Everybody likes to have fun and sometimes we just can’t resist goofing off. Today’s program is all about irresponsibility. Join Maura and Andrew for their chat about wasting time, being unproductive, and taking it easy.
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Expressions included in the Learning Materials
- Saint Joseph’s
- To put someone on the spot
- To goof off
- Off the top of my head
- Crunch time
- To screw around
- To scrap
- To monkey around
- Kids will be kids
- At the end of the day
- Sweet
- Youth is wasted on the young
Sample transcript
Maura: Andrew, how’s it going? What’s new and exciting in your life?
Andrew: Well, my brother is coming to visit next week, so I’m pretty excited about that. I haven’t seen him in a long time so I’m just getting ready for his visit.
Maura: That’s fun. Has he ever visited you in Montreal before?
Andrew: No. This is his first time here, so I’m kind of wondering what we should do. Do you have any recommendations?
Maura: Well, there’re so many things to do that I can give you a big list. You could walk up Mount Royal. You could go to Saint Joseph’s. I find that’s a really interesting place to visit. You could have smoked meat and bagels. You could walk around downtown or in the Old Port. And those are just a few of the ideas off the top of my head.
Andrew: Yeah. I put you on the spot there but those sound like great things to do so maybe we’ll do them.
Maura: Yeah, well, if he’s never been here, you can do anything.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s right. Yeah.
Maura: Well, have fun. And maybe we’ll check back in later and you can tell us what you ended up doing and how much your brother loved Montreal.
Andrew: I’ll give you the full report, for sure.
Maura: All right. So, let’s get to today’s episode now. We’re going to do a Catch Word episode, and that is where we look at a few related expressions, we explain them to you, we tell you how you can use them, and of course we give you examples, too.
Andrew: Exactly. And today we are going to be talking about expressions that all describe wasting time and not taking things seriously. So when you’re just not really doing anything productive.
Maura: Yes. So these expressions today have to do with not taking anything seriously. You’re just having fun, not taking life too seriously and, often, you’re wasting time. You’re not being very productive.
Andrew: Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Maura: It sounds like a nice way to spend the summer.
Andrew: Yeah, totally. So we should get to our first expression, I think. And that is to goof off. Maura: That’s right. Our first expression is to goof off.
Andrew: Mmhmm. Whenever I hear the word goof, I always think of the Disney character, Goofy.
Maura: Yeah. He’s a pretty fun guy. And I don’t think he’s taking life too seriously.
Andrew: Exactly. He’s always goofing off. And so when you are goofing off, what are you doing?
Maura: Well, you’re wasting time. You’re probably having fun; maybe by yourself, maybe with friends. But you’re just doing whatever you like. Nothing too productive. Relaxing.
Andrew: Yeah. And a lot of times, when you’re goofing off, you should be doing something different. Maybe you’re at work and you should be writing a report or making a presentation or something like that. But instead you’re just wasting time. Maybe you’re on Facebook or you’re texting your friends. I don’t know. So you’re wasting time. You’re not working when you should be.
Maura: Yeah. That’s true. When you’re goofing off, you’re definitely supposed to be doing something else. You’re supposed to be productive. You’re supposed to be doing some kind of work, but for whatever reason, you decided to just have fun and not work too hard.
Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Image Shutterstock