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What did you understand?
Do some quizzes. Listen again to answer the questions. Don't check the transcript yet!
What did you understand?
Do some quizzes. Listen again to answer the questions. Don't check the transcript yet!
[00:00:00] Welcome to you.
Intro/Owain [00:00:02] Hello and welcome to the English Waffle podcast aimed at
advanced English language learners who want to improve their listening skills by listening
to real conversations. My name's Owain. And in each episode, Mike and I do a bit of
waffling about a particular topic. In this episode. Mike and I are talking about two idioms.
These are expressions that we cannot understand by separating them into their
component parts. For example, if I say you're barking up the wrong tree, you may think I'm
talking about the noise that dogs make barking and identifying a tree incorrectly. It's not
the big tree with the green leaves, it's the small one with the yellow flowers on it. But you
would be wrong because the meaning of the words is not literal. In fact, YOU would be
barking up the wrong tree if you interpreted those words literally, you would be interpreting
my words incorrectly, because when they are used together as an expression, they mean
something different. In this case, they mean wrong or mistaken, barking up the wrong tree.
That's not one of the expressions in the episode by the way. We also mentioned some
important news regarding the English Waffle podcast. I won't spill the beans on that just
yet. You can find out more about that in the episode and at the end of the episode. So let's
go to the theme music and get waffling.
Jingle [00:01:23] Welcome to the English waffle where we'll talk about random stuff, we'll
take you on a journey where you'll find out soon enough that listening to the Waffle is an
entertaining way to sharing with you foreigners the things that british people say. So join
us on the Waffle and strap yourselves in for 10 whole earthling minutes of english listening
Mike [00:01:52] The expression is to spill the beans. To spill the beans, which, if I just
explain what that means, if you.. If you spill the beans, you reveal a secret. Quite simply,
and you reveal a secret normally, in a way that's kinda..it can be malicious can't it or can
be just. It can be clumsy. But either way, you don't want to reveal the b.. the secret if you
say spill the beans. So, for example, I might say I've.. I've organised a surprise party for
Owains.. Owains fortysomething and a late one, a belated surprise party only only I told
Sandra by mistake. I told his wife. She then she then spilt the beans over breakfast that
day. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike [00:02:54] So, yeah. I mean, the question is. Yeah, where, where.. where's it all
come from? Why do we say spill the beans?
Owain [00:03:00] Well that's it, I mean why beans exactly cause I mean you could spill
anything couldn't you really? I mean, beans are they are they specially related to secrets
by any chance? I mean, is there is there something about a bean that represents a secret?
Owain/Mike [00:03:20] I wonder, because, I mean, what kind of bean? Because there's
lots.. . Oh, well, yeah. I mean, why not why not peas, for example? Ooh, now I've gone
and spilt the peas havent i?! They're all over the place!
Owain [00:03:35] And just as awkward to pick up right?
Mike [00:03:36] The peas would be awkward to pick up. I'll give you a clue. The term
comes from ancient Greece.
Owain [00:03:48] Ooh oK. Now I'm going to test my knowledge of ancient Greece.
Mike [00:03:56] What do you think they might have done with beans in ancient Greece?
Owain [00:04:01] Well, as as as an educated guy, I thinking back to my extensive studies
of ancient Greece, I would say it has something to do with counting. Something to do with
counting?
Owain/Mike [00:04:20] I don't know why, but ... no im gonna get the bzzz bzzz! Quite the
reverse. You're gonna get a. You're gonna get a whoa, you're near. Oh. Okay, great. Very
close, in fact. So what do you think they were counting?
Owain [00:04:37] Right, so this could be something to do with trade, I suppose. And
maybe the beans were some kind of.. I mean I'm thinking along the lines of an abacus.
You know, you have an abacus which has kind of not beans but has beads on and you
move them across to kind of keep track of of numbers. Maybe the beans are the same.
The.. You.. have a pocketful of beans because they're dry ... just to clarify, often people
think of of baked beans and you know,.
Mike [00:05:10] I don't think they had baked beans in ancient Greece.
Mike [00:05:16] I'm going to say that.
Owain [00:05:16] No, no. I think that unfortunately. Unfortunately for them.
Mike [00:05:21] Yeah. Yeah, we know the effects...
Owain [00:05:28] Okay. Yeah. Just just keeping track of trade, how much people are ....
Or maybe they used it for gambling, they had a hand of poker. And they used them as the
stakes instead of betting with money they betted with beans and then.
Mike [00:05:43] These are both these, they were both very good guesses. Very, very good
guesses indeed. But the truth of it is that it is believed anyway that the phrase came from a
time where people cast their votes for a councillor, for somebody on the council, a
politician by putting white beans for YES. And black beans in a NO. So if someone
accidentally knocked over the jar, the beans would pour out and the secret would be
revealed .... early.. what the vote was. Yeah. Hey, let's see. See where the vote was. And
they'd say, you've spilt the beans. Julius!
Owain/Mike [00:06:29] That's brilliant, it's good isn't it?
Owain [00:06:33] And we and we still use it today don't we. I mean, how often you would
would you say use that.
Mike [00:06:39] Yes. An interesting one isn't it. So I'd say to listeners who come across
these pages in the Internet that say idioms in common usage in English. There's a.. You
need to take some of them a little bit with a pinch of salt. In other words, some of them we
don't really use very much these days. They're quite archaic. They're quite old fashioned.
And to give you an example would be something like raining cats and dogs. Do you say
that?
Owain [00:07:08] Mm mm. No, i'd say that it's pissing it down.
Mike [00:07:11] Exactly. Chucking it down. It's pissing it down exactly. So.. But yeah, I'd
say to spill the beans is something that is quite frequently frequently used.
Owain/Mike [00:07:23] Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's a good one. I like that because. er....
Yeah, uh, it's a nice story (go on what's yours mate?) there was a nice story behind it.
Owain [00:07:32] Well, mine's a good one because I'm I'm living with my dad at the
moment obviously, we come across each other quite, quite frequently in the in the house
going to get coffee and things like that during the day. And, um, um, he we often discuss
things and then and then and then he, he's got into the habit of kind of reflecting on kind of
the language we use because I always bring stuff up and say, oh, that's interesting. And
you know, I think sometimes he finds it quite annoying. Uh. And... And then sometimes he
thinks, oh. Oh yeah. That's that's really interesting, isn't it. And so it actually happened the
other day um, as it happens. And he said something along the lines of. Er.. There were
more people than you can shake a stick at. And he said himself oh, oh, that's a good one.
And I said, oh yeah, well, that's that's a that's a that's a good one. And we stopped for a
moment and thought.. Okay. It's quite clear what it means. So let's say you go into the into
the city centre and especially at the moment during the current situation, you think, well, it
should be too many people there. But he was surprised to see lots of people so there were
more people than he could shake a stick at. So it's basically what it means that there were
lots of people, aha, erm, and so neither of us had any idea where it came from. You know,
we drew a complete blank as as you would with a.. and then basically discovered.. Oh
let,, sorry i'm supposd to give you a chance to to guess arent i first?
Mike [00:09:13] Yeah. Yeah. I'm a must I must admit I've not heard of this expression
before.
Owain/Mike [00:09:18] Oh really? Yeah. First time now. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Mike [00:09:22] Yeah. so in terms of everyday usage, maybe not up there with spilt the
beans which doesn't matter. It's just, just the fact that it's probably not as well known erm...
I'm guessing it might have been something to do with animals and herding kind of sheep
or something. (Interesting). You have sticks, the animals.
Owain [00:09:47] I'm, I havent got a machine to go ting
Mike [00:09:50] All right. Okay, sounds effects will do oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Our
wonderful studio!!
Owain [00:10:04] So no, no, that's wrong. I mean. Well, it could be right.
Mike [00:10:10] Was it to do with a magician who bit like Merlin, who would have a stick,
which is was also the magic powers. And he would shake his stick at people.
Owain [00:10:22] Well, like he'd open. he'd open his cloak, and stick?
Mike/Owain [00:10:28] And then he would say there's too many people here to shake my
stick at. Oh sorry. I didn't realise everybody was here. I put my stick away. Exactly! Am i
close?. No !
Owain [00:10:50] Actually Mike you... It's a bit unfair, really, because I've researched a
little bit. And even the people who who actually do the research, I've researched the
people who did the research. (oh right, oh right) they say that people actually do the
research...don't really know.
Owain [00:11:09] Shall i go through that again?. Is that so... The people I researched who
are the people who research the people who actually do the research say that the people
who do the research don't actually know. We don't know.
Mike [00:11:25] Right. That's about as clear as mud for me.
Owain [00:11:29] But but there are some ideas. So one of the the most important ones is
that it's not actually originally... which would surprise some people.. it's not originally, uh, a
British expression. It comes from North America. Originally. And appears to have come..
well, then nobody really knows exactly there are quite a lot of examples of it all the way
back to kind of like the 18th century. But they're kind of.. They think it may be some to do
with either counting. So hang on we've got a theme going here.. counting. Um, um. With a
stick. Yeah. So maybe to shake a stick kind of was related to counting, but it is also the
idea that it may be related to threatening someone with a stick.
Owain [00:12:24] And I'm not quite sure why that means. I mean, I suppose if you if you're
confronted with a lot of people who are hostile and they want to attack you, then, you
know, you can you have your stick. And you think, well, there are too many people. So
there are too many people for me to fight. Yeah, you could kind of be the the origin, but we
don't really know....!!
Owain [00:12:53] So there you go. I hope that helps.
Mike/Owain [00:12:57] I'm none the wiser, but I am curious than i was before I'm definitely
more curious. Sticks and beans. There we go. Indeed, indeed.
Owain [00:13:09] I mean I mean, would it be a good idea just to clarify what a stick is?
And what a bean is?.
Mike [00:13:16] Yeah, yeah, Can do. Yeah. You go ahead with the stick.
Owain [00:13:19] A stick is a long thin... Piece of wood or metal or something that you can
use for lots of different things. I mean, I wonder how long this stick has been around.
Yeah. It could be for walking. It could be for poking things.
Mike/Owain [00:13:35] Throwing to the dog. Yeah. Throw a stick to the dog, I suppose.
Yeah.
Mike [00:13:41] And then beans are we get different kinds of beans. In English you get
your beans that are the vegetables, you get green beans and you get broad beans and
you get runner beans, so green beans are runner beans as well. And then you get jelly
beans for sweets for kids.
Mike/Owain [00:14:00] And and then baked beans, which are food, which is you eat when
you're sick. Traditionally for me anyway, I eat baked beans when I'm a bit.. baked beans,
really? When I'm not feeling too great that and Heinz tomato soup. Those are my those my
comfort foods when I'm sick. Interesting. So this is probably a good time to tell our listeners
that we are going to take a little break for the summer, erm, to get off the computer. To be
honest, for a while. Go and, go and and go do stuff outside. Play with our children. In your
case, Oast. Just have a nice summer break, but we'll be back.
Owain [00:14:45] Yeah. And it also gives a chance to a look at what what we've created
so far and then think about what was working and what what else we need to do, really.
We were quite aware that there's a lot more to do after the first year of English waffle. So
hopefully we'll be back with a new, improved version of the English waffle.
Mike [00:15:05] Absolutely. And we just thank you for your support. Thanks for listening. It
was super to have the messages that we've got from from you suggesting new topics and
to keep us motivated. It's really great that you're writing into us so really, honestly thank
you for that. Brilliant. It keeps us going.
Owain [00:15:23] Yes. Don't stop. In fact, I keep listening to the episodes if you haven't
listened to through some of them for a while. Go back, listen to them again and we will be
around to answer messages. So get in touch. Tell us what you think and we will get back
to you. So we are we are taking a break, but not completely.
[00:15:44] Absolutely. In the meantime, happy waffling. Cheers, mate. Bye bye.
What did you understand?
Do some quizzes. Listen again to answer the questions. Don't check the transcript yet!
What did you understand?
Do some quizzes. Listen again to answer the questions. Don't check the transcript yet!
Owain [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the English Waffle podcast aimed at advanced English language learners who want to improve their listening skills by listening to real conversations. My name's Owain. And in each episode, Mike and I do a bit of waffling about a particular topic. In this episode. We're playing a game. The idea of the game is to help us do some catching up, which means to talk to someone you haven't seen for some time and find out what they've been doing. So we haven't really seen each other much over the summer. We had a break from the Waffle, so it's a good opportunity to to do some catching up. And we're also going to tell you, our listeners, about the latest developments in the English Waffle Project. So if you're interested in that. Keep listening. Let's get waffling.
Intro/music [00:00:49] Welcome to the English waffle where we talk about random stuff, we'll take you on a journey where you'll find out soon enough that listening to the waffle is an entertaining way of sharing with you foreigners the things that British people say. Whoo. So join us on the waffle and strap yourselves in for 10 whole earthling minutes of English listening.
Owain [00:01:20] Okay, let's start with a game Mike. My words or phrases. Miss Elliman
Mike [00:01:29] Miss Elliman, you say?
Mike [00:01:33] We had a Spanish teacher. Back at school called Miss Elliman.
Mike/Owain [00:01:40] That's why we're here. Because, yes, we both learnt Spanish from her. Yeah. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. She was great, wasn't she? She was lovely. And they inspired us to learn Spanish. Right. Yeah.
Owain/Mike [00:01:49] To keep keep learning Spanish. And yeah, that's that's essentially the connection. Okay, great. We were at school. Eighteen years old, more or less, 17, 18..
Mike/Owain [00:01:59] Yeah. So we went to school together and remain friends. And here we are running a podcast together about English language. There you go, there you go
Owain/Mike [00:02:06] Go on then, your turn. Active listening.
Owain [00:02:13] Is this something you try.. are you trying to tell me something? That you know, I don't really listen to you.
Mike [00:02:22] I'm not.
Owain [00:02:23] No, it's a, it's an important word, isn't it? An important phrase nowadays. But I think you were talking about our listeners and how what we would like to try to do is to get them involved, not just as passive listeners who have the English waffle in their ears as they're going to work and then kind of forget about it. But as listeners who really want to join our conversation and connect with us and talk to us and tell us what they think and what they're having problems with. Is that right?
Mike [00:02:58] That's it. That's it. We're listening. We're looking for a connexion with you guys at home to help us better understand what it is that's difficult about learning English and specifically listening to English. What what is going on out there? Because we kind of get it for French and Spanish, at least I do. I get it that it's that some of when you speak or when I hear spoken French really quickly, sometimes it just sounds like a.. like a stream of whole words or a cracked radio or something like that.
Owain [00:03:33] Yeah, it's quite difficult. Sure. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Next one, go back a little bit to my my story in Spain. Language through teaching.
Mike [00:03:46] Right. What do I think Language through teaching relates to? What we're talking about? Mm hmm. I guess to me, language to teaching is the like explicit teaching of grammar. And like teaching stuff and... You're looking at me funny! What is that?.
Owain [00:04:12] Well think about erm, Desta. Yeah. Yeah. Language through music. Well, for me, the way I learn language was well on the one hand being in the country, but also through teaching my own language, I learn a lot about my students language. Right. Yeah. Right. I've found it really useful to teach English to Spanish people and I learn a lot about Spanish.
Mike/Owain [00:04:37] Got it. Yeah. So you. Yeah. By teaching you kind of learn more. Yes. I was like that for sure. Okay. You.
Mike [00:04:46] I had Spanish written down. This is a very, vague Spanish time.
Owain/Mike [00:04:51] Am I supposed to know something about you through that words.. you like Spanish? You're a proficient Spanish speaker? You like the language one of your favourite languages. I do. I do. I love the Spanish language.
Mike [00:05:07] But I guess it's our shared connexion as well that we both speak Spanish, you know, and we know that there are a number of Spanish listeners to this podcast. True. Right? So that helps as well, because I guess because we kind of can identify with some of the struggles that you guys have in studying English because we've had those same struggles learning Spanish.
Owain [00:05:34] Yeah. Doesn't help us with Chinese necessarily. Or Arabic. Well, maybe maybe it does because we've we've both had a go. Are you, you speak Arabic dont you?
Mike/Owain [00:05:43] Yeah. I.. To say I speak Arabic is a stretch. Let's.. Let's be clear. You can understand some Arabic.
Mike [00:05:52] Right. I can, I can understand some Arabic and I can understand some Polish and and French and Spanish.
Mike [00:05:59] What, what languages Oast would you be most interested in learning yourself?
Owain [00:06:04] It's a tricky one. Because really, any language. I've, I've dabbled in Turkish, i've dabbled in German. I'd love to go back to learning French, which I learnt as a child. But really something very different. And so I started learning Chinese for a few years ago, actually. And just this last year, I had a teacher that was going really well and I was almost speaking Chinese. With a lot help and time. But I've stopped lessons for the moment because.
Owain/Mike [00:06:41] Because I lost motivation, life. OK. What's your next phrase?
Mike/Owain [00:06:49] Motivation actually!. You've just, er, you've just. Yeah. Purely by coincidence. I've got motivation written down something that we know is super important in language learning, you know. Where does your motivation come from? Right? Like, there's so many different different angles that... I'm learning Polish because I'm super motivated to have a shared language with my partner so that we can get out of social situations where we can just speak Polish together. If we're in like a place and we want to leave this, you know, it's like super interesting how the motivations can help you.
Owain [00:07:33] Yeah. I'm not sure if that's the best motivation. You know, normally you'd say, well, just I love the language I think is so interesting, but sure, it often doesn't work, does it. You really need practical reasons for doing something very often. Yeah. Yeah. OK. So I've got another one. Esol on Covid.
Mike [00:07:53] Esol on Covid? That sounds like a person on drugs who's Esol?.
Mike [00:08:03] Yeah. I mean, so like any of the world being as it is right now, that throws up lots of different challenges. And as I said at the beginning, did I say at the beginning? , that I've just gone back into a college in a face to face environment for the first time in months. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And so this is a superexciting platform for me because we're connecting with people, listening to it from all around the world.
Owain [00:08:35] Yeah, where do your.. Esol is English for speakers of other languages, where where do you learners come from? At the college.
Mike [00:08:45] Yeah, so they are. They're living in London. People living in London. And they could be from anywhere, you know, like. Yeah. There's you know, there's a lot of Urdu speakers from Pakistan, Bangladesh. There's European languages also.
Owain [00:09:03] Yeah. I work at a further education college as well, working in the Esol department. And yeah, that we we've got lots of such people living in Leicester who need to learn English. And they come from all sorts of places. Afghanistan. Iran. Romania, Egypt. Eritrea, all kinds of places and. Yeah. But it's, it's really interesting. And this podcast is really for them and for you, our listeners around the world.
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