진퇴양난 영어로 Up a Creek without a Paddle, 소용이 없다 It’s No Use.
Power Warm-up: This Was the Only Flight Today
Jeff and Amanda realize that their flight was the only one that would take them to the small airport at their destination today. Now, they have to find another way to get there.
Cameron: As you can tell,
Kristen: You sound a little nasal
Cameron: Yeah, I’m sniffly.
Kristen: 코맹맹..
Cameron: Yeah.
Kristen: It’s true. Why? Do you have a cold?
Cameron: I mean, kind of. I think it’s air conditioning, going from hot to cold, hot to cold. So my new house, it has an air conditioner, a second air conditioner in the bedroom, which is so nice. But I need to maybe not have it on so strong while I sleep.
Kristen: Oh, yeah. If you have it on at night, it is really not that good for you. But or maybe, you want to keep it not too cold.
Cameron: But then I’m hot and I can’t sleep. Plus, I got a dog and he’s so hot.
Kristen: Oh, my goodness. Scotty, my dog would never sleep with me in the summer. Oh really? Cause he’s like, don’t come near me.
Cameron: I’m so hot. Stay away. Don’t touch. Don’t touch.
Kristen: Okay. Well, take care of that nose.
Cameron: You seem good, though.
Kristen: Well, I have not turned on my AC yet. What? I have not yet so far. And I have to say my apartment, it’s like kind of the country, not the countryside, but there’s like a park and there’s like there’s nothing blocking the air.
Cameron: Right.
Kristen: So it’s…
Cameron: You get like a nice breeze.
Kristen: Yeah.
Cameron: What direction is your apartment?
Kristen: 남향
Cameron: It’s in the south and you’re not, it’s facing south and you’re not hot?
Kristen: Yeah, it’s okay.
Cameron: Good for you.
Kristen: I know.
Cameron: I face like north and east. But yeah, I’m like super hot.
Kristen: Well, you’re a hot guy.
Cameron: I am. That’s true.
Power Expressions
Kristen: All right. We’ve got a travel dialogue for you today. And we’re talking about like, remember last time you missed the connecting flight? And this was the only flight today. So they’re trying to get to their destination. And this was the only flight. Okay. Here are some expressions that we’re going to cover. Pick up the pace.
Cameron: Pick up the pace means to go faster. Mm.
Kristen: It’s no use.
Cameron: Means it doesn’t matter. Even if you try and do something, it won’t change the result.
Kristen: Okay. Up a creek without a paddle. So C-R-E-E-K.
Cameron: It means you’re in a very difficult situation and there’s probably nothing you can do. Like, you’re probably not going to be able to resolve this bad situation.
Kristen: All right. Let’s go ahead and listen to our dialogue.
Power Dialog
Jeff: Come on, Amanda. You need to pick up the pace if we’re going to catch our connecting flight.
Amanda: It’s no use trying to catch it. The departure gate is on the other side of the airport, and we only have five minutes.
Jeff: You’re probably right. We still have to catch a train to Terminal C.
Amanda: Then, we should find a help desk to see what our options are.
Jeff: We’re trying to get to a very small airport. This was the only flight today.
Amanda: We’re up a creek without a paddle.
Kristen: Okay, Jeff begins by saying, come on, Amanda, you need to pick up the pace if we’re going to catch our connecting flight. Okay, so pick up the pace. Okay. Basically, Jeff is saying, hurry up.
Cameron: Go fast.
Kristen: Go faster? Yeah. Why would you say pick up the pace?
Cameron: Yeah, so pick up the pace. Pace, of course, is speed that you’re doing some things. So pick up the pace means to increase the speed. And it feels nice to say pick up the pace. It has that double P.
Kristen: P-P-P-P. Pick up the pace, yeah.
Cameron: Yeah, it feels much better to say that than just to say, hurry, go faster. Yeah. You need to go faster.
Kristen: Faster yeah so it’s a kind of nice way of saying could we hurry it up a little bit? Right?
Cameron: Hahahah. Is it nicer? I mean, possibly, yeah. It might sound softer.
Kristen: Maybe. Because if you said something like “Hurry!” it just would feel direct.
Cameron: That’s very direct.
Kristen: It’s very direct and it feels like you need to start running. Whereas in this case, pick up the pace could be like, could you walk a little faster?
Cameron: Yeah, it could be a slight increase, definitely. So this pick up the pace, it doesn’t necessarily have to be with walking. It could just be any activity that you’re doing. So if you’re working and you need to go fast, let’s say you’re wrapping Christmas presents. And one person’s wrapping really quickly and the other one’s going slow. They could say, okay, pick up the pace. We need to wrap all these gifts.
Kristen: We gotta hurry up.
Cameron: Hurry up.
Kristen: Yeah, so maybe you’ve got to print out, make a ton of printouts. And the meeting is starting in like an hour. You’ve got to hurry up and pick up the pace. Come on, we don’t have much time.
Cameron: Or you’ve got to mail letters. Mail letters. You’re licking envelopes. Yeah. But your tongue’s dry because you’ve been licking too many envelopes.
Kristen: Do people lick envelopes now?
Cameron: Do they, is that not a thing anymore?
Kristen: I don’t know.
Cameron: I still remember the taste of envelope.
Kristen: I do too, or the stamps.
Cameron: Yeah, that flavor will always…
Kristen: That’ll so bad for you.
Cameron: I love that flavor, though. Let me tell you, it’s, I know, but it’s true. I don’t think, I think you just use like glue now, right? Like a glue stick or whatever. But yeah, pick up the pace, lick those envelopes.
Kristen: Okay. Amanda says, it’s no use trying to catch it. The departure gate is on the other side of the airport and we only have five minutes. So Jeff is trying to get to the connecting flight, but Amanda is like, it’s way over there on the other side. You know, and these days, international airports can be very, very busy.
Cameron: Oh, huge. Right?
Kristen: And they only have five minutes. So that’s why she says it’s no use. This is a really good expression.
Cameron: Yeah. It means it doesn’t matter. Even if we do something. Right. We won’t get what we want. That’s right. It’s no use. It’s no use. Why are you hurrying? Oh. Even if we run. Even if we’re Hussein Bolt and we are in the 100-meter dash of the Olympics. Running as fast as him.
Kristen: We can’t do it.
Cameron: We will not.
Kristen: Yeah.
Cameron: Catch our flight
Kristen: That’s right. 소용없어
Cameron: It’s no use.
Kristen: Yeah.
Cameron: Okay. 소용없어.
Kristen: 해봤자 안돼. So it’s no use. So maybe you’re trying to persuade maybe your boss into doing something. And your colleague, your coworker says, it’s no use. He’s not going to listen.
Cameron: Yeah.
Kristen: He’ll never change his mind.
Cameron: Why try?
Kristen: Why try?
Cameron: Don’t even start.
Kristen: It’s no use. Yeah. I think sometimes it’s good to know when to try and when not to try.
Cameron: Oh yeah, sometimes the best is just to give up. That’s sometimes the best option.
Kristen: Sometimes it’s best to just stop.
Cameron: Yeah.
Kristen: Because you’re wasting energy. It’s no use. What does Jeff say?
Cameron: You’re probably right. We still have to catch a train to Terminal C. Okay.
Kristen: Now, this is our power pattern, Cameron. And we know you’re right. But he adds, you’re probably right. What is he really saying then?
Cameron: Right, so here, you’re right and you’re probably right. They’re very similar in meaning. I usually use this whenever I have hope and I don’t want to admit. You’re probably right.
Kristen: But I sill
Cameron: I don’t want you to be right.
Kristen: But you’re probably right.
Cameron: I wish it weren’t the case. Ah, you’re probably right. So, you’re right is completely giving up hope in this situation. Ah, you’re right. But you’re probably right.
Kristen: But I still want to believe it.
Cameron: I don’t want to give up hope.
Kristen: okay, so Jeff is saying, Oh, I feel like maybe we can make it, but you’re probably right.
Cameron: Yeah. Okay.
Kristen: Amanda says, then we should find a help desk to see what our options are. Okay, so they’re not going to make their connecting flight and now they need to know their options. What are options?
Cameron: Options are choices or possibilities in this case. And I think it’s important in Korean sometimes you’ll hear the word 옵션 and it means like included or provided. Like when you’re talking about a house, it’s like full option.
Kristen: That’s right, 옵션
Cameron: Or like, Like, 세탁기, 옵션이에요. That is not how we use option in English. Okay. In Korean, sure, use it how you want. But in English, option means a choice or possibility, something that could happen or we could choose from.
Kristen: Okay, very good. So now Amanda wants to know, okay, what flights are there that we can take? And Jeff says, we’re trying to get to a very small airport. This was the only flight today. So that’s our, they have no choice. They have no option. And what does Amanda say?
Cameron: We’re up a creek without a paddle.
Kristen: This is a long expression, but a fun one. Up a creek, C-R-E-E-K, without a paddle, P-A-D-D-L-E. So I feel like you’re on a canoe or something. Kind of.
Cameron: Kind of. That is the image. So a creek is like a stream, a small river essentially. And a paddle of course is the piece of wood you use to direct your boat. So if you’re in that river, in that creek without a paddle, you’re just sitting there. You can’t do anything. You just have to let the water take you where it’s going. So we use this in a situation where there’s nothing we can really do. We have no way of solving this problem. We’re just gonna have to see where the water takes us.
Kristen: Oh, right. Okay. So you’re up a creek, you’re like in a difficult situation and you can’t get out of it.
Cameron: There’s nothing. We can’t really do anything. We’re stuck. That’s a great, yeah, we’re stuck.
Kristen: Okay, let’s go ahead and listen to that one more time.
Power Dialog
Jeff: Come on, Amanda. You need to pick up the pace if we’re going to catch our connecting flight.
Amanda: It’s no use trying to catch it. The departure gate is on the other side of the airport, and we only have five minutes.
Jeff: You’re probably right. We still have to catch a train to Terminal C.
Amanda: Then, we should find a help desk to see what our options are.
Jeff: We’re trying to get to a very small airport. This was the only flight today.
Amanda: We’re up a creek without a paddle.
Power Note
1. pick up the pace: 속도를 높이다. 서두르다
Kristen: Okay, it’s time for Power Note. We’re on pages 52 and 53 of our PE textbook. Pick up the pace means to begin moving or doing something faster. So it doesn’t mean like. Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Kristen: It just means like, okay, we need to make this go more quickly. Right.
1)
A: Come on, pick up the pace or we won’t make it to the beach for sunset.
B: Maybe if you helped me carry the chairs, I could go faster.
Okay. Right. So this, again, it’s not that you have to go from zero to 100. Yeah. But maybe you’re going, maybe you’re at like 30. And you need to get it to like 40, 50.
Cameron: A little more. Faster. But not maybe full speed.
Kristen: Yeah. So it’s like maybe you’re walking and if you need to pick up the pace, then you need to maybe speed walk.
Cameron: Yeah.
Kristen: Okay. Maybe if you’re speed walking, maybe you need to jog. Yeah. Okay.
2) Pick up the pace, Julie. Our guests are going to arrive in an hour.
So again, it doesn’t have anything to do here in this case with walking. It’s just working faster.
Cameron: Right. So this can be anything. Pace is an interesting word in English. It can mean like your walking speed. That’s kind of like the original meaning. But it’s for the speed of any kind of activity you’re doing or even the speed of the story. So, if you’re reading a book or watching a TV show or a movie, you can talk about the pace of a movie. And sometimes the director will say, Oh, this part is getting a little slow. We need to pick up the pace. So, they’ll go in and edit the movie so it feels like the movie is going faster.
Kristen: Right, and that’s why a lot of people comment on that, like, oh, it’s got a nice pace, like a thriller, for example. There’s no boring part.
Cameron: Yeah. It’s just constant action.
Kristen: Yeah it’s constant something moving, going. So, there’s a nice pace. All right,
2. It’s no use: 이제 소용 없어. 끝이야.
if you say it’s no use, it means that like, don’t do it, don’t try, it’s not gonna work. It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it.
1)
A: It’s no use trying anymore. I’m never going to solve this math problem.
B: Don’t give up. Go back two steps and see if you can find your error.
Sometimes, you know, math homework. Sometimes you just get stuck and you can’t do anything. You’ve tried to solve it a million, million times and you just can’t go any further.
Kristen: Isn’t that terrible?
Cameron: And yeah, and just thinking about it more is just, it’s no use.
Kristen: Right. And then you go and then you take the problem and you ask the teacher and they just like switch one number or like one little thing and like it works.
Cameron: Right. Well, nowadays, you don’t even have to do that. Nowadays, math homework, you just put the thing, you put the problem into the internet and it shows you everything.
Kristen: How do students study these days like on their own I don’t think they do.
Cameron: Just AI.
Kristen: It’s AI, you know, writing essays, oh forget it!
Cameron: Oh, well, I’ve heard now the students use AI to write the essay and the teachers use AI to grade it. So, it’s just like the AI checking itself. Yeah.
Kristen: All right.
2) It’s no use. The dress is torn and can’t be fixed in time for the wedding.
Cameron: Speaking of it’s no use at weddings, at a very close family friend’s wedding, the cake fell over. No! Yeah! No, no! In the delivery, they took it to the kitchen, and it was like a tiered cake. So it had like levels. I think it was like three levels. Yeah.
Kristen: You’re right.
Cameron: And the first level somehow was mostly fine. They could put it back together. The second level was destroyed.
Kristen: Oh. No.
Cameron: So they’re just in the kitchen floor trying to put this cake back together. And at some point, they just had to be like, ‘It’s no use’
Kristen: It’s no use.
Cameron: They couldn’t put the cake back together. There’s like icing all over the floor. So for their wedding pictures, the wedding cake is this giant bottom layer. And then the middle layer is gone. And it’s this tiny, tiny little top layer.
Kristen: Oh my gosh. And listeners, you have to know that cakes, wedding cakes are a very big part of the wedding ceremony. Like the wedding cake is a very big thing. And so for that to be destroyed like that, it’s devastating.
Cameron: I just remember, so the bride’s mother was in the kitchen crying, putting the cake back together because it’s so expensive.
Kristen: Cakes are a couple thousand dollars.
Cameron: So expensive. Oh, yeah. And, like, at the time, it was a terrible experience, but thinking about it now, just the scene of this woman crying, trying to put a cake back together is so funny.
Kristen: So she’s putting it together and everyone around her is like, it’s no use.
Cameron: No use. Just give it up.
Kristen: That’s a great story. Thanks for that.
3. up a creek without a paddle: 곤경에 빠진, 진퇴양난의, 사면초가에 빠진
Up a creek without a paddle means basically you’re in a difficult situation and you cannot get out of it. Yes.
1)
A: I can’t believe you and your wife can survive on one salary.
B: We’d be up a creek without a paddle if her parents didn’t own our apartment.
Kristen: Okay.
Cameron: Oh gosh, you don’t have to pay for your apartment?
Kristen: Oh my goodness.
Cameron: You could live like a Rockefeller.
Kristen: Of course.
2) With no food and a broken compass, the lost hikers were up a creek without a paddle.
Cameron: Kind of literally.
Kristen: Wow.
Cameron: If you’re hiking and you don’t have any way to find your way home,
Kristen: And let me tell you, in America, this happens quite a lot with hikers and they die.
Cameron: Yeah, like people go to the Grand Canyon and they don’t realize that the sun’s coming down very soon.
Kristen: Death Valley? yeah. Yeah? okay.
4. You’re probably right: (인정하기 싫지만) 네가 맞은 거 같아.
I really liked your explanation, which is like, you’re right.
Cameron: I don’t want you to be.
Kristen: I don’t want.
1) ‘re probably right. I should wear a tie to this event.
I don’t want to, but okay.
2) You’re probably right. It’s still too cold to take the boat out on the lake.
Kristen: I want to, but I can’t. All right.
5. Option: 선택, 선택지.
An option is something one has chosen or that is available as a choice. When one has few options, they are limited in what they can do or choose and vice versa.
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