Push One’s Limits 한계에 도전하다. Get off Track 옆길로 새다. Slim Chance 희박한 가능성 (0822 파워 잉글리시 스크립트)
Power Warm-up: The Importance of Mobility and Flexibility: Part 4
Gia’s mother has suffered a minor injury while exercising. But Gia says that her mother won’t quit. If she was a quitter, she could never have raised six kids.
Kristen:
I’m Kristen Cho.
Cameron:
I’m Cameron Word.
Kristen:
Oh, nice to see you, Cameron.
Cameron:
Wow.
Kristen:
Hey, by the way, I’m quite curious, and I think our listeners may be too. Yes. But what did you study in college?
Cameron:
My major in college was international relations and East Asian studies.
Kristen:
East Asian studies! That’s why you lived in Japan, China and Korea. And still living in Korea. So it started at that time. Very interesting.
Cameron:
And still living over here. Well, I just wanted to study abroad. Like, I didn’t really care what I, I didn’t really care what my major was. But if I studied international relations, it was so easy to go abroad, get credit, and graduate on time.
Kristen:
Interesting. But why East Asian, though? It could be like, you know, Northern Europe. It could be a different part of the world.
Cameron:
Well, so I think my interest in East Asia started, there was, so we know my dad’s a pastor, right? I grew up, and there was a missionary. A missionary who lived in China, and he would come back every year because, you know, they get money from the local churches. and the stories he would tell was…
Kristen:
Fascinating, so exotic and fascinating.
Cameron:
Yeah, so different from where I lived in Arkansas, middle of nowhere in America. So, i think that’s, you know, it kind of started me looking into East Asia and especially the languages. Okay. Like the different, they didn’t use an alphabet. They used different, you know.
Kristen:
Chinese characters, 한글.
Cameron:
Chinese characters, 한글
Cameron:
Yeah, all of that stuff. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that’s where my interest in East Asia kind of started.
Power Expressions
Kristen:
Okay. Hey, that’s nice. Thank you for that. Okay. So we’re going to talk about actually mobility and flexibility. This is our fourth dialog. This basically, mobility means how easily can you move around. Flexibility is 유연성 right? How flexible you are, stretch your arm, that sort of thing, leg. Here are some expressions that we’re going to cover today. Push one’s limit.
Cameron:
This means to challenge yourself. See how far you can go. What is your absolute best?
Kristen:
Yes. Okay. Get off (OFF) tracks.
Cameron:
I do this a lot. It’s when you are not focused.
Kristen:
Okay. Yeah,
Cameron:
You need to do A, but you start doing B.
Kristen:
Oh my goodness. This is the story of my life.
Cameron:
Oh yeah.
Kristen:
Slim chance. S.L.I.M. chance.
Cameron:
It means there is not a big possibility. It’s very unlikely.
Kristen:
That’s right. There’s little chance. Yes. Let’s go ahead and listen to our power dialog.
Power Dialog
Howard: How was your mother doing with her new exercise program?
Gia: Well, she had a bit of a setback recently. She pushed her limits and pulled a muscle in her back.
Howard: Oh, no, that’s too bad. I hope she doesn’t get off track and quit exercising altogether.
Gia: Slim chance that will happen. My mother doesn’t let something as small as a pulled muscle defeat her.
Howard: I forgot that she raised six kids. You have to be really strong to do that.
Gia: Plus, she loves how it makes her feel.
Kristen:
Here we go. Please join us on page 116. Let’s look at our power dialog. How is your mother doing with her new exercise program? And Gia says…
Cameron:
Well, she had a bit of a setback recently. She pushed her limits and pulled a muscle in her back.
Kristen:
So Howard and Gia have been talking about their mothers and talking about their flexibility and mobility. And then Gia’s mom started exercising. But there’s a problem. She had a bit of a setback, meaning that something bad happened. What happened?
Cameron:
So here she says that she pushed her limits and then hurt herself. She pulled her muscle (근육이 결리다), right? So this push her limits here means to challenge herself. Depending on the context, it can mean you’re seeing how far you can go. But here it seems what the meaning is more like her mother has a limit and her mother tried to go over that limit.
Kristen:
Yes, right.
Cameron:
Right? So it’s a little vague in this case, but she pushed her limits. So she was doing the maximum and maybe went overboard, did too much.
Kristen:
Too much. Did too much.
Cameron:
And she hurt herself.
Kristen:
That’s right. When you’re pushing your limits, it’s sometimes, you know, athletes.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
Often push their limits so that they can become even better athletes. So, it could be for the good. But it could also be for the bad.
Cameron:
Right. So because it is vague, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad, you can use the word too far to show that it is negative. So we could also say here, she pushed her limits too far.
Kristen:
Too far.
Cameron:
Not that she just challenged herself. She did more than she should have.
Kristen:
Okay. So a certain challenge could be a good thing, but in this case it was too much. And Howard says, oh, no, that’s too bad. I hope she doesn’t get off track and quit exercising together. Okay. So when Howard expresses his, how should I, he wants to sympathize. And he says, that’s too bad.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
That’s our power pattern. And please tell us, when do we use this phrase?
Cameron:
So ‘that’s too bad’ is like ‘Oh man!’ 안타깝다. 안됐다. 아쉽다. Yeah, all of these, that’s too bad is what you can say. And you do have to have too here. T-O-O. T-O-O. If you just say, that’s bad. 오 진짜 나쁘다. Like, it’s more the exact meaning of bad. But if you say, that’s too bad, it’s like, aw, that’s too bad. Oh, you can’t come. Aw, that’s too bad.
Kristen:
Oh, that’s too bad, right?
Cameron:
So you have to have the ‘too’ to have it with this meaning.
Kristen:
Very important. So the reason why Howard is concerned is worried is because he hopes that she doesn’t get off track and quit exercising together. So she had an injury she pulled a muscle of course she’s not going to exercise for a while. But he hopes that she doesn’t get off track.
Cameron:
Yes. So to get off track means to lose concentration or not follow the plan that you were wanting to follow. So here, track, it is good to think of like a train. A train has tracks, right? So it goes from point A to point B. But if a train gets off track, it stops. That’s it. It can’t go forward, right? So in the same way, if you have an exercise plan and you get off track, even if it is not your fault, maybe you had an injury, it means that you cannot follow your original plan.
Kristen:
Yeah, you are not going according to the original plan. And Gia says, slim chance that will happen. My mother doesn’t let something as small as a pulled muscle defeat her. So, Howard is like, oh, maybe she’s not going to exercise anymore. But then Gia says, slim chance that will happen. So the word slim, S-L-I-M, we usually use this word with people to describe, ah, 날씬하다. 늘씬하다. So what is this slim chance?
Cameron:
Right. So, the chance here is probability. The likelihood that it will happen. Slim here, it doesn’t mean that you’re skinny necessarily. You’re saying that there is not a big probability.
Kristen:
Yeah, small chance.
Cameron:
Small chance.
Kristen:
That’s right. So my mother is tough and she is not going to let a pulled muscle defeat her.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
So what does that mean?
Cameron:
And here defeat is talking about stopping you from doing something. So he’s saying just because she has a hurt muscle, my mother will not stop.
Kristen:
Don’t worry.
Cameron:
She is more powerful than the muscle, the hurt muscle. She will beat, she will defeat the hurt muscle.
Kristen:
She will win.
Cameron:
She will win.
Kristen:
Okay. And Howard says, I forgot that she raised six kids. You have to be really strong to do that.
Cameron:
Plus, she loves how it makes her feel.
Kristen:
So, yes, Gia’s mom is really strong. She had six kids.
Cameron:
Goodness!
Kristen:
Yes.
Cameron:
I mean, I think if you have six kids and you survive, you can survive anything.
Kristen:
Everything and anything. Let’s listen to that dialog one more time.
Power Dialog
Howard: How was your mother doing with her new exercise program?
Gia: Well, she had a bit of a setback recently. She pushed her limits and pulled a muscle in her back.
Howard: Oh, no, that’s too bad. I hope she doesn’t get off track and quit exercising altogether.
Gia: Slim chance that will happen. My mother doesn’t let something as small as a pulled muscle defeat her.
Howard: I forgot that she raised six kids. You have to be really strong to do that.
Gia: Plus, she loves how it makes her feel.
Power Note
1. Push one’s limits: 한계에 도전하다.
Kristen:
Everyone, it’s time for Power Note. We’re on pages 118 and 119. We learned three expressions. Now we’re going to give you some 예문, some example sentences. Okay? So the first one, push one’s limits means that you try to do the most that you can do. You challenge yourself. Okay?
1)
A: Let’s put some heavier weight on this bar.
Don’t feel like you have to push your limits to impress me.
Kristen:
Weightlifting.
Cameron:
Yeah.
Kristen:
A lot of people try to push their limits.
Cameron:
And I think you kind of have to push your limits sometimes.
Kristen:
When it comes to weightlifting.
Cameron:
Right. Yeah. You know, if you just do the easy things with weightlifting, you’re not gonna get stronger.
Kristen:
Well, you’re not going to build too much muscle.
Cameron:
Right, yeah.
Kristen:
So you do have to kind of push your limit, but not go too far.
2) The cycling team pushed their limits to help their captain win.
Cameron:
They worked as hard as they could to do as much as they could.
Kristen:
So oftentimes in the world of sports, exercising, we use this expression to push your limit.
Cameron:
Yeah. But there is another usage for this.
Kristen:
Oh.
Cameron:
Have you ever heard a mother say to their child, don’t push your limits?
Kristen:
What does that mean?
Cameron:
You know how sometimes children try to do something bad and hope their mom or dad doesn’t see? Or they’re maybe loud when they should be quiet. And maybe the parent doesn’t say anything at first. The child’s not doing something good, but the parent doesn’t say anything. Then all of a sudden, hey, that’s too much. Don’t push your limits. It’s meaning like, there is a line. Don’t try to go over the line. Or mom and dad will get angry. Right. Right.
Kristen:
So it’s like the child, I think it’s instinct to want to push their limit, push the boundary to see what can they get away with.
Cameron:
How far can they go?
Kristen:
How far can I go? It is actually the desire of most kids.
Cameron:
Right. So, yeah. So even though the context is different, the phrase means the same thing. To see how far you can go. To push your limits. So in the case of exercise, it’s seeing how much you can hold physically. In the case of, you know, the child, seeing if they can like walk into a room they’re not supposed to walk into or…
Kristen:
Well, let me ask you one thing. Sorry to cut you off. But aside from physical things, can we use this? Is this in a business context, for example? Could it be possible?
Cameron:
Possibly. I mean, if you’re talking about how much work you think you can finish or how much sleep you cannot get, how many days you can work without sleep, that would be pushing your limits. Just any kind of maximum that you’re trying to make bigger or push up against, that would be pushing your limits.
2. Get off track: 옆길로 새다. 딴길로 새다. 궤도를 벗어나다.
Kristen:
Pushing your limits. Okay. Get off track means to lose your focus, to become distracted. You’re on a train track, but then you get off that track. Yeah. You’re not going according to plan. Right. Okay.
1)
A: Have you finished writing your book yet?
B: No, I got off track after the holidays and haven’t had much time.
Kristen:
When I write, I get off track all the time. I even did this in college. I had to write so many essays as a literature major. And boy, I was like, I would do this and then I would do that. I would constantly get off track.
Cameron:
I think as someone who is, like if any person that works in a creative field where you have to create something with your mind, like one of the biggest struggles is staying focused.
Kristen:
Focused. Focused, yeah.
Cameron:
Staying on track.
Kristen:
On track. Right.
Cameron:
Yeah. Because it’s so easy to get off track, right?
Kristen:
It is very easy.
Cameron:
Especially with our phones and.
Kristen:
I know. And the creative process, it’s not linear. It doesn’t go in a straight line. It kind of goes up, down, around. So, yes, I always get off track.
2) Try to finish your work and don’t get off track today.
Cameron:
Everyone, yeah. I do feel if I could just focus, I would have so much more free time. Like, anytime I have to clean my house. My house isn’t big. I could probably clean it in two hours maybe. But I always get off track. It takes me five times as long.
Kristen:
Takes a whole day.
Cameron:
Yeah, it takes the whole day.
Kristen:
You break it up.
Cameron:
Yeah, you’re like, oh, I need to buy something. So you look online and go buy it. And then you’re like, oh, I’m hungry. Let me get some delivery food. Oh, let me wash one fork. Like it just takes forever.
3. Slim chance: 희박한 가능성
Kristen:
Okay. So to get off track, the next expression is slim chance. There’s little chance. There’s little possibility. Yes.
1)
A: Do you think we can catch a taxi at this time of night?
B; There’s a very slim chance, especially in this part of town.
Kristen:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. One o’clock in the morning. Yes. And everybody wants to get a taxi. Very, very, very slim chance. Right.
2) There’s a slim chance we’ll be able to see the meteor tonight.
Cameron:
It’s not a lot, a small chance, right? Yeah. So we might wanna talk about the nuance here.
Kristen:
Yeah.
Cameron:
So here with slim chance, it’s usually saying the possibility is low in a negative way. Sometimes when you talk about there’s a small possibility, you think of it in a positive way. We have a chance we can do this. It’s not possible, but maybe. We’re not talking about it in a positive sense. There’s a little bit of a chance, but ugh.
Kristen:
It’s not going to happen.
Cameron:
It’s not positive. It’s negative in nuance.
4. That’s too bad: 참 아쉽다.
Kristen:
Our power pattern today is that’s too bad. 안됐네요. 유감이네요. 아쉽다.
1) That’s too bad. I was hoping we could have dinner together.
2) That’s too bad. At least it will be easy to repair.
Kristen:
Yeah okay very good so defeat is our power vocab so do check out the definition on page 120.
5. Defeat: 패배시키다
A defeat is the opposite of a victory. When one is defeated, they have lost or have given up their challenge or fight against their opponent or their own will.