Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 873, Avoiding Giving an Opinion.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 873.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This episode, like all of our episodes, has a learning guide.
You can get that by going to our website, www.eslpod.com.
This episode is a dialogue between Ariel and Paolo about trying not to give your opinion.
Let's get started.
I know you'll give me the inside scoop.
What's going on between Sam and Matt?
You're asking the wrong person.
Don't be like that.
You know both of them really well, and I know that Sam confides in you.
Don't you think Matt is being unreasonable?
I really couldn't say.
Why are you being so closed-mouthed?
I'm sure you have an opinion.
I've never given it much thought to be honest and I don't think it's any of my business.
But they're both friends of yours.
You must have at least speculated on what's happening.
It's only human.
Do you think Sam is going to leave Matt?
Your guess is as good as mine.
I really don't know anything and don't have an opinion either way.
That's just not possible.
Okay, okay.
What do you think is going on between Michaela and Carlos?
Ugh.
Ariel begins by saying to Paolo, I know you'll give me the inside scoop.
The expression inside scoop, S-C-O-O-P, means secret information that not everyone else knows.
Scoop.
Can sometimes be used in the world of journalism, in newspapers, for example, to describe a story that one newspaper gets before any of the other newspapers get it.
That would be a scoop.
An inside scoop is some secret about some situation that no one else knows about, but that someone tells you.
Arielle wants Paolo to give her the inside scoop.
She says, what's going on between Sam and Matt?
What's going on means what's the problem?
What's the story?
What is happening?
Paolo says you're asking the wrong person.
When someone says you're asking the wrong person, they're telling you that you don't have any information about that situation.
You are not the person to ask or simply you don't know.
Ariel says don't be like that.
That phrase don't be like that is used to change someone's behavior or attitude or to stop someone from doing something, usually something you don't like.
You want the person to be more helpful to you.
In this case, Paolo does not want to answer Ariel's question.
And Ariel is asking him to change his attitude, to change his behavior.
Don't be like that.
You know both of them really well, she says.
And I know that Sam confides in you.
To confide C-O-N-F-I-D-E in someone is to trust someone to tell that person your secrets, your personal thoughts.
Arielle says that Sam confides in Paolo.
Don't you think Matt is being unreasonable, she asks.
To be unreasonable is to be not reasonable.
Reasonable is rational, logical.
Not reasonable, unreasonable is illogical or irrational.
Paolo says, I really couldn't say.
This expression, I really couldn't say means Again, means I don't know or I'm not sure.
We use it when we don't really want to answer someone's question.
Someone asks us a question and we don't really want to give them the answer, but we don't want to lie to them.
We might say, I really couldn't say.
That doesn't exactly mean you don't know.
It may really mean that you don't want to say something, but you're implying that you're not really sure.
Ariel says, why are you being so close-mouthed?
Close-mouthed, M-O-U-T-H-E-D, means you do not want to give someone information.
You don't want to talk about a certain topic.
Paolo is being close-mouthed with Ariel.
She says I'm sure you have an opinion, meaning I'm sure you have an idea, something that you think about the situation.
Paolo responds I've never given it much thought.
To be honest, when you say you've never given something much thought, you're saying that you haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it.
It hasn't been something that has been worrying you.
And therefore, you don't really have an opinion about it.
I haven't given it much thought can mean I haven't thought about it enough to make a decision, or it could mean I don't really know.
I don't care that much.
And therefore, I don't have a strong opinion about the situation.
Paolo says, I don't think it's any of my business.
This is a very important phrase to be of your business, as in when someone says it's not any of your business or it's not any of my business means it's not something that you should be concerned about.
It's not something that affects you personally.
And therefore, it's not something you should be talking about or asking about.
The related expression here is it's none of your business.
That's a very strong thing to say to someone who's asking you about something that you don't think they have any right to know.
It's not something that concerns them.
It's a rather strong statement, however, when you say it's none of your business.
That is really saying you are doing something you should not.
It's definitely a criticism of someone.
When you say, it isn't any of my business, however, you're just saying, well, that's not my concern.
And therefore, I don't know anything about it.
And I don't think I should know anything about it.
Ariel says, but they're both friends of yours.
You must have speculated on what's happening.
To speculate, S-P-E-C-U-L-A-T-E, on something means to think about something and to have an opinion about it even though you don't have any evidence, even though you don't have any strong evidence. what we would call proof, P-R-O-O-F, something that tells you for sure whether this is true or that is true.
To speculate on something is to think about it without having all of the information you really need in order to have an opinion.
It's a guess about what is happening.
Often that is, of course, a very bad idea.
Ariel says it's only human.
It's only human here is used to talk about negative things that everyone does, even if they don't want to or aren't supposed to.
It's only human that you get angry when the waiter is not nice to you.
We're not saying that it's a good thing to get angry at the waiter.
It isn't.
But it's only human.
We can understand because that's what happens to us weak human beings.
Arielle says, do you think Sam is going to leave Matt?
Sam can also be short for Samantha, a woman's name.
Ariel wants to know if Sam is going to leave Matt.
To leave someone here means to end a romantic relationship with that person.
To break up with someone is another way of saying that.
Paulo says, your guess is as good as mine.
The expression your guess is as good as mine means that you don't have any more information about it than the person you're talking to.
I don't know.
Your guess is as good as mine.
You don't know.
I don't know.
We're both guessing.
Either of us could be right.
He then says...
I really don't know anything and don't have an opinion either way.
Either way here means either for or against something.
There could be two possibilities, but you're not sure which is correct.
We might say, for example, of a game.
It could go either way.
Team A could win or Team B could win.
You're not really sure.
In this case, Paolo doesn't have an opinion either way, meaning he doesn't know whether the two people are going to stay together or break up.
Ariel says that's just not possible.
Okay, okay.
What do you think is going on between Michaela and Carlos?
Immediately, Ariel asks Paolo's opinion about another couple, another two people, and wants to know what Paolo thinks of them.
Paolo just says ugh, which is A sound that you would make when you are frustrated or upset or tired of this person asking you this question or talking to you about this situation.
And that definitely is what is happening to Paolo.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I know you'll give me the inside scoop.
What's going on between Sam and Matt?
You're asking the wrong person.
Don't be like that.
You know both of them really well and I know that Sam confides in you.
Don't you think Matt is being unreasonable?
I really couldn't say.
Why are you being so closed-mouthed?
I'm sure you have an opinion.
I've never given it much thought, to be honest, and I don't think it's any of my business.
But they're both friends of yours.
You must have at least speculated on what's happening.
It's only human.
Do you think Sam is going to leave Matt?
Your guess is as good as mine.
I really don't know anything and don't have an opinion either way.
That's just not possible.
Okay, okay.
What do you think is going on between Michaela and Carlos?
Ugh.
I won't be closed-mouthed about my opinion of who the greatest scriptwriter on the Internet is.
I think it's 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.
