Cool mom welcomes her daughter’s friends
B1 English listening practice · American English · Curated for intermediate learners
What does “hump day” mean in American English?
Hump day is American slang for Wednesday. The idea: the work week is a hill, and Wednesday is the top, the “hump.” Once you make it past Wednesday, the rest of the week is downhill toward the weekend. The phrase started in office culture in the 1960s, and the GEICO insurance ad with the talking camel (“Mike Mike Mike, guess what day it is?”) pushed it into mainstream American speech in 2013. Since then, hump day has shown up on coffee mugs, T-shirts, and Wednesday lunch specials.
In this clip, a mom welcomes her daughter’s friends after school: “I’m not like a regular mom. I’m a cool mom. I’m gonna make you girls a hump day treat.” The reference does the heavy lifting.
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this B1 English listening practice listening practice?
General English frequency
Spoken English frequency
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In American workplace conversations and Slack channels on Wednesdays
- ▸In American TV ads (GEICO’s talking-camel campaign, started 2013)
- ▸In American sitcoms about office life (The Office, Parks and Recreation)
- ▸In American restaurant and bar Wednesday-special promotions
- ▸In American social-media memes and Wednesday morning posts