Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 705, an exclusive guest list.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 705.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Coming to you from the Center for Educational Development.
I almost forgot there in beautiful Los Angeles California.
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This episode is called an exclusive guest list.
A guest list is a list of people you are going to invite to a party.
Let's get started.
Do you have a draft of the guest list?
We need to get the invitations out next week.
It's not quite done yet.
I keep going back and forth about a few people I'm not sure about, like Lacey Say.
Lacey Say?
She's a has-been.
She hasn't been in a movie for years.
We only want people on the A-list at this party.
What about Jess McGillen?
I'm on the fence about him.
He's definitely a delister.
This party is very exclusive, and we don't want any delisters rubbing elbows with VIPs.
I understand that, but what if we don't get enough alisters to come?
That will not happen.
This party has to be a success.
And if we don't have enough guests because we've excluded so many D-list celebrities?
There will always be gate crashers.
We can let in a few to buff up the numbers if push comes to shove.
What happens to the exclusivity of the party if that happens?
If that happens, this party has bombed and I don't care if we even let in podcasters.
Catherine begins our dialogue by saying to Ralph, do you have a draft of the guest list?
A draft, D-R-A-F-T, of a list or a letter or any other document is an early version of something.
It's not complete.
It's not final.
In school, you often, especially in a literature class, will have to write essays and papers.
Usually you start with a first draft.
You start writing it, and then you go and you change it.
That's your second draft, and maybe even a third draft, and so forth until you get to the final draft.
So Catherine is asking Ralph if he has a draft of the guest list.
A guest list is a list of people that you are inviting to a party.
I should mention that draft has some other meanings in English as well.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Catherine says, An invitation is... a card or a letter asking you to come to a party.
It could be for a wedding.
It could be because someone is graduating or just because you're having a party.
You're a party kind of person.
You like to party.
Well, Catherine's a real partier.
Ralph says, I keep going back and forth about a few people I'm not sure about.
Like Lacey say, Or to think that something is right and then later...
To change your mind and think that it's wrong, constantly or continually going back and forth.
Is it right?
Is it wrong?
Should I invite him?
Should I not invite him?
That's going back and forth.
Ralph is going back and forth about inviting a woman named Lacey Say.
Catherine says, Lacey Say?
She's a has-been.
A has-been B-E-E-N is someone who was well-known and popular a long time ago, but is not popular or is not important anymore.
It's an insulting way of referring to someone.
Catherine says Lacey Say is a has-been.
She hasn't been in a movie for years, so she's obviously an actress.
She says, we only want people on the A-list at this party.
The A-list would be the most popular, the best known performers, especially actors and singers.
The B-list would be actors and singers who aren't very good and so forth.
Ralph says, what about Jess McGillen?
I'm on the fence about him.
To be on the fence means to be unable to make a decision, because you see the good and the bad of each possibility.
So Ralph is on the fence about Jess McGillen.
Catherine says he's definitely a D-lister.
To be a D-lister is to be someone on the D-list, meaning an actor or singer who isn't very well known, who no one has ever heard of.
And who has ever heard of Jess McGillen, anyway?
Catherine says When you say something is exclusive, you mean that it is available for only a small group of people.
People who are famous or rich or... or popular.
That would be something exclusive.
Only a small number of people can go or be a part of that event.
Catherine says, we don't want any delisters rubbing elbows with VIPs.
To rub R-U-B elbows with someone means to spend time at a party or some event with someone who is famous, rich and or powerful.
I was at a Starbucks near one of the movie studios and when you go there to drink coffee or tea you can sometimes rub elbows with famous actors and actresses because they come in and get their coffee there.
When I go there, I can rub elbows with famous actors.
Unfortunately, I don't recognize actors very well, so when they come in, I don't know who they are.
So I've never really rubbed elbows.
Although once I did meet an actress who I did not recognize, but someone else told me who she was.
I think that was Nev Campbell, who was a television star in the 1990s here in the United States.
Anyway, moving on.
Catherine doesn't want any of these less important people rubbing elbows or talking and meeting with VIPs.
A VIP is a very important person, someone with a lot of power or influence.
Ralph says, I understand that, but what if we don't get enough A-listers to come?
What if we can't get enough people to our party?
Catherine says that will not happen.
This party has to be, must be a success.
Ralph says, and if we don't have enough guests because we've excluded so many D-list celebrities?
To exclude is related to the word exclusive.
Exclusive.
To exclude means not to allow someone to come to your party or participate in something.
It's the opposite of include, which means to allow someone to be part of your group or to do something.
Ralph is worried that they will not have enough people to come to the party if they exclude a lot of D-listers, the less famous actors and celebrities.
A celebrity is just anyone who's very famous, especially a singer or an actor or a podcaster.
Those three are usually what we talk about when we refer to celebrities.
So Catherine says, there will always be gate crashers.
A gate crasher is She says we can let in a few gate crashers, a few people who weren't invited.
To buff up the numbers if push comes to shove.
To buff B-U-F-F up is a phrasal verb meaning to improve something, to make it slightly better when we're talking about numbers, to increase the numbers of something.
Catherine talks about buffing up the numbers, meaning the number of people at the party.
They can do this if push comes to shove.
This is an old expression.
If push comes to shove indicates that you will do something if the situation becomes very bad or difficult and it becomes necessary to do it even if you don't want to.
You might say, I'm going to buy something at the store, and I want to use my credit card.
But if I have a problem with my credit card, if push comes to shove, I can also pay with cash.
So Catherine is saying, if push comes to shove, they can buff up their numbers by letting in gate crashers.
Ralph says what happens to the exclusivity of the party if that happens?
Then the party won't be exclusive anymore.
Catherine says if that happens, this party has bombed.
To bomb, as a verb, here means to fail very badly, to do a very poor job.
We especially use this when talking about a performance.
We might say, the latest movie by Tom Cruise bombed, or that new song by Jennifer Lopez bombed.
It did not do very well.
It was not very popular.
Catherine says if the party is not exclusive, it will have bombed.
And I don't care if that happens.
I don't care if we even let in podcasters.
Meaning that would be the lowest, least popular person that we would want to come to our party with.
Obviously, they're not talking about all podcasters.
I think Catherine here is referring to the less popular podcasters.
I think that's what the script writer meant.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Do you have a draft of the guest list?
We need to get the invitations out next week.
It's not quite done yet.
I keep going back and forth about a few people I'm not sure about, like Lacey Say.
Lacey Say?
She's a has-been.
She hasn't been in a movie for years.
We only want people on the A-list at this party.
What about Jess McGillen?
I'm on the fence about him.
He's definitely a D-lister.
This party is very exclusive, and we don't want any D-listers rubbing elbows with VIPs.
I understand that, but what if we don't get enough A-listers to come?
That will not happen.
This party has to be a success.
And if we don't have enough guests because we've excluded so many D-list celebrities?
There will always be gate crashers.
We can let in a few to buff up the numbers, if push comes to shove.
What happens to the exclusivity of the party if that happens?
If that happens, this party is bombed, and I don't care if we even let in podcasters.
She's no has-been.
She's an A-lister when it comes to scriptwriters here in Hollywood.
That's our own Dr. Lucy Say I'm talking about.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here 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.
