Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number one thousand and two.
An unwelcome business in the neighborhood.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode one thousand two.
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 called An Unwelcome Business in the Neighborhood.
Let's get started.
Think again.
The new tenant plans to open a strip club.
A strip club in the middle of a residential neighborhood?
That must be a violation of city ordinances.
The city won't allow that.
I'm not so sure.
The tenant has already started moving in.
Then we have to do something to let the city know that we object to a strip club going into that space.
Good luck getting the city to do anything. much less file an injunction.
The mayor is very pro-business and it won't look good if he tries to shut down any business that could bring revenue and jobs to this dying town.
But at what cost?
Our kids will have to walk past the strip club every day to and from school.
That's outrageous.
I suggest channeling that energy into action.
If we make a stink and get media coverage...
Maybe we'll get some action.
Good idea.
How can we get the local media to cover a neighborhood protest?
I think that would send the wrong message.
The dialogue for this episode is entitled An Unwelcome Business in the Neighborhood.
When we say a business or a person is unwelcome, we mean they are not welcome.
The prefix un- in English means not.
To say someone is a welcome person visitor or a welcome business means you want them there.
You are happy that the person or the business is there.
So if you have an unwelcome business, you have a business that you don't want in your neighborhood, the area where you live, in your city or town.
Patricia begins our dialogue by saying finally, at last that empty building has a new tenant.
That's great for the neighborhood.
A tenant, T-E-N-A-N-T, is a business or a person who rents a certain house or building.
A tenant is someone who pays rent, who pays money to usually live in or work in a certain area.
So if you have an apartment, you will have to pay rent, and that makes you a tenant.
Patricia is happy that the empty building near their house has a new tenant.
Francois doesn't think this is good news.
He says to Patricia, think again.
Patricia says it's great news, but Francois says, think again.
Think again means you should consider this situation again.
You should think about it again.
Usually it means the other person is wrong.
The Conclusion that the other person has reached is incorrect in your view.
So if someone says to you oh, I'm going to go to Minnesota in the northern part of the US, where I'm from for a winter vacation,
I'm going to bring my bathing suit and my sunglasses, because I expect it will be very warm and sunny.
Someone from Minnesota would say to you, think again, meaning you're wrong.
The way you are thinking is not correct or you have reached an incorrect conclusion.
Francois says the new tenant plans to open a strip club.
A strip club is a place where typically women play.
Patricia says, a strip club in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
That must be a violation of city ordinances.
The city won't allow that.
Patricia is surprised that this kind of business, which of course you would not want near your house, if anywhere.
A neighborhood is an area of a town or a city.
Residential, R-E-S-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L, refers to... homes and apartments and condominiums.
A resident is a person who lives in a certain area.
Residential refers to an area where there are mostly houses and apartments.
The opposite of residential is commercial.
A commercial area has mostly businesses and stores, but residential areas have mostly houses and apartments.
Patricia says that they can't open this kind of business in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
She says that must be a violation of city ordinances.
A violation is when you break the law or you break some rule.
You don't follow some regulation.
That would be a violation.
Ordinances, O-R-D-I-N-A-N-C-E-S, are laws, usually laws for a city or a town.
It could be laws for a county, I suppose, also.
Normally, the word ordinance is used to refer to a law of a city or a town.
Patricia says the city won't allow that.
The city won't permit that.
Francois says, I'm not so sure.
The tenant has already started moving in and there is no sign that the city is going to take action.
Francois says the tenant has already started moving in.
The person has already started to bring things into the building.
He also says there is no sign, there is no indication that the city, the government of the city, is going to take action.
To take action here means to do something.
Patricia says, then we have to do something to let the city know that we object to a strip club going into that place.
To object to something is to express your disagreement about something, to protest about something, to let people know that you don't like something.
If you watch a crime show in English, a television program about the law and courtrooms and judges, you will probably hear this word object.
It's something that the lawyers say when they don't like what the other side has said or they don't think what the other side has said should be part of the legal case.
The lawyers will often stand up and say I object, your honor, your honor here refers to the judge.
Well, here we're talking about objecting to something, objecting to this business.
Coming into the neighborhood, Francois says good luck getting the city to do anything.
When he says good luck, he's not actually wishing Patricia good luck.
What he's really doing is indicating that what she wants will not happen, or that what she is hoping to happen probably won't happen.
Francois says good luck getting the city to do anything, much less file an injunction.
An injunction i n j u n c t i o n is when the government, often the court, will tell someone or some business that they can't do something.
They stop someone from doing something that they believe to be illegal.
That's what Francois is referring to here.
He doesn't think the city is going to file an injunction.
The verb file, F-I-L-E here, means simply to try to get an injunction from a judge.
An injunction has to come from a judge, from a court.
But the city government, the mayor or other people who work for the city, can ask the judge to stop a business from doing something.
That would be filing an injunction, asking the judge to stop this person from doing something.
Francois says the mayor, who is the leader of the city or town, is very pro-business.
And it won't look good if he tries to shut down any business that could bring revenue and jobs to this dying town.
The mayor is very pro-business.
When we say someone is pro-something, we mean they are in favor of something or they support that thing.
So someone who is pro-business is someone who is in favor of business, who tries to help companies.
Someone who is pro-labor L-A-B-O-R would be someone who is trying to help workers, especially labor unions.
So you'll see that prefix pro in front of a word when someone is in favor of that or supports that.
The mayor is pro-business, Francois says, and it won't look good if he tries to shut down This business.
To shut down is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to close.
The mayor is interested in the revenue and jobs that the business can bring to this dying town.
Revenue, R-E-V-E-N-U-E, refers to money, specifically taxes that the business will pay the city.
Patricia says, but at what cost?
Our kids will have to walk past the strip club every day to and from school.
That's outrageous.
Outrageous means that's crazy.
That's a terrible thing.
Francois says, I suggest channeling that energy into action.
To channel, C-H-A-N-N-E-L, your energy into something means to put your energy into something.
To channel anything means to take it and use it for a specific purpose.
He continues, if we make a stink and get media coverage, maybe we'll get some action.
To make a stink, S-T-I-N-K, is an interesting expression.
It means to create problems so that other people notice that you don't like something.
You complain or you do something to get attention so that other people will realize that you're not happy and you hope do something about it.
Media coverage refers to newspapers, television stations, radio stations, magazines or internet websites talking about your issue or talking about you.
Media coverage is when the press, the media, the newspapers and television stations talk.
Talk about your story.
They tell other people about what you are doing.
Patricia says, good idea, meaning that's a good idea.
We should make a stink.
How do we get the to get the local media, the newspapers and television stations in that town or city, to cover, that is, to report on the neighborhood protest?
A protest is when you get together in public to indicate your belief about something, often your unhappiness about something.
Now remember they're protesting a strip club, a place where usually men pay money to see women take their clothes off.
So Francois suggests nude picketing.
To picket P-I-C-K-E-T means to walk back and forth on the sidewalk with signs in the air that indicate what you are angry about, what you are protesting about.
Nude, N-U-D-E, means without any clothing on.
Francois is suggesting that they could get attention from the local media if they picketed without wearing any clothing.
Of course, they're nude because that's, of course, the kind of business that a strip club is.
So they are calling attention to this issue.
Patricia says, however, I think that would send the wrong message.
The expression to send the wrong message means you are doing something that will give people the wrong idea about what you want or what you are trying to accomplish.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Finally, that empty building has a new tenant.
That's great for the neighborhood.
Think again.
The new tenant plans to open a strip club.
A strip club in the middle of a residential neighborhood?
That must be a violation of city ordinances.
The city won't allow that.
Then we have to do something to let the city know that we object to a strip club going into that space.
Good luck getting the city to do anything, much less file an injunction.
The mayor is very pro-business and it won't look good if he tries to shut down any business that could bring revenue and jobs to this dying town.
But at what cost?
Our kids will have to walk past the strip club every day to and from school.
That's outrageous.
I suggest channeling that energy into action.
If we make a stink and get media coverage, maybe we'll get some action.
Good idea.
How can we get the local media to cover a neighborhood protest?
How about nude picketing?
I think that would send the wrong message.
The script for this episode, like all of our episodes, was written by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
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.
