Learning English as a Second Language

Part 597: Dealing with political pollsters.

Please help me. What do I say if I'm stopped in the street by a man asking questions about elections? This was happening to me all the time during the general election.

You say: ”Put me down as a Don’t Know”.

Put me down as a Don’t Know, I see. What exactly does that mean?

It means you don’t want any more questions.

I see. What does “put me down” mean?

It means, write me down on paper.

But in lesson 413, you told me that “put down” means to make a lot of fun of. Your sentence was “Every comedian thinks it is funny to put down Val Doonican.”

Yes, well, it means that as well.

So maybe the man asking the questions will make fun of me?

No, no.

And in lesson 512, you said that “put down” also means to have your favourite animal killed. Your sentence was: “We are taking our cat to the vet for him to be put down.”

Did I? Well, yes, it means that too.

So I am afraid that the man asking the political questions will have me painlessly killed when I say “Put me down as a Don’t Know.”

No, no, he won’t do that, I promise.

If “put down” means to make fun of, suppose “put up” means to take seriously.

No, no. It means to accommodate for a few days. Here is another sentence for you: “My mother has written to say she is coming to stay with us, so we will have to put her up for the weekend.”

That is a bit like a sentence I remember from lesson 87. “I do my best to put up with your mother.”

Ah, yes, that’s put up with.

What does “put down with” mean?

Nothing.

Could I say “Set me down as a Don’t Know”?

No. “Set down” means to let someone off a train at a railway station.

And “set up” means to let them on the train at the railway station?

Mmm, not exactly. Actually, it means something the police do when all else fails. Here is another sentence for you. “I spent three years in jail because the police set me up for the Croydon job”.

Would they do that?

Not if you’d really done the Croydon job. “Set up,” by the way, also means to give someone lots of money. For example, my parents set me up as a teacher of English as a second language.

But the police would not give you lots of money for the Croydon job?

No, I think not.

Would it be possible to say to this man in the street: “Send me down as a Don’t Know?”

Well, not really, “Send down” means to put someone in prison.

Oh, I see. The police set you up first and then they send you down.

Yes. Well, not quite. The police set you up, but the judges send you down.

This is all done to make more jobs?

Yes, I think so.

Well, if “send down” means to put you in prison, does “send up” mean get someone out of prison?

Not exactly. In fact, not at all. “Send up” means to make a lot of fun of.

Ah, just like “put down”. So the sentence from lesson 413 could also be: “Every comedian thinks it is funny to send up Val Doonican”?

Very good, absolutely right. Spot on.

And I could also say to the man in the street: “Send me up as a Don’t Know.”

No.

And I could say to the vet: “Here is my cat - please have her sent up”?

No.

English is very difficult to learn as a second language.

Believe me, English is very difficult to teach as a second language. It gets me down sometimes.

Get down? You mean, as in the phrase: “Get down and boogie”?

Where did you learn to speak like that?

In a disco in the West End, where I also learn English as a second language.

Ah, no, that is American as a second language. Oh, just look at the time. I think that is enough for today’s lesson. I must get off.

Get off with whom?

I will deal with that in our next lesson.

IV. После прочтения статьи постарайтесь ответить на следующие вопросы.

1. Каким образом “преподаватель” подшучивает над

~ проводящими опросы общественного мнения по политическим вопросам?

~ Val Doonican (конферансье с характерной привлекательной внешностью)?

~ тещей и свекровью? ~ полицией? ~ американским английским?

2. Что привело в замешательство студента в конце “урока”?

3. Какие идиоматические выражения “преподаватель” объяснял хорошо, а какие плохо?

Дата добавления: 2014-10-17