Disclaimer

I am using an automatic transcript service as it is not possible for me to do it on my own and I cannot afford human transcription at the moment. The service claims to have about 95% accuracy, which means there will still be some mistakes, so my apologies for having a less than perfect transcript, but I hope I can afford human transcription soon and I will solve this problem. However, the service is pretty good, and the transcript is almost perfect.

Transcript

Welcome to a new episode from English plus podcast. In this episode, we will talk about vocabulary and we will focus on crime and punishment. We will not talk about crime and punishment in general, we will talk about some crime and punishment, idioms. Now, before we do that, let me remind you that you can become a patron of English plus, and by becoming a patron, you will get access to all our exclusive mini series.

[00:00:25] Our first mini series was out at the beginning of this week, business, English marketing, eight episode mini series that will help you understand and learn a lot of concepts that have to do with business English marketing. And there is also the booklet that comes with it so that you can practice the things you’re learning along the way.

[00:00:44] Now that being said, let’s start with today’s episode and let’s talk about crime and punishment. Idioms. Now you will listen to a small conversation. Ben and I are going to talk about crime at work. Now we will read this conversation to you, and then we will talk about the, that are informal. All the idioms here are informal.

[00:01:05] I’d never have dreamt. John was on the fiddle. Would you. Well, no, I knew money was going missing, but I never thought it would be an inside job. John seemed so honest yet he had his hand in the till all the time. Yeah. He pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. I can’t believe he was taking us all for a ride.

[00:01:27] He was so strict with us. And yet he was lining his own pockets the whole time he sat Jay, when he was found selling things under the counter last year. I know. And now John has done a runner. Well, I hope they catch up with him. All right. So here we have a couple of idioms that I want to talk about. The first one is on the fiddle.

[00:01:47] When we talked about John and said, I’d never have dreamed, John was on the fiddle. What does that mean? That means was getting money in an illegal or dishonest way was on the fiddle. And then there is the inside job and he wouldn’t be said, I never thought it would be an inside job. We were talking about.

[00:02:04] I knew money was going missing, but I never thought it would be an inside job. What is the inside job? What is an inside job? An inside job is a crime committed by someone from within the organization affected. And then we have, he had his hands in the till all the time. He had his hands in the till. What does that mean?

[00:02:24] That means he was stealing the business’s money. And then we have, he pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. What does it mean to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes? That means to deceive everyone. And then we said, I can’t believe he was taking us all for a ride. He was taking us all for a ride, taking us all for a ride.

[00:02:44] What does that mean? That means tricking us, just like deceiving us. And then we have, he was lining his own pockets. He was lining his own pockets. That means he was making money for himself in a dishonest way. And then we talked about under the counter, we said he sat Jay when he was found selling things under the counter last year under the counter means secretly and obviously illegally.

[00:03:07] And finally we said, now John has done a runner has done a runner. That means runaway to avoid a difficult situation. So here, let me remind you again, was on the fiddle. That means he was getting money in an illegal or dishonest way. An inside job, a crime committed by someone from within the organization effected had his hands in the till.

[00:03:29] That means was stealing the business’s money. Pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes, deceived everyone. Taking us all for a ride that means tricking us. And he was lining his own pockets. That means he was making money for himself in a dishonest way under the counter means secretly and illegally and done a runner.

[00:03:49] That means runaway to avoid difficult situation. So. That is talking about the crime that is some crime idioms. What about punishment? Idioms. Now I will read to you a couple of things you might hear on the radio, and we will talk about some idioms in those small, let’s say reports on the radio today. We’d like you to tell us what you think about police and punishment in today’s world is the long arm of the law.

[00:04:14] Doing a good job. So here we have the long arm of the law. What is the long arm of the law? The long arm of the law is an ADM talking about the police suggesting it has far reaching powers, the long arm of the law. Another one they’re too quick to throw the book at people. Why should someone do a stretch for a minor offense?

[00:04:37] Doing time just makes people more likely to commit another crime. When they’re released here, we have three mediums to talk about. They’re too quick to throw the book at people. Now throw the book at people that means to punish someone as severely as possible. Throw the book at people, not remember. I will have to remind you again, all of these, most of these actually are informal.

[00:04:57] So you would want to use them in a formal situation. But the good thing about idioms that you learn them to understand them when you just see them when you come across them. And you can also learn to use them appropriately, that will help your English sound more natural, but don’t overuse idioms. I will have to say that every time I talk about ATM’s don’t overuse idioms, because that will become unnatural.

[00:05:18] So let me come back to what I was saying, throw the book at someone that means to punish someone as severely as possible. Then we said, why should someone do a stretch for a minor offense? Do a stretch means, have a prison sentence. And also we said doing time just makes people more likely to commit another crime when they’re released doing time.

[00:05:41] That means spending time in prison. And now let’s move to another small report. I think young offenders should always be brought to book a short, sharp shock would keep them on the straight and narrow in future. Here we have to be brought to book. What does that mean? I think young offenders should always be brought to book.

[00:06:02] That means to be punished. Now it is usually used in the passive, by the way, you don’t use it in active. We usually say he was brought to book. That means he was punished. And then a short, sharp shock, a short, sharp shock with keep them on the straight and narrow in the future. What is a short, sharp shock?

[00:06:20] A short, sharp shock is a brief, but severe punishment. And then on the straight and narrow in the future, that means behaving in an honest, moral way. And let’s talk now about the final report for this episode. The boys in blue should recruit more reformed criminals. There’s nothing more effective than a poacher turned.

[00:06:40] Gamekeeper. Now here we have the boys in blue. Who are we talking about when we say the boys in blue? Obviously we’re talking about the police, obviously in an informal way again. So the boys in blue, this ADM talks about or refers to the police, but then we have an interesting idiom. A poacher turned gamekeeper we’re talking about reformed criminals, a poacher turned gamekeeper.

[00:07:01] What does that mean? Someone whose job involves working against the kind of person they used to be? So you might hire a burglar to help you prevent burglaries because obviously this burglar knows all the techniques so might be handy. Anyway, these are the EDM that I wanted to share with you today about crime and punishment.

[00:07:20] Remember, you can find the transcript of this episode on our website, English plus podcast.com. You will find the link in the description. Take the link go there. You will find more than transcriptions. You will find some exercises, PDF downloadables for some episodes and a lot of things that you can do to improve your English.

[00:07:38] So take the link, go to our website, English plus podcast.com and take your English with it to the next level. And don’t forget about our patron program. Our patrons now get to listen to a new mini series every week. The first mini series was about business English marketing, an eight episode mini series with a booklet that you can use to practice the things you’re learning next week.

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[00:08:41] With that being said, this is your host, Danny. I would like to thank you very much for listening to another episode from English plus podcast. I will see you next time.