Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1045.
Being infatuated with someone.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1045.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Marcel and Fiona about someone who is infatuated with another person.
Let's get started.
What is this on your wall?
It's my tribute to Del Gordon, my favorite player.
This isn't a tribute.
It's a shrine.
It's not a shrine.
I just have a few pictures of him taped on my wall.
You have poster-size pictures of him covering three walls of your room.
This goes beyond being a fan.
You're obsessed with him.
No, I'm not obsessed.
I admit that I'm a little infatuated with him, but it's a healthy kind of adulation.
You've definitely gotten carried away.
Just a little.
I'm devoted to watching him play in every game, and I try to find out as much as I can about him.
But it's because I admire him.
It's not like I'm stalking him or something.
Then why do you have all of this equipment?
That's in case there's a sighting of him in the city.
A sighting?
Yes.
There's a network of fans that keeps tabs on him.
And if I learn that he's in town, I can try to get a photo with him.
And what are those handcuffs for?
I only have those in case he doesn't cooperate.
You're right.
Your infatuation is completely healthy.
Marcel begins our dialogue by asking Fiona, What is this on your wall?
Fiona has something hanging on her wall, something attached to her wall.
Fiona says, it's my tribute to Del Gordon, my favorite player.
Del Gordon appears to be an athlete of some sort.
Fiona says it's her tribute to Del Gordon.
A tribute T-R-I-B-U-T-E is something that you do or say that shows that you honor and respect another person.
It could be a speech that you give to a group of people.
It could be a party that you have in honor of this person.
In the case of Fiona, it's something that she has on her wall.
Marcel says, A shrine S-H-R-I-N-E is normally considered a holy place, a place of prayer where people worship God.
So To call this a shrine means that it is more than just a simple little photograph or tribute of some sort.
It is instead something bigger, something that looks like it could be a shrine.
People do sometimes have small shrines in their homes for religious reasons, but this is not something religious.
This is what we might call an infatuation, which I'll define in a minute.
Fiona says it's not a shrine.
I just have a few pictures of him taped on my wall.
They're attached to her wall, probably not by tape, although they might be.
Marcel says you have poster-size pictures of him covering three walls of your room.
A poster.
P-O-S-T-E-R is a large piece of paper typically that is used to advertise a movie or perhaps a rock band or even a sports star.
People often have posters especially young people in their rooms of their favorite athlete or musician or actor.
Posters can be quite large, usually two or three feet tall.
And that's what Marcel is referring to when he says that Fiona has poster size pictures, meaning the photographs are as big as posters.
This goes beyond being a fan, Marcel says.
You're obsessed with him.
A fan F-A-N is someone who likes an athlete musician, actor or perhaps a type of sport or a type of music or even a podcast.
Why not?
Marcel says that Fiona is obsessed with Del Gordon.
To be obsessed, O-B-S-S-E-S-S-E-D means that you are only able to think about one thing.
The adjective is obsessive.
Someone who is obsessive is always thinking about one thing.
Sometimes this can be an indication of some sort of mental illness.
Here it refers to Fiona's love of this particular athlete.
She's obsessed with this athlete.
She can't think of anything else.
Fiona says, no, I'm not obsessed.
She disagrees with Marcel.
She says, I admit that I'm a little infatuated with him, but it's a healthy kind of adulation.
She says I admit, meaning I will confess or I will say something that is true, even though it isn't something I may be proud of.
She says she's a little infatuated with Gordon.
To be infatuated I-N-F-A-T-U-A-T-E-D with someone is to basically be in love with this person, but usually only for a short time.
When you are attracted to, for example, a beautiful woman or a handsome man, you might become infatuated with that person.
You may think of nothing but that person and think that perhaps you are even in love with that person, even if you've only seen them on the street.
That happens to everyone, I suppose.
Not after you get married, though.
Fiona is infatuated with Del Gordon, but she says it's a healthy kind of adulation.
Adulation, A-D-U-L-A-T-I-O-N, is showing a lot of love and admiration for someone or for something.
Usually to an extreme extent.
You're doing it too much.
Marcel says, you've definitely gotten carried away.
To get carried away means to do too much of something.
Anything.
You could get carried away with exercising.
You could go to the gym four hours every day.
Unless you're a professional athlete, that's probably getting carried away.
That's what has happened to Fiona.
She's gotten carried away with her love of Del Gordon, her favorite player.
Fiona says, just a little, meaning she's only gotten a little carried away.
I'm devoted to watching him play in every game.
And I try to find out as much as I can about him, but it's because I admire him.
Fiona says she's devoted, D-E-V-O-T-E-D.
To be devoted to something means that you are strongly committed to this person or this thing, almost with feelings of love, for whatever the activity is.
The activity here is watching Del Gordon play in every game.
That's what Fiona is devoted to.
She says that she admires him.
To admire A-D-M-I-R-E is to think that someone or something is very good and deserves a lot of respect.
You can admire a person without being in love with them, of course, or even being infatuated with them.
You can admire a politician, although I'm not sure why you would, but you could.
You could admire a leader of a company or a religious group.
Lots of Possibilities there for admiration, which is the noun that comes from the verb to admire.
Next, Fiona says, it's not like I'm stalking him or something.
It's not like means this is not what I am doing.
I am not stalking him.
To stalk someone is to follow someone in a secret, hidden way that is usually considered dangerous.
Perhaps you want to hurt the person.
Perhaps you even want to kill the person.
We have stalkers of celebrities here in Los Angeles, people who follow celebrities, famous people around.
This is, depending on how you do it, potentially illegal, and you could get arrested for following someone around, especially if it seems as though you might do something hurtful or damaging to that person.
But Fiona says she's not stalking Del Gordon.
Marcel says, then why do you have all of this equipment?
We're not sure what equipment Marcel is referring to.
Fiona says, that's in case there's a sighting of him in this city.
In case means if something happens in this particular situation.
A sighting, S-I-G-H-T-I-N-G, is when you see someone or something, often something that is very rare.
Here in L.A., people talk about star sightings, seeing famous celebrities, famous people.
Have I seen famous people here in Los Angeles?
Sure.
You see them at the grocery store.
You see them at the mall.
You see them on the street.
If you live in the city of Los Angeles, you're going to see some famous people eventually.
Marcel then asks a sighting.
Fiona says, yes, there's a network of fans that keeps tab on him.
And if I learn that he is in town, I can try to get a photo with him.
A network is a group of people who are all connected in some way and who are communicating with each other.
A network can also refer to a group of computers that are connected to each other for some common purpose.
The phrase to keep tabs T-A-B-S on someone means to know the location of someone, to know where someone is or what they are doing.
Fiona says there are people in this network of fans who keep tabs on Del Gordon.
If Fiona learns that her favorite athlete is in town, meaning in the city right now, she can try to get a photo with him.
Notice we say in town when someone is physically present in the city where you are.
The opposite would be out of town.
If you are out of town, you are not in the city where you are, normally the place where you live, say.
Marcel says, and what are those handcuffs for?
Handcuffs, H-A-N-D-C-U-F-F-S, are two metal rings that, that go around your wrists.
The rings are attached by a short chain.
Police use handcuffs in order to arrest someone, to make sure the person doesn't try to escape.
Fiona has a pair of handcuffs.
Why?
She says, I only have those in case he doesn't cooperate.
In other words, she has these handcuffs in case she sees her favorite player and asks the favorite player for a photograph and the player says no.
If that happens, then she can put handcuffs around him and make him take a photograph with her.
Of course, this is not something you can do.
It's illegal to do that sort of thing, and it's also a sign that Fiona really is obsessed with this person.
Marcel says sarcastically, jokingly, You're right.
Your infatuation is completely healthy, meaning there's nothing wrong with this infatuation with this person.
He means, of course, just the opposite.
You can tell by the way he says it that he's being sarcastic.
He's joking.
Sarcasm means saying one thing but meaning another in order to make a joke.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What is this on your wall?
It's my tribute to Del Gordon, my favorite player.
This isn't a tribute.
It's a shrine.
It's not a shrine.
I just have a few pictures of him taped on my wall.
You have poster-sized pictures of him covering three walls of your room.
This goes beyond being a fan.
You're obsessed with him.
No, I'm not obsessed.
I admit that I'm a little infatuated with him, but it's a healthy kind of adulation.
You've definitely gotten carried away.
Just a little.
I'm devoted to watching him play in every game and I try to find out as much as I can about him, but it's because I admire him.
It's not like I'm stalking him or something.
Then why do you have all of this equipment?
That's in case there's a sighting of him in the city.
A sighting?
Yes, there's a network of fans that keeps tabs on him, and if I learn that he's in town I can try to get a photo with him.
And what are those handcuffs for?
I only have those in case he doesn't cooperate.
You're right.
Your infatuation is completely healthy.
We all admire the wonderful scriptwriter of ESL Podcast, 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 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
