Zapp! English Colloquial 3.16 - Superstitions
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 sets up the game, and Mark answers with the line that opens the whole unit: "I hope so. I don't want to let the listeners down." From there it's ten colloquial expressions about luck and superstition, described by Katie and guessed out loud by Mark — sometimes on the first try, sometimes after a few wrong turns. Along the way Mark notices something true about break a leg: wishing someone "quite a painful traumatic experience" is "another one of the...strange and illogical phrases from English."
What you'll hear in this episode
Katie describes each expression and Mark has to produce it, which means you hear the guessing as well as the answers. Good luck comes first: fingers crossed, keep your fingers crossed, touch wood and break a leg. Katie mentions that the symbol for the lotto in England is a picture of crossed fingers; Mark points out that Spanish says the same thing literally — tocar madera.
The believe pair takes longer. Asked for a word meaning imaginary, Mark tries "Credible?", then "believable", then "Unbelievable" before Katie supplies make believe. He gets seeing is believing and immediately offers the inversion native speakers actually use more: "I'll believe it when I see it."
The second half moves to disbelief. What a load of rubbish leads to shite and crap, then to the gentler mumbo jumbo — where Mark's deadpan suggestion of "Monotheistic religion" gets a diplomatic "depends on your opinion" from Katie, and a little later a cheerful "It's a load of shite!" Black cats, spilled salt and mirrors at midnight bring in old wives' tales; Mark admits he's never worked out whether a black cat is good or bad luck, and Katie's answer is "Depends on the country." Heebie jeebies and the creeps follow, then Sod's law, illustrated with a bus stop: "I was waiting at the bus stop for an hour and then three buses arrived at once." The unit signs off with a joke about hoping Sod's law doesn't mean missing a flight the next morning.
Quick facts
| Episode | 3.16 – Superstitions |
| Pack | Colloquial 3 |
| Level | 3 |
| Duration | 15 minutes 17 seconds |
| Audio | Free to download |
| Workbook | Included in the all-in-one pack (€39) |
What you'll learn
Ten expressions, but more usefully, a feel for how strong each one is. The unit is explicit that what a load of crap and what a load of shite sit at the rude end, that what a load of rubbish is still very direct, and that mumbo jumbo is, as Katie puts it, "quite a soft way to say you think something's nonsense." That gradient is the hard part of colloquial English, and hearing the same idea expressed three ways in a row makes it audible.
You'll also pick up fixed patterns rather than isolated words: fingers crossed it'll be OK, touch wood I won't miss the train, I don't believe in all that mumbo jumbo, that's just Sod's law. Mark's inversion of seeing is believing into I'll believe it when I see it shows how one idea carries two grammatical shapes with different uses.
Because the conversation is unscripted, you get real listening practice: false starts, guesses that miss, overlapping agreement, and words like "shivers" offered before the target phrase arrives. Two Meaning and Pronunciation sections then drill the expressions properly — one prompt word for you to expand into the full phrase, then whole sentences to repeat after the beep, so stress and rhythm get attention as well as meaning.
Vocabulary in this unit
The workbook glossary rates each expression 1 to 3 for how informal it is — 3 meaning "Don't use this with your mother-in-law!!!"
- break a leg (1) – you don't really have to break a leg – it's just a way to say good luck
- fingers crossed / keep your fingers crossed (1) – a way to say I wish you good luck
- touch wood (1) – if we have good luck / I wish for good luck
- seeing is believing (1) – if you can't see it, you can't believe it
- make believe (1) – imaginary
- mumbo jumbo (1) – superstitious nonsense
- Sod's Law / Murphy's law (2) – a law that says if there is a way for something to go wrong – it will
- an old wives' tale (1) – an old superstition or story, not based on fact
- What a load of rubbish! (2) – a very direct way to say you don't believe what someone is saying
- What a load of crap! / What a load of shite! (3) – a rude way to say someone is talking nonsense
- to give someone the heebie jeebies / the creeps (1) – fear and anxiety
In the workbook
The full transcript of both conversation tasks is there, so you can read back the moments where Mark's guesses go sideways and see exactly how Katie steers him to the answer. Alongside it you get the Meaning and Pronunciation scripts for both halves, the glossary above with its 1-to-3 informality ratings, and two practice exercises.
Practice Exercise 1 asks you to rewrite five sentences using an expression from the unit — "I need proof or I can't be sure it's true" becomes seeing is believing; "If something can go wrong it will go wrong" becomes Sod's law or Murphy's law. Practice Exercise 2 strips the vowels out of five expressions and asks you to put them back, which is a surprisingly good test of whether you really know the spelling of heebie jeebies and old wives' tale. Answers for both are included.
This workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack — every episode, every workbook, one download.
Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39
Common questions
Is the conversation scripted?
No. Katie and Mark's exchanges are unscripted, which is why you hear the wrong guesses. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.
Can I really say "What a load of crap"?
You can, but the glossary rates it 3 — very informal, and it may offend some people. What a load of rubbish is the safer version, and mumbo jumbo is softer again.
Do I need to do the earlier Colloquial 3 units first?
Each unit is built around one topic, so you can start here and come back to the others in any order.
Is the audio free?
Yes, the audio is free to download. The workbook comes with the €39 all-in-one pack.
What's the difference between Sod's law and Murphy's law?
In this unit they're treated as the same idea: if something can go wrong, it will. Katie notes you sometimes hear it called Murphy's law instead.
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