Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 839, Getting a Divorce.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 839.
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 a dialogue between Tom and Nicole about getting a divorce.
Let's get started.
I'm really sorry to hear about you and Catherine getting a divorce.
I appreciate it, but it was a long time coming.
We've been heading toward divorce for years.
I just hope it doesn't get too messy.
I don't mean to pry, but didn't the two of you have a prenup?
Yeah, but Catherine wants it set aside because our financial situation has changed so much since we got married.
She also wants sole custody of Sarah, alimony, and child support.
We live in a community property state, so that should simplify things, shouldn't it?
You'd think so, but the distribution of property may get complicated.
I'm hoping we can settle everything amicably, but I'm ready for a fight if it turns ugly.
I've hired Dewey Cheatham.
Wow, you're serious.
He's the most high-powered divorce attorney in the city.
I'm not taking any chances with my assets or my daughter.
If Catherine wants to play hardball, I'm coming out swinging.
Our happy dialogue begins with Nicole saying to Tom I'm sorry to hear about is an expression that we use when we hear some bad news and we are telling the other person that we understand and we feel sorry for them.
Nicole says she's sorry to hear about Tom and Catherine getting a divorce.
A divorce.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E is an official or legal end to a marriage between two people.
Tom says I appreciate it.
I appreciate you telling me that you feel sorry, but it was a long time coming.
The expression a long time coming means that it had been expected for a long time.
It was not a surprise.
We knew it was going to happen.
Tom says we've been heading Catherine.
Maybe we should call her Katie.
Catherine and Tom have been heading toward divorce for years.
To be heading toward means you are moving in that direction.
He says, I just hope it doesn't get too messy.
Messy, M-E-S-S-Y, here means difficult, complicated, not nice, not kind.
Messy can also be when something is dirty or disorganized.
You could have a messy desk.
I could have a messy desk.
Actually I have a messy desk.
Nicole says I don't mean to pry but didn't the two of you have a prenup.
To pry P-R-Y means to try to find out the details of someone else's life, to try to find out the secret things that are going on with someone else, things they may not want to tell you about, personal things, private things.
Nicole says, I don't mean to pry.
My intention is not to pry.
But didn't the two of you have a prenup?
A prenup.
P-R-E-N-U-P is short for a prenuptial P-R-E-N-U-P-T-I-A-L agreement.
That's a legal agreement that is made between a husband and a wife before they get married.
That decides usually how they are going to have their money divided in case they get divorced.
So a prenuptial agreement nuptial refers to marriage is an agreement that is used often by people who have a lot of money and who are afraid of losing their money if they get divorced.
Tom says, yeah, yes, we have a prenup.
But Catherine wants it set aside because our financial situation has changed so much since we got married.
To set aside A-S-I-D-E means to decide not to use something or to decide not to consider something.
Sometimes it can mean simply to save something for later.
But when we talk about a legal agreement, it means to not consider it, to act as though it didn't exist, to ignore it.
Tom says she also wants sole custody of Sarah. alimony, and child support.
Sole, S-O-L-E, means just one or just one person.
Custody, C-U-S-T-O-D-Y, is the legal right to take care of a child.
To have sole custody would mean that only one of the parents, either the father or the mother usually the mother has the legal right to take care of the child, to have the child live with them.
When a man and a woman get divorced, often when they are children, there are disagreements about who should take care of the children.
There are disagreements about custody.
Catherine wants sole custody of their daughter, alimony, and child support.
Alimony A-L-I, M-O-N-Y is money that one spouse, either the husband or the wife, gives to the other spouse because the other person doesn't have enough money to live on.
Traditionally it has been money the man would give to the woman, the husband would give to the wife so that she could take care of herself, have a place for the child or the children to live, and so forth.
Nowadays it's not necessarily the case that when you get a divorce, the man will give the woman alimony.
It could be the woman giving the man alimony.
Child support is when you are legally required to give money to the other parent in order to help pay for the expenses of the child, to feed the child, to send him to school and so forth.
Nicole says, we live in a community property state, so that should simplify things, shouldn't it?
A community property state is a state where the law is when a man and a woman get married, when two people get married, your property is divided 50-50 if you get divorced.
At least the property that you had received or had acquired, had gotten, while you were married.
All of the money, all of the property, the houses, the cars, all of that is divided 50-50.
The husband gets 50%, the wife gets 50%.
That's a community property state.
California is a community property state.
Tom says...
You'd think so.
You would think it would simplify or make things easier.
But the distribution of property may get complicated.
Property refers to money and things that you own.
Distribution refers to who gets what.
I get the car, you get the house, I get the jewelry, you get the lawnmower, and so forth.
That's distribution of property.
Tom says, I'm hoping we can settle everything amicably.
To settle here means to take care of.
Amicably, A-M-I-C-A-B-L-Y means in a friendly, nice, pleasant way.
Tom says, but I'm ready for a fight if it turns ugly.
To turn ugly means to become very difficult, to become very unpleasant, perhaps even dangerous.
Tom says, I've hired Dewey Cheatham.
I've hired means I have employed, I have given a job to Dewey Cheatham, who we find out is a lawyer, an attorney.
He works for the law firm, the law company of Dewey, Cheatham & Howe.
Nicole says, wow, you're serious.
He's the most high-powered divorce attorney in this city.
High-powered means very influential, very powerful.
An attorney is, of course, a lawyer, someone who helps you with legal matters contracts, crimes and so forth.
Divorce, we've already talked about, is when you legally separate and end a marriage.
So a high-powered divorce attorney would be a lawyer who is very powerful, very influential, who deals with divorces.
Tom says, I'm not taking any chances.
To take a chance would be to risk.
Tom says, I'm not taking any chances with my assets or my daughter.
Your assets.
A-S-S-E-T-S are things that are worth money a house, a piece of land jewelry, investments and so forth.
Tom says, if Catherine wants to play hardball, I'm coming out swinging.
The expression to play hardball H-A-R-D-B-A-L-L means to do everything necessary to get what you want, especially when you are arguing or fighting with another person.
You don't care if the other person gets hurt.
You're going to be very tough.
You're going to be what we might call ruthless.
R-U-T-H-L-E-S-S.
Tom says if Catherine plays hardball, he's coming out swinging.
The expression to come out swinging S-W-I-N-G.
I-N-G means to be ready to fight, to defend yourself, to argue for what you believe in in a very strong and forceful way.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm really sorry to hear about you and Catherine getting a divorce.
I appreciate it, but it was a long time coming.
We've been heading for divorce for years.
I just hope it doesn't get too messy.
I don't mean to pry, but didn't the two of you have a prenup?
Yeah, but Catherine wants it set aside because our financial situation has changed so much since we got married.
She also wants sole custody of Sarah, alimony, and child support.
We live in a community property state, so that should simplify things, shouldn't it?
You'd think so, but the distribution of property may get complicated.
I'm hoping we can settle everything amicably, but I'm ready for a fight if it turns ugly.
I've hired Dewey Cheatham.
Wow, you're serious.
He's the most high-powered divorce attorney in the city.
I'm not taking any chances with my assets or my daughter.
If Catherine wants to play hardball, I'm coming out swinging.
Our greatest asset is our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
She's worth more than anything else here at ESL Podcast.
Thank you, Lucy.
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.
