WEBVTT

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Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast

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number 29. Welcome to English as a Second Language

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Podcast number 29. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillen.

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and we are coming to you today from Los Angeles,

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California, and the Center for Educational Development.

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Visit our website at www .eslpod .com for more

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information about this podcast and for the script

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or text of the first part of today's podcast.

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Today we are going to talk about saying unkind

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or not nice things about another person and how

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we react to that. Now let's get started. Yesterday

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I was talking to an ex -colleague of mine who

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frankly has something of a big mouth. I bumped

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into him at the beach where he was walking his

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dog. Anyway, as I was saying, he's the kind of

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guy that always is bad -mouthing his co -workers.

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So he comes up to me and says, Hey Jeff, long

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time no see. What have you been up to? Uh, not

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much, I said. Well, guess who I saw yesterday.

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John Robeson, the guy from accounting at Firth

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Industries. You remember him, the guy with big

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ears and an ego to match. It takes one to know

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one, I thought, but I kept that to myself. Oh,

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really? How interesting," I replied. Yeah, well,

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I hate to talk behind someone's back, but ever

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since he and I had that falling out last year,

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I've never really cared for the guy. How come?

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I asked. Well, he's a bit of a backstabber. always

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trying to outdo the other guy. I know what you

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mean, I said. I knew at this point it was time

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to make my exit. Otherwise, this guy would go

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on about John Robeson for the next ten minutes.

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What time do you have? I asked him. It's quarter

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after five. Geez, already? Man, I've got to hit

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the road. I'm supposed to meet my brother at

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the pier in a few minutes. But, hey, it was sure

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good to see you again. You take care. With that,

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I made my exit. I've got better things to do

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than to listen to him gripe all day. Now let's

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talk about what I just discussed. In my story

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I said that I was talking to an ex -colleague

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of mine. An colleague is someone usually that

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you work with or that is in the same profession

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or the same occupation as you are. An ex -colleague

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here would mean someone that I used to work with.

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I said that, quite frankly, he has something

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of a big mouth. Quite frankly means quite honestly,

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to be very honest. To be frank means to be honest.

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I said he had a big mouth. To say someone has

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a big mouth is something of an insult. It means

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that they talk too much. That they're always

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telling things to other people that they should

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not. I said I bumped into him at the beach. To

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bump into means to meet someone that you were

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not expecting to meet. It is similar to, I ran

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into. I ran into my friend at the supermarket.

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I wasn't expecting or planning to see him there,

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but there he was. My friend was walking his dog.

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To walk your dog, of course, means to take your

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dog outside so the dog can, well, do his business,

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let's say. I said that my friend is the kind

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of guy who is always bad -mouthing his co -workers.

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To bad -mouth means to say bad things about another

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person. Don't bad -mouth your friend, meaning

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means don't say unkind or unnice things about

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your friend. Co -workers is the same as colleagues,

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someone that you work with. I said that my friend

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comes up to me. He comes up to me and says, to

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come up to someone means to approach someone.

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He says to me, long time no see. This is a common

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expression that we often use. It's an informal

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expression. Which means it's been a long time

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since I have seen you long time no see You say

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that to someone you have not seen in a long time

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He told me that he saw a Mutual or someone that

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we both know friend John Robeson and He said

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insulting John that he had big ears an ego to

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match well an ego your ego is of course your

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pride your ego is how you feel about yourself

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with someone has a big ego they think they're

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very important to say someone has an ego to match

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To match means the same as, the same size as,

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or the same amount as. My friend said that the

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guy has big ears and an ego to match, meaning

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his ego is also big. I thought to myself, it

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takes one to know one. It takes one to know one

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is another expression. Just like long time no

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see, very common in American English, it takes

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one to no one means when someone says something

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unkind, not nice about another person, we say,

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we sometimes say if that same person has those

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same negative or unkind qualities, it takes one

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to no one. For example, someone who has a big

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ego, who complains about another person with

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a big ego. Well, it takes one to know one. You

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have to be something in order to recognize it

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in someone else. My friend said that he hated

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to talk behind someone's back. To talk behind

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someone's back means to say unnice, again, unkind

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things, not nice things about someone when they

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are not present, when they are not there. He,

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my former colleague, my ex -colleague said that

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he and John Robeson had a falling out last year.

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A falling out means an argument, a fight, not

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necessarily a physical fight. but when you have

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a disagreement with someone and that disagreement

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causes you to not talk to each other. My friend

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and I had a falling out over who was going to

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pay for dinner last night. We often say we have

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a falling out over some problem. My friend says

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that he never really cared for John Robeson.

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To care for someone, of course, means to like

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someone in this case. To care for also means

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to help, to assist, but here it just means to

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like. How come, I asked, meaning why? How come,

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why? It's an informal way of asking why. Well,

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my friend said he's a bit of a backstabber a

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backstabber To stab means to take usually a knife

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and put it into something to stab someone means

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to take a knife and put it into them a backstabber

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would be somebody who attacks you Without you

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having a chance to defend yourself It's very

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closely related to the expression to talk behind

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someone's back a Backstabber is someone who does

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something not nice something unkind to you Behind

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your back meaning without you knowing According

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to my to my ex -colleague John Robeson was always

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trying to out do The other guy, to outdo, means

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to do better than the other person. I said at

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this point I needed to make my exit. To exit,

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of course, means to leave. To make your exit

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means to leave. It means the same as exit, to

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make my exit. It comes, the expression probably

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comes from the theater. from someone in a play

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making their exit, meaning they leave the stage.

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They leave off where people can see them. I said

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my ex -colleague would go on about John for the

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next ten minutes. To go on about something or

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someone means to talk too much. I was talking

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to my brother yesterday and he went on and on

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about his new car, meaning he talked for a long

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time, too long of a time. I used a couple of

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expressions in responding to my ex -colleague.

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I asked him, what time do you have? This is the

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same as asking someone, what time is it? It's

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a little bit more polite. If you come up to a

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stranger or someone that you do not know, and

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you say, excuse me, what time is it? That's okay,

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but a little more polite way would be to say,

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excuse me, can you tell me what time you have?

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Here I just said, what time do you have? Meaning,

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could you tell me the time? After I was told

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the time, I said, geez, already? G's, G -E -E

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-Z, is a informal way of saying, wow. I also

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said, man, I've got to hit the road. Man here

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is, again, informal. It just is an expression

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of excitement, or it means the same as, sometimes

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we say, boy. boy, I've got to hit the road. It

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just emphasizes that you have to do that particular

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thing. The thing I had to do was to hit the road.

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To hit the road means to leave, to go somewhere.

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What time are we going to hit the road? Well,

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we'll probably leave at 7 p .m. The pier I said

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I was meeting my brother at the pier. The pier,

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a pier is P -I -E -R, is something that goes

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out into the ocean from the beach. It's usually

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made of wood and people can walk out onto the

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pier. I told my ex -colleague that it was sure

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good to see him again. This is a common way of

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saying goodbye to someone. after or someone that

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we haven't seen in a long time it's sure good

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to see you again means it's nice to see you again

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I told him to take care that is to take care

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of himself again a very common expression you

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take care means I hope that everything goes well

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for you that you take care of yourself I wanted

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to leave because I didn't want to hear my friend

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gripe all day. To gripe, G -R -I -P -E, means

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to complain. It's a somewhat informal expression

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meaning to complain. That's going to do it for

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today's English as a Second Language podcast.

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From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.

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We'll see you next time. ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast

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is produced by the Center for Educational Development

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in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright

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2005.