Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 782, Expressing Bitter Feelings.
This is English as a Second Language.
Podcast episode 782 wwweslpodcom.
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This episode is a dialogue about bitter feelings, about being angry at someone else.
Sounds like fun.
Let's get started.
I'm done with women.
They're liars and manipulators.
It wasn't just bad.
It was monumentally awful.
I'm never going to date again.
You're just feeling bitter right now, but you'll get over it.
You won't always feel so jaded.
Wait a second.
Did you break up with Brittany?
Yeah, I've told you about her before.
I remember.
Don't you guys have an on-again, off-again relationship?
I mean, haven't you guys broken up before?
Yeah, but this was the absolute end.
We're not getting back together.
But didn't you say that three months ago?
Maybe there's still a chance for reconciliation.
Absolutely not.
Brittany walked all over me and didn't care one iota about my feelings.
I'll never talk to her again.
As far as I'm concerned, she's persona non grata.
Hello?
Oh, hi, Brittany.
Yes, he's here.
It's Brittany, and she wants to talk to you.
Do you want to talk to her?
Yes.
No.
Yes.
Oh, give me that phone.
Our dialogue begins with Laurent.
His name is French.
I know I have a terrible French accent.
Laurent says, I'm done with women.
To be done with something or someone means you don't want to be involved or have anything to do with that thing or, in this case, people.
Laurent says he's done with women.
They're liars and manipulators.
To lie means not to tell the truth.
To be a liar, L-I-A-R, is to be a person who does not tell the truth.
Laurent thinks that women are liars and manipulators.
A manipulator is someone who manipulates.
To manipulate means to control another person by tricking or fooling them.
It's not an obvious sort of thing.
It's what we might call a subtle thing.
So women are liars and manipulators.
At least that's what Laurent thinks.
Julie says, let me guess.
You've had, or you have had, a bad breakup.
A breakup, one word, is when a romantic relationship ends.
When two people decide they are not going to be romantically involved with each other anymore.
How sad.
He says it wasn't just bad.
It was monumentally awful.
He's saying it was worse than bad.
Awful is the same as terrible.
Very bad.
Monumentally awful. is here used to mean extremely, in a big way, or simply very much.
He says, I'm never going to date again.
And Julie says, you're just feeling bitter right now, but you'll get over it.
Bitter, B-I-T-T-E-R, here means feeling that something was unfair or something was wrong.
Perhaps someone did something wrong to you or you were hurt in some way.
And now you don't want to forgive the other person.
You don't want to forget how hurt you were.
Bitter has some other meanings in English as well.
Take a look at our learning guide for those.
Julie says that Laurent is just feeling bitter. but he'll get over it.
To get over something is a phrasal verb meaning to no longer be mad or upset over something, to recover, to feel better and no longer be so angry.
Julie says you won't always feel so jaded.
Jaded J-A-D-E-D.
Usually is when you have a lot of experience with something and it no longer interests you.
It bores you.
You're no longer enthusiastic about it.
I'm not sure if that's Laurent's problem.
I'm not sure if that's the right word to describe how he's feeling.
Julie, I think, means that he's feeling depressed, which I suppose could be related to being jaded.
Anyway, Julie says, wait a second.
Did you break up with Brittany?
Laurent says, yes, I've told you about her before.
Julie says, I remember.
Don't you guys have an on-again, off-again relationship?
On again, off again means that sometimes you do it and sometimes you don't.
That is, sometimes you perhaps are girlfriend and boyfriend and then other times you're not.
A relationship is obviously an association or connection or involvement with another person.
So an on-again off-again relationship would be one where you are romantically involved and then you break up, and then you get back together again, and so forth.
Julie says, I mean, haven't you guys broken up before?
Laurent says, yeah, but this was the absolute end.
Absolute, A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E, here means definite or definitive.
Without any doubt, without any question, this is the end.
That's what Laurent is saying.
He says we're not getting back together.
To get back together with someone would be to end a romantic relationship, to have a breakup and then to start the romantic relationship again two months later or a week later or whenever.
So Laurent says that he and Brittany are not going to get back together again.
But Julie says, didn't you say that three months ago?
Meaning you've promised before that you weren't going to get back together again.
Maybe there's still a chance for reconciliation there.
Reconciliation is when two people or two organizations even have some sort of disagreement and separation.
Reconciliation tries to bring them back together again.
Usually it's in a romantic relationship.
Laurent says, Absolutely not.
No.
No.
Brittany walked all over me and didn't care one iota about my feelings.
To walk all over someone is to take advantage of another person, to use the other person for what you want and not care about that person.
Well, Bolland says that Brittany walked all over him and didn't care one iota about his feelings.
Iota, I-O-T-A, is a very small amount of something.
Here it means almost nothing.
She didn't care at all about his feelings.
He says I'll never talk to her again.
As far as I'm concerned, she's persona non grata.
Persona non grata is a Latin expression.
It means that person is not welcome here.
You will not talk to them.
You will not let them in your house.
You don't want them in any way.
Then suddenly the phone rings and Julie answers the phone.
She says, hello.
Oh, hi, Brittany.
Brittany is calling on the telephone.
Julie then says, yes, he's here because Brittany has asked Julie if Laurent is here.
Julie then says to Laurent, it's Brittany and she wants to talk to you.
Do you want to talk to her?
Of course we know that he just said he didn't want to talk to her anymore, but of course he says yes.
Yes, no, yes, he says.
Oh, give me that phone.
Let me talk to her on the phone.
So that's what happens to some men.
They never learn their lesson and they continue to go back and back and back again.
Of course, maybe Laurent is in love or maybe he's just not very intelligent.
Sometimes love can make you stupid.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
It wasn't just bad.
It was monumentally awful.
I'm never going to date again.
You're just feeling bitter right now, but you'll get over it.
You won't always feel so jaded.
Wait a second.
Did you break up with Brittany?
Yeah, I've told you about her before.
I remember.
Don't you guys have an on-again, off-again relationship?
I mean, haven't you guys broken up before?
Yeah, but this was the absolute end.
We're not getting back together.
But didn't you say that three months ago?
Maybe there's still a chance for reconciliation.
Absolutely not.
Brittany walked all over me and didn't care one iota about my feelings.
I'll never talk to her again.
As far as I'm concerned, she's persona non grata.
Hello?
Oh, hi, Brittany.
Yes, he's here.
It's Brittany and she wants to talk to you.
Do you want to talk to her?
Yes.
No.
Yes.
Oh, give me that phone.
She's the absolute best script writer on the Internet.
I'm speaking, of course, of 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 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
