Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 465, Describing Boring and Exciting Things.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 465.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
You can download a learning guide for this episode that will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Describing Boring and Exciting Things.
It's a dialogue between Ina and Paco, who go to see different movies and describe them as being exciting or boring.
Let's get started.
It was a great idea to split up to go see different movies.
I really liked The McQuillanator.
I'm glad to hear it.
You made a better choice than I did.
The biopic I saw was mind-numbing.
I was bored to death.
Really?
My movie was great.
It was action-packed and fast-paced.
I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.
I wish I had been.
My movie moved at a snail's pace, and what was supposed to be dramatic was just repetitive.
I'm sure I nodded off more than once.
That's too bad.
You should have abandoned your theater and joined me in mine.
I'm still feeling the adrenaline rush.
Yeah, but instead, I got a good nap.
Just consider it a good lesson learned.
Let me pick the movies.
I know a good bang for the buck.
Ina begins our dialogue by saying...
To split up is a two-word phrasal verb that here means to separate.
When two people stop doing something together.
You can also use that expression if you are ending a romantic relationship.
I split up with my girlfriend when I saw her kissing my brother.
Just an example.
Ina and Paco decided to go see different movies.
Ina saw a movie called The McQuillinator, which is kind of like The Terminator, only it involves a podcaster instead of someone from another planet.
Paco says, I'm glad to hear it.
You made a better choice than I did.
The biopic I saw was mind numbing.
A biopic or a biography picture is a movie about someone's life, a biographical movie.
Paco says that his movie was mind-numbing.
Mind-numbing means extremely boring, very uninteresting.
Watching golf on TV can be mind-numbing, at least for me.
Paco says I was bored to death. meaning I was extremely bored.
I was very uninterested in this thing.
Ina says, really?
My movie was great.
It was action-packed and fast-paced.
These are two expressions you might use to describe a very exciting book or movie.
Action-packed means there are a lot of interesting things going on, a lot of excitement, and A television show can be action packed.
There may be cars that are going at fast speeds, criminals that are shooting.
All of this could be considered action packed.
The Mission Impossible movies are an example of action packed movies.
Fast-paced is similar.
It means very rapid, moves very quickly so that you don't get bored by it.
Ina says, I was on the edge of my seat, which is another way of saying I was very excited.
I wanted to know what happened.
I was so excited I could not sit in my seat comfortably.
Paco says, I wish I had been, meaning I wish I had been on the edge of my seat with excitement.
My movie, he says, moved at a snail's pace.
Pace is the rhythm or speed of something.
A snail is a small animal that moves very slowly.
So a snail's pace means very slowly, so slow that you get bored very easily.
What was supposed to be dramatic, Paco says, was just repetitive.
Something that is dramatic should have a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement, something you are interested watching.
But it wasn't dramatic.
Paco says it was just repetitive.
Something that is repetitive is something that repeats many times, doing the same thing over and over, and over and over and over again.
You see, that's repetitive.
Well, Paco says, I'm sure I nodded off more than once.
The expression to nod N-O-D off is a phrasal verb meaning to begin to fall asleep or simply to fall asleep, especially when you are supposed to stay awake.
So, for example, your brother-in-law is telling you a story about how he went skiing and you're not very interested and you start to nod off.
You start to fall asleep because it's so boring.
That would be an example of nodding off.
Or you're at a meeting with your boss and someone is giving a presentation and it's not very interesting.
You get sleepy and you start to nod off.
Ina says, To abandon means to leave something, to decide that you no longer want to have this thing or be in this situation.
When a boat or a ship is beginning to sink, it's beginning to go into the water and it could go under the water.
The captain may say abandon ship, meaning everyone must leave, everyone must go somewhere else, in the water probably.
To abandon and to nod off.
Both have different meanings in English, besides the ones we've talked about here.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations of these expressions.
A rush is a sudden feeling of strong emotion.
Adrenaline is a chemical in your body that is active when you are excited.
So an adrenaline rush is when someone feels very excited, a sudden excitement.
In this case, Ina is excited because the movie is so interesting.
Paco says, yeah, but instead, in my case, I got a good nap, N-A-P.
A nap is a short period of time when you fall asleep, but it's in the middle of the day, not at night, when you normally sleep for six seven, eight hours.
A nap is shorter.
You could take a nap in the afternoon, for example, for 15 minutes, which is something that many people now recommend as actually being a good thing, if you, of course, have a place where you can fall asleep.
I personally like to sleep on my desk.
It's a little uncomfortable, but I get in my 15-20 minutes every afternoon.
Well, Paco got to take a nap during the movie and because he paid for the movie maybe 9, 10 or more he says it was a waste of money, meaning he did not get his money's worth.
Ina says, just consider it a good lesson learned.
Paco says, what lesson?
Ina says, let me pick the movies.
The lesson is that Paco should have listened to Ina.
Ina ends by saying, I know a good bang, B-A-N-G, for the buck.
A bang is a loud noise.
For example, when you shoot a gun, we might call that noise a bang.
The gun went off with a bang.
It's a loud noise that some thing makes.
The word buck is the same as the word dollar, meaning American money.
But the expression, a good bang for the buck, means that you get a lot for a smaller price.
You get a lot of excitement, a lot for your money.
You don't have to pay very much money, but you get a lot back from what you pay.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I wish I had been.
My movie moved at a snail's pace, and what was supposed to be dramatic was just repetitive.
I can't believe I sat through that entire thing.
I'm sure I nodded off more than once.
That's too bad.
You should have abandoned your theater and joined me in mine.
I'm still feeling the adrenaline rush.
Yeah, but instead I got a good nap.
What a waste of money.
Just consider it a good lesson learned.
What lesson?
Let me pick the movies.
I know a good bang for the buck.
This action-packed, fast-paced dialogue was written by our very own Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Please come back and listen to us next time here 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.
