ملاقات با خویشاوندهای سببی آینده

Meeting the Future In-laws

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 278: Meeting the Future In-laws.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 278. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com, and download a Learning Guide for this episode.

This episode is called “Meeting the Future In-laws.” Your “in-laws” are the relatives of your wife or husband. Let’s get started.

[start of story]

Atsushi: I don’t mind telling you that I’m really nervous about meeting your parents.

Scarlet: You look like you’re about to face the firing squad. It’s not going to be that bad.

Atsushi: I wish I could believe that. I’m going to try to make a good first impression, but I don’t think they’re going to like the fact that I’m a professional musician.

Scarlet: I’ve already told them about you, so there won’t be any surprises.

Atsushi: It doesn’t help that your last boyfriend was a straight-laced college student. Couldn’t you have dated a convict before me? I’d look pretty good to your parents in comparison.

Scarlet: How do you know I didn’t? You don’t know everything about me.

Atsushi: Very funny. Maybe we should postpone this visit with your parents for a little while.

Scarlet: No!

Atsushi: I’m just putting it out there.

Scarlet: We’ve put off this visit for months and my parents are really starting to wonder if you really exist. Let’s not blow this visit out of proportion. They’re only my parents.

Atsushi: I know, but they may also be my in-laws soon.

Scarlet: I know, but it’s not like our whole relationship is riding on this visit. I’ll still like you no matter what. And plus, my parents know that I have good taste in men.

Atsushi: At least I know that’s true!

[end of story]

This dialogue between Atsushi and Scarlet is about the in-laws. Your “in-laws” (in-laws) are the mother, father, brothers, and sisters of your spouse – of the person you are marrying, so your husband or your wife. The term “in-laws” can be used for all of these relatives. You can say, “my father in-law,” “my mother inlaw,” “my brother in-law,” “my sister in-law”; all of those are possible.

In the dialogue, Atsushi begins by saying that “I don’t mind telling you that I’m really nervous about meeting your parents.” Atsushi and Scarlet are obviously going to be married, and Atsushi begins with a common phrase to mean “I want to tell you,” or, “I’m not embarrassed to tell you this.” That’s the meaning of the expression “I don’t mind telling you.” Atsushi is nervous about meeting Scarlet’s parents. “Nervous” means anxious, worried, perhaps scared of something.

Scarlet says, “You look like you’re going to face the firing squad” (squad). “To face (face) the firing squad” means to be in a very difficult or dangerous situation. Literally, the expression refers to a group of people with guns, usually working for the government perhaps, or the Army, and they get together in a small group – a squad is a small group – and are supposed to kill one of the people – one of the people, perhaps, who is a prisoner in a war. There’s a famous painting by the Spanish painter Goya about a firing squad, a group of men, who have guns and they are going to all shoot their guns to kill this prisoner – this person. That’s what a “firing squad” is. “To face something” means to go in front of something or to confront something – to have to deal with something. Scarlet says Atsushi looks like he’s about to face the firing squad – to be put in a very dangerous situation. Scarlet says, “It’s not going to be that bad,” meaning it’s not going to be as bad as you think.

Atsushi says, “I wish I could believe that. I’m going to try to make a good first impression, but I don’t think they” – your parents – “are going to like the fact that I’m a professional musician.” Atsushi wants to make a good first impression. The “first impression” is the way that you feel about or what you think about someone the first time you meet them. For additional explanations of that expression, “first impression,” take a look at the Learning Guide for today.

Atsushi is a “musician,” someone who plays or writes music professionally, meaning he gets paid for it, that’s what his job is. Someone says, “I’m a professional musician,” they mean “I get paid to be a musician.” You could be a professional dancer. You could be a professional baseball player, You could be a professional podcaster!

Scarlet says that she has already told her parents about Atsushi and that he is a musician, “so won’t will be any surprises” – the parents already know that he’s a musician. Musicians sometimes have the reputation of being not very reliable, someone that you don’t want your daughter to marry. That’s kind of a joke about musicians, in part, or partly because it is difficult to get work as a professional musician. I have been trying to get work as a professional singer for many years, and I have not been very successful. I don’t know why!

Atsushi says that “It doesn’t help that your last boyfriend was a straight-laced college student.” The adjective “straight (straight) -laced (laced)” means someone who is very traditional or conservative – someone who doesn’t do anything very risky; someone who is very safe, we would say they were “straightlaced.” Scarlet’s other boyfriend was a “straight-laced,” or conservative, college student.

Atsushi says, “Couldn’t you have dated a convict before me? I’d look pretty good to your parents in comparison.” Atsushi is making a joke here. A “convict” (convict) is someone who has been arrested and put in prison – a criminal, someone who has done something against the law. Atsushi is saying that Scarlet should have dated someone with a worse reputation than a musician and then he would look good by comparison, or in comparison to someone else. “In comparison,” or “by comparison,” means compared to something else.

Scarlet says, “How do you know I didn’t?” Again, she’s joking; she means “how do you know I didn’t date a convict, you don’t know everything about me.” Atsushi says, “Very funny.” When you think someone is making a joke but you don’t think it’s funny, you say, “Oh, very funny,” meaning “I don’t think that’s very funny.” It’s a strange way of saying that, but that’s the way we use that expression usually.

Atsushi says, “Maybe we should postpone this visit with your parents for a little while.” “To postpone” (postpone) means to delay – to decide to do something at a later time.

Scarlet says, “No!”

Atsushi says, ‘I’m just putting it out there.” The expression “to put something out there” means to present an idea for consideration by other people – to ask people to think about something. It’s a suggestion; it’s an idea that you would bring to someone and say, “Think about this.” Atsushi wants to postpone the visit to Scarlet’s parents, and Scarlet says, “No.” Scarlet says, “We’ve put off this visit for months.” “To put off something,” or, “to put something off,” means to delay something. It’s the same as to postpone.

She says, “My parents are really starting to wonder if you really exist,” meaning if you’re real – if you are alive. “Let’s not blow this visit out of proportion.” “To blow something out of proportion” means to make it more important or more dramatic than it really is – to believe that it is more important than it really is.

Atsushi says, “I know, but they” – the parents of Scarlet – “may also be my inlaws soon,” meaning the two of them could be getting married.

Scarlet says, “I know, but it’s not like our whole relationship is riding on this visit.” “To ride (ride) on something” means to depend on something – that everything is depending on this thing. Scarlet says, “I’ll still like you no matter what.” “No matter what” means regardless, without giving importance to anything else. It doesn’t matter – “no matter what.” Scarlet ends by saying, “my parents know that I have good taste in men.” “To have good taste (taste) in something” means to be very good at identifying the good things from the bad things – to be at choosing something. You could have good taste in shoes or good taste in cars – you pick the best, you know what’s good. Good taste in podcasts, for example, would mean listening to ESL Podcast, of course!

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of story]

Atsushi: I don’t mind telling you that I’m really nervous about meeting your parents.

Scarlet: You look like you’re going to face the firing squad. It’s not going to be that bad.

Atsushi: I wish I could believe that. I’m going to try to make a good first impression, but I don’t think they’re going to like the fact that I’m a professional musician.

Scarlet: I’ve already told them about you, so there won’t be any surprises.

Atsushi: It doesn’t help that your last boyfriend was a straight-laced college student. Couldn’t you have dated a convict before me? I’d look pretty good to your parents in comparison.

Scarlet: How do you know I didn’t? You don’t know everything about me.

Atsushi: Very funny. Maybe we should postpone this visit with your parents for a little while.

Scarlet: No!

Atsushi: I’m just putting it out there.

Scarlet: We’ve put off this visit for months and my parents are really starting to wonder if you really exist. Let’s not blow this visit out of proportion. They’re only my parents.

Atsushi: I know, but they may also be my in-laws soon.

Scarlet: I know, but it’s not like our whole relationship is riding on this visit. I’ll still like you no matter what. And plus, my parents know I have good taste in men.

Atsushi: At least I know that’s true!

[end of story]

The script for today’s podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse.

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 2007.