Episode 0225

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

My name is Catherine and today we are here with an advanced level lesson. That means that we're going to listen to a pretty long and exciting dialogue and then we'll talk a little bit about what you've heard and some of these cool interesting phrases.

That's right. And on this occasion as as Catherine said, it's a it's a nice fun dialogue. And we're going to have a lot of colloquial terms. So um, maybe you won't really understand a couple of different phrases because they're very colloquial, they're very American terms.

Mhm. And the accents are also they're a little bit from like Boston, kind of like New Jersey maybe or something.

Right. So keep an ear out for some of these strange or unusual phrases. We will be talking about them in a moment, uh but don't worry if you don't understand this dialogue the first time, you'll be hearing it again later.

All right, let's run through this one more time from the top.

I will be positioned here, across from the bank on this park bench.

Now, according to the intel we got from Jimmy,

Oh, who's Jimmy?

Jimmy's our mole, you know, the guy on the inside. He's been snooping and passing on the info to us so we can pull this heist off.

Your role is pretty important here, we're depending on you, man.

Okay, okay, I'm listening.

Mothballs.

All righty then. Where was I? Oh yeah. Okay.

So I'll be on the lookout, sitting here on the bench across from the bank. Nobody moves until I give the go-ahead, all right?

And what's the go-ahead, Ralph?

You, um, you, uh, oh yeah, you'll take off your hat and scratch your head.

Right. When I take my hat off and scratch my head,

you do what?

I get in the box.

Right, you get in the box. I'll make sure it's all sealed and then posing as the delivery guy.

I'll drop off a special package for the manager.

Now, according to Jimmy, the bank manager's leaving early on Tuesday, 'cause it's his wedding anniversary.

He and the wife are having a romantic rendezvous in the country, so any packages delivered will be left unopened in his office until he gets back late on Wednesday.

Which gives us access to his office for at least 12 hours.

Okay, Ralph, this is where you come in.

Where are you?

I'm standing right next to you, Sammy.

Oh, sorry, Sam. I'm in the box, right here, in that box.

And what do you do once I deliver you to the manager's office?

I stay in the box until the bank is closed.

And then I get out of the box.

Hey, give me a chance here, fellas.

I crack the safe and then...

Then I take the money.

And then I, um, I get back in the box.

Attaboy, Ralph. In the morning, I come back to the bank, say there's been a mix-up with the delivery I made, and take the special package back here.

All right, let's get some sleep. It's a big day tomorrow, fellas.

That's nice. Okay, how much?

All right, we're back. So, um, obviously the this guy Ralph, I don't know why, always the the one robber whose name is Ralph is not very clever.

No, it's not, it doesn't mean that Ralph's are generally not smart people, but uh yeah, I think you're right. There's usually...

Oh, Ralph. Well, let's find out what Ralph screwed up today. First of all, we've got, um, we've got the guys Sammy, Ralph, and Frankie who are talking about the plan.

Okay? And uh Sammy mentions that he had the intel from Jimmy.

Okay. So, when we talk about intel, uh, we're talking about information, right?

That's right. So Intel is a word that's short for intelligence, or facts, or information.

That's right. So you can talk about intelligence as uh, maybe you're very smart, you have, you're very intelligent.

But when we talk about intelligence, uh, we talk about gathering information in order to help us accomplish an objective.

For example, in movies about the CIA, we often hear them talk about gathering intel. That means collecting facts.

Right. Very good. So, uh, they had intel from Jimmy about the bank and the layout.

And uh, well, they were like, "Who's Jimmy?" and then and and Sammy says that, well, he's our mole, you know, the guy on the inside.

A mole. So mole is an animal. But in cases of intelligence, or maybe in this case a bank robbery, spying, a mole is a person who's basically stealing information.

So for example, uh if I work in the CIA, but I'm selling information from the CIA to the French government, I'm a mole.

Right. So you're basically like a spy.

Yes. You're you're a person on the inside. And and that's what they they mean when when he says, uh he's our guy on the inside. You're inside uh the enemy's territory or you're inside their organization.

Exactly. So, for example, um have you seen the the show 24? Yeah, with Jack Bauer. Well, they often have this problem of moles inside the organization. So, maybe the the terrorists, the terrorists have a guy on the inside.

That's right. He's a mole. So they have somebody that that has penetrated their organization.

Exactly. Okay. So, they talk about the mole and how they are going to pull this heist off.

Okay, so the phrase here is to pull off a heist.

First of all, what's a heist?

Well, a heist is a is a robbery, is a is a basically a robbery.

Yeah, it's another word for robbery, so...

It's kind of old though, you don't really say it anymore, right?

No, you can say it's a heist movie, or um it's a movie about a heist. Um it's, it's almost like a genre. You know, there's a, there's a basic storyline where they plan the robbery, they do the robbery, something goes wrong, what's going to happen. So that's a heist.

Very good. So, a heist is something that was planned out, like a robbery that's planned out.

It's not really if you come up to someone and and say, "Give me your wallet," that's not really a heist.

No, that's a stickup.

But a heist is something that you pull off.

So to pull off is to succeed.

To accomplish.

To accomplish. So I pulled it off, I was able to do it.

Mhm. So you pulled off the heist.

Very good. And well, they were talking about if they do it, they don't want to get caught because they don't want to go back to the slammer.

Uh, the slammer.

Yeah, well, I I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to go to the slammer either.

So what is the slammer?

The slammer, the big house.

Right, lockup, the slammer, the big house. All these are colloquial synonyms for prison, for jail.

Jail. So normally we say prison or jail, like it's a, it's a maximum security prison. Like Prison Break, the TV show.

Right. But in colloquial English we often say slammer.

Okay. The slammer or the big house.

Okay. So, uh, they were talking that they don't want to go back to the slammer. And now when they were actually planning out the crime, uh he says, "Well, you wait until I give you the go-ahead."

Okay. So this is the plan. Uh he's going to wait for a sign. Uh the go-ahead means a sign that indicates that it's time to do something.

Okay, so for example, so in this case, what is that sign?

Uh the sign or the go-ahead is he'll take off his hat and scratch his head.

Okay, so that's a sign that means it's okay to proceed, it's okay to continue.

Right. So you can also say, okay, when we're ready to go, Marco, I'll give you the go-ahead. Okay, just wait for me to wave.

Okay. Mhm. Very good. So that's the go-ahead, the signal.

Exactly.

All right, very good.

Now moving on, we have a French word here, but that's used very commonly in English. And uh, they said, "Okay, we have a rendezvous."

Okay. So a rendezvous is a meetup, or uh, a time or place where people are connecting together.

Um, so, for example, in a heist, you could say we're going to rob the bank, and then we will rendezvous at our favorite restaurant in two hours.

Okay. So rendezvous is me to meet up, to get together.

Right, but in this case they're talking about a romantic rendezvous. So this means a trip with a lover.

Ah. So it's a little bit different, right? He and his wife are having a romantic rendezvous in the country.

Okay, that means that they're going to have a romantic meeting.

Uh-huh. Okay, very good.

And uh, now this, this next phrase is very, very interesting. It's uh, it's very common to hear it as well. I think like moms say it a lot.

Oh, for Pete's sake!

Oh, for Pete's sake. Well, I don't know who Pete is, honestly.

But uh this means, "My gosh," or, "Come on," or, "Oh, I'm so tired of this!"

So you're a little bit exasperated, maybe you're a little bit irritated.

Yeah. So, there are a lot of other ways to say this, right?

Yeah, so you could say, for goodness sake.

For goodness sake.

Or, oh, for heaven's sake.

For heaven's sake. And finally, for God's sake.

Right. But this one you have to be careful because some people who are religious might be offended if you use it.

So if that's the case then you would just rather go with Pete's sake, heaven's sake, or or goodness sake.

Okay, for goodness sake.

It's a very common phrase and as you say, it's it's for when you're a little bit irritated, like, "Oh, for goodness sake, stop complaining."

Exactly.

Right? Okay. And now for our last word, you may have seen the word fellas, fellas.

Fellas. So this comes from the word fellow, person, man, um but often times in uh in these kind of movies or or stories about heists or, um, you know, crime, the the the men talk to each other using the word fella or fellas.

So, come on, fellas, let's go!

That means, come on, guys, come on, everyone. Okay. Yeah, so this is always about men, not like a group of women would use this. Right.

Right. And uh, and it's something that's a little bit older. We don't really say this like, "Oh, me and my fellas, we're going to go to the store."

Uh you would say this more in in old time English.

Yeah, you can see it maybe in some movies when somebody comes up and greets other people, other guys. He would say, "Hey fellas."

Exactly. Or there's a Mafia movie, it's about the American Mafia called Goodfellas.

Uh-huh, very good. That's a very famous one. So it kind of gives you that feeling of an older English, like the 1940s to the 1970s.

Okay. Very good. A lot of interesting things going on in this uh bank robbery.

Why don't we go back, listen to the dialogue one last time and we'll be back in a little bit.

All right, let's run through this one more time from the top.

I will be positioned here, across from the bank on this park bench.

Now, according to the intel we got from Jimmy,

Oh, who's Jimmy?

Jimmy's our mole, you know, the guy on the inside. He's been snooping and passing on the info to us so we can pull this heist off.

Your role is pretty important here, we're depending on you, man.

Okay, okay, I'm listening.

Mothballs.

All righty then. Where was I? Oh yeah. Okay.

So I'll be on the lookout, sitting here on the bench across from the bank. Nobody moves until I give the go-ahead, all right?

And what's the go-ahead, Ralph?

You, um, you, uh, oh yeah, you'll take off your hat and scratch your head.

Right. When I take my hat off and scratch my head,

you do what?

I get in the box.

Right, you get in the box. I'll make sure it's all sealed and then posing as the delivery guy.

I'll drop off a special package for the manager.

Now, according to Jimmy, the bank manager's leaving early on Tuesday, 'cause it's his wedding anniversary.

He and the wife are having a romantic rendezvous in the country, so any packages delivered will be left unopened in his office until he gets back late on Wednesday.

Which gives us access to his office for at least 12 hours.

Okay, Ralph, this is where you come in.

Where are you?

I'm standing right next to you, Sammy.

Oh, sorry, Sam. I'm in the box, right here, in that box.

And what do you do once I deliver you to the manager's office?

I stay in the box until the bank is closed.

And then I get out of the box.

Hey, give me a chance here, fellas.

I crack the safe and then...

Then I take the money.

And then I, um, I get back in the box.

Attaboy, Ralph. In the morning, I come back to the bank, say there's been a mix-up with the delivery I made, and take the special package back here.

All right, let's get some sleep. It's a big day tomorrow, fellas.

That's nice. Okay, how much?

Okay, so, someone proclaimed at the end of the dialogue that everything went off without a hitch.

Mhm. Is this true?

No.

What does it mean if something went without a hitch?

It went off without a hitch means there was not even one problem.

It went off, it went perfectly.

Smoothly.

Smoothly, yes.

Okay. And it didn't because, well, these robbers didn't actually rob any.

Right, he forgot to get the money.

Right. So he's kind of an idiot.

Right. But there are actually a lot of good movies. I think the most recent one about bank robberies is uh Oceans 11, Oceans 12, Oceans 13. Yeah, that's right. Those are all about big heists.

Big heists. And I think they mentioned the word heist a couple of times in that movie.

Yeah, definitely.

So there was a movie with Clive Owen a few years ago called The Inside Man that was maybe one of the best heist movies I've seen in a long time.

Ah yeah, that that was a really good movie.

I think also Swordfish was a pretty good movie with John Travolta.

Yeah, I remember that one too.

Yeah, I guess you could say that.

But I don't think the public likes this.

Um, well, in The Inside Man, the bad guy is kind of a good guy, but he wins.

Yeah. So, uh, but it's a very interesting topic and uh, I don't know. I haven't really heard of many bank robberies nowadays anymore.

Not so much. I think security in banks is pretty good.

But uh, I'd be very curious to hear from our users if they have any favorite heist stories or movies, real or fake, both are okay. Uh you can let us know on our website Englishpod.com.

That's right. All right, we'll see everyone there. Bye.

The English part audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Rehearse quickly.

Run through.

Pry into the private affairs of others.

Snoop.

Out of.

Out of.

A prison or jail.

Slammer.

Short for intelligence, information or instructions.

Intel.

Person who watches and warns if there is danger.

Lookout.

Permission to do something.

Go ahead.

A meeting planned at a certain time and place.

Rendezvous.

Mistake, an unforeseen obstacle.

Hitch.

A phrase used to express frustration.

For Pete's sake.

Let's try that faster.

Pry into the private affairs of others.

Snoop.

A meeting planned at a certain time and place.

Rendezvous.

A phrase used to express frustration.

For Pete's sake.

Rehearse quickly.

Run through.

Person who watches and warns if there is danger.

Lookout.

Permission to do something.

Go ahead.

A prison or jail.

Slammer.

Mistake, an unforeseen obstacle.

Hitch.

Short for intelligence, information or instructions.

Intel.

Out of.

Out of.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Run through.

Let's run through the English lesson one more time.

Run through.

He must run through his lines for the play again.

Run through.

The computer must run through all the codes before processing information.

Slammer.

After he was caught robbing the store, he was thrown into the slammer.

Slammer.

The slammer is not for the weak-hearted.

Slammer.

She visits her husband in the slammer every weekend.

Intel.

The intel suggests he is a very dangerous man.

Intel.

His intel was wrong. She is not at home.

Intel.

The boss's intel is always detailed and correct.

Rendezvous.

The rendezvous point is at the north end of the beach.

Rendezvous.

Every year they rendezvous in Paris, France.

Rendezvous.

We must change the rendezvous. The cops are on to our plans.

For Pete's sake.

For Pete's sake.

For Pete's sake.