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Best Times - VIP Mini Story

Hello this is AJ, welcome to the mini story this month. Just the normal thing, I’ll do three things. I will make a statement, when I make a statement you say ah, hum. Make some sound. It helps to keep your brain awake. If you just sit there quietly it’s kind of easy to fall asleep, so don’t do that.

Make a sound every time I make a statement hum, ah. You can nod your head, move your head up and down, even better, stand up with your shoulders back and walk around. Keep moving. Go for a walk with your iPod in the park or on the street, whatever. Just keep yourself moving and awake with sounds and movement, very important.

Number two, I’ll ask a question that you know the answer to, when I do that shout the answer if possible and use your body as you do that. You know gesture with your hands powerfully. If you need to be more quiet, if you’re in an office or you’re walking out in public or something maybe you do it very quietly and in a small way, but any little sound or movement you make really wakes up your brain and it makes your memory stronger and better. A lot of good benefits so don’t just sit there. At the least, walk and move around.

Then, finally, I’ll ask a question that you don’t know the answer to and if I do that just shout a guess.

Let’s start our mini story.

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There was a woman named Cathy. Her full name was Chatty Cathy. Chatty Cathy was a blabbermouth.

What is a blabbermouth? A ‘blabbermouth’ is a great slang term, very common. A blabbermouth is someone who just talks too much. They’re constantly talking. They talk and they talk and they talk and they talk and they never stop talking.

Blabbermouth can also mean a person who talks about secrets. You know they’re not supposed to say something, but they say it anyway. You can’t trust them to be quiet.

You can’t trust them to keep a secret. So it is both of those things. In this case, we’re talking about a woman who just never stops talking.

So what was Cathy?

She was a blabbermouth.

Was she a blabbermouth or was she quiet and discreet?

Well, of course, she was a blabbermouth.

Who was a blabbermouth?

Chatty Cathy. Chatty Cathy was a blabbermouth. Chatty Cathy is her name. Chatty Cathy was a blabbermouth. She never stopped talking.

So was she quiet or was she a blabbermouth?

She was a blabbermouth.

Did she talk and talk and talk and talk all the time?

Yes, she did. She was a blabbermouth.

Who was a blabbermouth?

Chatty Cathy.

In fact, when people were with Cathy no one could get a word in edgewise.

There’s another kind of an idiom, to get a word in edgewise. No one could get a word in edgewise with her. So sometimes we might say I couldn’t get a word in edgewise with him. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise with her. What does that phrase mean? It’s a little complex, so let’s talk about it.

‘Edgewise’ means sideways. So the idea is if you can imagine that a word is a physical thing, like it’s a piece of wood and we’re trying to push it into something. So maybe there’s a small space and we want to push the wood into that space, so maybe we turn it to the side so that it’s smaller so we can get it into that small space. That’s kind of the image I want you to think about.

So imagine that that wood is a word or it’s a phrase, it’s something you’re trying to say.

So the idea is, the idea of this phrase is that someone is talking and talking and talking and they never stop, so you cannot get your words in, right? You can’t get in what you want to say.

Even if you try to interrupt very quickly, even if you try to say something during the small pause that the other person has, the small space, you still can’t do it. You cannot get your words in at all because the other person never stops. They never give you a chance to speak. So that’s what it means.

If you say I can’t get a word in edgewise, it means you’re not able to say anything because the other person never stops talking. So that’s the situation with Cathy. No one could get a word in edgewise with her. No one could speak when they were with her because she was always speaking, speaking, speaking and never stopped. She never let other people speak, so no one could get a word in edgewise with her.

No one could get a word in edgewise with who or whom?

Chatty Cathy. When they were with Chatty Cathy they couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

They couldn’t say anything because she was always talking.

Why couldn’t they get a word in edgewise?

Because she was a blabbermouth. Cathy was a blabbermouth. Chatty Cathy was a blabbermouth and because of this no one could get a word in edgewise with her.

One time, she went to a movie with her friend Angelina Jolie – you may know of her – and Chatty Cathy blabbed during the entire movie. She blabbed during the whole movie.

‘To blab’ means to talk a lot. It has this idea of talking a lot, talking quickly, maybe talking loudly. Again, it’s very casual. It’s not something we use in formal writing, for example, but in speech to blab. To blab is, again, this idea of speaking in a fast way, a loud way.

So Cathy blabbed during what?

Chatty Cathy blabbed during the movie. She blabbed during the movie with her friend Angelina Jolie. She blabbed during the movie with her friend Angelina Jolie.

So who did she blab to?

She blabbed to Angelina Jolie.

And where were they?

Obviously, they were in a movie theatre.

They were in a movie theatre and during the movie Chatty Cathy constantly what?

Blabbed. She constantly blabbed. She constantly talked and talked and talked and talked.

Did Angelina Jolie enjoy Chatty Cathy’s blabbing?

No, she did not enjoy the blabbing. No one enjoys blabbing during a movie.

In fact, Angelina Jolie got very annoyed. She said “Cathy, don’t be such a motormouth. Listen to the movie, just chill.”

Okay, so what did she say? Do the whole thing.

Cathy, don’t be such a motormouth. Listen to the movie, just chill.

Okay, a ‘motormouth’ is really the same as a blabbermouth. Again, it’s a person who talks fast all the time, always talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, talking.

That’s a motormouth. It’s the idea that the mouth is like an engine that never stops, right? That’s the image.

So she said Cathy, don’t be such a what?

Don’t be such a motormouth.

Was Angelina Jolie a motormouth?

No, Angelina Jolie wasn’t a motormouth.

Who was a motormouth?

Chatty Cathy. Chatty Cathy was a motormouth. She constantly talked and never stopped.

Was she a motormouth during the movie?

Yes, she was a motormouth during the movie. She constantly blabbed during the movie.

Did Angelina Jolie appreciate her being a motormouth?

No, she was annoyed that she was such a motormouth. She said “Don’t be such a motormouth. Just listen to the movie and chill.”

Okay, to chill that’s more slang. Kind of a slang phrase again that we use when we speak. ‘To chill’ means to relax. It means to calm down. It means to be calm and relaxed. ‘Chill’ means kind of cold, right? So, if you’re cool or cold you might be a little more relaxed, right? Cool your feelings. Cool your emotions.

Just chill, this is very, very, very casual. I wouldn’t say this to my grandmother.

Grandmother, just chill! Some children might now, but I wouldn’t. But it is something you might say to your friends or someone that you know well. You’d say hey, just chill. It means just relax, right? If they’re being too excited, they’re too upset, they’re too emotional, they’re talking too much, you can say hey chill or just chill. It means just relax.

So who needed to chill?

Chatty Cathy needed to chill.

Why did she need to chill?

She needed to chill because she was a motormouth, because she was blabbing all the time.

Well, finally, Cathy realized that she was a compulsive talker. She realized that she was a compulsive talker.

What kind of talker was she?

Compulsive. She was a compulsive talker.

Who was a compulsive talker?

Cathy.

What kind of talker was she?

A compulsive talker.

What does compulsive mean? Well, ‘compulsive’ means kind of forced. It means that you must keep doing something again and again and again and again and again and you can’t stop yourself.

A compulsive eater, for example, is someone that just keeps eating and eating and eating and eating. They have no control. They can’t stop themselves from eating. That’s a compulsive eater. A compulsive talker is someone who just talks and talks and talks and they don’t have control over themselves. They’re not controlling that. They’re a compulsive talker.

So was she a controlled talker or was she a compulsive talker?

She was a compulsive talker. She couldn’t stop herself.

Who was a compulsive talker?

Cathy.

Did she realize that she was a compulsive talker?

Yeah, she finally did. After Angelina Jolie yelled at her, Cathy realized that she was indeed a compulsive talker.

But why?

Well, she contemplated this question for a long time. Why am I a compulsive talker?

Why am I a compulsive talker?

‘To contemplate’ means to think deeply about something. To think about something deeply, quietly for a long time, that’s to contemplate.

So what did Cathy contemplate?

She contemplated the reason that she was a compulsive talker. She contemplated the question, why am I a compulsive talker?

Did she think about it a lot?

Yes, she did. She thought about it deeply. She contemplated this question.

Finally, one day she woke up in the morning and she drank her normal 18 cups of coffee and she suddenly realized something. “Aha! I drink 18 cups of coffee every day. I’m always amped up.”

Well, this is a little more slang, a little more casual English. To be ‘amped up’ means to be really excited and super energized. To be amped up really has the feeling of too much. You have too much energy. You’re too excited. It’s too much, right? If you drink 18 cups of coffee, for example, you will be amped up. You’ll have a lot of energy and you’ll talk too fast. Too much energy, that’s amped up.

So who was always amped up?

Cathy. Chatty Cathy was always amped up. She was always too excited, too much energy, hyperactive. (That’s another phrase we use, hyperactive.) She was amped up all the time.

Why was she amped up all the time?

Because she always drank 18 cups of coffee a day.

She drank 18 cups of coffee a day, therefore she was?

Amped up.

That’s right, she was always amped up and she realized “Aha! I’m always amped up because I drink coffee, 18 cups a day. That’s why I’m a compulsive talker.” And so she quit drinking coffee. First she got a lot of headaches and she felt terrible, but eventually she relaxed. She chilled out.

So ‘to chill out’ is the same as to chill. It’s the same, sometimes we add ‘out’ to it.

Sometimes we’ll say to chill out. ‘To chill out’ means to relax, to calm down.

So she quite coffee and she chilled out, she relaxes and eventually Chatty Cathy became an excellent listener.

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And that is the end of our mini story for this month. Listen to it every day for seven to 10 days or more. Answer those questions. See you again, bye-bye.