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Easy English Expression rehashed!
Hello everybody. My name is Coach Shane and welcome to Easy English Expressions.
Come on, let's master English!
Hey everybody, Coach Shane here.
I hope that you're doing fantastic.
It is time for the E -Cubed podcast number 132.
And of course, I want you to share the podcast if you like it and study with me.
If you want to share the podcast, just use social media.
Thank you very, very much. And if you wanna study with me, just go to letsmasterenglish .com and get a free lesson.
All right, onto the podcast. Let's go back in time.
today's expression is a good one but it's a little bit difficult a tar baby t -a -r baby a tar baby now tar is like oil it's a little bit thicker and more sticky tar use your dictionary t -a -r to find out the exact meaning.
A baby, well, it's a baby.
It could be a doll, d -o -l -l.
Now Atar Baby, this expression actually comes from an old children's story called Brer Rabbit, b -r -e -r, Rabbit, r -a -b -b -i -t.
On YouTube you can find many stories of Brer Rabbit so you can listen to that.
But in daily English, in modern English, a tar baby is actually a problem.
And it's a problem that you try to solve, but the problem actually gets worse.
You are unable to solve the problem and you become part of the problem.
That's what a tar baby is.
It doesn't sound like fun.
So the idea is, you have a friend.
Maybe he's very depressed.
Maybe he has a problem with his girlfriend, or his wife, his job, or money, or some sort of problem.
So you go to help your friend, but you don't do anything for him.
In fact he gets more depressed, more angry.
You're creating the problem even bigger, and then you try to leave, and then the problem gets even bigger.
Oh my God! Trying to help Jon was a tar baby.
Don't It's a tar baby.
You're asking for problems." Hmm.
So I want you guys to listen to today's dialogue.
And this dialogue is a bit political.
So I hope I don't make anybody angry.
But just listen to it.
It's a good example.
Do you think the West should have interfered with Saddam Hussein?
Oh, it was a tar baby.
How? Now, Saddam is gone, but the West is still over there.
They created a problem and it's just getting worse for them.
Politics. We should never talk about politics.
But I think many people do understand the situation.
Now, I have several students from Iraq.
And some students are happy that the West went over to try and help.
And some students are NOT happy that the West went over to try and help.
But the fact of the matter is, the idea was to go over there and help solve some sort of problem and then leave, but the West is still there.
Not necessarily as big as it was, but it's still in the Middle East. This has become a tar baby for the West, and once again I don't want to get political, it's a very long complicated history, but that is a typical example.
In politics we often use the expression a tar baby.
But not just politics, sometimes talking religion or talking about race, you know, white versus black, oh boy that can be a tar baby.
You know it's really important that we try to help each other, to help other people, to help people in other countries.
But we have to be careful of creating or getting involved in a tar baby sometimes it's better to help somebody from a distance not directly yeah be careful of tar babies okay let's check out that dialogue two more times do you think the West should have interfered with Saddam Hussein?
Oh, it was a tar baby.
How? Saddam is gone, but the West is still over there.
They created a problem, and it's just getting worse for them.
