Hello and welcome to English as a Second Language
podcast number 25. Welcome to English as a Second
Language podcast number 25. My name is Dr. Jeff
McQuillen coming to you from Los Angeles, California.
and the Center for Educational Development. If
this is the first time listening to our podcast,
please go to our website at www .eslpod .com
to find out more information about this podcast.
Today's podcast is about problems at work. Lucy
and I are going to talk about a problem that
Lucy had at work and how we thought we should
solve it. Listen to our conversation and then
I'll talk about some of the expressions that
we used. Now let's get started. Can I pick your
brain for a minute? Sure. What's up? Well, I
have a sticky situation at work, and I wanted
to get your input. You're always so tactful.
Thanks. I'm not sure I can help, but I'll give
you my two cents. Well, it's like this. There's
this guy I work with. who is always making jokes
about the boss. Don't get me wrong, I like a
good joke now and then, especially about the
boss. But sometimes he goes too far. What do
you mean? Well, just the other day, he got a
picture off the internet and cut and pasted the
boss's head onto it. Let's just say it was a
very unflattering picture of him. Hmm. That's
really unprofessional, but it sounds harmless
enough if he kept it to himself or just showed
it to a few friends. That's just it. He didn't
keep it to himself. He attached the picture to
an email and sent it to the entire company including
the top brass. You're joking, right? No, I'm
not. This is what I mean when I said he goes
too far. He just doesn't know when to quit. Is
he a friend of yours? No, not really, but I don't
want the guy to get fired. He's actually a good
person. He's just clueless, that's all. Well,
that's a tough one. Let me think about it. Maybe
there's a way to get him to cut it out before
he gets fired. Thanks, I appreciate it. Oh, it's
no big deal. Let's go get a bite to eat. Sure,
sounds good to me. Now let's talk about some
of the expressions that Lucy and I used Lucy
started by asking me if she could pick my brain
To pick somebody's brain is to get their opinion
to get their advice To ask them what they think
Lucy said that She wanted to ask me about a sticky
situation at work. A sticky situation means a
difficult situation. A situation that is possibly
embarrassing or difficult for someone to talk
about. That's a sticky situation. It's a sensitive
situation. Lucy wanted to get my input. Input
means my advice, what I think. Just like in a
computer processor there's input, that's what
goes in, and output, that's what goes out. Here
we use it to mean advice or opinion. Lucy complimented
me by saying that I was tactful. To be tactful
means to always say the right thing to never
give Anyone offense to never insult anyone someone
who is very good with words and doesn't Cause
problems with other people we sometimes say they
are tactful They know how to say something without
the other person getting mad. Lucy said that
this person was making jokes and that she didn't
mind a good joke now and then. Now and then means
the same as every once and a while, which means
not every day, not all the time, but sometimes.
So they're really synonyms for sometimes. Lucy
mentioned that her friend sometimes goes too
far. To go too far means to do something that
would normally be okay, but do it too much. Do
it in such a way that it Hurts other people or
bothers other people You don't want to go too
far in Joking about your friend because your
friend could get mad So to go too far is to to
go more than what you should Lucy said that her
friend got a picture off the internet and cut
and pasted the boss's head on it. To cut, of
course, means, like a scissors, you cut something,
a piece of paper. And to paste means to attach,
to put something on, usually with glue. But in
computers, cut and paste, like on a word processing
program, Microsoft Word, for example, To cut
and paste means to take something from one place
and put it in another place Lucy said that the
picture of her boss was very unflattering To
flatter means to compliment to say nice things
about a person unflattering means unkind words
not nice words There's no verb to unflatter There's
only a verb to flatter, but we can use the expression
as an adjective. It's unflattering Meaning it's
not very nice. I Mentioned to Lucy that it would
be What the here her friend did would be harmless
enough? That is to say doesn't cause anyone any
harm harmless or doesn't cause anyone any problem
or injury if her friend kept it to himself to
keep something to yourself means not to show
anyone else not to share it with anyone else
it's like keeping a secret keep it to yourself
will sometimes say meaning don't tell me I don't
want to know Lucy's friend sent this unflattering
picture to the top brass in her company. The
top brass means those who are president, vice
president, chairman of the board, CEO, chief
executive officer, all of the most important
leaders in a company. The term actually comes
from the military. We talk about the top brass
in the military, meaning the generals and those
who are admirals and leaders of the military.
But we also use the term now for anyone who's
a leader, particularly in a company. Lucy said
that her friend just didn't know when to quit.
To know when to quit means to know when to stop
to know that You can't do anymore that you should
stop doing what you're doing For example, I love
eating potato chips Sometimes though. I don't
know when to quit and I eat a whole bag Lucy's
friend is described by her as being clueless.
Clueless is a somewhat informal expression. To
be clueless means not to know what is happening,
not to know what is wrong. Someone who is doing
something wrong but does not know it, does not
realize it. clueless it implies it it means in
part the person is not very intelligent is a
little stupid if they're clueless I said that
the whole situation that Lucy describes is a
tough one a tough one here means a difficult
one Someone asks you your opinion and it's a
very difficult question. You can say, hmm, that's
a tough one. Meaning it's a very difficult situation
to solve or a very difficult problem to solve.
I suggested that maybe there was a way for Lucy's
friend to cut it out before he gets fired. To
cut something out, to cut it out means to stop
it, to not do it anymore. Sometimes you'll hear
kids say, children say that to each other. Cut
it out, cut it out means stop it. I said that
in responding to Lucy's thanking me, I said it's
no big deal. It's no big deal is a informal way
of saying it's no problem Sometimes when someone
thanks you you can say you're welcome But informally
we sometimes say oh Don't think about it. Don't
worry about it. It's no big deal meaning it didn't
cause me any problems. It's a polite way of saying
you're welcome, a slightly informal way. I suggested
at the end that Lucy and I get a bite to eat.
To get a bite to eat or to grab a bite to eat
means to go out to a restaurant or somewhere
to get food for lunch or for dinner. Usually
it implies a small meal, not a big dinner, but
going out to lunch is usually you can say, let's
get a bite to eat. That's going to do it for
today's ESL podcast. Before we end our podcast,
a couple of announcements. Eric and Greg who
gave me some good technical help. And so thank
you both for your help. I also want to ask all
of you to email us. Tell us where you live and
who you are. We would love to hear from you.
Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com. That's
eslpod .com. Remember that we keep our most recent
two podcasts, the latest two podcasts, are always
on our iTunes feed, our podcast feed. We also
keep the last five podcasts on our website where
you can download them. We thank you for listening
and hope to see you tomorrow on English as a
Second Language podcast. This is Jeff McQuillen
from Los Angeles, California. See you next time.
ESL podcast is produced by the Center for Educational
Development in Los Angeles, California. This
podcast is copyright 2005.