Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1134.
Describing position and location within a group.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1134.
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 about describing where you are in a group of people.
Sounds simple.
Let's get started.
Don't look now, but a big group of mothers are coming to this house to give you a piece of their mind.
What?
I meant it as a joke.
I didn't mean anything by it.
You'll have to tell that to Sally.
She's at the head of the group, and she's flanked by Maria and Veronica.
Oh no, not them.
I'd rather be confronted by anyone but those three.
They're not the only ones.
They're backed by a group of at least 15 parents.
Maybe some of those on the periphery are just spectators waiting to see what the rest of the group will do.
Don't count on it.
They look determined.
Who are those in the back?
What should I do now?
And then?
Try a sincere apology with a healthy dose of groveling.
Our somewhat mysterious dialogue begins with Selina saying to Justin, Don't look now.
The expression don't look now is used to warn someone that something bad is happening or that an unwanted person is walking toward you or is nearby.
Don't look now, but I think that's your mother-in-law in the car.
Speaking of unwanted people.
Well, Selina is warning Justin not about a mother-in-law, but a big group of mothers.
She says don't, look now, but a big group of mothers are coming to this house and To give someone a piece of your mind means to clearly state your opinion or tell your opinion to someone, usually in anger or with some frustration toward the other person.
I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.
I'm going to tell him what I think, and I'm going to do it in anger.
Justin says, what?
I meant it as a joke.
We're not sure exactly what Justin did that has made these mothers angry at him.
That's why it's something of a mystery, this dialogue.
Justin then says, I didn't mean anything by it.
When someone says they didn't mean anything by it, he means he didn't want to hurt or offend other people by what he has said or what he has done.
After you realize that you've done something that someone else may consider hurtful, insulting or harmful, you might say well, I didn't mean anything by it, meaning you didn't intend or mean to cause any harm.
Of course, some people say that they didn't mean anything by whatever they said, even though they really did mean to be mean.
You could say to someone, for example, oh, that's a beautiful dress.
Are you pregnant?
Well, if the woman isn't pregnant but just is a little overweight, you might be in trouble.
And you could say oh, I didn't mean anything by it, even though perhaps you meant to be insulting to the woman something I don't recommend, whether she's pregnant or not.
Selena says, you'll have to tell that to Sally.
She's at the head of the group, and she's flanked by Maria and Veronica.
Selena is describing where the different women are in this group.
She begins by saying that Sally is at the head, H-E-A-D, of the group.
To be at the head of something means to be in front, or it could also mean to be the leader of a group.
Who's at the head of the company?
That would mean who is the leader of the company?
In the dialogue, I think Selina is referring to where Sally is in the group.
She's the first person.
She's at the front of or at the head of the group.
Sally is flanked, F-L-A-N-K-E-D, by Maria and Veronica.
To be flanked by someone means to have someone on each side of yourself.
To have someone on your left and to have someone on your right.
You are flanked by two people.
Justin says, oh no, not them.
I'd rather be confronted by anyone but those three.
To be confronted by someone is to have someone approach you and begin an argument or begin to fight with you.
If you are confronted by your boss and Your boss is going to stop you, perhaps in the hallway and argue with you, or perhaps ask why you did something wrong.
The idea of a confrontation, which is the noun that comes from the verb to confront, is related to an angry situation.
It means someone is angry about something, perhaps even wants to fight you over something.
Selina says they're not the only ones.
They're backed by a group of at least 15 parents.
To be backed, B-A-C-K-E-D, by someone...
Here, I believe, means to be followed by someone.
There's a group of people that are right behind the three women who are in front.
To be backed by can also mean to be supported by, even financially supported by a group or a person.
Here in Hollywood, when someone says that he is backing a movie, He means he is supporting the movie.
The movie is being backed by him.
Here it appears these three women are backed by a group of 15 parents.
Justin says maybe some of those on the periphery are just spectators waiting to see what the rest of the group will do.
The periphery, P-E-R-I, P-H-E-R-Y, is the outside part of something, or what we might call the edge, E-D-G-E, of something.
It's not the main part.
It's not the center part of something.
We could talk about suburbs being on the periphery of the city.
They're outside of the city, on the edge of the city.
A spectator, S-P-E-C-T-A-T-O-R, is someone who watches something, who observes something, but does not participate in the activity.
If you go to a professional sports game a soccer game or a baseball game or an American football game you're not actually going down and playing in the game.
You are a spectator.
You're watching it.
You're observing it.
There's actually a very well-known saying famous magazine in Great Britain called The Spectator, which I read every week on my iPad.
You don't even have to wait for it to arrive from London by mail.
Anyway, Justin says that maybe some of the people on the periphery of this group of parents are just spectators.
They're waiting to see what the rest of the group will do.
Selina says, however, don't count on it.
The phrase don't count, C-O-U-N-T, on it is used to express doubt that something will happen.
To count on something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to rely on something or depend on something.
Justin thinks that some of the people approaching him are just spectators, but Selena says don't count on it, meaning you shouldn't rely on that fact.
Don't be so sure.
She says they look determined.
To be determined means to be committed, to not hesitate or hesitate.
Not to be undecided.
Justin says, who are those in the back?
Meaning at the very end of this line of people.
Selena says, those bringing up the rear.
To bring up the rear is an expression in English that means to be the last person, or perhaps, in this case, the last group of people, in a line of people.
This person or this group is following everyone else.
Selina says, I think those are a few fathers with a message of their own.
A message of their own means that these fathers probably are also angry at Justin.
Justin says, what should I do now?
Selena says, start by waving a white flag.
To wave W-A-V-E.
A white flag is literally means to take a piece of white fabric and move it back and forth in the air.
The idea is that you are showing that you do not want to fight anymore.
It could also mean that you are surrendering.
You are telling the other person or the other group of people you are fighting that you don't want to fight anymore because they have won.
Justin then says, and then, meaning then what should I do?
Selena says, try a sincere apology.
With a healthy dose of groveling.
A sincere apology is an honest statement that expresses your regret.
It's when you tell someone that you are sorry and that you feel badly about whatever it is you did wrong.
Selena advises Justin to try a sincere apology with these parents and a healthy dose D-O-S-E of groveling.
A healthy dose of something is a large amount of something.
We use the word dose normally when we're talking about medicine.
You are given say pills by your doctor for some illness.
The doctor will tell you what the dose is, how many pills you should take each day.
A healthy dose of something, however, just means a lot of something.
The word healthy here means a lot of.
To grovel G-R-O-V-E-L means to apologize for your bad behavior toward a certain person and to tell the person how great they are.
To grovel means to try to make the person like you by both apologizing and by telling the person how wonderful he or she is.
That's what Selina recommends to Justin, a healthy dose of groveling.
Groveling is the noun form of the verb to grovel.
We never find out why these parents are so angry at Justin, but clearly he did something very, very wrong.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Don't look now, but a big group of mothers are coming to this house to give you a piece of their mind.
What?
I meant it as a joke.
I didn't mean anything by it.
You'll have to tell that to Sally.
She's at the head of the group, and she's flanked by Maria and Veronica.
Oh no, not them.
I'd rather be confronted by anyone but those three.
They're not the only ones.
They're backed by a group of at least 15 parents.
Maybe some of those on the periphery are just spectators waiting to see what the rest of the group will do.
Don't count on it.
They look determined.
Who are those in the back?
Those bringing up the rear?
I think those are a few fathers with a message of their own.
What should I do now?
Start by waving a white flag.
And then, try a sincere apology with a healthy dose of groveling.
You know you're always going to get a healthy dose of practical, useful English vocabulary when you listen to the scripts written by our wonderful script writer, 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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
