تلفظ To

• I’m sorry, Ma.

• I have to stay late at the office.

• No, he’s doesn’t! He’s lying to you!

• Will you be quiet?

• Well, if you want privacy let go of the ring.

• I’m so glad we came to this gentile strip club!

• Howard, here’s more bacon to tuck into the shiksa’s G-string!

• I’ll call you back.

• I think it’s lovely you call your mommy and let her know you’re a going to be late for dinner.

• From what I know about these things, if a woman doesn’t breastfeed on time, it’s very uncomfortable for her boobies.

• Don’t you talk about my mother’s boobies!

• If you’re offended, let go of the ring and go on home to your mother’s boobies.

• Excellent, excellent.

• Tire each other out, the ring will be mine.

• Howard, why don’t you go after Raj’s mother?

• Why don’t we go after your mother?

• Go ahead.

• I have no illusions about my mother.

• She is a kind, loving, religiously fanatical right-wing Texan with a slightly out-of-scale head and a mild Dr.Pepper addiction.

• Anything you’d like to add?

• That’s not gonna get you anywhere Better pull out the big gun.

• You’re right.

• Let’s talk about your grandmother.

• No!

• I call no Meemaws.

• Think about this.

• The only way your mother was born was your Meemaw had sex.

• I don’t want to hear this.

• Then let go of the ring and walk away.

• Never.

• Allright.

• I’ll bet your Meemaw didn’t just have sex to have your mother.

• I bet she had sex because she liked it.

• Stop it!

• Yeah, Meemaw did the nasty.

• I said stop it!

• We’re getting to him.

• Waterfalls!

• What?

• Waterfalls.

• Crashing waves.

• Babbling brooks.

• What are you doing?

• Subliminal messaging.

• I’m going to make you want to pee.

• Dripping faucets.

• Leaky gutter.

• Peeing.

• It’s, it’s not working, dude.

• Oh-oh-oh.

• It’s working all right.

• I have to Pee.

• Then let go of the ring and go.

• No, actually. I wouldn’t mind going, too.

• Find. Um, on the count of three.

• One, two…

• Wait, just to clarify.

• When you get to three do we stand up or do we pee?

• We stand up.

• Excellent choice.

• Three.

• Something tells me this was a bad day to wear suede shoes.

• I’ve done it!

• I’ve won!

• The ring is mine!

• It’s mine!

• We’re going to clean it up and make it pretty.

• My own.

• My love.

• My precious.

• Like to add = like-tuh add.

Narrator:

Native Reduction of TO :

In spoken English, we rarely emphasize the pronunciation of “to” because it is a function word.

Click at the top right to learn more about function words.

If you are not aware of this, it can make it easy to misunderstand native speakers and to get lost.

So, let’s see how natives pronounce to with this scene.

The preposition to is usually pronounced as [tuh], as in these examples.

LIKE TO ADD.

• Like to add = like-tuh add.

WE’RE GETTING TO HIM.

• We’re getting to him = weer gedding-do-im.

WANT TO PEE.

Want to pee = wan-tuh pee.

WHEN YOU GET TO THREE.

When you get to three = when you ge-tuh three.

Some words even change their normal sound when followed by a reduced to.

For example, the V in have changes to an F, so instead of saying have to , we say haf-tuh.

I HAVE TO STAY LATE.

I have stay late at the office = I haf-tuh stay late a-the office.

I HAVE TO PEE.

I have to pee = I haf-tuh pee.

Be sure to look for more examples in this scene.

• Will you be quiet?

Quiet:

Not talking or making very little noise.

We say be quite to someone when we want them to stop talking or making noise.

Example: The teacher told her students to be quite.

A Stronger, ruder way to say this is shut up.

• Well, if you want privacy let go of the ring.

Let go of (someone/something):

To stop holding someone or something.

Example: The little dog was biting my jeans and didn’t want to let go.

• I’m so glad we came to this gentile strip club!

Narrator:

Glad: Happy.

Strip club:

A place where the audience is entertained by performers doing a striptease, which is when someone takes off his or her clothes, usually while dancing to music.

Gentile strip club:

To make this lie sound more real, Raj is painting an image of what they would be doing if they really were at a strip club.

Howard is Jewish, so in order to worry his mother more, he says a “gentile strip club.” A gentile is a non-Jew.

• Howard, here’s more bacon to tuck into the shiksa’s G-string!

Tuck in/into something:

To tuck something in or into something means to put something tightly in a particular place.

A G-string is a very small type of women’s underwear.

At a strip club, money is generally tucked into a woman’s underwear, but to continue offending Howard’s Jewish mother, he says they are tucking bacon into a shiksa’s G-string.

Bacon (and all other meat from pigs) is prohibited in a Jewish kosher diet.

A shiksa is a term from Yiddish language meaning a non-Jewish woman.

• I think it’s lovely you call your mommy and let her know you’re a going to be late for dinner.

Ways to talk about one’s mother:

There are many ways to refer to your mother, as we see in this scene.

Mom - is probably the most commonly used word to talk about mother in the United States. In the UK and Australia, they say mum.

Mommy- is a more childish way to refer to one’s mother.

An adult would likely not call his mother mommy.

So, Raj uses it to show that Howard has an unusually close and dependent relationship with his mother for a man of his age.

Mother - most people will not call their mom “mother” unless they do not have a close relationship with her.

It is used more for official or formal purposes.

Mama - is usually the first word babies say for their mother.

It is used by young children, but it is less common for adult to call their mother “mama.”

• From what I know about these things, if a woman doesn’t breastfeed on time, it’s very uncomfortable for her boobies.

Breastfeed:

To feed a baby milk from a mother’s breast.

Boobies:

An immature way to talk about women’s breasts.

• Don’t you talk about my mother’s boobies!

Don’t you + verb:

Used to emphatically say to someone that they shouldn’t do something.

Example : Don’t you say a word.

A common collocation is don’t you dare , which further intensifies the imperative tone of this phrase.

Example : Don’t you dare eat my food.

Narrator :

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Now, let’s get back to the scene with The Big Bang Theory.

• Tire each other out, the ring will be mine.

Tire someone out:

To make someone exhausted.

Example : The kids played together until they tired each other out.

• Howard, why don’t you go after Raj’s mother?

• Why don’t we go after your mother?

Go after:

Generally this means to follow and try to stop or catch someone, but in this context Sheldon uses this verb with the meaning of to attack or tease someone verbally.

• Go ahead.

• I have no illusions about my mother.

Go ahead:

Used to say to someone he or she can do something.

Example : The boss told me I can go ahead and leave early today.

• She is a kind, loving, religiously fanatical right-wing Texan .

Fanatical right-wing Texan:

Someone who’s right-wing in politics is someone who supports conservatism.

A left-wing is someone who has a more liberal, radical and reforming ideology.

People in Texas are stereotypically right-wing.

Fanatical means obsessive.

• with a slightly out-of-scale head and a mild Dr.Pepper addiction.

Out-of-Scale:

Too big or small for something.

In this scene, we can imagine that Sheldon’s mom has a head that is too big (or too small) for her body.

Example : Those mirrors are out of scale for his big car.

Mild Dr.Pepper addiction:

Mild means not too strong, or not strongly felt.

In this case, for example, a mild addiction is less strongly felt than a severe addiction.

Dr.Pepper is an American soft drink.

• That’s not gonna get you anywhere = get-ya anywhere.

• That’s not gonna get you anywhere Better pull out the big gun.

To get (somewhere):

To  make progress.

Example : Now that I have found ways to make learning English fun, I’m really getting somewhere!

And we often say “(something) isn’t going to get you anywhere”, as in this scene.

Example : You won’t get anywhere if you only focus on studying grammar and don’t open your mouth.

Pull out the big gun:

This means to use the most powerful weapons, tools or people available.

For example, on a sports team, if you play against another team and decide to pull out the big guns against that team, it means you’re going to use your best players to win.

• Let’s talk about your grandmother.

• No!

• I call no Meemaws.

Meemaw:

What Sheldon calls his grandmother.

• Yeah, Meemaw did the nasty.

• I said stop it!

Do the nasty:

Humorous way to say have sex.

Click at the top right for more sex related slang and expressions.

• We’re getting to him.

Get to someone:

If you do or say something to make someone angry and you succeed, we say that what you did or said got to him or her.

In this cases Howard and Raj tried to get to Sheldon by talking about his grandmother.

• Waterfalls.

• Crashing waves.

• Babbling brooks.

Babbling brook:

A brook is a small river.

Babbling comes from the verb to bable… which in this cases refers to the sound of water rolling over stones in a relatively quiet stream.

• What are you doing? = wha-da-you doing?

• Subliminal messaging.

Subliminal messaging:

A type of hidden message or advertisement, used to make someone do or feel something without him or her knowing it.

Example : Movies used to have subliminal messaging meant to make you want to buy certain products.

• I’m going to make you want to pee.

• Dripping faucets.

• Leaky gutter.

Dripping faucets:

To drip means to fall in individual small drops.

A faucetis what sinks and baths have to control the flow of water.

Leaky gutter:

A leak is a crack or hold through which water or other fluids escape.

A gutter is a long, hollow device that is attached to the edges of a roof to catch rain and carry it away from a building.

• No, actually. I wouldn’t mind going, too.

Narrator :

Don’t mind something/doing something:

If you don’t mind something or doing something, it is not something that makes you worry or that gives you trouble.

As here, sometimes we use this expression to say that we would actually like doing something.

Example : I wouldn’t mind cooking for everybody again. It actually helps me release some stress.

• Something tells me this was a bad day to wear suede shoes.

Suede shoes:

A type of leather shoes.