Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 804, Dealing with Time Changes in Scheduling.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 804.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode, or You can also take a look at some of our premium courses, our special courses in business and daily English, on our website.
This episode is all about scheduling and changing times.
Let's get started.
This is my first time scheduling all of the major meetings for this company.
And I'm getting thrown off by all of the things I have to keep in mind.
For instance, our bylaws say that we have to have a management meeting every 60 days.
This is a leap year, so do I have to take that into account?
That's a tough one.
I'm not sure.
And what about daylight saving time?
I have to remember when clocks will be set ahead and back.
That's easy.
My high school teacher taught us to remember it with a simple phrase, fall back and spring ahead.
Okay, but that doesn't help me with dates.
Apparently, daylight saving time changes on different dates in different countries.
And I have to factor in time zones to set the time for each meeting, with meeting times that work for each international office that will be participating.
You're right.
It's a tall order.
But you do know that someone has done this before.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Yeah, Carl set the meeting calendar last year, but he left the company last month.
Can't you just take last year's meeting calendar and fudge it?
Why do you think Carl is no longer with the company?
Ah.
Our dialogue begins with Danny saying to Tessa Don't bother looking for next year's meeting calendar.
Don't bother looking is a phrase we use to tell someone not to do something because it isn't possible or they won't be successful.
Don't bother means don't look for next year's meeting calendar.
Calendar is...
You probably know a record of days and weeks and years that you use to perhaps schedule your life around, to plan to know what date and day it is.
Danny says he's still working on next year's meeting calendar, which we guess is a calendar telling you which days and times they will have meetings at their company.
Tessa says, what's taking so long?
Why is it taking you so long, you idiot?
No, she didn't say you idiot.
She could have, but she didn't.
So the idiot Danny says this is my first time scheduling all of the major meetings for this company and I'm getting thrown off by all of the things I have to keep in mind.
Danny says this is the first time he has scheduled.
He has decided what days and times all of the major or important meetings for the company.
And he says, I'm getting thrown off. to be confused, to be misled.
When someone makes it or something makes it difficult or impossible for you to understand something.
It can also be used sometimes when some unexpected or sudden change interrupts your plans so you can no longer do what you were going to do.
The thunderstorm, the rainstorm canceled our flight, our airplane flight.
It threw off our plans.
It made them impossible to complete.
It changed them unexpectedly.
In the dialogue, Danny is thrown off.
He's not able to do what he thought he was able to do because of all of the things he has to keep in mind.
He has to remember.
To keep in mind, M-I-N-D, means to remember.
Danny says, for instance, for example...
Our bylaws say that we have to have a management meeting every 60 days.
Your bylaws, B-Y-L-A-W-S, are your official rules created by your organization.
The bylaws are usually rules that the company uses to help it operate more smoothly, to make sure everything is done correctly.
Well, these bylaws say they have to have a management meeting, a meeting of the managers, every 60 days.
Danny says, this is a leap year, so do I have to take that into account?
A leap, L-E-A-P, year, is a year, you probably know, that has 366 days.
It happens once every four years when we have a February 29th, not just 28 days in February.
Well, poor Danny...
He says, Do I have to take that into account?
To take something into account means to include it or consider it in your decision or your opinion.
You have to take into account that Danny is an idiot, and that helps you understand the dialogue a little better.
You have to consider that in your opinion.
Danny is wondering whether you have to take into account the fact that this year is a leap year.
Tessa says, that's a tough one.
Now, Tessa, it's not a tough one.
It's obvious.
February 29th is a day.
You just count that into the 60 days.
It's not that difficult, people.
I'm sorry.
I'm not in a very good mood today.
I don't know why.
Probably didn't have enough coffee this morning.
Did I tell you I'm drinking coffee now?
Yeah, yeah.
No, well, I still drink tea, but I've started drinking coffee again.
But when I don't have my coffee, then, you know, I'm not in a very good mood.
Anyway, back to our dialogue.
Tessa says, wrongly, that this is a tough one.
This is a difficult decision.
She says she's not sure.
Danny says, and what about daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time is a system used in many countries where you move your clock ahead one hour and then back one hour twice a year in order to give people in part more hours of light in the evening time.
We talked about daylight saving time back on English Cafe number 78 many, many years ago.
Danny says, I have to remember when clocks will be set ahead and back.
To set ahead means to turn the clock forward one hour.
So instead of being 10 o'clock, now it's 11 o'clock.
To set the clock back would mean to go from 11 o'clock to 10 o'clock.
It's really not that complicated, Danny.
I should mention that the expression to set back has other meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some of those.
Tessa says, that's easy.
My high school teacher taught us to remember it with a simple phrase, fall back and spring ahead.
This expression fall back and spring ahead is used in English to remind people when they are supposed to put their or set their clocks ahead and when they're supposed to set them back.
In the fall, in the autumn, they...
Put the clocks back.
They fall back.
To fall back means to go backwards.
And so we use the two meanings of the word fall.
Fall means the season of autumn.
In North America, roughly October, November, December.
And it also means, when you say fall back, you mean to go back, to move backwards.
So fall back reminds you that in the fall, you set your clock back an hour.
And in the spring, you spring ahead.
To spring ahead means to jump forward.
Spring also refers to the season of the year that comes between winter and summer.
So spring ahead means to move your clock forward one hour during the springtime.
Danny says, okay, but that doesn't help me with dates.
Apparently, daylight saving time changes on different dates in different countries.
This is true.
It's different in the United States than it is in Europe.
He says, and I have to factor in time zones to set the time for each meeting.
To factor in means to include or to consider.
It means the same as to take something into account.
Danny has to factor in time zones together.
A time zone is a geographic area where people use the same time.
Here in California, we're in the Pacific time zone.
So it's the same time in Los Angeles as it is in Oregon or in Washington or in British Columbia Canada, or in Baja California.
New York City is in the Eastern time zone, where there is a three-hour difference between the Pacific and the Eastern time zones.
Well, Danny has to factor in time zones to set or to establish the time for each meeting, because there are people in different parts of the world who participate.
Tessa says, you're right, you're correct.
It's a tall order.
A tall order is something that's very difficult or challenging that you have been asked to do.
Tessa says, but you do know that someone has done this before.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel.
This is an old expression to reinvent R-E-I-N-V-E-N-T.
The wheel means you don't have to waste time doing something that someone has already done.
To invent means to create, to come up with a new idea.
Well, the wheel was invented many, many years ago.
You don't have to come up with the idea of a wheel again.
It means, again, you don't need to waste your time.
You can find out what someone else did before and do what they did.
Danny says, yeah, Carl set the meeting calendar last year, but he left the company last month.
Tessa says, can't you just take last year's meeting schedule and fudge it?
To fudge F-U-D-G-E something means to change something in a small way, presenting it as the real answer, even though you're really just guessing.
You're not really sure.
You're trying to fool someone into thinking that you know what the answer is.
So you kind of take a guess, but you know it's not the exact answer.
You don't think it's the exact answer.
Danny says, why do you think Carl is no longer with the company?
Tessa says, ah.
In other words, the joke here is that Carl, the person who used to do the calendar, didn't do a very good job.
He wasn't accurate.
He fudged his calendar dates.
He didn't calculate them very carefully.
And that's why he was fired.
So it would be a bad idea for Danny to do the same thing.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Don't bother looking for next year's meeting calendar.
I'm still working on it.
What's taking so long?
This is my first time scheduling all of the major meetings for this company and I'm getting thrown off by all of the things I have to keep in mind.
For instance, our bylaws say that we have to have a management meeting every 60 days.
This is a leap year, so do I have to take that into account?
That's a tough one.
I'm not sure.
And what about daylight saving time?
I have to remember when clocks will be set ahead and back.
That's easy.
My high school teacher taught us to remember it with a simple phrase, fall back and spring ahead.
Okay, but that doesn't help me with dates.
Apparently, daylight saving time changes on different dates in different countries.
And I have to factor in time zones to set the time for each meeting, with meeting times that work for each international office that will be participating.
You're right.
It's a tall order.
But you do know that someone has done this before.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Yeah, Carl set the meeting calendar last year, but he left the company last month.
Can't you just take last year's meeting calendar and fudge it?
Why do you think Carl is no longer with the company?
Ah.
Don't bother looking for any other ESL podcast to listen to.
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From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
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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.
