The second part of my chat with Andy Johnson. Listen out for 18 more idioms which will be explained later. Topics include: Twitter abuse, the other Andy Johnson, training for the London Marathon + more. Transcripts and vocabulary definitions below.
Introduction Transcript
In this episode you can continue to listen to a conversation I recorded with Andy Johnson just the other day. The language focus in this double episode is on idiomatic expressions.
In fact we’re playing a sort of idioms game. The rules of the game are that before having the conversation Andy & I had to prepare 3 idioms each. By prepare I mean to just think of 3 idioms, or flick through an idioms dictionary and pick 3 that you quite like. Then during the conversation we had to try and insert the idioms naturally, without drawing too much attention to them. Just to slip them in completely naturally. The challenge is that we both, at the end of the conversation, have to try and identify which expressions the other one had prepared in advance.
During the whole conversation lots of idioms just came up naturally. In part 1 I went through a lot of them – there were about 25 idioms in the first part. I explained them all at the end.
Do you remember them all? Here’s a quick reminder.
Idioms from last time:
- to bring someone up to speed
- to have beef with someone
- to hold a grudge against someone
- to have a score to settle with someone
- to jump the gun
- to be the butt of a joke
- bad blood
- to take something on face value
- to be a piece of cake
- not my cup of tea
- to hit the nail on the head
- to stick out like a sore thumb
- to shoehorn something in
- to do something on the spur of the moment
- to be on the doorstep of
- to be two/three sheets to the wind
- to be half cut
- to creep out of the woodwork
- to feel peckish
- to be jaw-dropping
- to be eye-opening
- to shine a spotlight on something/someone
- to call someone out for doing something
- to slag someone off
Again, I explained all of those at the end of part 1. Only 1 of those idioms was prepared in advance. All the others just came up on the spur of the moment.
So that means that in this episode there are still 5 more pre-prepared idioms left.
Having checked part 2, I can tell you that there are about 18 idioms in total. So, listen carefully to the rest of our conversation and try to spot expressions which you think might be the idioms I’ll be defining later. 5 of them were written down by us in advance and slipped into the conversation as part of the game, the others just happened naturally.
There’s also plenty more nice, useful vocabulary that you might not know coming up, so listen carefully – there’s a lot to learn from this episode.
In terms of the topics in the conversation, in this one you’ll hear us cover Andy’s experience of being abused or angrily criticised on Twitter, my experiences of facing audiences as a stand up comedian, how there is another Andy Johnson in London who also looks a little bit like Moby and who used to play football for England, Andy’s training for the upcoming London Marathon and then the results of the idioms game – with our comments about the idioms we noticed (or didn’t notice).
And as I said, I’ll also be explaining all the idioms and more vocabulary at the end of the conversation in the final part of this episode, so keep listening for some clarification of things you might not have understood or noticed.
But now, let’s carry on with the conversation and hear about Andy’s experience of facing criticism on Twitter because of a misunderstanding about his presentation about Millennials in the workplace. By the way, for more information about Andy’s talk on millennials and to find out what millennials are (if you don’t know) let me recommend that you listen to episode 424 in which I spoke to Andy and his colleague Ben about it in more detail.
424. With Andy & Ben from The London School of English (Part 2)
You can find the link on the page for this episode with all the other notes and stuff, or in the episode archive.
The conversation continues…
Luke & Andy’s Idioms Game – The Results
Ones Andy thought Luke had pre-planned: (actually, none of them were pre-planned)
- Two sheets to the wind = drunk
- To pull the rug from under you / to pull the rug from someone’s feet = to suddenly take away help or support from someone, or to suddenly do something that causes many problems for them
Luke’s pre-planned idioms
- To get the wrong end of the stick = to misunderstand the situation
- To be a dead ringer (for someone) = to look exactly like someone else
- To keep the wolf from the door = to eat just enough food to prevent hunger
Ones Luke thought Andy had pre-planned
- It’s the cross I bear = a burden that you have to carry or live with
- to be half-cut = drunk
- To slag someone off = to abuse or criticise someone in quite a rude way
Andy’s pre-planned Idioms
- It’s the cross I bear
- To stand on a pedestal = to put yourself in a position in front of everyone
(Also – to put someone on a pedestal = to admire or respect someone so much that you think they’re perfect) - Jaw-dropping / to make your jaw drop = surprising, amazing, astonishing (in Part 1)
…the conversation ends.
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Vocabulary List – Idioms and Other Expressions You Heard in this Episode
At least 18 Idioms and some other nice bits of vocabulary to learn
- You are a bit of a dead ringer for Moby (I forgot to mention this one in part 1)
To be a dead ringer for someone = to look exactly like someone - They’d all got the wrong end of the stick, but they were all slagging you off.
To get the wrong end of the stick = to misunderstand the situation
To slag someone off = to criticise someone in a rude way - It was really eye-opening how quickly it can escalate and how people can latch onto something and they can completely turn it and twist it.
- eye-opening = surprising and something you learn from (in part 1)
- Jaw-dropping = amazing, astonishing (in part 1)
- To latch onto something = to become firmly attached to something (physically), to strongly accept an idea with enthusiasm – just get fixed on one idea quickly and firmly
- How did it feel to receive all that heavy-handed criticism?
Heavy-handed (adj) = too strong, using much force than is necessary. E.g. heavy-handed policing. - I sent the guy a message, the guy whose tweet caused the kerfuffle
A kerfuffle = A disturbance, a fuss, noise, a confusing and complex situation. E.g. She caused quite a kerfuffle when she sent out that letter accusing them of cheating. - I was thanking him for sticking up for me.
To stick up for someone = to defend someone, to back someone up. - If you stand on a pedestal and you give your opinion on things, you’re always setting yourself up for people to have a go at you.
To stand on a pedestal = to put yourself in a position in front of everyone
To set yourself up for something = put yourself in a position where something can happen. E.g. set yourself up for success, set yourself up for a fall, set yourself up for people to have a go at you.
Heckling (see below) - Also – to put something on a pedestal = to admire or respect someone so much that you think they’re perfect, to idolise or idealise someone
- People react quite strongly to that especially when it’s posing some kind of threat to the status quo of their work
to pose a threat to something (not really an idiom) = to present a possible danger to something
The status quo = the present situation - People might feel like these new things are, like, pulling the rug from under them.
- It’s like pulling the rug from under their feet.
To pull the rug from under someone = to suddenly take away help or support from someone, or to suddenly do something that causes many problems for them - Heckling – meaning someone in the audience shouting out when someone is speaking publicly
- I got an injury and it got worse and worse and worse throughout the week. I couldn’t run for 5 weeks. I had physio, I had acupuncture, I had ultrasound. (not idioms)
To have physio = physiotherapy
ultrasound, an ultrasound scan = a sort of scan that uses sound as a way of seeing inside your body, as an alternative to an x-ray, to check for injury or maybe a baby (but not a baby in Andy’s case. “What seems to be the problem Mr Johnson? Well, my knee is really playing up. It’s very stiff and painful when I walk. Let’s have a look, if you’d like to just lie down here we’ll start the ultrasound. Oh, oh… Mr Johnson, it appears that you’re pregnant. What?? Yes, that’s right, you have a baby in your knee. But how is this possible? I’ve been using contraception! hahaha, etc) - The physio used to be the physiotherapist for Fulham Football Club. (person)
A physio = a physiotherapist (person) - When I walked in he did a double take (thinking that Andy might be the other Andy Johnson, who used to play for Fulham FC)
To do a double take = to look at something briefly, then look away and look back again very quickly! It’s really funny and comical! Also you can do a triple take and a quadruple take for maximum comic effect.
- A bit of a mover and shaker in the world of football, this Luke Thompson
A mover and shaker (in the world of …) = a powerful person who influences people and initiates events. - Any little problem gets exacerbated when you’re running a marathon.
To exacerbate something = to make something worse (not an idiom) - It seems to be, touch wood, it seems to be OK.
People say “touch wood” as a superstition to wish themselves luck or for protection against bad luck. It’s like saying “fingers crossed”. - Do you have a full slap-up breakfast or is it just a banana to keep the wolf from the door?
slap up (adjective) = excellent, first class – used with food. A slap up meal. A slap up breakfast. It’s usually used in an enthusiastic and informal way to talk about a full meal.
To keep the wolf from the door = to eat just enough food to prevent hunger, to stave off hunger - You go out too fast so after 6 or 7 km you’re knackered!
Knackered (adj) = extremely tired (British slang) - Everyone’s in the same boat. They’ve trained for ages. There’s the music and the camaraderie, they’re running together. Everybody just goes off far too quickly.
To be in the same boat = to be in the same situation - The charity is something that’s very close to my heart.
It’s very close to my heart = it means a lot to me, it’s important to me - When you’re wishing someone luck you say “break a leg”.
Break a leg = good luck! Have a good show! - The leg refers to a limb – an arm or leg, but also a large piece of wood like a beam, or branches of a tree. A large piece of wood can be a limb.
- In comedy, when you have a really good show, you raise the roof. (the roof comes off because the audience are laughing and applauding)
So, break a leg means “I hope you have such a great show that the roof comes off the building!” - I was using it in a very irreverent way, a very light-hearted way. (talking about the phrase “the cross I bear”)
- I’m all at sea = I’m confused and not sure what to do
Come on!!! That must be useful to you! A huge slice of English learning cake there for you to feast upon. You could feed a whole family on that for about a week in some places!
Again, what do you think of the idea of this paid premium membership system?
Sign up to be a premium member for a nominal amount per month, per 6 months or per year.
Get access to a certain number of language-related episodes of LEPP (LEP Premium) per month. The episodes would be available in the app or on a website. Episodes would mostly deal with language that has come up naturally in conversations on LEP – like what I’ve done here, or in the recent grammar episodes. Yep, language related but with the usual funny examples and explanations. Also there would be more phrasal verb episodes and probably other things because I would want to reward my premium lepsters or PLEPSTERS, so I’d probably offer little videos and other things too. All for the price of a beer or a sandwich for me per month.
That’s something in the pipeline at the moment.
Why aren’t you just doing it now Luke?
Yes, good question. I’ve been talking about this sort of thing for ages. It’s slightly harder than you might think actually. The thing is, I really want it to work. I want it to be worthwhile. That means finding a model that works. I think now I’ve got the app and I can offer paid content in the app, that is the right platform. Now it’s just a case of making it happen. Enthusiastic responses from you would certainly give me a boost. I think it would be really great. I just hope you realise that too.
Anyway, you can contact me about it if you like, using the usual methods.
Join the mailing list.
Download the app.
Nice one for getting to the end of this episode. Imagine all that English that has gone into your brain. That’s good! Nice one. Give yourself a pat on the back. I think you can agree that your English is better now than it was before you started listening to this, can’t you? I think you can agree with that statement.
Alright, time to go.
Speak to you soon! Bye!!!
Luke