Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 823, Dealing with a Bothersome Person.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 823.
© transcript Emily Beynon I strongly recommend you take a look at the learning guide.
It contains a lot of good information that will help you improve your English.
Go to ESLPOD.com to download the one for this episode.
This episode is a dialogue between Melissa and Conan about someone who is bothering one of them, someone who is making problems for one of them.
Let's get started.
Ooh, I sense some serious sexual tension between the two of you.
Sexual tension?
Are you out of your mind?
He does nothing but give me a hard time.
That's because he's trying to get your attention.
If he likes me, why doesn't he try to get my attention by showing off like every other guy?
Maybe he's trying to stand out among your many admirers.
Don't be stupid.
I don't have a lot of admirers and I don't want one who makes my life miserable.
Maybe if you throw him a bone, then he'll stop his antics.
What kind of a bone?
Ask him to the movies Saturday night.
Me ask him out?
You're certifiable.
I'm telling you that if you ask him out, he'll stop pestering you.
Putting aside the fact that I find him repulsive.
If I ask him out, he'll make me the laughingstock of this place.
I don't think so.
He'll get what he wants and he'll stop pestering you.
What if it backfires and he bothers me even more?
Then you'll get what you want deep down.
Melissa begins by saying, I hate that guy Ruben, meaning I hate that guy named Ruben.
Ruben is his name.
Reuben is also a kind of sandwich, but I don't think she's talking about a sandwich.
No, she's talking about that guy, Reuben.
Melissa says, he's always getting in my face.
To get in someone's face means to bother them, to annoy them.
It could also mean to challenge them, to disagree with them in order to make them angry.
He was getting in my face.
We might say more informally, he was getting up all in my face.
It's the same thing.
Conan says, oh, I sense some serious sexual tension between the two of you.
To sense, S-E-N-S-E, means to perceive, to feel, to understand.
I sense there is something wrong here, means I think there is something wrong.
I don't know for sure, but from what I am seeing and hearing, that's, we might say, my impression.
That's my sense of what is going on.
Conan says that he senses some sexual tension.
Sexual tension would be when two people are attracted to each other romantically, which in a strange way causes some uncomfortable feelings between the two people.
The use of the word serious here, S-E-R-I-O-U-S, doesn't mean serious in the sense of not funny or serious in the sense of something that is very important.
Instead, it's used here to mean You might think of it as meaning a lot of.
Melissa says, sexual tension?
Are you out of your mind?
To be out of your mind means to be crazy, to be irrational, not to be thinking properly or correctly.
Melissa says he Ruben The construction.
He does nothing but really means the only thing he does is to give me a hard time.
To give someone a hard time means to either make it difficult for that person to do something, or perhaps simply to make fun of that person.
Here it means the first meaning, to make things difficult for someone else.
Conan says that's because he's trying to get your attention.
Conan says that Reuben is giving Melissa a hard time because he wants Melissa's attention.
He wants Melissa to pay attention to him, to notice him, and of course, ultimately, to like him.
Melissa says if he likes me, why doesn't he try to get my attention by showing off like every other guy?
To show off means to try to get attention from other people by showing or saying how good you are.
Oh, I have such a nice car.
Have you seen my new car?
It's really nice.
That would be showing off.
Usually showing off is something that you actually do.
For example, did I tell you I can speak in Swahili, Italian, and Chinese?
And then you start speaking in those languages.
That would be showing off.
You're trying to impress other people.
This is something, of course, that men do with women to try to get their attention.
When they're interested in a woman, they may try to show off.
And that's what Melissa means when she says why doesn't Ruben try to get my attention by showing off, like every other guy, like every other man?
So I could say to a woman, you know, I'm a podcaster.
Yeah, that'll impress a lot of women.
Yes, it will.
I don't need to impress women because I'm married.
But if I weren't, I could tell a woman, hey, I'm a podcaster.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's impressive.
I'm just kidding, of course.
Conan says, maybe he's trying to stand out among your many admirers.
Conan is answering Melissa's question about why Ruben doesn't show off like other guys.
He says that Reuben is trying to stand out.
To stand out means to be different from the people around you, to be very noticeable, to have other people pay attention to you and not pay attention to the people around you.
That's to stand out.
To stand has several different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some of those.
So Conan thinks Ruben is trying to stand out among Melissa's many admirers.
To admire A-D-M-I-R-E means to like someone to believe that person is a very good person, to want to be like that person.
An admirer, with an R at the end, is someone who admires.
Often we use this term in a romantic sense, when a woman has several men who are interested in her, who admire her.
We have another expression, a secret admirer.
Somebody sends a woman a flower and they don't say what their name is.
They may say, your secret admirer, someone who likes you but doesn't want to give his name.
Melissa says, however, don't be stupid, meaning that's stupid.
You're being unintelligent.
You're saying things that don't make any sense.
Don't be stupid is definitely an insulting thing to say to someone.
Melissa says, I don't have a lot of admirers, and I don't want one who makes my life miserable.
Miserable, M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E, means terrible, horrible.
Melissa doesn't want anyone who's going to make her life terrible or miserable.
Conan says maybe if you throw him a bone, then he'll stop his antics.
To throw someone a bone B-O-N-E means to give someone a little encouragement or to give someone a little reward for something good they have done.
The expression probably comes from giving the bones of the meat that you eat to your dog.
Dogs like bones, I guess.
So to throw somebody a bone means to give them a small reward, something like a little gift.
Conan is suggesting that Melissa do something nice for Ruben, and then maybe Ruben will stop his antics.
Antics, A-N-T-I-C-S, are silly, strange, unusual behavior.
We often associate this word with children who are acting or behaving strangely, often to get the attention of their parents.
Melissa says, what kind of a bone?
Meaning, how should I reward him?
Conan says, ask him to the movies Saturday night.
Ask him to go to a movie with you.
Melissa says, me?
Ask him out?
To ask someone out means to ask them to go on a date.
Traditionally, the man asked the woman to go on a date.
So Melissa can't believe what Conan is suggesting.
In fact, she says to Conan, you're certifiable.
When you call someone certifiable, C-E-R-T-I-F-I-A-B-L-E, it here means crazy, insane, nuts.
Conan says, I'm telling you that if you ask him out, he'll stop pestering you.
To pester, P-E-S-T-E-R, means to bother or annoy someone.
If you say, stop pestering me, you mean stop bothering me, stop annoying me.
Melissa says, If we don't even consider the fact that I find this person repulsive, and repulsive R-E-P-U-L-S-I-V-E means unattractive, very disgusting, something you don't want even to be close to.
Melissa says.
Putting aside the fact I find him repulsive, if I ask him out he'll make me the laughingstock of this place.
Someone who is the laughingstock.
One word is someone that everyone laughs at, that everyone makes fun of.
Conan says, I don't think so.
He'll get what he wants, and he'll stop pestering you.
Melissa asks, For something to backfire, B-A-C-K-F-I-R-E, one word...
Is to have the opposite results of what you expect.
So you tell your friend, oh, that's a very good job you did.
And your friend gets angry at you.
Your friend yells at you.
We would say that your compliment, the nice thing you said, backfired.
Somehow it had the opposite result that you wanted it or expected it to have.
Melissa says, what if me asking Ruben out on a date backfires?
In other words, instead of liking Melissa, Ruben will start bothering her and pestering her even more.
Conan says, then you'll get what you want deep down.
The phrase deep down means related to your very secret inner feelings, how you really think about something but you don't want to tell anyone else.
So what Conan is saying here is that really Melissa likes the fact that Ruben bothers her.
So when Melissa says, well, what if he bothers me even more?
Conan says well then, you'll get what you really want, because that's what you really want deep down.
He's saying that Melissa is also attracted to or romantically interested in Ruben.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I hate that guy, Ruben.
He's always getting in my face.
Ooh, I sense some serious sexual tension between the two of you.
Sexual tension?
Are you out of your mind?
He does nothing but give me a hard time.
That's because he's trying to get your attention.
If he likes me, why doesn't he try to get my attention by showing off like every other guy?
Maybe he's trying to stand out among your many admirers.
Don't be stupid.
I don't have a lot of admirers, and I don't want one who makes my life miserable.
Maybe if you throw him a bone, then he'll stop his antics.
What kind of a bone?
Ask him to the movie Saturday night.
Me?
Ask him out?
You're certifiable.
I'm telling you that if you ask him out, he'll stop pestering you.
Putting aside the fact that I find him repulsive.
If I ask him out, he'll make me the laughingstock of this place.
I don't think so.
He'll get what he wants and he'll stop pestering you.
What if it backfires and he bothers me even more?
Then you'll get what you want, deep down.
Our scriptwriter has a lot of admirers for her wonderful scripts.
That's the wonderful, did I mention wonderful?
Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles California, I'm the not very wonderful Jeff McQuillan, thanking you for listening and asking you to come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
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.
