Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 965.
Meeting your boyfriend or girlfriend's parents.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 965.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Become a member of ESL Podcast by going to our website.
While you're there, take a look at our ESL podcast blog and our ESL podcast store.
This episode is a dialogue between Ronnie and Judy about meeting the parents of your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Always an interesting experience.
Let's get started.
Ready as I'll ever be.
Try to work up a little enthusiasm about meeting my parents.
It's not them I'm worried about.
It's me.
What if I don't pass muster?
My parents are going to love you.
They're open-minded and nonjudgmental people.
They won't care about anything except that I like you and you make me happy.
Me and parents are like oil and water.
I've never been good at making a good first impression.
Then you'll gradually win them over.
Meeting my parents will be a cakewalk.
They're nice people.
It's not like you'll be running the gauntlet meeting my nine brothers.
You didn't tell them I'd be meeting your parents tonight, did you?
I may have mentioned it to Mark.
Why?
What if they decide to show up and ambush me?
They won't.
If you found out that one of your brothers were bringing a girlfriend home to meet your parents, wouldn't you want to be there?
You have a point there, but it's too late to back out now.
Put on your game face and let's go, or we'll be late.
Okay, but just don't be surprised if I make a break for it.
Our dialogue begins with Ronnie asking Judy if she is ready.
He simply says the word ready, meaning are you ready?
Judy says, ready as I'll ever be.
When you say you are ready as you'll ever be, you mean that you don't feel very confident about doing something, but you have done as much preparation as you can.
You are as prepared as possible.
Judy says ready as I'll ever be.
Ronnie says ready.
Try to work up a little enthusiasm about meeting my parents.
To work up is a phrasal verb, which here means to create a feeling or an emotion, basically to get excited about something.
Enthusiasm is excitement, interest in something.
Ronnie is asking Judy to work up a little enthusiasm about meeting his parents.
Judy says, it's not them I'm worried about.
She's not worried about Ronnie's parents.
She says, it's me.
What if I don't pass muster?
The expression to pass muster M-U-S-T-E-R means to be acceptable, to meet the minimum requirements or expectations about something.
To be good enough for something is to pass muster.
Judy is worried that she won't be good enough for Ronnie's parents.
This, as anyone who has ever met the parents of one's new boyfriend or girlfriend knows, is a very legitimate and logical concern.
Parents often think that the person their son or daughter has chosen as a boyfriend or girlfriend is not good enough for their own child.
Actually, when my girlfriend, now wife, first met my parents, my parents didn't think I was good enough for her which, of course, is completely true.
Ronnie says my parents are going to love you.
They're open-minded and non-judgmental people.
To be open-minded means to be willing to accept and consider new ideas.
To be nonjudgmental means to be not judgmental.
To be judgmental J-U-D-G-M-E-N-T-A-L means to To be very critical about someone or something, to think something is very bad or to consider something in a very negative light.
To be judgmental usually means to be disapproving of someone in a way that is considered extreme or not very nice, or Non-judgmental would be the opposite of that.
That's what Ronnie says his parents are.
They're non-judgmental.
They won't care about anything except that I like you and you make me happy.
If that's true, Ronnie doesn't have a very good pair of parents, does he?
Parents should be concerned about more than whether the person likes them.
No intelligent parent would take a look at their daughter's new boyfriend and, after discovering that he is a murderer and a thief, say oh well, that's not important as long as he makes you happy.
Well, maybe some parents are like that.
I don't know.
Judy says, me and parents are like oil and water.
Notice she says me instead of I, which would be the grammatically correct way of saying that.
But in informal conversation, we would just say me, me and parents.
She's referring here to the fact that when she meets parents of her boyfriends We don't know how many boyfriends she's had, but apparently she has had bad experiences with the parents of her previous boyfriends
That's why she says, me and parents are like oil and water.
Oil and water don't mix together.
They stay separate.
The idea behind this phrase or expression is that don't get along with other people.
If you say these two people are like oil and water, you're saying that they don't get along with each other.
They don't have a good relationship.
Judy says I've never been good at making a good first impression.
Your first impression is the first time that you meet someone, the first time that you have a chance to see someone.
Your first impression is your first encounter, your first meeting.
We talk about making a good first impression.
Because many people aren't able to change their minds after they get an idea about what you are like.
So if the first time they meet you, you do something that makes them not like you, they may not like you again in the future, even though you may change your behavior and do other things.
So making a good first impression is considered a good idea, because people often keep their first impression and don't change their minds, even though the person may act differently in the future.
Ronnie says, then you'll gradually win them over.
To win someone over is to persuade or convince someone to like you, to have a good impression of you, a good opinion of you.
The word gradually, G-R-A-D-U-A-L-L-Y, means slowly over a long period of time.
Ronnie says, meeting my parents will be a cakewalk.
The term cakewalk, C-A-K-E-W-A-L-K, one word, means something that is very easy to do.
He says his parents are nice people.
It's not like you'll be running the gauntlet meeting my nine brothers.
To run the gauntlet G-U-A-N-T-L-E-T here means to experience a lot of problems, especially from a group of people, each of whom may give you problems.
We learn that Ronnie has nine brothers, which is, of course, a very large family.
I only have eight brothers, so I come from a much smaller family than Ronnie.
Judy says You didn't tell them, meaning his brothers.
I'd be meeting your parents tonight, did you?
Ronnie says... Why?
Judy says...
Ronnie's brothers decide to show up and ambush me.
To show up is a two-word phrasal verb.
That here means to appear, often unexpectedly, when people weren't expecting you to be there.
To ambush, A-M-B-U-S-H someone, means to attack them unexpectedly.
A surprise attack is an ambush.
Usually we think about several people attacking one person, or a large group attacking a small group unexpectedly.
Ronnie says they won't.
They won't show up.
Judy says if you found out, if you discovered that one of your brothers were bringing a girlfriend home to meet your parents, wouldn't you want to be there?
Judy doubts that Ronnie is correct about his brother not being there, because if Ronnie were in the same situation, finding out one of his brothers was bringing home a new girlfriend for the first time to meet the parents, he would definitely want to be there.
Ronnie says you have a point there, meaning yes, I agree with what you say, but it's too late to back out now.
To back out is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to change your mind, to decide not to do something that you said you were going to do.
Ronnie says, put on your game face and let's go or we'll be late.
To put on your game.
Face is an expression meaning to Hide your emotions or make yourself look stronger or more prepared than what you really are.
Your game face would be the facial expression literally, that you have during some sort of competition.
You don't want the other person to think that you are scared or weak.
So you put on your game face.
Judy says, okay, but just don't be surprised if I make a break for it.
The expression to make a break B-R-E-A-K, for it means to leave unexpectedly and very quickly when you no longer want to be in a certain situation.
If you are trying to escape someone, for example, you might use this expression.
Let's make a break for it.
Let's try to escape from this situation.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Ready?
Ready as I'll ever be.
Try to work up a little enthusiasm about meeting my parents.
It's not them I'm worried about.
It's me.
What if I don't pass muster?
My parents are going to love you.
They're open-minded and non-judgmental people.
They won't care about anything except that I like you and you make me happy.
Me and parents are like oil and water.
I've never been good at making a good first impression.
Then you'll gradually win them over.
Meeting my parents will be a cakewalk.
They're nice people.
It's not like you'll be running the gauntlet meeting my nine brothers.
You didn't tell them I'd be meeting your parents tonight, did you?
I may have mentioned it to Mark.
Why?
What if they decide to show up and ambush me?
They won't.
If you found out that one of your brothers were bringing a girlfriend home to meet your parents, wouldn't you want to be there?
You have a point there, but it's too late to back out now.
Put on your game face and let's go or we'll be late.
Okay, but just don't be surprised if I make a break for it.
Our scriptwriter shows a lot of enthusiasm about her work, and it shows in her wonderful scripts.
Thank you, 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.
