Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 603, Praising a Performance.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 603.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is called Praising a Performance.
It's a dialogue between Claudia and Javier.
They'll be talking about a performance.
I believe it's like a play in a theater and using vocabulary that you would use to describe performances such as plays or movies.
Let's get started.
Oh, that was so good.
I've never seen anything better.
Bravo!
Bravo!
There's no need for a standing ovation.
And stop gushing.
The performers did a passable job.
It was nothing to write home about.
You are so jaded.
That performance was genius.
It took my breath away.
I thought the first number was okay, and none of the dancers embarrassed themselves.
But that's all I can say about it.
I'm sure they thank you for that faint praise.
Me?
I've never seen anything better.
How can you say that?
That's just over the top.
If I can't be effusive, who can?
How many times will we see our granddaughter in a school play?
Yes, but don't forget she played the lead tomato.
Claudia begins by saying, Bravo, she says.
Bravo.
Bravo.
Bravo is a word that is shouted by audience members to congratulate a performer for doing a very good job right after they finish.
So someone may sing a song particularly well, and everyone at the end stands up and claps their hands, puts their hands together and says Bravo.
Especially if it is, for example, an opera or classical music concert or a play.
It's less common, for example, at a rock concert.
In fact, I don't think anyone says bravo at a rock concert.
It's much too formal of a word.
You could also use it in other circumstances.
Someone performs well on a test, for example.
You might say bravo, good job.
Javier says, there's no need for a standing ovation and stop gushing.
A standing ovation, O-V-A-T-I-O-N, is when the people watching the performance or listening to it, the audience members... all stand up and they clap and shout loudly to show how much they liked the performance.
So it's when everyone stands and claps.
That's a standing ovation.
Sometimes informally it's called a standing O, O for ovation.
He says to Claudia, stop gushing.
To gush, G-U-S-H, is to express your praise or appreciation or enjoyment of something but too much.
To talk about something that you like too much.
She was gushing over her new boyfriend, and I couldn't stand listening to her anymore.
So I went outside and put my head underwater so I could not hear her anymore.
True story.
Javier says the performers did a passable job.
To say something is passable means it was okay, it met the minimum requirements, it was acceptable, but it wasn't great.
He says, This is a popular expression.
When someone says it is nothing to write home about, they mean it wasn't very good.
You shouldn't spend time thinking about it.
It wasn't very interesting.
It Claudia says to Javier Jaded is someone who is bored or perhaps uninterested in something because they have had too much experience to become excited by it.
They've seen perhaps too many performances like that.
Someone who is jaded is someone who perhaps has been doing something for a long time and no longer can react appropriately, no longer can become excited or sad, even about something.
Claudia says that performance was genius.
Genius usually means very intelligent performance.
Dr. Lucy Say is a genius.
But here it means it was excellent.
It was very good.
If it's used to describe a performance, that's its meaning.
Claudia says, it took my breath away.
To take one's breath away is an expression that means that...
You saw something or heard something very beautiful, very wonderful, something that surprised you because it was so good.
It is as though you had stopped breathing because you were so interested in the performance.
There was also a song written, I don't know when, back in the 80s?
Take my breath away.
Do, do, do.
Do, do, do.
Do, do, do.
You remember that?
I think it was in a movie.
Maybe a Tom Cruise movie.
Top Gun, perhaps.
But anyway, that movie did not take my breath away.
Javier says.
Javier says To embarrass yourself means to do something that you are not happy with later on, to make a fool of yourself, to do something that you would prefer no one else saw because it wasn't very good.
Javier says the dancers did not embarrass themselves, but he can't say they did a good job either.
Claudia says, I'm sure they'd thank you for that faint praise.
Faint, F-A-I-N-T, means not very strong.
Praise is... when you tell someone how much you like something or enjoy something.
Faint praise is when you compliment someone, you say something nice to them, but really it's sort of a criticism.
For example, you say to your son or daughter who got an B-plus on their test, The highest score would be an A You say oh, that B, that's almost as good as an A, Congratulations.
You see, you're complimenting them, you're praising them, but really, you're criticizing them.
That's what faint praise is, and that is what Javier is doing in describing the dancers.
Claudia says, me, I've never seen anything better.
Javier says, how can you say that?
That's just over the top.
Something that is over the top is something that is excessive when you have too much of something.
Let's say, for example, your girlfriend does something wrong and she wants to apologize for it.
It wasn't anything serious, but she wants to say that she's sorry.
That'll never happen, usually, but let's say that it does.
And she comes in and she starts crying and she falls down on the floor, acting as though her life was basically over.
That would be over the top.
That would be doing too much to say you're sorry.
Claudia says that if I can't be effusive...
Who can?
Effusive E-F-F-U-S-I-V-E means to express your feelings, your thoughts, your emotions, with a lot of excitement, a lot of enthusiasm.
Claudia says, how many times will we see our granddaughter in a school play?
Now we know what is going on here.
Claudia and Javier have a granddaughter.
Their son or daughter has a child and they are watching the child perform at a play at the child's school.
Many American schools often put on plays once or twice a year, performances or plays for the parents and grandparents.
Javier says she's seven years old and she played a tomato.
We use the verb played in a play at the theater to describe the character tomato, that the person was supposed to be.
For example, Tobey Maguire, the actor, played Spider-Man in the movie Spider-Man, or I played Chewbacca in the movie Star Wars.
True story.
Javier says that their granddaughter played a tomato.
Sometimes, you know, with children's plays.
They're often a little silly and the children dress up like vegetables apparently.
I don't know.
Claudia then says yes, but don't forget she played the lead tomato.
When you say someone in a play or a movie played the lead, you mean that was the main role in the show or performance.
Usually it's the best actor or the best artist that plays the lead in a performance.
So Claudia and Javier's granddaughter played the lead tomato, the most important one.
Of course...
That's a little silly, a little crazy.
Lead has several other meanings in English, as does the word number that we mentioned earlier.
Those can be found in the learning guide, of course.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Oh, that was so good.
I've never seen anything better.
Bravo!
Bravo!
There's no need for a standing ovation, and stop gushing.
The performers did a passable job.
It was nothing to write home about.
You are so jaded.
That performance was genius.
It took my breath away.
I thought the first number was okay and none of the dancers embarrassed themselves, but that's all I can say about it.
I'm sure they'd thank you for that faint praise.
Me?
I've never seen anything better.
How can you say that?
That's just over the top.
If I can't be effusive, who can?
How many times will we see our granddaughter in a school play?
She's seven years old and she played a tomato.
Yes, but don't forget she played the lead tomato.
I think it's time that we gave our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say, a standing ovation.
So everyone now please stand up.
Clap your hands.
Thanks, Lucy.
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.
