You might say, it’s important that we don’t underestimate the cost of this project. You could use it to talk about a project at work.
To underestimate means to not recognise or see the real value or cost or difficulty of something. It’s not quite the same as guess it implies that you have some experience and so your estimate should be better than anybody’s guess. To estimate something means to guess how big or long or difficult something is. As I say, this is not very important vocabulary out of the film, but it’s very important in the story. Red thinks that he’s been institutionalised when he describes himself as an institutional man. You could say that a person has become institutionalised, which means they can’t survive outside of an institution, meaning a prison or possibly a mental hospital. This is not a phrase that is used outside the film really. What time did you make it home last night? I was stuck in traffic so I didn’t make it home till 9. If you use make it and a place, it means arrive at the place. Red says that he doesn’t think he could make it on the outside which means survive and be successful outside of prison. In hospital dramas on TV, people say things like, the gunshot victim didn’t make it, which means he died. It’s usually used in the negative and in questions. To make it means to survive or overcome an obstacle. I’ve been in here most of my life I’m an institutional man now Just like Brooks was RED: I don’t think I could make it on the outside Andy.
In the next clip, I want you to listen for the phrases make it, institutional man and underestimate.ĪNDY: You know, a place like that, I could use a man who knows how to get things. A charter fishing company is a company that owns a boat and takes people out on the sea to go fishing. You can also charter a boat and if you go charter fishing, it means you are renting a boat to go fishing. Sometimes, when people go on holiday, the holiday company rents the plane for their own holiday and other times, people can go on scheduled flights which are operated by airlines. This is most commonly used to talk about flights. To charter something means to rent something.
Sometimes you will hear people describe houses as fixer-uppers – that is, places that are run down and need repairs and decorating.Fixer-uppers are usually cheap so if you can fix them up without spending much money, you can get a bargain. To fix something up, means to take something old and broken and not only make it work, but make it nice, and like new. That is to take something that is broken and make it work again. This just means to start a new hotel and is very similar in meaning to open, but it is used more often to mean create or start a new venture or business. Open upĪndy wants to open up a little hotel. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up new. Open up a little hotel right on the beach. Listen for the phrases open up, fix it up and charter fishing.ĪNDY: That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. In the next clip, Andy is talking about moving to a place in Mexico on the Pacific Ocean. This means when he’s old and is losing his ability to think, but has not lost it completely. Red said that he would be let out when he had two or three marbles rolling around upstairs. He’s lost his marbles! This is not a kind way to describe someone who is suffering from mental problems. The most common use of this expression is to lose your marbles. Your marbles are your mental health and ability to think and remember things. RED: Me? Yeah … One day, when I got a long white beard and two or three marbles rolling around upstairs, they’ll let me out Marbles In the first clip, I want you to listen out for the word marbles. I’m going to play some short excerpts from the film and then I’ll explain the interesting or important vocabulary. So, I think it’s a good film to look at and an excellent film to watch again if you are an advanced learner. The film is the highest-rated film on, beating The Godfather, The Godfather part 2 and well, every other film. The scene I’m going to look at today is from the film The Shawshank Redemption which is a film set in a prison and follows the experiences of two inmates, Andy, a banker who was falsely convicted of the murder of his wife and Red who did kill his wife. Today, I’m looking at the advanced language from another scene from a film. There’s a page for this podcast with the transcript, an activity and a task for you to complete in the comments section. You can find a transcript of this podcast on .uk. My name is Jack and I’m making this podcast for you to learn or revise English vocabulary. Hello and welcome to Learn English Vocabulary.