Cut It Out

Hello everyone! And welcome back to EnglishPod! My name isMarco.

And my name is Catherine. So, as usual, we’ve got a great dialogue for you today. And before we get going we should mention what the topic is, so, Marco, take it away.

We are… we’re actually having a small fight at the office. Somebody or a coworker is annoying us. So, you know, sometimes coworkers, you see them everyday, they’re doing something that’s maybe getting on your nerves.

And you practically live together, because you’re with each other for eight, nine, ten hours every day.

Exactly, so that’s what we’re gonna be looking at, uh, today – some language related to this topic. So let’s listen to the dialogue for the first time.

Alright, we’re back. So, uh, yeah, I think this is a common situation, right?

So common this might even be based on our own lives.

Hehe. It is. Uh, you may not know, but Catherine and I are getting to fights all the time.

All the time!

Hehe.

No, not really.

Alright, so, um, I think there were some interesting words here, but mostly phrases, so, uh, let’s start with the words first on “language takeaway”. Voice: Language takeaway.

Alright, so the first word, as you might have guessed, has to do with eating and drinking, this is called slurping and it’s some…

To slurp.

To slurp, so the noun, the thing is slurping.

Uhu.

And, uh, it’s very common with people, who, um… who eat their food quickly. Slr-r-r.

Like soup.

Yeah, soup or, you know…

Noodles.

Yeah, or when you’re eating soup noodles.

Hehe. Or sometimes when you have a drink and you’re drinking it through a straw, towards the end you’re just like trying to get the very last…

Slr-r-r-r-r.

Part at the bottom, so, yeah, the straw slurps.

Yeah, so slurping, some people really can’t stand it and, uh…

Sometimes you don’t even notice that you’re doing it.

No, absolutely not.

Hehe. Alright, so, uh, apart form slurping, what else do we have?

We’ve got a great word here – accumulated. So a lot of accumulated anger. The word is a verb – to accumulate.

Uhu. And what does that mean?

It means to kind of grow or to become more and more. Alright.

Okay.

So…

So, you’re s… like saving it.

Or even it’s like building up. You know, we say this all… oftentimes in Chicago, where it snows a lot in the winter

Uhu.

That there’s, uh, a foot of snow accumulated on the ground.

Okay.

That means there’s a lot of snow. And every time it snows, it keeps getting bigger.

Bigger, aha, aha.

Yeah.

Alright.

So, to accumulate.

So accumulated anger – your anger is getting bigger and bigger.

Right, cause you never tell anyone about your anger, so it keeps building and it keeps pilling up.

Alright, well, towards the end they said: well, let’s call a truce. So they wanna call a truce.

Alright, a truce is another word for peace.

Peace.

And so, this is a way that… that you can stop fighting and, uh… Say that you and I have been fighting for a long time…

Uhu.

We may not come to a deal, but we’ll say “truce”. From now onwe just won’t fight. Okay?

Won’t fight about it.

Uhu.

Okay.

Brothers and sisters often call truces.

Hehe, truce. And, well, if you’re calling a truce, you’re… you’re trying to be more considerate.

Okay, considerate, like you… you’re saying, is a… is a way to be or a way to act. And considerate, um, often has to do with how you act towards other people.

Uhu.

So it’s being nice to other people or thinking about other people’s feelings before your… yourself.

Alright, so if you’re considerate, then you are maybe more polite, you think about the other person’s feelings before you do anything.

It’s like you… you just say nice little things like “please” and “thank you” and “I’m sorry and these things are all… ways of being considerate.

Very good. Alright, so, four great words on language takeaway. Uh, why don’t we move on now to “fluency builder”? Voice: Fluency builder.

Alright, so as we mentioned, this dialogue is very, very rich in a lot of different phrases, so let’s start with the couple of them. The very first one and the title of the lesson – cut it out, cut that out.

Hey, Mary, can you cut that out?

Right, so you’re not actually saying to cut something with scissors or something like that.

No, this is… it’s a way of saying “can you stop that”.

Stop it. Stop doing that.

Stop it. Quit it.

Okay.

Uhu.

Cut that out. Cut it out.

So if something’s… someone’s doing something that’s really annoying to you, it’s not very nice to say, but you can say: hey, cut that out!

Uhu, cat it our.

Or if someone’s doing something mean to someone like my brother used to hit me, my mom would say: Peter, cut that out!

Hehe. Alright, so it is a good mom phrase as well.

Uhu.

Alright, uh, moving on to our next phrase, the guy said that the tapping on the desk was driving him crazy. It’s driving me crazy.

Alright, to drive someone crazy means to make someone just feel like they’re going nuts or, uh… you know, it just… it makes you kind of angry or frustrated or… mm, tense.

Uhu, but it can also be used like in a … in a romantic sense, right? That girl drives me crazy.

It means like he can’t even think about anything else.

Uhu, alright.

So in this case, uh, what drives you crazy?

Uh, when… mm…

I’ll tell you what drives me crazy - when people clip their finger nails and toe nails at the office.

Hehe. I can’t believe. Well, uh, it drives me crazy like, for example, when somebody or my brother leaves his clothes lying on the floor in the living room, for example.

Ugh, that’s annoying too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that drives me crazy. Alright, so, uh, moving on to our third phrase. This is a pretty big one, but take it as a whole – you’ve got to be kidding me.

Alright, so this is, as you’ve said, per… a fixed phrase, these words usually go together and it’s just a perfect example of sarcasm.

Uhu.

So it’s a way you s… the way you say it is very important, so I could say: ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me. Um, what’s a good… what’s a good situation for this? Maybe, um, I get to the airport and I’m running late and I’m really happy that I get there on time and then I see the flight is delayed seven hours.

Exactly.

Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me!

Right, so it’s a way of saying, I can’t believe it or seriously, this isn’t…

Or what…

Yeah, what’s happening?

Or what a bad luck!

Right, so it is a sarcastic phrase, but use it as a whole. You usually… you don’t change the subject, you don’t say: you’ve got to be kidding him or someone.

No it’s always this: you’ve got to be kidding me!

Alright.

Or you’ve got to be kidding me!

Hehe.

See? Different meanings with different inflexions.

Different inflexions, very good. Uh, what’s our next phrase?

Our next phrase is a good one, because, uh, it doesn’t mean what it sounds like, okay? So, ah, to shoot the breeze.

Okay.

Alright. Shoot means like you can shoot a gun and breeze is like the wind.

Uhu.

But here to shoot the breeze is to have a nice little conversation, just to talk about nothing.

Okay, so not really do anything, just talk a little bit.

Right, so if we think about this in the context of this sentence, it’s…

Uhu.

You know, you go out for your cigarette break ten times a day to shoot the breeze.

Okay.

So this means, you go outside, you just talk about nothing and whatever and it’s almost like you’re wasting time just talking.

Okay, so shooting the breeze. You can say: oh, we were just shooting the breeze.

Just have a nice little conversation, nothing important.

Okay, and our last phrase for today – forgive and forget. Let’s forgive and forget.

Let’s forgive and forget. This is… these words again like the last phrases, uh, go together

Uhu.

Forgive and forget, so I could say this to you, Marco, I say: I know you’ve been fighting with your brother for then years…

Uhu.

I say: finally just forgive and forget.

Right.

It means, just put everything behind you and try and start again.

Okay, let it go.

Yeah, forgive the person, forget about it, move on.

Okay, forgive and forget. Very good, so very interesting phrases. I think, um, they’re very useful and this is very… I… colloquial English, right?

Absolutely, this is stuff that you’re gonna hear all the time, but maybe not all together…

Right.

At the same time.

Definitely though, very helpful for interacting with foreign friends and colleagues.

Very good, so let’s listen to the dialogue for the last time and we’ll be right back.

Uh.

So did you ever see the TV show Full House when you were kid?

I did, I did. It was a popular…

Tah-tah-tah-tat-tah.

Um, with the… the Olson twins and all of those, right?

Yeah, and Bob Saget.

Uhu.

So there was an uncle on the show, Uncle Joey.

Uhu.

And he always used to say: cut it out!

Hehe, Yeah, that’s right.

And he had like hand motions for it and so…

Uhu.

Cut it out is a way to say, kind of stop it, quit it, you’re killing me.

Hehe.

It’s like you’re saying: too funny!

Right, right.

And so, whenever I hear this phrase, I always think of that early nineties ??? show.

Very early nineties.

Yeah.

Um, well, it… this whole situation with the office as well, I think there was a TV show called The Office, right?

Yeah, there’s a British office and then there was an American version, uhu.

And it’s also something about office life and how colleagues get on each other’s nerves and they play pranks on each other and everyone’s kind of weird.

And everyone drives everyone else crazy.

Hehe. Exactly.

Yeah. No, it’s a… it’s… it’s funny, because once you start working in an office fulltime, I mean everyone’s maybe had a little bit of office experience, but once it’s fulltime, you spend more time with your colleagues than you do with your family, it’s…

Yeah.

It’s really…

It’s strange at times.

Amazing what… what makes you crazy, what drives you crazy and what stuff just doesn’t matter.

So this is an interesting topic, where we really wanna hear from you guys. Um, many of you probably work at an office, so tell us. So come and tell us what drives you crazy or maybe what colleague is driving you mad.

You don’t have to use names, you can just use nicknames if you want.

Nick… Right, so we’ll be waiting for you at englishpod.com, leave questions and comments and, uh, we’ll see you guys next time.

Yeah, bye everyone!

Bye! ***