Episode 0170

Hello everyone and welcome to English Pod. My name is Marco.

And my name is Catherine, and today we're talking about a very important day in a couple's life.

That's right, we're going to a wedding and uh, but this time, it's not going to be so romantic because actually the the groom is having second thoughts about the wedding.

Okay, that means he's nervous and he's not positive he wants to get married today. So remember the groom is the man, the bride is the woman.

Let's jump right into this dialogue, listen to what's going on, and when we come back, we'll be talking about some of the words and phrases you've heard.

Whoa, whoa, take it easy. Relax. Jeez, you're sweating like a pig. What's going on?

I know. Oh, I know.

Let's think this through. First of all, you cannot leave Amy at the altar. Not only will she be humiliated and kill you, but she is the woman that you love and the woman of your dreams. Why would you want to end that or jeopardize it like this?

All right, we're back. So almost, he almost didn't get married, but luckily you have a good friend to help you out.

Exactly. So this friend really saved the day, made sure that the groom didn't get too nervous and uh, had some really positive words. So let's take a listen to some of these marriage words in today's language takeaway.

All right. So as you mentioned, we have this word marriage. Now marriage is the noun form, right? Of actually getting married or to be married.

Right. Marriage is the the noun, the word that describes the relationship between two married people. Okay. And so you have a relationship, maybe you're dating, but once you get married, the thing between you as a man and a woman, that's your marriage. So you could say, our marriage is in danger.

We need to work on our marriage. All right.

Okay, so that's marriage. Now, if you get married, and this guy, he mentioned a phrase, which was to settle down.

To settle down. This is a very important phrase. To settle down means to get serious, mature, and to stop living like a child. It means really to have a house or to start having kids. It's it's a it's a time in life.

So to settle down is to become more stable, right? As you say, to buy a house, to have a family, to stay in one place and and not be so adventurous or stuff like that.

Exactly. So it's to calm down and to be more fixed in life.

All right. Now, the opposite of this would be to be a bachelor.

Right. So bachelor is a single man, uh, someone who's not married. Um, and you often hear this term when we talk about apartments, so bachelor pad, is a an apartment that's specific to a single man. Usually there's lots of video games and a fancy TV and a pool table, exactly.

All right, so bachelor. We had a lesson about this called bachelor party.

Right, which is a party for a man, right before he gets married.

Okay.

And uh bachelor is a special word for a man who's not yet married.

Okay, very good. And now as they were talking about not getting married, he said that you can't leave Amy at the altar.

So you often hear this in movies. She got left at the altar or you can't leave her at the altar. This word altar is actually religious. Altar is the table in a church where the priest does all of his work.

Right. All right, so an altar is a special religious table.

So usually two people will stand in front of an altar and get married, right? With the priest who is doing his thing there.

Exactly says, do you Joe take Samantha to be your bride, blah, blah, blah.

So that happens at a special place called the altar. It's also common in the normal mass, like on Sundays.

Okay, very good. Right. Okay. And uh for the last word or phrase today, it's to get cold feet. You're just getting cold feet.

Okay, so this is a very funny phrase in English because it doesn't actually mean that your your feet are cold, right? So cold feet means you're nervous about something. You you might change your mind.

Okay.

Okay, so uh people often talk about um men and women getting cold feet before a wedding.

But you can also relate it to any other situation, not only getting married, right?

Yeah, for example, I'm going to go jump out of an airplane tomorrow. Okay. Fast forward tomorrow. Oh no. I have cold feet. I don't think I want to jump out of an airplane.

Okay, so that's to get cold feet, to have second thoughts or doubts about actually doing something.

Exactly. Cold feet.

All right, so why don't we listen to our dialogue again. Let's keep a look out for all of these words and we'll be back in a little bit.

Whoa, whoa, take it easy. Relax. Jeez, you're sweating like a pig. What's going on?

I know. Oh, I know.

Let's think this through. First of all, you cannot leave Amy at the altar. Not only will she be humiliated and kill you, but she is the woman that you love and the woman of your dreams. Why would you want to end that or jeopardize it like this?

All right, we're back. So now, why don't we take a look at four key phrases that we found in this dialogue on fluency builder.

This first one is a really great phrase because it's very um, well, it's easy to picture this, what we're describing. Sweating like a pig.

To sweat like a pig. Okay, you're sweating like a pig.

All right, this is a this is a way to say that someone is sweating a lot.

A lot.

Okay, and it's really gross or disgusting.

Now do pigs actually sweat?

I don't know if pigs actually sweat, but you you imagine someone smells bad and they have, you know, sweat on their face and their back and their arms.

All right, well sometimes don't you say you're sweating like a dog?

You could also say that. Um, I guess we like animals in English, but um, this is just a really great way to say that someone is really sweaty.

All right. And well he was sweating and he was really nervous because he said, I can't go through with this. What does he mean go through with this? With what?

To go through with means to actually do something, okay? So maybe I say, I don't want to jump out of an airplane. I can't go through with this. Okay, I can't jump. So it depends on what we're actually talking about.

Okay.

If we're talking about a wedding, you say I can't go through with this. I can't get married.

So if you're planning a robbery, you say, well, in the last minute I couldn't go through with it. I backed out.

Right. I can't complete what I talked about doing.

Okay. And uh now the friend, he finally gets kind of angry and he says, cut the crap.

So to cut the crap is no more complaints, no more excuses, or no more talking nonsense.

Exactly. This is this is common among teachers and well, parents. Yeah. All right, so cut the crap. Now, it's not very polite, right? So you wouldn't really say it to your boss or like a friend.

No.

Cut the crap is kind of rude, and it's very spoken language, so I wouldn't write it down. And I would not use this with someone who is like a teacher, um, well,

Yeah, like an authority.

You don't use it with them. They might use it with you.

Okay. And for our last phrase, he said, whoo, you had me going there for a while, or you had me going there for a minute.

Okay, so this is a really interesting phrase. We use this a lot in English, but it's not clear from listening to it what it might mean. So you had me going there in this sense means, oh, I was really nervous for a minute.

I really believed what you were saying.

I would love to help you out, ma'am, but uh, yeah, no, I didn't actually win a million dollars.

You believed me. Okay, maybe not. He's not that gullible.

That gullible. All right, but that that's what it means, right?

To believe someone's story or to think that um something's going to happen even though it doesn't. You had me going there. That means what you thought was going to happen, didn't happen.

So you can use it in the third person is like, yeah, I was telling him this awesome story and I really had him going for a while.

He really believed me, and then I told him it wasn't true.

Okay. Great phrases. Now, let's listen to our dialogue for the last time and we'll be back to talk a little bit more about getting cold feet.

Whoa, whoa, take it easy. Relax. Jeez, you're sweating like a pig. What's going on?

I know. Oh, I know.

Let's think this through. First of all, you cannot leave Amy at the altar. Not only will she be humiliated and kill you, but she is the woman that you love and the woman of your dreams. Why would you want to end that or jeopardize it like this?

All right, so this is a popular scenario, right? Somebody at their on their wedding day, they get cold feet and they, you know, they back out.

TV, movies, books, everyone loves this situation.

Have you ever actually heard of or or or experienced or maybe known of somebody who actually left uh the bride at the altar or the groom at the altar?

Me neither. I don't think it's really that common.

No, but there was a movie just about this. So there's a woman, Julia Roberts, who tries and tries and tries to get married, but never can. So it's called Runaway Bride. Because every time she goes to the altar, she gets nervous, she gets cold feet and she runs away.

Right. They call her the runaway bride.

I can't imagine this actually happening to someone. I mean, you have all your family there, your friends.

It's amazing.

And expensive.

Exactly, because you've already paid for everything.

So do you get to eat the cake if you if you're the one who's left behind?

I don't I think so. Everything's paid for, right?

Exactly.

Drink all the liquor. All right. So that's all the time we have for today. If you have any questions, any comments, you can come to our website at Englishpod.com, and we'll see you guys there.

Bye everyone.

Bye.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

A party of people at a wedding.

Wedding party.

Become nervous and reconsider a decision.

Get cold feet.

Lose one's nerve.

Freak out.

Long and careful examination of one's thoughts.

Soul searching.

Remind someone to stay calm.

Slap some sense into.

Let's try that faster.

Long and careful examination of one's thoughts.

Soul searching.

Become nervous and reconsider a decision.

Get cold feet.

Lose one's nerve.

Freak out.

A party of people at a wedding.

Wedding party.

Remind someone to stay calm.

Slap some sense into.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Wedding party.

They planned their crime but couldn't go through with it.

Wedding party.

You can't go through with this. We are going to be arrested.

Wedding party.

He had his doubts, but in the end he went through with the divorce.

Get cold feet.

I was going to tell him, but I got cold feet.

Get cold feet.

I can't believe he got cold feet on his wedding day.

Get cold feet.

I was about to complete my work, but I got cold feet and I came clean.

Freak out.

Freak out.

Freak out.

It's normal to freak out a little bit the moment before your wedding.

Soul searching.

Soul searching.

I think that envy is the worst feeling a person can have.

Soul searching.

Everyone envies your new shoes.

Slap some sense into.

Slap some sense into.

I wish someone slapped some sense into her.

Slap some sense into.

Thanks for slapping some sense into me.