at the back.
The workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack, which covers every episode we've made for €39.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Common questions
Is the audio scripted?
The conversations are unscripted — Tom genuinely doesn't know what Katie is going to ask, which is why he confuses deaf as a post with dead as a doornail. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
Do I need the workbook to follow the episode?
No. The audio works on its own. The workbook adds the transcripts, the glossary with informality ratings and the two practice exercises.
Can I really use these expressions?
Yes, with care. Both speakers stress they're for jokes and self-mockery. As Tom says of honk: "Don’t say that to someone that you don’t want to annoy."
What level is this?
Level 3, from the Colloquial 3 pack. It suits learners who already handle everyday conversation and want the informal layer on top.
How do I get the workbook?
It comes with the all-in-one pack at €39, alongside the workbooks for every other episode.
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