Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 489, Talking About Wealth.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 489.
Transcription by CastingWords.
Transcription by CastingWords, where we're going to hear a lot of vocabulary that is used when talking about people who have a lot of money.
Let's get started.
Look at that guy.
He's been in town two weeks and he's already throwing his money around.
You know as well as I do that money talks.
He's just trying to make a splash in the business community.
If that were all he was doing, then I wouldn't say anything.
But he's a social climber of the worst kind.
Who does he think he is?
He's someone who's used to getting his way, that's obvious.
He's not the first affluent person to try to buy influence and social standing in a community.
Yeah, but look at all of the people in this town throwing themselves at him.
He has donated generously to the town and given to the arts.
He's even given money toward building the new community center.
And it wasn't chump change either.
If he wants to be a patron in this town, who are we to look a gift horse in the mouth?
Right, so spreading money around gives him the right to walk around like he owns this town.
Is this a case of sour grapes?
Ha, right.
Haven't you heard?
Money is the root of all evil.
Anton begins the conversation by saying, look at that guy.
He's been in town two weeks and he's already throwing his money around.
He's been in town.
He's been in this city for only two weeks and he's already throwing his money around.
To throw your money around means to spend a lot of money so that everyone knows that you have a lot of money.
You're letting everyone know that you are rich.
Vanessa says, This expression, money talks, means that people who have a lot of money get attention.
They're able to influence things.
They have power.
Vanessa says he's just trying to make a splash in the business community.
To make a splash means to do something that other people will notice, to do something that other people will see.
Splash has a couple of meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some more explanations.
Anton says, To be a social climber means to be a person who tries to get power or influence in society or an organization by getting or being in relationships, friendships with people.
A social climber is someone who wants to be important and so decides on making friends so that he or she can have more power.
It's usually considered a negative description to call someone a social climber.
Anton thinks that this guy is a social climber.
Who does he think he is, he says.
This is a question that we might use to say this person thinks that they are more important than they really are.
Vanessa says he's someone who's used to getting his way.
That's obvious.
To get your way means to have things happen the way that you want them to happen.
To be able to control things.
He always gets his way.
People always do what he wants them to do.
Vanessa says he's not the first affluent person to try to buy influence and social standing in a community.
Rather, he's not the first affluent person.
Affluent is another word for rich, wealthy, someone with a lot of money.
Not me, for example.
He's not the first affluent person to try to buy influence.
To buy influence is to use your money so that you are more powerful, you are more important.
He's trying to buy influence and social standing.
Social standing is your importance in a community, in an organization, in society.
We might also say your social status, the way people look at you and treat you in a group or community.
Anton says, yeah, but look at all the people in this town throwing themselves at him.
To throw yourself at someone means to do something, to do whatever is necessary to get someone's attention or to be liked by another person.
A woman, for example, who's very interested in a handsome man, a good-looking man, might throw herself at him, might try to do anything to get him to pay attention to her or to like her.
This has never happened to me.
Vanessa says, he has donated generously to the town and given to the arts.
To donate means to give money to usually an organization that needs it.
The Red Cross, for example, receives donations.
This person has donated generously, meaning he's given a lot of money to the town, to the community and to the arts.
The arts refers to theater or music groups or artistic groups.
All of these would be considered part of the arts.
Opera, dance, and so forth.
Vanessa says he's even given money toward building the new community center, And it wasn't chump change either.
A community center would be a building that people in your neighborhood or community or a small town would use for various purposes meetings, for example, performances perhaps.
This is a case where someone has given money toward building a new community center and And Vanessa says it wasn't chump change.
This is an informal expression meaning a small amount of money.
An amount of money that is so small it's not important.
That's chump change, chump, C-H-U-M-P.
This man has not given chump change, meaning it wasn't a small amount.
It was a lot of money.
Vanessa says if he wants to be a patron in this town, who are we to look a gift horse in the mouth?
A patron is a person who supports, usually with their money, an organization.
Usually it's a non-profit organization or an artistic organization.
That's a patron.
The expression to look a gift horse in the mouth means to not be thankful for a gift and instead wonder why that person is giving you this gift.
It can also mean that you shouldn't try to Look too closely at the gift with an attempt to find if you can get more out of it.
Try to get something more from the person who gave it to you.
Here I think it just means that we should not be ungrateful.
We should be thankful for this gift and not look at it too closely.
We should be just happy that we have it.
Anton says right.
So spreading money around gives him the right to walk around like he owns this town?
To spread money around means to spend a lot of money in many different places or with many different people and organizations.
Anton says that because he is spending so much money, he thinks he can walk around this town, this community as if he owns it.
That is to say, like he were the owner of the town.
Vanessa says, is this a case of sour grapes?
Sour grapes is the feeling of wanting something that you don't have, perhaps because you lost a competition or because you don't have as much money or talent as another person has.
Sometimes people pretend that whatever the other person has is not important or is bad.
It's really a kind of jealousy to want what someone else has and to be angry or mad that the other person has it.
Anton says, Ha, right.
Oddly enough, this expression really means you're wrong, I don't agree with you.
Sometimes when people say right, they really are trying to say, I don't agree with you.
It depends on how they say it.
In this case, Anton is trying to use the expression to show disagreement.
Ha, right.
Haven't you heard?
Money is the root of all evil.
The root of something is the cause of something, in this case.
Money is the root of all evil is an expression that means that money causes problems.
The expression originally comes from the Bible, and it is not money is the root of all evil.
It's love of money is the root of all evil.
It's not the money that's bad.
It's loving your money too much that can be bad.
But now the expression has changed, really, into this notion that money itself is the root of evil.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Look at that guy.
He's been in town two weeks and he's already throwing his money around.
You know as well as I do that money talks.
He's just trying to make a splash in the business community.
If that were all he was doing, then I wouldn't say anything.
But he's a social climber of the worst kind.
Who does he think he is?
He's someone who's used to getting his way, that's obvious.
He's not the first affluent person to try to buy influence and social standing in a community.
Yeah, but look at all of the people in this town throwing themselves at him.
He has donated generously to the town and given to the arts.
He's even given money toward building the new community center.
And it wasn't chump change either.
If he wants to be a patron in this town, who are we to look a gift horse in the mouth?
Right, so spreading money around gives him the right to walk around like he owns this town?
Is this a case of sour grapes?
Ha, right.
Haven't you heard?
Money is the root of all evil.
The script for this episode was written by someone who has already made a splash in the ESL world, 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.
