Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 902, Being Chivalrous and Protective.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 902.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is ESLPOD.com.
If you go there and become a member, you can download a learning guide for this episode.
This episode is about a man and a woman.
The man is going to be chivalrous, or at least that's what we hope.
Let's get started.
When I first met Lance, I thought he was the perfect guy.
He was a real gentleman.
He opened doors for me and pulled out my chair in restaurants.
He was as chivalrous as they come.
But after a while, I realized that he took chivalry a little too far.
Let me carry that box for you.
No, that's okay.
It's not heavy.
It doesn't matter.
I'm your boyfriend and...
And I can't have you carrying a box when my hands are free.
Is that some kind of code of conduct I don't know about?
It's how a knight would treat his lady.
That's nice, but I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own box.
Thank you.
Don't argue.
It's my duty to show every courtesy to my girlfriend, so give me that box.
Are you saying that your code of conduct takes precedence over my preferences?
No, I'm just telling you that my job is to help and protect you even if it's against your will.
How can you argue with that logic?
Our story begins with Guinevere telling us about how she met this man by the name of Lance.
She says when I first met Lance, when I met him the first time, I thought he was the perfect guy, the perfect man, the perfect person.
Guy here would probably refer to a man, however.
Sometimes people will use guys in the plural to mean both men and women.
But when it's singular, it's usually a man, I think.
Anyway, Guinevere says that this Lance was a real gentleman.
A gentleman, G-E-N-T-L-E-M-A-N, is a man who behaves...
Well, who acts nice, especially with women.
A man who has good manners could be called a gentleman.
Lance opened doors for me and pulled out my chair in restaurants.
These are two things that traditionally gentlemen, men with good manners, are supposed to do.
If you are walking into a building and there is a woman with you, as the man, you're supposed to open the door and let her walk in first.
Similarly, if you are sitting down at a restaurant somewhere or sitting down to eat somewhere, The man will go over and pull the chair out to make it easier for the woman to sit down, so the woman doesn't have to pull her own chair out.
That's what Lance did with Guinevere when they first were dating, when they first were going out as a romantic couple.
Lance, Guinevere tells us, was as chivalrous as they come.
Chivalrous, C-H-I-V-A-L-R-O-U-S, is similar to being a gentleman.
It means to be courteous.
It means to be well-mannered.
It means to pay special attention to being nice to women.
Chivalrous is an adjective.
Gentleman is a noun.
The two are related, however.
We describe a man who acts like a gentleman as being chivalrous, especially when we're talking about how that man treats or acts toward women.
Guinevere says he was as chivalrous as they come.
The expression as they come means more than other people or simply very much.
He's as rich as they come would mean he is one of the richest people you will ever know.
He's very rich.
Lance was as chivalrous as they come.
But after a while, Guinevere says, I realized that he took his chivalry a little too far.
To take something too far means to do too much of something or to go to such an extreme that now it's almost a bad thing.
You're doing it too much.
Chivalry is the noun related to the adjective chivalrous.
Well, Lance apparently is taking his chivalry too far.
We begin then with the dialogue.
Lance says to Guinevere, Let me carry that box for you.
That might be another thing a gentleman might do for a woman carry her bags or carry her things that are heavy.
Guinevere says, no, that's okay.
It's not heavy.
Glenn says, it doesn't matter.
That's not important.
I'm your boyfriend, and I can't have you carrying a box when my hands are free.
The expression is.
To have your hands free means that you're not holding anything, that you can use your hands to do something, in this case to help carry the box.
Guinevere says, is that some kind of code of conduct I don't know about?
A code, C-O-D-E, is a set of rules or laws that Conduct, C-O-N-D-U-C-T, is how you act.
A code of conduct would be rules for how you act, especially formal rules that some organization perhaps creates.
Guinevere is asking if What Lance wants to do is part of some kind of or some variety of code of conduct.
Lance says it's how a knight would treat his lady.
A knight, K-N-I-G-H-T, is a title of honor that is given to a man by the king or the queen.
In the United States, we don't have a king or queen, so we don't have knights.
But for example in Great Britain, in the United Kingdom, there is a queen who makes some men anyway knights.
People with a lot of power, a lot of influence, important people are often knights. knighted.
We can even use that word as a verb, to knight.
The term lady L-A-D-Y here means a woman with good manners, a woman with grace, a woman who is considered to be well-behaved, well-mannered.
Guinevere says, that's nice, but I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own box.
Thank you.
To be capable C-A-P-A-B-L-E means to have the ability, to have the skills or the knowledge to do something.
To be perfectly capable means means you are completely capable.
Perfectly is just a word to emphasize.
It's sort of like very capable.
Lance says, don't argue.
It's my duty to show every courtesy to my girlfriend.
So give me that box.
Lance is telling Guinevere not to disagree with him.
Don't argue.
Lance hasn't been a boyfriend very long.
You got a lot to learn, Lance, let me tell you.
Anyway, Guinevere says she's perfectly capable of carrying her own box, but Lance says that it's his duty D-U-T-Y to show every courtesy C-O-U-R-T-E-S-Y to his girlfriend.
Your duty is your obligation, your responsibility, the thing you are supposed to do.
Courtesy is something that is nice, something that is polite, that you do to show your respect to someone, to show that you are well-behaved, that you have good manners.
Courtesy is a noun that describes those activities or those actions.
Guinevere says, are you saying that your code of conduct takes precedence over my preferences?
To take precedence P-R-E-C-E-D-E-N-C-E Over something means to be more important than something to come before something.
You should never let your job, your work, take precedence over your family.
It should never be more important than your family.
Guinevere is asking if Lance's code of conduct, his rules for chivalry, take precedence over her preferences.
Len says no, I'm just telling you that my job is to help and protect you, even if it's against your will.
To protect someone means to keep them safe, to make sure that nothing bad happens to them.
To do something against your will means the opposite of what you want.
He did it against his will.
That means he didn't really want to do it, but he did it anyway.
Lance is saying that it is his duty to protect Guinevere, even if Guinevere doesn't want him to.
Guinevere ends our story by saying, how can you argue with that logic?
Logic, L-O-G-I-C, is thinking, usually thinking in a rational, intelligent way.
In some cases it means following certain formal rules of reasoning, of thinking, of logic.
We think about Aristotle and his writings about logic.
In this case, Guinevere is saying that it's difficult to try to convince Lance that he's wrong because he has this set of reasons that don't seem to allow for anyone to differ with him.
That's why she says, how can you argue with that logic?
Sometimes we might say that when we think the person is correct or and they are saying something we agree with, sometimes we might say this expression or use this expression when we think the person's ideas are a little crazy and there's no way we could agree with them.
It can have opposite meanings.
I'm not sure which meaning it has for Guinevere.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
When I first met Lance, I thought he was the perfect guy.
He was a real gentleman.
He opened doors for me and pulled out my chair in restaurants.
He was as chivalrous as they come.
But after a while, I realized that he took chivalry a little too far.
Let me carry that box for you.
No, that's okay.
It's not heavy.
It doesn't matter.
I'm your boyfriend, and I can't have you carrying a box when my hands are free.
Is that some kind of code of conduct I don't know about?
That's nice, but I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own box.
Thank you.
Are you saying that your code of conduct takes precedence over my preferences?
No, I'm just telling you that my job is to help and protect you, even if it's against your will.
How can you argue with that logic?
Our script was written by a very capable lady indeed, Dr. Lucy Say.
Lady Lucy, we might call her.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
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.
