Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,283, Forgetting Someone's Birthday.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,283.
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 Gretchen and Hugh about forgetting when someone's birthday is.
I thought you were going out with your girlfriend tonight.
What are you doing here watching TV?
She's mad at me.
Why?
I forgot her birthday.
I forgot to put a reminder on my calendar.
She's moping and giving me the silent treatment.
What are you going to do to make up for forgetting her birthday?
I'm just going to wait it out and let it blow over.
She'll get over it.
Are you sure you don't want to get her ablated birthday present?
I don't think it works that way.
She's not going to forget that you forgot her birthday.
That's always going to be a sore spot.
It's not like I did something really bad that I have to atone for.
I forgot.
What's the big deal?
Okay, you know best.
But if I were her...
Sooner or later she'll realize she's blown this completely out of proportion and she owes me an apology.
Okay, if you say so.
Gretchen begins by saying to Hugh, I thought you were going out with your girlfriend tonight.
To go out with someone means to go somewhere such as a restaurant, a theater, or a park to have fun.
What are you doing here watching television?
Gretchen asks.
Hugh says, she's mad at me, meaning his girlfriend is mad at him.
She's feeling anger toward him.
Usually, this happens because you have done something wrong, but With your girlfriend.
That's the way it works, guys.
Gretchen says, why?
Why is she mad at you?
Hugh says, I forgot her birthday.
To forget means you don't remember.
And if you don't remember your girlfriend's birthday, well, she won't be your girlfriend very long.
Hugh says it meaning his girlfriend's birthday, I believe, was last Tuesday and it completely slipped my mind.
For something to slip S-L-I-P your mind means to forget something or for something to be forgotten something.
By accident.
Of course, no one forgets something on purpose.
To slip your mind is just another way of saying I forgot.
Hugh says, I forgot to put a reminder on my calendar.
A reminder, R-E-M.
M-I-N-D-E-R is something that helps you remember about something or remember to do something.
Nowadays, with our electronic calendars, you can put a reminder on your calendar and when that day comes up, you will get some sort of message on your phone or on your computer.
Hugh says that his girlfriend is moping, M-O-P-I-N-G.
To mope means to show that you are very sad or unhappy, or perhaps disappointed with someone or with something.
To mope means to go around with a sad face and perhaps not be very interested in doing anything.
Young children, when they're angry at their parents, sometimes like to mope.
They walk around the house like the world has ended.
Hugh says his girlfriend is moping.
And giving him the silent treatment.
Ooh, the silent treatment.
The silent treatment is when someone doesn't talk to you.
When someone refuses to talk to you.
Someone who would normally talk to you.
Like, say, your girlfriend.
Gretchen asks...
What are you going to do to make up for forgetting her birthday?
To make up for something is a phrasal verb meaning to do something nice for another person because you feel sorry for something you did.
To try to improve something, a situation that is bad, by doing something nice for the other person, especially when you did something wrong to that person.
Hugh says Hugh isn't going to do anything, I guess to make up for forgetting his girlfriend's birthday.
Big mistake, Hugh.
Hugh decides he's going to wait, W-A-I-T, it out, O-U-T.
To wait it out means to not do anything, hoping that the situation will get better.
If you are at your house and it starts to rain and you want to go somewhere, but you think the rain will stop soon, In a short amount of time, you will decide probably to wait it out, just to wait until the rain ends, and then you will do what you wanted to do.
Hugh is going to wait it out with his girlfriend, hoping that she will no longer be angry with him in the future.
That's what he means by the expression to let it blow, B-L-O-W, over.
To let something blow over means to wait until things become better or wait until a problem solves itself.
I'm not sure.
I'm guessing.
The expression however, comes from the idea of a storm with the big clouds in the sky eventually blowing over, meaning they will eventually leave and things will be better when it comes to the weather.
In any case, Hugh says that his girlfriend will get over it.
To get over it means to no longer be bothered by something bad that has happened to you.
Hugh is hoping his girlfriend will get over the fact that he forgot her birthday.
Now you have to be careful with this expression, in using it with other people, especially using it as what we would call a command form or an imperative.
It's somewhat rude to say to someone, get over it.
People do say it, of course.
What they mean is you should stop being sad or angry and just not worry about that situation that is making you sad or angry.
Gretchen asks another question of Hugh.
She says, Belated, B-E-L-A-T-E-D, means happening later than it should.
If someone's birthday was yesterday and you don't see that person until today, you might say oh, a belated happy birthday, meaning it's too late.
Now your birthday has already passed, but I'm still going to wish you a happy birthday.
Anything that is belated is happening later than it should.
So a belated birthday present or gift is giving someone a gift after his birthday.
Hugh says, I'll double up next year.
I'll get her something really special then.
Hugh says he's not going to buy his girlfriend a birthday present this year.
Instead, he's going to buy an even better birthday present next year.
He's going to double, D-O-U-B-L-E, up.
To double up means to do twice as much as what you would normally do.
Now you see, that's not the way girlfriend's work.
Hugh, you can't wait until next year.
She's not going to wait for you.
Perhaps, if you do, Gretchen says I don't think it works that way, and Gretchen, of course, is correct.
She says she's not going to forget that you forgot her birthday.
That's always going to be a sore spot.
Something that is sore S-O-R-E is something that hurts or causes you pain.
A sore spot could be an area on your body that, when you touch it, hurts.
But here it's used more generally or more metaphorically to mean something that hurts you emotionally or psychologically.
A sore spot would be a topic or an area or a subject that is upsetting to you, that bothers you, that makes you upset.
Hugh says, it's not like I did something really bad that I have to atone for.
I forgot.
What's the big deal?
To atone A-T-O-N-E means to do something to show that you are sorry, to try to make up for going back to our previous phrasal verb, a bad situation.
You try to do something that will make things better.
Maybe you give someone a small gift in order to atone for criticizing that person unfairly last week.
Hugh doesn't think he did anything really bad that he has to atone for.
What's the big deal, he asks, meaning, why is this so important?
Gretchen says okay, you know best.
But if I were her, The expression you know best B-E-S-T is used.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And that's what Gretchen is doing here.
She's saying to Hugh, you know best, which you think would mean you're smarter than I am or you know more than I do.
But in fact, what she's really saying is, I disagree with you.
I think you're wrong.
She then says, if I were her.
Meaning if I were your girlfriend, Hugh.
She doesn't finish that sentence, but you know.
What she means here is that she would be angry and probably not forgive Hugh.
Hugh says, you're not her.
I apologized, Hugh says.
To apologize A-P-O-L-O-G-I-Z-E means to say that you are sorry for something you have done, something wrong that you have done.
Hugh continues.
Sooner or later she'll realize she's blown this completely out of proportion and she owes me an apology.
The expression to blow B-L-O-W something completely out of proportion, P-R-O-P-O-R-T-I-O-N means to make something seem more important than it really is, especially a problem.
To make a problem seem as though it is more important than it really is.
Hugh thinks that eventually his girlfriend will realize that she has blown this completely out of proportion and that she should apologize to Hugh.
Gretchen says, okay, if you say so.
If you say so is another expression similar to you know best that really means you're wrong.
I disagree with you.
I don't think what you are saying is correct.
And here those of us who have some experience in the world know that Gretchen is right and Hugh is definitely wrong.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I thought you were going out with your girlfriend tonight.
What are you doing here watching TV?
She's mad at me.
Why?
I forgot her birthday.
It was last Tuesday and it completely slipped my mind.
I forgot to put a reminder on my calendar.
She's moping and giving me the silent treatment.
What are you going to do to make up for forgetting her birthday?
I'm just going to wait it out and let it blow over.
She'll get over it.
Are you sure you don't want to get her a belated birthday present?
I'll double up next year.
I'll get her something really special then.
I don't think it works that way.
She's not going to forget that you forgot her birthday.
That's always going to be a sore spot.
It's not like I did something really bad that I have to atone for.
I forgot.
What?
What's the big deal?
Okay, you know best.
But if I were her... You're not her.
I apologized.
Sooner or later she'll realize she's blown this completely out of proportion and she owes me an apology.
Okay, if you say so.
It never slips my mind to thank our scriptwriter for her wonderful scripts.
Thank you, 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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
Anyway.
