Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 440, Being a Self-Made Man or Woman.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 440.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpodcom a learning guide for this episode that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, comprehension checks, cultural notes and a complete transcript of everything you hear on this episode.
This episode is called Being a Self-Made Man or Being a Self-Made Woman.
It's a dialogue between Anne and Edgar over what it means to become successful.
Let's get started.
What a crock.
What is it?
What don't you believe?
These people didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
They were all born with silver spoons in their mouths.
That's true.
But it gets me riled up when people who grew up at the country club claim to have had humble beginnings.
Just because some people were born with a leg up doesn't mean they didn't work hard to get where they are.
Where would that hard work have gotten them if they didn't have backers with deep pockets?
Or if they didn't know people in high places?
I know plenty of hardworking people who aren't hobnobbing with the rich and famous.
That's true enough.
Who needs the rich and famous?
I'll take my hard-working man over any of them, any day.
That's why I married you.
A woman with beauty and brains.
This dialogue uses some expressions that we often will say to talk about being successful and the reasons people are successful in life.
The dialogue begins by Edgar saying, what a crock.
Crock, C-R-O-C-K, is a very informal expression, meaning that something is false.
Something is a lie.
You should not believe this thing.
Anne says, what is it?
Edgar says I'm reading an article about successful business people who were self-made men and women.
I don't believe a word of it.
I don't believe any of it.
Is true self-made means that you became successful or rich because you worked hard, not because you received help from other people.
Anne asks, what don't you believe?
Edgar says, these people didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
The by your bootstraps means to become successful because of your own efforts, because of your own work, especially if you started as a very poor person or unsuccessful person.
To pull yourself up by your bootstraps means to get out of this difficult life situation and become rich or successful without the help of anyone else.
Edgar says they were all born with silver spoons in their mouths.
He's talking about the people in the article that he's reading who say they are self-made.
But Edgar says, no, they were born with silver spoons in their mouths.
This is an expression, to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth.
That means that you were born into a rich family, because only a rich family could afford a spoon made of silver.
I'm not quite sure why it has to be born with the spoon in your mouth, other than perhaps we feed little babies with small spoons and put the spoon in their mouth.
That makes sense.
So to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth means that you were born a very rich person.
You come from a rich family and therefore you weren't pulling yourself up by your bootstraps if you became successful.
Ann says not all successful people were born into money and privilege.
To be born into money means that you were born into a rich family.
Privilege P-R-I-V-I-L-E-G-E is something that is special for only a small number of people, for very few people.
Very few people can have this.
It's often used to mean simply advantage.
He has a lot of privileges.
He has a lot of advantages coming from a rich family.
So Anne is saying that not all successful people were born into money and born into privilege having these economic, financial advantages.
Privilege has a couple of different meanings in English.
Go to our learning guide for this episode for some additional explanations.
Edgar says that's true, but it gets me riled up when people who grew up at the country club claim to have had humble beginnings.
To be riled, R-I-L-E-D, up, means to be angry, to be upset, to be annoyed.
Edgar says he gets riled up when people who grew up at the country club say that they come from humble beginnings.
The country club here refers to a place where members can participate in sports and social activities.
Usually, this is a very exclusive club that costs a lot of money to become a member of.
Country clubs often have golf courses and require a lot of money if you want to become a member and use the country club.
In general, when someone says or refers to the country club, they're referring to people who are very rich, people who are living in a very rich manner or rich way.
Humble beginnings means that you grew up in a family that did not have a lot of money.
Humble here means poor beginnings means when you were a child.
So to have humble beginnings means that you had a childhood where you lived with a family that was poor or grew up with a family that did not have a lot of money.
So what riles Edgar?
What gets him riled up, is that people who are rich say they came from poor families.
Anne says, A leg up.
Here means an advantage, a head start, something that helps you do something faster or better.
If you are, for example, trying to learn French and you already know Spanish and Italian, you have a leg up on other people who do not know those two Romance languages, because Italian, French and Spanish have many similarities.
They are similar languages.
So to know one means that you have a leg up on learning the other languages.
Leg has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Edgar says where would that hard work have gotten them if they didn't have backers with deep pockets?
So Anne is saying well, just because someone is rich doesn't mean they don't work hard or didn't work hard to get where they are today.
Edgar is saying well, they may work hard, but that would not have gotten them their position today if they didn't have backers.
A backer is a supporter, usually someone who gives you money.
If I'm going to start a new company, I want to start a record company, so I can become a famous singing star.
I would ask for some backers.
I would get people who would invest or give me money to help me start my new company.
Edgar is saying that these people who are successful have backers, people who give them money like their parents, with deep pockets of The expression to have deep pockets means to be very rich, to have a lot of money.
A pocket is what we call that part of your pants that you can put money into or keys and so forth.
Usually you have two pockets in front and two pockets in back.
Edgar says these people would not have been successful if they didn't know people in high places.
In high places means people who are powerful or rich or successful and have a lot of influence.
If someone says to you I know people in high places, They mean I know people who are very important, who have a lot of influence and therefore could help me.
Edgar says I know plenty.
I know many hardworking people who aren't hobnobbing with the rich and famous.
To hobnob H-O-B-N-O-B means to spend time talking with people who have a lot of money, power or influence.
We might also say nowadays to network.
Network sounds better than hobnobbing.
Hobnobbing has the idea that you are trying to become successful by talking to other people and getting them to help you.
To network sounds like you are looking for opportunities to become successful.
So hobnobbing is probably considered a little more negatively.
Networking is a term we use now in the business world to refer to making contacts, getting to know people who may help us in the future.
Anne says, that's true enough.
She's agreeing with Edgar.
Who needs the rich and famous?
I'll take my hard-working man over any of them any day.
Edgar says, that's why I married you, a woman with beauty and brains.
Edgar, of course, is complimenting himself, saying his wife is very intelligent because she married him even though he doesn't have a lot of money.
Let's listen now to the dialogue at a normal speed.
What a crock.
What is it?
I'm reading an article about successful business people who were self-made men and women.
I don't believe a word of it.
What don't you believe?
These people didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
They were all born with silver spoons in their mouths.
Not all successful people were born into money and privilege.
That's true, but it gets me riled up when people who grew up at the country club claim to have had humble beginnings.
Just because some people were born with a leg up doesn't mean they didn't work hard to get where they are.
Where would that hard work have gotten them if they didn't have backers with deep pockets or if they didn't know people in high places?
I know plenty of hardworking people who aren't hobnobbing with the rich and famous.
That's true enough.
Who needs the rich and famous?
I'll take my hardworking man over any of them, any day.
That's why I married you.
A woman with beauty and brains.
The script for this episode was written by a woman who was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
