The Argument

Hello everyone! And welcome back to another lesson here atEnglishPod! My name is Marco.

And my name is Catherine and today, Marco, you and I are talking about movies, right?

We’re talking a little bit about movies, but mostly we’re having a big argument.

Okay, I kind of like arguments. Lots of great words and phrases for you to learn here in English. But we’ve got an upper intermediate level lesson with, uh, some people who are not getting along very well, so…

It’s a couple – a guy and a girl – and, uh, they’re having a fight as couples do, so we’re gonna be learning a lot of the different language that they are using in this very heated debate. Uh, so let’s listen to this dialogue for the first time and then we’ll be right back.

I think the guy was exaggerating a little bit. What do you think?

I think they were both exaggerating, you know, by the end of an argument both people are saying things that maybe they don’t mean.

Mm, I think we’ll talk a little bit more about this, uh, towards the end of the show, but now why don’t we take a look at “language takeaway”? Voice: Language takeaway.

Alright, on language takeaway today we have four words and the first one that you probably saw in the very first sentence is a chick flick.

Chick flick. So, first of all, the word chick means a woman. It’s slang and it’s not very nice.

It’s not very nice. You…

No.

Well, I mean, between guys you would use it. And it’s like: “oh, this chick” or “that chick”. But you wouldn’t really walk up to a girl and call her a chick, right?

No, you wouldn’t say: hey chick! What’s up? That’s…

Hehe.

That’s not… not something you wanna say, so chick is, uh… is aslang word for a girl or a woman. And a chick flick is a girl’s movie.

So a flick is a movie.

Yeah.

Another slang word.

Exactly, so this is a slang phrase for flick, so: hey, Marco, what flicks are showing at the movie theater?

Uhu, alright.

Yeah.

So, movies. So, and a chick flick is usually a romantic movie, a drama, something that’s very, um…

Like Beaches.

Hehe.

Beaches is a chick flick. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that.

I’ve never seen that.

Um, also, He’s Just Not That Into You is one of those new chick flicks.

Or like How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days.

How… yeah, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days or The Devil Wears Prada.

Bride Wars.

Bride Wars. Wow, lot’s of chick flicks.

I’ve actually never seen anyone of these, except How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days. Well, actually, I’ve only seen that one. Hehe.

Alright, so chick flick is a girl’s or woman’s movie. And, uh, next up we have a word sarcastic. We’re talking about sarcastic jokes.

So sarcastic jokes or somebody being sarcastic.

God, Marco, you’re always so sarcastic.

So what would sarcasm sound like?

Um… yeah, he’s a really funny!

Hehe. Alright, so it’s not really what you’re saying, it’s kind of how you’re saying it.

Right, so it’s kind of like by saying: he’s really funny. You’re saying: yeah, he’s a funny guy. But if I say: ugh, he’s a really funny.

Hehe.

I’m saying: he’s not funny. He’s… he’s being mean or he’s…

Yeah, he’s a jerk.

He’s a jerk.

Sarcasm is kind of one of those things that, uh… it’s a little bit difficult to learn how to do or to actually get it right, uh, especially in English, right?

Yeah, Marco, great explanation.

Hehe. Exactly, that’s the way it goes.

Oh, yeah, you’re so funny.

So, oh, yeah…

Wow!

You’re amazing… should go to… you went to [a] sarcasm school.

Oh, so my parents liked to say…

You can be really mean, Catherine.

Hehe. Sorry, just kidding.

Alright, so, uh, apart from being sarcastic, you can criticizesomeone.

Like you’re ever critical.

Hehe. Alright.

Hehe. Sorry, I’ll stop, alright.

Wow, you’re really into character right now.

Alright, so critical. To criticize someone is to, um… to complain about them or to say that the things that they do are not very good.

So you can criticize a person or a movie.

Yeah, so this movie wasn’t very god: it wasn’t funny, the actors were bad, it was really long.

Uhu.

These are criticisms.

Criticisms.

Uhu.

Alright. Well, and then moving on the girl was finally tired of the guy and his complaints and she said, he’s unbearable.

Gosh, you’re unbearable! So the root of this word is to be able to s… like to stand something, to bear it.

Uhu.

And so, if you’re unbearable, uh, something is unbearable, you justcan’t stand it.

Alright, so you’re tired of it, you can’t stand it.

She’s… she thinks he so unbearable, she makes him get out of the car.

And she leaves.

Yeah, she says: “you can walk home”.

Hehe. Alright, so that’s an unbearable person, right?

Uhu.

Okay, so, uh, we took a look at those four main words here in our dialogue. Uh, let’s move on now to some of the phrases that we found in “fluency builder”. Voice: Fluency builder.

This first one is a common one, especially when we talk about women and men and the relationship between women and men, we say about men that maybe they should be more in touch with their feelings or their feminine side.

Hehe.

Yeah?

Okay, so if you’re saying to be more in touch with your feminine side, what exactly are you saying?

That's a good question, well, what you’re saying is that you want to be able to express your feelings more or you want to be able to understand more about, uh, your… your feminine side or something like this, so…

Uhu.

Uh, to be in touch with is… is more about yourself. It’s about self-reflection and self- understanding, so…

Uhu.

So you could say: I’m a very serious person, but I wanna make some changes in my life, so I’m trying to be more in touch with myinner child.

Uh, your inner child.

Hmm.

Alright, so to be in touch with. And it’s usually related to feelings, to something intangible, right?

Or to behavior, yeah.

Uhu, to behavior.

Uhu.

Alright, moving on, now a heated phrase - a one-night-stand.

Ooh, I’ll let you explain this one, Marco.

Alright, so a one-night-stand is a casual and very quick temporal, um, encounter, that’s usually a sexual encounter.

It’s romantic, right?

Romantic.

So it can be between, um, two different people. They meet each other one night. Um, they have a relationship for one night only and then they never see each other again.

Uhu.

So it’s a… it’s casual.

It’s casual, very good. So, yeah, you would see this… you see this a lot in shows like, you know, Sex In The City and all that stuff.

Yeah, they have a lot of one-night-stands…

One-night-stands.

In that show.

Alright, so a one-night-stand and, well, related to this, uh… the girl was criticizing his friends and she said: they’re no saints.

Okay, so we could say this in many different ways: “he’s no saint”, “she’s no saint” or “I’m no saint”.

You’re no saint.

So a saint is a good person, it’s a… it’s a word that we use in religion to say someone who’s like Mother Teresa or someone who’s just really good and kind and…

Doesn’t commit any sins.

Exactly, and so, to say “I’m no saint” is to say: well, I do bad things or I say bad things, I’m not perfect.

Uhu.

Okay, so he or they… they’re no saints, they do bad stuff too.

Yeah, very good, so that’s the way that you would use “he’s not saint”, “they’re no saints”. Um, alright, so I think now we should listen to our dialogue for the last time and we’ll be right back.

Alright, so, um, Catherine, is this an argument that you would say is, uh, typical among couples? Or maybe people that are probably about to break up, right?

Yeah… uh, not couples that are happy, I would say. But, uh… yeah, you definitely have people who are… well, I guess it’s kind of the battle of the sexes, right?

Uhu.

You have people who, um, are different genders and so they don’t always understand each other. You know, you wanna have you girlfriend as a girl and your girlfriends behave and talk in a certain way together, and guys do the same thing, but with their friends.

Uhu.

And so, sometimes you have these clashes, these interactions that are negative. And, you know, when people are upset with each other, they say mean things.

Mm, and especially I think in this case they don’t really like each other’s friends.

Mm, exactly.

And that’s a kind of a… of a common thing like, uh, a guy doesn’t like his, uh, his girlfriend’s friends, because maybe they gossip too much…

Yeah.

Or something like that. And the same thing with the girls, right? Cause a guy’s friends maybe drink too much…

Drink too much, play too many card games.

They are single. Hehe.

So I think a lot of times these… these problems also have to do with the fact that like when a girl is with her girlfriends, she maybe acts differently.

Mm.

Or with… when a guy with his guy friends. And so, that’s weird sometimes for the relationship…

Mm.

Because you see your… your partner acting differently with other people, so…

Right.

Do you like your boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s friends?

Hehe.

Do you get in fights about this kind of stuff?

Or you know what, the in-laws.

Ooh, that’s a whole another situation.

That’s a whole another situation.

Absolutely.

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