Learn English Vocabulary Daily #20.2 — British English Podcast

Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 20, Day 2 of Your English Five a Day.

This is the series that attempts to increase your active vocabulary by

deep-diving into five pieces every day of the week, from Monday to Friday.

Now, we're going to kick off today's list with an adjective

and it is tedious, tedious.

We spell this T E D I O U S, tedious.

Tedious.

Basically, if something is tedious, then it's boring.

It's not fun in the slightest.

As a self-employed business owner, there are many tedious

things that I have to deal with.

As a mother, there are many tedious things that I have to deal with.

Things that I'd rather not do that are repetitive and boring and don't seem

to provide much fun and entertainment.

Can you think of a tedious task or something that you find generally tedious

in your work or your daily routine?

We often describe some people's conversations as tedious.

So, you might say,

"I went to the office yesterday and all I could hear all day was

Rita and Julie gossiping behind me.

It's so tedious.

All they ever do is gossip.

It's really tedious.

It's really boring."

Okay, here's another example,

My old job in office admin was so tedious, I did the same things day in, day out.

When they offered me the role of HR Manager, I jumped at it!"

What was the most tedious job you ever did?

Maybe you're doing it.

Maybe you're doing it right now while listening to me.

I think really my most tedious job was being a sign holder.

So, my job was literally to stand outside in the middle of a crowded

area with a huge sign that was about eight, nine feet high.

So, I'm holding the post and the sign is up above my head.

And it would point towards a store and say,

"This store is closing down.

80% off everything."

Or something like that.

It was a different sign every time I did the job but it was so tedious because I'd

have to stand there for hours and hours, like six, seven, eight-hour shifts, just

standing and not talking to anybody.

And I wasn't allowed to listen to my iPod, because this was quite a long

time ago when we had iPods, and yeah, it was the most boring thing ever.

Okay, so that was very tedious.

Moving on to our next word, we have a verb, and it is renegotiate, renegotiate.

We spell this R E N E G O T I A T E, renegotiate.

To renegotiate something is to attempt to discuss an agreement

again in the hopes of changing it.

So, let's imagine we've agreed to exchange a property.

So, you're buying my house and we've agreed that you're

going to buy my house for...

oh what's the average price of a property these days?

Maybe £500,000 pounds.

So, half a million pounds.

That's what we've agreed for my little house on the outskirts of London,

but you've discovered that actually the roof is quite old and may need

replacing in the next few years.

And so, you come to me and you say,

"Anna, I know I said I would pay £500,000 for your house, but the roof needs doing,

and that's going to cost me about £10,000.

So, I'd like to renegotiate the deal because I want to reduce the price."

And so, we might discuss it a little bit back and forth, and I say,

"Okay, look, I'm not going to reduce it that much, but what I will do is leave

you with all the white goods, and the curtains, and the carpets, and you can

even keep my nice settee if you want.

I'll knock a couple of grand off the price but that's it."

And you say,

"Mmm, okay, well can you at least leave me your dining table because

I really like that as well."

I go,

"Oh, you drive a hard bargain.

Okay fine."

So we renegotiate the deal.

Have you ever had to do any renegotiating for any reason?

Okay, next on the list is a noun and it is alertness, alertness.

Or you might say the T in the middle occasionally.

Alertness, alertness.

But often you would drop that T.

So, let me spell it for you.

A L E R T N E S S.

And as you heard, I drop the T naturally.

I think most natives would — alertness, alertness.

So, alertness means to be ready.

It's like a state of readiness for a particular situation.

It's like you're ready to act.

You know something's coming and you're ready for it.

For example, if there is a football match between Manchester United and Manchester

City, then the police and the organisers will be in a state of alertness.

They will be ready for conflict for crowd management for lots of rowdy

behaviour because they understand the situation and they know what's going

to happen, so, they're ready for it.

They're in a state of alertness.

Here's an example sentence,

It's Mike's addiction to coffee that we can thank for his

constant mental alertness."

Okay, so moving on we have an idiom.

This is a fun one.

To split hairs.

To split hairs.

We spell this split, S P L I T.

Hairs.

Like the hairs on your head.

H A I R S.

Split hairs.

To split hairs is to find teeny tiny differences or little teeny tiny problems

in order to have an argument about something or disagree on something.

So, let's go back to our scenario where you're buying my house and we've

renegotiated the price and we've got a new deal in place, but then at the point where

we exchange, you take another look at the dining table, which you said you wanted.

And you realise that there is a little stain, a tiny little watermark on

the top of the table and you say,

"Oh, this dining table is not as nice as I thought it was.

It can't be worth very much.

I want to renegotiate the price.

I want to knock another £500 off the price.

And you should take this dining table with you."

And I'd say,

"Oh, come on.

It's a little stain.

It doesn't impact the function of the table.

Now you're just splitting hairs.

Now you're just being petty.

You're creating problems that don't need to be created.

It's petty.

It's silly."

Okay, so, here's an example sentence,

"I know we agreed on £250 for the car repairs, but I'm only asking for an

extra £20 on top to cover my extra time.

Let's not split hairs about it!"

Okay, so next on the list, and last on today's list, is the

adjective conceited, conceited.

We spell this C O N C E I T E D.

Conceited.

If you are described as conceited, it's not a good thing.

It means that you're vain or you are too proud of yourself.

So, being proud of yourself is important, but there's a limit.

You can be overly proud of yourself.

You can think too much of yourself.

Okay, you can be too inward-looking, quite conceited.

Alright, here's an example sentence,

"I don't mean to sound conceited, but I am the best vocalist in the group.

Maybe I should front the band from now on?"

So, do you know anyone who you would describe as conceited?

Let's now recap as we've reached the end of our list.

We started with an adjective, tedious, meaning boring, tedious.

Then we moved on to the verb renegotiate, meaning that you try to

discuss an agreement again with the hopes of changing it, renegotiate.

Then we have the noun, alertness, alertness meaning

that you are ready for action.

You're awake and you understand the situation and you can act if needed.

Alertness.

And then we had the idiom split hairs.

So, to find a cause for argument, to find tiny little

differences, tiny little issues.

To split hairs.

And finally, the adjective conceited, to be vain and to

be overly proud of yourself.

Alright, let's do this for pronunciation now.

Please repeat after me.

Tedious.

Tedious.

Renegotiate.

Renegotiate.

Alertness.

Alertness.

Split hairs.

Split hairs.

Conceited.

Conceited.

Very good.

Let me test your memory.

Okay, so, if I am talking about how good I am all the time,

I just seem incredibly vain.

What adjective could you use instead of vain to describe me?

Conceited.

Conceited.

Very good.

And if after a cup of coffee, I become ready, awake, and I'm ready to act,

because the coffee has kicked in and is working, and I understand what

I'm supposed to be doing, and what's likely to happen, and I'm ready.

What noun would we use to describe this state that I'm in?

Alertness.

I'm in a state of alertness.

Absolutely.

And let's imagine that this state of alertness is really useful because

I have to attempt to discuss with you an agreement that we previously

made, but I want to change.

What verb are we going to use here, wanting to change a

previously agreed agreement?

Renegotiate.

I want to renegotiate something with you and I know that it's

going to be boring talking about all the details of the contract.

What adjective could I use instead of boring?

Tedious.

Yes, it will be tedious renegotiating this contract.

But I've had my coffee and I'm in a state of alertness, so, I'm ready to

deal with this tedious renegotiation.

What I don't want to happen is I don't want us to be finding tiny

differences and having petty arguments about something that is nothing.

What idiom could I use to describe this act of finding

tiny differences to argue about?

Split hairs.

Yes, I don't want us to split hairs here.

I want to renegotiate this tedious contract without splitting hairs.

I'm normally very good at it.

You might call me conceited, but I'm normally very good at renegotiating

tedious contracts without splitting hairs, especially once I've had a

coffee and I'm in a state of alertness.

I did that all off the cuff, all off the cuff.

Could you tell?

Okay, let's now bring everything together in a little story.

I once found myself in what can only be described as the most

tedious negotiation of my life.

The stakes were high, and I was determined to come out on top, but

little did I know what I was up against.

It was one of those situations where every detail mattered, and I had to

maintain my alertness at all times, knowing full well that any lapse

in attention could cost me dearly.

The person I was negotiating with was, to put it mildly, conceited.

They carried themselves with an air of superiority that made it clear

they thought they were doing me a favour just by sitting at the table.

Every suggestion I made was met with resistance, and every compromise I offered

was dismissed without a second thought.

It was as if we were playing a game where the only acceptable outcome, for

them, was a sweeping victory, with no regard for what was fair or reasonable.

As the hours dragged on, it became evident that we were

stuck in a loop of renegotiation.

Every time I thought we were close to an agreement, they would find

some minor detail to split hairs over, dragging us back to square one.

It was a masterclass in frustration, a test of patience like no other.

They scrutinised every word of the contract, questioning the meaning of terms

I thought were universally understood, and demanding changes to clauses that

were standard practice in any agreement.

Ugh, their tactics were clear: wear me down until I was too exhausted

to fight for what I wanted, hoping I would eventually cave, just

to bring an end to the ordeal.

But I was not ready to give up that easily.

My alertness to their strategies kept me one step ahead, allowing me to

counter their moves with precision and maintain my stance on the key

issues that mattered most to me.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached a point where the

terms were acceptable to both parties.

It was a hard-fought battle, one that required every ounce of my

patience and negotiation skills.

The experience taught me valuable lessons about persistence, the

importance of staying alert, and the necessity of standing firm in the face

of conceit and unwarranted arrogance.

In the end, the satisfaction of having navigated such a

challenging negotiation was immense.

It was a reminder that, no matter how tedious or difficult a situation might

seem, there's always a way through if you're willing to stand your ground

and negotiate with purpose and clarity.

And that brings us to the end of today's episode.

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And until next time, take very good care and goodbye.