Talk Like a Native

Episode 7: (To be) Up in the air

Christine: Welcome back to Talk Like a Native. I’m your host Christine.

Kevin: And I’m Kevin. If you like our podcast, please consider giving us a review on iTunes. It’ll help other people find our podcast.

Christine: If you search for Talk Like a Native you should be able to find us easily on iTunes! We’ve also decided to add something we think would be helpful for our listeners to get a more natural feel of the language.

Kevin: We’re going to repeat the dialogue at a native speaker pace so you can get a better idea of what you want to work to achieve.

Christine: We hope that you will like this new addition.

Kevin: Now, let’s get down to business*. What’s our phrase for the week?

Christine: It’s up in the air.

Kevin: You mean you haven’t decided yet?

Christine: No, I mean it’s up in the air.

Kevin: That means you haven’t decided yet.

Christine: Kevin, I know what it means. What I’m saying is that our phrase for the week is “up in the air”.

Kevin: If it’s still up in the air then we need to decide quickly! Our listeners are waiting!

Christine: Kevin, listen to me. The phrase for this week is “to be up in the air”.

Kevin: Oh! You mean that the phrase is “up in the air” and not that we haven’t made a decision yet!

Christine: Now that you’ve really confused our listeners, let’s give them a clear understanding of what this phrase means.

Kevin: It means to be unsure or uncertain about something. If something is still up in the air, a decision has not been made yet.

Christine: Let’s hear some examples!

- Kevin: “Have you set a time for the meeting yet?” - Christine: “Things are still up in the air because Steve has a business trip on Monday.” - Kevin: “Have we decided on where we’re going yet?” - Christine: “It’s still up in the air because it might rain on Sunday. I don’t want to be at the beach in the rain.”          - Kevin: “Did we make the final decision on the logo yet?”  - Christine: “Sorry, it is still up in the air because Steve hasn’t looked at it yet. Once he looks at it we can make the final decision.”Kevin: We hope that we didn’t confuse you too much!

Christine: It’s always you Kevin. If we lose listeners, I’m blaming you.

*To get down to business - to get started on the work that needs to be done