Zapp! English 3.23: Talking About Controversial Issues

Katie opens with "We're at the beach!", and a few minutes later she is being deliberately provoked with a steak: "Oh, look at that lovely, juicy meat over there, Katie, look at that steak." That is one way to demonstrate to wind someone up. This episode gathers ten colloquial expressions for discussions, arguments and awkward subjects — devil's advocate, soapboxes, grey areas, biting your tongue — with Katie describing each one and Tom trying to name it.

What you'll hear in this episode

The first conversation is recorded at the beach. Katie describes a situation and Tom has to produce the phrase. For the person who argues the opposite side just to get things moving, his first instinct is "Is it to do with the devil?" — and from there to play devil's advocate. Then comes the wind-up: Tom pushes with "vegetarians are stupid!" until Katie answers, "No it doesn't look delicious Thomas! You know I don't eat meat," and finally, "stop winding me up!" Tom reframes it neatly as provocation — "you're trying to provoke a response".

There is a near miss worth listening for. Katie is fishing for get on your soap box, Tom offers get on your high horse, and both expressions end up explained. They also chase down where the soapbox comes from: Hyde Park, Speakers' Corner, a box that once held soap, and Tom's summary — "It's a platform." On pros and cons, his etymology is a shrug: "Is it Latin, probably?"

The second conversation moves to a balcony — "It's very windy up here, but very nice and cool." Both speakers admit to being stubborn ("We're laughing because we're both quite stubborn actually"), which sets up to refuse to budge an inch. Then to speak your mind, British indirectness and why "some nationalities say the British are very two faced because of that", to keep your mouth shut, to bite your tongue, to bite — explained through fishing, "I'm not going to be agitated by their provocation" — and finally a grey area, with a clear example from law.

Quick facts

Episode	Colloquial 3.23 – Controversial Issues
Pack	Colloquial 3
Level	Level 3
Duration	20 minutes 22 seconds
Recording location (mentioned on air)	The beach
Workbook	Included in the all-in-one pack

What you'll learn

Ten expressions you cannot guess from their parts. Nothing in budge, soapbox or bite tells you what the whole phrase means, so the episode teaches them the way you would meet them in conversation: someone describes a situation, and you supply the phrase. That is exactly the retrieval practice that makes idioms stick.

You will also hear how the phrases behave in a sentence. Wind someone up splits around its object — "stop winding me up", "he's trying to wind you up" — and the workbook's correction exercise catches the common error "He's really winding me down." Bite appears twice with two different meanings, and Tom separates them himself: biting your tongue is stopping yourself, while "don't bite" means refusing to react.

There is a genuinely useful cultural strand too. Katie describes saying "yes, yes fine" and then complaining once the other person has gone, which is a very precise illustration of to be two faced — and of why speaking your mind is not always the polite option in Britain. Tom's own verdict is careful: "It's a...bit in the middle."

Throughout, listen to how the speakers stall while thinking: err, erm, mmm hmm, half-finished sentences. That hesitation is what real conversation sounds like, and getting comfortable with it is half of listening comprehension.

The expressions, with the workbook's definitions

The workbook rates each phrase for informality: 1 for most situations, 2 for people you know well.

to play devil's advocate (1) – to give opinions which you may not agree with, just to get a reaction / discussion started.
to wind someone up (2) – to say things to try and get someone to react, to get someone excited about something, often in a negative way.
to keep an open mind (1) – not to decide your point of view too quickly, to wait until you have heard everything before you decide.
to get on your soapbox (2) – to give strong opinions, often when people are bored of hearing about them.
to get on your high horse (1) – for someone to tell other people an opinion in a way that shows they think they are more intelligent or better than others.
pros and cons (1) – advantages and disadvantages.
to refuse to budge an inch (1) – to refuse to change your opinion or decision in any way.
to speak your mind (1) – to say exactly what you think.
to bite your tongue (1) – to stop yourself saying something that you really want to say.
to bite (1) – to react when someone is trying to make you angry or get a reaction from you.
a grey area (1) – something which is not clearly right or wrong.
live and let live (1) – let people do whatever they want if it doesn't cause you any problems.
to be two faced (1) – describes someone who thinks one thing and says another.
to keep your mouth shut (1) – to keep quiet, not say anything about a particular subject.

In the workbook

The Unit 23 workbook gives you the full transcript of both English conversations, so you can go back to any moment you missed — including the bits where Tom guesses wrong. Between the conversations there are two Meaning and Pronunciation sections: you answer a question, hear the answer, then repeat the phrase after the beep, with model sentences such as "We need to look at the pros and cons before we decide" and "I really had to bite my tongue."

The Extra Materials add the graded glossary above, then two exercises. Practice Exercise 1 is multiple choice — you decide whether the speaker bit their tongue or spoke their mind, and whether both sides of an argument are grey areas or pros and cons. Practice Exercise 2 asks you to correct five wrong versions, including "Try to keep an open head about the issue." Answers are supplied at the end.

This workbook is part of the Zapp! English all-in-one pack, which covers every episode across the series for €39.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

What does it mean to play devil's advocate?

It means giving an opinion you may not actually hold, simply to start a discussion. As Tom puts it in the episode, it is there "to stimulate discussion".

Are these conversations scripted?

The conversations are unscripted — Tom is genuinely guessing, which is why he offers high horse when Katie wanted soapbox. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

Can I use these expressions at work?

They are colloquial, so keep them for friends and relaxed situations. The glossary marks to wind someone up and to get on your soapbox as best used with people you know well.

What is the difference between biting your tongue and not biting?

Biting your tongue is holding back something you want to say. Not biting is refusing to react when someone is provoking you — Tom's fishing image: "I'm not going to let their comments catch me."

How long is the episode and what level is it?

It runs 20 minutes 22 seconds and belongs to the Colloquial 3 pack, at Level 3.

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