Your English Five a Day #38.4

E329: 🎙️ Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna, and you're listening to Week 38, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day. This series is focused on your vocabulary expansion. So, stick around as we dive deep into five items of vocabulary before bringing them all together in a little story.

🤷🏿‍♂️ First, we have two idioms, "to put your mind to something" and "beats me". Our third item is the verb "shrug", then we have the noun "paragon". Lastly, we dive into the phrasal verb "iron out".

🛠️ Tune in for some pronunciation practice and a quick quiz to encourage you to recap the words we've covered. In today's story section, Dave and Harry, self-proclaimed DIY enthusiasts, attempt to fix a mysterious leak in their mum's basement. Despite their confidence, their efforts result in a flooded cellar. Have you ever caused more damage than you intended while trying to fix something?

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 38, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series that is focused on your vocabulary expansion. So, stick around as we dive deep into five items of vocabulary before bringing them all together in a little story. So, let's get started with an idiom, and this is to put your mind to something, to put your mind to something. Okay, so breaking this down, it's put, P U T. Your, or my, or her, mind, M I N D. To something, S O M E T H I N G. To put your mind to something. If you put your mind to something, then it means that you fully concentrate on something, a task or a goal. Now I like this phrase because it's actually something that I've heard a number of times used to refer to me. So, my friends and my family, some of my colleagues from previous lines of work will say that when I put my mind to something, I usually achieve it because I am what people call a grafter. I call myself a workaholic. Other people would call me a grafter. I'm not afraid of hard work. And when I decide I want to do something, whether it's a sensible thing or not, whether it makes sense or not, when I put my mind to it, then I normally do well with that thing. So I will achieve my goal or I will exceed people's expectations or I will complete the task in good time and with a favourable outcome. Think about your own life. What have you achieved that you're proud of that you thought was difficult, but once you put your mind to it, you were able to achieve it. Just have a think about that now. What have you put your mind to and then succeeded with? I think for me, most obvious, the thing that comes to mind readily is this podcast. People told me not to do it. Even when it was up and running, people said to me,"You're doing too much. You're overworked. You need to let something go. You should let the podcast go." And I said,"No, I think the podcast is special. I love the podcast. I need to keep going with the podcast." I'm very glad that I did keep going because I think from reading your comments and the messages that I get, I'm almost certain that this podcast is helping, doing what it's supposed to do and helping and inspiring and entertaining. So I put my mind to it. It's worked out well, and hopefully, it will continue to entertain and educate for many years to come. So, here's another example sentence with the idiom, put your mind to something."Don't tell me you're not capable of setting up your dream business. If you put your mind to it, you can do anything." Next on the list is the idiom, beats me, beats me. We spell this B E A T S, beats. Me, M E. Beats me. Beats me is a colloquial phrase that means I don't know, or I have no idea. It's often used in a light-hearted way, or it might be in an exasperated way."Oh, beats me. I don't know. Stop asking me. I don't know." It's almost as if you're saying this question, whatever it is, or this problem is, something that has beaten my mind. It has beaten me. It beats me. I am in submission. I cannot find the solution. So, it's beaten me. And we simply say,"Beats me. I don't know." Here's an example sentence,"Now, where did I put my keys?""Beats me, I haven't seen them all day." Now, do you ever lose your keys or your phone? That's usually the thing, isn't it? Or, as I'm looking at my desk now, your glasses. I realise that I don't have my reading glasses with me, which is never good when you're reading your cues while recording a podcast episode. So I often misplace my glasses. But I'm quite good at knowing where my keys are. And that's because a few years ago, my car was stolen and the reason was that the keys were in the open, the keys were not in a safe box. I have a keyless entry, or I had rather, I had a keyless entry car and unbeknownst to me, there is a way that criminals are able to boost the signal from your key, even if it's inside your house and a few rooms back. They're able to boost the signal to unlock your car and start the engine and drive off, which is a disaster. I wasn't aware of this. And so my car was stolen from the front of my house. And since then, I always make sure that my keys never stay out. So, as soon as I enter the house, my keys go into a special box that blocks the signal so that can never happen again. So, I always know where my keys are. That's not a problem. So when someone asks me,"Where are the car keys?" I know exactly where they are. I don't need to say'beats me.' But I'm known in my house for being the person who knows where everything is. Literally everything. I have a photographic memory. It doesn't mean that I hold onto information forever. That's something I'm quite bad at. I tend to dump information quite quickly. I say that I have the actor's brain. I can learn a whole Shakespearean play quite quickly, but after a run of a play is done, then my brain goes,"We don't need that play anymore. Let's dump it." And that has continued to be a problem for me over the years. But I have a photographic memory. If I see something, somewhere, in passing, whether it be a toy car in a shoe, or a coat shoved into a cupboard, or an odd sock on the side, or someone's crossword puzzle by the coffee machine, whatever it is, I see it and I just seem to log it. So people say to me,"Uh, Anna," or"Mum," or"Babe, do you know where this is?" I usually, surprisingly, know exactly where it is. So,'beats me' is not something I say very often because I usually do know the answer in my house. Anyway, we've had put your mind to something and beats me. Let's move on to the next target item. We have a noun and it is shrug, shrug. We spell this S H R U G. Shrug. Shrug. It's a little bit of a mouthful because you've got that/ʃ/ sound at the beginning into a bunched R. Shr, shr, shrug. Shrug. Shrug. To shrug. A shrug is a gesture of indifference or a lack of knowledge. So, if you've just said'beats me', you probably did it with a shrug. So it's a physical gesture and it usually involves lifting your shoulders up and then letting your arms fall limp."Hmm. Hmm." So you lift your shoulders up, close to your ears, as a way of showing that you don't know or you don't care, okay. So here's an example,"When I asked Julian about the rumours going around, he simply shrugged and said,'I have no idea'." When was the last time you shrugged? I will shrug if my sons ask me anything about Pokemon. This is their big obsession at the moment. They're obsessed with Pokemon and I'm trying to learn because I want to be in their world. I want to be able to communicate with them on topics they're interested in, but there are a lot of Pokemon and most of the Pokemon will evolve into another Pokemon or another type of Pokemon. And so I'm trying to learn them, but the children keep quizzing me."Mum, what's this Pokemon called?" Or"Mum, what does this Pokemon evolve into?" And so I'll always shrug my shoulders and say,"I'm sorry, darling. I don't know." Or"Beats me." Okay, next on the list is another noun and it is paragon, paragon. We spell this P A R A G O N. Paragon. A paragon is a person or a thing that is perfect or has an extremely large amount of a particular good characteristic. Here's an example,"The CEO, known for her unwavering integrity and ethical leadership, was considered a paragon of corporate responsibility." Okay, last on the list is a phrasal verb and it is to iron out, to iron out. Now notice how I run those together and that I don't pronounce the R. To iron out, to iron out. So we spell this I R O N, iron. Out, OUT. Iron out. Iron out. So the N moves over to the out. So it sounds like/naʊt/ iron out, iron out. To iron out something is to resolve or to remove difficulties or problems often through negotiation or discussion. So for example, if you are going to get married, but you want to have a prenup, so you want a contract set in place before you get married to set up what happens if the marriage fails. You may have a basic idea of the main points of the prenup, but then there will be some additional little details that need to be decided upon before the contract is final. And so it's those final little things, those little creases or little disagreements that you have that are the difficulties that would need ironing out. Just like you would iron out creases in a shirt or a blouse or a pair of trousers. Okay. So here's an example sentence,"I need all board members at the meeting tonight. We have to iron out the details of the new contract before we sign it with the client tomorrow." Okay, so that brings us to the end of the list. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the idiom put your mind to something. This means to concentrate fully on a task or a goal. Next we had the idiom beats me, which is a colloquial phrase that means I don't know. I don't have any idea. Then we have the noun shrug, which is the physical gesture of lifting your shoulders and it indicates I don't know or I don't care. Then we had the noun paragon, paragon, which is a person or a thing that is perfect or close to perfect. And then we had the phrasal verb iron out, to iron out, which means to resolve or remove any little problems or difficulties. Okay, so let's do this now for pronunciation purposes. If you are alone or feeling confident, please repeat after me. Put your mind to something. Put your mind to something. Beats me. Beats me. Shrug. Shrug. Paragon. Paragon. Iron out. Iron out. Great. Okay, what's the gesture that I do with my shoulders if I want to show you that I don't know? A shrug. Yes. And what would I say out loud? The idiom, to say I don't know. Beats me. Very good. What do we call a person that is perfect? A paragon. Yes, absolutely. And what's the phrasal verb we use when we need to resolve difficulties or problems through discussion? Iron out. Yes, we need to iron those problems out. And finally, what's the idiom we use that means to concentrate fully on a task or goal? Put your mind to something. Very good. Okay, listen out for today's target vocabulary once again during our story time. Brothers Dave and Harry preferred to fix things themselves to save money. But they weren't exactly paragons of home repair. As their wives pointed out, they often ended up spending money to solve the DIY disasters they created. One day, their mum got in touch, explaining that there was a strange smell coming from her basement. The brothers were happy to help out their family by investigating. They put on some overalls and a tool belt each and made their separate ways to their family home. Harry and Dave walked down the stairs into the cool, damp cellar. An overpowering smell of mould hit their nostrils as they went down. The brothers spotted a damp patch on the wall and floor."That doesn't look good. Any idea what's causing it?" Harry asked Dave."Beats me," replied Dave, shrugging. As they stood there, they felt drops of water land on their faces. A pipe was leaking above them. The brothers figured that if they put their minds to it, they could fix the leak. Perhaps they could patch it up or tighten the connections. How hard could it be? They were so keen to get started that they forgot to turn off the water supply. When Harry loosened the nut to check the connection, water sprayed everywhere, quickly flooding the basement. Dave realised their mistake and turned off the supply valve. But it was too late. Water came up to their ankles. They had made the basement even damper than before. Unable to iron out the problem themselves, they decided to call in the professionals. Of course, they paid for everything so as not to cause their mum any more stress. The plumber laughed when the brothers explained what had happened. Professionals like him could make lots of money fixing the mistakes of people like Harry and Dave. Have you ever been in that situation? Causing more damage than you intended while trying to do some DIY? It happens to the best of us. DIY blunders. Anyway, I do thank you for tuning in today. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a like, a rating or a review. Until tomorrow, take very good care, and goodbye.