Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 165.
Practical Jokes This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 165.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
And click on Learning Guides for more information.
Today's podcast is called Practical Jokes.
Let's get started.
I've had it.
I'm not going to take it anymore.
What's the matter?
I'm sick and tired of being the butt of Chandler's practical jokes.
One of these days, he's really going to get someone hurt.
Oh no, what has he done now?
I went back to my office after lunch and sat down at my desk.
After about a half hour, I got up to get some coffee.
I walked out of my office and I hear Phoebe giggling behind me.
What was so funny?
What did it say?
It said, I'm a red-hot mama.
That's terrible.
I can see why you're mad.
You may be a red-hot papa, but definitely not a red-hot mama.
Very funny.
One of these days, he's going to get it.
I'm planning my revenge.
Today's podcast is called Practical Jokes, and a practical P-R-A-C-T-I-C-A-L joke is when you do something to someone.
Usually it's something that is not very nice and it involves doing something physical, and So, for example, you may take out the coffee in the coffee maker and put in tea.
Or you may take someone's pen and put glue on it so they can't open it.
That would be a practical joke, nothing too serious, but something that other people might laugh at.
Well, the word practical, of course, usually means something that is very serious.
But a practical joke means something that is supposed to be funny but it's usually funny because someone has something negative or bad happen to them.
It's very common on April Fool's Day, on the first of April, to play practical jokes, and that's the verb we use to play a practical joke.
Our dialogue begins with Joey saying, I've had it.
I'm not going to take it anymore.
I've had it means I have had enough.
I will not tolerate it anymore.
I've had it.
I want no more of this.
It's something you say when you are angry about something, some situation perhaps, that has been going on for a long time.
And then you say, you know what?
I've had it.
I've had enough.
He says that he's not going to take it anymore.
To take it means the same as to put up with something, and to put up with something means that you tolerate it, that you accept it, that you don't do anything about it.
When something is wrong, when there is a problem, Sometimes you just have to put up with it.
You just have to take it.
But when you say I'm not going to take it anymore, that means you're not going to accept this situation anymore.
Rachel asked Joey, what's the matter?
And what's the matter, M-A-T-T-E-R, is the same as what's wrong?
What's the matter is much more common, probably more informal.
What's the matter?
What's wrong?
Joey says I'm sick and tired of being the butt of Chandler's practical jokes.
Couple of expressions there that are common.
I'm sick, S-I-C-K, and tired, T-I-R-E-D.
The expression I'm sick and tired is similar to I've had it or I've had enough.
It's when you no longer want to accept a negative situation.
I'm sick and tired of people who do not park their cars on the street in the right way.
I'm sick and tired of watching television every night with the stupid shows on TV.
I'm sick and tired of eating hamburger every day.
That means I don't want to put up with that situation anymore.
Well, Joey's sick and tired of being the butt of Chandler's jokes.
To be the butt, B-U-T-T, of someone's joke means that you are the one who is made fun of.
You are the one that the joke is played on.
Someone plays a practical joke on you.
You are the butt of the joke.
You are the person who gets hurt by the joke, if you will.
Well, Joey says that one of these days, he's really going to get someone hurt.
One of these days means someday.
One of these days I'm going to go to Montreal.
One of these days I'm going to buy a new car.
Someday, but nothing specific.
Rachel says, oh no, what has he done now?
Means he's been doing things for a long time that are probably bad.
And so when we use the expression what has he done now, we mean he's done other things bad in the past.
Joey says that he went to his office after lunch and he sat down at his desk.
To sit down at your desk means you sat down in a chair next to your desk.
You don't actually sit on your desk.
Well, you could.
He sat down at his desk and after about a half hour he got up, meaning he stood up to get some coffee.
He walked out of his office, he left his office, and he heard Phoebe giggling behind him.
To giggle, as a verb, G-I-G-G-L-E, means to laugh.
Usually it means to laugh not ah-ha-ha-ha, but sort of not very loudly often, so that other people don't hear you.
We many times use that term also for teenagers or young children. who laugh at things, they giggle.
But it can also be used for an adult.
So Phoebe is giggling at Joey, and that is the expression, to giggle at someone.
Well, Rachel says, what's so funny?
Meaning, what is the joke?
And Joey says, Chandler had put a sticker on my chair.
A sticker, S-T-I-C-K-E-R, is something that sticks or stays on something.
For example, little children often have stickers that they put in books that are different colors and different shapes.
To stick to something means to adhere, something that stays on something.
You can use glue, for example, to make something stick.
Well, a sticker is a piece of paper that you put on something.
People also put...
Stickers on their car.
We call those bumper stickers B-U-M-P-E-R bumper stickers because the bumper is the front and back part of the car that you have.
In case someone hits you, they hit your bumper.
To bump, B-U-M-P, means to hit something.
Well, anyway, that's a bumper sticker.
Joey says that the bumper sticker stuck to his pants.
To stick, of course, we already know.
Stuck, S-T-U-C-K, is the irregular past participle or past tense as well.
It stuck to my pants.
Rachel says, what did it say?
And Joey says, it said...
I'm a red hot mama.
I'm a red hot mama.
Well, first of all, when we say something is red hot R-E-D-H-O-T two words red hot it's the same as saying they're very hot.
But when we say someone, a person is red hot, we mean they're very good-looking, they're very attractive.
To be hot, H-O-T, means to be very sexually attractive.
And to be red-hot means to be very attractive.
This expression is usually used with the word mama, M-A-M-A.
Now, mama is one way of saying mother or mom.
And in some parts of the United States, especially in the southern United States, they may refer to their mothers as mama.
In most places, we just say mom, M-O-M.
But the use of mama here is very different.
It doesn't mean your mother anymore.
It means a very attractive girl or a very attractive woman.
So we say, she's a hot mama.
It means she's a very good-looking girl or a very attractive woman.
However, I have to say that this is not an expression we use anymore very commonly.
And when someone does use it, like in the dialogue, they're using it kind of as a joke.
This old expression probably from the 50s or the 60s and 70s.
But, of course, a man is not a red-hot mama, and that's the practical joke.
Well, Rachel says that's terrible.
I can see why you're mad.
I can understand why you're mad.
You may be a red-hot papa, but definitely not a red-hot mama.
Well, now Rachel is making a joke on Joey, making fun of Joey by saying that he may be a red-hot papa.
Of course, papa P-A-P-A is the word informally for father, but again, it's not one that's used by most Americans.
Some people in certain parts of the country use we would just say dad, D-A-D.
And so Red Hot Papa would of course be the same, the male part or the male equivalent of Red Hot Mama.
But that's not an expression.
We don't use Red Hot Papa.
That's not an actual expression.
Rachel is just making a joke.
Joey says, very funny.
Of course, he doesn't mean very funny seriously.
Joey is kidding when he says, oh, very funny.
When someone says that, they mean that what you just said is not very funny.
So Joey is saying to Rachel that he doesn't like her joke.
Very funny.
One of these days, Joey says again, he's going to get it.
To get it, G-E-T-I-T, right, get it, two words, actually has a couple of different meanings.
It can mean to understand something.
So, do you get it?
Yes, I get it.
Yes, I understand.
But here it's used differently.
When he says he's going to get it, that means he is going to have a joke played on him or he is going to be in trouble.
And the last sentence of the dialogue, Joey says, I'm planning my revenge.
Revenge, R-E-V-E-N-G-E, is something that you do to someone who has done something bad to you.
So if you hurt me, I'm going to get my revenge.
I'm going to revenge what you did.
You can use it as a noun and as a verb.
But normally we use it as a noun.
I'm going to get my revenge on you.
I'm going to do something bad to you because you did something bad to me.
So that's what Joey is saying here.
I'm planning my revenge.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
I've had it.
I'm not going to take it anymore.
What's the matter?
I'm sick and tired of being the butt of Chandler's practical jokes.
One of these days, he's really going to get someone hurt.
Oh, no.
What has he done now?
I went back to my office after lunch and sat down at my desk.
After about a half hour, I got up to get some coffee.
I walked out of my office, and I hear Phoebe giggling behind me.
What was so funny?
Chandler had put a sticker on my chair that stuck to my pants when I got up.
What did it say?
It said, I'm a red-hot mama.
That's terrible.
I can see why you're mad.
You may be a red-hot papa, but definitely not a red-hot mama.
Very funny.
One of these days he's going to get it.
I'm planning my revenge.
Dr. Lucy Say is the author of today's script.
Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com for more information about this podcast.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
