Hello and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast. My name is Anna and you're listening to Week 47, Day 4 of Your English Five a Day. This series is dedicated to expanding your English vocabulary, improving your listening skills, and keeping you company in English for the next 15 or so minutes. So, let's kick off today's episode with the phrase fair and square, fair and square. That's three words: fair, F A I R. And, A N D. Square, S Q U A R E. Fair and square. Now you'll notice that and becomes/ən/ fair and square. Now, fair and square is a phrase that means that something was done in an honest way, and without any doubt. So, if somebody wins a running race and the loser is complaining about the other person winning, well, you can say to the loser,"I'm sorry, you have no right to complain. That person won fair and square. There was no cheating. You both had an equal opportunity to win the race. But the other runner won, not you. He won fair and square." Here's another example,"Despite accusations of fraud, an investigation confirmed that the party won the election fair and square." Okay, next on the list is the noun racket, racket. We spell this R A C K E T, racket. A racket is an object that you use to hit a ball. And this object consists of a frame that has a handle and a big circular part to the frame that then has a net inside. That's your racket. And the racket would be used in sports such as my favourite, squash, tennis, badminton, and there are a number of others I'm sure, but those are the three main ones that come to mind. Now do you own a racket? I have a tennis racket and I have a squash racket. I haven't played tennis for a long time. I prefer squash as you know. I used to play badminton back in high school but it just isn't fast enough for me. I mean it can be fast but I like running around a squash court. I feel like that's the most invigorating and energetic for me, anyway, the way I play. I'm sure people who love tennis will be shouting at me right now. Anyway, here's an example,"The chair umpire gave the player a warning for throwing his racket." I recently broke my racket, actually. I always get a bit upset when I hit the wall with my racket, which happens often in squash because you're often trying to pick the ball off the wall. So it might be really close to the wall when the other player drives it back. And so you have to place your racket very close to the wall. And sometimes if you misjudge it, or if the ball is literally rolling along the wall, then you may have to hit your racket against the wall. And a few weeks ago, my racket broke. And two strings popped out. I didn't realise at the time, I thought I just broke my strings, but actually, it's the crack in the frame that has caused the problem. So, I'm having to say goodbye to that racket. I do have a spare one. I say a spare one, it's Nick's racket, so I've just used his for the last few weeks. Now I've got an excuse to get a new racket, I guess. Anyway, next on the list is the verb slam, slam. We spell this S L A M, to slam. To slam is to move against a hard surface with force and usually making a loud noise. So, for example, you normally would slam a door. That's how we would normally use the word slam. We say,"Don't slam the door." My three-year-old currently, when he goes to the bathroom, has a habit of swinging the door wide open and slamming it against the wall. And we are convinced that the door is going to crack because he does it with such force. So we have to remind him,"Caspian, don't slam the door." And when you get out of a car as well. If you're having a disagreement in the car and you get out, you might slam the door because you feel a little bit angry. Anyway, that's slam. Here's another example,"As the storm approached, the strengthening wind made the windows slam." Next on the list is the noun doping, doping. We spell this D O P I N G. Doping, doping. Doping is the act of giving a person or animal drugs in order to make them perform better or worse in a competition. I'm sure you can all recall headlines in the news of different athletes who have been accused of doping or caught doping. Here's an example sentence,"The athletes were disqualified from the race for doping." Okay, last on today's list is the phrasal verb stick by someone. To stick by someone. Stick by someone. Stick, S T I C K. By, B Y. Now we've had already the phrasal verb stick by, but when talking about a thing, to stick by an idea or a commitment, this is to do with sticking by a person. So this means that you remain loyal to a friend when they've done something wrong or when they have problems. So, if you are a loyal friend, then you'll stick by them, no matter what. The same could be said for your romantic partner. Your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife. If you truly love them, then you would stick by them, no matter what. Of course, I'm sure there are always exceptions. If people do something absolutely despicable, completely out of character, or they spent their entire life lying to you, then maybe you decide,"I'm not going to stick by you, I'm afraid. No, I'm off," you might say."Goodbye." Here's an example sentence,"Even when the situation became challenging, Amanda promised to stick by her friend no matter what." I hope that you have a friend like that. Do you? Someone who will stick by you, even through the hard times. I'm quite lucky to have a handful of friends like that who I know will stick by me no matter what happens. They'll be there to support me. And that makes me feel all warm inside. OK, so that's our five for today. Let's do a quick recap. We started with the phrase fair and square, which means something has been done in an honest way and without any doubt. We had the noun racket, the object that you use for hitting a ball in things like tennis and squash and badminton. We had the verb slam, which is to move against a hard surface with force and usually with a loud noise like you might slam the door. We had the noun doping, something that's been seen, talked about in the news quite a lot, where a person or an animal takes drugs in order to perform better or worse in a competition. And then we had the phrasal verb stick by someone, which is to be loyal to your friend when they've done something wrong or when they have problems. Let's do this now for pronunciation purposes. Please repeat after me. Fair and square. Fair and square. Racket. Racket. Slam. Slam. Doping. Doping. Stick by someone. Stick by someone. Very good. OK, if we are playing a card game, let's say we're playing poker, and you win, and you take everybody's money. Woohoo! Celebrations! But I'm really cross and I think you've been cheating. What phrase would you use to reassure me that you won in an honest way? You won fair and square. Absolutely. Now, if I'm going to play squash, I'll need a ball and a what? What am I going to use for hitting that ball? A racket. Yes, absolutely. If I play squash and I'm really cross because I, I'm very cross at the moment. I'm cross because I lost poker and I'm cross because I lost a round in squash. If I then throw my racket really hard against the floor with force and it makes a loud noise, what verb could we use there? I slam my racket onto the floor. Yes, I wouldn't actually do that. I'm not that dramatic, I promise. I'm a good loser, if there can be such a thing. And if you continue to be my loyal friend, even when I'm throwing a tantrum on the squash court and slamming my racket on the floor, what are you doing? What phrasal verb would we use to say that you're remaining loyal to me? You're going to stick by me no matter what. Thank you so much. And then if it turns out that the person who beat me didn't actually beat me fair and square on the squash court, they had been taking drugs in order to be stronger and faster and have more energy on the court. What have they been doing? They've been doping. Yes. Doping is not allowed and therefore I'm the winner. Woohoo! Okay, so that's our five. Let's listen out for them once again in today's storytime. The sun was shining on the tennis court as Jake and Thomas competed in the final match of the tournament. Both players had fought hard to reach this moment, but only one could become champion. As the match progressed, Jake noticed something strange about Thomas' performance. He moved around the court impossibly fast, and he never seemed to get tired. Despite Jake's best efforts, Thomas won point after point with ease. In the last moments of the match, Thomas hit the ball so hard on his final winning point that it went into the crowd. One lucky person managed to catch it. As Thomas was declared the winner, the crowd cheered. But Jake wasn't celebrating along with them. In fact, he was angry. He pointed at Thomas and shouted,"He's cheating! He must be taking drugs!" The crowd fell silent, shocked by the accusation. Thomas' face turned red."That's ridiculous!" he yelled back."I won this match fair and square!" Jake, overcome with frustration, slammed his racket to the ground. The sound echoed across the court. When Thomas approached the net for the usual handshake, Jake turned away, refusing to acknowledge his opponent. The tennis world was shocked by Jake's behaviour and accusations. Many fans and fellow players criticised him. However, Jake's coach, Mike, stood by him."I trust Jake," Mike told reporters."If he says something wasn't right, I believe him." As the days passed, the controversy grew. The tournament organisers launched an investigation into Jake's claims. To everyone's surprise, Thomas' results came back positive, and Jake's shocking accusations of doping turned out to be true. The tennis community was once again in shock. Thomas' title was removed, and Jake was declared the rightful winner. As Jake accepted the trophy, he felt a mix of satisfaction and sadness. He had won, but the sport he loved had lost something in the process. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. If you enjoyed today's episode, then please do take a moment to leave a like if you're watching on YouTube. And if you're not, then come and check out the YouTube channel. Just search for English Like a Native Podcast. I'll leave a link in the show notes. And if you're streaming on another platform, then it would help greatly if you could take a moment to leave a rating or review, so that others can find this podcast too. Until next time, take very good care, and goodbye.