Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 42, Day 5 of Your English Five a Day. In this series, we have been blowing up your active vocabulary, improving your listening skills, and just keeping each other company really, while we get on with our daily lives. So, let's start today's very exciting episode. There's no particular reason why it's very exciting, I just wanted to say, this very exciting episode. We begin with the adjective stuffed, stuffed. We spell this S T U F F E D, stuffed, stuffed. If you describe yourself as being stuffed, then it means you've eaten so much that you cannot eat anything else. It's a very informal way of saying that you're full. So, in a formal situation, you say,"Oh, I can't possibly have any more. Thank you. I'm full." But if you are with friends and family and it's a very relaxed environment, then you say,"Oh, sorry, I am stuffed. I couldn't eat another mouthful, but thanks for the offer of seconds." Here's another example,"After the starter and main course, I was so stuffed that I couldn't eat dessert." It's funny, as I've aged, I find that, maybe it's my metabolism slowing down, but I found that my appetite has actually decreased. And in the past, I was like a teenage boy. I could eat for England, I could just have huge amounts of food. I remember when I would make fajitas because I was a big, I still am. I don't know why I'm using past tense. I am big fan of fajitas. I would have four heavily loaded, like fully packed fajitas. That's four wraps packed with chicken and vegetables and cheese and salad; huge fajitas. These days, even if it's just like a vegetarian fajita, so just some fried veg with cheese and salad. One and a half and I'm done. I'm stuffed after one and a half. If I'm particularly hungry, I might push it to two, but then I always feel really uncomfortable after that. When was the last time you felt stuffed? What does it take for you to feel stuffed? Okay, next on the list is an idiom and it is to take the edge off something. To take the edge off something. Take, T A K E. The edge, E D G E. Off, O F F. To take the edge off is to make something that's unpleasant have less of an effect on someone. So for example, if you are feeling really, really stressed, you're having the worst day ever, you might turn to the bottle. You might decide you really need a glass of wine. And I've been there. I've been there myself where I felt so stressed. I've decided that I really feel like I need to relax. And the way I'm going to do that is to have a glass of wine. And you would say,"I need this to take the edge off." I need to make this very unpleasant situation where I'm super stressed have less impact. I need to feel a little bit more relaxed because I'm so tense. So, I'm going to have a drink. I don't drink often, but I am going to have a drink to take the edge off today. Here's another example,"Amelia's ankle hurt after the accident, but paracetamol and ibuprofen took the edge off her pain". Next on the list is the noun banquet, banquet. A banquet is a large formal meal for many people. It's often followed by speeches in honour of someone. So, the king or the queen might hold a banquet to honour the princess or to honour local fireman, Tom, who's done such a wonderful job and saved many lives and served the community for decades. A banquet. Here's another example,"The banquet was a sumptuous, luxurious meal." Next on the list is the verb skip. Skip. S K I P. Skip. To skip something is to not do something that you normally do or should do. You're going to skip it today. So, for example, you might skip breakfast if you're feeling uncomfortable in the morning, you're feeling a bit sick, nauseous, maybe you didn't have a good night's sleep, maybe you are fasting, so you're skipping your usual meals. If you normally meet your friends on a Friday night to play bingo, you might have to skip it this week because you're not feeling good. Here's another example,"I decided to skip my usual workout and go home to lie down instead as I wasn't feeling well." Last on the list is the verb rumble, rumble. We spell this R U M B L E. Rumble. To rumble is to make a continuous low sound."Brrrr." That's a kind of a rumble. My tummy is rumbling actually right now. It's quite late for me to have lunch. I haven't had my lunch yet. It's nearly one o'clock now, at the time that I'm recording, and I normally have lunch at twelve, so my tummy is rumbling. Here's another example,"Thunder rumbled in the distance as the storm came slowly closer to them." So yes, we often talk about our tummy rumbling, or our stomach rumbling, when we're hungry, and we talk about thunder rumbling, or the rumble of thunder. Alright, that's our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the adjective stuffed, meaning you've eaten so much you can't eat anything else. We had the idiom to take the edge off something, which is making something that's unpleasant have less of an effect. Then we had the noun banquet with its unusual spelling, which describes a large formal meal for many people. And it's often followed by speeches to honour someone. Then we had the verb skip, which is to not do something that you usually do or should do. And then we had the verb rumble, which is that continuous low sound that you might hear from thunder, or you might hear from your stomach if your stomach is empty. Okay, let's do this quickly for pronunciation, so please repeat after me. Stuffed. I'm stuffed. Take the edge off. Take the edge off. Banquet. Banquet. Skip. Skip. Rumble. Rumble. Very good. I'm afraid I can't come to the next meeting. I have to rest instead. What verb could we use to replace not be able to do something? Skip. I have to skip the next meeting, I'm afraid. I'm not feeling great. I need to rest. And if there's going to be a very large formal meal in honour of our CEO, where there are going to be many, many people, what noun could I use to describe this kind of meal? A banquet. Absolutely. Now, when I arrive at the banquet, I am really nervous because I've got to give a speech and I feel really anxious about speaking in front of so many people. So I'm going to have a quick glass of wine and I'll do this to make me feel less nervous. What idiom could I use here? I'm having a glass of wine to take the edge off, to take the edge off my nerves, absolutely, make me feel more relaxed. Now, the speech goes fine, everyone loves it, I feel relaxed, I tuck into my meal, and by the end of it, I feel uncomfortably full. Someone then offers me some cheese. A cheese board is going around. Would you like some cheese? What adjective would I use to describe myself in order to suggest that I've had enough?"Oh, no, thank you. I'm stuffed. What an incredible meal this was. I am stuffed. Thank you." But then the next morning, after a very long sleep, strangely enough, I'm awoken by this continuous low sound in my tummy telling me that I'm really hungry. What verb would I use to describe this low sound being made by my stomach? A rumble. Yes, I'm awoken by a rumbling tummy,"Oh my goodness, I'm so hungry this morning, which is bizarre because I ate like a pig last night." Right, okay, fantastic. Listen out for these words once again in today's storytime. Dean had been looking forward to the annual company banquet for weeks. Known for its delicious food, the event was always a highlight of the year. This time, Dean decided to try something different. On the day of the banquet, he skipped breakfast, ignoring his hunger as he got ready for work. I'll eat plenty tonight, he told himself. At lunchtime, his colleagues invited him to join them at the cafeteria, but Dean declined."I'm saving room for the banquet," he explained with a smile. By late afternoon, Dean was starving. His stomach rumbled loudly. He counted down the minutes until the evening event, dreaming of the feast that awaited him. Finally, it was time. Dean arrived at the elegant hotel where the banquet was being held. The aroma of food filled the air, making his mouth water. He found his seat and eagerly awaited the first course. When the dish arrived, Dean couldn't help himself. He quickly ate the delicious slice of ham and cheese quiche, savouring every bite. The food quickly took the edge off his hunger, and he began to feel more like himself again. As the evening progressed, course after course was served. There was a creamy soup, a fresh salad, and a perfectly cooked main dish. Dean enjoyed it all, chatting with his colleagues between bites. By the time dessert arrived a decadent chocolate cake Dean was already feeling quite full. However, he couldn't resist a slice. As he finished the last bite, he realised he was completely stuffed. On the way home, Dean reflected on the evening. While the food had been amazing, he decided that next year, he wouldn't skip his earlier meals. Being so hungry at the start hadn't been pleasant. Still, he smiled, patting his full stomach. It had been a wonderful banquet indeed. And that brings us to the end of this episode and to the end of Week 42. Now, if you did enjoy this and you enjoy many of the episodes of The English Like a Native Podcast, please make sure you are subscribed to this podcast, wherever it is that you enjoy streaming these episodes. 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