Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 776, Getting Praise and Recognition.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 776.
© transcript Emily Beynon get a learning guide, and improve your English as fast as possible.
This episode is a dialogue between Rene and Bruno about getting praise when people say good things about you.
Let's get started.
Hey, look who's here.
It's the company's golden boy.
Very funny.
I'm not joking.
First you're recognized at the annual meeting for your work in the company, and then you get a commendation from the city for your volunteer work.
I'm basking in your reflected glory.
I didn't ask for either honor, as you well know.
I'm not a glory hound.
Yes, and that's what makes it even more galling.
You don't have to go seeking your glory.
It comes to you.
Knock it off.
I like praise as much as the next guy, but I'd rather not be in the limelight.
I know you're exceptional and you're modest about it.
You're the perfect guy.
You leave us mere mortals in the dust.
I'm leaving.
I know you love giving me a hard time, but remember this.
I give as good as I get, and I have a long memory.
Our dialogue begins with Renee saying, hey, look who's here.
What happens here is that Bruno is walking into the room and Renee is talking about Bruno.
She's saying, hey, look who's here.
Look who has just come into the room.
It's the company's golden boy.
The expression golden boy refers to someone who's very successful or gifted or talented that other people admire.
Renee is being funny.
She's being sarcastic here, however.
She isn't really praising or saying nice things about Bruno.
Bruno understands that.
He says very funny, meaning he knows it's not funny.
Renee says, I'm not joking.
First, you're recognized at the annual meeting for your work in the company.
To be recognized here means that someone says something nice about you.
Someone compliments you, praises you in public, usually in front of a group of people or in some newspaper or official publication.
That's to be recognized here.
To recognize can also mean that you see someone or something and you remember what it is because you've seen it before.
But here it just means to be praised, to be complimented on something.
Renee says, first, you are recognized at the annual meeting.
That is a meeting for the whole company that happens once a year.
Then you get a commendation from the city for your volunteer work.
A commendation is an official, often certificate or a letter that is given someone to thank them for their work.
It's an award that an organization or a government agency or a government organization might give someone for the work that they have done, the good work that they have done.
In this case, Bruno has done volunteer work.
He has worked without being paid for some group.
Renee says, I'm basking in your reflected glory.
To bask, B-A-S-K usually means to sit in the sun so that you can get a tan or simply for the pleasure of feeling the warmth of the sun.
But it's often used this verb to bask with the word glory to mean to enjoy all of the good things that are happening to you, the praise, the compliments that people are giving you.
I'm going to bask in the glory of my victory.
Everyone is thanking me or congratulating me, looking at me, saying nice things about me.
I'm going to bask in that.
I'm going to enjoy it.
What Renee is saying, however, is a little different.
She's saying, I'm basking in your reflected glory.
When light hits a mirror, it's reflected.
It goes off of the mirror and back out again.
What Renee is saying is that she doesn't have any glory of her own.
No one is praising her, but people are praising Bruno.
And so she's enjoying the praise that is reflected from Bruno to her.
Because all of the wonderful things that Bruno has done and has been recognized for.
Once again, she's making a joke here.
Bruno says, I didn't ask for either honor, as you well know.
An honor...
H-O-N-O-R is recognition or praise that you receive, usually from a powerful organization or person.
The president may give you an honor, such as giving you an award for something.
Bruno says that he didn't ask for these honors.
He didn't try to get these honors.
He says, I'm not a glory hound.
A glory hound.
H-O-U-N-D is someone who is always looking for praise, someone who always wants to be recognized, who wants everyone to say nice things about them.
Renee says yes, she understands that Bruno is not a glory hound.
And that's what makes it even more galling.
Something that is galling.
G-A-L-L-I-N-G is something that is annoying or irritating because it seems unfair.
Renee says you don't have to go seeking your glory.
It comes to you.
Bruno says, knock it off.
Knock it off means stop it.
It's an informal expression that means stop doing what you're doing.
You don't like it.
You want the other person to stop it.
A child may be screaming or talking loudly or crying and the mother may say knock it off, meaning stop doing that.
Bruno says, knock it off.
I like praise as much as the next guy.
Praise is something nice that someone says about you.
The expression as much as the next guy is used to emphasize that you are normal, that you are just like everyone else, that you are no different than everyone else.
He says, I like praise, I like to be complimented, as much as the next guy, just like everyone else.
But I'd rather not be in the limelight.
L-I-M-E, L-I-G-H-T, one word, means to have a lot of attention when everyone is looking on you.
It could mean that your picture is in the newspaper and the television news is talking about you.
That's to be in the limelight.
Renee says, I know. you're exceptional and you're modest about it.
Exceptional means very good at something, better than anyone else.
Extraordinary, we might say.
Rene says that Bruno is exceptional and he's modest about it.
To be modest, M-O-D-E-S-T, means to be humble, not to talk to other people about it.
Here, to be modest means to be good, but not to talk about it to everyone else.
Renee says, "'You're the perfect guy.
You leave us mere mortals in the dust.'"
A mortal, M-O-R-T-A-L, is someone who will die.
All of us human beings are mortal.
But the expression mere mortals means ordinary people, people who aren't extraordinary, who are not exceptional.
To leave someone in the dust means to beat another person in a competition to be superior to someone else, to win in such a way that the other person is not even close to you.
Rene says to Bruno that he leaves...
Mere mortals, us mere mortals in the dust.
He is much better than the rest of us.
Bruno says, I'm leaving.
I know you love giving me a hard time.
To give someone a hard time means to criticize someone, usually by making fun of them.
Bruno says, remember this, I give as good as I get.
The expression to give as good as you get means I can criticize jokingly.
I can tease T-E-A-S-E you just as much.
As you tease me, as you make fun of me, as you criticize me.
And Bruno says, I have a long memory.
To have a long memory means that you will remember things for a long time.
Wives have very long memories.
They will remember things that you said and did years and years ago.
All husbands know this.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hey, look who's here.
It's the company's golden boy.
Very funny.
I'm not joking.
First you're recognized at the annual meeting for your work in the company, and then you get accommodation from the city for your volunteer work.
I'm basking in your reflected glory.
I didn't ask for either honor, as you well know.
I'm not a glory hound.
Yes, and that's what makes it even more galling.
You don't have to go seeking your glory.
It comes to you.
Knock it off.
I like praise as much as the next guy, but I'd rather not be in the limelight.
I know.
You're exceptional and you're modest about it.
You're the perfect guy.
You leave us mere mortals in the dust.
I'm leaving.
I know you love giving me a hard time.
But remember this.
I give as good as I get.
And I have a long memory.
I like to praise our exceptional scriptwriter because she is so good.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy Say.
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 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
