Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 455, Ending a Bad Date.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 455.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
We have a website.
It's eslpod.com.
On it, you can find a learning guide for this episode that contains...
This episode is called Ending a Bad Date.
It's a dialogue between Fatima and Rob, who are on a romantic date together.
That doesn't go very well.
Let's get started.
I was on a date from hell.
I agreed to go out with this guy who lives in the same apartment building as I do, but he's turned out to be a real creep.
He was nice enough at the start of the date, but then he started drinking.
Now he's drunk and I'm miserable.
I wanted to let him down gently, since I'd be seeing him around the apartment building, but I didn't want to spend another minute with him.
Listen, Rob, I just don't think we're hitting it off.
You're a really nice guy, but I just don't think we have much chemistry.
Are you kidding?
I'm having the time of my life.
We're just getting started here.
Bartender, another round.
I realized that I needed to be more straightforward with him in case I was giving him mixed signals.
I'm sorry, Rob, but I think this is the end of the road for this date.
Thanks a lot for the drinks, and I'll see you around.
What?
You're leaving?
How about a goodnight kiss?
Come over here and give me that kiss.
I wanted to keep my cool, but when he tried to kiss me, that did it.
You're stinking drunk, and this date is over.
Capisce?
I got up and left.
What is it about alcohol that turns Prince Charming into a frog?
Fatima begins our story by saying, I was on a date from hell.
The expression from hell means as bad as something can possibly be.
Terrible.
Horrible.
I'm on a date from hell means I'm on a very bad date.
A date, of course, is when two people romantically interested in each other go to dinner or to a movie, do something together.
Well, Fatima unfortunately is on a terrible date, a date from hell.
She says I agreed to go out with, to go on a date with this guy who lives in the same apartment building as I do.
But, Fatima says, he's turned out to be a real creep.
When we say someone has turned out to be something, we mean that our initial impressions, what we thought at the beginning, has changed, because the person has demonstrated that they are not what we thought they were.
A creep, C-R-E-E-P, is a very unpleasant person who makes you feel uncomfortable.
Creep has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Fatima says that this guy was nice enough at the start of the date...
But then he started drinking, drinking alcohol.
Now he's drunk and I'm miserable.
When we say someone is drunk, we mean that they are intoxicated, meaning that they have drank too much wine or beer or alcohol, and they Fatima says.
Fatima says means to disappoint someone, to do or say something that makes the other person feel sad.
In this case, what Fatima means is that she wants to tell him no, but doesn't want to hurt him or hurt his feelings.
That's why she says, I wanted to let him down gently. gently means nicely in this case.
He lives in the same apartment building as Fatima, but she did not want to be on this date anymore.
So she says to him, Listen, Rob, I just don't think we're hitting it off.
To hit it off means is an expression that means to enjoy spending time with someone, to be friendly with someone right after you meet them.
So you meet them and immediately you are comfortable with them.
You enjoy being with them.
We would say they hit it off.
It can be used in a romantic situation, but it could also be used in a business situation.
The saleswoman and the manager hit it off.
They got along very well together.
Fatima says to Rob, you're a really nice guy, but I just don't think we have much chemistry.
Chemistry here means the feelings between two people, whether they are romantically interested in each other.
Chemistry can also refer to chemicals or the study of chemicals in the world.
But here it means the romantic feelings.
Fatima is saying she doesn't think that there are romantic feelings between them.
Rob is quite surprised.
Of course, he's drunk, so almost anything would probably surprise him.
He says, are you kidding?
Are you joking?
I'm having the time of my life.
When someone says they're having the time of their life, they mean they're having one of the best experiences or moments of their life.
They're doing something that they enjoy very much.
Rob says, we're just getting started here.
We're just beginning our date.
Then he calls out to the bartender, the person who prepares and gives you your drinks in a bar.
He says, bartender, another round.
A round is is usually a series of events, a group of things that are repeated different times.
Here in a bar, the term round means another set of drinks, another drink.
So someone may say, for example, I'll buy the next round of drinks.
They mean the next drink that you want to order, I'll pay for.
Rob here is asking the bartender for another drink, another round.
Round has several meanings in English, as you probably know.
Take a look at our learning guide for some more explanations of that term.
Poor Fatima says that she realized she needed to be more straightforward with Rob.
When we say you need to be straightforward, one word, we mean that you need to be more direct.
You need to say something more clearly.
Instead of saying, oh, well, I don't think so, probably not.
You need to say, no, absolutely not.
So Fatima needs to be more direct, more straightforward with Robb.
She doesn't want to give him mixed signals.
The expression mixed signals means using actions or words that indicate one thing but really mean something else.
Or mixed signals can mean confusing messages, when a person can't understand what you mean, because you say one thing that's good, then maybe one thing that's bad and it isn't very clear.
Well, Fatima doesn't want to send mixed signals to Rob.
She doesn't want Rob to think that she is romantically interested in him.
We would say she doesn't want to lead him on, which is when a woman or a man makes the other person think that they are interested in them, but they are really not.
So Fatima says, The end of the road is the end of something.
It's the finish.
It cannot go on anymore.
If your girlfriend says to you, This is the end of the road for you and for our relationship.
You might want to start looking for another girlfriend.
I've been to the end of the road many times.
Fatima says, thanks a lot for the drinks and I'll see you around, meaning I'll see you later.
Rob still doesn't believe what is happening.
He says, what?
You're leaving?
How about a goodnight kiss?
A goodnight kiss is a kiss at the end of a date.
Usually when a man takes the woman back to where she lives, he says goodnight and he gives her a kiss.
That's a goodnight kiss.
It's a romantic kiss.
Usually on your first or one of your first dates with a woman or a man.
Rob wants to give Fatima a goodnight kiss, which of course Fatima is not interested in.
She says I wanted to keep my cool, meaning I wanted to stay calm, to remain in control, not to get angry.
But when he tried to kiss me, that did it, meaning that was enough that caused me to change my actions.
She then says to Rob, you're stinking drunk and this date is over.
Stinking drunk is a phrase that is used to describe someone who has had too much alcohol and and whose words and actions are very unpleasant.
Someone who starts yelling or screaming or saying bad things after they drank too much alcohol.
Fatima then says, capisce?
Capisce we use in English to mean, do you understand?
It comes originally from the Italian, but capisce?
Americans give it their own American pronunciation.
We say capisce.
The Italian pronunciation, I think, would be capisce, but we say capisce.
Fatima says she got up and left.
Then she asks, what is it about alcohol?
Prince Charming is a handsome, brave man in a children's story.
Prince Charming saves the beautiful woman, the princess, and falls in love with her.
We use this term, Prince Charming, to refer to the ideal husband or the ideal man for a woman, the person that every woman is looking for, her Prince Charming.
The reference to the frog is that In some children's stories, when a girl kisses a frog, the frog becomes, turns into a man, this beautiful, handsome man, Prince Charming.
I think the idea here is that a woman can take a man and change him, which is probably not the best philosophy to have if you are looking for a husband or a wife.
Men are more difficult to change than it appears.
Trust me.
Now let's listen to the dialogue this time at a normal speed.
I was on a date from hell.
I agreed to go out with this guy who lives in the same apartment building as I do, but he's turned out to be a real creep.
He was nice enough at the start of the date, but then he started drinking.
Now he's drunk and I'm miserable.
I wanted to let him down gently, since I'd be seeing him around the apartment building, but I didn't want to spend another minute with him.
Listen, Rob, I just don't think we're hitting it off.
You're a really nice guy, but I just don't think we have much chemistry.
Are you kidding?
I'm having the time of my life.
We're just getting started here.
Bartender, another round.
I realized that I needed to be more straightforward with him in case I was giving him mixed signals.
I'm sorry, Rob, but I think this is the end of the road for this date.
Thanks a lot for the drinks, and I'll see you around.
What?
You're leaving?
How about a goodnight kiss?
Come over here and give me that kiss.
I wanted to keep my cool, but when he tried to kiss me, that did it.
You're stinking drunk, and this date is over.
Capisce?
I got up and left.
What is it about alcohol that turns Prince Charming into a frog?
This is the end of the road for this episode.
We'd like to thank Dr. Lucy Say for writing the script for this episode.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
