Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 973, Attracting Someone's Interest.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 973.
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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Today's episode is all about attraction.
Let's get started.
Ooh, it looks like Joanna has her sights set on you.
Look at how she's giving you the eye.
Is she?
I hadn't noticed.
Watch out.
She usually gets what she wants, and she doesn't take no for an answer.
I'm not interested in Joanna at all.
She's not my type.
Then you're the only one.
Every guy I know thinks she's hot.
She has a bunch of them at her beck and call.
Then she won't care if I don't take an interest in her.
I don't like women who behave as though they're God's gift to men.
Don't look now but she's making a beeline for you.
Then that's my cue to beat a speedy exit.
Are you sure you want to give her the brush off?
I'm sure that's one woman I don't want to tangle with.
Our dialogue begins with Angie saying to Kenji, Ooh, it looks like Joanna has her sights set on you.
To have your sights set on someone means that you are interested in someone, especially someone with whom you would like to have a romantic relationship.
You can also have your sights set on an object that you want to acquire or buy or purchase.
You can have your sights set on a particular car or one particular computer.
In this case however, We're talking about a woman who has her sights set on Kenji.
Angie says, look at how she's giving you the eye.
To give someone the eye E-Y-E means again to look at them with a certain expression that indicates that you are interested in them romantically.
Kenji says, is she?
Meaning, is she giving me the eye?
I hadn't noticed.
I didn't realize.
Angie says, watch out.
Watch out is an expression that means be careful or you better use caution.
It's especially used if there's some sort of danger involved.
Angie says.
That expression He or she doesn't take no for an answer means this person is very persistent.
We would say
This person is going to keep trying to get what he wants and won't stop until he gets it.
In this case, Joanna won't stop until she gets what she wants.
That's the meaning of this expression here.
Kenji says At all is a very common phrase used to emphasize the verb in the negative meaning.
Not even a little bit.
I'm not interested in watching your cat tonight at all.
That means I'm not interested, even a little bit at all.
Added at the end of the sentence here means you are emphasizing that particular point.
You really don't want to do that thing.
Kenji says, she's not my type.
To be someone's type T-Y-P-E means to have the characteristics of someone to whom you would be romantically attracted.
Some men like women with blonde hair.
Some men like women with brunette hair.
Me, I like women with hair.
Whatever it is, you are interested in a certain kind of person, and that kind of person is your type.
Kenji says that Joanna is not his type.
She's not the kind of person woman, that he would normally be attracted to.
Angie says then you're the only one.
Every guy, every man i know thinks she's hot, to be hot.
Hot is to be very attractive, to be very good looking.
She has a bunch of them at her beck and call.
Angie says She again.
Joanna has a bunch of them at her beck and call.
A bunch, B-U-N-C-H, is a group of something, a group of things or a group of people.
In this case, we're talking about men.
Joanna has a bunch of men, a large number of men, at her Beck and call that expression at someone's Beck B E C, K and call C A L, L means you have a lot of people, in this case, who respond to your requests and your needs immediately.
If you say I have a this person at my beck and call you, mean this person will do whatever you want right away.
The expression is used to show, in a way, how you dominate or control another person to make them do whatever you want them to do.
It's not a very common expression anymore, but you will still hear it and certainly read it.
Angie says that Joanna has a large group of men at her beck and call, meaning there are a lot of men who are very interested in her romantically and would therefore do whatever she wanted them to do.
Kenji says, then she won't care if I don't take an interest in her.
To take an interest in someone means to be concerned about them or to pay attention to them.
In this case, it means to be interested in a romantic relationship with this person.
Kenji says.
The expression God's gift to someone is used sarcastically in a joking way to mean that someone thinks that he or she is very special and better than everyone else in some way.
Kenji describes Joanna as thinking that she's God's gift to men, meaning she's very beautiful and that all men should be interested in her.
Angie says, don't look now, but she's making a beeline for you.
To make a beeline B-E-E-L-I-N-E for someone means to walk in someone's direction, directly toward someone, without being distracted by anything in your way.
If you go to a party and you see that there are some cookies and snacks on a table and you're very hungry, you might make a beeline for that table as soon as you walk into the room.
You really want to eat, so you're going to go right for that location, that table.
To make a beeline for someone means to walk towards someone.
Especially someone to whom you want to talk or in whom you are interested.
That's the case with Joanna.
She's obviously interested in Kenji in a romantic way.
Kenji says, then that's my cue to beat a speedy exit.
A cue, C-U-E, is a signal reminding you of what to do or when to do it.
A cue here is an indication of something.
So when Kenji says it's my cue to do something, he means that's my indication.
That's telling me I should do something.
That is a situation where I am being reminded in a way to do something.
What Kenji wants to do is to beat a speedy exit.
To beat, B-E-A-T, a speedy, S-P-E-E-D-Y, exit, means to leave very quickly and suddenly.
To decide, oh, I'm going to go right now and then leave.
We would use this expression when we are trying to escape some dangerous situation or some situation that we want to avoid.
There's another expression, perhaps a little bit more common, called to beat a hasty retreat.
Hasty, H-A-S-T-Y, means the same as speedy.
It means very quickly.
A retreat R-E-T-R-E-A-T here means to go back from where you were, to go back to a place where you started from.
Usually we use this word retreat when we're talking about a battle in a war.
When one side in the battle has to go back to where they came from because they're being beaten by the other side.
To beat a hasty retreat means to go back to where you were because you are being beaten.
You are being defeated and you need to go back and protect yourself, back to the place where you began.
It can also mean to leave quickly, but it would be used more specifically in a case where you are being defeated in something and you need to leave quickly in order to avoid getting completely beaten, I guess.
Angie says, are you sure you want to give her the brush off?
To give someone the brush B-R-U-S-H off O-F-F means to ignore someone, to reject someone, not to give someone your attention and perhaps even your respect.
Kenji says, I'm sure that's one woman I don't want to tangle with.
To tangle T-A-N-G-L-E with someone means to become involved with someone in such a way that things become very unpleasant, because the person may be a very difficult person or it may be a person with whom you will not get along with very well.
You could also use this expression when you anticipate, you expect that there are going to be problems in dealing with this person and you don't want to be involved in those problems.
Kenji does not want to tangle with Joanna, and so he's going to leave wherever it is they are and get away from her.
I've never had this problem actually of a woman making a beeline for me and me wanting to ignore her.
I never had that happen.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Ooh, it looks like Joanna has her sights set on you.
Look at how she's giving you the eye.
Is she?
I hadn't noticed.
Watch out.
She usually gets what she wants, and she doesn't take no for an answer.
I'm not interested in Joanna at all.
She's not my type.
Then you're the only one.
Every guy I know thinks she's hot.
She has a bunch of them at her beck and call.
Then she won't care if I don't take an interest in her.
I don't like women who behave as though they're God's gift to men.
Don't look now, but she's making a beeline for you.
Then that's my cue to beat a speedy exit.
Are you sure you want to give her the brush off?
I'm sure.
That's one woman I don't want to tangle with.
That music is my cue to thank Dr. Lucy Say, our wonderful script writer, for her wonderful scripts.
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
