Speaking Skills: Truth and lies

Introduction:

Jack: Good morning Rich! How's it going?

Rich: Hello Jack. Good thanks. How about you?

Jack: Well, I can't complain.  Here, you'll never guess who I saw yesterday.

Rich: Who?

Jack: Harry Kane.

Rich: Shut up. You did not see Harry Kane.

Jack: I did. I saw him. Honestly.

Rich: Really?  Where did you see him?

Jack: I saw him doing some shopping in town.

Rich: In Ludlow?

Jack: Yeah. He was coming out of Pickfords ... the hardware shop.

Rich: You're telling me you saw Harry Kane coming out of a hardware shop in Ludlow with … a spade?

Jack: Yeah, well almost. He was carrying a dustpan and brush.

Rich: Are you having a laugh?

Jack: No, I saw him. He was with his family.

Rich: In Ludlow?  He doesn't even live in Ludlow

Jack: I’m not saying he lives here.

Rich: Are you serious?

Jack: All I'm telling you is I saw Harry Kane with his family coming out of a hardware store carrying a dustpan and brush.

Rich: Really Jack? I’m not sure that’s true.

Jack: Are you calling me a liar?

Rich: No, I’m just saying that you might be mistaken.

Jack: Hmmm. That’s possible. But if it wasn’t Harry Kane, it was someone that looked a lot like him.

Rich: I think that’s more likely.

Jack: Perhaps it was his brother.

Rich: Hmmm.

Welcome - truth and lies 

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Jack: and I’m Jack

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jack: What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we’re going to lie to you!

Jack: We’re going to lie to people?

Rich: Yeah, well a little bit. We’re going to tell the truth, too! We’re going to look at the language we use when people think that we are lying or not telling the truth.

Jack: Like me in the opening conversation? I was telling the truth you know.

Rich: Yeah, of course, you just got a bit muddled up that’s all. You saw a tall, blonde bloke with a dustpan and brush and thought it was Harry Kane. Nothing to worry about - go and have a lie down. 

Jack: Yeah, yeah, anyway … we’re going to play a game which they play on a popular TV show in the UK called Would I lie to you?

Rich: I’m going to tell a story and Jack has to guess whether I’m telling the truth or lying through my teeth!

Jack: And then I will do the same.

Rich: After that, we’ll look at some of the language and then we’ll tell two more stories and this time you have to guess whether they are true or not.

Jack: And, don’t forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have another football phrase for you to guess as well. 

Rich: That’s a lot to get through. Shall we make a start?

Topic Focus

Jack: You’re going to to go first, yeah?

Rich: Yes, I have my true story that I’ve just read about this morning.

Jack: Don’t say that!

Rich: It’s a bluff! But it is true, honestly!

Jack: mmm ok Go on then.

Rich: Right, my story is about Danish football. I think this happened last season but it might have been the season before.

Jack: You’re not sure …

Rich: No, I can’t remember exactly … anyway, one of the teams was winning. I think the score was 5-4 or 4-3 so there’d been lots of goals. There were only seconds left. It was injury-time and the team that was behind was attacking and looking for an equaliser. Well, the referee was about to blow the final whistle and you’re not going to believe this but … his false teeth fell out.

Jack: His false teeth … you’ve got to be joking! You’re lying through your teeth!

Rich: No, I’m not and I’m not finished, you’re not going to believe what happened next. Well, the referee tried to blow the whistle but he couldn’t because he didn’t have any teeth, no sound came out. And then, this is the best bit, the team equalised to make it 4-4 or 5-5 or something.

Jack: Shut up! You’re having a laugh?

Rich: No, it’s true! Honestly!

Jack: So, it finished as a draw?

Rich: No, the referee disallowed the goal so the other team won.

Jack: Really? But the match wasn’t finished?

Rich: The ref said it was. The players complained but they couldn’t do anything about it! I’m not sure if he found his false teeth.

Jack: Right, I’m not sure about this. It sounds like fake news to me, a load of baloney. How old was this referee? 83? Go on tell me …

Rich: I was telling the truth!!

Jack: Really? How funny!

...

Rich: Right, Jack. It’s your turn. Have you got a story?

Jack: Yep, here we go. A few years ago, to tell the truth, many many years ago, I think there was a match between Spurs and Dynamo Moscow at White Hart Lane - Spurs' stadium. The weather was really bad, really foggy. Nobody could see each other - it probably should have been called off but I suppose the players from Moscow had come a long way.

Rich: That makes sense.

Jack: Well, because nobody could see, the teams shall we say took advantage of the situation. Dynamo made a substitution at one point and didn’t take a player off! They had fifteen players on the pitch at one point.

Rich: Mmm, nobody noticed?

Jack: Nobody could see. The referee sent one Tottenham player off at one point but he came back on to the pitch!

Rich: Likely story!

Jack: No, it’s true. The fog was so bad that the Spurs goalkeeper ran into a post and was replaced by a fan!

Rich: This is a pack of lies!

Jack: Is that your guess … you think I’m lying?

Rich: Yes, I think you might be being economical with the truth!

Jack: Haha! You’re right, but most of the story is true the only thing I changed was the club, it was actually Arsenal playing at White Hart Lane and not Spurs - even stranger!

Language Focus

Rich: In our conversations, you heard some different phrases connected to lying and telling the truth.

Jack: Before we look at the some of the phrases we used in the conversations it’s important to think about how we use this type of language. We’re playing a game and our language is quite informal. If we were speaking to someone we didn’t know very well and we thought they were lying we might not say anything or we might just say something like: ‘Are you sure about that?’. 

Rich: You’re right, we probably wouldn’t say ‘you’re lying through your teeth, you horrible little man’ to someone we didn’t know. 

Jack: No, I don’t think we would say that. All of the phrases we used are more informal. These are all fine to use if you’re talking to your friends. Let’s start with some phrases that you can use if you don’t believe someone.

Rich: Jack said to me; ‘you’re having a laugh’, ‘that’s a load of baloney’, and ‘you’re lying through your teeth’.

Jack: Baloney! That’s a funny word. It’s actually a type of sausage, but in this context it means nonsense. You can say other things here too like ‘a load of rubbish’ or ‘a load of garbage’ to mean the same thing.

Rich: The phrase ‘you’re having a laugh, aren’t you?’ is a good one. You can use this phrase when you think someone is joking or not telling the truth but we can also use it when we think something is unfair. When I give my students lots and lots of homework they might ‘you’re having a laugh’ and I would give them even more for being a bit rude!

Jack: And Rich said to me; ‘a likely story’, ‘a pack of lies’ and ‘you’re being economical with the truth’.

Rich: Being sarcastic is quite common when we think someone is lying and ‘likely story’ is an example of that because we don’t think the story is very likely. Economical is used to say that we don’t use much of something, for example, if a car is economical on fuel it doesn’t use much petrol. If you’re being economical with the truth it means you're not using the truth very much.

Jack: We also used some phrases to ask someone to believe you when what you are saying is true. 

Rich: When Jack said he’d seen Harry Kane in a shop he said ‘honestly’ and when I questioned him he said ‘are you calling me a liar’.

Jack: You have to be careful with this last expression because you don’t want to get into an argument with someone.

Rich: Another common phrase that people use is: ‘you’re not going to believe this, but …’

Jack: This phrase is used a lot when someone says something unbelievable or they are possibly lying.

Rich: We have lots of other phrases and some activities for you to do on the page below this podcast.

Task

Jack: Our task for you this week is to listen to two more stories and decide if we are telling the truth or not. Write your answers in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Rich: Then, we want you to write a story that could be true a true story or false - like fake news. It doesn’t have to be about football, it can be about any topic you like. Me, Jack and our other listeners have to guess if your story is true or not.

Jack: Here’s story one.

Rich: Minute silences are very common in matches these days. They are a good way to show respect to someone connected to a football club who has died. However, in a non-league match a few years ago there was a communication breakdown. The club was called Congleton Town and they announced in the match programme that their biggest fan had sadly passed away at the age of 83. Just before the minute’s silence was due to start, the fan walked into the stadium and I imagine asked what was going on.

Rich: Here’s story two.

Jack: The Isles of Scilly, are off the coast of the UK and the Scilly Isles are home to the world’s smallest football league. There are just two teams in the league. The teams play each other seventeen times to decide who wins the league each season. For a bit of variety, they also have two cup competitions where they are also the only teams in the competition. A few years ago a film was made on the Islands called ‘Dream Big’ which starred David Beckham, Patrick Viera and Steven Gerrard. 

Football phrase

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week? 

Jack: Yes, I have, but first, last week’s football phrase. The phrase was the man in the middle. This phrase is used to talk about the referee at the beginning of the match by commentators on TV. The commentators usually say something like the man in the middle today is Michael Oliver. 

Rich: It was quite a difficult one, but some people worked most of it out from the clues. Congratulations to Lakerwang from China, Liubomyr from Ukraine, Ahmed Adem from Sudan and also to Milos from Serbia and Kwesimanifest from Ghana for getting it mostly right. What’s this week’s phrase?

Jack: This week’s phrase is a bit easier, I hope. It’s a noun that you use to describe a player who can dribble, pass, shoot, attack and defend very well. If a player is strong in all aspects of the game, you can call them an ***-*******. I like to think of myself as a bit of an English teacher ***-*******. What about you Rich? Are you more of a specialist or are you an ***-*******?

Rich: Hmmm, I’m not sure. I’ve never really compared English teaching to playing football. 

Jack: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Rich: If you have enjoyed this podcast or found it useful, leave us a rating or review and that will help other people find us. Bye for now and enjoy your football!