Speaker 1: Have you ever known someone who interrupts constantly, never finishes
their work, or talks to people in a bossy way.
We run into people like that from time to time. Right,
and in English, we have some very colorful phrasal verbs
to describe those kinds of behaviors. So for today's podcast
English Lesson, we're going to look at five very common
phrasal verbs that you can use to talk about annoying people.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode one thousand and four.
Five phrasal verbs to describe annoying people. Yep, it's another
phrasal verb Friday. And whether it's a friend, coworker, a neighbor,
or possibly a family member, dealing with annoying behavior is
part of daily life. But luckily English has some phrasal
verbs to help us describe what's going on in these situations.
Let's jump right in. First, up is but in but
in means to interrupt a conversation rudely or without being
invited into it. When someone butts in, they don't wait
for a pause in the conversation. They just jump in
and start talking, even though someone else is already speaking.
Because of that, but in usually has a slightly negative feeling.
But in suggests that the person is not being polite
or respectful in the conversation, like kids often butt in
when adults are talking. Oh and by the way, like
in this example, but in is not separable. Here's another example.
I was talking to Jenny about politics, and of course
Jack had to butt in with his opinion. And this
one might sound familiar if you've ever been in a
meeting at work. Every time we have a meeting, someone
butts in before others can finish. So if someone butts in,
they interrupt in a way that feels pushy or rude.
Another annoying habit that some people have is they flake out.
When someone flakes out, they agree to do something, but
then they don't show up or follow through. In other words,
the person made a promise or a plan, but at
the last minute they disappear or cancel. Like last weekend,
my friend Tom flaked out on our dinner plans. Again.
He said he'd meet us at the restaurant at seven,
but then he texted at the last minute saying, Oh,
he's too tired to come and here too. Flake out
is not separable, Tom flaked out. Maybe you have a
friend like that, someone who always says yes at first
but then cancels later. Or at work, you might need
to remind your coworker like, hey, don't flake out on
the meeting tomorrow, everyone's counting on you to present your
part of the project. Or Donna promised to help me
move this weekend, but she flaked out at the last
minute never showed up. When someone flakes out, it can
be frustrating because you were actually depending on them. They
agreed to do something, but then they back out or
disappear before it actually happens. They flake out. Next, let's
look at two phrasal verbs that are pretty similar, goof
off and slack off. Both goof off and slack off
describe situations where someone isn't working as hard as they
should be, but there's a small difference between them. Let's
look at goof off first. Goof off means to waste
time or fool around instead of doing what you're supposed
to be doing. Goof off often suggests playful behavior, joking around,
or simply not taking things seriously. Like in the office,
the interns were goofing off instead of finishing their reports.
They were joking around, watching videos on their phone, and
talking about weekend plans. Instead of doing their work. They
were goofing off. Or in school, a teacher might say
something like this to some students, stop goofing off and
get back to work. You have a test tomorrow and
you haven't even started studying. To be honest, I remember
when I was in high school, we used to goof
off lot instead of studying. We'd sit in the back
of the classroom, make jokes and pass notes instead of
paying attention to the teacher. So goof off often has
a slightly playful feeling. The person is fooling around, joking,
or getting distracted instead of focusing on what they're supposed
to be doing. Another way that people don't do what
they're supposed to be doing is when they slack off.
Slack off means to become lazy or to stop putting
in the effort you should be making. Unlike goof off,
which can sound playful, slack off sounds more serious and
more negative. Slack off suggests that someone simply isn't doing
their share of the work. Like in the office, Jason
always slacks off when the boss isn't watching. As soon
as the manager leaves the room, he stops working and
lets everyone else handle the project. And recently I noticed
that one of the students in my class has been
slacking off. He hasn't handed in his homework in a
few weeks, and it seems like he comes to class
without reviewing. He has definitely been slacking off. The difference
is this, if someone goofs off, they're usually fooling around
or being playful instead of working. But if someone slacks off, well,
they're simply not putting in the effort they should and
often leaving the work for someone else to do. Another
phrasal verb we use to describe annoying behavior is boss around.
If you boss someone around, you tell people what to
do in a controlling or demanding way, especially when you
are not actually their boss. Like my older brother used
to boss me around when we were kids. This kind
of person acts like they're in charge of everyone even
when they're not. And notice we usually say boss someone around,
the object comes in the middle like he bosses me around,
or she bosses people around like one of my coworkers, Josh,
I can't stand working with him. He's always bossing people
around like he's the manager. Again, if someone bosses you around,
they give you too many orders or try to control
what you're doing. So there you have it. Today, we
looked at five frasal verbs used to describe annoying behaviors
but in means to interrupt a conversation rudely. Flake out
means to promise something but not follow through. Goof off
means to fool around or play instead of working. Slack
off means to stop putting in effort or to be lazy.
And boss someone around means to give people orders in
a controlling way, even if you're not really in charge.
These kinds of expressions come up all the time in
everyday conversation, especially when people are talking about coworkers, classmates, friends,
or even family members. So here's your challenge. Think about
someone you know, maybe at work, maybe at school, maybe
even a friend, and try making a sentence using one
of these phrasal verbs. That's how you start making these
expressions part of your active English, and keep in mind
the best way to remember English like this and any
other word or phrase in English is to take that
word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true
for you or true in your world, and then memorize
your sentences. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember learning another
language is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm
here to help you on your journey.
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