Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 679 Getting a Makeover.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 679.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This episode, like all of our current episodes, This episode is about a makeover.
When someone tries to change their physical appearance for the better, to change it, to make them look better.
Let's get started.
Come with me.
Where are you taking me?
I'm giving you a makeover and you have no say about it.
A makeover?
I don't need a makeover.
Yes, you do.
I'm your best friend and this is an intervention.
You're so busy these days that you've let yourself go.
I haven't let myself go.
I just don't spend as much time as I used to primping and getting dolled up.
That's all.
On that, we agree.
Your clothes are frumpy and your hairstyle is ten years out of date.
Come on.
I'm taking you to get a new look.
It'll be a complete transformation.
Okay, I admit that my appearance needs a little updating, but I'm not giving you free reign on what changes to make.
I'm willing to let you have some say in that, if you come quietly.
And if I don't?
You're getting this makeover one way or another, even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming.
Kurt begins by saying to Ellie, come with me.
Ellie says, where are you taking me?
Kurt says, A makeover.
One word is a service where you change your appearance, usually by changing your hair, your clothing perhaps, especially if you're a woman, the makeup that you put on your face.
It tries to improve your overall, your general appearance.
Kurt says that he's going to give Ellie a makeover. and she has no say about it.
The expression to have no say, S-A-Y, means that you cannot say no.
You will not determine the situation.
You won't determine what will happen.
Your opinion doesn't matter.
Ellie says, a makeover?
I don't need a makeover.
Kurt says, yes, you do.
I'm your best friend, and this is an intervention.
An intervention, when used in this context, means when your close friends and or relatives tell someone something that is very difficult for them to hear, especially if it's about a serious problem such as alcoholism or drug addiction.
Kurt is using it somewhat humorously here.
He's making a joke.
This isn't, of course, a serious problem, but he's acting as though it were.
Kurt says you're so busy these days, nowadays, recently, that you've let yourself go.
To let yourself go means that you stop caring about your physical appearance.
You stop worrying about whether you are beautiful or handsome.
You stop trying to dress well and for a woman to look pretty.
Jacques is afraid to get married because he thinks his future wife will let herself go after the wedding is over.
There are a couple of different meanings of this expression, however.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Ellie says, I haven't let myself go.
I just don't spend as much time as I used to, as I did in the past, primping and getting dolled up.
That's all.
To primp P-R-I-M-P means to spend time in front of a mirror making small changes to your appearance, to your hair, to your makeup, so that you look more attractive.
You look more beautiful.
I do this every morning, of course, especially with my hair.
Ellie also says that she doesn't take as much time anymore to get dolled up.
To get dolled D-O-L-L-E-D up is a phrasal verb meaning to put on nice clothes, to make sure that your hair looks pretty, to try to look nice for usually a special event, a special, what we would call occasion.
Another way of saying this is simply to dress up.
To dress up means to dress very nicely.
In some places in the United States Los Angeles, for example, Honolulu definitely the way that people dress is more informal, more relaxed, we would say more casual.
The opposite of that would be to be dressed up to have a suit and a tie if you're a man, or to have a pantsuit for a woman, or a nice dress.
These are the ways that you can get dialed up, to be dressed up.
To get dialed up is used more often for a woman however, as is the general term makeover, but not exclusively.
That is, sometimes we could also describe a man as getting a makeover.
Kurt says on that we agree, meaning we agree you don't spend as much time as you used to primping and getting dolled up.
Kurt says, your clothes are frumpy.
Frumpy F-R-U-M-P-Y refers to things that are old, wrinkled out of style, things that are not fashionable anymore.
That's frumpy.
Not as common of a word as it once was, but you'll still hear it and read it.
Kurt says, your hairstyle is 10 years out of date.
Your hairstyle, the way that you have your hair, the way you comb your hair, is 10 years out of date.
To be out of date means the same as to be old, not modern enough.
We might also say to be outdated.
For example, in the 60s and 70s, it was common to see men with long hair.
But then in the 80s and 90s, that was considered outdated by a lot of people.
It was no longer fashionable.
It was no longer considered modern.
Kurt says to Ellie, come on, meaning come with me.
I'm taking you to get a new look.
The word look, used as a noun, means the same as style.
It's your type of physical appearance.
If you put on a different pair of glasses and you change the color of your hair, you would have a different look, a new look, a new appearance.
Look has a couple of other meanings in English, and those can be found in the learning guide.
So Kurt says to Ellie that he's going to get her a new look.
He says it'll be a complete transformation.
A transformation is a major or an important change.
It's when you change something very thoroughly or completely.
So he's going to take her somewhere where she is going to have her physical appearance transformed.
The verb is to transform.
The noun is transformation.
Ellie says, okay, I admit, meaning I agree with you.
I will tell you that my appearance needs a little updating.
Your appearance is similar to your look.
It's the way that you look, the way that you appear to other people, the way that they see you physically.
To update U-P-D-A-T-E.
One word means to make something more modern, more appropriate for the current situation, the current time period in which you are living.
Ellie says, I'm not giving you free reign on what changes to make.
Free rein R-E-I-N is the ability to do whatever you want without being controlled or monitored by other people.
You don't need anyone's permission to do what you're doing.
Ellie is not going to give Kurt free rein on the changes to make.
Kurt says, I'm willing to let you have some say in it.
Notice again, we see this word say.
In this case, it means I'm going to allow you to make some decisions, to say yes or no to certain changes.
Kurt says he'll let Ellie have some say if she comes quietly.
To come quietly means to do something without fighting against it, without protesting.
To agree to do something willingly, without complaining, without saying oh, I don't want to go, I don't want to do that.
Ellie says, and if I don't, meaning, and if I don't come quietly...
Kurt says.
The expression, one way or another, is used to insist that someone do something when he or she does not have control over how it will be done.
It's a phrase that we use often.
Kurt says that he's going to give Ellie this makeover one way or another, even if he has to drag her kicking and screaming.
To drag D-R-A-G someone.
Kicking and screaming is an expression that means to force someone to do something that he or she does not want to do.
To make someone do something that they don't want to, even if they complain, even if they yell loudly which is what screaming is even if they kick, which is to use your legs to try to hurt or injure someone else.
Of course, most people don't actually kick and scream.
The idea is that even if you complain loudly, you still are going to have to do this.
And that's what Kurt is telling Ellie.
I'm not sure if Kurt is such a good friend here.
He's being honest with Ellie, but he also is being what may be considered rude in telling her that basically, she's ugly and she doesn't look very good now.
Not sure if Kurt and Ellie will be friends for much longer.
Now let's listen to the dialogue this time at a normal speed.
Come with me.
Where are you taking me?
I'm giving you a makeover and you have no say about it.
A makeover?
I don't need a makeover.
Yes you do.
I'm your best friend and this is an intervention.
You're so busy these days that you've let yourself go.
I haven't let myself go.
I just don't spend as much time as I used to primping and getting dolled up.
That's all.
On that, we agree.
Your clothes are frumpy and your hairstyle is ten years out of date.
Come on.
I'm taking you to get a new look.
It'll be a complete transformation.
Okay.
I admit that my appearance needs a little updating, but I'm not giving you free reign on what changes to make.
I'm willing to let you have some say in that. if you'll come quietly.
And if I don't?
You're getting this makeover one way or another, even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming.
Our dialogues are never out of date, thanks to our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
