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Speaker 1: Have you ever known someone who interrupts constantly, never finishes

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their work, or talks to people in a bossy way.

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We run into people like that from time to time. Right,

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and in English, we have some very colorful phrasal verbs

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to describe those kinds of behaviors. So for today's podcast

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English Lesson, we're going to look at five very common

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phrasal verbs that you can use to talk about annoying people.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode one thousand and four.

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Five phrasal verbs to describe annoying people. Yep, it's another

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phrasal verb Friday. And whether it's a friend, coworker, a neighbor,

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or possibly a family member, dealing with annoying behavior is

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part of daily life. But luckily English has some phrasal

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verbs to help us describe what's going on in these situations.

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Let's jump right in. First, up is but in but

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in means to interrupt a conversation rudely or without being

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invited into it. When someone butts in, they don't wait

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for a pause in the conversation. They just jump in

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and start talking, even though someone else is already speaking.

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Because of that, but in usually has a slightly negative feeling.

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But in suggests that the person is not being polite

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or respectful in the conversation, like kids often butt in

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when adults are talking. Oh and by the way, like

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in this example, but in is not separable. Here's another example.

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I was talking to Jenny about politics, and of course

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Jack had to butt in with his opinion. And this

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one might sound familiar if you've ever been in a

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meeting at work. Every time we have a meeting, someone

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butts in before others can finish. So if someone butts in,

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they interrupt in a way that feels pushy or rude.

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Another annoying habit that some people have is they flake out.

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When someone flakes out, they agree to do something, but

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then they don't show up or follow through. In other words,

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the person made a promise or a plan, but at

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the last minute they disappear or cancel. Like last weekend,

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my friend Tom flaked out on our dinner plans. Again.

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He said he'd meet us at the restaurant at seven,

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but then he texted at the last minute saying, Oh,

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he's too tired to come and here too. Flake out

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is not separable, Tom flaked out. Maybe you have a

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friend like that, someone who always says yes at first

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but then cancels later. Or at work, you might need

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to remind your coworker like, hey, don't flake out on

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the meeting tomorrow, everyone's counting on you to present your

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part of the project. Or Donna promised to help me

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move this weekend, but she flaked out at the last

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minute never showed up. When someone flakes out, it can

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be frustrating because you were actually depending on them. They

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agreed to do something, but then they back out or

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disappear before it actually happens. They flake out. Next, let's

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look at two phrasal verbs that are pretty similar, goof

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off and slack off. Both goof off and slack off

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describe situations where someone isn't working as hard as they

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should be, but there's a small difference between them. Let's

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look at goof off first. Goof off means to waste

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time or fool around instead of doing what you're supposed

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to be doing. Goof off often suggests playful behavior, joking around,

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or simply not taking things seriously. Like in the office,

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the interns were goofing off instead of finishing their reports.

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They were joking around, watching videos on their phone, and

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talking about weekend plans. Instead of doing their work. They

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were goofing off. Or in school, a teacher might say

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something like this to some students, stop goofing off and

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get back to work. You have a test tomorrow and

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you haven't even started studying. To be honest, I remember

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when I was in high school, we used to goof

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off lot instead of studying. We'd sit in the back

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of the classroom, make jokes and pass notes instead of

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paying attention to the teacher. So goof off often has

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a slightly playful feeling. The person is fooling around, joking,

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or getting distracted instead of focusing on what they're supposed

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to be doing. Another way that people don't do what

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they're supposed to be doing is when they slack off.

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Slack off means to become lazy or to stop putting

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in the effort you should be making. Unlike goof off,

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which can sound playful, slack off sounds more serious and

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more negative. Slack off suggests that someone simply isn't doing

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their share of the work. Like in the office, Jason

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always slacks off when the boss isn't watching. As soon

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as the manager leaves the room, he stops working and

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lets everyone else handle the project. And recently I noticed

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that one of the students in my class has been

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slacking off. He hasn't handed in his homework in a

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few weeks, and it seems like he comes to class

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without reviewing. He has definitely been slacking off. The difference

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is this, if someone goofs off, they're usually fooling around

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or being playful instead of working. But if someone slacks off, well,

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they're simply not putting in the effort they should and

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often leaving the work for someone else to do. Another

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phrasal verb we use to describe annoying behavior is boss around.

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If you boss someone around, you tell people what to

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do in a controlling or demanding way, especially when you

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are not actually their boss. Like my older brother used

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to boss me around when we were kids. This kind

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of person acts like they're in charge of everyone even

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when they're not. And notice we usually say boss someone around,

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the object comes in the middle like he bosses me around,

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or she bosses people around like one of my coworkers, Josh,

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I can't stand working with him. He's always bossing people

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around like he's the manager. Again, if someone bosses you around,

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they give you too many orders or try to control

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what you're doing. So there you have it. Today, we

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looked at five frasal verbs used to describe annoying behaviors

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but in means to interrupt a conversation rudely. Flake out

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means to promise something but not follow through. Goof off

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means to fool around or play instead of working. Slack

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off means to stop putting in effort or to be lazy.

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And boss someone around means to give people orders in

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a controlling way, even if you're not really in charge.

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These kinds of expressions come up all the time in

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everyday conversation, especially when people are talking about coworkers, classmates, friends,

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or even family members. So here's your challenge. Think about

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someone you know, maybe at work, maybe at school, maybe

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even a friend, and try making a sentence using one

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of these phrasal verbs. That's how you start making these

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expressions part of your active English, and keep in mind

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the best way to remember English like this and any

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other word or phrase in English is to take that

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word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true

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for you or true in your world, and then memorize

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your sentences. Hey, thanks for listening, and remember learning another

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language is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm

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here to help you on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy

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