Hi everyone!
I bet you’ve missed my lessons of English from TV series – well, I’m back! 😉
Today I have a special treat for you – a lesson from my all-time favourite, Friends!!! Season 1, Episode 24 – The One where Rachel Finds Out! Let’s go! 😀
The exchange I’ve chosen is:
Joey: “Hey Chan, can you help me out here? I promise I’ll pay you back.”
Chandler: “Oh, yeah, right, ok. Including the waffles last week, you now owe me 17 jillion dollars.”
And some nice, juicy English from it:
1. “Can you help me out here?” – To “help someone out” is a phrasal verb, and it means to help someone, especially by doing a particular job or by giving them money. For example, “My family always helps me out.” In your office, you can ask a colleague: “Can you help me out with this project?”
2. “I’ll pay you back” – “pay back” is another phrasal verb, and it means to return the money that you have borrowed before. For example, “I’ll be able to pay you back next month.” At work, you can say: “I didn’t get a bonus this month. Can you lend me 100 zlotys? I promise I’ll pay you back.”
3. “Including the waffles last week…” – waffles are a type of food, originating from Belgium. It’s sweet, and has a square pattern on both sides. Check the photo below:
Be careful! Many Polish speakers think waffles are “wafle” – but not, they are “gofry”! “Wafel” = “a wafer”.
Do you like waffles? I do, and my kids just adore them. They could eat waffles with whipped cream (bita śmietana) every day! 😉
4. “You now owe me 17 jillion dollars.” I might surprise you here, but “a jillion” isn’t a real mathematical number! It simply means “a lot.” So, you can say: “My boss is so rich, I’m sure he earns five jillion zlotys every week!” Similar words like this are: zillion, gazillion, squillion. And yes, we do have a Polish equivalent: pierdylion! I absolutely love the Polish word ;).
Would you like to earn a jillion each month? I certainly would! 😉
Well, as they say in Bugs Bunny show, that’s all folks! See you next week!
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