Hello and welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 25. Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 25. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillen coming to you from Los Angeles, California. and the Center for Educational Development. If this is the first time listening to our podcast, please go to our website at www .eslpod .com to find out more information about this podcast.
Today's podcast is about problems at work. Lucy and I are going to talk about a problem that Lucy had at work and how we thought we should solve it. Listen to our conversation and then I'll talk about some of the expressions that we used. Now let's get started. Can I pick your brain for a minute? Sure. What's up? Well, I have a sticky situation at work, and I wanted to get your input. You're always so tactful. Thanks. I'm not sure I can help, but I'll give
you my two cents. Well, it's like this. There's this guy I work with. who is always making jokes about the boss. Don't get me wrong, I like a good joke now and then, especially about the boss. But sometimes he goes too far. What do you mean? Well, just the other day, he got a picture off the internet and cut and pasted the boss's head onto it. Let's just say it was a
very unflattering picture of him. Hmm. That's really unprofessional, but it sounds harmless enough if he kept it to himself or just showed it to a few friends. That's just it. He didn't keep it to himself. He attached the picture to an email and sent it to the entire company including the top brass. You're joking, right? No, I'm not. This is what I mean when I said he goes too far. He just doesn't know when to quit. Is he a friend of yours? No, not really, but I don't
want the guy to get fired. He's actually a good person. He's just clueless, that's all. Well, that's a tough one. Let me think about it. Maybe there's a way to get him to cut it out before he gets fired. Thanks, I appreciate it. Oh, it's no big deal. Let's go get a bite to eat. Sure,
sounds good to me. Now let's talk about some of the expressions that Lucy and I used Lucy started by asking me if she could pick my brain To pick somebody's brain is to get their opinion to get their advice To ask them what they think Lucy said that She wanted to ask me about a sticky situation at work. A sticky situation means a difficult situation. A situation that is possibly embarrassing or difficult for someone to talk about. That's a sticky situation. It's a sensitive
situation. Lucy wanted to get my input. Input means my advice, what I think. Just like in a computer processor there's input, that's what goes in, and output, that's what goes out. Here we use it to mean advice or opinion. Lucy complimented
me by saying that I was tactful. To be tactful means to always say the right thing to never give Anyone offense to never insult anyone someone who is very good with words and doesn't Cause problems with other people we sometimes say they are tactful They know how to say something without the other person getting mad. Lucy said that this person was making jokes and that she didn't
mind a good joke now and then. Now and then means the same as every once and a while, which means not every day, not all the time, but sometimes. So they're really synonyms for sometimes. Lucy mentioned that her friend sometimes goes too far. To go too far means to do something that
would normally be okay, but do it too much. Do it in such a way that it Hurts other people or bothers other people You don't want to go too far in Joking about your friend because your friend could get mad So to go too far is to to go more than what you should Lucy said that her friend got a picture off the internet and cut and pasted the boss's head on it. To cut, of course, means, like a scissors, you cut something, a piece of paper. And to paste means to attach,
to put something on, usually with glue. But in computers, cut and paste, like on a word processing program, Microsoft Word, for example, To cut and paste means to take something from one place and put it in another place Lucy said that the picture of her boss was very unflattering To flatter means to compliment to say nice things about a person unflattering means unkind words not nice words There's no verb to unflatter There's only a verb to flatter, but we can use the expression
as an adjective. It's unflattering Meaning it's not very nice. I Mentioned to Lucy that it would be What the here her friend did would be harmless
enough? That is to say doesn't cause anyone any harm harmless or doesn't cause anyone any problem or injury if her friend kept it to himself to keep something to yourself means not to show anyone else not to share it with anyone else it's like keeping a secret keep it to yourself will sometimes say meaning don't tell me I don't want to know Lucy's friend sent this unflattering
picture to the top brass in her company. The top brass means those who are president, vice president, chairman of the board, CEO, chief executive officer, all of the most important leaders in a company. The term actually comes from the military. We talk about the top brass in the military, meaning the generals and those who are admirals and leaders of the military. But we also use the term now for anyone who's
a leader, particularly in a company. Lucy said that her friend just didn't know when to quit. To know when to quit means to know when to stop to know that You can't do anymore that you should stop doing what you're doing For example, I love eating potato chips Sometimes though. I don't know when to quit and I eat a whole bag Lucy's friend is described by her as being clueless. Clueless is a somewhat informal expression. To be clueless means not to know what is happening,
not to know what is wrong. Someone who is doing something wrong but does not know it, does not realize it. clueless it implies it it means in part the person is not very intelligent is a little stupid if they're clueless I said that the whole situation that Lucy describes is a tough one a tough one here means a difficult one Someone asks you your opinion and it's a very difficult question. You can say, hmm, that's
a tough one. Meaning it's a very difficult situation to solve or a very difficult problem to solve. I suggested that maybe there was a way for Lucy's friend to cut it out before he gets fired. To cut something out, to cut it out means to stop it, to not do it anymore. Sometimes you'll hear kids say, children say that to each other. Cut it out, cut it out means stop it. I said that in responding to Lucy's thanking me, I said it's
no big deal. It's no big deal is a informal way of saying it's no problem Sometimes when someone thanks you you can say you're welcome But informally we sometimes say oh Don't think about it. Don't worry about it. It's no big deal meaning it didn't cause me any problems. It's a polite way of saying you're welcome, a slightly informal way. I suggested at the end that Lucy and I get a bite to eat. To get a bite to eat or to grab a bite to eat means to go out to a restaurant or somewhere
to get food for lunch or for dinner. Usually it implies a small meal, not a big dinner, but going out to lunch is usually you can say, let's get a bite to eat. That's going to do it for today's ESL podcast. Before we end our podcast, a couple of announcements. Eric and Greg who gave me some good technical help. And so thank you both for your help. I also want to ask all of you to email us. Tell us where you live and who you are. We would love to hear from you.
Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com. That's eslpod .com. Remember that we keep our most recent two podcasts, the latest two podcasts, are always on our iTunes feed, our podcast feed. We also keep the last five podcasts on our website where you can download them. We thank you for listening and hope to see you tomorrow on English as a Second Language podcast. This is Jeff McQuillen from Los Angeles, California. See you next time. ESL podcast is produced by the Center for Educational
Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005.