ESL Podcast 698 - Making Ethnically or Racially Offensive Remarks

mick - a word for an Irish person, usually offensive

Don't call me mick. I'm Irish, but that word is an insult!

decade - a period of 10 years

Which wars were fought in the same decade as the Vietnam War?

ignorant - without knowledge of something; unaware of something; never having been taught about something

Blake has never traveled outside the United States and he's completely ignorant about other cultures.

offensive - hurting someone's feelings in a rude way; insulting

Several of the employees have complained that you were telling offensive jokes during your lunch break.

to add insult to injury - to make a bad situation worse; to do something that worsens the current situation, which is already negative

I lost my keys and sat on my glasses. Then, to add insult to injury, I spilled hot coffee on the front of my shirt.

on behalf of - for someone else; as a representative for another person or group of people

Craig accepted the award on behalf of his team.

How dare (one) - a question asked when one is very angry over another person's inappropriate and rude behavior

How dare you tell my brother to leave your house because he wasn't invited?

presumptuous - doing something that is inappropriate because one does not have a right to do it; assuming that one may do something when one actually should not

It was very presumptuous of Dan to ask how old the clerk is, implying that she is too young for the job.

to make a point - to do something deliberately to demonstrate or prove something else

The protesters are trying to make a point about what's wrong with the new law.

to get carried away - to do too much of something, usually because one was very excited and wasn't able to realize he or she should have stopped

Ingrid loves baking, but sometimes she gets carried away and makes way too many cakes and cookies.

insulting - hurting someone's feelings in a rude way; offensive

Harold is a genius, but he can be very insulting when he assumes other people aren't as smart or well educated as he is.

to give (someone) the benefit of the doubt - to assume that someone said or did something with good intentions or for a good reason, even though the results were negative; to assume that someone did something for the right reasons

I think you should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that when he commented on your weight, it was because he was genuinely concerned about your health.

magnanimous - very kind, forgiving, and generous

Chi-Young made a magnanimous offer to help his friend pay for college.

ethic slur - an insult based the social or cultural group that one is identified with; an offensive word or phrase about a person's ethnicity

Ethnic slurs are allowed under freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean we should use them.

politically correct - using words and phrases that are chosen very carefully so that they do not offend anyone

Some people who are trying to be politically correct refer to short people as "vertically challenged," but that seems silly to me.

behind the times - old-fashioned; outdated; not related to what is happening now in modern times; seeming to be more appropriate in an earlier time

Lyonne's knowledge of computers is really behind the times. He doesn't even know how to use email or search the Internet.

to catch up - to reach the same position, place, or level as other people after one has been behind or below them

Our book club will be discussing the end of the book and I haven't finished the second chapter yet. I need to catch up before our next meeting.