Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 970, Having a Backup Plan.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 970.
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 Jerome and Sandy Martin, having a plan in case there's a problem with what you're doing.
Let's get started.
This is a very dangerous undertaking.
Do you have a backup plan if anything goes wrong?
It's just that I'd like to know we have some recourse if anything goes wrong.
Failure is not an option.
But don't you think we should consider some alternatives?
If, God forbid, anything goes wrong, it would be good to have an escape hatch, don't you think?
That won't be necessary.
If anything goes wrong, it's every man for himself.
I thought we were in this together.
What happened to stick with me and you can't go wrong?
That was before I realized what a liability you are.
A liability?
In a dangerous plan like this, there are bound to be some casualties.
A sacrificial lamb or two.
Yes, but I didn't know you'd double-cross me before we even got started.
Jerome begins our dialogue by saying to Sandy...
This is a very dangerous undertaking.
An undertaking.
U-N-D-E-R-T-A-K-I-N-G is just another word for a project, something that you are doing, Often something that is a little difficult, a little challenging, we might say.
Jerome says this is a dangerous undertaking, meaning you might get hurt.
Do you have a backup plan if anything goes wrong?
He asks Sandy.
A backup B-A-C-K-U-P plan is what you will do if your first plan doesn't work.
We might call it an alternative to the plan that you have now.
For example, I want to go to a restaurant that is about 15 miles from my house.
To get to the restaurant, I have to take the freeway.
I decide to go to this restaurant, but when I get on the freeway, it's very crowded.
There's a lot of what we would call traffic, too many cars, making everyone move very slowly.
So I decide, no, this is a bad idea.
I have a backup plan, however.
My backup plan is to go to a different restaurant that's only one mile from my house and is easy to get to.
Because there were problems in trying to carry out my first plan, I decided to go to my backup plan.
Sandy says about the plan that she has, it'll work, meaning it will work.
She says, I've come up with contingencies for every possible setback.
To come up with something is a phrasal verb meaning to have invented or created or thought of something.
Contingencies, C-O-N-T-I-N-G-E-N-C-I-E-S, are things that might happen.
They won't all happen, probably, but some of these things might happen.
This word contingency is often used when talking about a plan, especially a formal plan, such as in your business.
You have a plan, but you also think there might be some problems in the future.
So you have different possibilities that might happen.
If this happens, then we're going to do this.
If something else happens, then we're going to do that.
So you have all sorts of contingencies, things that might happen that you are prepared for.
Sandy says she's come up with contingencies, things that they can do for every possible setback.
A setback S-E-T-B-A-C-K is when you have a problem with your plan, some difficulty or obstacle that makes it difficult or impossible for you to continue with your original plan.
We often use the term temporary setback, meaning it's a problem now, but it won't be a problem in the future.
It's just for a short amount of time.
Jerome says Recourse R-E-C-O-U-R-S-E is something you can do when you are in a difficult situation, something that you can do to make things better.
This is a somewhat formal word.
To have recourse to something is to have the possibility of using something in order to help you if you have a problem.
If you wake up in the morning and your car has been stolen and you need to get to work, your only recourse might be taking a bus.
That would be your recourse.
What would help you in this difficult situation to do what you need to do?
Sandy says, my plan is foolproof.
Foolproof means that it cannot possibly fail.
There's no possibility of anything going wrong.
She says failure is not an option.
That expression failure is not an option is used to emphasize that you have to succeed.
You must be successful.
You cannot possibly not be successful.
If you are, then terrible things will happen.
Failure is not an option means we must succeed.
Of course, just because you want to succeed doesn't mean you will succeed.
Jerome says, but don't you think we should consider some alternatives?
An alternative is another possible way of doing something.
Jerome is asking Sandy to think about what they are going to do if something goes wrong.
He says if, God forbid, anything goes wrong, it would be good to have an escape hatch, don't you think?
The phrase God forbid, F-O-R-B-I-D is used to emphasize that you don't want something to happen And you hope that God will prevent it from happening.
But it might happen.
It's an expression that we use when we are saying, well, I really don't want this to happen.
I hope this doesn't happen, but we have to be prepared if it does happen.
And that's what Jerome is saying here.
If the plan fails, they need to have alternatives.
They need to have an escape hatch.
An escape hatch.
H-A-T-C-H refers to a door that would allow you to escape or get out of something such as an airplane or some sort of space vehicle in an emergency.
If you need to get out of whatever you are in immediately because there's some problem, you might use an escape hatch.
This is a way of getting out of a plane or a spacecraft very quickly in case something goes wrong.
However, here it is used not literally to mean a door, but rather an alternative or a plan that will allow you to get out of a difficult situation if your original plan doesn't succeed.
Sandy says that won't be necessary.
They will not need an escape hatch, Sandy is saying.
If anything goes wrong, it's every man for himself.
That expression every man for himself is is used to show that each person is responsible for his own future and cannot depend on other people to help him.
If there's a problem with a plan and it looks like everyone may be hurt or may be in danger, then each person has to save himself.
Basically is what this means.
Every man for himself means I'm not going to help you.
You have to get out of this difficult situation yourself.
Jerome says, what?
I thought we were in this together.
To be in this together means to be working as part of a team.
Jerome says, what happened to stick with me and you can't go wrong?
What happened to is a way of saying, what about the idea you told me before?
Or isn't this still true?
And it's followed by usually, something the other person said that he doesn't seem to believe anymore.
What happened to stick with me and you can't go wrong?
To stick with someone means to stay close to someone, to follow someone's path or to literally be with someone during the entire plan or during the entire action that you're doing together.
It's sometimes used to mean simply follow what I do, do what I do, learn from me.
Sandy told Jerome, stick with me and you can't go wrong.
The phrase can't go wrong means that everything will be fine.
There will be no problems.
Sandy says, that was before I realized what a liability you are.
A liability, L-I-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y, is something, or in this case someone, Representing a disadvantage.
If you say this person is a liability, you mean this person will cause us problems or this person might prevent us from being successful at doing what we want to do.
Jerome says a liability.
He's surprised that Sandy thinks that he is a problem.
Sandy says, Bound, B-O-U-N-D, to be means that there will definitely be.
It is certain.
Casualties C-A-S-U-A-L-T-I-E-S are usually people who die or who are hurt in a war or some sort of accident.
Sacrificial lamb refers to something that needs to be destroyed, or or something that needs to be killed in order for you to succeed at your plan.
Of course, the thing or person killed isn't usually very happy about that.
The term sacrificial lamb comes from the very ancient or old practice of sacrificing or killing an animal to honor God or to honor some divine power.
Jerome says, yes, but I didn't know you'd double cross me before we even got started.
So Sandy is saying that in every dangerous plan some people will probably get hurt, but that it's necessary that that happen in order for the plan to be successful.
Sometimes
Jerome says yes, he understands that.
However, he didn't realize that Sandy would double-cross him before they even got started.
To double-cross means to trick Sandy, betray someone to do something that would lose the trust of another person.
To double cross means to say, oh yes, I'll do that, and then, the very next moment, to do the opposite.
The term to double cross can also be used to describe the act of cheating another person.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
This is a very dangerous undertaking.
Do you have a backup plan if anything goes wrong?
It'll work.
I've come up with contingencies for every possible setback.
It's just that I'd like to know we have some recourse if anything goes wrong.
My plan is foolproof.
Failure is not an option.
But don't you think we should consider some alternatives?
If, God forbid, anything goes wrong, it would be good to have an escape hatch, don't you think?
That won't be necessary.
If anything goes wrong, it's every man for himself.
What?
I thought we were in this together.
What happened to stick with me and you can't go wrong?
That was before I realized what a liability you are.
A liability?
In a dangerous plan like this, there are bound to be some casualties.
A sacrificial lamb or two.
Yes, but I didn't know you'd double-cross me before we even got started.
If you stick with ESL Podcasts, you're bound to learn a lot of English.
Mostly thanks to our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
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 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
Thank you.
