Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 607, Being Pestered on the Phone.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 607.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development.
In everyone together, beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is called Being Pestered on the Phone.
Being pestered means being bothered.
It's a dialogue between Giselle and and Nobu about Nobu's girlfriend who keeps calling.
Let's get started.
I think it's Janine.
Janine, Janine, is that the woman you've been going out with?
Yeah, it's her.
I tried to let her down easy, but she's not taking the hint.
I see.
That's why you've been screening calls.
Why don't you just talk to her and tell her that you don't think you're right for each other?
Take the direct approach.
I figure if I don't take her calls for a few more days, she'll get the message.
Are you sure?
There are 14 new voicemail messages.
How many of those do you think are from Janine?
All of them.
I let calls go to voicemail if I see her phone number on caller ID.
I guess I should listen to those messages sooner or later.
Yeah, that's probably a good idea.
I was thinking of taking the phone off the hook for the rest of the day.
You do that and she'll be on your doorstep to make sure nothing bad has happened to you.
Listen, you don't want to be honest with her, but you want her to stop pestering you, right?
In that case, you only have one option.
What?
Tell her you're moving to Timbuktu.
Our dialogue begins with Giselle.
Saying to Nobu means that a phone rings many times in a short period of time because you are getting so many phone calls.
The phone has been ringing off the hook.
The phone has been ringing a lot.
Many people have been calling.
Giselle says that their phone has been ringing off the hook all weekend.
In a traditional telephone, the old telephones anyway, there were always two parts of the phone.
There was the part where you would dial, where you would press the numbers or, if you're old like me, you would actually turn the numbers around in a circle.
And then there's the part that you use to listen and talk to someone, what we would probably call the handset.
Well, the hook is the part where you put the handset down to hang up the phone.
The expression off the hook has other meanings in English.
Those can be found in our learning guide.
Giselle says, what's the deal? which is an informal way of saying, what is happening?
What is going on?
Nobu says, I think it's Janine.
Giselle says, Janine, Janine, trying to think of who that person is.
Then she says, is that the woman you've been going out with?
To go out with someone is a phrasal verb meaning to date someone, to pursue a romantic relationship with someone.
That's what it usually means.
It could just mean that you are going somewhere with someone.
You could say to your wife, And your wife says She's not very happy that he's going to a bar to watch a baseball game.
Well, that's another way of using this expression, to go out with.
In this case, if you're talking about a woman and a man, it typically means a romantic relationship.
Someone you are dating but are not yet married to.
Once you get married, you never go out again.
Nobu says, But she's not taking the hint.
To let someone down easy is a phrase meaning to end a relationship or to disappoint someone without trying to hurt them.
You meet a beautiful woman at the bar and you ask for her telephone number and she says oh, I'm sorry, I'm not dating anyone now.
She's trying to let you down easy.
What she's really saying is, you're ugly and I would never go out with you.
Remember that, boys.
So Nobu says that he tried to let Janine down easy.
He tried to end his relationship without hurting her.
But Janine is not taking the hint.
H-I-N-T.
To take the hint means to understand what someone is trying to say indirectly.
The person isn't telling you directly what they mean, but they are trying to indicate to you in a subtle or indirect way what they mean.
To take the hint means to understand that indirect message.
Giselle says, I see, I understand.
That's why you've been screening calls.
To screen S-C-R-E-E-N your calls means to only accept, only pick up certain telephone calls from certain people refusing to talk to others.
Now, how do you know who is calling you?
Well, you could have someone else answer your phone and then tell you who is calling and you can say I'm not home or I can't come to the phone.
Or you could wait till the person leaves a message on an answering machine, which is a recording device that records your telephone messages, and Or nowadays, here in the US, we have something called caller ID or caller identification, where you see the person's telephone number on your telephone and you can decide whether you want to answer or not.
That's to screen your calls.
Giselle says why don't you just talk to her and tell her that you don't think you're right for each other?
Meaning, you're not a good couple.
You're not a good match or fit.
In other words, Giselle says, take the direct approach.
To take the direct approach means to say exactly what you mean in a very clear way.
Not indirectly, not subtly, but directly.
Nobu says, I figure, meaning I think directly that if I don't take her calls, if I don't answer her telephone calls for a few more days, she'll get the message.
To get the message means to understand what someone is trying to say, even if the message isn't very clear or direct.
The expression to take someone's calls is related to some other expressions with different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for those.
Giselle then is advocating, is telling Nobu to take the direct approach with Janine.
But Nobu doesn't want to do it.
He thinks Janine will get the message eventually.
Giselle says, are you sure?
There are 14 new voicemail messages.
Voicemail is like an answering machine, but it is an electronic system that records your messages and people who call you and you are not there, they can leave you a voicemail, a voice message.
Giselle says, how many of those voicemails do you think are from Janine?
Nobu answers, all of them.
So Janine has called 14 times and left 14 messages for Nobu.
Nobu says, I let calls go to voicemail, meaning I don't answer the phone.
And after usually four or five times that the phone rings, it will automatically start recording a voicemail message or ask the person to record a voicemail message if they want to.
He says We explained caller ID earlier, caller identification, which is a feature which is something that telephones have nowadays, both cell phones and what we call landlines, meaning traditional telephones that are connected to wires.
Caller ID allows you to see the phone number of the person calling, unless they have caller ID blocking, which means they don't let you see their number.
Nobu says, I guess I should listen to those messages sooner or later.
Sooner or later means sometime in the future, but you're not saying specifically what time that will be.
It could also be used to mean eventually.
And you could say, I'm going to listen to those messages eventually, sooner or later.
It also has the idea that you're not in any hurry.
You are going to wait some more.
Giselle says, yeah, that's probably a good idea to listen to the messages, not to wait.
Nobu says, I was thinking of taking the phone off the hook for the rest of the day.
To take the phone off the hook means to take the part of the phone, the receiver and transmitter or the handset, and lift it up and put it down so that no one can call in.
No one can reach you.
That's to take your phone off the hook.
You can do that with a traditional phone, with a landline.
It's not really possible to do it with a cell phone, but with a landline it's possible.
When you take a phone off the hook, you cannot leave a message because the line will be busy.
It will seem as though you are talking to someone.
That's to take the phone off the hook.
Nobu asks Giselle's opinion of this idea.
He's trying to prevent, of course, Janine from calling and leaving more messages.
Giselle says you do that and she'll be on your doorstep to make sure nothing bad has happened to you.
You do that.
Here means if you do that then she will be on your doorstep.
To be on someone's doorstep.
One word means to be at the front door of your house or apartment, to be visiting someone.
In this case it means that Janine would get in her car and drive over to Nobu's house because she would be worried about him if he never answered his phone, if his phone line was always busy or occupied.
Giselle says, listen, you don't want to be honest with her.
But you want her to stop pestering you, right?
To pester.
P-E-S-T-E-R means to bother or annoy someone, to do things that make another person feel angry or frustrated or upset with you.
We often use this verb when someone is angry, asking you the same question over and over again or trying to communicate with you five six, seven times a day.
They are bothering you.
They are pestering you.
Giselle says if you want Janine to stop pestering you, you have only one option.
You have only one choice.
Nobu says what?
What is that choice?
Giselle says tell her you're moving to Timbuktu.
Timbuktu capital T-I-M-B-U-K-T-U is used here to mean a very far and distant place, somewhere that is way far away from where you are now.
Timbuktu is a real place, however.
It is a place in northern Mali, the country of Mali in western Africa, that was a famous place for trading, especially back in the 16th century.
But now it is used in English as an expression to mean a long distance from where you are now, somewhere that is not close to anything else.
Giselle is telling Nobu to tell Janine that he is moving away.
He will no longer be living in this city.
He's moving far away to Timbuktu.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Our phone has been ringing off the hook all weekend.
What's the deal?
I think it's Janine.
Janine, Janine.
Is that the woman you've been going out with?
Yeah, it's her.
I tried to let her down easy, but she's not taking the hint.
I see.
That's why you've been screening calls.
Why don't you just talk to her and tell her that you don't think you're right for each other?
Take the direct approach.
I figure if I don't take her calls for a few more days, she'll get the message.
Are you sure?
There are 14 new voicemail messages.
How many of those do you think are from Jadine?
All of them.
I let calls go to voicemail if I see her phone number on caller ID.
I guess I should listen to those messages sooner or later.
Yeah that's probably a good idea.
I was thinking of taking the phone off the hook for the rest of the day.
What do you think?
You do that and she'll be on your doorstep to make sure nothing bad has happened to you.
Listen you don't want to be honest with her but you want her to stop pestering you right?
In that case you only have one option.
What?
Tell her you're moving to Timbuktu. every day electronically anytime you want us.
We can do that because of the wonderful scripts that we have written by 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 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
