Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 879, Saying No.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 879.
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 Liang and Christian about telling someone that you don't want to do something.
Telling them no.
Let's get started.
I have a favor to ask.
Uh-oh.
What is it?
I'm doing a project for my class in culinary school and I need a volunteer to taste some of my creations.
Not on your life.
But why?
You don't remember the last time I was your guinea pig?
I was sick for two days.
That was a stroke of bad luck.
Come on, please?
Count me out.
No amount of pleading is going to change my mind.
I bet I'm not the first person you've asked.
Well, no.
Jacob said no.
He said that he would let me cook food for him over his dead body.
That's what I thought.
Did you ask Mele, too?
Yes, and she said she'd rather not.
Who's next on your list of victims, I mean candidates?
You're my last resort.
If you won't do it, then I'm sunk.
The answer is still no.
But I know someone who won't turn up his nose at your cooking.
Who?
Come here, Fido.
Liang says to Christian at the beginning of our dialogue, I have a favor to ask.
I have something I want you to do for me.
Christian says, uh-oh, what is it?
Uh-oh. is an expression that we use when we believe something bad is going to happen.
In this case, Christian isn't sure what Liang is going to ask him.
He's a little afraid.
Liang says I'm doing a project for my class in culinary school and I need a volunteer to taste some of my creations.
A project is an assignment, something the teacher told them to do.
Culinary C-U-L-I-N-A-R-Y school is a school that teaches people how to cook, how to become a chef.
Niang needs a volunteer, someone who will do it willingly, to taste some of her creations.
Creation is normally something that you make.
It's sometimes used by artists.
Here it's being used by Liang to talk about the food that she is going to prepare.
Christian says, not on your life.
Not on your life means no way.
It's a phrase we use to say very strongly that you are not going to do something or something is not going to happen.
Liang says, but why?
Christian says, you don't remember the last time I was your guinea pig?
A guinea pig is is literally a small animal like a hamster.
However, in English we use it to mean someone who is asked to try something to see what will happen.
Someone who is being used in an experiment.
You're not really sure what's going to happen.
This is probably because guinea pigs were used in medical experiments and perhaps still are.
I don't know.
But the expression to be a guinea pig means to be someone who is being experimented on, perhaps something that might be dangerous or something that might hurt you.
Christian says, I was sick for two days.
The last time he was Liang's guinea pig, he was sick for two days.
Christian isn't very interested in helping Liang.
Liang says, however, that was a stroke of bad luck.
A stroke of bad luck. means it was a negative experience, but it probably won't happen again.
It was just bad luck.
It was just an accident.
It was something that happened that will probably not happen again.
She then says, come on, please.
Come on is often used in English to get someone to agree with you or to go with you.
In this case, Liang wants Christian to agree to taste her creations.
Christian says, count me out.
This is another way of saying no.
Count me out means don't include me in that activity.
I don't want to participate.
Christian says no amount of pleading is going to change my mind.
To plead, P-L-E-A-D, means to beg someone, to ask them repeatedly, perhaps in a somewhat sad way.
Your children might plead with you to buy them an ice cream cone or take them to the circus or a carnival.
Oh, Dad, please, please, I really want to go, Dad.
That was me when I was younger.
Well, Christian says no amount of pleading is going to change my mind.
No amount of is a phrase we use to emphasize that this thing is not going to happen.
It doesn't matter what the other person says.
So we put those two together, no amount and pleading.
And we get the idea here that it doesn't matter what Liang says or how much she pleads with Christian, he's not going to change his mind.
He's not going to change his opinion, change his decision.
Christian says, I bet I'm not the first person you've asked.
Christian knows that Liang has gone and asked some of her other friends perhaps to do what she wants them to do.
And they probably said no, too.
Liang says, well, no, no, you're not the first person I've asked.
Christian says, who else has turned you down?
Who else means what other person?
To turn someone down is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to say no to someone's request.
Someone asks you to do something and you say no.
The President of the United States asked me to become an ambassador, an official representative of the United States.
But I turned him down.
I said, no, Mr. President, I'm very busy here doing ESL podcast.
Much more important than anything you have for me.
Christian wants to know who else has turned Liang down.
Liang says Jacob said no.
Christian says I bet he said something stronger than no.
To say something stronger than no means to say something with more emphasis, not just to say oh no, thank you, but to say something that would really indicate that he didn't want to do it.
Liang says he said that he would let me cook food for him over his dead body.
That's a popular expression to do something over my dead body or over his dead body.
The idea is that you will not have.
Let this happen.
You will not allow this to happen under any situation under any circumstances.
I would have to be dead before I allowed that.
In other words, I would die rather than allow you to do that.
So it's a very strong way of saying, no, I'm not going to permit this.
I'm not going to allow this.
I'm not going to say yes to this.
Christian says, that's what I thought.
Did you ask Mellie too?
Liang says, yes, and she said she'd rather not.
Rather not is a polite way of saying no when someone asks you to do something.
Someone says, would you go to the movie with me?
And you say, well, I'd rather not.
I'm kind of tired.
It's a more polite way of saying no.
Christian then asks, who's next on your list of victims?
I mean, candidates.
A victim V-I-C-T-I-M is a person who suffers because of some sort of crime or disease or bad situation.
That would be a victim.
Christian also uses the word candidate.
A candidate is someone who's being considered for a job or for a position, something positive, some sort of opportunity.
A candidate could also be someone who wants to be elected to a government position.
Christian says, who's next?
Who's the next person on your list of victims?
I mean, candidates.
He's making a joke.
When you want to say something bad about someone or criticize something, you may use this form of criticism or of making a joke about that has some sort of criticism in it.
For example, you're talking to your neighbor and the neighbor has a big dog.
It's a huge dog and you're a little afraid of it.
So you may say, so John, how is your lion?
I mean, dog.
A lion, of course, is a big, mean, ferocious animal.
You are comparing the dog to a lion, and then you act like it was a mistake.
Oh, I mean, I meant to say what I should have said was a dog.
That's how we use that particular structure.
Christian says, who's next on your list of victims?
I mean, candidates.
Liang says, you're my last resort.
To be the last resort.
R-E-S-O-R-T means you're the only remaining option, the only possibility left.
Liang says, if you won't do it, if you will not do it, then I'm sunk.
To be sunk.
S-U-N-K means that you are in a very difficult situation, a situation in which you will probably not succeed, in which you will probably fail.
Christian says the answer is still no, meaning he is not going to do it.
But I know someone who won't turn up his nose at your cooking.
The expression to turn up your nose at something means that you are going to say no to something because you think you're too good at for that offer.
That what the person is offering you is not good enough.
I offered him $1,000 to come and fix my car, and he turned his nose up at my offer.
He thought that was too low.
It wasn't good enough for him.
More commonly, we use this expression when someone thinks they're better than another person.
So she said no to the man at the bar.
She turned his nose up at his offer to go dancing.
She thought she was too beautiful for him.
That would be a more common use of that expression.
Well, Christian knows someone who will not turn his nose up at the cooking of Liang.
Liang says, who?
Christian then says, come here, Fido.
Fido, F-I-D-O, used to be a common name for a male dog.
What, of course, Christian is saying is that his dog will eat Liang's food, but he won't.
That's not a very nice thing for Christian to say.
I feel sorry for poor Liang.
I feel sorry for her means I feel badly for her.
I hope she finds someone to taste her cooking.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Uh-oh.
What is it?
I'm doing a project for my class in culinary school and I need a volunteer to taste some of my creations.
Not on your life.
But why?
You don't remember the last time I was your guinea pig?
I was sick for two days.
That was a stroke of bad luck.
Come on, please.
Count me out.
No amount of pleading is going to change my mind.
I bet I'm not the first person you've asked.
Well, no.
Who else has turned you down?
Jacob said no.
I bet he said something stronger than no.
He said that he would let me cook food for him over his dead body.
That's what I thought.
Did you ask Mele too?
Yes, and she said she'd rather not.
Who's next on your list of victims, I mean candidates?
You're my last resort.
If you won't do it, then I'm sunk.
The answer is still no.
But I know someone who won't turn up his nose at your cooking.
Who?
Come here, Fido.
Her dialogues are wonderful creations.
I speak, of course, of our own Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
