1,150 - Avoiding Topics in Conversation

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Get a 20 to 30 minute audio lesson every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday downloaded right to your Apple device. Join more than 15 million people around the world Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 1150, Avoiding Topics in Conversation. This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1150. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development. In beautiful Los Angeles, California. Visit our website.

at eslpod.com. Become a member of ESL Podcast and download the learning guide for this episode. You can also like us on Facebook. Go to This episode is a dialogue between Lila and George about...

not talking about certain things. Let's get started. Why aren't you dating? Let's change the subject. Talking about my love life. isn't very interesting. But really, you're not getting any younger and... Moving on... Have you seen any good movies lately? Listen, all of your friends are settling down and you don't want to go through life. alone and lonely. That reminds me. Didn't you say that you were going to get another dog so that Rover isn't lonely?

When you're not home? Forget about my dog. You remember Rachel, don't you? She just broke up with her boyfriend, and she'd be... Perfect for you. Speaking of Rachel, how is her mother? Wasn't she in the hospital? If Rachel isn't your type... How about Amina? She has great legs and I know you're a leg man. And now for something completely different. How is your diet coming along? Have you lost any weight yet? I don't really want to talk about my weight.

But I think you're having trouble shedding those pounds, right? I have lots of suggestions on what you can do. Anyway... As I said before I don't really want to talk about my diet. You need to cut out sweets if you want to lose weight. Are you eating too many sweets? That's none of your business. My sentiments exactly.

Lila begins by asking George, why aren't you dating? To date, D-A-T-E. means to be involved in a romantic relationship but not yet married, so to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Lila wants to know why George isn't dating. I have so many friends who would love to go out with you, Lila says. To go out with means to go on a romantic date with someone. Notice. The word date as a noun means a romantic evening.

or afternoon with someone, spending time with someone, going to a movie or going to dinner. Those could be dates. You might consider a date a romantic appointment, an appointment with someone who you are romantically interested in. To go out with someone means to be dating someone. It could also mean simply to go out on a date with someone. George says, let's change the subject. To change the subject S-U-B-J-E-C-T means to stop talking about one thing

and begin talking about something else, especially when you don't want to talk about the first topic. If someone starts talking to you about... his financial problems or his health problems, and you don't want to hear about it anymore, you may say, well, let's change the subject. You have to be careful, of course. You could insult someone. You could... be rude to someone by saying that out loud. You might just want to change the subject on your own without actually announcing that.

But George does announce it. He says, let's change the subject. Talking about my love life isn't very interesting. Leela says, But really, you're not getting any younger, and that expression, you're not getting any younger, would be used in a case where the person is telling someone that... He or she may soon be too old to do something, especially in the case of one's love life. You may say that to someone who...

you think is getting too old to get married. You may also say it about, for example, doing a lot of traveling if you think that your health will be bad as you get older, and usually it is. You might say, well, we're not getting any younger. Let's take that trip walking across Europe from Spain to Poland. I don't know. Whatever thing that would involve. your health that might not be possible in the future. Leela says you're not getting any younger to George.

George, however, is trying to change the subject. He says, moving on. Moving on is a phrase to indicate... that you want to stop talking about this topic and to talk about something else. George says, have you seen any good movies lately? He's trying to change the topic of conversation by talking about movies. But Leela doesn't want to change the topic. She says, listen, all of my friends are settling down.

and you don't want to go through life alone and lonely. To settle S-E-T-T-L-E down is a two-word phrasal verb that usually means... to get married, to find a home, and to start a family. That would normally be the definition of to settle down. father says to his son, you need to settle down, the father is usually referring to the fact that the son needs to get married, to buy a house, and to start a family.

or at the very least to move out of his house. Lila says that she doesn't want George to go through life, that is to live the rest of his life, alone. and lonely. To be alone, A-L-O-N-E, is to be by yourself, without anyone else. To be lonely, L-O-N-E-L-Y, means to feel sad because you are by yourself or don't have any close personal relationships. You can be alone without being lonely. You can be by yourself in your house, for example, and not be lonely.

You can be lonely and not be alone. If you are with someone but you don't feel close to that person, you could still feel lonely even though you're not alone, at least in the physical sense. There's someone else with you.

Lila is afraid George will be alone and lonely. George again tries to change the conversation or the topic of the conversation. He says, that reminds me. That, reminds me, is a phrase we use once again, to suddenly change topics. Although it could be that you have suddenly thought of something, you've been reminded of something, that you want to tell the other person.

Here, however, it's used by George to try to change the subject of the conversation again. He asks Leela a question about her dog. Again, Leela isn't interested in changing the topic. She says, forget about my dog. You remember Rachel, don't you? She just broke up with her boyfriend.

To break up with someone is to end a romantic relationship with someone. Usually we use that when we're talking about ending a... boyfriend-girlfriend relationship not a marriage if you are ending your marriage you would probably say you're getting divorced or separated Lila thinks that her friend Rachel would be perfect for George. George says, speaking of Rachel, how is her mother? Wasn't she in the hospital?

Notice again George is trying to change the subject. Speaking of is an expression we use to introduce a topic that is related to what the other person said but isn't exactly the same. You may be talking about, say, going to Paris for a vacation, and someone may have just read a book about Paris. He could say to you, speaking of Paris, I just read this wonderful book about Paris. George tries to change the subject and talk about Rachel's mother. Lila says...

If Rachel isn't your type, how about Amina? Type, T-Y-P-E, here means the kind of person... to whom you are romantically attracted, the kind of person in whom you are interested in. What about Amina, Lila says? She has great legs, and I know you're a leg man. The expression leg man is an informal one, referring to a man who might be attracted to women who have long, beautiful legs. George says,

And now for something completely different. How is your diet coming along? Have you lost any weight yet? Here, George is getting impatient with Lila. He's starting to get perhaps even a little angry. However, he uses a phrase, and now for something completely different, to... change the topic of conversation, but also to perhaps make a little joke. This expression, and now for something completely different, was made famous by a group of comedians from...

Great Britain called Monty Python. Monty Python was a group of comedians back in the 1970s and 80s. And one of the famous phrases in their show, in order to move from one part of the show to another, was, and now for something completely different. It was always something very funny that followed. Here, George is not saying anything funny, but he is using that expression as a way of changing the topic. He asks Leela a somewhat personal question. How is your diet?

Coming along. A diet, D-I-E-T, refers to the kind of food you eat. Normally, we use the word when someone is trying to lose weight. They're trying to eat. certain kinds of food in order to not be as heavy as they are right now, to weigh less. George asks Leela how her diet is coming along, meaning is she being successful? Is she losing any weight? Leela says, I don't really want to talk about my weight. Leela considers that a personal topic.

Just as George considers his love life a personal topic. That's why George is asking the question. He's trying to get Leela to understand that this topic is personal and he doesn't want to talk about it. But George then continues in order to get Lila perhaps a little angry and perhaps to get back at Lila, to do something. bad to her because he feels she did something bad to him by continually asking questions about his love life. George says,

But I think you're having trouble shedding those pounds, right? I have lots of suggestions on what you can do. To shed, S-H-E-D, pounds. means to lose weight. Lila now is the one who tries to change the subject. She says, anyway... As I said before, I don't really want to talk about my diet. Anyway, as a word that's very popular in American English, you will hear it a lot in daily conversation.

And it is said usually to change the topic or to talk about something new. It's important to listen to how the word is said. If it's said at the beginning of a sentence, In the way that Lila says it, anyway, anyway, usually that means the person wants to change the topic or is now going to talk about something different. George.

says, you need to cut out sweets if you want to lose weight. To cut out something means to stop... using it or stop doing it in this case to stop eating it that's true of course if you want to lose weight it's a good idea to cut out sweets to cut out things with a lot of sugar in them. George says, are you eating too many sweets? Sweets refers to anything that has a lot of sugar, like candy.

Leela says that's none of your business. That expression, that's none of your business, is used usually in anger when someone is asking you about something that... doesn't concern them or that you think is too personal to talk about. Lila is now angry at George, and George did this, of course, on purpose, trying to show Lila. how her questions about his love life were also too personal to talk about. Leela says, that's none of your business. George says, my sentiments exactly.

The expression, my sentiments, S-C-N-T-I-M-E-N-T-S, exactly. is a phrase used to show that you agree completely with the other person you agree completely with what the other person has said George agrees with Lila that asking about her weight is none of his business because he wants Lila now to understand that asking about his love life is none of her business.

Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed. Why aren't you dating? I have so many friends who would love to go out with you. Let's change the subject. Talking about my love life isn't very interesting. But really, you're not getting any younger and... Moving on. Have you seen any good movies lately? Listen, all of your friends are settling down, and you don't want to go through life alone and lonely. That reminds me.

Didn't you say you were going to get another dog so that Rover isn't lonely when you're not home? Forget about my dog. You remember Rachel, don't you? She just broke up with her boyfriend, and she'd be perfect for you. Speaking of Rachel, how is her mother? Wasn't she in the hospital? If Rachel isn't your type, how about Amina? She has great legs, and I know you're a leg man.

And now for something completely different. How is your diet coming along? Have you lost any weight yet? I don't really want to talk about my weight. But I think you're having trouble shedding those pounds, right? I have lots of suggestions on what you can do. Anyway, as I said before, I don't really want to talk about my diet. You need to cut out sweets if you want to lose weight. Are you eating too many sweets? That's none of your business. My sentiments, exactly.

We always appreciate the wonderful emails that we get here at ESL Podcast. And speaking of wonderful, I want to thank our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say. From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast. English is a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Say, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.