英语播客中级版You Are Fired!

M: Hello, English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we’re bringing you a great office lesson.

E: That’s right, but actually I hope this situation never happens to any of our listeners.

M: Hehe. Exactly, today we’re firing somebody, so…

E: Yikes! Hehe.

M: It is a little bit complicated, but maybe you are an HR manager, maybe you are a supervisor and you’ll have to do this one day, so… gotta learn how, right? [Comment: HR = Human Resources]

E: Exactly. Alright, well, why don’t we get started then, as we listen to Isabel and Anthony?

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: He did sound a little bit like he had too much to drink and…

E: I know he had that kind of…

M: Slur. [Comment: I guess slurred speech is like indistinct speech; gabble]

E: Yeah… Yeah, that… that slow way of talking, that made him seem a little bit drunk.

M: Hehe. Well, that’s definitely something you don’t wanna do is show up to work with alcohol in your breath. [Comment: show up = appear]

E: Exactly, but you know what, there’s a lot of great language in this dialogue. So, why don’t we take a look at it now in “language takeaway”?

Voice: Language takeaway.

E: Alright, well, I wanna look at three words here. Now, the first one, Anthony said that Isabel was preoccupied.

M: Preoccupied.

E: Preoccupied.

M: Okay, so, if somebody is preoccupied…

E: They’re not focused.

M: Maybe they’re a little bit worried.

E: Yeah, they’re thinking of something else.

M: Okay, s…

E: Why don’t we take a listen to a few examples of how this word is used?

Voice: Example one.

A: James is really preoccupied. I think he’s having some family problems.

Voice: Example two.

B: Oh, were you talking to me, honey? I’m sorry. I’m just really preoccupied with work.

M: Alright, so, very clear now. Preoccupied. Let’s move on to our next word – direct impact.

E: Direct impact.

M: A direct impact.

E: Alright, so, again, Isable told Anthony, that the decision will have a direct impact on his career.

M: Uhu.

E: It will have a noticeable or… impact or effect on his career.

M: Okay, so, a direct impact. And what about our last word? [Comment: we’ve discussed this issue (what about) already; please see excellent Erica’s post on this one]

E: Well, Anthony said “I resent that”.

M: Resent.

E: Resent.

M: Okay, now, this is spelled exactly like reSent. Like with an S, right?

E: That’s right. R-E-S-E-N-T.

M: But you pronounce it like a Z.

E: Uhu. ReZent.

M: ReZent that. So, what does it mean if you say “I resent that”?

E: It means I find that insulting.

M: I find that to be not true.

E: Yes.

M: Okay, I resent.

E: Alright, Marco. Well, how do you use this word?

M: Well, if somebody tells you “you’re lazy”.

E: Okay.

M: Right?

E: Then you might say “hey, I resent that”.

M: Right, I do a lot work.

E: Yeah.

M: I’m not lazy.

E: Yeah, so, it’s always something that you use after someone insults you.

M: Right. Or says something, that you find to be not true.

E: Uhu.

M: Okay. Resent that. And I guess with this it’s time for us to listen to this dialogue again and then we’ll come back and look at some great phrases.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (Slow pace)

E: Well, there’s some wonderful language in here, that you can use when you have to have a difficult conversation with somebody.

M: Right, so, let’s take a look at these phrases in “fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

E: We have three phrases hare. And the first one is to beat around the bush.

M: Okay, beat abound the bush.

E: Beat around the bush.

M: Okay, so, this is an idiomatic phrase.

E: Uhu.

M: So, before we explain it, let’s listen to somebody beating around the bush.

Example: Okay, the one thing that I wanna tell you, um… it’s so important…does that… I don’t like... they… I always… sometimes when… alright, here’s the deal… this is it… specifically… it’s not this, it’s not that, it’s not you, it’s not me… it’s everyone… it’s everything… do you understand what I’m saying?

M: So, as you can tell, the person has something to say, but…

E: They’re taking a long time to say it.

M: Right, you’re kind of looking for the right or maybe more polite words to say something.

E: Exactly.

M: So, that is to beat around the bush.

E: Now, the opposite of to be around the bush is to come out with it.

M: Okay, come out with it.

E: Come out with it.

M: So, maybe you’re talking to your friend and he is beating around the bush, so you can just say “hey, come out with it”.

E: Tell me.

M: Tell me just…

E: Yeah.

M: What is it.

E: Exactly.

M: Right? Come out with it, be direct.

E: When Isabel finally came out with it, she told Anthony, that we’re going to have to let you go.

M: Let you go.

E: Let you go.

M: So, this is actually a nicer way of saying “you’re fired”.

E: Yeah, it’s a little bit more polite, isn’t it?

M: Right, it’s… “we’re gonna have to let you go” or, uh…

E: Or “I was let go from my company”.

M: Right, so, a synonym for “to be fired”.

E: Exactly.

M: Okay, so, let’s listen to Anthony getting fired one more time and then we’ll come back and talk a little bit more about this difficult situation.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: So, Erica, have you ever fired anyone?

E: I’ve fired a lot of people.

M: Hehe. Wow! You’re a mean person.

E: Oh, yeah, well, you know… there’re some people who really do silly things like come to work drunk, um, and if you do that…

M: You’re obviously gonna get fired.

E: Yeah.

M: But in the United States, actually, there’s an interesting way of firing people. They get a pink slip.

E: Oh, yeah, um, but I guess this is just a little bit different then getting fired. This is… you get a pink slip when you, um, get laid off.

M: Right.

E: Yeah.

M: I mean, if you come to work, uh, drunk, you get fired immediately, right?

E: Yes.

M: But when you get a pink slip… so, it’s basically a little pink paper that tells you, that you have been laid off.

E: Yeah, and, so, when you hear somebody say, um, we sent out… Yep, so, when you hear somebody talk about pink slips like…

M: Uhu.

E: We sent… like our company sent out five hundred pink slips, you know that means, that five hundred people got laid off.

M: Or I got a pink slip today.

E: That means you got laid off.

M: Right.

E: Yeah.

M: That’s actually interesting, because I don’t know any other country that actually has this…

E: Of special color. Hehe.

M: Special color for firing people.

E: Yeah. How about in your country? Is there a special color for pink slips?

M: Hehe. If you guys have any stories as well maybe about being fired or maybe you’ve had to fire somebody.

E: Uhu. Come to our website and tell us about it.

M: Right, englishpod.com, there you can leave your questions and comments. Erica and I are always there trying answer your questions and also our great community is there. They will also help you.

E: Okay, guys, well, we’re out of time for today, but until next time…

M: Bye!

E: Good bye!