Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1169, Being Talkative and Reserved.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast number 1169.
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 about someone who talks too much and someone who doesn't talk enough.
Let's get started.
Phew.
I thought they'd never leave.
I enjoyed their company.
Didn't you?
Jesse is fine, a little reserved and soft-spoken and on the shy side.
Kelly, on the other hand, talked our ear off.
No one could get a word in edgewise with her.
I thought Kelly's anecdotes were funny.
She was a little long-winded, I'll admit, but I enjoyed talking to her more than trying to make conversation with Jesse.
She is so closed-mouthed and guarded that it was like pulling teeth.
I'd rather talk to someone who is a little reticent than a loudmouth.
Ooh, that's a little harsh.
Maybe you're right, but I don't like the blathering, gossipy type.
I wonder... What?
I wonder what they're saying about us.
Marsha begins by saying, phew, I thought they'd never leave, meaning they stayed a very long time.
Marsha is referring to two guests that they had over, two women from work, I think.
Artem says, I enjoyed their company, didn't you?
Company, C-O-M-P-A-N-Y, here means something different than you may expect.
Company means the time that you spend with other people.
That's what it means here.
The presence of another person.
If someone says, I'm very bad company, he means I'm not a good person to be with.
I'm not a good person to spend time with.
It's a very different meaning than the one you may be thinking of normally, which would refer to a business.
But here, company means the presence of another person.
Marcia says Jesse is fine, a little reserved and soft-spoken, and on the shy side.
So there were two women who were visiting them.
One of them is Jesse.
Marcia thinks Jesse is fine, meaning okay.
She describes her as being a little reserved, R-E-S-E-R-V-E-D.
To be reserved means to be quiet, not to talk a lot, but also not to share your opinions, not to tell other people what you are thinking or feeling.
Jesse is also described as being soft, S-O-F-T, hyphen, spoken, S-P-O-K-E-N.
A person who is soft spoken doesn't speak very loudly.
Sometimes it's hard to hear what they're saying.
I have never been called soft spoken.
I wonder why.
Jesse is soft-spoken and on the shy, S-H-Y side.
To be shy means to be perhaps uncomfortable being around other people or talking to other people.
We might use the adjective timid, T-I-M-I-D, to describe a person who is shy.
On the shy side, S-I-D-E, means that she's a little bit shy, maybe not all that much.
Marcia describes the other woman, Kelly, as being someone who talked our ear off.
She says Kelly, on the other hand, meaning in comparison to or in addition to, talked our ear off.
To talk someone's ear off means to talk a lot, to talk too much.
No one could get a word in edgewise with her, Marcia says.
To get a word in edgewise E-D-G-E-W-I-S-E means that you are almost unable to talk because the other person is talking so much.
To get a word in edgewise would mean to give your opinion or simply to say something to someone who is talking.
So much it's very difficult to get a chance to talk.
Artem, however, says that he thinks Kelly's anecdotes were funny.
An anecdote, A-N-E-C-D-O-T-E, is a funny or humorous story about something that really happened.
It's not the same as a joke.
A joke is often something that is imaginary, that never took place.
An anecdote is a story that is funny, but that did take place.
Artem describes Kelly as being a little long-winded.
A person who is long L-O-N-G hyphen winded W-I-N-D-E-D is a person who talks too much, who talks too long.
So long that you begin to get a little bored by the person.
Artem says I enjoyed talking to her, meaning Kelly, more than trying to make conversation with Jessie, the other woman.
To make conversation with someone is to try to talk to a person directly.
Americans in some parts of the country often make conversation with strangers, people whom they've never met before.
That doesn't happen very often in Los Angeles or New York.
In fact, if you try to make conversation with someone say, at a grocery store or waiting for a bus,
The person might think you're a little weird, might even try to get away from you, because that's not what people do in big cities in the US.
But in smaller towns and in certain areas in the United States it's very common for people to make conversation, even with people they don't know very well.
Artem had difficulty making conversation with Jesse.
That's because in Artem's words she is so closed-mouthed and guarded that it making conversation was like pulling teeth.
To be closed-mouthed means to not be willing to speak.
It's similar to being shy, but it refers specifically to someone who doesn't like talking.
To be guarded.
G-U-A-R-D-E-D means that you are careful and cautious, usually because you don't want to tell someone something you don't want them to know a secret.
Someone who is very guarded is someone who doesn't tell you what he's thinking, perhaps because he doesn't want to tell you something that he thinks is a secret or wants to keep a secret.
That's why Artem found talking to Jesse like pulling teeth.
This is a common expression, like pulling, P-U-L-L-I-N-G, teeth.
Something that is like pulling teeth is something that is very difficult to do.
Something that is very challenging.
Often because the other person doesn't cooperate.
The other person you're trying to do this with doesn't do what you want them to do.
Especially when it comes to talking.
Getting an answer from our lawyer... that we could actually understand was like pulling teeth.
A lawyer was always using these long words, these legal terms we didn't understand.
Or trying to get my brother to answer a question is like pulling teeth.
It's very difficult.
Marcia says, I'd rather talk to someone who is a little reticent than a loud mouth.
To be reticent R-E-T-I-C-E-N-T means to be unwilling to share your opinion, to be unwilling to talk about a certain topic, perhaps because you don't want to, perhaps because you don't think the other person needs to know.
A loudmouth, L-O-U-D-M-O-U-T-H, one word, is, as you might guess, a person who always talks very loudly and often too much, someone who perhaps tries to impress other people by bragging, by saying how good he is,
A loudmouth is in general a person who we consider somewhat obnoxious.
That is not a very likable person.
Marsha prefers to talk to someone who is a little reticent than someone who's a loudmouth.
Artem says, oh, that's a little harsh.
To be harsh, H-A-R-S-H, means to be a little mean, a little cruel.
Marsha says, To blather, B-L-A-T-H-E-R, means to use a lot of words, but not really to say anything.
Someone who blathers is someone who maybe doesn't know what they want to say, but keeps talking anyway, or isn't very intelligent and therefore simply talks without really thinking about it before he opens his mouth.
So blathering would be a person who is like that, who blathers.
Gossipy g-o-s-s-i-p-y refers to someone who enjoys talking about other people and mentioning things that may or may not be true.
Gossip is something that people talk about, often things that are bad about the other person.
That may be true or may not be true.
Many Magazines and newspapers publish gossip things that may be true, but they may not too.
Another word for these things is rumors R-U-M-O-R-S.
Information that people tell other people even though they aren't sure that the information is correct.
Marsha doesn't like the blathering, gossipy type, meaning that kind of person.
Artem says, I wonder.
Marsha says, what?
I wonder what they're saying about us.
Artem is wondering what their friends, Jesse and Kelly, might be saying about Artem and Marsha.
The answer is probably nothing.
People often think that other people are more interested in their lives than they really are, and we're guessing their friends from work aren't really all that interested in Marcia Artem and their particular relationship.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I thought they'd never leave.
I enjoyed their company, didn't you?
Jesse is fine, a little reserved and soft-spoken and on the shy side.
Kelly, on the other hand, talked our ear off.
No one could get a word in edgewise with her.
I thought Kelly's anecdotes were funny.
She was a little long-winded, I'll admit, but I enjoyed talking to her more than trying to make conversation with Jesse.
She is so closed-mouthed and guarded that it was like pulling teeth.
I'd rather talk to someone who is a little reticent than a loudmouth.
Ooh, that's a little harsh.
Maybe you're right, but I don't like the blathering, gossipy type.
I wonder... What?
I wonder what they're saying about us.
There's nothing blathering about our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
She always knows what she's saying and how to say it.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
I'll stop talking your ear off now.
Thanks for listening, though.
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.
