Today we talk about the use of Vanilla as an English idiom. However  “Be careful what you say. You can say something hurtful in ten seconds, but ten years later, the wounds are still there.” - Joel Osteen.

The full article can be found here: https://adeptenglish.com/2019/06/06/plain-vanilla-person

This Articles Group: https://adeptenglish.com/idioms-with-sentences/

Last Article In Group: https://adeptenglish.com/2019/05/13/cooking-idioms/

Summary: Plain Vanilla Person

The words you use when you write or speak with others can leave a big impact and create a lasting impression of you. This can be good or bad. So be careful when using your English vocabulary and choose your words wisely.

Over time, even innocent English words get incorporated into use, by groups of people, which may be a slur or meant as an insult or even just slang for an activity you might not even understand it’s so exotic or only insiders know the true meaning.

Sound complicated? Well, yes, it can be if the words being borrowed are in mainstream conversational use, like Vanilla. It’s all about the context of the use of the word. If you hear an English word being used far out of the context of the conversation, so maybe you're talking about someone on TV and you hear the word “They have a vanilla personality” you should think hmm.. that's an odd word maybe there is a lot more implied meaning behind its use.

Do you really need to worry about this, well yes! People can use "Vanilla” to insult white people, suggest a sexual behaviour, call someone a bore. It can also mean you're talking about cooking, maybe suggest someone is not that interesting, or even about finance. It turns out Vanilla is the swiss army knife of words.

A photograph of some people setting out on an adventure walking in tall grass with backpacks. Used as an article image for the article "Are You A Plain Vanilla Person? Article Image"

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