Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,216.
Working in a job you love.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,216.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Lorna and D'Angelo about working somewhere you really love to work.
Let's get started.
What are you so happy about?
What?
I've come to realize that this is more than a job.
It's a vocation.
Are you on something?
Am I newfound sense of purpose?
I realize that I'm doing this job because I have a calling, and this is what I'm meant to do.
Are you coming down with something?
Of course not.
Yesterday, it occurred to me the legacy I'll be leaving behind after my life's work is done.
Life's work?
Yes.
I'll be remembered in posterity as someone who made a difference.
You do remember what you do for a living, right?
I provide salve to people who need it.
I give sucker to those in need.
You serve drinks in a bar.
I provide a shoulder to cry on, a calm voice in a crazy world. talk about delusions of grandeur.
Lorna begins our dialogue by saying to D'Angelo, it's great to be alive, isn't it?
Lorna is very happy.
She's saying how wonderful it is to be alive.
It is something you would say when you're very happy.
D'Angelo says, what are you so happy about?
Lorna responds, I'm just happy to come to work.
D'Angelo is shocked, very surprised by this answer.
He says, what?
Lorna says, I've come to realize, that is, I now understand, that this is more than a job.
It's a vocation.
A vocation, V-O-C-A-T-I-O-N, is something that you feel you are called to do as your life's work.
The word vocation comes from the Latin term meaning to call, vocare.
Your calling then, is what you feel that God, or destiny, has given you as your life's work, the thing that you believe you should be doing on this earth.
We sometimes use the word vocation to refer to those who go into the Christian priesthood or ministry.
If you are going to become a minister, a reverend, or a priest, we might say that is your vocation.
But vocation can also be used to describe anything, any career, job or work that you feel is something you are meant to do or destined to do, or simply called to do by some greater power than yourself.
Lorna believes her job is a vocation.
She says, To be well-suited, S-U-I-T-E-D, means to be appropriate for something, to be well-matched.
Some people are well suited to be athletes.
They are born with bodies that are good for certain kinds of athletic activities.
A thing may be well suited to a certain use.
A hammer is well suited for putting nails into the wall.
In fact, it is designed to do that.
So Lorna feels she is somehow designed to do the work she is doing.
She's well suited for it.
D'Angelo still can't believe that Lorna is saying what she is saying.
That's why he makes a joke in the next sentence.
He asks Lorna, are you on something today?
The expression to be on something means to be under the influence of drugs, especially illegal drugs.
Lorna is not on drugs.
She's not on something.
She's not taking drugs.
In fact, she says she's just high on life.
The expression to be high on life means that you are just happy about your situation.
The word high, H-I-G-H, usually means to be under the influence of illegal drugs, such as marijuana.
People who smoke marijuana get high, we say.
That is, they get intoxicated by this drug in such a way that it changes their mood, the way they feel and think.
Lorna is high on life, however, not on any drug.
She says she has a newfound sense of purpose.
Something that is newfound.
N-E-W-F-O-U-N-D is something recently found or discovered, or perhaps just realized.
I have a newfound respect for mothers.
In talking to my own mother last weekend, I realized how much work it was to raise 11 children as she did.
So I now realize something I didn't realize before, or I discovered something new.
I have a newfound sense of respect.
Lorna has a newfound sense of purpose.
Sense of purpose is a reason for doing a particular thing, or perhaps a reason for living.
Lorna has a sense of purpose about her life.
She now realizes why she is here on this earth, perhaps.
She says I realize that I'm doing this job because I have a calling and this is what I'm meant to do.
A calling is the same as a vocation.
Remember, we said that vocation actually comes from the Latin word meaning calling.
That is, someone is calling you, someone is addressing you and saying do this?
Usually that someone is identified as god in the traditional sense of a calling or vocation.
D'angelo says i'm serious, he still can't believe that lorna is saying what she is saying.
He says are you coming down with something?
The expression to come down with something means to begin to feel sick, often with some common illness such as a cold or a flu.
Someone may say, I feel like I'm coming down with something.
He means, I feel as though I'm getting sick.
D'Angelo really thinks that Lorna is sick because she's saying what he thinks are very strange things about loving her job.
Lorna says, of course not, meaning no, I am not coming down with something.
Yesterday, she continues it occurred to me that The legacy I'll be leaving behind after my life's work is done.
Lorna says yesterday she realized the legacy she'll be leaving behind.
A legacy L-E-G-A-C-Y is something that you do in life that will be remembered after you are dead, or something valuable that you have done that will continue to be valuable after you die.
A legacy is something you leave behind.
That is, you leave for others to enjoy even after you are dead.
Lorna believes she will be leaving a legacy after her life's work is done.
Your life's work is everything you do or the most important things you do in your life.
Perhaps someday my legacy will be ESL podcast.
Who knows?
D'Angelo, once again, is still puzzled, still confused by Lorna and what she is saying.
He says, life's work?
He's asking what she means by this phrase, life's work.
What specifically is she talking about?
Lorna says, yes, I'll be remembered today. in posterity as someone who made a difference.
Posterity, P-O-S-T-E-R-I-T-Y, refers to people born after you, many years perhaps after you.
We might also use the expression future generations to describe posterity.
Lorna believes she is going to be remembered by people in the future as someone who made a difference, that is, who did something important or significant that changed the world somehow.
D'Angelo says, you do remember what you do for a living, right?
The expression do for a living means what you do to earn money, your job or your work.
Lorna says she does remember what she does for a living.
She says, I provide salve for people who need it.
The word salve S-A-L-V-E refers to a cream or a lotion, a thick liquid that protects the Your skin or heals your skin.
It's something you put on your body when you damage your skin.
The word is not very common.
It's something that is a little poetic here.
Lorna doesn't actually put lotion on someone's skin.
She believes psychologically or emotionally she is helping other people.
She says, once again, continuing in this poetic way, I give succor to those in need.
Succor, S-U-C-C-O-R. means help or assistance or support for another person.
It's not a very common word in conversational English.
Neither is salve.
But Lorna is being a bit poetic here.
D'Angelo then reminds Lorna what her actual job is.
He says, you serve drinks in a bar.
That is, she gives people alcoholic drinks in a bar, which doesn't sound like the kind of job that will make a big difference in people's lives though, of course, any job, if done well, could make a difference.
So we shouldn't be too skeptical of Lorna's claims, though D'Angelo certainly is.
Lorna in fact reminds him of an important part of her job.
She says, I provide a shoulder to cry on.
A shoulder to cry C-R-Y on refers to a person who is willing to listen to your problems, especially if things are going badly for you and you perhaps feel like crying.
A shoulder to cry on is a person who will listen to you, especially when you are going through difficult times.
Lorna says she is a calm voice in a crazy world.
D'Angelo still isn't convinced.
He says.
The phrase talk about is used to emphasize that another person's comments are crazy or perhaps extreme or extraordinary.
It's often used when you are criticizing another person.
Or it might be used to give an example of something, a perfect example of something.
Let's say I go to a movie and it isn't very good.
I may tell my friend, Talk about a horrible movie.
That movie I saw last night was awful.
D'Angelo says talk about delusions of grandeur.
Here he's criticizing Lorna for what she is saying about how important her job is.
The expression delusions D-E-L-U-S-I-O-N-S of grandeur G-R-A-N-D-E-U-R refers to a belief that you are more important or more significant than you actually are.
If you think you are the most important thing in the world, you probably have delusions of grandeur.
A delusion is a belief that is false, something that perhaps a crazy person might think of.
Someone who thinks that he is Napoleon Bonaparte is having a delusion.
He thinks something is true that isn't true.
Delusions of grandeur refer to someone who thinks that he is great or wonderful or perhaps famous, when he isn't any of those things.
D'Angelo thinks Lorna has delusions of grandeur by thinking that her job is so important.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm doing valuable work that I'm well-suited for.
Are you on something?
I'm high on life and my newfound sense of purpose.
I realize that I'm doing this job because I have a calling and this is what I'm meant to do.
I'm serious.
Are you coming down with something?
Of course not.
Yesterday, it occurred to me the legacy I'll be leaving behind after my life's work is done.
Life's work?
Yes, I'll be remembered in posterity as someone who made a difference.
You do remember what you do for a living, right?
I provide salve to people who need it.
I give sucker to those in need.
You serve drinks in a bar.
I provide a shoulder to cry on, a calm voice in a crazy world.
Talk about delusions of grandeur.
Our scriptwriter is well-suited for her job of writing wonderful scripts.
I speak, of course, of the one, the only Dr Lucy Say, who makes a difference in the world of English.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
ESL Podcast English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
