Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 529, Insulting Other People.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 529.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at eslpod.com.
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This episode is called Insulting Other People.
It's a dialogue between Lourdes and Nick.
And we're going to be using a lot of vocabulary related to, well, insulting people.
Let's get started.
Do you see those teenagers over there?
They're making trouble again.
Those kids are just messing around.
When they get bored, they'll pipe down and go home.
They're really getting on my nerves playing loud music and making all that noise.
They're a disgrace.
Get away from that window before they see you.
If they see that they can't get a rise out of us, they'll move along.
What are you doing?
What are you planning to do with that broom?
I wouldn't do that if I were you.
Teenagers can be unpredictable.
You don't know if a small slight might set them off.
Insult them and you're asking for trouble.
I don't care.
I'm doing it anyway.
Great.
Now you have their attention.
They're flipping us off.
Yeah, well, two can play that game.
Take that.
Are you crazy?
No, I'm just giving as good as I get.
Look what they're doing now.
They're mooning us.
Well, two can play that game, too.
What?
Are you nuts?
You can't moon them back.
Oh, no?
Watch me.
Our dialogue begins with Lourdes saying, Do you see those teenagers over there?
They're making trouble again.
They're causing trouble.
They're causing problems.
Nick says, Those kids are just messing around.
To mess around means to do unimportant things, perhaps to have fun because you have nothing else to do.
To be wasting your time doing silly things.
This is messing around.
Sometimes people will say stop messing around, meaning stop wasting your time or stop making jokes perhaps.
Messing around is usually considered harmless.
That is, it isn't necessarily bothering or hurting anyone, or at least you don't intend, you don't try to do that.
Nick says, when the teenagers get bored, they'll pipe down and go home.
To pipe, P-I-P-E, down, is another two-word phrasal verb meaning to be quiet, to stop making noise.
This is something I'm sure my father often said to those of us in the backyard of our house playing.
There were many of us, of course.
He would perhaps say, pipe down out there.
The word pipe has a couple of different meanings.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Lourdes says that these teenagers are really getting on her nerves.
To get on someone's nerves means to annoy or bother someone, to do something that will make someone angry or mad.
Lourdes says, playing loud music and making all that noise is getting on her nerves.
They're a disgrace.
A disgrace.
D-I-S-G-R-A-C-E is something that is very bad, something that is unacceptable, something that you cannot approve of.
We might even use the word shameful.
She's saying these teenagers are a disgrace.
It's a rather strong word to criticize someone.
Nick says, get away from that window before they see you.
Lourdes is obviously looking out the window of their house at these teenagers playing outside.
Nick says, if they see that they can't get a rise out of us, they'll move along.
To get a rise out of someone means to get an angry reaction from someone, to make someone respond in a certain way.
Usually, someone is trying to make you angry.
They're trying to get a rise out of you.
They're trying to get a response from you.
Nick says if the teenagers see that they are not bothering us, that they can't get a rise out of us, then they'll leave.
They'll move along, go somewhere else.
Nick then says what are you doing?
What are you planning to do with that broom?
A broom is what you use to clean the floors.
It's a long, usually wooden handle, a stick, and on the bottom are the things that you use to clean the floor.
We would say to sweep the floor.
Apparently Lourdes has a broom in her hand, and Nick is asking what she's going to do with it.
Lourdes says, I'm going to use it to wave them off.
To wave someone off means to usually move your hand in the air to show that you want that person to leave, to go away.
She's going to use the broom to get the children to leave, to go somewhere else.
Nick said, Meaning, if I were in your position, I would not do that.
It's not a good idea.
Teenagers, he says, can be unpredictable.
They may act in ways that you don't expect.
You don't know if a small slight might set them off.
A slight is a rude or disrespectful criticism, something that you say really to make the other person angry.
Slight has a couple of different meanings, however.
That's just one of them.
The rest of them are found in our learning guide where you can get some more explanations.
So Nick is telling her that you don't want to insult or anger these teenagers because that might set them off.
To set someone off is another two-word verb meaning to make someone very angry, to cause someone to do something out of anger.
He says To insult someone is to offend someone, that is to do or say something that makes the other person angry and shows that you don't have respect for them.
So it's a very severe, often personal criticism.
The verb is to insult.
The noun is insult, a difference in the way that we stress the different syllables.
She is going to insult these teenagers.
Nick believes and he says that Lourdes is asking for trouble.
To ask for trouble means to do something even though you know it's going to create problems or make another person angry.
Usually we try to avoid causing problems.
He's saying that Lourdes is asking for trouble.
She can expect there to be more problems if she does this.
Lourdes says, I don't care.
I'm doing it anyway.
Nick says, great.
Now you have their attention, meaning now they're paying attention to you.
They're flipping us off.
To flip someone off means is in an American context to use your middle finger to insult someone.
It's a very vulgar, very insulting gesture, a way of using your hands to insult someone.
That's to flip someone off.
Lotus says, well, two can play at that game.
To can play at that game is an expression that we use to show that if someone does something mean or bad to you, you're going to do something mean or bad to them.
This, of course, is not usually a good idea, but some people, when they get angry, they do that and they use this expression.
To can play that game.
And, of course, what does she do?
Well, she flips the teenagers off.
She says, take that.
The expression take.
That is a phrase we use to emphasize what you are doing to another person, especially if you're hurting them or hitting them or doing something to beat them in a competition.
Take that.
Sometimes it's used playfully, but I don't think that's the meaning here.
Nick says, are you crazy?
Lourdes says, no, I'm just giving as good as I get.
To give as good as you get means that you do the same amount that someone does to you back to them.
Usually it's a negative behavior.
You're insulting them or you're doing something bad to them.
To give as good as you get.
It's similar to the phrase, two can play that game.
Look what they're doing now, Lourdes says.
Nick says they're mooning us.
To moon M-O-O-N.
Someone is an informal expression.
That means to pull your pants down and bend over and show someone you're behind.
For some reason, this became popular in the 1970s, briefly.
I'm not sure why.
I'm not sure what was in the water at that time.
But to moon someone is a very insulting physical action, a gesture, if you will, using your body to insult them by showing them you're behind.
I will not moon you in this podcast.
Well, if I did, you couldn't see me anyway.
Lourdes says, well, two can play that game too, also.
Nick says, what, are you nuts?
You can't moon them back.
Lourdes says, oh no, watch me.
To be nuts means to be crazy.
Nick says, are you nuts?
Are you crazy?
You cannot moon them back.
Do the same thing that they did to her.
And Lourdes says, watch me.
We use the expression watch me when you are going to do something that the other person doesn't believe that you're going to do.
They can't believe you're going to do that.
Somebody says, I'm going to go to the beach with my jacket on.
And the other person says, well, really?
That's crazy.
I don't believe you.
And the crazy person says, watch me, meaning I'm going to do it even though you don't believe me.
So, Ludus is a little crazy here, letting the teenagers take control of her anger.
Perhaps she just needs to step away from the window and relax.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Do you see those teenagers over there?
They're making trouble again.
Those kids are just messing around.
When they get bored they'll pipe down and go home.
They're really getting on my nerves.
Playing loud music and making all that noise.
They're a disgrace.
Get away from that window before they see you.
If they see that they can't get a rise out of us they'll move along.
What are you doing?
What are you planning to do with that broom?
I'm going to use it to weigh them off.
I wouldn't do that if I were you.
Teenagers can be unpredictable.
You don't know if a small slight might set them off.
Insult them and you're asking for trouble.
I don't care.
I'm doing it anyway.
Great.
Now you have their attention.
They're flipping us off.
Yeah, well, two can play that game.
Take that.
Are you crazy?
No, I'm just giving as good as I get.
Look what they're doing now.
They're mooning us.
Well, two can play that game too.
What?
Are you nuts?
You can't moon them back.
Oh no?
Watch me.
Thanks to our script writer, Dr. Lucy Say, who never messes around at work.
Unlike me.
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.
