#ESL Podcast 229 – Irritating Co-Workers

##GLOSSARY

**to get on (someone’s) nerves –** to annoy someone; to irritate someone

*I love my sister, but we really get on each other’s nerves sometimes.

**cut that out! –** a rude (not polite) expression meaning *“Stop that!”* or “Stop doing

what you’re doing!”

*Can you please cut that out? I can’t talk on the phone while you’re making so

much noise!

**to drive (someone) crazy –** to annoy someone; to irritate someone

*Josephina’s mother always comes into her room without knocking and it drives

her crazy.

**to slurp –** to make a loud noise while drinking a beverage

*I really hope that the kids will remember not to slurp their soup at dinner tonight.

**you’ve got to be kidding me –** you must be joking; I can’t believe what I’m

hearing; you can’t be serious

*You were never allowed to watch TV when you were growing up? You’ve got

to be kidding me!

**to shoot the breeze –** to have a relaxed conversation about things that aren’t

important

*Aleksay doesn’t really like fishing, but he does like spending time on the boat,

just shooting the breeze with his friends.

**to not be able to stand (something) –** to not be able to tolerate something; to

be frustrated and tired of something

*I can’t stand the way my girlfriend is always trying to tell me what to do with my

free time.

**no skin off my nose –** something that does not matter to someone because it

does not affect him or her; it doesn’t matter to me

*Jacqueline can sit in the front seat if she wants to. It’s no skin off my nose.

**pent-up –** built up over time; an emotion that has been growing stronger over

time but has not been let out

*He didn’t cry when his father died, but at the funeral, he cried for hours with all

of his pent-up feelings of anger and sadness over his death.

**close quarters –** cramped or crowded space; a room with little space for the

people in it

*In college, I lived with three other guys in a small apartment. Those close

quarters made it hard to have any privacy.

**to let off steam –** to do or say something that lets someone get rid of negative

emotions that have been growing over time

*I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. I was just letting off steam from my frustration

at work, but it really had nothing to do with you.

**to keep (something) up –** to continue to do something

*You played really well in the basketball game yesterday! If you keep it up, you...