as mentioned in the reel above, joy is the leader of the emotions in the hit animated movies inside out and inside out 2. joy is a feeling of intense happiness. it is also a popular name for girls.
joy is pretty awesome
both of these definitions apply to the pixar character joy. amy poehler, who does joy’s voice in the movies describes her as…
pretty awesome, cheerful, upbeat and always knows how to turn that frown upside down
pretty used as an adverb can be complicated to understand. it can mean more or less or very. it’s necessary to pay attention to the tone of who is using it, and it may not always be evident what their intention is. amy poehler probably means that joy is very awesome.
it’s important for cheerleaders to be upbeat and cheerful
awesome means cool or incredible. cheerful and upbeat are synonyms that mean happy or optimistic.
the joy of being a cartoon: it’s easy to turn a frown upside down (maximumble.com)
turn that frown upside down means smile, or change your sad face to happy.
inside out jeans & an upside down book (faeriesight.wordpress.com; ijulian89.tumblr.com)
upside down and inside out are frequently used together to identify something that is confusing. diana ross‘s song upside down describes a feeling of attraction that overwhlems (is too strong for) her…
upside down, boy u turn me inside out. and round and round.
in addition, poehler uses two expressions with get: don’t get me wrong (don’t misunderstand me) and get ready (prepare).
both expressions are titles of well known songs. don’t get me wrong by the pretenders
and get ready by the temptations
check out some other random expressions of joy...
to promote the first jurassic world, chris pratt joked with conan o’brien about the faces he made in the movie to portray specific emotions. the face at 1:35 is pure joy
it might be exaggerated to brand a liquid soap with the name joy, but the couple in this commercial from the 70s are pretty happy with their clean dishes.
does this bottle of liquid dish soap turn your frown upside down?
and joy appears in the lyrics of a huge number of popular songs from varied genres and eras. here are a few that u are sure to recognize…
the second verse of savage garden‘s lovely ballad, truly madly deeply says
and when the stars are shining brightly in the velvet sky
i’ll make a wish, send it to heaven, then make you want to cry the tears of joy for all the pleasure and the certainty that we’re surrounded by the comfort and protection of the highest powersamy winehouse‘s u know i’m no good discusses cheating on (being unfaithful to) her current boyfriend with her ex. the second verse starts…
upstairs in bed with my ex-boy
he’s in the place, but I can’t get joy
the third line of kendrick lamar‘s dna says
i got power, poison, pain and joy inside my dna
i got is a reduction of i’ve got, which means have. pain is extreme discomfort or suffering. dna refers to fundamental or genetic characteristics.
the contrast of joy and pain is standard. 50 cent uses it too in many men. listen at 2:30 for this verse…
sunny days wouldn’t be special if it wasn’t for rain
joy wouldn’t feel so good if it wasn’t for pain
death gotta be easy, ’cause life is hard
it’ll leave u physically, mentally, and emotionally scarred
the first two lines are examples of 2nd conditional 👉 hypothetical situations. rain and pain both exist, but hypothetically we wouldn’t enjoy sunny days or joy without them. emotionally scarred is traumatized by emotional abuse.
emotionally scarred is the title of this track by lil baby. listen at 2:24. listen closely, the words fly by…
woke up, i thought i was dreaming
watched my lil’ boy play with toys, i just dropped a tear of joy
some shit that i feel for
tears of joy, in other words crying due to happiness, is a typical application of joy as well. shit means stuff, things.
the lyrics of dean martin‘s memories are made of this give this explanation at the end of the first verse…
one girl, one boy, some grief, some joy
memories are made of this
grief means aggravation
fields of joy by lenny kravitz is a hippie metaphor and a cover of a track by the new york rock and roll ensemble
i will always love u is also a cover. the original was written and performed by country legend and actress dolly parton. whitney houston‘s version, from the popular movie the bodyguard, is in fact a sad farewell to her bodyguard. listen at 2:50 for…
and I wish to u joy and happiness
but above all this, I wish u love
where are u now by jack u (dj’s skrillex and diplo) and featuring justin bieber is a reflection on a relationship that has ended.
now i’m all alone and my joy’s turned to moping
alone means solo. joy’s is a contraction of joy and the auxiliary has, i.e. present perfect. turn to means become. moping is acting sad. listen at :35…
similarly, toni braxton‘s unbreak my heart is from the perspective of a sad person after a relationship has terminated
take back that sad word goodbye
bring back the joy to my life
take back means retract. bring back means return
faithfully by journey talks about the difficulty of maintaining a relationship while touring with a rock band but the joy in the song is a silver lining (good inside the bad) at 2:15…
and bein’ apart ain’t easy on this love affair
two strangers learn to fall in love again
i get the joy of rediscovering you
oh, girl, u stand by me
stand by means support emotionally
joy is one of the powerful feelings that can be inspired by sailing, according to christopher cross. listen at 1:10
if the wind is right u can find the joy of innocence again
the first verse of across the universe from the beatles‘ let it be album ends like this…
pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind
possessing and caressing mesorrow is extreme sadness, but the waves of joy seem to be a greater power than the pools of sorrow. drift means float. caress means touch gently
i just called to say i love u is kinda like a commercial for 20th century telephone service. it provides consumers with inspiration to call and tell their friends and family they love them at different times of the year. the lyrics literally run through (go over, review) reasons to call for every month of the year. november (thanksgiving) and december are together in one line…
no giving thanks to all the christmas joy you bring
there are several other examples of christmas and joy below 👇
indeed, the phenomenal stevie wonder uses joy in his lyrics a lot. listen at :40 to hear the late great george michael sing the end of the first verse of the beautiful love’s in need of love today...
what i’m about to say could mean the world’s disaster
could change your joy and laughter to tears and painin freedom! ’90 george michael remembers how he got famous a few years before. listen at 1:15 …
i was every little hungry schoolgirl’s pride and joy
and I guess it was enough for me
pride and joy is a common expression/combination of sentiments. the two adjectives form a noun phrase
sade‘s most famous song, smooth operator starts
diamond life, lover boy
he moves in space with minimum waste and maximum joy
in other words, the smooth operator loves his life. waste means use inefficiently.
the chorus of for a better day by avicii is this abstract observation
and we sang the song for the little thing
magic calm, but the joy you bring
running it down the line, wish u could find that love is a fragile thing
on the other hand (in contrast), the video has a clear message of revenge against human traffickers and pedophiles
shout by tears for fears utilizes the idiom jump for joy (demonstrate extreme happiness) as encouragement to resist authority. listen at 1:11 for
those one-track minds that took u for a working boy
kiss them goodbye, u shouldn’t have to jump for joy
u shouldn’t have to jump for joy
one-track mind refers to people who only think about one thing; probably working a job in these lyrics. take for is a phrasal verb that means consider, perceive. kiss goodbye means say goodbye forever
a famous rock song from the early 70s by the band three dog night that many people probably believe is called jeremiah was a bullfrog (the first lyric) is actually titled joy to the world
joy to the world is a famous christmas song too
in fact, joy is mentioned all the time during the holiday season and appears in a few christmas songs. for example band aid‘s do they know it’s christmas. listen to boy george sing this at :30 (right before george michael 😮)
and in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
throw your arms around the world at christmas time
spread means share. throw your arms around the world means hug, in a figurative way of course.
and the most important line of god rest ye merry gentlemen, a 19th century christmas carol that uses plenty of antiquated english, is…
o tidings of comfort and joy
in other words, may the news of the birth of jesus bring u comfort and joy
the youtube short at the top of the post marks the following vocabulary with graphics: brace face, actually, e.g., gotta, adjective phrases with measures (13-year old), train tracks, grow up, smooth sailing, struggle, awkward, stuff, alone, chime in, so, widely, have got structure (i got), steer wrong, even, too & haunt.
braces, mouthguard, spoiler, gonna, at all and get over all appear in the short too, but without graphics.
which song in this post fills u with the most joy? share your choice under leave a reply