Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,242.
Having difficulty reaching a group decision.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1,242.
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 Derek and Liz McQuillan. about having to agree with other people.
It's not easy, as we'll learn.
Let's get started.
That does it.
I give up.
Don't lose heart.
We'll come to a consensus sooner or later.
No, we won't.
We're hopelessly deadlocked.
It's true we're evenly split right now, but we only need one person to change their mind to break the tie.
Everybody seems to have made up their minds and they're beginning to dig in their heels.
Before they do let's take one more vote.
Maybe somebody has changed their mind.
I doubt it.
Nobody wants to be outvoted, so both sides are trying to maintain the status quo.
They'd rather be deadlocked than on the losing side.
But if we don't reach an agreement...
We'll have to come back tomorrow and continue our discussions and deliberations.
You're right.
I can't spend another day in this room.
I've held out long enough.
What do you mean?
The only way I'm getting out of here is to change sides.
Derek begins our dialogue by saying to Liz, that does it.
I give up.
The expression that does D-O-E-S.
It is used when you are angry and frustrated and you don't want to put up with or accept or tolerate something any longer.
If your neighbor's dog is barking, making a lot of noise, You may decide after an hour that you don't want to tolerate or accept that noise anymore.
So you say, that does it.
I'm going over to my neighbor's house to tell the owner of that dog to keep him quiet.
Derek says, that does it.
I give up.
The phrasal verb to give up means to stop trying to do something, usually because it is too difficult.
Liz, however, says don't lose heart.
To lose, L-O-S-E, heart, H-E-A-R-T. means to begin to think that something is impossible and that you should stop trying.
In effect, that you should give up.
To lose heart means, we could also say, to be discouraged, to feel as though you will not succeed at something.
Liz is telling Derek not to give up, not to lose heart.
To lose heart is a psychological or mental condition, if you will.
To give up is an action, to stop doing something.
To lose heart is to become discouraged, to think that you will not be successful.
Liz says we'll come to a consensus sooner or later.
A consensus.
C-O-N-S-E-N-S-U-S means an agreement, a situation in which most people in a group agree on something.
So obviously the situation here is that Derek and Liz are in a meeting and not everyone agrees on what to do.
Liz thinks that the people in the meeting will eventually come to a consensus.
Notice the use of the verb to come to a consensus.
We might also say to reach a consensus.
Derek says, no, we won't.
We're hopelessly deadlocked.
To be deadlocked.
D-E-A-D-L-O-C-K-E-D means when people have very strong opinions about on two sides of an issue.
I think one thing, you think another.
And they can't agree on something.
They can't come to an agreement.
This happens sometimes with the government and government unions or a big business and the workers for that business.
They may become deadlocked.
To be hopelessly, H-O-P-E-L-E-S-S-L-Y deadlocked means you have no chance of agreeing.
Hopelessly means that there is no hope.
There is no possibility of changing the situation.
Liz says it's true, we're evenly split right now, but we only need one person to change their mind to break the tie.
To be evenly split.
S-P-L-I-T means that you have the same number on both sides of the issue or argument.
So if you have a group of six people, three people say one thing, three people say something else.
They're evenly split.
To change your mind, M-I-N-D, means to change your opinion.
To say, well, I think I was wrong.
I think this is correct instead.
Liz thinks only one person has to change his or her mind in order to break the tie.
A tie, T-I-E is the same as being evenly split when in a group you have the same number of people saying yes and no.
To break, B-R-E-A-K, a tie, means that you are no longer evenly split.
One person may change his mind, and that would break the tie.
There would be, that is, a majority, more than 50% of people who say one thing.
Derek doesn't agree.
He says the trouble is meaning.
The problem here is everybody seems to have made up their minds and they're beginning to dig in their heels.
There are two important expressions in that sentence.
The first one is to make up your mind.
To make up your mind means to reach a decision after having thought about something for a while.
To make up your mind also usually means that you are certain about something, meaning you probably won't change your mind in the future.
That's why Derek uses the second expression to dig, D-I-G, in your heels, H-E-E-L-S.
To dig as a verb usually means to take something and put it in the ground in order to remove dirt or some other substance.
We use a shovel, S-H-O-V-E-L, to dig a hole in the ground.
You move the dirt from one place so that you have a hole, a depression space that goes down in the ground.
That's to dig.
Your heels are the back part of your feet.
If you are wearing shoes, the heels of the shoes are the back parts of the shoes that are on the ground underneath the back part of your foot, which we call the heel.
So if we put these two things together, to dig in your heels means literally to take the backs of your feet and to create a small hole in the ground with them.
However, we use this expression as a way of saying to be very stubborn, to refuse to change your opinion, to refuse to change your mind.
You can sort of see the connection.
If you are, for example, pulling on a rope and one person is pulling in one direction and you're pulling in the opposite direction, you would naturally try to use your heels to dig in the ground to prevent your body from moving forward.
That is more or less what the meaning of this expression is.
It means to be stubborn, not to change your mind.
Liz says, however, that before people begin to dig in their heels...
She wants to take one more vote, V-O-T-E.
To vote is when people indicate how they think about a certain matter or what their opinion is about a certain issue.
She says, maybe somebody has changed their mind.
That is, maybe someone has changed his or her mind.
Derek says I doubt it.
He doesn't think anyone has changed his mind.
He says nobody wants to be outvoted.
To be outvoted, O-U-T-V-O-T-E-D, is to lose a vote because one side has more votes than you do.
Derek thinks nobody wants to be outvoted.
So both sides, both groups of people, are trying to maintain the status quo.
The status, S-T-A-T-U-S, quo, Q-U-O, refers to the way things are now.
Status quo is a Latin expression.
And it refers to the current situation, the way things are right now, without changing anything.
Derek thinks people are trying to maintain the status quo, meaning they don't want to change anything.
He says instead, they'd rather be deadlocked than on the losing side.
In other words, they would rather not have an agreement than lose the vote, than to be on the losing side the losing group, if you will in the vote.
Liz says, but if we don't reach an agreement, if we don't come to a consensus...
We'll have to come back or return tomorrow and continue our discussions and deliberations.
Deliberations, D-E-L-I-B-E-R-A-T-I-O-N-S, means deliberation.
Usually a careful, slow, detailed consideration of something.
We talk about a group of people who are deciding whether someone is guilty or innocent of a crime.
We call that group a jury, J-U-R-Y. deliberating.
That is, they're making their decision carefully and slowly and by thinking and talking a lot about it.
Derek says, you're right.
I can't spend another day in this room.
I've held out long enough.
To hold out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to continue to hold your position or to continue to have a certain opinion, even when the situation is difficult or the situation is dangerous.
To hold out means to stay where you are or to keep your opinion, even though it is difficult.
Derek says, I've held out long enough.
Liz says, what do you mean?
Derek says, the only way I'm getting out of here is to change sides.
To change sides.
S-I-D-E-S means to change your opinion and join the other group.
In this case, to join the group with whom you previously disagreed.
So Derek is going to change his mind and change his vote so that the group is no longer deadlocked, so that they reach a consensus.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
That does it.
I give up.
Don't lose heart.
We'll come to a consensus sooner or later.
No we won't.
We're hopelessly deadlocked.
It's true we're evenly split right now, but we only need one person to change their mind to break the tie.
The trouble is, everybody seems to have made up their minds and they're beginning to dig in their heels.
Before they do, let's take one more vote.
Maybe somebody has changed their mind.
I doubt it.
Nobody wants to be outvoted, so both sides are trying to maintain the status quo.
They'd rather be deadlocked than on the losing side.
But if we don't reach an agreement, we'll have to come back tomorrow and continue our discussions and deliberations.
You're right.
I can't spend another day in this room.
I've held out long enough.
What do you mean?
The only way I'm getting out of here is to change sides.
The consensus is that the world's greatest script writer is our very own 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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
