Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1164, Making Office Renovations.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1164.
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 Alice and Dilbert about making changes physical changes to an office.
Let's get started.
I can't hear you over that hammering.
When are these renovations going to be done?
They're already two weeks past the scheduled completion date and I can only guess at the cost overruns.
It feels like they're never going to finish.
I know.
When the renovations were announced, I was glad to hear that the office would be reconfigured for better use.
Me too.
The upgrades sounded good.
New lighting fixtures, flooring, and sound deadening walls and ceilings.
I was looking forward to an updated look with new built-ins.
This old furniture shows lots of wear and tear.
Yeah.
Now all I want is to be rid of all this dust.
Who can work with this racket?
Huh?
What did you say?
Did you say you can't hack it?
Me neither.
Ella says to Dilbert, I can't hear you over that hammering.
To be able to hear someone over O-V-E-R something means to be able to hear someone despite noise that is in the background that you are also hearing.
Hammering, H-A-M-M-E-R-I-N-G, comes from the verb to hammer.
To hammer means to take an object called, interestingly enough, a hammer, and hit another object, usually a small piece of metal called a nail N-A-I-L.
We use a hammer to put nails into wood or other surfaces, other materials.
Hammering is the sound that you get when you use a hammer.
We often use hammers when we're putting something together or building something.
When Ella says she can't hear Dilbert over that hammering, she means the hammering is so loud she cannot hear Dilbert talking.
She says, when are these renovations going to be done?
When are they going to be finished?
Renovations, R-E-N-O-V-A-T-I-O-N-S, are changes to the appearance of a room or a taking a wall down or perhaps putting a new wall up, changing the floors.
These are examples of renovations that might take place inside of a building or a room.
Dilbert says they're already two weeks past the scheduled completion date.
They, in this case, are the people who are making the renovations.
These people are already two weeks past the scheduled completion date.
The completion date would be the date when something is supposed to be finished.
When something is supposed to be completed.
Dilbert says, I can only guess at the cost overruns.
To guess at something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to estimate the amount or size of something based upon the information that you have.
When Dilbert says he can only guess at the cost overruns, he means he estimates or expects that the price of this delay in completing the project is going to be high.
It's going to be great.
Cost overruns, O-V-E-R-R-U-N-S, refer to... the amount of money you have to spend, the expenses of a project that are more than what you anticipated, more than what was planned.
If you have ever done any renovations on your house or apartment, you know that usually they end up costing more than what you expected or what the person doing the renovations told you they would cost.
Ella says, it feels like they're never going to finish.
Dilbert responds, I know.
When the renovations were announced that is when they were announced told that they were going to have these renovations.
I was glad to hear that the office would be reconfigured for better use.
To reconfigure R-E-C-O-N-F-I-G-U-R-E something means to design it in a way that is new to.
We may say redesign it or reorganize something.
The offices where Dilbert works are being reconfigured for better use, meaning they're changing things around so that the office is more efficient perhaps.
Alice says she was happy to hear the offices were going to be reconfigured also.
That's why she says, me too.
Me too is an informal way of saying, I agree or I also believe that.
Dilbert says the upgrades sounded good.
Upgrades, U-P-G-R-A-D-E-S. are improvements in something.
In this case, improvements in the office and the way that the office is configured.
Dilbert says that some of these upgrades include new lighting fixtures and sound deadening walls and ceilings.
Lighting fixtures F-I-X-T-U-R-E-S simply refers to the lamps and bulbs that are attached to the walls and the ceilings that are part of the room.
A fixture is something usually that is permanently attached to a wall or a ceiling.
A ceiling, C-E-I-L-I-N-G, is the top of a room.
A room has a floor, F-L-O-O-R, on the bottom, walls on the side, and a ceiling on top.
Dilbert says the lighting fixtures were going to be changed or upgraded. as was the flooring.
The flooring refers, of course, to the kind of surface that is on the floor.
Some rooms, such as the room I'm standing in now, have wooden flooring.
Some rooms have carpet as flooring.
Dilbert says the upgrades also include sound deadening walls and ceilings.
Something that is sound.
Deadening D-E-A-D-E-N-I-N-G is something that reduces the amount of noise in a room, usually by making the room quieter.
Ella says, I was looking forward to the updated look with new built-ins.
Updated means more modern, something that is improved, something that is better.
Built-ins are shelves, cabinets and other pieces of furniture that are permanently attached to the walls.
That is, they aren't things you can move around.
For example, in some rooms there are built-in cabinets, things that you use for storage, things that you use to put things into.
A built-in cabinet would be an example of a built-in something that is put into a room.
That is usually permanently attached to the ceiling or the floor or the wall or all three.
Ella says, this old furniture shows lots of wear and tear.
To show here means that you can see it.
It is easily noticed.
Wear W-E-A-R And tear T-E-A-R is an expression referring to the damage that occurs slowly over time as things get used.
So if you have, for example, a chair in your room, an old chair that has been there many years, it probably shows a little wear and tear.
That is, you can see that it's old.
Perhaps it's changed its color.
Or there are parts of the chair that need repairing.
Dilbert says, yeah, now all I want is to be rid of all this dust.
To be rid R-I-D of something means to no longer have something, to be free of something that is bothering you or that you don't like.
In this case, Dilbert doesn't like all of the dust, D-U-S-T.
Dust usually refers to very small pieces of dirt or other particles I guess we would call them that collect on the floor or on a piece of furniture.
If you go away from your house for a couple of months and you return, there will probably be dust on the tables.
You can put your hand on the table and move your fingers across the table and when you lift your hand up it will have dust on it, those little small pieces of dirt that collect on say, a piece of furniture.
Dilbert then says, Who can work with this racket?
Racket, R-A-C-K-E-T, here refers to a lot of noise, especially constant noise.
Noise caused, for example, by construction or renovation.
A mother might say to her son, turn down your radio.
I don't want to hear all of that racket.
The mother is referring to probably her son's music, which to her sounds just like noise or racket.
As a noun racket can also be used to describe what you use to play certain sporting games such as tennis and badminton.
Those sports also use rackets, things that you hold in your hand to hit the ball, or the object that is used in the game.
I think in badminton, in English, we call it a birdie, B-I-R-D-I-E.
Well, that's what we called it when we were kids.
I think the technical name is something like shuttlecock.
You don't need to know that.
Unless you play badminton, of course.
It's so loud, however, that Alice can't hear Dilbert.
She says, hey, what did you say?
Did you say you can't hack it?
Me neither.
To not be able to hack H-A-C-K something means you're unable to do something.
Dilbert actually says the word racket, but Alice thinks he's saying something else.
Because of all the noise, she can't hear him properly.
She thinks he said that he can't hack it, meaning he can't work.
He can't do anything because of all of this noise.
He's unable to perform his job.
She agrees with him, even though that's not what he said.
She says, me neither, meaning I can't either.
Once again, notice that this is an informal way of saying I don't either in English.
We'll often say in normal conversation me neither, even though your grammar book may say that that's not correct.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I can't hear you over that hammering.
When are these renovations going to be done?
They're already two weeks past the scheduled completion date and I can only guess at the cost overruns.
It feels like they're never going to finish.
I know.
When the renovations were announced, I was glad to hear that the office would be reconfigured for better use.
Me too.
The upgrade sounded good.
New lighting fixtures, flooring, and sound editing walls and ceilings.
I was looking forward to an updated look with new built-ins.
This old furniture shows lots of wear and tear.
Yeah, now all I want is to be rid of all this dust.
Who can work with this racket?
Huh?
What did you say?
Did you say you can't hack it?
Me neither.
If your English needs upgrading, you should listen to the wonderful scripts by our amazing script writer, Dr Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy, by the way, for your wonderful scripts.
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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
