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 McQuillan, 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.
Lucy: Hey Jeff, can I pick your brain for a minute?
Jeff: Sure, what’s up?
Lucy: Well, I have a sticky situation at work and I wanted to get your input. You’re always so tactful.
Jeff: Thanks. I’m not sure I can help, but I’ll give you my two cents.
Lucy: 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.
Jeff. What do you mean?
Lucy: 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.
Jeff: Hmm. That’s really unprofessional, but it sounds harmless enough if he kept it to himself or just showed it to a few friends.
Lucy: 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.
Jeff: You’re joking, right?
Lucy: No, I’m not. This is what I mean when I said he goes too far. He just doesn’t know when to quit.
Jeff: Is he a friend of yours?
Lucy: 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.
Jeff: 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.
Lucy: Thanks. I appreciate it.
Jeff: Oh, it’s no big deal. Let’s go get a bite to eat.
Lucy: 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 somebodies 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 offence, 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 jokes now and then.” Now and then means the same as every once and awhile, Which means not every day, not all the time, but sometimes.
So, They are 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 ok, 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 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 is no verb to unflatter. there is only verb to flatter, but we can use as an adjective “It’s unflattering.” Meaning, it’s not very nice.
I mentioned to Lucy that it would be (That what 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 with anyone else, Not to share with anyone else. It’s like keeping a secret. “Keep it to yourself.” we’ll 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” it means those who are president, vice president, chairman of the board, CEO (Chief executive officer), all of the most important leaders in the 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 is clueless.
It implies, 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, “Hum, 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) 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 an informal way of saying, “It’s no problem.”
Sometimes, when someone thanks you, you can say, “Your 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, “Your welcome.”
It’s slightly an 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 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.
I also want to ask all of you to email us and tell us where you live and who you are. We would love to hear from you. Our Email address is “eslpod@eslpod.com.” Remember that we keep our most recent two podcast (The latest two podcast) are always on our eye toons feed (our podcast feed.)
We also keep the last 5 podcast 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 McQuillan,  from Los Angeles,California. See you next time.
Esl podcast is produced by center for educational development in Los Angeles, California.
This podcast is copyright 2005.