Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 667, Trying to Remember.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 667.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles California, where the sun is shining and there are no clouds in the sky.
Go to our website at eslpodcom and download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English and to have a little more sunshine in your life.
This episode is a dialogue between Randall and Marjorie.
It's about trying to remember something.
Phrases related to when you forget something.
Something that happens to... Well, let's get started.
Hurry up.
Rob will be here any minute.
I can't remember the combination to this lock.
I thought you knew it by heart.
It's 73 or 63 or 38.
You said you had it down cold.
I do know it, but it just slipped my mind.
I'll figure it out.
I used a mnemonic to remember those last two digits.
I just need to jog my memory.
The last digits have to do with my birthday.
Or is it Rob's birthday?
I only let you in on this little joke we're going to play on Rob, because you said you knew the combination to the lock on his bike.
I should have known you were lying through your teeth.
I wasn't lying.
I really do know it.
If you'll just stop talking so I can concentrate.
Too late.
Here comes Rob.
Run for your life if you know what's good for you.
Randall says to Marjorie, hurry up.
Hurry up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to do something more quickly than what you are doing now, to rush to do it faster.
Randall is telling Marjorie to hurry up, meaning finish what she is doing faster, because Rob will be here any minute.
Rob will be here soon.
Marjorie says, I can't remember the combination to this lock.
A lock is a device, something you use to make sure no one opens or goes in a certain place.
You can have a lock on your door so that no one opens can open your door without having a key.
You can also have a lock on a bicycle, and often those locks don't have keys.
They have instead what's called a combination.
The combination is the series of numbers that you need to know to, and you turn a little wheel back and forth to these numbers and when you go to the right numbers, the right combination, then the lock will open.
Combination has some other meanings as well.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Randall says, I thought you knew it by heart.
To know something by heart means to have something memorized, to be able to say it without reading it.
We often know our passwords by heart, or at least some of them.
You may know the names of all of your cousins by heart.
I sure don't.
I have too many.
I barely know the names of my brothers and sisters.
I do know my wife's name, usually.
Randall says to Marjorie, Marjorie says, The tip is the end part of something in this case.
But the expression to be on the tip of your tongue means that you normally remember, but you have temporarily forgotten it.
You think you will be able to remember it soon, but you can't think of it at this very moment, right now.
Marjorie says, I can't seem to remember the last two digits, which in this case means numbers.
She says it's 73 or 63 or 38.
Randall then says, I thought you had it down cold.
To have something down cold means is the same as knowing it by heart.
It means to memorize it.
You memorize it so well, you will never forget it.
Marjorie says When we say something slips your mind, We mean you normally remember it, but you are not able to remember it right now.
It's similar to being on the tip of your tongue.
However, we often use it slipped my mind when we are talking about things that we forgot, such as an appointment.
Marjorie says, Marjorie says, She says, I used a mnemonic to remember those last two digits.
A mnemonic, M-N-E-M-O-N-I-C.
Notice the first letter, M, is silent.
You do not pronounce.
It is a mental trick, I guess we could say, to remember something, often something that is sort of silly or unusual, or it could be a song or an expression that somehow helps you remember something else.
That's what Marjorie says.
She used to remember the last two digits or two numbers of the combination to the lock.
She says, I just need to jog, J-O-G, my memory.
To jog your memory means to do something else that helps you remember something.
Sometimes, for example, i go into the kitchen from the living room of my house wanting to get something and i forget what it is i was going to get.
So I go back into the living room where I had originally thought of it, and sometimes just being in that same place jogs my memory.
Or you may have other things that jog your memory.
You may be listening to the radio and they have an announcement about health care.
And you think, oh yeah, I have to pay my health insurance this month.
That story on the radio jogged your memory.
Marjorie says the last digits have to do with my birthday.
Or is it Rob's birthday?
To have to do with something means to be related to or connected to something.
You might say this book has to do with the American Revolution.
That's what it is about.
That is what it is connected or related to.
In this case, the numbers are somehow related to Marjorie's birthday.
But she isn't sure.
Maybe it was Rob's birthday.
Randall then says To let someone in on something is an expression that means to let someone know about something secret.
In fact, sometimes we use the phrase, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
I'm going to tell you something that no one else knows.
Randall says that he only let Marjorie in on this joke because that they are going to play on Rob.
Meaning they are going to do to Rob because you said you knew the combination to the lock on his bike.
So they're going to play some trick.
We might call it a prank.
P-R-A-N-K.
On Rob.
Do something that they think will be funny.
Randall says, I should have known you were lying through your teeth.
To lie through your teeth means to say something with a lot of confidence that you know is not true.
It's something that is very bold.
We might say something that is perhaps a very big lie, but you say it confidently.
In other words, Randall thinks Marjorie was lying, was not telling him the truth when she told him that she knew the combination to Rob's bike lock.
Marjorie says, I wasn't lying.
I really do know it.
If you just stop talking so I can concentrate.
To concentrate means to focus, to think very clearly about something and not be distracted, not think about other things that you shouldn't be worrying about right now.
Randall says too late, meaning it's too late.
Here comes Rob.
So Rob is now arriving to wherever Randall and Marjorie are.
Randall says run for your life if you know what's good for you.
To run for your life means means to run as quickly as you can, as fast as you can.
The idea is, if you don't, you might be killed.
You might lose your life.
Normally, it's not that serious.
We use this expression to mean to run very quickly, to get away from somewhere as fast as you can.
Randall says to Marjorie, run for your life if you know what's good for you.
That phrase is used to show that your advice, what you are telling them or recommending to them, is something that will help them.
They will benefit from your advice if you know what's good for you.
You're saying, what I am telling you will help you.
It will be a good thing for you.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hurry up.
Rob will be here any minute.
I can't remember the combination to this lock.
I thought you knew it by heart.
It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't seem to remember the last two digits.
It's 73 or 63 or 38.
You said you had it down cold.
I do know it, but it just slipped my mind.
I'll figure it out.
I used a mnemonic to remember those last two digits.
I just need to jog my memory.
The last digits have to do with my birthday.
Or is it Rob's birthday?
I only let you in on this little joke we're going to play on Rob, because you said you knew the combination to the lock on his bike.
I should have known you were lying through your teeth.
I wasn't lying.
I really do know it.
If you'd just stop talking so I can concentrate.
Too late.
Here comes Rob.
Run for your life if you know what's good for you.
If you're a regular listener to ESL Podcast, you should know the name of our script writer by heart.
You should have it down cold.
If you don't, let me jog your memory.
Her first name is Lucy.
That's right.
It's Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm I forget who I am.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
