Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 862, Getting a Massage.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 862.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at eslpod.com.
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This episode is a dialogue between Robert and Stacy about getting a massage when someone touches you physically in order to relax your muscles.
Let's get started.
Why are you twisting your back like that?
I'm in pain.
My back and shoulders really hurt.
I think it's from sitting at this computer all the time.
What you need is a good massage.
It can get rid of the knots in your muscles and get you some pain relief.
I don't know.
I don't like the idea of getting naked in front of a stranger.
If you're skittish about that, remember that you'll be covered with a sheet, except for the part that he or she is working on.
It's not a big deal.
But what if they're too rough with me?
It might make things worse.
An experienced massage therapist will ask you the amount of pressure you want and you can speak up if you don't like what he or she is doing.
Do you think a massage could really help me?
Definitely.
I recommend my massage therapist.
She's licensed and very good.
She doesn't use smelly oils or play hokey music during the massage, does she?
No, she doesn't.
She's very professional, without being too clinical, if you know what I mean.
Call her.
I'll think about it.
Ouch!
Call her right now.
You don't have a minute to lose.
Our dialogue begins with Robert asking Stacy, Why are you twisting your back like that?
To twist T-W-I-S-T means to turn something, to move part of something in one direction, while the other thing is in a different direction.
To twist your back, the back of your body, would mean to move the top of your body for in one direction, to the left, while the rest of your body remains straight.
That would be to twist your back.
Stacy says i'm in pain.
I hurt my back and shoulders really hurt.
I think it's from sitting at this computer all the time.
Stacy is sitting at her computer all day And she says it is causing pain in her back.
Robert says what you need is a good massage.
A massage, M-A-S-S-A-G-E, is where someone touches your skin and your muscles in order to relax you.
Robert says a massage can get rid of the knots in your muscles and get you some pain relief, or give you some pain relief.
Knots, K-N-O-T-S.
In this case refer to tight sections in your muscles that are causing you pain, usually because you're very tense, you're very stressed.
You have a lot of things you're worried about.
Perhaps that could cause knots in your muscles, pain that can best be relieved by massaging the knots, by taking your hand or someone else taking their hand and trying to get those out of your muscles, by putting pressure on them, by rubbing them.
Your muscles you probably know are the parts of your body that help move your bones back and forth.
Pain relief.
R-E-L-I-E-F is a reduction or a lessening in the amount of pain, the amount that something hurts you.
Robert says a good massage can get rid of meaning, can eliminate the knots in your muscles and get you some pain relief.
Stacy says, I don't know.
I don't like the idea of getting naked in front of a stranger.
To be naked, N-A-K-E-D, is to be without any clothes on.
I am usually not naked when I record these episodes.
I'm just kidding.
I'm never naked when I'm recording these episodes.
To be naked in front of a stranger means that you have no clothes on and you are in front of someone you do not know.
That's what a stranger is.
Well, Stacy doesn't want to get naked in front of a stranger.
The reason she says that is because typically when you get a body massage, you go somewhere and you have to take your clothes off.
If you don't take your clothes off, the person giving the massage has no way of easily touching your skin in order to relax your muscles.
Robert says, if you're skittish about that, remember that you'll be covered with a sheet.
To be skittish S-K-I-T-T-I-S-H means to be nervous about something, to be uncomfortable about something.
Heather is very skittish about going to see a doctor because she doesn't like the sight of blood.
She doesn't like looking at blood, that red stuff that comes out of your body if you put a hole in your skin.
Robert says to Stacey, if you're skittish about getting naked in front of a stranger...
Remember that you'll be covered with a sheet.
A sheet is a piece of cloth that you put normally on top of a bed.
When you are sleeping on it, you put sheets on it so that you're not sleeping directly on the actual bed.
You have this piece of cloth, this piece of fabric that you sleep on, that you can take off and wash easily.
When you get a massage, you're typically covered with a cloth, a towel or a sheet that covers your body, except the part where the person giving you the massage is working.
Robert says it's not a big deal, meaning it's nothing you should be worried about.
Stacey says, but what if they're too rough with me?
It might make things worse.
To be rough, R-O-U-G-H, means to use too much pressure, to be too strong in the movements, not to be gentle, not to be tender, we might say.
Stacey says that she's worried about the person giving the massage.
Robert says an experienced massage therapist will ask you about the amount of pressure you want and you can speak up if you don't like what he or she is doing.
A massage therapist T-H-E-R-A-P-I-S-T.
Is a person whose job it is to provide massages, to give you a massage.
In many places, massage therapists have to get a license from the government in order to work.
Robert says the massage therapist will ask you, the amount of pressure you want.
Pressure P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E is how strong they will press against your body with their hands, basically.
Robert says you can speak up if you don't like what he or she, the massage therapist, is doing.
To speak up.
Is is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to say something to the person who is in charge, when you're not happy with something, when you don't like something, when you want to change something.
A teacher might tell her students if you have any problems with your homework, you need to speak up.
You need to say something so that I know.
Stacy says, do you think a massage could really help me?
Robert says, definitely.
I recommend my massage therapist.
Robert has his own massage therapist that he is suggesting that Stacy use as well.
Robert says she's licensed and very good.
Licensed means that she has a license L-I-C-E-N-S-E, which is official permission, usually from the government, that allows you to say that you're a massage therapist, in this case, and work as one in that particular area.
Robert says that his massage therapist is licensed.
Stacey says she doesn't use smelly oils or play hokey music during the massage, does she?
Oil.
O-I-L is a thick liquid that massage therapists will sometimes put on your body in order to make it easier to rub your muscles.
Smelly S-M-E-L-L-Y is something that has a not very pleasant smell or odor, something that stinks, something that has a bad smell.
Stacy is worried that the massage therapist will use oils that are smelly, that don't have a good smell to them.
She's also worried that the therapist will play hokey music.
Hokey, H-O-K-E-Y, is something that is, we might say, overly emotional or sentimental, something that has too much emotion in it.
In this case it would be music that's supposed to relax you but you might think is kind of silly or kind of stupid.
Sometimes massage therapists try to relax the people that they are working on by playing music.
But if it's silly music, if it's hokey music, you may not like it.
That's what Stacey is afraid of here.
Robert says, no, she doesn't.
She's very professional without being too clinical, if you know what I mean.
To be clinical.
C-L-I-N-I-C-A-L would be almost like a doctor, someone who only uses evidence and science to do what they're doing.
Robert is saying that the massage therapist is not too clinical, meaning she's not like a doctor in this case.
She's going to help you relax.
If you know what I mean is an expression that we use or a phrase that we use to mean, the other person probably understands what you're trying to say, even though you haven't explained it very well.
Robert says, call her.
Stacy says, I'll think about it.
Ouch.
Ouch.
O-U-C-H is the sound we make when something hurts us, when we're in pain.
We say, ouch.
Sometimes you would say other words as well when you're in pain.
Robert says, call her right now.
You don't have a minute to lose.
The expression you don't have a minute to lose means that you have to do something immediately, right away.
If you don't, then your situation will be much worse.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Why are you twisting your back like that?
I'm in pain.
My back and shoulders really hurt.
I think it's from sitting at this computer all the time.
What you need is a good massage.
It can get rid of the knots in your muscles and get you some pain relief.
I don't know.
I don't like the idea of getting naked in front of a stranger.
If you're skittish about that, remember that you'll be covered with a sheet, except for the part that he or she is working on.
It's not a big deal.
But what if they're too rough with me?
It might make things worse.
An experienced massage therapist will ask you the amount of pressure you want and you can speak up if you don't like what he or she is doing.
Do you think a massage could really help me?
Definitely.
I recommend my massage therapist.
She's licensed and very good.
She doesn't use smelly oils or play hokey music during the massage, does she?
No, she doesn't.
She's very professional, without being too clinical, if you know what I mean.
Call her.
I'll think about it.
Ouch.
Call her right now.
You don't have a minute to lose.
Our scripts are never hokey.
That's because they're written by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
