Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,175.
Getting a fresh start.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,175.
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 dialogue is all about getting a fresh start, beginning your life anew.
Well, let's get started ourselves.
I'm moving to Atlanta.
I want a fresh start.
This is a surprise.
I thought you were going to stick it out here and try to put the past behind you.
There are too many reminders here.
I want a clean slate.
What's done is done, and I'm tired of blame and recriminations.
I'm glad to hear you've stopped beating yourself up over what's happened.
But are you sure moving away will help you move on?
The world is my oyster now, isn't it?
I can live anywhere I want to and do anything I want to.
I guess so, but are you sure you want to uproot and leave town?
I'm not trying to reinvent myself, but if I'm going to start over, I might as well do it in a new town.
I guess a new town is a good place to start a new life.
And maybe you'll find a new love.
Many people bounce back from a difficult divorce.
I've sworn off women.
The only female I want in my life right now is my dog Fifi.
We're getting a fresh start on this episode, a new opportunity to do things differently.
Nico in the dialogue says he's moving to Atlanta.
Atlanta is a city in the state of Georgia in the southeast part of the U.S.
Nico says he wants a fresh start.
Celia is surprised.
In fact, she says, this is a surprise.
I thought you were going to stick it out here and try to put the past behind you.
To stick it out means to continue to do something, even though it is difficult, even though it may be challenging.
To put the past behind you means to no longer worry about what happened before.
It can also mean sometimes to no longer do the bad things that you used to do.
To put the past behind you means to focus on the future or on what you're doing right now, and no longer worry about what you did before.
Celia thought that Nico was going to put the past behind him and stay here, wherever here is in our dialogue.
But Nico says there are too many reminders here.
A reminder, R-E-M-I-N-D-E-R, is something that makes you remember something.
It could be something you have to do now, or it could be something that you did once many years ago or any time in your past.
That second meaning is what Nico is using here.
When he says there are too many reminders here, he means there are too many things that make him remember bad things that happened to him.
He says, I want a clean slate, S-L-A-T-E.
A slate is a kind of writing surface.
Something you write on a clean slate would be a new starting point.
It's basically the same as a fresh start.
To have a clean slate means that you don't worry about anything in the past.
A clean slate means you don't worry about or don't consider anything that has already been done.
Nico says what's done is done, and I'm tired of blame and recriminations.
The expression what's done is done is a somewhat unusual one, but basically it says I'm not going to worry about what has happened in the past because I can't change it.
Although Shakespeare wasn't the first person to use this expression, people often associate it with him because he uses it in his play Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth says, what's done is done.
And later she adds, what's done cannot be undone.
To undo something would be to reverse something that has happened.
And of course, you can't go back and change the past.
What's done is done.
Nico says he's tired of blame, B-L-A-M-E, and recriminations, R-E-C-R-I-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N-S.
Blame is the responsibility for doing something wrong.
We usually use the expression, take the blame.
I will take the blame means I will take responsibility.
I will take the consequences of what has gone wrong here.
Recriminations refer to what we call accusations.
To accuse ACCUSE someone is to say that someone did something wrong.
Accusation is the noun form from the verb to accuse.
Recriminations are accusations that person A makes against person B after person B has already made an accusation against person A.
So, for example, you say that I did something wrong and I say well, you did something wrong.
You see, I'm accusing you of something after you have already accused me of doing something wrong.
Celia says To beat yourself up over something means to criticize yourself too much to be, we might say, overly critical.
To be unable to forgive yourself is to beat yourself up over something.
Celia says, are you sure moving away will help you move on?
To move on means to no longer think about something that has happened, something bad that has happened, and to plan for the future.
Nico says, the world is my oyster now, isn't it?
The expression, the world is my oyster, O-Y-S-T-E-R, means that you can do whatever you want.
You have freedom, perhaps money or other things that will allow you to do whatever you want.
Nico says, I can live anywhere I want to and do anything I want to.
Celia says, I guess so, but are you sure you want to uproot and leave town?
To uproot means to move yourself from one place to a completely different place.
We sometimes use that verb when you are not only moving, but you are moving breaking off your relationships from the place where you live now and going to a completely new place where you don't know anyone.
Nico says, To reinvent yourself would mean to change yourself significantly, to change your personality perhaps, or to start acting in a way that is completely different from the way you acted in the past.
To start over means to begin again.
It's similar to having a fresh start.
Nico says, I might as well do it in a new town.
The phrase might M-I-G-H-T as well is used to show that two different ideas are equal and there's no really good reason to select one over the other.
It doesn't really matter.
For example, it's four o'clock in the afternoon and you're working on a project.
But in order to work more on the project, you need to talk to your boss.
Your boss isn't in the office.
So you say well, I might as well go home, because I can't do anything on this project until I talk to my boss.
Of course, if you're supposed to stay at your work until 5 o'clock, your boss might not be very happy that you left.
But in your mind, there wasn't any advantage for you to stay at your office because you couldn't continue working on the project.
So you chose another option, which was to go home.
Nico says he might as well start over in a new town.
It won't matter.
Celia says I guess a new town is a good place to start a new life and maybe you'll find a new love.
Many people bounce back from a difficult divorce.
To bounce B-O-U-N-C-E back from something means to recover from something, to get your happiness back or to perhaps get your physical health back.
We could talk about someone bouncing back from an illness, getting healthy again, getting stronger again.
Nico says I've sworn off women.
To swear, S-W-E-A-R, off, means to promise not to do something again.
I am swearing off drinking beer.
I'm never going to drink beer again.
I'm promising never to drink beer again.
That's to swear off something.
In this case, Nico is swearing off women.
He's not going to get involved romantically with another woman.
Nico says, the only female I want in my life right now is my dog Fifi.
A female, F-E-M-A-L-E, is the opposite of a male, M-A-L-E.
Male and female are sexes.
The human race has a male and a female.
Many animals, most animals, I would think, have male and female members.
If you don't know the difference between males and females, I'm not really the person to tell you.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm moving to Atlanta.
I want a fresh start.
This is a surprise.
I thought you were going to stick it out here and try to put the past behind you.
There are too many reminders here.
I want a clean slate.
What's done is done, and I'm tired of blame and recriminations.
I'm glad to hear you've stopped beating yourself up over what's happened, but are you sure moving away will help you move on?
The world is my oyster now, isn't it?
I can live anywhere I want to and do anything I want to.
I guess so, but are you sure you want to uproot and leave town?
I'm not trying to reinvent myself, but if I'm going to start over, I might as well do it in a new town.
I guess a new town is a good place to start a new life, and maybe you'll find a new love.
Many people bounce back from a difficult divorce.
I've sworn off women.
The only female I want in my life right now is my dog, Fifi.
If you want a fresh start for your English, listen to the wonderful dialogues by our wonderful scriptwriter, 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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
