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Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod. My name is Marco

and my name is Catherine and today we’re talking about office stuff, things in your office.

That’s right. We are talking about secrets in the office or may be specific little things that people talk about behind other people’s back.

Okay, bad things then. So, this is an elementary level lesson. Before we get going though, let’s take a look at a phrase in today’s vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview

All right. So, the phrase for today is actually the same as the title for this lesson and that’s office gossip.

Okay. You all know what in offices. What is gossip?

So, to gossip means to talk about other people secretly or behind their backs. Or maybe talk about other people’s problems or private things.

So, oh my God, did you hear? John is totally going to break up with her. So, you’re talking about people.

Yeah

without them knowing

right. So, you’re talking about their private things or relationships, maybe you’re even maybe criticizing them.

That’s right. So, office gossip is talking about people in your office without them knowing. So, saying bad things about them.

Right. So, without any more delay, why don’t we listen to this dialogue for the first time.

Pam: Psssst! Pssssssssst! Hey! Eric, have you heard?

Eric: Hm? No. . . go on, tell me, what’s the latest office gossip?

Pam: Well, you didn’t hear this from me but the rumor is, Paula is getting a promotion!

Eric: No way! But. . . she’s a terrible worker. . . and you can’t trust her. . . she’s so two-faced – you can’t believe anything she says!

Paula: Hey guys, what are you two whispering about?

Eric: Oh Hi Paula! How are you?

Paula: I’ve got some good news! I’m getting a promotion!

Pam: Congratulations! Eric and I were just saying that you are the best person for the job.

Eric: Yes! You’re the best!

All right, we’re back. So, we have four keywords that we want to look at from this gossip dialogue. So, why don’t we take a look at those now, in language take away.

Language take away

Okay. The first word is rumor.

Rumor, now this is an interesting word about gossip.

Yeah, a rumor. So, a rumor is a story that might or might not be true.

right

okay? So, I heard a rumor that they broke up yesterday.

Okay. So, you’re not sure if they broke up, or no one has told you for a fact.

No, it means I probably heard it from someone else who heard it from someone else who heard it from someone else who doesn’t really know.

Right. So, rumors are maybe guesses about people and you don’t know if they’re true. You see this a lot with famous people, movie stars, They always talk about rumors that they got married in secret or something.

Exactly. There’s a rumor that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are breaking up.

right

so, we don’t think that, we don’t know if it’s true, a rumor.

Okay. That’s a rumor. So, now the rumor that they heard was that this girl Paula is getting a promotion.

Promotion, this is an important office word. This means to be offered a better job in your company. That means to move up

to move up, right. All right, so this is a noun you get a promotion, right?

Yes. I got a promotion last year, which also meant I got more money.

Okay, awesome. So that is a promotion. Now, when they were talking about the promotion, the girl said I can’t believe– the guy said. And Eric said, I can’t believe she’s getting a promotion. She’s so two-faced

Two-faced, so think about what this means, to have two faces. To be two-faced means to have two different sides to your personality, a good one and one, okay? So, like I could be very nice to Marco. Marco, you look so good today, such a nice guy, such a hard worker. And then, oh my God, Marco is an idiot. He’s like never working and he’s always on the phone. Hi, Marco

That is two-faced. That’s very good.

All right, so two-faced means to have two different sides to your personality.

Now it’s interesting the way that you use this word. You say two-faced, right? So, you have to add the ED at the end. You can’t say he is two face or he has two face.

No, it’s an adjective, so he’s two-faced. She is two-faced.

Okay, two-faced.

I don’t like people who are two-faced.

Okay, very good. And we have one final word and it’s actually a verb. When people talk like this—

to whisper

Okay. So, what are you whispering about? So, usually when people are whispering there talking about a rumor.

Right. Or they’re talking and you don’t want somebody else to hear you.

Right. So, when you want to be very quiet, like at the movie theater, you whisper.

Okay. So, those are four words for language take away. Why don’t we go back, listen to the dialogue again and we’ll be back to take a look at a couple of phrases.

Pam: Psssst! Pssssssssst! Hey! Eric, have you heard?

Eric: Hm? No. . . go on, tell me, what’s the latest office gossip?

Pam: Well, you didn’t hear this from me but the rumor is, Paula is getting a promotion!

Eric: No way! But. . . she’s a terrible worker. . . and you can’t trust her. . . she’s so two-faced – you can’t believe anything she says!

Paula: Hey guys, what are you two whispering about?

Eric: Oh Hi Paula! How are you?

Paula: I’ve got some good news! I’m getting a promotion!

Pam: Congratulations! Eric and I were just saying that you are the best person for the job.

Eric: Yes! You’re the best!

All right, we’re back. So, now we have three key phrases from this great dialogue on fluency builder.

Fluency builder

So, this first one is the beginning to any great rumor. We say, have you heard?

Right. So, have you heard?

Have you heard that she got a promotion?

Right. It’s kind—you’re not really asking, right? Although it is a question, have you heard? But you’re not really expecting an answer.

This means I’m going to tell you some gossip

right

have you heard? Because maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. But I’m still going to say it. She’s still going to say it any way.

Right. So, usually you can say, what? Right? Or in this case, Eric goes, no. Go on, tell me what’s the latest office gossip. So, obviously

he knows it’s going to be gossip

right. Have you heard

all right, and so the next thing Pam says is well, you didn’t hear this from me.

Okay

What is this mean?

This is difficult. This is a way of saying okay, don’t tell anyone that I told you.

So, you can tell people but just don’t tell them that I said that this happened because Pam doesn’t want to get in trouble.

right

she doesn’t want anyone to know that she was giving out rumors.

So, that’s why she starting out with, well you didn’t hear this from me, but the rumor is—okay? So, you can, so this is a way of saying, don’t tell anyone that I told you. You didn’t hear this from me. And also, you can go, you can say, but the rumor is. Or you can say, but rumor has it.

Rumor has it that Pauline is getting a promotion.

So, you can go both ways. And now, he exclaimed something. That’s very strange if you just look at it from these two words, no way.

no way

what is no way?

Well, in this context, no way means, really? Wow. I’m surprised.

So, it’s a way to express surprise.

That’s right. But be careful because there’s another meaning to this phrase. For example, Marco could you help me out get the groceries from the car.

No way.

Okay, that means no, okay?

Okay, no way. That means no, but also if you say it like, no way

right

you’re saying, wow that’s so interesting.

So, it can be an expression of surprise or it can be a way of saying no, very firmly, no way.

Exactly.

All right. So, three great phrases there. Very interesting dialogue about gossip, very common in the office environment. So why don’t we listen to the dialogue again and we’ll be back in a little bit.

Pam: Psssst! Pssssssssst! Hey! Eric, have you heard?

Eric: Hm? No. . . go on, tell me, what’s the latest office gossip?

Pam: Well, you didn’t hear this from me but the rumor is, Paula is getting a promotion!

Eric: No way! But. . . she’s a terrible worker. . . and you can’t trust her. . . she’s so two-faced – you can’t believe anything she says!

Paula: Hey guys, what are you two whispering about?

Eric: Oh Hi Paula! How are you?

Paula: I’ve got some good news! I’m getting a promotion!

Pam: Congratulations! Eric and I were just saying that you are the best person for the job.

Eric: Yes! You’re the best!

Okay, we’re back. So, gossip is generally, well, it’s common. It happens in every office, but I think that it’s good to avoid too much gossip because sometimes people’s feelings can get hurt.

Yeah. It’s actually very interesting because usually the bigger the company is I think more gossip starts to spread. Because you know, there’re departments. So, you got the marketing department, the finance department. So, you’re like, oh Kathy from finance, she slept with Tom from marketing. Stuff like that.

Then you have the gossip about bosses.

Right

Did you see he totally left for the weekend but his wife is at home?

Yeah. So, and also one of the situations where a lot of rumors and office gossip starts to come up is office parties or the office Christmas parties, where people maybe are drinking or something happens and a lot of rumor starts to spread.

And they’re more relaxed than usual. They do things they wouldn’t normally do, absolutely. So, maybe we could open this up to you. Is there a common rumor or office gossip that you hear in your office?

Or is there that one secretary or guy that’s always spreading rumors and gossiping.

And don’t use any real name, just tell us general stories. But that’s about it for us here today at EnglishPod. Hoped you’ve enjoyed this. Check out our website Englishpod.com. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Until next time. Bye.