Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 359, A Fist Fight.
This is ESL podcast episode 359.
I am your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development.
And download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English even faster.
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Your fist.
F-I-S-T is your hand.
When you put the fingers and the thumb together against the palm of your hand.
It's what you do if you are going to hit someone or punch someone.
Let's get started.
He deserves it.
He insulted you.
I'm going to knock his block off.
Stop it.
Be civilized.
This isn't some free-for-all.
You can't punch a guy just because he said something offensive.
Oh, yes, I can.
Let me at him.
I'm going to clobber him.
If you take another swing at him, he's going to have you arrested for assault.
Get a hold of yourself.
I'm just trying to defend my sister's honor.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing, but violence isn't the answer.
Let's get out of here and cool off a little.
Alright.
But if I ever see that guy again, he'll get what's coming to him.
Okay, okay.
Let's go.
You said he insulted me.
What did he say?
He said you had nice legs.
The nerve of that guy.
Isn't that enough?
He can't say those things about my little sister.
I think we need to have another talk about you being overprotective.
I'm an adult.
I can take care of myself.
Yes, but I'm your big brother, and I'm making sure that no one messes with you.
That's what big brothers are for.
You don't have to thank me.
Thank you?
Ugh.
Isabella begins our dialogue by asking Tony...
What are you doing?
Why are you trying to hit that guy?
What are you doing is usually something you say when you're angry at someone.
You want to know why they are behaving the way they are.
Tony says he deserves it.
To deserve something means that you have done something good that would give you a reward, or you've done something bad that will give you a punishment.
For example, many people who try to lose weight Tony says, He insulted you, he says.
To insult someone means to say or do something that another person thinks is rude or mean.
To knock your block off or to knock his block off means to hit someone so that literally his or her head falls off.
However, that's not really what it means.
It means to physically hurt someone, to hit them in the face.
There was a popular children's game back in the 70s and 80s.
It was a toy that had two boxers inside.
And you would hit these buttons to try to get the other boxer to have his head spring up from his body.
That was to knock his block off.
Perhaps that's one of the origins of the expression, or at least why it's popular among some people, old people like me.
Isabella says stop it.
Be civilized.
To be civilized means to be polite, to be kind, to be rational.
This isn't some free-for-all, she says.
A free-for-all is Isabella says you can't punch a guy just because he said something offensive.
To punch, P-U-N-C-H, means to hit someone with your fist. to hit someone hard with your hand.
This is something you cannot do, Isabella said, just because this man said something offensive.
Offensive means here insulting, rude, something to make another person angry.
Tony says, oh, yes, I can, meaning yes, I can punch him.
To clobber, C-L-O-B-B-E-R, means to hit someone many times.
You sometimes see this verb used when talking about sports teams playing each other.
For example, if the Dodgers were playing the Yankees and they beat the Yankees in baseball 10-1, we would say that the Dodgers clobbered the Yankees 10-1.
Of course, I like the Dodgers as a baseball team, so that's what I want to happen.
Isabella says, if you take another swing at him, he's going to have you arrested for assault.
To take a swing at someone is similar to punching someone.
You actually move your arm back and you try to hit them.
To take another swing at someone would be to try to hit them again.
Isabella says this man will have you arrested.
The police will come and take you for assault A-S-S-A-U-L-T.
Assault is when you physically attack or hit someone else.
At least that's the general meaning of the term.
You could also hear someone using that verb to talk about an attack on, for example, civil rights.
This is an assault on our civil rights.
They are doing something to hurt our civil rights legally.
Isabella says to Tony, get a hold of yourself.
To get a hold of yourself means to bring yourself under your own control, usually by calming down and controlling your actions and emotions.
Get a hold of yourself.
You're wild.
You're not thinking correctly.
You're emotional.
Tony says, I'm just trying to defend my sister's honor.
To defend someone's honor means to say or do something to protect their reputation, especially if someone has insulted or offended them.
Isabella says that violence is not the answer.
Then she suggests to Tony, let's get out of here, let's leave.
And cool off a little.
To cool off is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to calm down, to allow someone to get control of their emotions.
There are a couple of different meanings of this term, as well as the term to punch that we mentioned earlier on.
Tony agrees to leave and says, if I ever see that guy again, he'll get what's coming to him.
To get what's coming to you means to get what you deserve.
Usually it's a bad thing. to experience the consequences of your earlier actions or words.
So you do something wrong today and tomorrow you are punished.
You got what was coming to you.
You did something wrong and now you had something bad happen to you.
Isabella says, okay, okay, let's go.
Then she asks Tony, what did the guy say?
Tony says, he said you had nice legs, attractive, pretty legs.
The nerve of that guy, Tony says.
Nerve here means a lack of respect disrespect, a willingness to do something that is inappropriate or improper.
The nerve of that guy is a common expression, the nerve of that woman over there, meaning she's doing something that she should not be doing.
That shows a lack of respect for Isabella says that's it meaning that's the only thing he said that I had nice legs.
Tony says yes, isn't that enough, meaning that's sufficient for me to hit him.
Isabella says that Tony is being overprotective.
To be overprotective means to take care of someone too much.
If a mother is overprotective of her children, the children may not learn the things they need to about how to survive in the world.
Anytime you hear the word over in front of another word or usually it is what we would call a prefix it is actually part of the word.
You should realize that this word means doing something too much.
For example, I overspent.
I spent too much money.
I overate.
I ate too much food.
I overexercised.
I exercised too much.
Well, not exercise for me.
It's mostly eating.
Tony then says, I'm your big brother and I'm making sure that no one messes with you.
To mess with someone means to create problems or trouble for somebody else.
You may say to someone, don't mess with me, means don't cause me any trouble.
Don't get me involved in trouble.
There's an expression in Texas don't mess with Texas, meaning don't cause any problems for people in Texas.
I guess people in Texas are afraid of the rest of us.
I'm not sure.
The state of Texas has a reputation for independence, for doing its own thing, for being different than other states.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
You can't punch a guy just because he said something offensive.
Oh, yes I can.
Let me at him.
I'm going to clobber him.
If you take another swing at him, he's going to have you arrested for assault.
Get a hold of yourself.
I'm just trying to defend my sister's honor.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing, but violence isn't the answer.
Let's get out of here and cool off a little.
All right, but if I ever see that guy again, he'll get what's coming to him.
Okay, okay, let's go.
You said he insulted me.
What did he say?
He said you had nice legs.
The nerve of that guy.
That's it?
He said I had nice legs and you tried to hit him?
Isn't that enough?
He can't say those things about my little sister.
I think we need to have another talk about you being overprotective.
I'm an adult.
I can take care of myself.
Yes, but I'm your big brother, and I'm making sure that no one messes with you.
That's what big brothers are for.
You don't have to thank me.
Thank you?
Ugh.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say, who deserves our thanks for her good work.
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.
