Make a Mean Food 음식을 기가막히게 만들다 Have Skin in the Game 이해관계가 있다
Power Warm-up: Cooking for Dietary Restrictions: It Must Be Labor-intensive: Make a Mean Food
Anton suggests that Michelle must spend a lot of time preparing food for the family. She explains that her husband helps a lot with the shopping and everyone helps with the cooking
Kristen:
I know our listeners are enjoying their holiday weekend or actually week holiday because it’s a Monday. So it’s a long holiday.
Cameron:
I know. If you’re counting from Saturday, it’s day three of five. Wow.
Kristen:
So, you know how we say like the long holiday weekend? What does that mean exactly? Is that three days? Could it be four days? Like…
Cameron:
I would say yeah, you could say from three. It’s a long weekend. Yeah.
Kristen:
But when you have a holiday where it’s like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you would just say it’s a long holiday.
Cameron:
Yeah, once you get to Wednesday, it’s not a weekend anymore. It’s a week!
Kristen:
It is!
Cameron:
Right?
Kristen:
Alright. So just quickly for a question, Cameron, since we’re talking about Chuseok, what’s your favorite food or do you get to have some of the favorite yummy food during Chuseok? Because your family’s not here.
Cameron:
Right. So I have a few Korean friends that their moms or grandmothers always give them so much food and they can never eat it.
Kristen:
So they give you some.
Cameron:
So, they give me some.
Kristen:
Aww, that’s sweet. What’s your favorite?
Cameron:
So I do like some of the 동그랑떙 is really good. Yeah, and then… 해산물 부침개. Like, one of my friends, he always gives me that. And then… What is it? The 오색꼬치?
Kristen:
Yeah.
Cameron:
Where it’s got the 우엉 and the crab. Those are my three favorites.
Kristen:
Right, right. That’s a good one. Yeah. I would have to say 송편 for me.
Cameron:
송편!
Kristen:
Oh, my gosh. Especially, like, the ones that we make at home. I make it with black sesame.
Cameron:
I’m sure it’s fresh and probably really good~!
Kristen:
Oh, you…
Cameron:
I don’t know if I’ve had fresh 송편 ever.
Kristen:
Really? I’m going to have to make you some.
Cameron:
It’s always 냉동 – Hahahaha!
Power Expressions
Kristen:
I’m going to make you some. Okay. All right. So it is cooking. It’s a food dialogue day. Cooking for dietary restrictions. It must be labor-intensive. When something is labor-intensive, labor we think like 노동, right? So what is labor-intensive?
Cameron:
So it means it takes a lot of labor, and it usually takes a lot of physical labor.
Kristen:
The labor.
Cameron:
Yeah, you’re moving your body, you’re working your muscles a lot to do something. Okay.
Kristen:
So if you’re cooking like this, the other person is saying, wow, it must be hard. You must put a lot of work into it. Okay, make a mean, M-E-A-N. So I make a mean kimchi jjigae. What does that mean?
Cameron:
So this is only really used in food related expressions. It means to make a good tasting something. So make a good tasting kimchi jjigae.
Kristen:
Have skin in the game.
Cameron:
So this means that you have personal investment in something, which means the outcome affects you. So if something fails, you will be hurting. You will be losing something.
Kristen:
Interesting. Let’s see how it’s used in the dialogue. Let’s go ahead and listen to our power dialogue.
Power Dialog
Anton: Are there any meals you can make all the time that everyone can eat?
Michelle: I make a mean stir fry. I use gluten-free soy sauce and never add nuts. And there’s no dairy in it, so everyone is happy.
Anton: All this cooking must be labor-intensive, especially since you work full-time.
Michelle: My husband helps a lot with the shopping and cooking since he’s got skin in the game with his gluten intolerance. He’s really diligent.
Anton: What about the kids?
Michelle: Oh yeah, they both love chopping vegetables and stirring sauces.
Kristen:
Here we go. Please join us on page 80 for our power dialogue. Anton says, are there any meals you can make all the time that everyone can eat? Okay. All the time is our power pattern. Yeah. So all the time.
Cameron:
Right. This is an interesting expression. All the time means can mean continuously, like never stopping. But sometimes it can mean any time. Right?
Kristen:
Oh, yeah.
Cameron:
So here it kind of means more of that second one, anytime.
Kristen:
Anytime.
Cameron:
Yeah, Michelle’s not making the same food all day, every day. It’s just whenever she needs to make this dish, she can make it whenever, at any time.
Kristen:
At any time. So all the time. It has that meaning. Great. Michelle says, I can make a mean stir fry. I use gluten-free soy sauce and never add nuts. And there’s no dairy in it, so everyone is happy. So, when you say you can make a mean lasagna or kimchi jjigae or whatever food, why is mean, M-E-A-N, there?
Cameron:
I don’t know why we say mean. Yeah.
Kristen:
Yeah.
Cameron:
But it is a way to emphasize that you make a good tasting something. Right? And it is often used not, you wouldn’t necessarily say, hey, this is a mean burger. But you could say, you make a mean burger. Right. Right? So in this expression, make a mean burger.
Kristen:
Blah blah blah.
Cameron:
It goes together. That’s right, yeah.
Kristen:
So think about like maybe you’re really you can’t really cook, but you can make a real good tteokbokki. Like I can make a mean tteokbokki. So it’s kind of showing off your culinary skills.
Cameron:
I’ve got a question. Yeah. So we can use this with food. Can we use this with drinks? He makes a mean margarita. I was I guess you get margarita is like automatically. He makes a mean martini.
Kristen:
Can you? I don’t know.
Cameron:
Old fashioned?
Kristen:
Can you? I’m not sure. I’ve never…
Cameron:
I guess you can, yeah.
Kristen:
I guess because it’s not cooking, but you are, it’s like food and beverage.
Cameron:
There’s a mixing, yeah. Yes. So it would only be for things that you are going to eat.
Kristen:
Going to eat or drink?
Cameron:
Right, so let’s say someone is a sewer, they know how to make clothes, you wouldn’t say, Oh, they can make a mean sweater.
Kristen:
That’s right. But you can say, I can make a mean green smoothie. So I think for beverages it can work if you are doing something.
Cameron:
Yeah. Okay.
Kristen:
Good. Good question. Okay. So what does Anton say?
Cameron:
All this cooking must be labor-intensive, especially since you work full-time.
Kristen:
Yeah. So I think cooking, any cooking, is labor-intensive. It really is.
Cameron:
There’s a lot of physical work that goes into it.
Kristen:
My friends and I were like, anything that you make, you think, oh, it’s simple, but it’s not. You gotta wash it, you gotta cut it, you gotta fry it or bake it.
Cameron:
The thing that annoys me is there are very few things where it’s just like one pot. You always need like three pots.
Kristen:
Oh, sure.
Cameron:
Ugh.
Kristen:
Okay. Labor-intensive. When something is intense, it means to a great degree.
Cameron:
Yes. Right. So this means it requires a lot of. So here with labor-intensive, it requires a lot of work, like physical work. Not like, you know, writing a report or something like that can be a lot of work, but it’s not physical work.
Kristen:
That’s right. You’re not really like, you know, washing and drawing and cutting and you’re not doing all of these physical things. You’re just typing.
Cameron:
So labor-intensive work would be like cleaning the house, farming rice.
Kristen:
Farming rice!
Cameron:
Working in a coal mine.
Kristen:
Oh my goodness.
Cameron:
You know?
Kristen:
Very labor-intensive. Right now, us sitting here at this desk, it’s not labor-intensive.
Cameron:
No, not at all.
Kristen:
No, no, no. All we have to do is blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, just talk with our mouths.
Cameron:
Wagging our jaw as they say.
Kristen:
Okay. Michelle says, my husband helps a lot with the shopping and cooking. Since he’s got skin in the game with his gluten intolerance, he’s really diligent. Okay, this is an interesting expression. Since he’s got skin in the game, so husband is very helpful. Why? He’s got skin in the game. Yeah. What does this mean?
Cameron:
So this is an expression that means he has an interest because the outcome affects him a lot. So the husband has gluten intolerance. He can’t eat gluten. So normal bread makes him sick.
Kristen:
Yeah.
Cameron:
That’s why he has skin in the game. If he’s not careful with the food he eats, he will be in pain. He will get sick. He has skin in the game.
Kristen:
Got it. And that’s why he’s diligent. And Korean people really like this word, diligent. What does it mean?
Cameron:
So diligent is similar to like hardworking, but there’s an extra bit of perseverance. Like you’re not giving up. That’s right. And you’re doing the correct thing.
Kristen:
We like people who are like 부지런하다. This is a really important quality, actually. Korean people respect this quality quite a bit. To be diligent. Hardworking.
Cameron:
And I think it is, so can mean diligent. But I think in English, diligent doesn’t just mean like doing, like working hard and doing the right thing. It can also just mean not giving up. So you can be diligent in asking someone out on a date.
Kristen:
Oh. Persevere.
Cameron:
Right, you’re persevering. So you’re asking them, they say no, but you keep asking.
Kristen:
Oh, 끈기가 있다.
Cameron:
So it’s still, yeah. Yeah.
Kristen:
Okay, very good. Excellent. So Anton says, what about the kids? And Michelle says, oh, yeah, they both love chopping vegetables and stirring sauces. So it seems like the whole family puts an effort to putting the meals together.
Cameron:
As it should be.
Kristen:
Yeah, as it should be.
Cameron:
As it should be.
Kristen:
But not in Kirsten’s house.
Cameron:
Oh,
Kristen:
Only Kristen does everything. All right. Let’s listen to that dialogue one more time.
Power Dialog
Anton: Are there any meals you can make all the time that everyone can eat?
Michelle: I make a mean stir fry. I use gluten-free soy sauce and never add nuts. And there’s no dairy in it, so everyone is happy.
Anton: All this cooking must be labor-intensive, especially since you work full-time.
Michelle: My husband helps a lot with the shopping and cooking since he’s got skin in the game with his gluten intolerance. He’s really diligent.
Anton: What about the kids?
Michelle: Oh yeah, they both love chopping vegetables and stirring sauces.
Power Note
1. make a mean something: 음식을 기가막히게 만들다.
Kristen:
It’s time for Power Note. We’re on pages 82 and 83. I make a mean something means I’m really good at making something when it comes to food or a drink.
Cameron:
Yes.
1)
A: Is Andrea a good cook?
B: She’s amazing. She makes a mean lasagna.
Kristen:
Mean lasagna yum yum.
2) My mom makes a mean vegetable curry.
Yeah okay. Cameron makes a mean blank.
Cameron:
Blank. Bean burrito! I tell you what. I know this is gonna sound weird. But like beans I know how to make a mean pot of beans. I know it’s like not common here in Korea to like I’m surprised like how few beans are eaten because where I’m from especially.
Kristen:
We have our soy beans, we have our like 된장, and we have our 두부. But we don’t make it like the way Americans make their beans. You make a whole pot of beans.
Cameron:
You make a huge pot of beans, eat it with some cornbread, or like wrap it up in a tortilla for a burrito.
Kristen:
Right. Mexican people also eat a lot of beans.
Cameron:
I grew up on like rice and beans.
Kristen:
Oh, rice and beans.
Cameron:
But yeah, I mean, depending on how you boil them, you season them, you make a good, I make a mean pot of beans.
Kristen:
Oh my goodness, I would like to taste your beans.
Cameron:
You make a mean pot of everything. Like you, I tell you what, Kristen makes a mean sandwich. Not too long ago, she made for me and all of the production team, it was like avocado, some kind of arugula, French butter.
Kristen:
Uh-uh.
Cameron:
Oh, what else was on that? Ham from some foreign country.
Kristen:
Yeah.
Cameron:
It was a mean, you make a mean sandwich.
Kristen:
That’s just the beginning. Okay. All right. So I can make a meme, something. You’re very confident about what thing that you can make. And you know it’s really good.
Cameron:
What would you say is the meanest of the dishes you make?
Kristen:
The meanest.
Cameron:
What’s the meanest?
Kristen:
Oh my gosh, I can make a mean Bolognese sauce.
Cameron:
Bolognese sauce? Yes. Like a meat, tomato and meat, like kind of spaghetti type of sauce?
Kristen:
Homemade from scratch. And I will bring it one day. Okay. We’re going to have pasta here at the Power English studio. All right.
2. labor-intensive: 노동집약적인
If something is labor-intensive, it means it requires a lot of physical effort. It’s got to be physical.
1)
A: How is your new job as construction foreman?
B:It’s a lot less labor-intensive than when I was a plumber.
Kristen:
So a lot of those sort of blue-collar jobs, I would say, are more labor-intensive, wouldn’t you say? Right.
Cameron:
A blue-collar job is a job that mainly requires you to work physically. So your mechanics, your miners, your construction workers.
Kristen:
You’re working at the factory assembly line.
Cameron:
So they’re usually what we call labor-intensive.
Kristen:
Okay.
2) Building a house is very labor-intensive.
Cameron:
Oh yeah.
Kristen:
That’s why you have the construction company build you a house. But there are some people who like to build their own houses.
Cameron:
My dad could do it.
Kristen:
Oh!
Cameron:
He worked in construction for years. Okay, to be honest, before he worked in construction, he worked in the woods. He was a logger. He cut down trees.
Kristen:
Your dad too? I thought your grandfather was, but your dad too?
Cameron:
It’s my dad’s, my grandfather’s business.
Kristen:
Ah.
Cameron:
My dad worked with him when he was younger. So my dad, I think, could literally cut the tree, make the wood, and build the house. If he had enough, obviously had enough time.
Kristen:
Right, right.
Cameron:
But all those labor-intensive jobs, he can do them. I can’t do a single one.
Kristen:
Are you sure? You never know it could be in your genes. Maybe one day Cameron.
Cameron:
Maybe.
Kristen:
You know, 20 years from now, you’ll be building your own house in like Gyeonggi area.
Cameron:
Building my own furniture.
Kristen:
All right. It wouldn’t surprise me.
Cameron:
Maybe one day.
3. Have skin in the game: 이해관계가 있다
Kristen:
Okay. Have skin in the game means that you are personally invested in something. Yes. Like you are concerned about it and you’re doing something because you are also in that situation.
Cameron:
If things go badly, you will also get hurt.
Kristen:
That’s right. Okay.
1)
A: Why does Mike work so hard? Isn’t he the manager?
B: Yeah, but he has skin in the game. His pay is determined by the company’s profits.
Kristen:
Yeah.
Cameron:
So when you have an incentive or a bonus.
Kristen:
Like,
Cameron:
Sales are good, you get more money. That means you have skin in the game. The outcome affects you.
Kristen:
Yeah. So say, for example, you publish a monthly book and you get a royalt,y incentive. You’ve got skin in the game.
Cameron:
Are we talking about you?
Kristen:
No, I just get a flat rate.
Cameron:
Ah.
Kristen:
But if we sell enough Power English books, it can. It can happen, but not right now.
2) The CEO gets paid in stock shares, so he has a lot of skin in the game.
Cameron:
Yeah. Sometimes CEOs don’t get paid a salary at all. It’s all stock options. And so if the company does well, they get more money.
Kristen:
Yeah, skin in the game.
Cameron:
That’s why I was bad at being a company worker.
Kristen:
There’s no skin in the game.
Cameron:
Ah, I still get paid.
Kristen:
It doesn’t matter.
Cameron:
It did, yeah. It was so hard. I did not have skin in the game.
Kristen:
That’s right, but Power English, if you don’t do well,
Cameron:
Oh yeah, I get fired.
4. all the time: 항상, 언제든지, 어느때나
Kristen:
You get fired. Power pattern, all the time but in this context, it was more of like anytime.
1) Now I go to the gym all the time.
So meaning you really do go every day yes uh-huh.
2) Jake and his friend go to the beach all of time in summer.
Again, this one is kind like continuously.
Kristen:
Continuously.
Cameron:
Over and over, but it can also be used to mean anytime.
Kristen:
Okay, very good. Please look at our power vocabulary on page 84. The word is diligent. So the Korean word is like 성실한, 부지런한 but it also in English has that sort of meaning of.
Cameron:
Perseverance. Continuing to do something.
Kristen:
That you just continue very good.
5. Diligent: 성실한, 부지런한, 끈기있는 (persevere, not giving up, continuing to do something)
When someone is diligent, they are consistent and meticulous in their efforts. Someone who is diligent pays attention to the details as much as they do to accomplishing the overall task.
Take A Chance 모험하다 Keep Me On My Toes 긴장하게 하다. Screw Up 망치다 (0909 파워 잉글리쉬 스크립트) (enko.co.kr)