Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 42, Day 2 of Your English Five a Day. This is the series that is absolutely laser-focused on improving your English, particularly your listening skills, but also expanding your active vocabulary. The more you listen, the better your English will be. Increase the input to improve the output. So let's start today's list with an idiom. We are idiom heavy today, by the way. With the idiom keep things running smoothly. To keep things running smoothly. Keep, K E E P. Things, T H I N G S. Running, R U N N I N G. Smoothly, S M O O T H L Y, smoothly. That's a mouthful. To keep things running smoothly. To keep things running smoothly means to manage or maintain a situation or a system or a process so that it functions efficiently, without any problems or disruptions, just like a car. You want the car to drive without any problems. You don't want a flat tyre. You don't want the engine to overheat. You don't want to run out of water to wash your windows when it's a hot day and there's lots of bugs being splattered against your windscreen. So, you want to keep things running smoothly. So you check the oil, you fill up with petrol, you check the pressure in your tyres, you fill-up the water in your little, I don't know what the box is called, but the little tank that holds the water for your window washing, I don't know the right vocabulary for this, there we go. I need to brush up on my car vocabulary. I need to know the particulars of what these things are called. Anyway, you want to keep things running smoothly. Here's another example,"The office manager implemented a new filing system to keep things running smoothly during the busy tax season." Alright, next on the list, can you guess? Another idiom and it is not lift a finger. Not lift a finger. Not, N O T. Lift, L I F T. A finger, F I N G E R. To not lift a finger means that you don't make any effort to help. So, for example, if I am clearing the garden. We've done a lot of work in the garden. There's a lot of mess and weeds that are piled up. There's a big pile of leaves that have been raked together. We've pulled loads of weed out of the pond. We've chopped down an old tree, a dead tree, and there's lots of dead wood everywhere. Now I need to clean it up, but you don't help me. I have to clear it up all by myself. So I'd say,"I did a really, good job on the garden today. I cleared the whole thing up. You didn't lift a finger. So I think I deserve a cup of tea and a piece of cake, but you didn't lift a finger. So you're getting nothing." I'm sure that wouldn't happen. I'm sure you would absolutely help me in the blink of an eye. You would help me without hesitation, I'm sure. Here's another example,"My kids are so lazy, they don't lift a finger to help with the housework." Next on the list is another idiom, another idiom including the word finger, and it is to point the finger at someone. To point the finger at someone. Point, P O I N T. The, T H E. Finger, F I N G E R. At somebody. To point the finger at someone is to accuse them of doing something bad. So it's your fault. Doesn't necessarily mean that the accuser knows that it's their fault, you're just blaming them. My children do this all the time. I'll say,"Who done this? Who's knocked this onto the floor and broken it?" Or,"Who's left a puddle of water on the table that's now stained the wood? Who's done this?" And they'll both point at each other and say,"He did it! He did it!" They point the finger at each other. And they even do this if they don't know who's done it. It might have been the cat. It might have been my partner. It could have been the wind. But my children will still point the finger at each other. They just instantly think it must be the other brother's fault. Here's an example,"Don't point the finger at me! I haven't done anything wrong!" Have you ever had someone point the finger at you? When you were completely innocent? Have you ever pointed the finger at someone and it's turned out that you were wrong? That's quite embarrassing, isn't it? Anyway, let's move on. Next on the list is not an idiom. It is an adjective and it is obstinate, obstinate. We spell this O B S T I N A T E obstinate, obstinate. If someone is described as obstinate, then it means they're stubborn. They refuse to change their opinion or they refuse to change their course of action. I know a few people who are quite obstinate and I've asked them to do something different or to change their mind and I give them really good reasons why they should change their mind. Maybe they believe something that's not true and I provide them with proof, but they still won't change their mind. They're so obstinate. It's quite frustrating. Here's another example,"He was so obstinate in his decision to stay home despite the party." So, if you are obstinate, it means you are unreasonably determined. People can't change your mind, no matter what they do or say. Last on the list is another idiom and it is point taken, point taken. We spell this point, P O I N T. Taken, T A K E N. Point taken. You'll notice that I carry the T from point and I blend it in with the T of taken. So, I almost glottalised the point, and I hold it point taken, point taken, point taken. Point taken means that you accept what someone has said. So someone makes a point. They make a statement trying to tell you something that maybe you haven't considered, and if you accept what they say, then you give them the phrase, point taken, saying,"I accept what you say. Okay. I understand. Thank you for sharing that with me. Point taken." Here's an example,"Point taken. I'll make the changes to the report that you suggested." So for example, if I am deciding to rip up the carpets in my children's bedroom because the carpets are just old and disgusting and I want to get rid of them and I decide to rip them up. And at the same time, I'm going to take the wallpaper off the walls. And my partner comes home and says,"What are you doing? What have you done to this room? Where are the carpets? What have you done with the walls? This is terrible." And I say,"Come on, we need to decorate the bedroom. We've known for a long time that we need to replace the carpets and redecorate." And then he says to me,"But Anna, we're going on holiday in two days. We don't have time to do this. We don't have the mental capacity, or the money to afford to deal with this right now. All you've done is made a mess." And I go,"Oh yeah, I hadn't thought about that. We are going on holiday in two days. We don't have much money to buy a new carpet. All I've done is made a mess. Point taken. Yeah, I'll phone my dad and see if he can help to sort this out while we're away. I'll try and fix it." Okay. So that's our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the idiom to keep things running smoothly, which is to manage or maintain a situation, a system or a process so it continues to function effectively. We had the idiom not lift a finger meaning that you don't make any effort to help. We had the idiom point the finger at someone, which means you accuse someone of doing something wrong. We had the adjective obstinate, which means to be stubborn, to refuse to change your mind or to change your behaviour. And we finished with the idiom point taken, which means that you accept what someone has said. So let's now do this for pronunciation. Please repeat after me. Keep things running smoothly. Keep things running smoothly. Not lift a finger. Not lift a finger. Point the finger at someone. Point the finger at someone. Obstinate. Obstinate. Point taken. Point taken. Very good. Okay, let me test your memory now. If I was describing someone who was very stubbornly refusing to change their mind about something, what adjective would I use to describe them? Obstinate, absolutely. And if you make a really, really valid statement, something that I hadn't thought about before and I accept it. What idiom could I use? Point taken, point taken. If you are going on holiday and you've asked me to look after your company for you, you want me to make it sure everyone turns up and does the work and that everything continues as it's supposed to. What idiom would you use to describe this maintenance that I'm doing? You want me to keep things running smoothly while you're away. But when you come back, you find out that I've been so lazy I haven't done anything to help at all. What idiom would you use to describe this lack of effort? You'd say,"Anna, you haven't lifted a finger. You haven't sent one single email. You haven't even turned up to the office once." And I would say,"How dare you accuse me of being lazy? How dare you accuse me?" What idiom could I use instead of accuse? How dare you point the finger at me? It's not my fault that your business stopped functioning. You were the one who went on holiday. You didn't leave clear instructions. I didn't know what to do. Don't you point the finger at me. Fantastic. Now, I want you to listen out for these five items once again, in today's storytime. Annabel sighed as she looked around the messy living room. For months, she had tried to talk to her family about sharing the housework, but they wouldn't listen."Mum, chill out about the cleaning," her son Oscar would say."We don't mind living in a messy house." Her husband would add,"We can always order takeaway if you don't want to cook." Annabel was fed up. No one would lift a finger to help, and she felt like a maid in her own home. One day, she made a decision."I'm going on holiday for two weeks," she announced at dinner."By myself." The family was shocked, but Annabel was determined. She packed her bags and left the next morning. At first, Oscar and his sister enjoyed the freedom. They pointed the finger at their dad, blaming him for their mum's departure. Paul tried to keep things running smoothly, but he soon realised how much work Annabel usually did. By the end of the first week, the house was in chaos. Dirty dishes piled up, laundry overflowed, and the house smelled strange. They were all sick of take-away food, like pizza."Point taken," Paul muttered, surveying the mess."We need to change." When Annabel returned, she found her family waiting with flowers and apologies."We're sorry for being so obstinate," Gabby said."We didn't realise how much you do for us," Oscar added. Paul hugged her."We promise to help from now on. We've even made a cleaning rota, so everyone knows what job to do around the house, and when." Annabel smiled, touched by their efforts."I appreciate that. But I need to see real change, not just hear promises." Although Annabel still sometimes did more than she should, her family made a real effort to share the housework. Their promises weren't just words. They really did change. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, take a moment, please, to leave a like, a rating, or a review. And if you're watching on YouTube, please make sure that you're subscribed with your notifications turned on. Until tomorrow, take very good care and goodbye.