Wednesday, July 16, 2014

ECUBED #44: A pain in the neck

Chào buổi sáng! Xin chào mọi người! Hôm nay Coach Shane sẽ giới thiệu cho chúng ta thành ngữ "a pain in the neck" - cục tức ở cổ. 



TRANSCRIPT
Hello everybody. Welcome back to Ecubed. Today we have a fun expression. It is to be a pain in the neck. So somebody is a pain in the neck. Or something is a pain in the neck. So we could say, Shane is a pain in the neck. A pain would be an ache, something that hurts. I have a pain right here. An ache, some sort of bad feeling. A pain in the neck. Now, this is the neck. Well, this is the neck but usually we say throat. So when we say a pain in the neck, we don’t think here (throat), we think here or here.
What is a pain in the neck? Something that is anoying, something that makes us mad. And watch (Oh, oh man... Oh man. That guy, Shane. Oh...He’s a pain in the neck. I hate him. Oh, he causes so many problems. He gives me stress. English, English, English. Oh, Shane, Coach Shane is a pain in the neck.) Do you have anything in your life that is a pain in the neck? Maybe your little brother, maybe public transportation. Listen to the dialogue.
A: Oh, this traffic is such a pain in the neck.
B: Well, it’s Friday night. It’s always bad.
A: Next time, let’s take the subway or bus.
B: Oh, but standing on the bus is such a pain in the neck, too!
Not too difficult. Quicky about pronunciation. A pain in the neck. But if we say this (in the) really fast, it almost sounds like in nuh, keep two ‘n’. In nuh. A pain in nuh neck. A pain in nuh neck. Oh, oh man, English is a pain in the neck. See you tomorrow.
CHÚ Ý “a pain in the neck” là một thành ngữ chỉ người hoặc vật gì đó gây phiền toái, là cái của nợ.