Office Gossip

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod, my name is Marco.

And my name is Catherine and today we're talking about office stuff. Things in your office.

That's right. We're talking about secrets in the office, or maybe eh specific little things that people talk about behind other people's back.

Okay, bad things then. So this is an elementary level lesson, before we get going there, let's take a look at a phrase in today's "vocabulary preview" Voice: Vocabulary preview

All right. So the phrase for today is actually the same as the title for this lesson and that's office gossip.

Okay, you all know what an office is. What is gossip?

So to gossip means eh to talk about other people. Secretly or behind their backs. Or maybe talk about other people's problems or private things.

So: Oh my God do you hear, John is totally gonna break up with her. So you're talking about people without them knowing.

Right. So you talk about their private things, their relationships, maybe.. eh your'e even maybe criticizing them.

That's right. So office gossip is talking about people in your office, without them knowing, so saying bad things about them.

Right. So without anymore delay, why don't we listen to this dialogue for the first time. Dialogue first time 1:25- 2:15

All right. We're back, so we have four key words that we wanna look at from this gossip dialogue, so why don't we take a look at those now in "language takeaway". Voice: Language takeaway

Okay the first word is rumor.

Rumor. Now this is an interesting word. About gossip.

Yeah a rumor. So a rumor is a story that might or might not be true.

Right.

Okay, so: I heard a rumor that they broke up yesterday.

Okay. So you're not sure if they broke up, or no one has told you for a fact.

No, it means I probably heard it from someone else, who heard it from someone else, who heard it from someone else, who doesn't really know.

Right. So rumors are maybe guesses about people, and you don't know if they're true. You see this a lot with famous people. Movie stars. They always talk about rumors. That maybe: they got married in secret or something.

Yeah. Exactly that's a rumor, that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are braking up.

Right.

Okay, so we don't think.. we don't know if it's true. Rumor.

Okay. That's a rumor. So now, the rumor that they heard was that this girl Paula is getting a promotion.

Promotion. This is an important office word. This means, to be offered a better job in your company. That means: To move up.

To move up, right. All right, so this is a noun, you get a promotion. Right.

Yes. I got a promotion last year which also means I got more money.

Okay. Awesome. So that is a promotion. Now when they were talking about the promotion, the girl said "oh I can't believe the guy said". And Eric said "I can't believe she's getting a promotion, she's so two-faced".

Two-faced. So think about what this means, to have two faces. To be two-faced means to have two different sides to your personality. A good one, and a bad one. Okay. So like: eh I can be very nice to Marco. Marco Wow you look so good today, such a nice guy, so hard worker. And then: oh my God, Marco is such an alien. He's like never working, and he's always on the phone. Oh hi Marco.

That's two-faced. That's very good.

All right. So two-faced means: to have two different sides to your personality.

Now it's interesting the way that you use this words, you say two-faced. Right. So you have to add the d at the end. You can't say he's two-face. Or he has two-face.

No. It's an adjective, so he's two-faced. She's two-faced.

Okay two-faced.

I don't like people who are two-faced.

Okay, very good. And we have one final word, and eh it's actually a verb, when people talk like this (Comment: talking very softly): when they talk like this. quietly, very quietly.

To whisper.

Okay. So what are you whispering about.

Oh oh, So usually when people are whispering, they're talking about a rumor.

Right. Or they're talking in secret. You don't want somebody else to hear you.

Right. So when you want to be very quiet, like at the movie theatre, you whisper.

Whisper. Okay. So those are four words for "language takeaway", why we don't go back, listen to the dialogue again, and we'll be back to take a look at a couple of phrases. Dialogue second time 5:25 - 6:15

All right, we're back. So now we have three key phrases from this great dialogue on "fluency builder" Voice: Fluency builder

So this first one is the beginning to any great rumor, eh we say: Have you heard.

Right. So have you heard?

Have you heard that she got a promotion?

Right. It's kind .. not really asking. Right, although it's a question, have you heard. But you're not really expecting an answer.

What you.. this means "I'm going to tell you some gossip

Right.

Have you heard. Because maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but I'm still going to say it. She's still going to say it anyway.

Right. So usually you can say eh "what" right, or in this case Eric goes "ahem no go and tell me what's the latest office gossip". So obviously ..

he knows that it's going to be gossip.

Right. Have you heard.

All right, and so the next thing Pam says is "well you didn't hear this from me". What does this mean.

Okay. This is typical. This is a way of saying "okay don't tell anyone that I told you".

So you can tell people, but just don't tell them that I said that this has happened. Because Pam doesn't want to get in trouble.

Right.

She doesn't want anyone to know that she was giving out rumors.

Ahem. So that's why she's starting out with: well you didn't hear this from me. But the rumor is .... Okay, so you can .. so this is a way of saying "all right, don't tell anyone that I told you, you didn't hear this from me". And also you can go, you can say "but the rumor is", or you can say "but rumor has it".

Oh, rumor has it that Paula is getting a promotion.

So, you can go both ways. And now, he exclaims something that's very strange if you just look at it from these two words: no way.

No way!.

What is now way?

Well in this context "no way" means: Really, wow, I'm surprised.

So it's a way to express surprise.

That's right. But be careful. Because there's another meaning to this phrase. E.g.: eh Marco could you help me out and get the .. get the groceries from the car.

No way!

He. Why wan't you help me.

Okay, that means no, okay.

Okay, no way. That means no. But also if you say like: oh, now way. You're saying: wow that's so interesting.

Ahem. So it can be an expression of surprise, or it can be a way of saying no very firmly, no way.

Exactly.

All right, so three great phrase there. Eh very interesting dialogue about gossip, very common in the office environment, so why don't we listen to the dialogue again, and we'll be back in a little bit. Dialogue third time 8:50 - 9:40

Okay, we're back. So office gossip is generally ..., well it's common. It happens in every office. But I think that it's good to avoid too much gossip. Because sometimes people's feelings can get hurt.

Yeah, it .. it's actually very interesting because usually the bigger the company is, I think more gossip starts to spread. Because you know there're departments. So you get the marketing department, the finance department, so you like: oh Catty from Finance, she slept with Tom from Marketing". And stuff like that.

Than you have the gossip about bosses.

Right.

Did you see, he totally left for the weekend but his wife was at home.

Ha ha, yeah, so. And also one of the situations where all lot of rumors and office gossips, some starts (10:34) to come up, is office parties, or the office Christmas parties, where people maybe are drinking, or something happens, and a lot of rumors starts to spread.

And they're more relaxed than usual, they do things wouldn't normally don't do, absolutely. So maybe we can open up this to you, eh is there a common rumor, or office gossip that you hear in your office.

Or is there.. is there that one secretary or g.. or .. or guy that's always spreading rumors and .. and gossiping.

And don't use any real names. You can just tell us general stories. But that's about it for us for today at EnglishPod, hope you've enjoyed this. Check out our website EnglishPod.com. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns, bye until next time. C,M Bye