Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,274, Childish Fighting and Misbehavior.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,274.
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 Mitch and Nancy about children fighting and acting badly, as children sometimes do.
Let's get started.
How was work today?
Did anybody throw a tantrum or act out in some other way?
Several did.
At one point, a couple of them stomped out and slammed the door.
But they eventually came back.
I wish they'd given each other the silent treatment instead.
So there was yelling?
They tried to talk over each other and wouldn't take turns.
After a while, I wanted to demand some quiet time, but no one would have paid me any attention.
That sounds like a lot of posturing.
At least it didn't devolve into hitting and biting.
Not yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is plenty of that next week when the Congressional Subcommittee on Peacekeeping meets again.
Mitch begins our dialogue by asking Nancy, how was work today?
He wants to know how Nancy's day was at work.
Nancy responds, terrible, meaning very bad.
Nobody could get along and the name calling started early.
The phrasal verb to get along A-L-O-N-G means to have a friendly relationship with another person, to be nice to each other.
If you say, I get along with my mother-in-law, that means you have a friendly relationship with her.
It also means you're probably a liar.
Nancy also says that the name calling started early.
Name calling is when you try to hurt another person's feelings by calling or using a bad name for him.
I won't give you examples, but you probably can think of lots of names or words that you call other people whom you don't like or whom you want to anger.
Mitch asks, did anybody throw a tantrum or act out in some other way?
The expression to throw T-H-R-O-W a tantrum.
T-A-N-T-R-U-M means to lose control of your emotions or your actions, to get very angry or upset And begin to act in ways that you shouldn't.
Normally we associate this expression throwing a tantrum with a child, a young child, who gets mad and starts yelling or perhaps hitting other people.
If you say that an adult is throwing a tantrum, you are really insulting that person.
Saying that that person is acting like a child, because we only expect children to throw a tantrum.
To act, ACT out is is also another expression that we usually use with children, or to describe the way children act when they are being bad, when they are, we would say, behaving badly.
To behave, B-E-H-A-V-E, means to act.
The title of this episode is Misbehavior, which refers to people not acting the way they should or acting badly.
To act out means to yell or start doing things that show that you are angry.
It's something that children might do when they get upset.
They might start yelling or throwing things or hitting other people.
That's what to act out means.
To be honest, I don't remember hearing this expression a lot when I was a child.
Although in my family, if you misbehaved, my parents would certainly let you know about it.
Nancy says that several people threw a tantrum and acted out at her work today.
She says at one point, meaning at a certain time, a couple of them stomped out and slammed the door, but they eventually came back.
The expression to stomp, S-T-O-M-P, refers to hitting your feet against the floor loudly.
The phrasal verb to stomp out means to leave a room by loudly hitting your feet against the floor.
It's an indication that you're angry and you're leaving because you are angry or upset with someone.
Similarly, to slam, S-L-A-M, the door, means to close the door or very loudly with a lot of force.
Again, that usually indicates that you are angry when you slam the door.
Nancy says a couple of people at her work stomped out and slammed the door, but they eventually meaning later came back.
I wish they'd given each other the silent treatment instead, she says.
The phrase the silent treatment T-R-E-A-T-M-E-N-T refers to a period of time when two people don't talk to each other because they are angry with each other.
If you're married, you know what I mean.
Mitch says, so there was yelling?
Yelling comes from the verb to yell, Y-E-L-L.
To yell means to shout, to speak in a very loud voice, usually because you're angry.
Nancy says lots of yelling, meaning yes, there was a lot of yelling.
They tried to talk over each other and wouldn't take turns, she explains.
To talk over someone is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to speak while another person is speaking, especially if you want to say something and don't want to listen to the other person.
That's a joke.
Nancy says...
The people at her work tried to talk over each other and wouldn't take turns, T-U-R-N-S.
To take turns means to allow someone else to do something that you are doing.
First I do it, then you do it, then another person does it, then another person does it, then I do it.
And so forth.
That's taking turns.
Everyone gets a chance or an opportunity to do something.
In this case, to talk.
After a while, Nancy continues, I wanted to demand some quiet time.
Quiet time is a period of silence when no one is allowed to talk.
She says, no one would have paid me any attention, however.
To pay attention means to do what the other person says to do, or at least to listen to the other person.
Mitch says that sounds like a lot of posturing.
The verb to posture P-O-S-T-U-R-E means to behave or to act in a certain way in order to impress other people, to make other people think a certain way about you, or perhaps even to make other people afraid of you.
To posture is to act in a certain way to make you seem bigger or stronger or more powerful than you really are.
Mitch says, at least it didn't devolve into hitting and biting.
The verb to devolve, D-E-V-O-L-V-E, means to change into something worse.
We might also use the verb to deteriorate or simply to worsen, W-O-R-S-E-N.
Mitch says at least it didn't devolve into hitting, H-I-T-T-I-N-G, and biting, B-I-T-I-N-G.
To hit someone is to use a part of your body, such as your hand, or perhaps an object, a thing, To hurt that person by moving it with force into that person.
Normally, if you hit someone, you are angry at that person.
To bite, B-I-T-E, means to use your teeth, which are inside of your mouth, to hurt another person.
Normally we bite a piece of food when we are eating.
You don't normally bite another person.
Once again, that would be something perhaps that a child would do.
Nancy says Not yet, meaning the people at her work had not yet started hitting and biting, but perhaps they will in the future.
In fact she says I wouldn't be surprised, meaning it would not surprise me.
It would not be unusual if there is plenty of that.
That is a lot of hitting and biting next week when the Congressional Subcommittee on Peacekeeping meets again.
The final line of the dialogue then tells us where Nancy works.
She works in Congress.
She works in that part of our national or federal government in Washington DC that is composed of representatives of the people.
A congressional subcommittee is a group of people in Congress that are discussing and are responsible for laws about a certain topic.
This topic is In the case of our dialogue is peacekeeping.
Peace is the opposite of war.
Peacekeeping means trying to prevent people from fighting.
So, of course, the joke in our dialogue here is that this group of people, this congressional subcommittee on peacekeeping, is in fact a group of people who are always fighting each other and behaving badly.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
How was work today?
Terrible.
Nobody could get along and the name-calling started early.
Did anybody throw a tantrum or act out in some other way?
Several did.
At one point, a couple of them stomped out and slammed the door, but they eventually came back.
I wish they'd given each other the silent treatment instead.
So there was yelling?
Lots of yelling.
They tried to talk over each other and wouldn't take turns.
After a while, I wanted to demand some quiet time, but no one would have paid me any attention.
That sounds like a lot of posturing.
At least it didn't devolve into hitting and biting.
Not yet.
But I wouldn't be surprised if there is plenty of that next week when the Congressional Subcommittee on Peacekeeping meets again.
Our wonderful script writer gets along with everyone here at ESL Podcast.
I speak of the great Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm the not very great Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks 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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
