Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 488, Getting Around Regulations.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 488.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
This episode is called Getting Around Regulations.
It's a dialogue between Michael and Leona that talks about laws rules, regulations that all of us have to follow at some point in our life.
Let's get started.
I have some qualms about how we're handling these accounts.
There are strict regulations governing what we can and cannot do, and I think we're violating those regulations.
Listen, it's a matter of interpretation.
We're not flouting any regulations.
We're just not following the letter of the law.
I for one think that we've crossed the line.
I'm not against some creative accounting but what we're doing is bordering on criminal.
Aren't you blowing things out of proportion?
The government makes laws knowing that people are going to try to get around them.
There are always loopholes, and that's why they turn a blind eye to most of these types of activities.
As long as we comply with most of the regulations, we're not going to get into any hot water.
I appreciate your confidence, but I don't share it.
I think we're in for some major problems if we don't change the way we do business.
Come on, let's go get some coffee and see what we can do about that overactive conscience of yours.
Our dialogue begins with Michael saying, I have some qualms about how we're handling these accounts.
Qualm, Q-U-A-L-M, is when you don't feel right about something.
You think that something is wrong, something perhaps is even dangerous.
Usually it has to do with things that you are doing that are against the law, or perhaps against some rule or regulation.
Michael has some qualms about how he and Leona are handling or dealing with certain accounts, perhaps certain customers that they have or certain financial arrangements.
Leona says, what do you mean?
Michael says, there are strict regulations governing what we can and cannot do.
And I think we're violating those regulations.
Regulation is just another word for a rule or a law, something you can do or not do.
Governments have regulations.
Companies sometimes have regulations about what you can wear to work or not wear to work, what you can do and not do at your job.
Michael says, there are strict meaning.
There are very specific and serious regulations governing what we can do and not do.
To govern is to control, to have authority or power over something, to lead something.
The president governs the country.
The governor governs the state.
The leader of the state is called a governor.
To govern is the verb.
It means to be an authority.
In this case, to rule over or to control a certain thing.
In this case, it's regulations that are governing what you can do and not do, are telling you what you can do and not do.
Michael says, I think we're violating those regulations.
Here.
To violate means to break a rule, to break the law, to go against something, to do something that is not allowed.
Leona says listen, it's a matter of interpretation, meaning it depends on how you understand something, how it's explained to you.
Some people could see it one way, other people could see it another.
Interpretation has a couple of different meanings however, so take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Leona says we're not flouting any regulations.
To flout F-L-O-U-T means to break a law or to go against a rule without hiding your actions, without even trying to hide what you are doing.
You're just doing it very openly.
Usually it's to show that you don't respect this law or this regulation.
You don't agree with it.
Leona says we're not flouting any regulations.
We're just not following the letter of the law.
To follow the letter of the law means to obey a law exactly, to do exactly what a law says.
The opposite would be to follow the spirit of the law.
To follow the spirit of the law means to do what you think the law is trying to accomplish.
What you think the law means.
To follow the letter of the law means to do exactly what the law says, word by word.
Michael says I for one think differently that we've crossed the line.
I for one means i among everyone here, and perhaps there are more people like me who agree with me.
He's sort of setting himself apart.
He's saying well, that's your opinion, but my opinion is different.
I for one think that we've crossed the line.
To cross the line means to do something that is breaking a regulation, that is going against a law, that is going too far, too extreme.
Sometimes we use this expression when someone does something that...
They think it's supposed to be funny, but it isn't really funny.
It may be mean or cruel.
They've crossed the line.
They've crossed the line separating humor from cruelty, for example.
Someone who has gone too far.
Michael says, I'm not against some creative accounting technique.
But what we're doing is bordering on criminal.
The expression creative accounting was originally, and still is, sort of a comical expression, something that's supposed to be funny.
Creative accounting means to report financial information, in this case, in a way that will make the company seem profitable.
In other words, you do some tricks with the numbers.
You report them in such a way that things look better for your company than they really are.
That's creative accounting.
Accounting is the organization of your company's money.
It's keeping track of, it's keeping your records of how much money you're making, how much money you're spending, and so forth.
Creative accounting then, is doing things with that accounting to make yourself better than you really are.
Michael says, what we're doing is bordering on criminal.
To border on something is to be almost doing something, to be very close to being or doing something.
My singing is so bad it borders on painful.
Meaning, to hear me sing is to experience pain.
It's so bad.
It borders on painful.
Not painful, but borders on painful.
Almost painful.
That's what most people tell me.
The word border has several meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations of that word.
Leona says, aren't you blowing things out of proportion?
To blow things out of proportion means to treat something as if it were more important or more significant than it really is.
To consider something very important when it isn't very important.
Your friend says that she's going to call you at 10 o'clock in the morning and instead she calls you at 1015, 15 minutes later.
You talk to her and you get all angry.
You yell at her.
You're very upset.
She might say, you're blowing things out of proportion.
You're making this small thing much more important, much bigger than it really is.
Leona says the government makes laws knowing that people are going to try to get around them.
Leona has some interesting ideas about ethics and morals here.
She says the government makes laws knowing that people are going to try to break them, that people are going to try to find ways not to obey them, not to do what they say.
To get around something here means to find a way to not have to do something.
She says A loophole is something that is written into a law or regulation that lets some people not have to do what other people have to do.
It's like an exception.
She says that there are always loopholes and that's why we turn a blind eye to most of these types of activities.
To be blind means you can't see.
The expression to turn a blind eye means to pretend not to see or notice something, especially when someone is doing something wrong.
You just look the other way.
You pretend like it's not happening.
She says as long as we comply with most of the regulations, we're.
To comply means to follow a rule or a law.
She says, To get into hot water means to get into a situation where you are in trouble because perhaps you broke the law or broke a particular rule or regulation.
Sometimes you can get in hot water, for example with your wife, because you said you would call her at 10 o'clock and you didn't.
That would get you into hot water.
At least it would get me into hot water.
Michael says, To say you're in for means that you are going to have, you are going to experience in the future.
Leona says come on, let's go get some coffee and see what we can do about that overactive conscience of yours.
Your conscience is the part of your thinking that tells you whether something is right or wrong.
To be overactive means to be too active, to be too sensitive, perhaps.
So an overactive conscience would be someone who thinks everything they're doing is wrong.
One has to wonder who has the overactive conscience and who has the underactive conscience in this dialogue.
Now let's listen to the dialogue again at a normal speed.
I have some qualms about how we're handling these accounts.
What do you mean?
There are strict regulations governing what we can and cannot do, and I think we're violating those regulations.
Listen, it's a matter of interpretation.
We're not flouting any regulations.
We're just not following the letter of the law.
I, for one, think that we've crossed the line.
I'm not against some creative accounting, but what we're doing is bordering on criminal.
Aren't you blowing things out of proportion?
The government makes laws knowing that people are going to try and get around them.
There are always loopholes, and that's why they turn a blind eye to most of these types of activities.
As long as we comply with most of the regulations, we're not going to get into any hot water.
I appreciate your confidence, but I don't share it.
I think we're in for some major problems if we don't change the way we do business.
Come on, let's go get some coffee and see what we can do about that overactive conscience of yours.
Whenever we have a script written by Dr. Lucy Say, we're in for a wonderful time.
Thank you, Lucy, for this wonderful script.
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.
