Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 587, Feeling Disillusioned.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 587.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
You can download a learning guide for this episode, an 8-10 page guide that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions come on, say it with me cultural notes, comprehension questions and a complete transcript of everything we say.
This episode is called Feeling Disillusioned about someone who is sad and disappointed in something.
Let's get started.
I did it.
I finally met Mandy Timken.
Mandy Timken?
Your idol?
No.
Yeah, I stood in line for two days at her book signing and finally met her.
It was a big disappointment.
Really?
I thought she could do no wrong as far as you're concerned.
Well, that was before I met her.
I have always wanted to be just like her.
She had everything going for her a great life and a great career.
I emulated her in so many ways.
I thought she must be a paragon of virtue and a great person to be around.
I walked into that bookstore with all of these preconceived notions.
While I waited in line, I saw what kind of person she really was.
She was rude to everybody and made ridiculous demands of her assistance.
It wasn't how I pictured her at all.
She was a real diva.
So meeting her really burst your bubble.
Yeah, it really did.
I guess it was my own fault for putting her on a pedestal.
Well, you're not the only one.
Celebrities wouldn't be celebrities if we didn't idolize them.
True enough, and I've learned my lesson.
Nobody's perfect, least of all celebrities.
Daniela says to Tony, I did it.
I finally met Mandy Timpkin.
Tony says, Mandy Timken, your idol?
An idol?
I-D-O-L is someone you love, someone you admire.
You want to be like that person.
It's often a famous person.
It doesn't have to be.
An idol is literally something that you worship, that you believe has almost special powers.
Some people have idols who are famous politicians, famous actors, podcasters, perhaps.
Probably not.
That would be an idol.
We especially in the U.S. have the term teen idol.
This would be usually a very attractive boy.
They usually are boys less than 18 years old, but they could be older.
And all of the young girls fall in love with this famous singer.
That would be a teen idol.
Well, this is just your idol, meaning someone that you admire.
Daniela says, yeah, I stood in line, I waited, for two days at her book signing and finally met her.
A book signing is an event where the author of a book autographs or writes his or her name on copies of the book for people who bought it.
Bookstores sometimes have book signings by famous authors.
They come and they sign the book.
I've gone to some of these.
They often give a little talk, which can be interesting.
Daniela says however, that meeting her idol, Mandy Timpkin, who is obviously a writer, was a big disappointment.
Disappointment means feeling sad because something that you thought was going to be good or great was not.
It was less than what you thought it would be.
That's disappointment.
Tony says, really?
I thought she could do no wrong as far as you're concerned.
When we say someone can do no wrong, we mean they are perfect.
They cannot make a mistake.
My wife believes I can do no wrong.
Right, honey?
She's not answering me.
Daniela thought that Mandy Timken could do no wrong, was perfect.
Tony says, as far as you're concerned.
As far as you're concerned or someone is concerned means in someone's opinion, according to this person's belief.
As far as I'm concerned, as far as what is important to me, in my opinion, we have the best listeners in the world right here at ESL Podcast.
That's you.
Daniela says, well, that was before I met her.
I thought she was perfect before I actually had a chance to meet her.
Daniela says, I have always wanted to be just like her.
She had everything going for her, a great life and a great career.
To have everything going for someone means to be very fortunate, to have a lot of advantages, to be very lucky in life.
Well, Daniela says that Mandy had a great life and a great career.
She says she emulated her in so many ways.
To emulate, E-M-U-L-A-T-E, means to copy the things that another person does or says.
To try to behave just like this other person.
Daniela emulated, in the past, Mandy.
She thought that Mandy must be a paragon of virtue and a great person to be around.
A paragon P-A-R-A-G-O-N of virtue is someone who is perfect in every way, someone who has no flaws, usually someone who has very high what we might call moral standards, someone who never does anything wrong, never cheats, never lies, never steals.
That would be a paragon of virtue.
Well, that's what Daniela thought Mandy Timken was.
She says, A notion, N-O-T-I-O-N, is an idea.
A preconceived notion is an idea you have about something without having all of the facts, without being able to actually experience or observe what it is that you have this idea about.
For example...
Some people, when they come to Los Angeles, have a lot of preconceived notions.
They have things that they have heard about or read about or seen on TV or in the movies that makes them think they know what Los Angeles is like.
And then they come here and it's very different.
Hollywood Boulevard, for example, which is a very famous tourist site here in Los Angeles.
People have a lot of preconceived notions about what that's like.
Well, if you come, you will see.
A preconceived notion is usually wrong.
That's the implication.
Tony said, what happened to shatter your image of her?
To shatter, S-H-A-T-T-E-R, means to break something into very small pieces.
It can also be used to talk about how your dreams or your hopes were destroyed, how something happened that made them go away.
You no longer had this dream or this hope.
That's what shatter means here.
Shatter actually has more definitions, and those are in the learning guide.
Well, Tony wants to know what happened to shatter, Daniela's image of Mandy Timpkin.
Image here means the way someone appears, someone looks.
Daniela says She was rude, not very nice to everybody and made ridiculous demands of her assistants.
Ridiculous means crazy, not normal, way beyond what you would expect.
A demand is something you say you must have.
So this woman made ridiculous demands on the people who were helping her, her assistants.
Daniela says, it wasn't how I pictured her at all.
She was a real diva.
To picture means to imagine how something will be.
It has other meanings as well, this word picture.
The learning guide will tell you more.
Well, Daniela found out that Mandy was a real diva.
A diva is a woman who has a lot of success, usually in singing or acting, but doesn't treat other people very nicely.
A diva is someone who is great at what they do, but is not a very nice person.
And usually diva is applied to a woman.
I guess a man would be a divo, but we never say that, if that's the correct word.
We usually would call a man a real... Well, I can't say it on the podcast.
Tony says, so meeting her really burst your bubble.
This expression.
To burst B-U-R-S-T.
Someone's bubble means to destroy your belief, your hope, the way that you saw something or someone, and now you see it, is not as good or as interesting as you thought it was.
So it's another way of saying a great disappointment.
Something burst your bubble.
It made you see that you were wrong about what you were hoping for.
Daniela said, yeah, it really did.
To put someone on a pedestal means to believe that someone is perfect, to admire them too much.
A pedestal is what you put a statue of a famous person on.
So to put a person that you know on a pedestal means to think that they are great.
Dhoni says, well, you're not the only one.
Celebrities wouldn't be celebrities.
That is, famous people would not be famous if we didn't idolize them.
To idolize, I-D-O-L-I-Z-E, is a verb that comes from the first word we talked about, idol.
It means to admire someone too much, to think that someone is perfect.
Daniela says true enough, meaning I agree, you're right.
And I've learned my lesson, meaning now I have learned that I was wrong.
Nobody's perfect, least of all celebrities.
Least of all means especially.
It's a phrase used to give emphasis to the words that follow it.
So nobody's perfect means Least of all celebrities means celebrities are probably the least perfect or the most flawed of anyone.
The title of the dialogue was Feeling Disillusioned.
To be disillusioned means that you have dreams about how great something is, and then you are disappointed.
Usually, to be disillusioned means that you had a vision, you had a picture of the way a situation was going to be or going to turn out.
And then you were very bitterly, we might say, disappointed, greatly disappointed.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I did it.
I finally met Mandy Timpkin.
Mandy Timpkin, your idol?
Yeah, I stood in line for two days at her book signing and finally met her.
It was a big disappointment.
Really?
I thought she could do no wrong as far as you're concerned.
Well, that was before I met her.
I have always wanted to be just like her.
She had everything going for her.
A great life and a great career.
I emulated her in so many ways.
I thought she must be a paragon of virtue and a great person to be around.
I walked into that bookstore with all of these preconceived notions.
What happened to shatter your image of her?
While I waited in line, I saw what kind of person she really was.
She was rude to everybody and made ridiculous demands of her assistants.
It wasn't how I pictured her at all.
She was a real diva.
So meeting her really burst your bubble.
Yeah, it really did.
I guess it was my own fault for putting her on a pedestal.
Well, you're not the only one.
Celebrities wouldn't be celebrities if we didn't idolize them.
True enough, and I've learned my lesson.
Nobody's perfect, least of all celebrities.
She's no diva and I put her on a pedestal because she deserves it, our wonderful scriptwriter, 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.
