节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-12-22
难易度:Medium
关键字:smooth, trip somebody up, foul, slap, crab, in the doghouse, profane
Welcome back from the break, everybody.
Do you ever get annoyed?
Do you ever get angry?
Do you ever get upset?
Of course, you do!
You're human.
Now when you experience one of these emotions, do you feel the urge to use loud,
rude or foul language?
That's what the man in today's study chose to do.
And it did nothing but make the situation worse.
Let's continue the embarrassing story about a husband who was caught using foul
language down on line 11.
Polishing Your Manners Can Improve Relationships.
"There I was, like a fool, using foul language to tell my wife to hurry up and
get her fill-in-the-blank laptop turned off so the program could begin.
Almost everyone in the room heard me." Jason told us he assigned himself to the
doghouse.
His wife, Jill, didn't have to do it.
"Honey, if I'm crazy or profane, I want you to slap my dumb head off," Jason
told Jill.
"I've learned my lesson, and I will clean up my act from now on.".
Friends, it's important to have good manners.
And remember, even if you think that the other person that you're in a
relationship with has bad manners,
it's your responsibility to be the first one to change your attitude.
Think positively, and love the other person first.
Now we're laughing with Jason at his story of accidental bad manners.
He was talking to his wife...
Well, he wasn't talking, he was crabbing at his wife, and didn't know the
microphone next to him was on.
What happened next?
Well, he says: There I was, like a fool, using foul language to tell my wife to
hurry up and get her fill-in-the-blank laptop turned off so the program could
begin.
OK. Let's look at this.
He says: There I was.
Well, of course he was there.
What does that mean?
Well, if you use that phrase, Kaylah, that means you're painting a picture in
order to show people what was happening.
So you say, "There I was. Everything else was happening around me," and you
realize something.
That's right.
That's a really good way of saying it.
Everything was happening around you, and then you're like: Oh, my goodness! I
can't believe I've been doing this!
So there I was, acting like a fool, using foul language.
Exactly.
Now the word "foul" usually means something that is bad or dirty.
And so if you're using it with language, what does that mean?
It means it's rude, offensive or as well as dirty.
So that goes back to swear words.
It's the same thing.
Friends, please.
I cannot tell you enough.
Do not use swear words, especially in a second language.
If you don't really know what they mean, don't use them.
You will only offend the people you're trying to communicate with.
Yes, definitely.
Now here in this case, he was telling his wife to turn off her fill-in-the-blank
laptop.
What does that phrase mean?
This "fill-in-the-blank" is... well, Ryan, actually he's inserting this phrase
to take the place of a bad word that he said during the moment.
To "fill the blank in," what does that mean outside of this context?
Well, that usually means that there's a blank and you can write anything in
there.
In this case, we know that he used a bad word when he was telling his wife to
turn off the laptop, so.
Because he's trying to tell us a story, and he doesn't want to sound rude to us,
he's not saying the bad word in the sentence.
That's right.
He's leaving it to you to fill the blank in.
So you know kind of what he said already.
So he's telling her to put her fill-in-the-blank computer... laptop turned off
so the program could get started.
Well, almost everyone in the room heard him.
Oh. That is extremely embarrassing.
And this is a good reason for him to decide to not use swear words and to be
polite more often.
That's right.
You know... you know it takes some... unfortunately, sometimes it takes being
this embarrassed because of something you said to change your manners.
But instead, let's just learn from Jason and not do the same thing.
Exactly. Now Kaylah, I actually... I think this is funny what he did.
I like this.
He said he assigned himself to the doghouse.
Which a lot of husbands should learn to do.
Now the doghouse, the doghouse usually refers to a small building in the out...
maybe in the backyard that your dog would live in.
It's an actual house for your dog.
But when you say someone is... some person is assigned to "the doghouse," what
does that mean?
Well, usually if it's a husband and wife they're arguing late at night, then the
wife would say: Honey, go to the doghouse.
In the old times, the husband would actually have to go outside and sleep with
the dog.
He wasn't allowed inside anymore.
Now we use this just to describe when someone is in deep trouble.
When you're in... because when a dog is in trouble and they've been in the
house, they're in troube, you send them to the doghouse.
That's the biggest punishment they can have.
Now we do that here, too.
You can say, "I'm in the doghouse," which means I did something so awful that
I'm stuck being punished.
And that means you're going to have to probably do a lot to get back on his
wife's good side.
Exactly. And he assigned himself there, so he did it himself.
And his wife, Jill, didn't have to do it.
That's right.
Though she probably would have told him he was in the doghouse.
He wouldn't actually sleep outside, but he'd been in big trouble.
But he already knew he was in big trouble, so she didn't need to tell him.
Yep. But he told his wife: Honey, if I'm crazy or profane, I want you to slap my
dumb head off.
OK. So he says... if he is crazy or profane.
Now to be "profane" means you show absolutely no respect.
Now usually this has do with religion, but it can also just be not respecting
someone else.
Exactly. Yeah.
If you're being profane, you're using foul language probably just being very
rude, and usually publicly.
Yeah, publicly rude and very offensive.
So he says: If I am being profane, just slap my dumb head off.
If you "slap" something, that means you hit it with the flat part of your hand
very hard.
And very quickly.
Now he doesn't mean actually "dumb head off." He doesn't want to remove his
head.
He's saying: Honey, please just remind me of what I'm doing.
Yeah, just tell him... "Tell me" is what he's asking.
He says: I've learned my lesson, and I will clean up my act from now on.
That's right.
To clean up his act means that he is improving his behavior.
That's right. So he needs to improve his behavior, be more polite even in
public.
OK, friends.
I hope you've learned a lot about being polite and can improve and polish your
manners.
Thanks for joining us.
Let's visit the Chat Room.
(Music).
Hi, Ken.
What are you reading today?
Well, I'm looking for a job for my friend Peter.
He has some bad habits that caused him to lose his last few jobs.
But he's hoping to change his life.
Oh, that's great.
I'm glad you're able to help your friend clean up his act.
Well, that's what friends are for.
But what exactly do you mean by "clean up his act"?
That sounds like a good question for Studio Classroom Editor-in-Chief Doris.
Let's see what she has to say about this idiom.
OK.
"To clean something up" means to make it neat and clean.
But it can also mean to make it follow certain rules or moral standards.
For example, to clean up one's language means to avoid saying words that are
rude or offensive.
"To clean up one's act" means that a person changes his or her behavior and
begins to follow a set of moral and ethical rules.
I see. So "clean" can mean good or ethical as well as not dirty.
Hey, doesn't "squeaky-clean" have that meaning too?
Yes. Squeaky-clean can just mean very clean, or it can mean that someone has no
moral fault.
For example, a squeaky-clean politician is one who's never been involved in
scandals or done anything bad.
That's a really high standard.
I know that Peter is trying to change, but I can also see that he feels like
he'll never be squeaky-clean since he's made so many mistakes.
I'm sure a lot of people feel that way.
I know I have at times.
It's important to admit what you've done wrong and ask for forgiveness.
Then you can start again with a clean slate.
A what?
A clean slate.
That means a chance to start again, as if all the things you've done wrong have
been erased.
Cool.
I'll try to encourage Peter to move on and start again with a clean slate.
Good. Tell him I wish him all the best.
(Chinese).
(Music).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And that concludes our Language Tips today.
Keep up the good work, and I'll see you soon.
Thank you, Michelle.
We appreciate those tips.
Well, our lesson tells us that most tension in a relationship is caused by a
tone of a voice that has no respect for the other person.
In other words, bad manners.
Our author reminds us that good manners and things like thoughtfulness and
consideration for others are essential if we want to be around and stay around
people of power and influence.
Also, we should practice good manners wherever we are so we don't get tripped up
at a bad time.
OK, everyone.
Spend some time this weekend polishing your manners and polishing your English.
We'll see you all on Monday.
Take care.