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Hello and welcome to the English Like a Native podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to week 24, day one of Your English Five a Day, the second season.
This is the series that is dedicated to expanding your vocabulary, tickling your eardrums on a regular basis and helping you to feel more like yourself when communicating in English.
We release episodes every day of the working week from Monday to Friday and all the vocabulary is written down in our vocabulary vault that you can access for free by clicking on the link in the show notes.
So let's begin as we always do with a snapshot of what's to come.
I had to rack my brain to think of a way to stop the kids from bickering.
Keeping them calm is no walk in the park, especially when my son can't resist pushing his sister's buttons.
The peace is always short -lived before another argument starts.
Okay, we've got some delicious vocabulary today, starting with the idiom rack your brain.
brain. To rack your brain.
Rack, we spell R -A -C -K.
Rack. Your, Y -O -U -R, brain, B -R -A -I -N.
To rack your brain means to try to think hard for a solution or to remember something.
For example, if you misplace an item, you'll rack your brain trying to remember when you last saw it and where you may have put it, if you were told to be at a certain point at a certain time but you've forgotten the time that you're supposed to meet, then you'll rack your brain trying to remember what the details were.
I often find myself racking my brain to remember somebody's name and this happens often.
I meet someone, I hear their name, I repeat it a few times but then I don't see them for weeks, sometimes months.
And then I see them again.
And we have a chat.
And I see them again.
And we have a chat.
And this goes on and on and on until after a long period of time you realise you've forgotten their name because you said it a few times at the beginning and you remembered it at the beginning.
But so much time has passed now and you've forgotten, especially me with my aging brain and my overwhelmed lifestyle.
It means I'm often shoving loads of information in which pushes some information out which often includes names.
So I'm often racking my brain trying to remember what people's names are.
It's often at that point where it's too embarrassing to ask them because so much time has passed.
Here's another example.
I had to rack my brain to remember where I put my keys.
Next, we have the idiom no walk in the park.
No walk in the park.
No, N -O, walk, W -A -L -K, in the park, P -A -R -K.
If something is no walk in the park, then it's challenging.
It's not easy. You might find someone quite difficult to deal with and then you would say, oh, dealing with them is no walk in the park, so good luck if you have to deal with them tomorrow.
Good luck. It's no walk in the park, I can tell you that.
Here's another example.
Being a single parent is no walk in the park.
Can you think of something that you would as challenging?
If so, then use this phrase.
Something is no walk in the park.
Just replace something with the thing that you find challenging.
I would say cooking healthy meals that my children will eat is no walk in the park.
I'm good at cooking.
I'm happy to cook. But finding a healthy meal that my children will actually eat.
That's the challenging thing.
That's no walk in the park.
Next, we have the idiom can't resist pushing someone's buttons.
Can't resist, R -E -S -I -S -T, pushing, P -U -S -H -I -N -G, someone's buttons, B -U -T -T -O -N -S.
If you can't resist pushing someone's buttons, then you cannot avoid doing or saying something that provokes.
So if I know that something will agitate you, annoy you, maybe it's me chewing gum or a certain phrase that you really don't like.
Maybe it's clicking my pen repetitively and you really hate it, but I enjoy winding you up.
I enjoy irritating you.
Then I can't resist pushing your buttons.
Here's another example.
My little brother can't resist pushing my buttons.
He knows exactly how to annoy me.
Next, we have the adjective short -lived.
Short -lived. Short, S -H -O -R -T, hyphen, lived, L -I -V -E -D.
If something is short -lived, then it's lasting for only a brief time.
For example, the success of my YouTube channel was short -lived.
And that's true for one of my channels, but not for all of my channels.
But if you have success that doesn't last for very long on YouTube, then you could say your success was short -lived.
A relationship could be short -lived.
A romance might be short -lived if it only lasts for a few weeks.
Here's another example.
Their happiness was short -lived after receiving the bad news.
Okay, last on the list is the verb bicker.
Bicker, b -i -c -k -e -r, bicker.
To bicker is to to quarrel or argue about unimportant things, trivial matters.
We often see siblings bickering.
Partners who've been in a relationship for a long time will often bicker.
So here's an example sentence.
They're always bickering about who should do the dishes.
When was the last time you bickered with somebody.
Okay, that's our five, so let's do a quick recap.
Started with the idiom rack your brain, which means to try hard to think of a solution, to rack your brain.
We had the idiom no walk in the park, which describes something that's not easy, something that's challenging.
It's no walk in the park.
We had the idiom can't resist pushing someone's buttons, which means you can't avoid, you can't stop yourself from doing something that provokes someone else.
You can't resist pushing their buttons.
We had the adjective short -lived, meaning lasting only a brief time.
It's short -lived. And we had the verb bicker, meaning to argue or quarrel about trivial matters, unimportant things, to bicker.
Okay. So, that's our five.
Let's now do this for pronunciation purposes.
Please repeat after me.
me. Rack your brain.
Rack your brain. No walk in the park.
No walk in the park.
Can't resist Can't resist pushing someone's buttons.
short -lived bicker Bicker.
Fantastic. OK, if I'm trying really hard to think about a solution, what idiom could we use here?
I am racking my brain trying to think of the solution, but trying to think of a solution to this problem is not easy.
It's quite challenging.
What idiom could I use to describe how challenging it is?
It's no walk in the park.
And if I really try not to, but I just can't help myself, I have to irritate my brother every time I see him.
What idiom could you use to describe my behaviour.
I can't resist pushing his buttons.
And if my brother and I often argue about little things, we have little disputes about trivial matters, what are we doing?
We're bickering. We bicker about silly things because that's what brothers and sisters generally do.
And finally, if something only lasts for a very short time, what adjective could you use?
It is short -lived. Very good.
OK, let's listen to that snapshot once more.
I had to rack my brain to think of a way to stop the kids from bickering.
Keeping them Calm is no walk in the park, especially when my son can't resist pushing his sister's buttons.
The piece is always short -lived before another argument starts.
Fantastic. We'll now listen for our target vocabulary once again as we head into story time.
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I've worked at Marlowe and Co.
for eight years now, and I can say this much, it's no walk in the park.
The job itself is fine, mostly paperwork and meetings, and the pay is decent.
But what really wears you down are the people, more precisely two people, Carol and Martin.
They sit opposite each other in the open plan office separated only by a sad little potted plant.
You'd think the plant might absorb some of the tension but even it looks tired.
I often rack my brain trying to figure out how it started.
Maybe it it was the email Carol sent five years ago about Martin using the wrong font.
Or maybe it was Martin telling Carol that her pie chart looked like it was drawn by a five -year -old.
Whichever it was, it's been downhill since.
They bicker constantly about the temperature, the printer queue, who took the last biscuit.
It's exhausting. I've tried to mediate, but it's like walking in a thunderstorm with an umbrella made of paper.
They can't even agree on what to disagree about.
And the thing is, Martin can't resist pushing Carol's buttons.
He says things in that quiet, smug voice, just enough to make her eyes narrow.
She bites back, sharp as a blade.
Honestly, it's like watching a tennis match where the ball is made of insults.
Last Thursday was a prime example.
I was working on the budget report, trying to stay focused when Carol raised her voice.
Well, someone didn't refill the stapler again.
Martin didn't even look up.
Ugh, the great stapler scandal of 2025.
How will we ever recover?
Carol slammed her drawer shut.
You think you're funny, but no one's laughing.
Oh, I'm laughing on the inside, outside", Martin replied, tapping away at his keyboard. Their arguments are usually short -lived, never more than a few minutes but they leave a bitter taste in the air.
Everyone in the office goes quiet when it starts.
It's like we're all holding our breath, waiting for it to blow over.
I've talked to human resources, so has nearly everyone else, but they just nod and say, we're monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, the rest of us monitor our caffeine intake, trying not to snap under the tension.
What's strange is when one of them is off sick or on holiday, the atmosphere improves instantly.
The office feels brighter, lighter, but the moment moment they're both back, it's as if a storm cloud settles over the desks.
And yet, despite everything, neither of them ever asks to move.
Maybe they like the drama.
Maybe in some twisted way, they'd miss it if it stopped.
As for me, I just keep my head down, get my work done and pray they never drag me into it.
It's not easy being the one stuck in the middle but someone has to survive this circus.
Might as well be me.
And that brings us to the end of today's episode.
I do hope you found it useful.
Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.
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