Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1304, Expressing Gratitude.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1304.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This episode is a dialogue between Mark and Gina about thanking someone or simply being thankful for the good things you have.
Let's get started.
I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to all the people who have helped me along the way.
You're not going to start your speech with that boring opening, are you?
It's not boring.
It's a nice opening.
It's too formal and stiff.
How about, Hey, everybody.
Thanks a million.
That's too informal.
Fine.
If you say so.
What comes next?
Well, then I say I want to wholeheartedly thank those who stuck with us and who never let us down.
That's too impersonal.
How about, Hey, Emiliano, you're totally awesome.
And you, Tanya, you're absolutely fab.
That doesn't even come close to expressing how I feel.
I want to thank people for their thoughtfulness, generosity and support from the bottom of my heart.
That's so sappy.
Why don't you just give props to people who deserve it and a shout out to the people who helped you?
Then you jump off the stage and walk through the audience to high five everybody.
That's how I would give a thank you speech.
I'll remember that the next time I speak to a group of ten-year-olds.
Gina begins our dialogue by saying to Mark...
I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to all the people who have helped me along the way.
To express, E-X-P-R-E-S-S, your thoughts or feelings or emotions is to show them or display them or perhaps do something to let someone know what your thoughts or feelings are.
The term gratitude, G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E, means a feeling of thankfulness, of being happy that something good has happened to you, and specifically being grateful thankful to another person or perhaps a situation that has given you these good things.
Nowadays, people talk about gratitude as being this feeling of thankfulness or this idea of thanking someone for the good things that have happened to them.
Logically, you have to be thankful to someone, but many people talk about gratitude in a I guess you might say impersonal sense or a way that doesn't necessarily imply a specific person giving them certain things.
People say, I am grateful for this, or I am grateful for that.
Grateful, G-R-A-T-E-F-U-L, means being thankful for something.
We often don't say to whom we are grateful.
In any case, Gina is expressing her gratitude to a certain group of people.
She's actually thanking the people who have helped her along the way.
Along the way.
Is is an expression meaning over a period of time or as you are trying to reach a certain goal or a certain point in your life.
Mark interrupts Gina who, it seems, is practicing a speech, a talk that she's going to be giving to a group of people.
He says, you're not going to start your speech with that boring opening, are you?
Mark thinks that Gina's opening, the beginning of her speech is boring, not interesting.
Gina disagrees.
She says, it's not boring.
It's a nice or good opening.
Mark says, it's too formal and stiff.
Stiff, S-T-I-F-F.
Here means not relaxed, not normal.
Something that you say that is perhaps...
Not appropriate for the situation.
Perhaps even not sincere.
That is, you don't really mean it.
Mark suggests a more informal beginning to the speech.
He says, how about, meaning, why don't you try this?
Hey everybody, thanks a million.
The expression thanks a million, M-I-L-L-I-O-N, is an informal phrase meaning thank you very much, or perhaps thank you a million times, meaning I really thank you.
Gina says that's too informal.
Mark says, fine, if you say so.
Notice that expression, if you say so, is often used when you don't want to argue with the other person, but you don't agree with him either.
Mark says, what comes next?
Meaning, what's the next part or the next sentence in the speech?
He's asking Gina to continue her speech.
Gina says.
Well, then I say I want to wholeheartedly thank those who stuck with us and never let us down.
Wholeheartedly, W-H-O-L-E-H-E-A-R-E.
T-E-D-L-Y means completely or entirely.
It is often said, when we are talking about things, that we feel very deeply or that we have a strong emotion attached to.
I want to wholeheartedly thank you means I want to thank you really and sincerely and with a lot of emotion.
Gina wants to wholeheartedly thank those people who stuck with them.
To stick S-T-I-C-K with someone is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to support someone or to, to stay with someone, to be loyal to someone even when times are difficult, even when the situation is difficult.
Stuck is the past tense of the verb stick.
That's why Gina says those who stuck with us, meaning who were there with us in the past when bad things happened to us, when the situation was difficult.
And she also wants to thank those who never let us down.
The phrasal verb to let someone down, or to let down someone here means to disappoint someone, not to do what someone was expecting you to do.
Mark doesn't like this line in Gina's speech, this sentence.
He says, Impersonal, I-M-P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L, means...
Distant, without feelings of warmth or closeness or simply not being emotional enough.
Mark says, how about, once again, why don't you try?
Hey Emiliano, you're totally awesome.
And you, Tanya, you're absolutely fab.
Fab.
Mark suggests speaking much more informally, including using something such as hey.
Hey is a way of getting someone's attention, but it's very informal.
Hey, Emiliano, you're totally or you're completely awesome.
A-W-E-S-O-M-E.
Awesome nowadays is an informal way of saying fantastic, great, wonderful, or perhaps cool.
Mark suggests also that Gina say, And you, Tanya, you're absolutely fab.
F-A-B.
Fab is short for fabulous F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S which, in this context, means the same as awesome fantastic, great wonderful.
Gina says, that doesn't even come close to expressing how I feel.
She thinks that Mark's suggestions don't express her emotions properly.
She says Thoughtfulness refers to someone always thinking about another person, always considering that person, making sure that person is happy.
Generosity comes from the word generous, G-E-N-E-R-O-U-S.
To be generous means to give money or time to other people so that those people who need it have the help they need.
If I'm generous, I'm giving you a lot of something, more than I have to, perhaps.
Gina wants to thank people for being thoughtful, generous, and supporting her.
She wants to do all of this from the bottom of her heart.
H-E-A-R-T.
Doing something from the heart means doing it from a very deep emotion or doing it sincerely.
From the bottom of your heart means that you really mean it.
You are expressing some very deep emotion, something that you want the person to understand is very sincere.
You really mean it.
Mark disagrees.
He says that what Gina is saying is sappy, S-A-P-P-Y.
Sappy means with too much emotion, so much emotion that it seems exaggerated and perhaps insincere, not meaningful.
He says, why don't you just give props to people who deserve it?
To give props, P-R-O-P-S to someone is to recognize someone who has helped you, to recognize someone who has done something good, perhaps.
It's an informal expression, to give props to.
You'll sometimes hear that when a rock star or perhaps a young actor is accepting an award.
This happens very frequently here in Los Angeles, here in Hollywood, where people love to give each other awards for things.
Someone will go up in front of the audience, the people watching the award show, and say I want to give props to a certain person.
They're thanking that person for something that person perhaps has done.
They're giving credit to that person because they respect that person.
Mark also says that Gina should just give a shout-out to the people who have helped her.
That's another informal expression you will sometimes hear younger people use.
A shout-out means I'm saying hello to.
A shout, S-H-O-U-T, hyphen out, O-U-T. is an informal expression to be sure.
To give a shout-out is the expression, actually.
Mark says that then Gina should jump off the stage and walk through the audience to high-five everybody.
To high, H-I-G-H hyphen five, F-I-V-E someone, is to put your hand up as they put their hand up, their arm in the air, and you hit each other's hand.
You hit their hand, or his hand or her hand as a way of showing excitement or as a way, in this case, of thanking the people.
Mark is suggesting a very unusual, informal way of thanking people.
Gina says, I'll remember that, meaning I will think of your advice.
The next time I speak to a group of 10-year-olds, Gina is sort of making a joke here.
She's saying that what Mark is suggesting is more appropriate for giving a speech to a group of children rather than to adults because of the informal ways that Mark is suggesting Gina deliver her speech.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to all the people who have helped me along the way.
It's not boring.
It's a nice opening.
That's too informal.
Fine, if you say so.
What comes next?
Well, then I say, I want to wholeheartedly thank those who stuck with us and who never let us down.
That's too impersonal.
How about, hey Emiliano, you're totally awesome.
And you, Tanya, you're absolutely fab.
That doesn't even come close to expressing how I feel.
I want to thank people for their thoughtfulness, generosity and support from the bottom of my heart.
That's so sappy.
Why don't you just give props to people who deserve it and a shout out to the people who helped you?
Then you jump off the stage and walk through the audience to high five everybody.
That's how I would give a thank you speech.
I'll remember that the next time I speak to a group of 10-year-olds.
We express our gratitude to the wonderful Dr. Say, who writes our wonderful scripts.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on 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.
