061.PDF

061 - Girlfriend Problems | ESL Podcast

English Learning Conversation

A: Hey. How are things lately?

B: Not great. I’ve been in the doghouse lately with my girlfriend.

A: Again? What’s wrong this time?

B: She’s impossible . She gets mad at me over nothing. Last night she

yelled at me because I came home 5 minutes late after hanging out with

my friends. The other day she got really mad because I forgot to put the

orange juice back in the fridge. It’s one petty argument after another.

A: It sounds to me like something else is bothering her. I’m sure she’s

been bottling up a bigger problem.

B: That’s what I thought but every time I ask her she says that

everything is fine.

A: I wouldn’t believe that so easily if I were you. I’ve had the same

experience with different girlfriends in the past. They told me that

nothing was wrong for months, and then all of a sudden, they wanted to

break up.

B: What do you think the real reason was?

A: Later I found out that they were all mad at me because they thought

that I cared about my friends more than I cared about them. They would

all get mad at me for totally unrelated small things like forgetting to wash

the dishes after dinner. Then instead of talking about the real problem,

we’d just fight about the dishes. While I was in the relationship I was

totally oblivious to what was actually going on.

B: What do you think I should do about it?

A: Well, if you care about this girl, I suggest that you take her to a nice

quiet restaurant where there are no distractions . Try to make her feel

comfortable opening up to you. When the time is right, ask her what is

really bothering her. If you force her to talk, she’ll probably just put up a

wall and you’ll never find out.

B: Thanks for the advice. I’ll try that.

Phrases and Vocabulary used:

In the doghouse : If you are “in the doghouse” with someone, it means

that they are angry with you about something you did. If you try to talk

to that person about anything, you can feel that they are still angry and

they haven’t totally forgiven you yet.

She’s impossible : If you say that someone is “impossible” it means that

this person is “very difficult to reason with”. It is very hard to reach an

agreement with this person, and they don’t seem to listen to any logic.

For example, imagine you ask someone, “What do you want to do today?”

and they say, “I don’t know” and you say, “Let’s go outside for a walk”

and they say, “It’s too cold outside”. Then you say, “Ok, let’s stay in and

watch a movie” and they say, “That’s too boring”. This kind of person is

being impossible. They find something wrong with every suggestion.

Petty argument : A petty argument is being in an argument about

something that is not important at all. Sometimes when couples fight,

they fight about petty things instead of talking about the real problems of

the relationship.

Bottling up : If you “bottle something up” it means that you are angry or

upset about something, but you are keeping this feeling inside and not

telling anyone about it. It’s unhealthy to bottle up your emotions, and

when you finally let your feelings out they are much stronger than before.

Oblivious : If you are “oblivious to something” it means that you are

totally unaware of it. He thinks that people are looking at him because

he’s handsome, but he’s totally oblivious to the fact that the only reason

people are looking at him is because he is wearing his shirt backwards.

Distractions : A distraction is something that causes you to waste time

or keep you from focusing on what you should do. Someone might have a

hard time working in their home because there are too many distractions.

The internet, the TV, and the telephone can all be distractions. If you

want to have a serious conversation with someone, it is a good idea to go

to a place with no distractions.

Put up a wall : If someone “puts up a wall” about some topic it means

that they won’t discuss that topic freely with anyone. If you try to talk

about this subject with them, they won’t answer you directly, or they will

keep trying to change the subject.

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