Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,293.
Types of Body Noises.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,293.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to ESLPOD.com for more information.
This episode is a dialogue between Anne and Milo about noises that the human body makes, even when you don't want it to.
Let's get started.
I've had it.
Jim has got to go.
Go?
He's my best friend.
I told him he could stay here until he got back on his feet.
He's not in your way, is he?
He doesn't have to get in my way for me to know he's in the house all the time.
He snores so loudly, I can hear him from our bedroom.
He's constantly hiccuping and wheezing too.
Well, the guy can't help it if he snores, hiccups, or wheezes.
But he can help snorting when he laughs and whistling all the time.
And he constantly cracks his knuckles and it's driving me up the wall.
Those are bad habits.
You know it's hard to break bad habits.
And what about his burping all through dinner and farting in the living room?
That's disgusting.
Okay, I'll talk to him.
I'm sure he's not aware he's doing most of these things.
He's always lived alone.
Really?
I wonder why. and begins our dialogue by saying to Milo, I've had it.
When someone says they have had it, he means...
He is no longer able to tolerate or allow something.
When a situation becomes so difficult or so impossible for someone that the person no longer wants to deal with it.
No longer wants to, we would say put up with it.
That person might say that he's had it.
Another phrasal verb we use in this situation is to be fed, F-E-D, up.
If someone says I'm fed up, he means he's angry, he's mad and he doesn't want to put up with or tolerate a situation any longer.
Ann has a problem with Jim.
She says, Jim has got to go, meaning Jim must leave.
Milo says, go?
He's my best friend.
So Jim is Milo's best friend.
Milo continues.
I told him meaning I told Jim that He could stay here until he got back on his feet.
So Milo has told his friend Jim that Jim could live at his house until he got back on his feet.
Usually we use that expression to get back on your feet when you have been in a difficult situation and you need time before you can go back and do the things you normally do.
It may be that you were ill, that you were sick, or perhaps you lost your job and don't have any money.
Both of these would be cases where you might need to get back on your feet by either getting well or getting a job.
Milo says that Jim is not in your way, is he?
He's asking Ann if Jim is in her way.
To be in someone's way.
W-A-Y means to be preventing another person from doing what that person wants, either because you are physically in the same space that person wants to be, or perhaps you are getting in the way or bothering the person because you are preventing that person from doing what he wants.
Ann says that Jim doesn't have to get in my way for me to know he's in the house all the time.
He snores so loudly, Anne says, I can hear him from our bedroom.
So Anne and Milo are a couple living together and we have Jim, the friend, living in the house also.
But Jim snores.
S-N-O-R-E-S.
To snore means to make a loud noise when you are sleeping, usually with your nose and mouth.
That would be snoring.
I sometimes snore.
That's what my wife tells me anyway.
I'm not sure it's true, though.
I don't think it is.
I've never heard myself snoring, so I don't think I actually do.
But Jim definitely does, because Ann can hear him from her bedroom.
That is where she and Milo sleep.
Ann says that Jim is constantly hiccuping and wheezing, too.
To do something constantly means all of the time or repeatedly, over and over again.
It's often used nowadays to mean simply a lot, so much so that it seems as though it is happening continually or without interruption.
To hiccup H-I-C-C-U-P is to make a noise without wanting to that sounds a little like a cough, but usually is a higher pitch and is something that goes on for a certain number of minutes perhaps, or even longer.
It's not something that people want to do, but it's something their body does involuntarily, we would say.
You breathe in suddenly and it makes a noise.
That's to hiccup.
To wheeze, W-H-E-E-Z-E, is to breathe in making a very loud sound.
Often this happens when you are sick, When you have some sort of illness in your lungs, the parts of your body that take in air and expel or breathe out air.
If you smoke a lot, sometimes you may also wheeze.
Milo says, well, the guy can't help it if he snores, hiccups, or wheezes.
When we say someone can't help it, we mean they have no power over that situation.
They can't change that situation.
Anne says, but he can help snorting when he laughs and whistling all the time.
To snort S-N-O-R-T is to make a loud noise when you are breathing in, but more with your nose than with your lungs.
It's sort of like snoring, but you do it when you are awake.
Some people do it sometimes when they laugh.
Snort.
Sounds a little like a pig, actually.
In fact, that is the way we describe the noise of a pig to snort.
Jim snorts when he laughs and whistles all the time.
To whistle, W-H-I-S-T-L-E, means to make a sound with your mouth, usually one that is high pitched.
This is whistling.
Well, that's not very good whistling, but you get the idea.
Ann says that Jim is always whistling and he constantly cracks his knuckles and it's driving me up the wall.
She says
To crack C-R-A-C-K your knuckles.
K-N-U-C-K-L-E-S means to make a loud sound or noise by pushing your fingers into the flat part of your hand.
Your knuckles are the parts of your hand where the fingers meet the rest of your hand, what we would call the palm P-A-L-M of the hand.
To crack your knuckles means to make a noise with the bones in your hands.
I can't do it myself, at least not willingly, not voluntarily, though.
As I grow old, other bones in my body begin to crack.
It's driving Anne up the wall.
To drive someone up the wall means to make someone crazy.
It's an expression that is used to mean to bother or annoy someone.
Milo says, those are bad habits.
A habit.
H-A-B-I-T is something you do all the time, or something you do without thinking about it very much.
A bad habit would be something that is not good for you that you do all the time.
Milo says, you know it's hard or difficult to break bad habits.
To break a bad habit means to stop doing something that is bad for you.
Smoking cigarettes is a bad habit and you should probably break your bad habit at least if you want to live long.
Though not everyone who smokes dies from smoking.
A lot of people do, enough so that it's probably a good idea.
Ann says, And what about his burping all through dinner and farting in the living room?
That's disgusting.
To burp B-U-R-P is to make a loud noise allowing air to escape from your stomach, often because you have eaten something and you have what is called gas G-A-S.
It's not a very pleasant sound.
Here's an example, not by me.
The verb to fart, F-A-R-T, is definitely an informal one.
A more polite way might be saying to pass gas.
It basically is making a loud noise when gas, instead of going through your mouth and out your mouth, I should say goes out well, the other end of your body.
I won't give you an example of that.
In both cases, Anne is correct in saying that it's often considered disgusting D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G.
Something that is disgusting makes other people sick or uncomfortable.
It's something that is considered very unpleasant or not nice.
Milo says, okay, I'll talk to him.
I'm sure he's not aware he's doing most of these things.
He's always lived alone.
Milo doesn't think Jim is aware, A-W-A-R-E.
To be aware means to know something is happening, to know what is going on.
The reason is that Jim has always lived alone, lived by himself.
Anne says, really?
I wonder why.
Anne is making a joke.
She knows why Jim has probably always lived alone, because no one wants to live with him.
He has all of these strange body noises he always makes.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Go?
He's my best friend.
I told him he could stay here until he got back on his feet.
He's not near way, is he?
He doesn't have to get in my way for me to know he's in the house all the time.
He snores so loudly I can hear him from our bedroom.
He's constantly hiccuping and wheezing, too.
Well, the guy can't help it if he snores, hiccups, or wheezes.
But he can help snorting when he laughs and whistling all the time.
And he constantly cracks his knuckles and is driving me up the wall.
Those are bad habits.
You know it's hard to break bad habits.
Okay, I'll talk to him.
I'm sure he's not aware he's doing most of these things.
He's always lived alone.
Really?
I wonder why.
A good habit to have is to listen to the scripts written by our wonderful script writer, Dr Lucy Say.
It will definitely improve your English if you do.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm 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.
