Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 35. You're listening to English as a Second Language Podcast number 35. I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillen coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. Visit our website at www .eslpod .com for more information and for the script or text for the first part of today's podcast. Today we are going to talk about working in an office and trying to finish a big project. Listen to this conversation and
then we'll come back and talk about it. Let's get started. TGIF all day I Was on my way out of the office When I saw Nick sitting at his desk Even though the office was nearly empty He didn't look like he was ready to leave in fact he looked like He was still swamped with work. Hi Nick, you're here late. Yeah, it looks like this may be an all -nighter. I just got a project dumped in my lap. You're kidding! On
Friday afternoon? What happened? Well, the person who was put in charge of this project went on maternity leave this week, and the person who was supposed to take it over just resigned. I can't believe that. When is the deadline? I hope you're getting some extra help. The project is due first thing Monday morning, and with the layoffs recently, I think I'm on my own on this one. Why don't you bring me up to speed? Maybe I can help. No, it's Friday. You look like you're
about to head home. I can't ask you to do that. I don't have any big plans for tonight, so I'll tell you what. I'm having some trouble finishing the budget on my proposal, and I know you're a whiz at numbers. Why don't I stay and help you with your project for the next few hours, and you can give me a hand with my budget next week? That's really nice of you. It would be a big relief. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed and I know you've done a project like this before.
Okay, you've got a deal. Good. Now let's see what we've got. We heard two people talking about a big project. that was due next week. The conversation began with Linda saying that it was Friday afternoon and she had been thinking TGIF all day. TGIF is an informal expression. It means thank God it's Friday meaning we're very Grateful we're very happy that the end of the work week is here
TGIF Thank God. It's Friday Linda was on her way out of the office when she saw Nick sitting at his desk To be on your way out means that you are leaving, or you are walking away. Nick said that he was swamped with work. To be swamped with work means to have a lot of work. Literally, to swamp something means to throw water on it, like a boat in the ocean, and there's a storm. The boat... can become swamped, too much water and it may sink. To be swamped with work means
to have too much work. Linda asked Nick why he was there so late and Nick said it looked like
this was going to be an all -nighter. An all -nighter means I'm going to have to stay up all night to finish my work we sometimes use the verb pull with this expression I'm going to pull an all -nighter means I'm going to be up all night to study for my exam or to finish my work for the next day Nick said that he had a project dumped in his lap to dump something in your lap your lap is When you sit down your legs somebody sits on top of your lap like A child would sit
on Santa Claus's lap To have something dumped in your lap though means that someone gave you work unexpectedly That you weren't expecting to do this work and suddenly someone gives it to you usually your boss it's when you are given some situation that you weren't expecting and usually don't want Linda says you're kidding after Nick tells her of this problem you're kidding literally means you're joking but it's a very common expression when we are expressing surprise
about something. Did you hear my brother won the lottery? You're kidding, meaning that's amazing. Nick says that the person who was put in charge of the project went on maternity leave. To be put in charge of something in a work environment and a business means that you are Responsible
for it. It's your job. I Was put in charge of washing the dishes last night That means it was my job to do that Usually though to put in charge is something we use in a business setting Maternity leave is when a woman usually leaves her job for maybe six months, maybe three months, maybe a year in order to have a baby. So when a woman becomes pregnant, she can be given maternity leave. It's now possible in many states in the
United States to have paternity leave. Paternity leave is for the father to leave work, to help his wife. Nick said that the person who was supposed to take it over just resigned. To take over something means to take charge of it, to be responsible for it. To take over a project would be I'm going to take your work and do it myself. To resign means, as you probably know, to quit, to leave. We use that verb especially for work settings,
in formal business settings. I resigned. Although sometimes political leaders can also resign, especially when they get in trouble. Nick said that the project was due first thing Monday morning. First thing means at the beginning of the day, usually the business day. It's due first thing on Friday means it's due when work begins on Friday. You have to get it done before the beginning of the day on Friday. Nick mentioned that in his company, There were many layoffs. A layoff
is when the company fires employees. Sometimes we say the company lets them go, meaning they get rid of and have less people working for them. Layoff is also sometimes called downsizing. I was downsized. All one word, downsize, means I was fired from my job. In Britain, in England, they say redundancy. There will be redundancies. In British English means some people are going to get fired. Linda asked Nick to bring her up to speed. To bring someone up to speed means
to give them the information they need. For example, I arrive late to a meeting and I ask one of my coworkers, someone I work with, please bring me up to speed on what happened. So to bring someone up to speed means to give him information or her information. We also use the expression to fill them in. Fill me in on what happened means tell me, give me the information about what happened. Linda says that she has some trouble
finishing the budget on her proposal. A budget is a list of how you are going to spend your money. Usually, again, this is a business expression, a work expression, you have a budget. But you can also have a budget for your house, for your home. I have five dollars budgeted this week for getting a coffee at the coffee shop. because coffee is expensive, you know. It can cost five dollars sometimes to buy a cup of coffee in many
places. So to budget or to have a budget means to have a plan for how you're going to spend your money. A proposal is when you are working on something and you need to get it approved. a project, for example. So to have a proposal means something you are asking someone else to say yes on, to agree to. Normally a proposal is a business expression, but we also use the term proposal when usually a man asks a woman to marry her. Will you marry me? That's a marriage
proposal. Hopefully she says yes Now Linda says that Nick is a whiz at numbers To be a whiz at something means to be very good at to be one of the best I'm a whiz at Well, I'm not a whiz at anything but my wife is a whiz at the computer. She knows how to use the computer very well. Linda offers to give Nick a hand with something. To give someone a hand with means to help them. Could you give me a hand with this box? It's very heavy and I need someone to help me lift
it up. To give someone a hand with and then you followed by the thing that they are going to help you give me a hand with Teaching my class today means help me do that Nick said that this was a big relief to be a relief means to have a difficult burden or a difficult problem Go away or have someone give you a solution to a problem a difficult problem That means that we get some relief We feel better about a project Nick says that he's feeling pretty overwhelmed
to feel overwhelmed or to be overwhelmed means to have so much stress and so much anxiety and worry over something that it doesn't allow you to act normally, to work normally. I'm overwhelmed with work means I have so much work I can't do anything very well. Nick says after Linda offers to give him a hand He says you've got a deal That's an expression an informal expression.
We use but it can also be used a lot in business settings when you say you've got a deal means okay, I agree to your idea usually in a business setting this means that you agree for example to work on a project or if you are selling something to someone and you are arguing about the price and finally you agree the other person may say you've got a deal meaning yes I will do that or I will buy that that's going to do it for today's ESL podcast As always, we invite you
to email us. Our address is eslpod at eslpod .com. I'm Jeff McQuillen from Los Angeles, California. We'll see you next time on English as a Second Language Podcast. ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005.