Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 214, A Jealous Girlfriend.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 214.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
That contains all of the words that we discuss, their definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions that we don't talk about on the podcast, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this podcast.
Today's podcast is called A Jealous Girlfriend.
Sounds interesting.
Here we go.
Hey, Dom.
I haven't seen you in so long.
Where have you been?
Oh, I've been busy.
I've missed hanging out together.
How's Leslie?
She's okay, but things haven't been that great between us.
I'm really sorry to hear that.
What's up?
Leslie is great, but she's so jealous of my friends, especially my female friends.
She doesn't like it when I see them or even if I talk to them on the phone.
To be honest, that's why I haven't called you lately.
I got the feeling that you've been avoiding me.
Now I understand that it's the green-eyed monster at work.
Have you been doing anything to make her jealous?
No.
I go out with my friends sometimes, but I'm always up front with Leslie and tell her what I'm doing.
But she's so possessive.
Even when I go out with my guy friends, she flips out sometimes.
I don't know why she won't trust me.
Maybe she's just insecure about herself, or maybe she feels insecure about your relationship.
But either way, I'd stop this in its tracks before it gets any worse.
Have you talked to her about it?
Not really.
We usually get into a big fight and then we make up.
But we don't ever get at the root of the matter.
You already have.
Talking about it helps.
Whatever it takes, I'm going to get this under control.
Other than this jealousy problem, we have a great relationship.
I don't want anything to jeopardize it.
Good luck with everything.
And let me know if there's anything I can do.
Thanks.
I will.
To be jealous, J-E-A-L-O-U-S, means to want something that someone else has.
Usually when we say a jealous girlfriend or a jealous boyfriend, we mean that the girlfriend or boyfriend doesn't like his or her partner, doesn't like the other person to be seen with other women or other men.
So a jealous girlfriend wants to keep her boyfriend to herself and doesn't want the boyfriend talking to or getting involved with other women.
To be jealous means to want something for yourself and for no one else to have it.
It's similar to the word envious, E-N-V-I-O-U-S.
To be envious means to want something that someone else has.
Our dialogue begins by the friend of Dominic saying, Hey Dom, I haven't seen you in so long.
Where have you been?
Dom, D-O-M is short here for Dominic.
So she says, I have not seen you in a long time.
And Dominic says that he's been busy.
This is something that we often use as an excuse in English when we don't want to talk to someone.
We say, oh, I've been busy.
I'm too busy.
I have too much to do.
Dominic's friend, Soraya, says, I've missed hanging out together.
To hang out, H-A-N-G-O-U-T, two words, means to spend time together.
So when two people hang, spend time together having fun not working, but relaxing, going to movies talking,
That is hanging out.
It's an informal term to mean spend time together.
Soraya asks about Leslie, who is Dominic's girlfriend.
Dominic says...
She's okay, but things haven't been that great between us.
In other words, we've been having problems.
Soraya says, I'm sorry to hear that.
What's up?
When someone tells you bad news, it's common for you to say, oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
Well, Dominic explains that Leslie is very jealous of Dominic's friends, especially his female friends.
Of course, once you get into a relationship, once you have a girlfriend, the other female friends that you have may cause your girlfriend to be jealous.
So, men...
Watch out.
Back to the story.
Dominic says that she doesn't like it when he sees or talks to other women.
If he sees them or talks to them on the phone, she gets jealous.
He says, to be honest, or honestly, that's why I haven't called you lately.
So he tells her the truth.
To be honest, to tell the truth honestly.
All of those expressions mean that I'm going to tell you the truth.
Soraya says, I got the feeling that you've been avoiding me.
Meaning, that's what I thought.
I knew that you were not talking to me.
To avoid...
A-V-O-I-D.
Someone means to not talk to them, to not see them, to try not to have any contact with them.
No communication.
You may say, I'm avoiding my friend Joe today.
Because I owe him $10.
He gave me $10, and now I need to give it back.
And I don't have $10, so I'm going to avoid him.
This is the way I do it.
Soraya says, now I understand that it's the green-eyed monster at work.
The expression green-eyed monster G-R-E-E-N, hyphen E-Y-E-D monster M-O-N-S-T-E-R means that it's the person being jealous.
A monster is someone like Frankenstein, someone who is very large ugly, someone that could scare you.
This is an imaginary person, kind of like the host of ESL podcast, big, ugly monster.
A monster then is a bad thing, something that would scare you.
The color green is the color that we use to indicate someone is jealous or someone is envious.
I'm not sure why green, but we use the color green.
We have an expression, he's green with envy, meaning he's very jealous, he's very envious.
The green-eyed monster then would be this monster that is very jealous, very envious.
And it's an expression, an informal expression to mean simply jealousy.
Soraya says to Dominic, have you done anything to make your girlfriend jealous?
In other words, what have you been doing, Dominic?
And Dominic says, no, he says he has not done anything.
He goes out with his friends.
To go out with here means the same as to hang out with.
But he says he's always up front with Leslie.
When you are up front with someone, you are honest with them.
You are direct with them.
You tell them the truth right away.
He says he's upfront with Leslie, but Leslie, his girlfriend, is very possessive.
To be possessive, P-O-S-S-E-S-S-I-V-E, means something similar to being jealous.
To be possessive means that you want to have something for yourself.
To possess as a verb means to own, to have something.
You can say I possess three shirts, or I possess a good sense of humor.
Whatever you own, whatever you have.
So Leslie is being possessive.
It means she wants something and she doesn't want anyone else to have it.
And that's the way she feels about Dominic.
You can think of possessive as wanting something for yourself, your things, and no one else can have them.
To be jealous means that you want something that someone else has.
So there is a small difference between them.
Dominic says that even when he goes out with his guy friends...
The word guy, G-U-Y, means male or man.
Friends, even when he goes out with his friends who are men.
Leslie flips out.
To flip, F-L-I-P, out, O-U-T, means to get very, in this case, very angry.
They go crazy.
It's the opposite of staying calm.
Dominic says, I don't know why my girlfriend doesn't trust me.
To trust T-R-U-S-T in this sentence means to have confidence in someone, to have faith in someone, to believe that someone is telling the truth, for example.
Trust has a couple of other different meanings in English.
We talk about those on today's learning guide.
Soraya says that maybe Leslie is just insecure about herself.
When you say someone is insecure I-N-S-E-C-U-R-E, you mean that they don't have confidence in themselves.
They don't feel confident about themselves.
Soraya says that Dominic should stop this in its tracks before it gets any worse.
To stop something in its tracks, T-R-A-C-K-S, means to end something before it becomes a problem.
To stop something before the problem gets more serious.
Dominic says that usually they get into a big fight and afterwards they make up.
To make up M-A-K-E-U-P, two words, means to get over an argument, to become friends again, to be nice to each other again.
Again, this word has a lot of different meanings, make up.
Take a look at the learning guide for today for those additional meanings.
Dominic says that he and his girlfriend, when they have a fight, never get to the root of the matter.
To get to the root R-O-O-T of the matter means to get to the cause of the problem, to get to the real reason why they are having this difficulty.
Dominic thanks Soraya for her help.
He says, whatever it takes, I'm going to get this under control.
Whatever it takes, is an expression that means I will do anything or anything, and everything that has to be done I will do.
To get something under control means to get it to a normal condition, to a situation that you can manage.
The opposite of under control is not over control.
It's out of control.
So if you say something is out of control, you mean you do not have it under manageable, it is something that you cannot take care of, you cannot handle.
In this case, dominic is saying he wants to get it under control, he wants to be able to manage it correctly.
He says he doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize his relationship with his girlfriend.
To jeopardize J-E-O-P-A-R-D-I-Z-E means to put something in danger.
To put something in a situation that might harm you or harm the relationship in this case.
There are several popular television shows in the United States that talk about relationships and problems that boyfriends and girlfriends have.
And in our learning guide today, we have a whole cultural note about those programs.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
Hey Dom, I haven't seen you in so long.
Where have you been?
Oh, I've been busy.
I've missed hanging out together.
How's Leslie?
She's okay, but things haven't been that great between us.
I'm really sorry to hear that.
What's up?
Leslie is great, but she's so jealous of my friends, especially my female friends.
She doesn't like it when I see them or even if I talk to them on the phone.
To be honest, that's why I haven't called you lately.
I got the feeling that you've been avoiding me.
Now I understand it's the green-eyed monster at work.
Have you been doing anything to make her jealous?
No.
I go out with my friends sometimes, but I'm always up front with Leslie and tell her what I'm doing.
But she's so possessive.
Even when I go out with my guy friends, she flips out sometimes.
I don't know why she won't trust me.
Maybe she's just insecure about herself, or maybe she feels insecure about your relationship.
But either way, I'd stop this in its tracks before it gets any worse.
Have you talked to her about it?
Not really.
We usually get into a big fight and then we make up, but we don't ever get at the root of the matter.
I wish I could help.
Good luck with everything, and let me know if there's anything I can do.
Thanks.
I will.
The script for today's podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
