Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 348, Showing Disapproval and Sympathy.
This is ESL podcast episode 348.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
The learning guide contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, comprehension questions, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this episode.
This 8-10 page guide is available for each new episode of our podcast.
This podcast is called Showing Disapproval and Sympathy.
It's a dialogue between Maggie and Joe about someone who is going to lose their job.
They're going to use a lot of vocabulary we might use when you don't like something, to disapprove as well as to show sympathy to someone.
Let's get started.
Why the long face?
I just heard that I won't be rehired for next year.
That's awful.
What a rotten thing for the management to do.
I'll be okay.
But Monica is losing her job too.
Oh no, not Monica too.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
Who do they think they are?
How can they treat us this way?
They're management and they can do whatever they want to.
Monica just bought a new house and I'm sure she's going to have to sell it.
That's really too bad.
Listen, I know you'll be dead set against the rest of us pulling together to talk to the management, but I think the time has come.
I won't let you or anyone else around here put your jobs on the line to try to save ours.
The management will definitely take a dim view of us workers trying to speak out.
Just lay low and hope that you won't lose your job, too.
Our dialogue begins with Maggie saying to Joe, Why the long face?
Meaning, why do you have a long face?
The expression long face means that you're sad or depressed or perhaps disappointed.
She had a long face for a week after her dog died.
She was sad.
So Maggie says, why the long face?
Joe says I just heard that I won't be rehired for next year, meaning the company is not going to continue to employ him to have him work there.
Maggie says, that's awful.
The expression, that's awful, means that's too bad, that's unfortunate.
When someone says something that is bad news and you want to show sympathy to that person, you want to show that person that you understand their pain or sadness.
You may say that's awful.
What a rotten thing for the management to do, Maggie says.
A rotten, R-O-T-T-E-N, thing is a bad thing.
Maggie's saying, what a bad thing for the company to do.
What a rotten thing.
Joe says, I'll be okay, but Monica... another employee, is losing her job too.
Maggie says, oh no, not Monica too.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
When someone tells you bad news and you want once again to show your sympathy toward them, to show that you feel badly for them, that you are sorry for, for something that has happened to them not something you did, but someone else you can say I'm so sorry to hear that.
For example, if someone dies, perhaps the father or mother of a friend of yours, you may say I'm so sorry to hear that your father has died.
We might not even say the word die here.
We might use the expression pass away.
When someone dies, we say he passed away.
It's a nicer way of saying that.
I'm so sorry to hear that your uncle passed away.
That's I'm so sorry to hear that.
Maggie then says, who do they think they are?
Here she's angry.
She's saying, what are these people at the company doing?
They don't have a right to do that.
That is the wrong thing for them to do.
Who do they think they are?
You're showing that you're angry about something that someone has said or done and you think the person shouldn't have done it.
For example, your city decides to raise taxes and you say, who do they think they are?
You're angry at them.
They don't have a right to do that.
You think.
Joe says, they're management, meaning they're the bosses, and they can do whatever they want to.
Monica just bought a new house and I'm sure she's going to have to sell it.
Maggie then uses another expression to express sympathy.
She says, that's really too bad.
It means the same as what a shame to show how you think something is very bad or sad.
Maggie then says listen, I know you'll be dead set against the rest of us pulling together to talk to the management, but I think the time has come.
Three expressions here of interest.
First, to be dead set against something means to be strongly opposed to something, to believe something is wrong and to be against it.
Maggie is saying that Joe will probably be dead set against something.
She and the other members of the company, the other employees of the company, pulling together to talk to the management.
To pull together is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to work together, to cooperate, to work as a group.
Let's pull together means let's work together.
Let's try to cooperate.
Maggie wants to talk to the other employees, the ones that weren't fired, and talk to the bosses.
She thinks that Joe will be against this.
That's why she says, I know you'll be dead set against this action.
At the end, she says, I think the time has come.
When someone says the time has come, they mean it's time to do something.
We've waited long enough.
Something needs to be done right now.
The time has come for ESL Podcast to give Jeff McQuillan a big brand new car.
Don't you think?
Joe then says I won't let you or anyone else around here put your jobs on the line to try to save ours.
To put something on the line means to do something that might cause you to lose something or to have something taken away.
It's to risk losing something.
I'm going to put my reputation on the line for you.
My reputation is what other people think.
So I'm going to do something that could hurt me.
It's a way of expressing that you're going to do something dangerous or risky.
Joe says I won't let you Maggie, or anyone else, to put your jobs on the line, to risk your own jobs for In order to try to save my job.
That's what Joe is saying.
The management will definitely take a dim view of us workers trying to speak out.
To take a dim D-I-M view of something means to have a negative opinion about something.
To think something is a bad idea, not to approve of something.
The management, the bosses, will not like, will take a dim view of the workers trying to speak out.
To speak out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to express or to say your opinion that is against what other people think.
To say something you believe in even if other people disagree with you.
To speak out has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Joe says, just lay low and hope that you won't lose your job too.
To lay low means to not draw attention to yourself.
It's a two-word phrasal verb meaning to act calmly, quietly, so that no one notices you.
You don't want other people to know what you are doing or where you are.
Joe is telling Maggie that she should not try to cause problems.
She should not speak out.
She should protect her own job.
Maggie says I don't know what the others think, the other employees, but I'm not going to take this lying down.
To take something lying down means to accept something that you don't agree with without fighting against it.
You don't like it, but you say, well, too bad.
I have to accept it.
That's to take things lying down.
Maggie says if they think we're just going to sit here and take it, then they've got another thing coming.
To take it means to accept it.
That expression has a couple of different meanings.
Once again, take a look at our learning guide for some more explanation.
Maggie says, we're not just going to accept this.
If they think we are just going to take it, they have got another thing coming.
The expression to have got another thing coming means they are going to be surprised by something bad in the future, something that we are going to do in this case.
He's got another thing coming, means something bad is going to happen to him because of what he did.
This bad thing will be a surprise to this person.
They don't realize that it is coming, that it is in their future.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Why the long face?
I just heard that I won't be rehired for next year.
That's awful.
What a rotten thing for the management to do.
I'll be okay, but Monica's losing her job too.
Oh no, not Monica too.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
Who do they think they are?
How can they treat us this way?
They're management, and they can do whatever they want to.
Monica just bought a new house, and I'm sure she's going to have to sell it.
That's really too bad.
Listen, I know you'll be dead set against the rest of us pulling together to talk to the management, but I think the time has come.
I won't let you or anyone else around here put your jobs on the line to try to save ours.
The management will definitely take a dim view of us workers trying to speak out.
Just lay low and hope that you won't lose your job too.
I don't know what the others think, but I'm not going to take this lying down.
If they think we're going to sit here and take it, then they've got another thing coming.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say, who never has a long face.
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.
