Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 535, Describing Speed and Pace.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 535.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
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This episode is called Describing Speed and Pace.
It's a dialogue between Chu and Sarah that uses a lot of vocabulary we use to describe how fast or how slow things go.
Let's get started.
Come on, Slowpoke, hurry up.
We'll never get to the top of the hill if you don't get a move on.
There's no way you're going to get me to move at breakneck speed.
I've gone up at least 500 steps already, and my legs are about to fall off.
Tell me again why we're trudging up this hill again.
It's the only way to the ruins, and the view from there will really be worth your while.
Trust me.
Pick up the pace, or we won't get there before sunset.
It's not like I'm dawdling here.
I may be moving at a snail's pace, but this is as fast as I can manage without keeling over.
If you're in such a hurry, you can sprint up there by yourself.
Go ahead, impress me with your blinding speed.
I'm not about to leave you here all by yourself.
Why, do you feel sorry for me?
Yes, I always feel sorry for the physically challenged.
Oh yeah?
Better physically challenged than mentally challenged.
Our dialogue begins with Chu saying to Sarah, Come on, slowpoke, hurry up.
A slowpoke, S-L-O-W-P-O-K-E, one word, is an informal, somewhat insulting term to describe someone who moves very slowly, who doesn't move very quickly.
It's the sort of thing that you might hear children say to each other you're such a slowpoke, why can't you run faster?
Wait a minute, that's what they used to say to me.
Anyway, Slowpoke is someone who moves very slowly.
So Chew is telling her to hurry up, to go faster, to increase your speed.
He says, we'll never get to the top of the hill if you don't get a move on.
To get a move on is another informal expression, meaning to hurry, to begin moving more quickly.
It's something a parent might say to their child.
Hey, let's get a move on.
We have to leave here by 8 o'clock.
Sarah says, there's no way you're going to get me to move at breakneck speed.
Something that is breakneck, B-R-E-A-K-N-E-C-K, one word, is something that is very quick.
Something that is so quick, so fast, that it's dangerous.
It's so dangerous you could, if you fell, break your neck.
I think that's the general idea.
Sarah says, The expression, my legs are about to fall off, means she's very, very tired.
She says To trudge T-R-U-D-G-E means to walk very slowly because perhaps it's very difficult to walk up or because you really don't want to be doing what you're doing, walking in the direction you're walking.
Chewy says, it's the only way to the ruins, and the view from there will really be worth your while.
So Sarah and Chewy are obviously visiting some tourist area, and they're going up to see some ruins.
Ruins as a plural noun, and it is always used in this sense as a plural noun is.
So when you go to Rome, in Italy, you can see the ruins of the Forum, a famous area in the center part of Rome.
You can see what remains of the old buildings from the ancient Romans of 2,000 years ago.
Ruin, however, has a couple of different meanings in English, both as a verb and a noun.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Chewy says that it will be worth your while.
The expression to be worth your while means that it is worth the effort.
If you do it, it will have something very pleasant or nice at the end that will justify what you are doing.
That will be a good reason for doing what you're doing.
Chewie says, trust me, have trust in me.
To pick up the pace, P-A-C-E, means to increase your speed, to move more quickly, to hurry up.
It's similar to get a move on, although get a move on is usually a command.
Here he's also using the expression as a command, pick up your pace, but it could be used otherwise.
For example, the cyclist picked up her pace in trying to win the race.
She decided to go faster.
Sarah says, it's not like I'm dawdling here.
It's not like means I am not.
I am not dawdling.
To dawdle D-A-W-D-L-E means to move very slowly, to take a long time to do something or to go somewhere.
It's a criticism to say someone is dawdling.
They're wasting time.
They're not moving as fast as they could because they're lazy or for whatever reason.
Sarah says, A snail's pace means very, very slowly.
A snail is a small animal that has the reputation for moving very slowly.
So to move at a snail's pace means to move very slowly.
She says To keel K-E-E-L over is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to fall over or fall down because you are very tired, or perhaps because you are very sick, very ill.
Somebody once said to me Hey Jeff, you should run a marathon, the 26-plus miles that people race sometimes.
And I say, if I ran a marathon, I would probably keel over after the first two miles, meaning I would be so tired that I wouldn't survive, which is probably true.
Sarah says if you're in such a hurry, you can sprint up there by yourself.
To sprint means to run very quickly over a short distance.
In the Olympics, they have a competition for the runner who can run the fastest 100 meters.
We call these runners sprinters.
They run very fast, but for short distances.
The opposite would be a long-distance runner, someone who can run for miles and miles.
Sarah tells Chewie he can sprint up there by himself.
She says, go ahead, impress me with your blinding speed.
Blinding here means very fast, very impressive making you amazed at how fast or how well someone does something.
Blind has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Here it means very impressive.
Chewie says, I'm not about to leave you here all by yourself.
I'm not going to let you be by yourself.
I'm going to stay with you.
Sarah says, why?
Do you feel sorry for me?
Do you have sympathy for me?
Do you feel badly because I am experiencing something difficult or painful?
Chewy says, yes, I always feel sorry for the physically challenged.
This is a joke.
To be physically challenged means that your body is not able to do what other bodies can do because of some injury, or perhaps you were born with a certain disease or illness.
Physically challenged is a term that is fairly new.
You will also hear people talk about physical disabilities.
That means something similar.
The older term for that would be handicapped, which is still used.
People talk about the handicapped parking spaces.
These are special spaces that are supposed to be used only for people who have some physical disability, who are physically challenged in some way.
Sarah says, oh yeah?
Better physically challenged than mentally challenged.
She says, oh yeah?
Meaning, you think so?
Usually we use that expression when you're angry with someone or you're about to reply to someone's insult.
She replies to Chewy's insult, Chewy's joke, by saying Meaning it is better to be physically challenged, to have a physical disability, than to be mentally challenged.
Mentally challenged is someone who has some sort of mental illness, someone who has a medical condition that prevents them from being able to think properly.
Once again, this is a more modern, more recent term.
It's probably used more now as a joke than as an actual description.
Somebody says, why did you do such a stupid thing?
Are you mentally challenged?
Meaning, do you have some sort of intellectual problem?
It can be used basically to say that someone is dumb.
But the more technical meaning is someone who would have a mental illness or something that makes them unable to be able to reason and think as a normal human being would be able to do.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Come on, Slowpoke, hurry up.
We'll never get to the top of the hill if you don't get a move on.
There's no way you're going to get me to move at breakneck speed.
I've gone up at least 500 steps already, and my legs are about to fall off.
Tell me again why we're trudging up this hill.
It's the only way to the ruins, and the view from there will really be worth your while.
Trust me.
Pick up the pace or we won't get there before sunset.
It's not like I'm dawdling here.
I may be moving at a snail's pace, but this is as fast as I can manage without keeling over.
If you're in such a hurry, you can sprint up there by yourself.
Go ahead, impress me with your blinding speed.
I'm not about to leave you here all by yourself.
Why, do you feel sorry for me?
Yes, I always feel sorry for the physically challenged.
Oh yeah?
Better physically challenged than mentally challenged.
We hope listening to this episode was worth your while.
The script was written by someone who never needs to be told to get a move on, Dr. Lucy Say.
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.
