Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 485, Being Clumsy.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 485.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in the beautiful city of Los Angeles, California.
This episode is called Being Clumsy.
To be clumsy means to be unable to control your body very well.
You are always falling down or having accidents.
That's being clumsy.
It's a dialogue between Edward and Bella about being clumsy, about being someone who isn't able to dance very well.
Let's get started.
Would you dance with me?
Me, i'd like to, but i don't dance.
Why I have two left feet.
I'm so clumsy.
First I'd step all over your feet, and then I'd stumble all over the dance floor.
I don't believe that.
I bet you're very graceful on the dance floor.
You wouldn't stumble.
You'd glide across that floor.
I'm the most uncoordinated person alive.
When I was little, I was even more awkward.
My mother hated taking me shopping because I was so accident-prone.
Everywhere we'd go, I was like a bull in a china shop.
I'm not like Rosalie.
Look at her.
She's so elegant.
Rosalie has nothing on you.
Dance with me, and I promise to catch you if you trip.
What if I step all over your feet?
You won't get the chance.
My feet will be moving so quickly, I will dazzle you with my agility and finesse.
Okay, you've asked for it.
The dialogue begins with Edward asking Bella, Would you dance with me?
Bella says, Me?
You're asking me?
I'd like to.
I would like to dance, but I don't dance, she says.
Edward asks, Why?
Bella makes a joke and says, I have two left feet.
The expression to have two left feet in this case means to be a bad dancer.
Of course, most of us have one left foot and one right foot, so having two left feet is a funny way of saying that you can't move very easily.
You can't dance very well.
Bella says, To be clumsy means to not be able to move your body the way you want it to.
This also results in you falling down or hitting something accidentally and so forth.
Bella says I'm so clumsy.
First I'd step all over your feet, meaning my foot would go on top of your foot accidentally.
To stumble means to move awkwardly, to hit your foot against the ground or something else that makes you almost fall down.
That's to stumble.
To stumble can also be to almost fall.
Bella says that she would stumble all over the dance floor if she tried to dance.
Edward says I don't believe that.
To be graceful means to move very smoothly, very elegantly, we would say.
Someone who's a good dancer is very graceful.
Or a good ballerina, someone who dances ballet, can be graceful.
Edward says you wouldn't stumble...
To glide G-L-I-D-E means to move smoothly and beautifully with very little effort, making it look very easy.
Glide is also a verb we could use if you were on ice and you were skating.
You had special shoes that had blades on the bottom of them that allowed you to move across the ice quickly.
That's gliding across the ice.
Here, Edward means that Bella would move across the floor as if she were gliding on ice.
Bella says, I'm the most uncoordinated person alive.
Uncoordinated is another word for clumsy, someone who can't control the way their body moves very well.
Bella says, Uncomfortable, difficult, something that doesn't seem quite right.
She says, To be prone, P-R-O-N-E, to do something means that you are likely to do something.
So to be accident prone means that you are likely to have an accident.
You are the kind of person that has accidents frequently.
She says, is a country, but china in English also refers to a type of dish or cup that is made of a very fine and delicate material.
My mother used to have a good set of china.
These were the plates and cups that we would use for formal occasions, for Christmas or for some family party.
She would bring out the china.
The rest of the year, we would just eat on the floor.
No, we would eat on regular plates.
But china is the very nicest, the very finest kind of plate and cup that you would use for eating.
A bull is a male cow, and a bull can be considered rather wild.
So you can imagine if you had a store, a shop that had china in it and a bull came in.
Well, the bull would probably break a lot of the china.
So to be a bull in the china shop is an old expression used to describe somebody who is breaks things accidentally, in this case,
More generally, it can mean someone who isn't very careful.
Bella says, I'm not like Rosalie.
Look at her.
She's so elegant.
Elegant is similar to graceful.
It's moving beautifully in control of your own body movements.
Edward, however, says Rosalie has nothing on you.
To have nothing on someone means not to be better than someone else, not to be able to compete with someone else.
Or someone who is not as good as you.
So Edward is saying, Rosalie is not as good of a dancer as you are.
Edward says, dance with me and I promise to catch you if you trip.
To trip.
T-R-I-P means to fall down, usually because you hit your foot on something that you didn't see or expect.
Both trip and to have nothing have several different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations of both of those expressions.
Bella says, what if I step all over your feet?
What if I step on your feet?
Edward says, you won't get the chance.
You won't get the opportunity.
My feet will be moving so quickly, I will dazzle you with my agility and finesse.
To dazzle, D-A-Z-Z-L-E, means to impress someone, to make a good impression.
Often to surprise someone at how good you are.
So Edward is saying, I will dazzle you.
I will surprise and amaze you with my agility and finesse.
Agility, A-G-I-L-I-T-Y. is the ability to move quickly and easily, to have a lot of flexibility.
Girls who participate in gymnastics, for example, need a lot of agility, a lot of flexibility.
Finesse is to have a certain style and skill, to be able to do something in a very special way, to have a certain class about what you are doing, to be very refined, for example,
Edward is saying that he is going to dance so well that Bella won't have the opportunity to step on his feet accidentally.
Bella says, okay, you asked for it.
That expression you asked for.
It means I'm going to do what you want me to do, but you may not be happy about what happens.
But you are insisting on it.
You are demanding that I do it, so I will go ahead and do it.
But you'll probably be sorry that you asked me to do it.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Me?
I'd like to, but I don't dance.
Why?
I have two left feet.
I'm so clumsy.
First I'd step all over your feet, and then I'd stumble all over the dance floor.
I don't believe that.
I bet you're very graceful on the dance floor.
You wouldn't stumble.
You'd glide across that floor.
I'm the most uncoordinated person alive.
When I was little, I was even more awkward.
My mother hated taking me shopping because I was so accident prone.
Everywhere we'd go, I was like a bull in a china shop.
I'm not like Rosalie.
Look at her.
She's so elegant.
Rosalie has nothing on you.
Dance with me and I promise to catch you if you trip.
What if I step all over your feet?
You won't get the chance.
My feet will be moving so quickly, I will dazzle you with my agility and finesse.
Okay, you asked for it.
Our dazzling script was written by our graceful and elegant writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
