This lesson suits upper-intermediate to advanced learners. After listening, scroll down and test your knowledge with our quiz.
Learning notes
Language objective
Expressing disappointment
Different phrases to express disappointment:
- This didn’t live up to expectations, did it?
- It promised much more than it delivered.
- This really wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
- This was such a waste of money.
- What a let-down!
- What a bummer!
- It wasn’t at all what we had been led to expect.
- It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.
Colloquial expressions:
If something or someone leaves a bad taste in your mouth, it means they were unpleasant and so you are disappointed and feel uncomfortable.
If something was a waste of your money and/or a waste of your time, it means that you have engaged in a useless activity.
If something happens once in a blue moon, it means that it happens very rarely.
Vocabulary:
You feel disappointed when you feel sad that something hasn’t happened the way you wanted it to. I was disappointed that I couldn’t join you.
You feel disillusioned when you discover that someone or something is not exactly as good you thought. We use this when we talk about someone or something that we liked or respected before. I am so disillusioned with my university.
You feel discontented when you are not happy about a situation for a longer time. I feel discontented with the way things are done in this office.
You feel disheartened when something makes you lose hope, courage or confidence. I am disheartened by the conflict in my family.
You feel dissatisfied when something is not quite right. I’m dissatisfied with the service in this restaurant.
A synonym - is a word that has the same, or nearly the same, meaning as another word.
Cultural information:
Mt Disappointment is an 800-metre mountain located on the traditional land of the Kulin nation of aboriginal Australians, at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria. It is one of Melbourne's most accessible forest areas and has many walking tracks, picnic areas and camping sites, beautiful wildflowers and amazing wildlife. It also has the remains of a World War II prisoner camp.
It was named by the explorers Hume and Hovell in 1824, who climbed the mountain hoping to see the distant Port Phillip Bay , but because of the dense trees, they couldn't see it. To add to their disappointment, Hume, suffered a very painful injury in his groin (the region of the genitals) so the whole team had to stop their mission for five days.
Transcript:
(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands and waterways throughout Australia.
My name is Josipa, and you are listening to the SBS Learn English podcast.
In today's episode, we'll practise different ways to talk about those moments that leave a bad taste in the mouth I don't mean literally.
If something or someone leaves a bad taste in your mouth, it means they were unpleasant and so you are disappointed and feel uncomfortable.
For example, let's say I went to a shop where I felt someone treated me unfairly; I could tell my friends that "The way they treated us left a bad taste in my mouth”..
There are a lot of other ways to say that something is disappointing. Let’s hear phrases Allan and Claire used to talk about a movie that was very disappointing.
Allan
Well, that movie didn’t live up to expectations, did it?
Claire
I agree. It promised much more than it delivered; it really wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Allan
This was such a waste of money. What a let-down!
Did you notice how Allan and Claire expressed their disappointment in every sentence we just heard?
Let’s go through them, one by one. First, we heard Allan,
This movie didn’t live up to expectations, did it?
This is a phrase that we use quite a lot to say when something wasn’t as good as you hoped
Let’s say you finally tried that new fancy restaurant all your friends are talking about, but the food was disappointing, you could say:
Allan
I heard so many good things about this place, but the food didn’t live up to my expectations.
Claire then used two expressions to express her disappointment. Let’s hear it again,
It promised much more than it delivered; it really wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Ok, let’s look at the first part of the sentence. Claire said that the movie promised much more than it delivered.
If something promises more than it delivers, it means that that something looked good to begin with, but actually was bad.
That is, it didn’t live up to our expectations.
So, if someone is promising you things that you think probably won’t happen because they probably won’t be able to do it, you could say: “Don’t promise more than you can deliver.”
Claire also said,
It really wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
This is a casual way of saying the same thing. That something is not as good as other people have said it is.
You can use with your friends and family, when you are a little disappointed about any experience. In a more formal conversation, you might say,
It wasn’t at all what we had been led to expect.
Claire
It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.
Or as we heard before, “It did not live up to expectations.”
At the end of our first dialogue, Allan said that the movie was such a waste of money.
Waste is another word for rubbish or garbage. If something is a waste of your money or waste of your time, it means that it isn’t useful.
What a let-down!
A let-down is something that disappoints you, a disappointment.
You could also say, “What a pity!, or, What a shame!”, or in more casual settings, you could express your disappointment informally among friends by saying,
What a bummer!
You would usually only use this expression among close friends because it comes from the word ‘bum’, an informal word for bottom.
I really hope that we only have to use the phrases we are practising today once in a blue moon, that is, very rarely, because nobody likes to get disillusioned, discontented, disheartened, or dissatisfied.
By the way, the words disillusioned, discontented, disheartened, or dissatisfied have similar meaning as the word disappointed.
These words all start with the prefix ‘dis’ which is means ‘no’ or ‘none’. Want to find out what they mean and how you can use them? Check out our learning notes at the top of this page.
Moving on, Claire and Allan have been following the FIFA World Cup and have been a little disappointed with how their team has been playing.
Claire
I had high hopes when the FIFA World cup started, now I wish I hadn’t bothered watching it at all.
Allan
I know what you mean, it looks like our team promised much more than it can deliver.
Claire
Yeah, I was looking forward to seeing them play, but they are boring to watch because they are not attacking enough.
We have a lot to explain, so we better get into it straight away. Claire said,
I had high hopes when the FIFA World cup started.
If you have high hopes, you strongly feel that something good will happen. Claire also said,
I wish I hadn’t bothered watching it.
We can use the phrase ‘I wish’ when we want things to be different than they are in real life.
For example, I could say: “I wish my hair was curly.
Claire wishes she hadn’t bothered watching the Cup, meaning she regrets taking the time to watch the World Cup.
You can also be bothered by something, and if an issue bothers you, there is something that worries, disturbs or upsets you.
We can also express our disappointment with the phrase, ‘I was looking forward to it, but something else happened.
Claire
Yeah, I was looking forward to seeing them play, but they are boring to watch because they are not attacking enough.
If your soccer team is playing a defensive game without trying to attack the opposite team, you could say, “My team has parked the bus.”
The English language can be so funny sometimes, would you agree?
Today, I’ve invited my colleague from SBS German Wolfgang Mueller to talk about disappointment, although a different kind of disappointment, isn’t that right Wolfgang? Thanks for joining us today.
Wolfgang
Hi, Josipa. It’s great to here. Well, yes, when I heard that you were doing an episode on phrases about disappointment I wondered if you know that Australia has a mountain called Mt Disappointment?
Josipa
No, I’ve never heard of it, where is it?
Wolfgang
Mount Disappointment is on the traditional land of the Kulin nation of aboriginal Australians, and it is on the southern end of the Great Dividing Range In Victoria. It takes about an hour to drive there from Melbourne.
Josipa
Ok but who and why named this mountain Mt Disappointment?
Wolfgang
Actually, it’s a funny story that one, and it goes back 150 years ago when British explorers Hume and Hovell climbed the mountain hoping to see the distant Port Phillip Bay.
But once they were up there, they couldn’t see anything because there were too many trees, and to add to their disappointment, one of the explorers, Hume, suffered a very painful injury in his groin, which is in the region of the genitals and because of that the whole team had to stop their mission and sleep on the mountain for five days.
Josipa
So, their mission wasn’t as successful as they thought it would be?
Wolfgang
Nope, for them it was a total let-down, so they recorded their feelings in the name of the mountain.
Josipa
But is this mountain really so disappointing?
Wolfgang
I certainly don’t think so. Mt Disappointment is one of Melbourne's most accessible forest areas where you can drive through the forest itself.
There are also a lot of walking tracks, picnic areas and camping sites. If you are into history, you can see the remains of a World War II prisoner camp. For nature lovers, the mountain has beautiful wildflowers and amazing wildlife; believe me, the view from the top is spectacular.
Josipa
I’m convinced! Mt Disappointment is going straight onto my to-do-hiking list. Have you been hiking lately?
Wolfgang
Ah, to be honest, Josipa I’m such a die-hard soccer fan, that I’ve been glued to the screen since the FIFA World Cup started.
Josipa
I completely understand and I love how you used the phrases we covered in our previous episode on soccer.
