Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 916, Being Forced Out of a Position.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 916.
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 and become a member of ESL Podcast.
This episode is a dialogue between...
Juliana and Hugo about someone being forced out or forced to leave their position.
Let's get started.
Haha, the wicked witch is dead.
What are you talking about?
Bettina is stepping down as chairperson of the committee.
I thought this day would never come.
That's a big surprise.
I never thought I'd live to see the day when Bettina would willingly give up her position.
It wasn't her choice, exactly.
The rest of the committee forced her out, saying they couldn't work with her anymore.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
But I thought she had the support of the higher-ups, and they wanted her in the position.
Well, she's somehow fallen from grace, and they can't wait to see the back of her.
It's nice to see her get her comeuppance, finally.
Maybe we're not getting the full story.
Maybe she had personal reasons for leaving.
How do you know the next chairperson won't be worse?
Bite your tongue.
Our dialogue begins with Juliana saying, Ha ha, the wicked witch is dead.
The wicked, W-I-C-K-E-D, witch, W-I-T-C-H, is a reference to a famous movie from the 1930s called The Wizard of Oz.
In the movie, there was a evil or bad character who was called the Wicked Witch.
A witch is a woman who is said to have magical powers.
To be wicked means to be bad.
It's an old word for someone who is bad.
So a wicked witch would be an evil witch, in this case, an evil woman.
Now one of the lines in the movie.
I don't want to tell you what happens at the end of the movie, but one of the lines in the movie is the wicked witch is dead.
We're guessing that Juliana is referring to someone who is not a witch but and is probably not dead, but in this case is no longer in their position.
And that's what Hugo asks her about.
Hugo says, what are you talking about?
Juliana says, Bettina is stepping down as chairperson of the committee.
To step down is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to voluntarily leave your position.
You could be the president of a company and then decide to step down, to resign, to leave your position.
Juliana says that Bettina is stepping down as chairperson of the committee.
We're not sure what the committee is, but Bettina is the chairperson.
Since Bettina is a woman, we could also call her the chairwoman.
Juliana says, I thought this day would never come.
That expression I thought this day would never come means you have difficulty believing that something has actually happened.
You've wanted it to happen for a very long time, and now it happens and you're surprised.
Hugo says, that's a big surprise.
The expression, is similar to, the previous expression, I thought this day would never come.
You're saying that you are very surprised that something has actually happened because again, you were waiting for it for a long time and now it has happened.
Hugo says that he never thought he'd see the day when Bettina would willingly that is voluntarily, not by being forced give up her position.
To give up something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to decide no longer to use it or to stop using something.
I'm going to give up drinking coffee in the mornings.
I'm going to stop drinking coffee in the mornings.
When we use the verb that way, there's this notion of a sacrifice.
I'm going to sacrifice voluntarily and give up a certain activity.
Here it means basically to no longer be in a position to resign, to step down.
Juliana says it wasn't her choice exactly.
That means it wasn't voluntary completely anyway.
That's what Juliana means when she says it wasn't her choice exactly.
The rest of the committee.
The other members of the committee forced her out, saying they couldn't work with her anymore.
To force someone out is to make someone leave a position, either in business or in politics, or in perhaps some other position of authority.
When a politician is forced out of office, he is made to resign or leave his position by people who don't want him there.
Bettina was forced out of her position as chairwoman of the committee.
Juliana says This is an old expression that refers to a verse or a sentence in the Bible describing how someone who is very strong and powerful suddenly loses their power.
To fall here means to no longer be powerful, to no longer be in your position.
Mighty, M-I-G-H-T-Y, describes someone who is powerful, who is strong.
So the expression oh, how the mighty have fallen means that someone who is very powerful is now suddenly not powerful.
Hugo says, but I thought she had the support of the higher-ups.
The expression the higher-ups refers to people who are at the top of an organization in terms of the management, the people who are the leaders or the bosses.
Those are the higher-ups.
Hugo says he thought Bettina had the support of the higher-ups of the bosses and that they wanted her in the position.
Juliana says, well, she's somehow fallen from grace, and they can't wait to see the back of her.
To fall from grace is to do something that makes other people unhappy with you.
Another way of saying this would be to fall out of favor, F-A-V-O-R.
To fall from grace or to fall out of favor is to be in a high position or a position where you are respected and everyone likes you, to a position where you do something bad and now nobody likes you.
And perhaps you've lost your power or your position.
Julianna says that the higher-ups, the bosses...
When you can't wait to do something, you very much want to do it.
You are eager to do it.
You want to do it right away, if possible.
In this case, the bosses can't wait to see the back of Bettina.
To see the back of someone means to want to see someone leave.
If someone leaves, they turn around and walk away from you.
And what do you see?
You see the back of that person.
So the expression they can't wait to see the back of her means they are very eager for her to leave.
They want her to leave as soon as possible.
Juliana says it's nice to see her get her comeuppance finally.
This is a somewhat unusual word, comeuppance, C-O-M-E-U-P-P-A-N-C-E.
Comeuppance is a punishment for something that you did wrong.
It's something that you deserve, because you've been doing something wrong and therefore need to be punished.
It's typically used in referring to people who think they're superior to everyone else, who think they're better than everyone else, and Then they do something wrong and they lose their power or they fall from grace.
We might say
That would be getting your comeuppance.
You have some sort of punishment for doing something wrong after having thought that you were better than everyone else.
Hugo says, maybe we're not getting the full story.
The full story here means the entire truth, the entire story, everything that could be known about the situation.
Hugo says maybe she had personal reasons for leaving.
Personal reasons would be, perhaps some problem with her family or she was sick, or something like that.
Something that was not related to her job performance.
Juliana says, whatever the reason... will be rid of her once and for all.
To be rid R-I-D of someone means to no longer have someone, or it could also be used to mean to no longer have something, especially something that you don't like.
We are now rid of neighbor next door who had a loud barking dog.
The neighbor moved out, left, and now we are rid of them.
We no longer have to have them next to us.
Once and for all means finally and completely.
Once and for all.
Juliana says, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
H-A-L-L-E-L-U-J-A-H is an old phrase, an old word to express joy, happiness when something very good happens.
You'll often see this word used in a religious context.
Hallelujah is wonderful, great.
That's what Juliana means by it.
Hugo says, In other words, the person who comes after Bettina could be worse than Bettina.
Juliana says, That expression...
Bite, B-I-T-E, your tongue, means stop talking immediately.
We say this when someone is saying something bad that we don't want to hear, or someone is predicting something bad that will happen, and you don't want them to talk about it anymore because you don't want it to happen.
The phrase can also be used simply to mean to be quiet, to not say something, even though you could say something.
I'm going to bite my tongue when my sister-in-law comes over.
I'm not going to say the things I want to say that might make her angry or might make my wife angry.
That's more important.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Ha ha, the wicked witch is dead.
What are you talking about?
Bettina is stepping down as chairperson of the committee.
I thought this day would never come.
That's a big surprise.
I never thought I'd live to see the day when Bettina would willingly give up her position.
It wasn't her choice exactly.
The rest of the committee forced her out, saying they couldn't work with her anymore.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
But I thought she had the support of the higher-ups and they wanted her in the position.
Well, she's somehow fallen from grace, and they can't wait to see the back of her.
It's nice to see her get her comeuppance, finally.
Maybe we're not getting the full story.
Maybe she had personal reasons for leaving.
Whatever the reason, we'll be rid of her once and for all.
Hallelujah!
How do you know the next chairperson won't be worse?
Bite your tongue.
We hope she never steps down from her position as scriptwriter here on ESL Podcast.
I speak, of course, of 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.
