شرط بندی کردن

Making a Bet

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 201, “Making a Bet.”

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 201. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California. Visit our website at eslpod.com for the complete Learning Guide to this podcast.

Today’s podcast is called, “Making a Bet.” Let’s get started.

[Start of story]

Suzanna: Hey, the back of the line is over there.

Ivan: I was here. I just stepped out of line for a minute to get some cash.

Suzanna: Yeah, right. I don’t remember you being in line ahead of me.

Ivan: Come on. Let’s do this. We’ll flip for it. If it’s heads, I win and I get to get back into line. If it’s tails, you win and I’ll go to the back of the line.

Suzanna: All right. I’ll take those odds. You’re on.

Ivan: Here goes…Oh, it’s heads! I win.

Suzanna: I guess it’s your lucky day.

Ivan: I guess so. How about going double or nothing?

Suzanna: What are the stakes?

Ivan: If it’s tails and you win, I go to the back of the line and I have to buy you a drink when we get inside. If it’s heads and I win, I get back in line in front of you and you buy me a drink.

Suzanna: So, no matter what happens I have to have a drink with you?

Ivan: That’s the idea. What do you say?

Suzanna: Okay, you talked me into it. Let’s see if your luck will hold up.

Ivan: I’ve got a good feeling it will.

[End of story]

The podcast today is entitled, “Making a Bet.” To make a bet, “bet,” means that you are saying to someone that you have a certain prediction about what will happen in the future and if what you think - your prediction - happens, then you win the bet. And, if what you predict doesn’t happen, you lose the bet. Usually, a bet is with money. You say to someone, “I’ll bet you ten dollars that it rains tomorrow.” You are saying that if it rains tomorrow the other person has to give you ten dollars, and if it doesn’t rain you have to give him ten dollars.

In dialogue, we have two people, Suzanna and Ivan, who are waiting outside of what is probably a popular bar or pub or dance club, and Suzanna says to Ivan, “Hey, the back of the line is over there.” What happened is that Ivan was coming into the line where they were waiting to get in to the club or bar. To go to the back of the line means to go to the end of the line. So, if someone says, “The back of the line is over there,” they’re saying you have to go to the end of the line.

You cannot come here, close to the front of the line, where Suzanna is standing.

Ivan says, “I was here. I just stepped out of line for a minute to get some cash.” Ivan is saying that he was standing in line - and to stand, “stand,” in line means to wait in line - he was standing in line and then he stepped out of line. To step, “step,” out of line means to leave the line, to go somewhere away from the line.

The line, of course, are the people, the line of people who are waiting to get in.

Suzanna says that, “Yeah, right,” when Ivan tells her that he had “just stepped out of line.” The expression, yeah right, with that intonation, with that pronunciation, means that she does not believe him. It’s an informal way of saying I don’t believe you. I don’t think that’s true. “Yeah, right,” Suzanna says, “I don’t remember you being in line ahead of me.” To be ahead of someone, “ahead,” one word, means to be in front of them. So, to be ahead of a person in a line means you are closer to the front of the line than they are.

Ivan says, “Come on. Let’s do this.” Come on means be reasonable, try to agree with me, try to see things my way. He suggests to Suzanna that they make a bet. He says, “We’ll flip for it.” To flip, “flip,” for something means to flip a coin. And, you take a coin, such as a quarter or a dime or a nickel, which are American coins made out of metal, and you put it on your hand and with your thumb, you throw the coin up in the air and it goes around and around and around and then it comes down. Well, when he says to “flip for it,” means let’s flip a coin to decide. “If it’s heads,” he says, “I win and I get back into line. If it’s tails, you win and I’ll go to the back of the line.” A coin has two sides. One side, which has the picture, usually, of a president or a famous person. In England, it would be a picture of the Queen. That’s the heads because it shows the head of a person. The other side is called the tail of the coin, or we usually use the plural, tails. So, when someone says, “If it’s heads,” meaning if the side that has the head on it is the side that lands up, then you win. If it’s tails, if the back of the coin is the one that you can see when it stops and you catch it with your hand, then that means, in this story, that Suzanna wins. So, heads I win, tails you win.

Well, Suzanna says, “All right,” she agrees to this. She says, “I’ll take those odds. You’re on.” To take those odds, “odds,” means that I accept what you are saying. The odds are the chances that you can win something. For example, if you are flipping a coin, the odds are 50-50, 50 percent chance that you will get heads or 50 percent chance that you will get tails. So, she’s saying, “I will take those odds,” means I will accept your bet. Another way of saying I accept is to say you’re on . You’re, “you’re,” which is short for you are, you are on, you’re on means I agree.

Well, Ivan flips the coin and it’s heads, which means that he wins. Notice that the expression is it’s heads, that means that the heads side of the coin was the one that was on top. Suzanna says, “I guess it’s your lucky day.” - your lucky day.

To be lucky, “lucky,” means to have good fortune, to have things that go your way, we might say, that are good things that are happening to you. So, it’s his lucky day.

Ivan says, “I guess so. How about going double or nothing?” Double or nothing is an expression we use in betting when someone loses a bet, or wins a bet, and the person says, “let’s now bet twice the amount” - two times the amount of the first bet. So, let’s say you are betting someone five dollars and you win the bet, if he says, “I’ll bet you double or nothing,” or “let’s go double or nothing,” that means that you flip the coin again, in this case, and if you win he owes you ten dollars, and if he wins you owe him nothing.

Suzanna says, “What are the stakes?” The stakes, “stakes,” plural, are the things that you will win, the money or the whatever it is that you will win if you win or if…what you have to give the other person if you lose. Usually the stakes are money. We have an expression, high stakes. When we say the stakes are high we mean that they are very expensive or there is a lot that you have to give if you lose. The opposite would be low stakes.

Ivan tells Suzanna that the stakes are that if it’s tails and Suzanna wins he has to go to the back of the line, and he has to buy her a drink when they get inside.

Notice there are two things he has to do. In the original bet he was just going to go to the back of the line, but since it’s double or nothing, he has to do something more. What he’ll have to do is go to the back of the line and buy her a drink. If it’s heads and Ivan wins, he gets to go back into line in front of Suzanna, and Suzanna has to buy him a drink.

Suzanna says, “So, no matter what happens I have to have a drink with you?” The expression, no matter, “matter,” what happens, means in both circumstances, in both situations, or in any situation - it doesn’t matter if she wins or loses, there’s no difference, she still has to have a drink with Ivan. Of course, Ivan is hitting on Suzanna. To hit, “hit,” on someone means that you are romantically interested in them and you try to get to know them, and you try to perhaps get their telephone number, or get them to go and have a drink or have coffee with you. This is something that you would do, of course, only if you were single. If you’re married, you shouldn’t be hitting on anyone, I don’t think!

Ivan then says, “That’s the idea.” So, he answers Suzanna’s question about having to have a drink with her by saying, yes, that’s my intention. That is what I want to happen. That’s the idea. That’s what I was planning. He then says to Suzanna, “What do you say,” meaning, do you agree to this bet? Do you agree to having a drink with me? And here, of course, is the most important part of the dialogue when Suzanna says, “No! You’re a loser! Get away from me!” No, actually Suzanna doesn’t say that! A loser, “loser,” is a slang term meaning someone who is not very attractive or someone who does things wrong all the time. Someone who is not a person that you would want to date or be in a romantic relationship.

But, our story has a happy ending because Suzanna says, “you talked me into it.” To talk someone into something means that you convince them, you get them to agree with you. And, Suzanna says that, “you,” Ivan, have “talked me into it” you have convinced me. Then she says, “Let’s see if your luck will hold up.” The expression, to have your luck hold, “hold,” up, two words, means that it will continue. To hold up, here, means to continue, so she’s saying let’s see if you continue to be lucky since you bet the first time and you won. And, Ivan says, very confidently as you would expect, “I’ve got a good feeling it will” - means I think that my luck will continue.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.

[Start of story]

Suzanna: Hey, the back of the line is over there.

Ivan: I was here. I just stepped out of line for a minute to get some cash.

Suzanna: Yeah, right. I don’t remember you being in line ahead of me.

Ivan: Come on. Let’s do this. We’ll flip for it. If it’s heads, I win and I get to get back into line. If it’s tails, you win and I’ll go to the back of the line.

Suzanna: All right. I’ll take those odds. You’re on.

Ivan: Here goes…Oh, it’s heads! I win.

Suzanna: I guess it’s your lucky day.

Ivan: I guess so. How about going double or nothing?

Suzanna: What are the stakes?

Ivan: If it’s tails and you win, I go to the back of the line and I have to buy you a drink when we get inside. If it’s heads and I win, I get in back in line in front of you and you buy me a drink.

Suzanna: So, no matter what happens I have to have a drink with you?

Ivan: That’s the idea. What do you say?

Suzanna: Okay, you talked me into it. Let’s see if your luck will hold up.

Ivan: I’ve got a good feeling it will.

[End of story]

The script for today’s podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse, our lucky scriptwriter.

Remember, you can email us at eslpod@eslpod.com if you have questions or comments about this podcast. From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan.

Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.