Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 392, An Untrustworthy Coworker.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 392.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in.
That contains additional information to help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called An Untrustworthy Coworker.
It's a dialogue between Vicki and Gerard talking about someone they work with who cannot be trusted.
Let's get started.
Did I imagine it?
Or did you just give Gavin the cold shoulder?
You didn't imagine it.
I'm not too happy with him.
Why?
What did he do?
He's two-faced, that's why.
Last week he told me he was going to put in a good word for me with the manager for a promotion.
So that sounds like a nice thing to do.
I thought so too.
But as it turns out, I heard from Alanda that he was bad-mouthing me behind my back.
Are you sure?
I'm sure.
He told Alanda that he thought I had gone pretty far in the company for someone who had dropped out of college.
That's a backhanded compliment if I've ever heard one.
That sounds pretty nasty.
At least the manager wasn't around.
She wasn't.
But who's to say what he told her behind my back?
You know, the manager is pretty sharp, and nothing gets by her.
I'm sure she'll put two and two together and realize that Gavin isn't trustworthy.
I hope so.
With friends like him, who needs enemies?
Vicki begins our dialogue by asking Gerard, did I imagine it or did you just give Gavin the cold shoulder?
She's saying, did I imagine it?
Meaning, did I think that something is true, but it isn't?
Is it something I made up?
This is a common way of asking someone a question about something that you may find surprising.
That happened.
But you're not really sure, so you need to ask someone else.
Vicki is asking Gerard if he gave Gavin the cold shoulder.
The expression the cold shoulder means not being very nice to someone, not being friendly.
I gave him the cold shoulder.
I wasn't very friendly to him.
Gerard says you didn't imagine it, meaning yes, that is what happened.
I'm not too happy with him, he says.
Vicki says why?
What did he do?
Gerard says he's two-faced.
That's why.
Someone who is two-faced is a person who says one thing but does something else, or says something to one person and then tells a different person a different story.
It's an insulting term to call someone two faced.
Gerard says.
Last week Gavin told him he was going to put in a good word for him with the manager for a promotion.
To put in a good word for someone means to say something good about someone else, usually to help that person succeed, to become more successful.
So if, for example, you are looking for a job and I work at a company that has some job openings, jobs that we are trying to hire people for
I may say, I'll put in a good word for you with my boss.
I will tell him good things about you so that maybe he will hire you.
Gavin said he would put in a good word for Gerard with the manager for a promotion.
A promotion is when you get a better job in your company.
There are a couple of different meanings of promotion.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Vicki says, so that sounds like a nice thing to do.
Gerard says, I thought so too, meaning that's what I was thinking.
But, as it turns out, meaning the actual result was that he heard from Yolanda that Gavin was bad-mouthing him behind his back.
To bad-mouth someone means to say bad things about someone.
To say bad things about someone often when they are not there.
Behind one's back means without your knowledge.
Usually it's a negative thing that someone else does to you that you don't know about right away or that they don't tell you about.
For example, my friend went behind his wife's back and bought a new car.
He didn't even tell her he was going to buy the car.
He went behind her back.
Well, Gerard is saying that Gavin is bad-mouthing him, saying bad things about him, when he's not there behind his back.
Vicki says, are you sure?
Gerard says, I'm sure.
He told Alanda that he thought I had gone pretty far in the company for someone who had dropped out of college.
To drop out of college means to leave college before you finish, before you graduate.
Gerard says that's a backhanded compliment to.
A backhanded compliment is when you say something about someone that seems to be nice but it's actually not nice.
It's mean or unkind.
When you say something that seems to be positive, but if you listen closely it's a negative compliment.
For example, you say to your girlfriend, you look so much better today.
This is a backhanded compliment, because what you're really saying is that you didn't look very good yesterday.
Well, Gerard is saying that Gavin told Yolanda that he Gerard, had gone far in the company, had made a lot of progress in the company even though he didn't have a college education.
So he's really sort of criticizing Gerard for not finishing college.
That's why it's a backhanded compliment.
Vicki says that sounds pretty nasty.
Something that is nasty, N-A-S-T-Y, means it's mean, it's cruel, it's not nice.
Vicki says at least the manager wasn't around, meaning at least the manager didn't hear this.
Gerard says she wasn't.
But who's to say what he told her behind my back?
Who's to say is a phrase we use to mean that no one knows something, that it is impossible to know something, or that we can't answer the question very easily.
We don't know what Gavin said to the manager.
That's why Gerard says, who's to say what he told her behind my back?
We don't know what Gavin said about Gerard to the manager.
Vicki says, you know, the manager is pretty sharp and nothing gets by her.
When you say someone is pretty sharp...
Here it means they're intelligent, they're smart, they're quick to understand something.
All the things that I am not, for example.
Sharp has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
When we say nothing gets by someone, we mean nothing fools them, nothing tricks them.
Vicki says, I'm sure the manager put two and two together and realized that Gavin isn't trustworthy.
To put two and two together is an expression that means to understand something when you don't have all of the information.
But you're smart enough.
You're sharp enough to understand the entire situation, even though you don't have all of the information.
You figure it out.
Vicki says that the manager will put two and two together and realize that Gavin isn't trustworthy.
To be trustworthy means that you are reliable.
You are dependable.
People can trust you.
Finally, Gerard says, This is an old expression.
That is used to show that a person who you thought was a friend is actually not a friend.
Someone says that he is your friend but then does something to hurt you.
With friends like these who needs enemies?
In other words, I don't need enemies, because the people who say they are my friends are already really my enemies.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Did I imagine it, or did you just give Gavin the cold shoulder?
You didn't imagine it.
I'm not too happy with him.
Why?
What did he do?
He's two-faced, that's why.
Last week he told me he was going to put in a good word for me with the manager for promotion.
So that sounds like a nice thing to do.
I thought so too.
But as it turns out, I heard from Alanda that he was bad-mouthing me behind my back.
Are you sure?
I'm sure.
He told Alanda that he thought I had gone pretty far in the company for someone who had dropped out of college.
That's a backhanded compliment if I've ever heard one.
That sounds pretty nasty.
At least the manager wasn't around.
She wasn't.
But who's to say what he told her behind my back?
You know, the manager is pretty sharp and nothing gets by her.
I'm sure she'll put two and two together and realize that Gavin isn't trustworthy.
I hope so.
With friends like him, who needs enemies?
The script for this episode was written by the very sharp...
Dr. Lucy Say.
Nothing gets by her.
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 2008.
