Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 713, Being Physically Strong.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 713.
Dr Jeff McQuillan coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode and make your life a little easier by getting the transcript of everything we say on this episode.
This episode is called Being Physically Strong.
It's a dialogue between Takeshi and Paola.
Let's get started.
What do you want me to do with this piano?
I want you to move it from the living room to the family room.
You are as strong as an ox, and that's why I called you for help.
Lucky me.
I don't think I can move that piano by myself, though.
You're built and have muscles coming out of your ears.
Come on, let's put those muscles to work.
I haven't been working out as much recently.
I don't think I'm up to the job.
I'll cut you some slack.
I'll help.
What I'm trying to tell you is that you'll need at least three big guys to move this piano.
There's no way around it.
Come on.
Be a man.
Suck it up.
I'm willing to put my back into it, so let's move this thing.
You are completely deluded if you think we're going to move this piano one inch.
I for one am not putting my back out trying to do the work of three.
Takeshi begins by saying to Paola, What do you want me to do with this piano?
A piano, you probably know, is a musical instrument that has white and black what we call keys that you play on.
Paula says, I want you to move it from the living room to the family room.
Some big houses have two spaces where many people can sit down and talk or watch television.
The family room is separate from the living room.
I'm not sure exactly the difference, since my house is too small to have a family room and a living room, but basically it's another living room.
It's a place where you have a sofa and perhaps some chairs.
People often put their televisions or, in this case, their piano in the living room or family room.
Paula says, you're as strong as an ox, and that's why I called you for help.
Takeshi is as strong as an ox.
An ox is usually a male cow what we call a bull that has had some of its male sexual organs removed.
The word is castration.
And the animal is then trained to pull heavy things to be a strong farm animal.
So we have this expression strong as an ox to describe a very strong person, physically strong person, someone with a lot of muscles.
Not like me.
Takashi says, lucky me.
Now there he's being sarcastic.
He doesn't really mean he's lucky.
He's saying that he's not that happy that he has to come over and move this piano.
That's the idea.
He says, I don't think I can move that piano by myself, though.
Though means however.
Paula says, you're built and have muscles coming out of your ears.
To say that someone is built, B-U-I-L-T, in this context means they have very strong muscles.
You can see them on their body.
Built has a number of meanings in English, however.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional ones.
Paula says that Takeshi has muscles coming out of his ears, which is kind of a strange expression.
To have something coming out of your ears means to have a lot of something to have, more than what you actually need.
Let's start using those muscles.
Takeshi says, I haven't been working out much recently.
I don't think I'm up to the job.
To work out is a two-word phrasal verb that here means to exercise, to do physical exercise.
Someone says, I'm going to go work out at the gym.
I'm going to go do exercises at the gym.
Maybe run or lift weights, that sort of thing.
Takeshi says that he's not up to the job.
The expression to be up to the job means to be prepared and ready to do something, to feel that you are able to do it.
You might say about someone well, she's really not up to the job, meaning she isn't prepared to do this, whatever it is.
Paula says, I'll cut you some slack.
I'll help.
To cut someone some slack.
S-L-A-C-K is an expression meaning I will make the situation easier for someone else in this case, so they don't have to work as hard.
To cut someone some slack can also mean not to require them to do as much as you want, to go easy on them, not to blame them, to give them some extra time, for example, or whatever they need to finish a difficult job.
Takeshi says what I'm trying to tell you is that you'll need at least three big guys, big men, to move the piano.
There's no way around it.
The expression there's no way around it means that you cannot change something.
This is the way it really is.
It's unavoidable.
You have to do it this way, or this has to be done.
In this case, Paula needs to get three strong men, not just one.
Paula says, come on, be a man, suck it up.
These are all informal expressions.
Come on means let's go, let's get started.
It can sometimes be used to indicate that the other person is resisting what you are suggesting, doesn't want to do what you are suggesting, and you are encouraging them, you are urging them to do what you want to do.
Paulus says, come on, be a man.
Be a man is a phrase used to tell a man that he needs to be braver or stronger and stop crying or complaining.
Suck it up is a phrase used to tell someone that he or she needs to stop complaining and do what is necessary, even if it is difficult.
So you may say, oh, it's too hard, I can't...
Cut the grass today, the lawn today.
And your wife says, oh, just suck it up.
You need to go and do it.
Stop complaining.
Paola says, I'm willing to put my back into it.
So let's move this thing.
To put your back into something means to work very hard, especially at something that requires a lot of physical strength.
Takeshi says, you're completely deluded if you think we're going to move this piano one inch.
To be deluded D-E-L-U-D-E-D means to be confused, to believe something that is not true or to be fooled.
You're really saying they have some sort of psychological problem.
They think something that isn't true.
The noun would be delusions.
Takeshi says to Paola you are completely deluded if you think we're going to move this piano.
One inch meaning even a very small amount.
I, for one, am not putting my back out on trying to do the work of three, or of three men.
I for one, is a phrase that we use to emphasize your opinion about something, your position about something.
It's not as commonly used nowadays, but you will still hear it.
I for one am not going to go to the beach today because it's raining.
You can go, but I am not.
It is often said when someone else wants to do something, or other people are doing something, but you are not going to do it.
So you're expressing somewhat more strongly with emphasis that you are not going to do this thing.
I, for one, Takeshi says, am not putting my back out trying to do the work of three men.
To put your back out means to injure or to hurt someone.
The back, the back part of your body, usually between your shoulders and your waist or your buttocks.
That's your back.
To put your back out means to hurt it, to injure it, which of course can be very painful.
Takeshi doesn't want to put his back out trying to do the work of three, in this case of three men.
To do the work of a certain number of people means to do the same amount of work that is normally performed by three men, or by whatever number you decide to use here.
So Takeshi says no, he's not going to help Paola move or try to move this piano.
Paola will just have to go and pay someone, rather than asking her friend Takeshi to come over and do it, probably for free, although we're not sure here.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What do you want me to do with this piano?
No.
I want you to move it from the living room to the family room.
You're as strong as an ox, and that's why I called you for help.
Lucky me.
I don't think I can move that piano by myself, though.
You're built and have muscles coming out of your ears.
Come on, let's put those muscles to work.
I haven't been working out as much recently.
I don't think I'm up to the job.
I'll cut you some slack.
I'll help.
What I'm trying to tell you is that you'll need at least three big guys to move this piano.
There's no way around it.
Come on, be a man, suck it up.
I'm willing to put my back into it, so let's move this thing.
You are completely deluded if you think we're going to move this piano one inch.
I, for one, am not putting my back out trying to do the work of three.
Our script writer is always up to the job.
That's because it's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
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 Education and Development.
