Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 329, Being Persuasive.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 329.
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 called Being Persuasive.
To be persuasive means to try to convince someone that what you are saying is true or right, or to do something.
Let's get started.
How would you like to take my sister, Donna, to the movies this weekend?
You'd be doing me a favor.
Why?
What's wrong with her?
Nothing is wrong with her.
She just broke up with her boyfriend of four years, and she's down in the dumps.
She's shy, so I thought I'd try to set her up on a date.
Off the top of my head...
I can think of a dozen things I'd rather do than to take out anyone's little sister, including yours.
No offense.
You don't know what you're missing.
She may be shy, but she's very pretty and witty.
If you met her, you would need me to persuade you.
I don't know.
Whenever someone sets me up on a blind date, they always tell me how great the woman is.
She never lives up to the hype.
I'm not going to twist your arm, but if you're on the fence I have two free movie tickets to that new movie you want to see.
Just to sweeten the pot.
You do?
Well, why didn't you say so earlier?
I'm always nice.
Don't worry.
I'll show her a good time.
Not too good.
Our dialogue between Sylvia and June begins by Sylvia saying.
Sylvia is asking June if he would like to go with her sister to the movies.
It's sort of a date thing.
Sylvia says you'd be doing me a favor.
A favor is something you ask someone else to do for you.
Do me a favor and give me a glass of milk, please.
Do that favor for me.
Do that thing for me.
June says why?
What's wrong with her? meaning, why do I need to take her to the movies?
Sylvia says nothing is wrong with her.
She just broke up with her boyfriend of four years.
To break up means to separate from.
She has broken up with her boyfriend of four years, meaning she has been dating him for four years, which is a very long time really.
Now she's down in the dumps.
To be down in the dumps, D-U-M-P-S, means to feel depressed, to feel sad.
Often there's no good reason for you feeling sad, but here the reason is that she broke up with her boyfriend.
The obvious solution is to go back with her old boyfriend.
That's what I would tell her, but I'm a man.
Sylvia says she's shy, so I thought I'd try to set her up on a date.
To be shy means to be quiet, to be timid, not comfortable speaking with other people.
Sylvia is trying to help her sister by setting her up on a date.
To set someone up on a date means to arrange, to organize a date for someone else.
June says Off the top of my head.
The expression off the top of my head is a phrase used to show that you are saying something without thinking about it very much, very quickly, because you don't have time or more information in order to answer.
June says, off the top of my head, without thinking...
He's saying here that he doesn't have to think very hard to think of reasons why he does not want to go out with Sylvia's sister.
He says, No offense.
The expression no offense is used when you are telling someone something that they probably will not like.
That may make them angry.
So you're trying to say, I don't want to make you angry, but here is the truth.
You may not want to hear it.
Sylvia says you don't know what you're missing.
You don't know what you're missing means you don't know what you are not experiencing, what you are not able to enjoy.
She's saying you're being foolish.
You're not being smart.
You don't know what you're missing.
The verb to miss, like the expression no offense, has a couple of different meanings.
Take a look at the learning guide today for some additional explanations.
Sylvia says her sister may be shy, but she's very pretty and witty.
To be witty, W-I-T-T-Y means to be funny, to be clever, to be able to think of funny things very quickly.
Sylvia says to June, if you met my sister...
If you saw her.
In other words, you would not need me to try to get you to go on a date with her, because you would see that she was a pretty girl and that she was witty and funny.
June says, June says, To be convinced means to believe what the other person has told you.
It's similar to to be persuaded.
June says, but you have never met the person before.
It's arranged for you.
If you find someone on the Internet, that would be a kind of blind date.
You've never seen them before.
Well, maybe you have.
I don't know.
I don't get my dates from the Internet.
I don't get any dates, actually, because I'm very happily married.
Back to our story.
June says...
The woman that he gets set up with never live up to the hype.
To live up to something means to meet the expectations, to do what you are expected to do.
In this case, the woman will be as beautiful as his friends tell him that she is.
Hype, H-Y-P-E, is kind of like advertising.
It's a statement.
It's something someone says about how good something is.
This movie has a lot of hype.
Everyone is saying it's great.
Often we use the word hype when we mean that it's exaggerated, that people are saying it is better than it really is.
So June is saying that these women that he goes on dates with are never as good as his friends tell him.
They don't live up to the hype.
Sylvia says, I'm not going to twist your arm.
To twist someone's arm means to force someone to do something, to make somebody do something.
Sylvia says If you're on the fence means if you are undecided, if you're not sure whether you should say yes or no.
When you're trying to decide between two options, you say, I'm on the fence.
I'm not sure.
Should I go?
Should I not go?
Sylvia says if you're on the fence, I have two free movie tickets to that new movie you want to see.
Just to sweeten the pot.
The expression to sweeten the pot means to do something to make somebody more interested in a certain deal, in a certain agreement.
If you are buying a house...
I was reading in the paper this morning that some people here in the US when they try to sell their houses, they try to give the buyer some additional incentive, some additional gift.
Because the economy, when we're recording this episode, isn't doing very well, especially houses.
So some people try to sweeten the deal sweeten the pot, we would say by giving extra things to someone who buys your house.
June says, you do, meaning you do have free tickets.
Well, why didn't you say so earlier, meaning why didn't you tell me before?
We would not have needed to have this long conversation.
Sylvia says, I'm glad I could tempt you.
To tempt T-E-M-P-T.
Someone means to try to make someone do what you want them to do, usually by giving them something.
We can also use this as an adjective.
You could say that cup of coffee is very tempting, meaning it really is something that I would like to try.
It's something that is very attractive.
But of course, you sometimes have to resist these temptations, which is the noun.
Temptations are things that attract you, that make you want to do something.
Sometimes you have to say no.
But June says yes.
Sylvia says, here's her number.
Here's her telephone number.
I'll tell her to expect your call, to wait for you to call her.
June says, To show someone a good time means to entertain them, to make sure that they are happy.
Sylvia says, Meaning, Don't try to do anything with her other than just be a friend.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
How would you like to take my sister Donna to the movies this weekend?
You'd be doing me a favor.
Why?
What's wrong with her?
Nothing is wrong with her.
She just broke up with her boyfriend of four years, and she's down in the dumps.
She's shy, so I thought I'd try to set her up on a date.
Off the top of my head, I can think of a dozen things I'd rather do than to take out anyone's little sister, including yours.
No offense.
You don't know what you're missing.
She may be shy, but she's very pretty and witty.
If you met her, you would need me to persuade you.
I don't know.
I'm not convinced.
Whenever someone sets me up on a blind date, they always tell me how great the woman is.
She never lives up to the hype.
I'm not going to twist your arm, but if you're on the fence I have two free movie tickets to that new movie you want to see.
Just to sweeten the pot.
You do?
Well, why didn't you say so earlier?
I'm glad I could tempt you.
Here's her number.
I'll tell her to expect your call.
Be nice.
I'm always nice.
Don't worry.
I'll show her a good time.
Not too good.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
If you have a question or comment, you can email us.
Our email address is eslpod at eslpod.com.
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 2007.
