Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 571, Assigning Blame in a Car Accident.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 571.
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.
Assigning Blame in a Car Accident Blame is who did something wrong.
So figuring out, determining who did something wrong when two cars have an accident.
Let's get started.
Are you okay?
Yeah, I think so.
I'm just a little shaken up.
But look at my car.
Mine is in pretty bad shape, too.
Good thing, though, it wasn't totaled.
Okay, let's exchange insurance information so we can both get out of here.
Right.
I'll put in a claim today, and your insurance should pay to repair both of our cars.
What?
This accident wasn't my fault.
You crashed into me.
You rear-ended me.
That's only because you swerved in front of me and slammed on your brakes.
That's your account of what happened, and it doesn't jibe with mine.
Fine.
There's no point in arguing with someone who won't own up to his mistakes.
Those are my thoughts, exactly.
Tarek and Stacy had a car accident.
One car hit the other.
Tarek begins after he gets out of the car, I guess, by asking Stacy, are you okay?
Meaning physically.
Stacy says, yeah, I think so.
I'm just a little shaken up, but look at my car.
To be shaken up means to be shocked scared, a little confused, especially after something very traumatic, something that may cause you pain, either emotional or physical.
In this case, it was the car accident that shook up Stacy.
The phrasal verb is to shake up.
Stacy is worried about her car.
Tarek says mine meaning my car is in pretty bad shape too.
Meaning very bad shape, very damaged.
Tarek says, good thing, though, it wasn't totaled.
Notice he doesn't say, it is a good thing.
He uses good. a sentence form here that isn't necessarily completely grammatical, but is quite common in normal conversation, especially with this phrase, good thing.
Good thing you're okay.
That means it is a good thing that you are okay.
Tarek says, good thing it, his car, wasn't totaled.
When you total your car, you completely destroy it, usually by accident, we hope.
Total has a number of different meanings that are different than that.
You can find those, or at least some of them, in the learning guide.
When you have a car accident in the United States, many times people will call the police.
However, if it's not a serious accident, that isn't always necessary.
Instead, people will give each other their contact information, especially their insurance information.
So Stacey says, okay, let's exchange insurance information so we can both get out of here.
We can both leave.
Insurance is when you pay a small amount of money to a company each month or each year and then if something bad happens to you, like a car accident, they will pay to fix your car.
Stacy and Tarek exchange this information.
She gives her information to him.
He gives his information to her.
Tarek says, right.
I'll put in a claim today, and your insurance should pay to repair both of our cars.
Now this is where the problem starts.
If you have two different insurance companies Tarek has one, Stacy has another then the person who is to blame, that is, the person who caused the accident, we would also say who is at fault.
Their insurance company has to pay to fix the other car as well as the car of their insured customer.
Tarek is saying that Stacy caused the accident and because he's saying that her insurance should pay to repair both of their cars.
In order to get the insurance company to pay for the damage in an accident, you have to put in a claim C-L-A-I-M.
That means you have to send them documents, pieces of paper requesting a payment, requesting that they pay you.
Stacy says, what?
This accident wasn't my fault.
Fault here means responsibility.
Fault has a number of other meanings, and those are in the learning guide.
Stacy is saying that the accident, the fact that the two cars hit each other, crashed into each other, was not her fault.
Stacy says, you crashed into me.
To crash into means to hit someone while you're moving at a high speed.
So a car could crash into a tree if it's going very fast.
Stacy says that Tarek crashed into her car, so it's his fault.
She says, you rear-ended me.
To rear R-E-A-R end.
Someone is a two-word phrasal verb meaning when one car hits the back of another car.
Usually because that car was too close, was traveling too close, and so they did not stop in time.
They did not stop... before they hit the other car.
That's to rear-end someone.
It's always used in talking about cars, typically.
Tarek says, arguing now with Stacy, That's only because you swerved in front of me and slammed on your brakes.
To swerve S-W-E-R-V-E means to turn sharply, quickly and suddenly to try to avoid hitting something else.
So you're in your car, and you're driving down the road, and you see a cat in front of you.
I might not, but you will probably swerve.
You will move your car quickly to the left or to the right.
Tarek is saying that Stacy swerved in front of him, in front of his car, and then she slammed on her brakes.
To slam S-L-A-M on your brakes or the brakes means to stop your car suddenly very, we might say, abruptly.
Your brakes are the part of the car that stops the wheels from moving. and you have a little thing in the front of your car by your foot called a brake pedal, P-E-D-A-L, that you step on, you press, in order to stop the car.
To slam on your brakes means to do that suddenly, quickly.
That's what...
Stacy did, according to Tarek.
And therefore, Tarek didn't have a chance to stop after she did this because it was so sudden.
Stacy says, I did no such thing, meaning I didn't do anything like that.
I changed lanes and you began tailgating me.
The parts of the road where you drive are called the lanes.
Usually in a big street there are two lanes going in one direction and two lanes in another direction.
So there are two rows of cars there.
What Stacy is saying is that Stacy changed lanes, moved from the right lane, let's say, to the left lane, and Tarek began tailgating.
Stacy to tailgate T-A-I-L-G-A-T-E one word and means to follow closely behind another car, to be too close to the car in front of you.
Stacey says, I'm not to blame here.
I'm not the one who is at fault.
Tarek says, That's your version, your story of what happened.
And it doesn't jibe, J-I-B-E, with mine, with my story.
To jibe means to match, so that it's the same information.
Here they have two different stories.
They don't jibe.
I say we each call our respective insurance companies and let them battle it out.
Respective means you call your company and I'll call my company.
It's what belongs to you and what belongs to me.
Respective belongs to a certain person.
So the children after school go home to their respective houses, the ones that are theirs.
Tarek says, well, let the insurance companies battle it out.
This expression.
To battle it out means to argue or to fight over something, usually for a long period of time.
To battle it out, to have a long argument or fight.
Stacey says, fine.
There's no point in arguing with someone.
There's no reason to argue with someone who won't own up to his mistakes.
To own up means to admit that you are responsible, that you are wrong.
You say, yes, that was my fault.
I am to blame.
So Stacey is saying that Tarek will not own up to his mistakes, the things he did wrong.
Tarek, of course, thinks that Stacy is in the same situation.
She won't own up to her mistakes.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Are you okay?
Yeah, I think so.
I'm just a little shaken up, but look at my car.
Mine is in pretty bad shape too.
Good thing though it wasn't totaled.
Okay, let's exchange insurance information so we can both get out of here.
Right.
I'll put in a claim today and your insurance should pay to repair both of our cars.
What?
This accident wasn't my fault.
You crashed into me.
You rear-ended me.
That's only because you swerved in front of me and slammed on your brakes.
I did no such thing.
I changed lanes and you began tailgating me.
That's why you rear-ended me.
I'm not to blame here.
That's your account of what happened and it doesn't jibe with mine.
I say we each call our respective insurance companies and let them battle it out.
Fine.
There's no point in arguing with someone who won't own up to his mistakes.
Those are my thoughts exactly.
I hope my explanation of today's dialogue jibes with the ideas of the person who wrote it, 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 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
