Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1059.
Feeling restless and jumpy.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1059.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
Become a member of ESL Podcast.
When you do, you can download the learning guides for all of our current episodes.
This episode is all about describing someone who is restless and jumpy.
Let's get started.
Sit still and stop bouncing your leg like that.
Sorry, I didn't realize I was doing it.
I'm just a little jittery.
Well, try to chill out.
We're supposed to be studying and your restlessness is distracting.
I'm like this because I had a lot of coffee.
That's the only way I can do an all-nighter.
But how can you study when you're fidgeting all the time?
Stop tapping your pen on the table.
Sorry, it's either I'm worked up or I fall asleep, and tomorrow's test is a make-or-break one for me.
I've got to do well.
I don't see how you can get any studying done when you're strung out on caffeine.
You're so jumpy and I think you're starting to twitch.
Why don't you try to counteract the caffeine by drinking lots of water?
Fine.
Fine.
Where are you going?
Anywhere but here.
Adam and Ellen are college students.
They are studying for a test.
They are preparing to take an examination.
Adam says to Ellen, sit still and stop bouncing your leg like that.
When you tell someone to sit still S-T-I-L-L, you are telling him to sit calmly, to sit without moving his arms or his legs.
Usually it's something you would say to a young child, for example at a restaurant, when the child is moving around too much.
Sit still.
Adam is telling Ellen, however, to sit still.
He says, stop bouncing your leg like that.
To bounce B-O-U-N-C-E something is to move it up and down, usually against the floor or some other flat area or surface.
When you think of a basketball, for example, you imagine it bouncing up and down.
It goes up and down between the hand and the floor.
Ellen isn't bouncing a ball.
She's bouncing her leg up and down against the floor and Adam is telling her to stop it.
Ellen says, sorry, I didn't realize I was doing it.
I'm just a little jittery.
To be jittery, J-I-T-T-E-R-Y, means to be nervous, to be unable to relax.
Often, when you're jittery, your hands shake a little or your body moves a little, almost involuntarily.
Sometimes you're jittery because you're excited about something.
Sometimes you're jittery because you're nervous about something.
Adam says, well, try to chill out.
The phrasal verb to chill C-H-I-L-L out means to relax, to stop worrying, to stop feeling depressed.
It's an expression that was quite common 20, 30 years ago.
I'm not sure how common it is today, but people still say it, chill out.
You don't want to say this to someone you don't know well, however.
You wouldn't want to say it to your boss, for example.
The expression has something of a criticism in its tone.
And so it's something you would say to a friend perhaps, or to your spouse or your children, but not something you would say to someone in authority over you.
Adam tells Ellen, however, to chill out.
He says, we're supposed to be studying and your restlessness is distracting.
To be restless, R-E-S-T-L-E-S-S, means something similar to to be jittery.
If you're restless, you're moving around all the time because you're nervous about.
Restlessness is just the noun that refers to the state of being restless.
Adam is saying that Ellen's restlessness is distracting.
Something that is distracting is something that makes it difficult for you to concentrate or to focus on something.
It takes your attention away from where it should be.
Ellen says, however, I can't help it.
I can't help it means I can't stop myself from doing it.
I can't prevent it.
I'm like this, she says, because I had a lot of coffee.
To have a.
If you drink a lot of coffee, it may make you jittery because of a certain chemical in the coffee called caffeine.
Ellen says that's the only way I can do an all-nighter.
Ellen is saying the only way she can do an all-nighter is to drink a lot of coffee.
What's an all-nighter?
And all A-L-L hyphen nighter.
N-I-G-H-T-E-R is when you study all night long for a test the next day.
At least that's the most common use of the term.
We often use the verb to pull with all nighter.
I'm going to pull an all nighter.
That means I'm going to study all night long. without sleeping for a test the next day.
Now, you could also pull an all-nighter to complete a report or to complete a paper.
Generally speaking, pulling an all-nighter is not a good idea if you are studying for a test, because you'll be so tired the next day you'll probably perform worse on the test than you would have if you had simply slept.
Even though you studied more, to pull an all nighter to complete a paper probably doesn't matter, since the idea is that once you complete the paper, you're done and you can go to sleep.
I've pulled an all-nighter only once in my academic career.
I remember it very well.
I was writing a paper about the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland, one of the most famous battles between England and Scotland.
And I had to get this paper completed by the next morning.
So I stayed up all night typing as one did on my typewriter, since this was before the days of computers.
I did finish the paper and I got a pretty good grade on it.
Thank you very much.
But that was the only time I ever pulled an all-nighter.
Anyway, it all brings back memories.
Adam says, but how can you study when you're fidgeting all the time?
To fidget F-I-D-G-E-T means to make small, rapid or quick movements repeatedly, possibly without even being aware of it.
When you're nervous, for example, or jittery, you might move your finger up and down or your leg up and down without noticing that you're doing it, without being completely aware that you're doing it.
Adam can't understand how Ellen can study when she's fidgeting all the time.
Then Adam says to her, stop tapping your pen on the table.
To tap, T-A-P, something with your finger would be to hit it with your finger repeatedly.
You can also tap on a wall, for example.
You could use your fist to hit the wall repeatedly.
That's tapping.
Adam is telling Ellen to stop tapping the pen on the table.
Ellen says, sorry, it's either I'm worked up or I fall asleep.
Ellen is saying there are one of two possibilities right now.
Either she falls asleep or she gets worked up.
To be worked up means to have a lot of energy, to have a lot of nervousness or anxiety.
Ellen says, tomorrow's test is a make or break one for me.
The phrase make or break means it's something that is extremely important.
It's something that will decide whether you succeed or fail at something.
A make or break test would be one that would determine, for example, if you are going to pass a class or not.
Ellen says, I've got to do well, meaning I have to do well on the test.
Adam says, I don't see how you can get any studying done when you're strung out on caffeine.
To be strung S-T-R-U-N-G out on some substance or drug means to be affected in a very negative way, usually because you've taken a lot of a certain drug.
Ellen has drunk a lot of coffee and therefore consumed a lot of caffeine.
C-A-F-F-E-I-N-E.
Caffeine is the chemical substance found in coffee as well as other drinks that can make you feel awake and energetic, but could also make you, if you drink too much of it, jittery and nervous.
Adam says to Ellen, You're so jumpy, and I think you're starting to twitch.
To be jumpy, J-U-M-P-Y, means something similar to to be jittery.
It means to be nervous, to be anxious. to be moving around.
To twitch T-W-I-T-C-H means to move one part of your body very quickly and sometimes uncontrollably.
When I have a bad allergic reaction, when my allergies are bothering me, sometimes my eye twitches.
It moves involuntarily without me wanting it to.
Technically, my eyelids twitch, not my actual eyes.
Adam then says to Ellen, why don't you try to counteract the caffeine by drinking lots of water?
To counteract C-O-U-N-T-E-R-A-C-T means to try to stop or prevent something else from that is happening by doing something opposite of that, or to do something that somehow balances it out.
If you start to get sleepy, you could counteract your sleepiness by drinking coffee with caffeine in it.
Adam is suggesting here is that Ellen tried to counteract the effects of the caffeine by doing something else by drinking a lot of water.
I'm not sure if drinking a lot of water counteracts the effect of caffeine, but Adam seems to think so.
Ellen says, do you know how long it took me to get this keyed up?
To be keyed, K-E-Y-E-D, up, is to be very excited or nervous or stressed.
She says, I'm not doing anything to reduce the effects.
Meaning, in this case, to make her less jumpy, less excited.
Adam then says, fine, meaning okay.
Ellen says, hey, where are you going?
Adam has started to get up and leave.
Adam says, anywhere but here.
Adam doesn't want to stay with Ellen because she's distracting him.
That's why he says, anywhere but here.
The use of the word but here means except.
Anywhere except here.
Anywhere that isn't here, if you will.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Sit still and stop bouncing your leg like that.
Sorry, I didn't realize I was doing it.
I'm just a little jittery.
Well, try to chill out.
We're supposed to be studying and your restlessness is distracting.
I can't help it.
I'm like this because I had a lot of coffee.
That's the only way I can do an all-nighter.
But how can you study when you're fidgeting all the time?
Stop tapping your pen on the table.
Sorry.
It's either I'm worked up or I fall asleep, and tomorrow's test is a make-or-break one for me.
I've got to do well.
I don't see how you can get any studying done when you're strung out on caffeine.
You're so jumpy and I think you're starting to twitch.
Why don't you try to counteract the caffeine by drinking lots of water?
Do you know how long it took me to get this keyed up?
I'm not doing anything to reduce the effects.
Fine.
Hey, where are you going?
Anywhere but here.
Our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say, never pulls an all-nighter to write her wonderful scripts.
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.
