Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 256, Looking for Ideas.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 256.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development at in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Remember to visit our website at eslpodcom for more information about this podcast and for a learning guide to this episode.
Our topic today is called looking for ideas.
It is a conversation between two people, Sam and Ling, who are talking about new ideas for their company.
Let's get started.
What's the matter?
When I've got a block, I usually step away from it for a while and come back to it later.
Then I can look at it with a fresh perspective.
I don't have time to take a break.
I need to come up with something quick, or I'll have to go into that meeting empty-handed.
Well, I don't think it helps to sit around worrying about it.
Nothing will come to you if you work yourself up too much.
You're right.
I'm too wound up to think straight.
It's like my brain is in a fog.
Come on.
We'll go take a quick walk.
I'm sure that'll do the trick.
If it doesn't, I'll help you work on your resume.
Gee, thanks.
I've known all along that you're after my job.
Me?
After your job?
I wouldn't touch your job with a ten foot pole.
I couldn't take the pressure.
I prefer being a lowly employee and giving you a hard time every day.
Thanks a lot.
Between you and Danielle, my days here are numbered.
Come on.
Let's go before you get even more depressed.
Our dialogue begins with Ling making a sound that indicates that she is having problems.
Sam says, what's the matter?
Meaning, what is the problem?
Ling says that she's trying to jot down some ideas for the meeting tomorrow, but she's drawing a blank.
To jot, J-O-T, down something means to write something down quickly.
Usually, it is a note, a small message to yourself or to someone else.
So to write something down quickly or to note something quickly is to jot something down.
Someone may call you and give you their telephone number.
You would jot it down.
You would write it down quickly as they were telling you.
To draw a blank...
B-L-A-N-K, means not to be able to think of a good idea or an answer to something.
Someone says, what is the capital of the state of Texas?
And you can say, oh, I'm drawing a blank.
I can't think of it.
Ling is drawing a blank for the meeting that she has tomorrow.
She needs to come up with, to create some new ideas.
Sam says that when he has a block, he usually steps away from the project for a while and comes back to it later.
A block, B-L-O-C-K, means that you are unable to think of something.
You're not able to think of something.
Someone may say, I have a block.
I can't think of the name of that singer I heard on the radio.
Block has a couple of meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for more information.
The expression to step away from something means to stop what you are doing and to work on something else for a short period of time and then go back again and work on it.
So if you're having a problem with something, sometimes it is best to stop working on the problem, go away and then return and try working on it again.
That's to step away from something.
So Sam says when he has a block, when he can't think of some new ideas, he steps away from the project.
Then he says, I can look at it with a fresh perspective.
A fresh perspective, P-E-R-S-P-E-C-T-I-V-E, is a new or creative way of looking at something.
The word fresh means is one we use, for example, for vegetables.
You say the vegetables are fresh, meaning they're not old.
The opposite of being old.
They're fresh.
They're new.
So a fresh perspective is like a new way of looking at something.
Ling says that she doesn't have time to take a break.
She needs to come up with or create something quickly.
If she doesn't, she'll have to go to her meaning empty-handed.
The expression empty E-M-P-T-Y hyphen handed H-A-N-D-E-D means unprepared, without having anything.
You may go to someone's party and your friend says to you well, don't go empty-handed, meaning you should bring something for other people to eat or drink at the party.
Ling says that she can't let or allow Danielle, a woman that she works with, show her up again.
So she says I can't let Danielle show me up again.
To show someone up means to do something better than someone else.
It usually means to make the other person look bad by doing something better than them.
It's typically a negative thing to say about a person.
He's trying to show me up.
He's trying to do a better job so that I look bad.
Ling says at the last meeting all of the department heads loved Danielle's ideas and they're starting to think that she walks on water.
So at the last meeting, all of the people who were the bosses of the department we would call them the department heads.
A head of something can be the boss or the leader of something.
They love Danielle's ideas and they think that she walks on water.
The expression to walk on water means to be perfect, to be very good, to do everything perfectly.
The expression actually comes from a story in the Christian Bible where Jesus, the leader of the Christian religion, walks on water saying during a storm, when he is out with his fellow believers
And so the idea of walking on water means to do something that is a miracle.
M-I-R-A-C-L-E.
A miracle is something that is extraordinary, that should not happen, but does happen.
Usually, the idea is that it is because God has created this miracle.
So that is the expression to walk on water.
It's used in English to mean to be perfect.
Sam says that he doesn't think it will help Ling to sit around and worry about it.
Nothing will come to you meaning you won't think of anything if you work yourself up too much.
To work yourself up means to become very worried or anxious about something.
To think about something so much that you become very nervous about it.
Don't work yourself up.
Don't think about it so much so that you get nervous or anxious.
Ling says to Sam, you're right.
I'm too wound up to think straight.
The expression to be wound W-O-U-N-D up means to be nervous, to be anxious, to be stressed out.
We would say
To be very stressed about something.
That is being wound up.
She says, it's like my brain is in a fog.
Fog F-O-G is something we have here a lot in Los Angeles, where the clouds come down to the ground and it's difficult to see in front of you.
That's a fog.
The expression to be in a fog means to be confused, to be unclear.
You can't think straight.
You can't see the problem correctly.
Sam says, come on, we'll go take a quick walk.
I'm sure that'll do the trick.
To do the trick, T-R-I-C-K, means to do what something is supposed to do, to work, to be successful.
If we go for a walk, that will do the trick.
That will help you in your problem.
If it doesn't, he says, I'll help you work on your resume.
This is a joke, of course.
Your resume is a list of your experience that you use for an interview when you need to get a new job.
So he's joking saying that if Ling doesn't come up with some good ideas, she will lose her job and will need to look for another one?
Ling says, gee, thanks, but she's not serious.
She's making a joke herself.
She says that she has known all along, meaning for a long time, that Sam was after her job.
To be after someone's job means to want someone else's job, to try to get another person's job.
Sam says, He's surprised that Ling says this.
He's joking, too, of course.
He says, This is an expression that means, I don't want to be involved with that at all.
I don't want to have anything to do with that.
We use the expression, I wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole.
A pole, P-O-L-E, is like a long, round piece of wood or metal.
We are saying here that I don't want to be close to this problem.
I don't want to be close to this thing.
So Sam doesn't want Ling's job.
He says that he could not take the pressure.
P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E.
Pressure means the very stressful feeling of having to do something.
You're anxious or nervous because you have to do all this work.
We often use the expression to be under pressure.
It's a similar idea where you feel like you have lots of things you have to do and it is very stressful.
Sam says that he prefers being a lowly employee and giving Ling a hard time every day.
Lowly.
L-O-W-L-Y means not very important, not in a high position, but in a low position in the company.
To give someone a hard time means to make jokes about someone.
To make things difficult for someone by making fun of them, by telling jokes about them.
That's to give someone a hard time.
Link says, thanks a lot.
Again, she's trying to be funny here.
Between you and Danielle, she says, my days here are numbered.
The expression to have one's days numbered means that you will not be here very long, that you are going to lose your job soon.
His days are numbered means he will probably be fired, lose his job soon.
My days are numbered here at ESL Podcast, I think.
Now let's listen to the dialogue at a normal rate of speech.
What's the matter?
When I've got a block, I usually step away from it for a while and come back to it later.
Then I can look at it with a fresh perspective.
I can't let Danielle show me up again.
At the last meeting all of the department heads loved her ideas and they're starting to think she walks on water.
Well, I don't think it helps to sit around worrying about it.
Nothing will come to you if you work yourself up too much.
You're right.
I'm too wound up to think straight.
It's like my brain is in a fog.
Come on.
We'll go take a quick walk.
I'm sure that'll do the trick.
If it doesn't, I'll help you work on your resume.
Gee, thanks.
I've known all along that you're after my job.
Me?
After your job?
I wouldn't touch your job with a ten-foot pole.
I couldn't take the pressure.
I prefer being a lowly employee and giving you a hard time every day.
Thanks a lot.
Between you and Danielle, my days here are numbered.
Come on, let's go before you get even more depressed.
The script today was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks 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 2007.
