In today’s episode, we are going to learn the expression that you can use to talk about past experiences that you’ve had, but it didn’t end up going well. For whatever the reason, it’s not a positive experience, or just an experience that didn’t work out the way that you had initially thought that may end up.
This expression is very common that you can hear people saying in this situation. It’s a very useful phrase if you have tried something, and it didn’t work out. And the expression is
I tried doing the whole sth thing for a bit, but….
我试着做了...一段时间，但是......
We can insert any kind of experience into that ‘sth’ slot. For example, I tried doing the whole freelancer thing for a bit, but……. Or, I tried doing the whole salesman thing for a bit, but…… So, it’s a way to summarize the experience of that thing into one word. ‘the whole freelancer thing’ means everything about the lifestyle of a freelancer, like finding your own clients, getting your own payments, paying your own taxes, all these little things that go with being a freelancer. We summarize it into one phrase here saying ‘the whole freelancer thing’. When I hear somebody says this expression, I really get the sense that they threw themselves into their work completely. They really committed to their job and theygave an honest effort真心付出. But it didn’t really work out in the ends.
Another thing we need to mention here is that we use this often to talk about career experience or job experience. It’s something you do, and something that related to lifestyle. You can use ‘the whole sth thing’ to encapsulate a lot of things. Like, the whole fighting thing in hockey just doesn’t make sense to me. When you summarize any aspect of life, you can use ‘the whole sth thing’.
Let’s jump into some examples here to let you know how this expression is used in real life situation.
EXAMPLE I
A: Are you still working at the Starbucks downtown?
B: No, not anymore. I tried doing the whole barista咖啡师thing for a bit, but it just wasn’t a good fit for me.
A: So, are you looking for job then?
B: No, I started a landscaping company with my brother. We are keeping really busy these days.
A: Good for you. That’s great.
In this example, we just saw two friendsbumped into(偶遇) each other. And they were having conversation about one person’s job. What does he do these days? The person tried doing the whole barista thing for a while, but it didn’t work out for him. So, instead, he started a landscaping company with his brother. Here, he summarized his entire experience saying that he really committed, and he really gave making coffee an honest effort, but itwasn’t a match for him不适合他.
EXAMPLE II
A:Do you ever regretnot going to college when you were younger?
B: No, not really. I tried the whole student thing for a bit, but I realized I’d just work and earn money.
A: Oh, that looks like a good choice in the end.
B: Yes,luckily everything turned out fineand I have a solid career that I love. You know, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
In this example, a guy is saying that he does not regret not going to college. He said he tried the whole student thing for a bit, but it didn’t work out for him. He chose to quit school and start working instead. But nowlooking back, he realizes it was a good choice because he has enjoyed the career that he has built for himself. He uses ‘the whole student thing’ to refer to the student lifestyle.
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