Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 340, Office Competition.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 340.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
If you go there, you can download an 8-10 page learning guide that contains all of the vocabulary, sample sentences, additional definitions that we don't discuss on the podcast, cultural notes, comprehension questions and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.
This episode is called Office Competition.
We're going to listen to a story that uses a lot of vocabulary you might find in discussing a competition or a contest, or when one person tries to do better than someone else.
Let's get started.
Okay, everybody, listen up.
We're approaching the end of the month.
Unless you're new here, you know that we are in competition with our rival, the East Coast office, to have the most sales this period.
At the beginning of the month we pulled ahead and it looked like we were finally going to turn the tables and defeat the East Coast office.
But after the first 10 days of this month, we fell into a tie with them.
And, as of last Friday, we are still neck and neck.
We're now coming up to crunch time, and the last thing we want is to fall behind when it looks like we may be able to top the East Coast office for the first time in two years.
I'm really proud of this office for outdoing itself to get us in a position to win.
And there's no reason we should suffer another loss now.
Okay everybody, let's put our noses to the grindstone and pull out this victory.
We'll be right back is an informal way of telling people to pay attention, to listen to what you have to say.
It's something you would only do if you knew the people very well.
You wouldn't say to your boss, listen up boss.
Your boss, however, could use it with you.
So it's an informal expression that we use to mean pay attention, listen to me.
He says we're approaching the end of the month.
Unless you're new here meaning unless you haven't been working here very long you know that we are in competition with our rival, the East Coast office.
To be in competition means that you are two teams or two groups, or two people who are trying to be the best, who are trying to be the most successful.
A game such as American football or baseball or soccer are competitions.
They are two groups. groups of people both of whom want to win.
To be in competition means you are competing with someone else.
The verb is to compete.
Your rival, R-I-V-A-L, is a person or a team against whom you are competing.
It's the other team.
Here in Los Angeles we have two large universities the University of Southern California USC, and the University of California at Los Angeles, UCLA.
Those two teams, those two schools are rivals.
I went to USC, so, of course, I think USC is better.
These two offices, the East Coast office, the East Coast is the eastern part of the United States.
Places like New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia are on the East Coast.
This office is probably on the West Coast.
San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego are some cities on the West Coast.
At the beginning of the month, he says, we pulled ahead.
To pull ahead is a phrasal verb, a two-word verb, meaning to begin to do better than another team or another person in a competition.
So two teams are playing each other and one team scores a goal individually and the score is 1-0.
That team has pulled ahead.
They have gotten a better score, so they are leading, they are winning.
It looked like we were finally going to turn the tables and defeat the East Coast office, he says.
To turn the tables... is an idiom, an expression, that means to reverse positions in a competition.
For example, if USC is playing UCLA in soccer and UCLA scores the first goal, then USC scores two goals.
USC has turned the tables on UCLA.
Now they are winning.
Whereas before, UCLA was winning.
Well, in this case, they want to turn the tables and defeat the East Coast office.
To defeat means to win over another person.
We also say to beat another person.
USC beat UCLA.
They defeated them.
After the first 10 days of the month, however, we fell into a tie with them.
To fall into something is to move into a different position, even if you didn't plan it.
Sometimes we say, I fell into some money.
I wasn't planning on finding 100, or I wasn't planning or expecting my brother to give me 1000, but he did.
I fell into some money or I came into some money.
Where here, they fall into a tie, T-I-E.
A tie is when two teams have the same score.
So USC is leading UCLA 2-1 in soccer, and then UCLA scores another goal, and now it's 2-2.
They're tied.
The word tie has several different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
The story continues that...
As of last Friday, meaning on Friday, last Friday, we are still neck and neck.
The idiom neck and neck, like the neck on your body that connects your head to the rest of your body, at least for most people.
To be neck and neck means to be in a very close competition.
The game is very close.
The scores are very close.
So in our game between USC and UCLA, it's two to two.
They're neck and neck.
The story continues.
We're now coming up to crunch time.
The expression crunch C-R-U-N-C-H time refers to a period of time immediately before a project is due or something is coming to an end.
Everyone has to work very hard if you're a student and you have a test in two hours.
You need to study a lot in the next two hours.
That would be crunch time, an important time before a certain event is about to end.
He continues, the last thing we want, meaning something that we do not want, is to fall behind.
To fall behind is a phrasal verb meaning to lose your winning position to allow the other team to get a score that is higher than yours.
So in our game, if UCLA scores a goal, USC wins. falls behind.
They lose their winning position or their tied position and now the other team seems to be winning.
Don't worry, the game isn't over yet.
Well, the last thing they want is to fall behind when it looks like we may be able to top the East Coast office for the first time in two years.
To top is another expression meaning to defeat, to beat, to win over another team or your rival.
Two companies may compete against each other and one company may try to top the other, to do better than the other.
You have to be careful, however, that you are still following the law.
In the culture note for today's podcast, we talk about laws, business laws called antitrust laws.
Take a look at our learning guide for some more explanations of those.
Well, in this competition, the East Coast and the West Coast office are competing and The boss says I'm really proud of this office for outdoing itself to get us in a position to win, to get us close to winning.
To outdo yourself means to perform better than anyone else, to perform better than you yourself did previously.
So outdoing yourself means the office sold $1,000 last week.
This week they sell $2,000.
They outdid themselves.
They did better than they had in the past.
There's no reason the boss says we should suffer another loss now.
To suffer a loss means to lose.
It's the same as to lose.
So USC scores two more goals and beats UCLA.
UCLA suffers a loss.
That's usually what happens when USC plays UCLA.
At the end of the story he says okay everybody, let's put our noses to the grindstone and pull out this victory.
The idiom to put your nose to the grindstone means to work very hard at something, to really concentrate, really focus and work hard to accomplish something.
They need to put their noses to the grindstone and pull out or accomplish, manage this victory.
Victory is another word for success.
When you win, you have a victory.
Now let's listen to the story, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, everybody, listen up.
We're approaching the end of the month.
Unless you're new here, you know that we are in competition with our rival, the East Coast Office, to have the most sales this period.
At the beginning of the month we pulled ahead and it looked like we were finally going to turn the tables and defeat the East Coast Office.
But after the first 10 days of this month, we fell into a tie with them.
And as of last Friday, we are still neck and neck.
We're now coming up to crunch time, and the last thing we want is to fall behind when it looks like we may be able to top the East Coast office for the first time in two years.
I'm really proud of this office for outdoing itself to get us in a position to win, and there's no reason we should suffer another loss now.
Okay, everybody, let's put our noses to the grindstone and pull out this victory.
Dr. Lucy Say outdid herself by writing this script.
Thank you, Lucy.
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 2008.
