Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 700, Starting a New Workweek.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 700.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you as we have for the last 699 episodes from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
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This episode is called Starting a New Work Week.
It's a dialogue between Naomi and Aaron.
Let's get started.
Wow, you look like you had a rough weekend.
A little too much partying, huh?
You said it.
I'm planning to ease into the new work week.
I need time to chill and to recover.
Could you take a meeting this morning with our new client?
What will you do?
I'll be sitting here waiting for hump day.
The weekend can't come soon enough.
It's Monday and you're already looking forward to next weekend?
You got it.
And you want to slack off while I take on the lion's share of your work.
Is that what you're saying?
Just this once.
I'll return the favor the next time you have a rough weekend.
What are you planning for next weekend?
Why do you ask?
I want to know how long I'll have to wait for a chance to sit back and watch you work.
Naomi begins by saying to Aaron Wow, you look like you had a rough weekend.
Rough, R-O-U-G-H, here means difficult or not easy.
There are some other meanings of rough which can be found in the learning guide for this episode.
Naomi says Aaron had a rough weekend.
The weekend is typically Saturday and Sunday.
Some people will talk about a three-day weekend.
That's usually Saturday, Sunday, and Monday when you don't have to work for a holiday.
Normally the weekend is Saturday and Sunday with some people including Friday night.
Naomi says a little too much partying.
The huh H-U-H is how it is generally spelled is a noise that you may make at the end of a statement to make it into a question.
It's an informal way of making something into a question.
Naomi says a little too much partying.
To party as a verb means to go to exciting parties, to spend a lot of time with other people, usually drinking a lot of alcohol, and such
Aaron says you said it.
The phrase you said.
It means you are exactly correct, or what you just said is right, or I agree completely with what you said.
You might say English can be so confusing, and your friend would say you said it, meaning that's right, that's correct.
It's not confusing, of course.
That's why you have ESL Podcast.
Aaron says, I'm planning to ease into the new work week.
To ease E-A-S-E into something means to begin something slowly, gradually not try to do everything at full energy or using all of your energy to begin to do something.
You're going to start slowly, easily.
That's to ease into something.
A work week, which is the word work plus the word week, made into a single word, is the days of the week you have to work, typically Monday through Friday.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
That's, for most people, their work week.
Aaron says, To chill...
As a verb, here means to relax, not to do or think about anything serious or important.
It's an informal verb or informal way of using this verb to mean relax.
I need time to chill.
Sometimes, if you are very excited and someone wants you to calm down, they might use this as a command.
Hey, chill, meaning take it easy.
Again, very informally.
Aaron says he needs time to chill and to recover, to get better from the weekend so he feels better.
He says could you take a meeting this morning with our new client?
To take a meeting means to go to a group of people who are sitting down and talking to each other about something.
To go to a meeting, to take a meeting.
Aaron wants Naomi to take a meeting with their new client, their new customer.
Naomi says, what will you do?
Aaron says, I'll be sitting here waiting for hump day.
Hump day is Wednesday, the middle of the week.
The idea is that during the first part of the week, you're going up a hill or a hump and the second part of the week you're going down.
A hump is something you would find on a camel, for example, the animal that survives in the desert.
So hump day is Wednesday.
Aaron is basically saying he's not going to do any work or very much work.
Aaron says the weekend can't come soon enough.
The expression can't come soon enough means that you are very eager for something to happen.
You are looking forward to something.
You hope that it happens soon or that...
Time will go by quickly so that this thing can happen.
Aaron is someone who doesn't want to work and is just waiting for the work week to end so he can continue partying on the weekend.
Naomi says, it's Monday, and you're already looking forward to next weekend?
Aaron says, you got it.
You got it means that you are correct.
You are 100% correct.
It's similar to you said it, although we usually use the phrase you said it when we are complaining about something or talking about the negative aspects of something.
You got it could be used in probably more situations than you said it.
Here Aaron says, you got it, meaning that's correct.
That's exactly right.
Naomi says, and you want to slack off.
To slack.
S-L-A-C-K off is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to relax, to be lazy, not to do your job the way you should do it.
Someone who slacks off a lot is called a slacker.
It's a term meaning someone who is lazy, who doesn't work very much or very hard.
It's an informal expression.
Naomi says you want to slack off Aaron, while I take on the lion's share of your work.
To take on means to do, to begin a new project.
The lion's share means the majority of something, more than 50%.
We often use it when talking about work.
He has the lion's share of the work.
He's doing most of the work for that project.
Naomi says that Aaron wants her to take on the lion's share of his work.
Is that what you're saying, she asks.
Aaron says, just this once.
Just this once means only one time.
This will never happen again.
I will never ask you to do this again.
Just this once.
He says, I'll return the favor the next time you have a rough weekend.
To return the favor means to do something nice for someone who has done something nice for you.
Naomi then says, What are you going to do next weekend?
Aaron says, why do you ask?
Meaning, why are you asking me?
Naomi says, I want to know how long I'll have to wait for a chance to sit back and watch you work.
To sit back means to observe something from a distance, without participating, without becoming involved, to see how something is done without affecting it.
It's sometimes used when someone else is working or you don't have to work.
You can relax a little.
But more generally, it means to watch something without getting involved.
So what Naomi is saying at the end here is that she wants to know when she can watch Aaron work.
And she's suggesting it would be a very long time before she can do that, since Aaron seems to go out partying every weekend.
That's why she asks what Aaron plans to do the following weekend.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Wow, you look like you had a rough weekend.
A little too much partying, huh?
You said it.
I'm planning to ease into the new work week.
I need time to chill and to recover.
Could you take a meeting this morning with our new client?
What will you do?
I'll be sitting here waiting for hump day.
The weekend can't come soon enough.
It's Monday, and you're already looking forward to next weekend?
You got it.
And you want to slack off while I take on the lion's share of your work.
Is that what you're saying?
Just this once.
I'll return the favor the next time you have a rough weekend.
What are you planning for next weekend?
Why do you ask?
I want to know how long I'll have to wait for a chance to sit back and watch you work.
The next wonderful script by our scriptwriter can't come soon enough.
That's because it's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say, who never slacks off.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here 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.
