TRANSCRIPT: OFF THE CUFF ALEXA NOTES AUDIO
[00:00:00] Hi from High Flyer English. Now this is a bit of an experiment using audio. I just want to see if this will work so that I can then post it on my website. And those of you who enjoy listening to podcast kind of things can , listen to it while you're doing your ironing or sitting in the garden or whatever.
It's not part of my official podcast. I'm going to do things off the cuff. And what I'm doing is looking at my phone where I've got notes from Alexa. When I'm sitting at home, something occurs to me, I say, Alexa, take a note. And, this is what I'm looking at now. They're little squares on my phone, which have got text on. Sometimes taken down wrongly. So the first one I look at is urge. So I felt an [00:01:00] urge to do this, an urge, a sudden burst of enthusiasm. So that's the first one. Okay, next one I come across. If truth be known, well, if truth be known, it's a starter to a conversation. If truth be known, I don't like him very much.
If truth be known, I'm very tired.
He's a fruitcake!
If you say someone's a fruitcake, or he's a bit of a fruitcake, you mean He's a bit mad, okay? It can be said quite friendly. He's a bit of a fruitcake. Or you could really think his brain's not really there. You could actually say someone is not all there.
I don't think Jim's quite all there. I don't [00:02:00] think Jim's all there, you know. is not altogether in the right mind. So, is not mentally very fit. Talking about in the right mind, you can use that in a different way.
No one in their right mind would do that. No one who's sensible would do such a thing. No, I don't feel like gardening today. I'm not in the right frame of mind. Yeah, I know that film's supposed to be good, but I don't fancy it. I'm not in the right frame of mind to watch it today.
I could kick myself. We use this when we've done or said something which we regret afterwards. Oh, [00:03:00] I asked her how David was. I forgot that, he had left her. I could have kicked myself. I could have kicked myself by not studying for longer, and so I failed the exam.
It's like a self accusation, you're being self accusatory. To be in two minds. You can't make your mind up about something. I'm not sure if I want pasta or if I want rice. I'm in two minds about it. I'm in two minds whether I should go and visit them. I'm not sure yet. I'm in two minds on it.
 You say that [00:04:00] someone's legless, hopefully you don't mean that they are literally without legs. Unfortunate, obviously, if they are, if they're a war casualty, it means basically that they're drunk, they're legless, they're drunk, they're pissed, they're pissed out of their minds. So yep, that's what that means.
Someone gets your back up. They really annoy me. Oh god. My boss really gets my back up. He's always checking my reports. He's always looking over my shoulder. Ooh, that woman really gets my back up. She's always talking about other people. It's high time you cleaned up your room. Okay, it's high time you [00:05:00] found yourself a job.
It's high time. Simply means you should be doing it. It's about time. You know, get on with it. It's high time.
Till you're blue in the face. You can try and persuade someone to do something till you're blue in the face and they still won't change their mind. Doubt. What collocations can go with that? Well, you could have shades of doubt. So, which means that you're not absolutely doubtful, but you've got shades of doubt.
I have shades of doubt whether I'll ever make it as a singer.
There's a lot to be said for. Semi fixed expression. There's a lot to be said for eating [00:06:00] veg every day. I think it's supposed to be five portions, they say in the UK, to keep yourself healthy. There's a lot to be said for having an early night when you've got a job interview first thing in the morning.
If my life depended on it. This is used like in a negative form. I could not do paragliding if my life depended on it. I wouldn't do that if my life depended on it. Don't take it out on me! This is set to someone, you say this to someone when they're getting at you or they're having a go at you for something which you don't think is your fault.
So, friend starts [00:07:00] shouting and raving and ranting at you. Because, she's had a fallout with someone else, had a fallout, fallen out with, had an argument. And it's a, don't take it out of me! I wasn't there, I didn't say that! Take it out on her!
Okay, hope you've enjoyed yourself. I could say, well, if you haven't, please yourself. Please yourself. So, yeah, we say that, when someone says they want to do something, you're not sure about it, well, please yourself, you can do that if you want, you know.
It escapes me. This is another way of saying Slips my mind. That actor there on television, What's his name? I just can't think of it. I know it, I know it. It escapes me. That happens a lot, doesn't it? When you see someone and you know their [00:08:00] name and you just can't think of it.
God! His name escapes me. Not right in the head. If you're not right in the head, then it's like saying he's not all there. Well, he is physically there, but if you say, hmm, I'm not sure he's all there, he's not all there. Well, he's there physically, but mentally he's not. So you can also say, He's not right in the head.
It looks like rain. Okay. It looks like rain? Doesn't actually mean that. It means, it appears, it seems, that there's going to be rain. You look up at the sky, it's cloudy, it's getting [00:09:00] darker.
It looks like rain. And finally, to pull the plug on. To pull the plug on means to stop something, to stop a project. I've realised it's probably more apt to think of it as being a plug in an electrical socket.
And you pull it out and all the electric goes off or your computer goes off. So I am now going to pull the plug on this audio, I hope it's been successful. Okay. So, final one. Let's not lose sight of that all these expressions can be very useful. So the more that you learn them, and the more that you try using them, practice using them, [00:10:00] the more fluent that you'll be. Okay, back to pulling the plug. I'm going to pull the plug.
on this audio, and I hope to see you again soon. So, do let me know what you think, and if you like it, then it will encourage me to do more. Oh, and by the way, I meant to mention that I will try to also publish a transcript so that you can read what I've said. Just in case, you've missed anything.
Alright, bye for now, see you soon. This is Steve, signing off.