Tag Archives: luke’s

490. Discussing Friendship – with Martin and Dan The Man from Rock n’ Roll English (Friendship Phrasal Verbs)

Hello! In this episode of the podcast I am talking to Martin Johnston and his mate Dan The Man from the Rock n Roll English Podcast and we’re going to teach you some phrasal verbs and other expressions relating to friendship, while also putting their friendship to the test. Martin and Dan are lifelong friends. They know each other very well but they spend a lot of their time bickering and getting at each other. What’s going on in this friendship? Do they really like each other or not? Let’s find out in this episode and you can learn lots of vocabulary while we’re doing it. Vocabulary list and explanations below.


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The Rock n’ Roll English Podcast

Visit Martin’s website for Rock n’ Roll English here and check out the Rock n’ Roll English Podcast here

Friendship Vocabulary & Questions

Here is a selection of vocabulary, including a lot of phrasal verbs relating to friendship, with definitions and the questions I asked Martin and Dan.

To get on with someone = to have a good, friendly relationship with someone

  • You often bicker with each other, insult each other, tell each other that you’re stupid, boring, generally shit etc.
  • How well do you actually get on with each other?

To hang out with someone = to spend time with someone, socially

  • What’s the maximum amount of time you can actually stand to hang out with each other?

To hit it off = to get on with someone when you first meet them

  • When you met, did you hit it off straight away? (was it love at first sight)

To get to know someone = to learn about someone personally

  • How did you first get to know each other?

To go back years / a long time = to have a long relationship with someone

  • How far back do you go?

To fall out with someone = to stop being friends because of a disagreement or argument

  • Have you ever fallen out with each other?
  • What would it take to fall out with each other, do you think?
  • What would you do in these situations?
    • Dan, you both go to the pub – you buy a round, but when it’s Martin’s turn he doesn’t buy a round, he just gets himself a drink (it’s a half a lager shandy by the way) and then he leaves early
    • Martin, Dan suddenly one day starts saying nice things about you in public
    • Dan, you overhear Martin saying some shit about your nan (grandmother) – he said she was a ‘slag’. (a very rude thing to say about anyone, especially someone’s grandmother – a slag is a woman who has sex with lots of people 😱)
    • Martin, you get a new girlfriend and then when she meets Dan you realise that she actually prefers him
    • Dan, you learn that Martin has asked your sister out on a date
    • Martin, your Dad one day says “Why can’t you be more like Dan?”
    • Dan, you buy some biscuits and Martin eats them all, even the last one

To make up with each other = to become friends again after falling out

  • If you did ever fall out, what would be the best way to make up with each other?
  • Martin, how would you make up with Dan because of the biscuits?

To break up with someone = to end a relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend, to dump someone

  • Do you think it’s possible to actually break up with a friend, in the same way you can break up with a girl. I’m not saying that you would, I’m just wondering.
  • Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve got a friend (probably quite a new friend – or maybe someone who you knew as a kid who has come back into your life) and you feel like it’s just not working and you feel like you have to break up with him? (it’s in an episode of Seinfeld)

Seinfeld (TV show) – Jerry Breaks Up with a friend (it’s funny because you don’t normally ‘break up with’ a friend, only with a ‘romantic partner’)

To drift apart / To lose touch with someone = when your lives just start going in different directions (drift apart) and you stop contacting the person regularly (lose touch with)

  • You don’t see each other so much any more because you’re in different countries.
    Are you ever worried that you might drift apart, or lose touch with each other completely?
    “How’s Martin?” “Oh, I don’t know we just kind of lost touch”

To enjoy someone’s company = to get on with someone, to enjoy spending time with someone

  • Honestly, how much do you enjoy each other’s company?

To have something in common with someone = to share something similar. E.g. you both like Star Wars.

  • Do you have a lot of things in common? What things do you have in common?

To be in a relationship with someone = to be dating someone, to be romantically involved with someone

  • Martin, how do you feel about the fact that Dan is in a relationship? (is there any jealousy there?)
  • Dan, imagine Martin is going on a date with a girl tonight – what could you say to him as a friend in this situation?

To be on the same wavelength as someone = to have a similar way of thinking as someone

  • Are you on the same wavelength as each other?

To see something in someone (often → …what someone sees in someone) = to like something about someone, to find a good quality in someone

  • What do you actually see in each other?
  • What does Dan’s girlfriend actually see in him?

Other vocabulary you heard (explained at the end of the episode)

  • Martin: That sounds like the most boring introduction in the world. Dan: Actually, I think it’s quite apt.
  • I’ve been trying to get rid of him as a friend for a long time now.
  • Treading in dogshit all day. There’s an abundance of it. I almost tripped up on one the other day.
  • When they hear my terrible French they gladly switch to English, just to rub it in a bit.
  • My Italian’s not bad but I can get by.
  • I did a gig once in London, a charity gig
  • You’re an accomplice now, because you planted that idea. (murder)
  • I’d like to explore the dynamic between you, a dynamic that some might call a bromance.
  • Martin came here at the weekend and 15 hours later we were both sick to death of each other.
  • You fall out, you get over it, you bounce back and then move on.
  • Martin: Dan always says that I’m tight. (mean, tight-fisted, stingy)
  • Dan’s sister: We all know that Dan is a tight bastard.
  • In the UK if someone doesn’t buy a round they are ostracised.
  • Dan: I’m trying to keep you on your toes (by buying Martin Christmas presents)
  • You overhear Martin saying some shit about your nan. He’s saying that she’s a slag
  • I’m digging myself into a hole here.
  • Those awkward conversations that I just can’t handle. I avoid them at all costs.
  • The cross-examination of your friendship is over and I have to say I’m none the wiser about the mysterious dynamic that you have.
  • You can take my answer with a pinch of salt.

Thanks for listening!

Luke

365. BREXIT: 3 Weeks Later (A conversation with my Dad) The Rick Thompson Report

Hello! How are you doing? Today on the podcast I’m going to finish this series of episodes I’ve been doing about Brexit in the same way that I started it, by having a conversation with my Dad. Before you listen to that conversation I’m going to say a few words in the introduction and then highlight some vocabulary and phrases which you’ll hear in the main part of the episode.

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I’ve talked quite a lot about politics and Brexit recently because the events since the referendum have just been so huge. It’s been a strange time with lots of uncertainty, turmoil and changes.  It’s a weird time – what’s going to happen? Is this going to be a really costly and difficult couple of decades? Or is this a great opportunity for Britain?

No more Brexit episodes for a while

I’ve covered all of this in some detail already and I’ve had lots of good responses from you, which seems to show that you’ve found these episodes interesting, informative and useful for your English. But this is probably going to be the last time I talk about British politics and Brexit for a while, unless something else comes up in the news.

I should also say that there have been lots of other big events going on in the world, including the situation in Turkey with the recent attempt at a military coup, and the horrific truck attack in Nice the other day, not to mention other trending topics that the world is talking about, including this new Pokemon game which is not quite as innocent and trivial as it sounds. There are big stories going on all the time and they are worth talking about, but my podcast isn’t a BBC news programme or something so I’m not necessarily in a position to deal with absolutely every current topic of course, even though I would like to.

I’m talking about Brexit a lot because this is a subject that is very close to home for this podcast.

My Dad

So, it seems that you enjoyed listening to my Dad in episode 351. In fact, he’s got some big fans out there in LEPland it seems, judging by the comments I’ve read, and you’re right – he’s really articulate, well-informed and brilliant. So now you can have the pleasure of listening to more of his wise and down-to-earth coverage before I put the whole Brexit subject to bed for a while.

Comprehension Questions

Here are some questions which you can try to find the answers to in this episode.

What has happened since the UK voted to leave the EU?
What’s the state of the nation?
Will EU nationals be thrown out of the country?
Why did David Cameron resign?
Why did Boris Johnson then quit the leadership race?
Who is Theresa May, the new PM?
How did she become the PM?
What is the situation with the opposition party, Labour?
What’s going to happen next in the UK?
What 3 words did my Dad choose to describe how he feels about the situation?
Also, listen all the way to the end for the conversation to hear some of my Dad’s comments about football.
What are my Dad’s predictions for the 2016/2017 season in the FA Premiership?
What does he think of the new Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho?

Vocabulary

As I’ve said, my Dad is very articulate on this subject and he always manages to find exactly the right words to effectively express his ideas. As a result this conversation is a good example of clear spoken English and is very rich in vocabulary. I suggest that you try to notice specific expressions that are used. To make that a bit easier for you I have picked out some words and phrases from the conversation and I’ve put them in a list on the page for this episode. I’ve picked these ones out because I think that you might either not be familiar with them or because they’re nice fixed expressions which you could add to your vocabulary. I’m not going to explain them now because there isn’t time, but I will now read them out to you before playing the conversation.

The point is that I’m encouraging you to notice these phrases in the episode. Just try notice them and how they come up naturally. Whenever you hear a phrase you can make a mental note of it. If you want to actually see the phrases written down in context then check out the page for this episode and you’ll see them all written there for you. You can then check the phrases in an online dictionary – I recommend Oxford or Cambridge’s online dictionaries (you’ll need to select an English-English dictionary or English learner’s dictionary), study the vocab and then add them to your word lists.

So, here we go – here are the phrases I’ve selected. Try to listen out for these phrases as they come up in the conversation.

Vocabulary List

it’s so self-evident (to be self-evident)
to throw out the EU nationals who have settled in the UK (to throw someone out)
Some down-to-earth reasons for staying in the EU (down-to-earth)
Legitimising extreme people who say immigrants should go home (to legitimise someone/something)
An increase in hate-crime (hate-crime)
To assimilate immigrants into the country (to assimilate someone into something)
A gender balance at senior levels (gender balance)
To steady the ship (to steady the ship)
Things have been happening at breathtaking speed (at breathtaking speed)
There might be an economic crisis if we fall into a recession (to fall into a recession)
Economic repercussions (repercussions)
Cameron staked his entire reputation on the result of the referendum (to stake your reputation on something)
The candidates started fighting like rats in a sack (fighting like rats in a sack)
They started stabbing each other in the back (to stab someone in the back)
Michael Gove dumped Boris Johnson (to dump someone)
She was persuaded to step aside (to step aside)
Gove stepped down as well (to step down)
A despicable story from a despicable newspaper (despicable)
They splashed the headline on the front page (to splash a headline on the front page)
Scotland will not be dragged out of the EU against its will (to be dragged into/out of something against your will)
To put her own stamp on the new Parliament (to put your stamp on something)
Michael Gove sabotaged him (to sabotage someone/something)
Allegedly / Reportedly
She has a direct stake in the future of the country (to have a stake in something)
The person with the least number of votes dropped out (to drop out)
Someone who does strange sexual practices with a goat (strange sexual practices with a goat??)
He likes to think he’s very witty (to like to think you are something) (to be witty)
Goodwill is like the grease that lubricates the wheels (like the grease that lubricates the wheels)
I’m hoping that Theresa May will turn out to be a good PM (to turn out to be something)
Article 50 is going to be triggered before the end of the year (to trigger something)
The anti-immigration people have come out of the woodwork (to come out of the woodwork)
The European Union establishment must have had a bit of a shock (to have a bit of a shock)
They ought to take stock and re-assess their priorities to a certain extent (to take stock of something) (to re-assess something)

*Conversation Starts*

So there you are, I hope you enjoyed listening to my Dad again.

Don’t forget to visit the website where you’ll see some extracts from the conversation written, including a lot of nice expressions and phrases for you to add to your vocabulary.

Remember to follow me on social media – Twitter @EnglishPodcast https://twitter.com/EnglishPodcast – Facebook Luke’s English Podcast https://www.facebook.com/LukesEnglishPodcast/ and the mailing list on my website to get an email notification of new content direct to your inbox. It’s the best way to get access to the show notes and download links for my episodes.

I look forward to reading your comments as always.

Have a great day, morning, afternoon, evening, night, lunch break, cigarette break, jog, drive, gym session, sleep, work meeting, English lesson or toilet break wherever you are in this crazy world!

Cheers,

Luke