Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
00:04
Feifei: Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.
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I'm Feifei.
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Rob: And I'm Rob. Hello.
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Feifei: Hey, Rob, how is your application to
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run in the marathon going?
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00:17
Rob: Not great. I fill in a form and then I'm told
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to fill in another one.
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Feifei: Have you tried phoning someone?
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Rob: Yes. And they won't
give me a straight answer.
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They just keep giving me the runaround.
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Feifei: Well, that makes sense.
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If you're going to run in a marathon,
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you've got to run around.
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Rob: No, Feifei. Giving someone the runaround
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does not involve any exercise.
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If you give someone the runaround,
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it means you 'behave in an unhelpful way'
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– possibly sending someone
from one place to another
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to get help.
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00:48
If you are given the runaround,
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it can be very frustrating.
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00:51
Feifei: I'm sure it is.
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I know lots of situations where
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I've been given the runaround.
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Rob: Well, there's one place where you won't be
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01:00
given the runaround.
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It's here, with some helpful
examples of this phrase.
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Examples: When I called
the bank to ask for a loan,
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they just gave me the runaround.
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She went to the hospital to
get the results of her test,
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but she just got the runaround.
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Now she's going to make a formal complaint.
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When I complained about the bill,
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I was told to speak to the
boss. But he wasn't there!
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I think I'm just being given the runaround.
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01:30
Feifei: This is The English We Speak
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from BBC Learning English
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and we're finding out about the phrase
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'to give someone the runaround',
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which means
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'to deliberately behave in an unhelpful way'.
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And, Rob, you've been given the runaround.
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01:51
Rob: I have.
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All I want to do is get a place in the marathon.
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But nobody seems to want to help me.
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Feifei: Could it be that you're so unfit,
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they just don't want to give you a place?
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02:02
Rob: I don't think so. I've
been training for weeks!
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Feifei: Well, I managed to
get a place straight away
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with no runaround.
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02:11
Rob: What? You're running the marathon too?
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Why didn't you tell me?
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Right, I'm going to phone them again
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and demand a place.
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02:19
Feifei: And don't be given
the runaround this time, Rob!
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Rob: I won't. See you at the start line!
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Feifei: Bye.
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