Episode 0316

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

My name is Catherine and today we have another episode in our series all about small talk.

That's right, today we're going to take a look at a work setting where two colleagues maybe run into each other and they talk very briefly about something.

All right, so let's check out today's dialogue and we'll be back in a moment.

Hi Michelle, do you need to use the photocopier?

Oh, hi Jeremy. No, please, go ahead.

So, how are you, Jeremy? I was talking to Linda about you only last week.

Oh, I'm fine, thanks. I'm super busy with work actually.

Did you hear about the Lawson contract?

No, tell me more.

Well, I was discussing the contract with Bill and he said that they met the head of Lawson's last week.

And?

Anyway, I must get back, but give my regards to your wife, Monica.

I will, Michelle. Speak to you soon.

All right, we're back. So now let's take a look at some vocab on language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

So the first word for you guys today is photocopier. Now this is something that's very common in offices.

That's right, a photocopier, also known as a copy machine or just copier.

Yeah, this is something that you use to print on paper or to copy paper. So, if I have a document but I want another copy of it, I put it on this machine and it will copy it and print it out.

That's right. So those are the ways that you know this machine by this name, either photocopier, copy machine or just copier.

All right, but after that we have a very interesting adjective. This is something that we use very often in spoken English. Uh, the phrase here Marco was I'm super busy. But what does it mean to say you're super something?

That's right. So when we add the word super to an adjective, we mean that we're very, very, very busy. Super busy.

All right, so I'm super hungry.

That means you're very, very, very hungry.

All right, or I'm superwoman.

Also, it means that you are a very much a great woman.

All right, like Superman is very good at going fast and doing things and so he's super means great or exceptional. So in this case, I am exceptionally busy.

That's right.

And uh moving on to the next line where Jeremy says that he was discussing the contract with Bill.

So a contract, we know what this means.

Yeah, what is this?

So a contract is a document and it's something that you have to have two or more groups for or two or more parties.

So Marco, between you and me, we could have a contract. It says that when we come to record, you will be respectful of me.

That's right.

And then we will both sign.

So it's kind of an agreement between two, as you said, or more people and but you are promising to respect the contract and to do what the contract says.

And if you don't do what the contract says, we have a special verb, we say you broke the contract. So to break, break a contract.

That's right.

Well, Jeremy was discussing the contract with Bill and they said they met the head of Lawson's. Now Lawson's is a is a company that we're just using for the dialogue, but what does it mean the head of this company?

Okay, if you think about the company as a body, the head is the top. And in this case that would be the president or the the manager or the leader. It's the most important person.

Okay, so we can also use this in in our offices, for example, the person in charge of marketing, the director of marketing, we also call him the head of marketing.

Or the head of yeah, the head of the sales division would be the manager of the sales team or whoever is most important in sales.

And another very common example I think is the president, many times they call him the head of state.

Yeah, the head of state. So you can have a dinner with many heads of state. And those could be kings or queens or presidents.

Very good.

All right, so that's all the vocab for language takeaway. Why don't we take a short break and listen to the dialogue again.

Hi Michelle, do you need to use the photocopier?

Oh, hi Jeremy. No, please, go ahead.

So, how are you, Jeremy? I was talking to Linda about you only last week.

Oh, I'm fine, thanks. I'm super busy with work actually.

Did you hear about the Lawson contract?

No, tell me more.

Well, I was discussing the contract with Bill and he said that they met the head of Lawson's last week.

And?

Anyway, I must get back, but give my regards to your wife, Monica.

I will, Michelle. Speak to you soon.

All right, we're back. So now let's take a look at fluency builder.

Fluency builder.

So there's a great phrase here in Fluency Builder that we use when we're trying to be polite in English. Michelle says, 'Oh hi Jeremy, please go ahead.'

Okay. So Jeremy asked if she needs to use the co the photocopier and he said, no, Jeremy, it's okay, go ahead. Please go ahead.

Okay, this literally means um you go, you know, ahead of me, but in in in reality she's basically saying, I can wait, you go first.

So if um if you're going into a building and somebody opens the door before you and they say, please go ahead.

That means they'll hold the door and you can go inside first. So please go ahead.

Uh, this is a very polite thing to do and if you're in line and you see someone is in a hurry, you can say this to them, please go ahead.

All right, very good.

Please go ahead. And we also uh going back to the contract discussed about confirming the deal, okay?

All right, so you have a deal or an agreement or a contract. Uh, but the thing you do to make sure that you all agree is you confirm.

Um so this means you want to make sure it is actually going to happen.

Mm and you can actually combine confirm with many different things like you can confirm your tickets to go to Italy.

Or can we confirm those holidays um before I make my my bookings because I want to go to Italy.

Exactly.

So you confirm something. And then Jeremy said a very strange phrase here, 'fingers crossed' after talking about the the deal.

Okay, so fingers crossed is an interesting phrase. It doesn't mean, okay, now go cross your fingers, but it's something we say to be superstitious because it means basically I hope so or hopefully.

Um because fingers crossed, when you cross your fingers in many Anglo-American kind of cultures, you are saying that you hope something will happen. It's it's to bring good luck.

All right, so, oh gosh, I I really hope it doesn't rain today.

And then I say fingers crossed.

Yeah, well, fingers crossed it doesn't. That means that we hope it doesn't, but now that you said that, maybe it will.

Right, right. So it's kind of a superstitious um belief that people have that if you cross your fingers, it will bring good luck or what you say will happen, will happen or won't happen.

That's right, fingers crossed.

All right. So let's take a break now and listen to our dialogue one last time.

Hi Michelle, do you need to use the photocopier?

Oh, hi Jeremy. No, please, go ahead.

So, how are you, Jeremy? I was talking to Linda about you only last week.

Oh, I'm fine, thanks. I'm super busy with work actually.

Did you hear about the Lawson contract?

No, tell me more.

Well, I was discussing the contract with Bill and he said that they met the head of Lawson's last week.

And?

Anyway, I must get back, but give my regards to your wife, Monica.

I will, Michelle. Speak to you soon.

So this is a very common scenario in a very in a in an office, in a normal office setting where maybe you meet your friend at in the kitchen or the water cooler, the photocopier and you have very small, brief conversations.

That's right. And you're often going to hear this called water cooler talk because um you don't want to have a long conversation about something really deep at the water cooler, but you do want to talk about, you know, basic things, things that you have in common or work stuff, you know, how's that paper coming along or how's that um I heard you had great sales last week. And so these are great short things you can talk about with your colleagues.

Right, very good. And as we say it's uh some of the phrases and the vocab are key things that you can use to start up a small conversation, very brief to talk about, you know, small things with your colleagues.

That's right. So we hope that you'll tune into our future lessons about small talk. And if you have any questions or comments, you're welcome to find us on Englishpod.com. We'll see you guys there.

Bye.

The English Pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Written agreement between two or more people.

Contract.

Hope for luck.

Fingers crossed.

Price.

Deal.

Good wishes.

Regard.

Top boss.

Head.

Let's try that faster.

Hope for luck.

Fingers crossed.

Price.

Deal.

Written agreement between two or more people.

Contract.

Good wishes.

Regard.

Top boss.

Head.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed that we win at poker tonight.

Fingers crossed.

I hope my team will win the football match tonight. Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed.

Let's hope, fingers crossed, that we have the day off tomorrow.

Contract.

If we can get that new contract for distributing our product, we will all get commission.

Contract.

The new contract signed between our firm and the government will ensure we make profit for the next decade or so.

Contract.

The player is facing a lawsuit for breaching his contract clause.

Head.

I'm going to meet the head of our company today to ask for a raise.

Head.

The head boss of the firm rejected the rumors about his retirement.

Head.

The head director of the movie quit over a pay dispute.

Deal.

The deal made between the two companies ensures a joint meeting every two months.

Deal.

I made a deal with my parents that I get paid every time I do the washing.

Deal.

I don't think this deal is fair. I want a bigger incentive.

Regard.

Give my regards to your husband for me.

Regard.

Regard.

Please give my kind regards to your parents when you see them.