| Helen: | Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Helen. |
| William: | Hi, I'm William. Today Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is opening. |
| Music, birdsong |
| Helen: | Oh, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show—the world's largest flower show! I've seen it on the news before. If only I had a garden! |
| William: | Ah yes, you live in an apartment, don't you Helen? |
| Helen: | Yeah. So William, let me guess, today we are going to do a phrase relating to flowers and gardening? |
| William: | Exactly. |
| Helen: | So ... ? What's the phrase? |
| William: | Er ... Well, how about ... how about ... er. No, it's gone. It's no good. I can't think of a phrase right now. |
| Helen: | Oh well. Let's just have a chat instead. I'm tired of learning new phrases anyway. |
| William: | OK. Well, how are you Helen? How are the kids? |
| Helen: | Oh they are both really well. My little boy eats too much chocolate though! |
| William: | Oh really? Well, you want to nip that in the bud. |
| Helen: | Eh? Nip it in the bud? |
| William: | Nip it in the bud. If you nip something in the bud, you stop it before it becomes a problem. Listen to this example from a business context: |
|
| Man: | The last few deliveries we've had from this company have all had broken parts in them. |
| Woman: | Well, we need to nip that in the bud. Tell them that unless their service improves, we're going to look for another supplier. |
|
| Helen: | So in that example, the man was complaining about poor service from a supplier. The woman wanted to nip it in the bud. |
| William: | That's right. She wanted to take steps to improve the service before it got even worse. |
| Helen: | So where does this phrase come from William—to nip something in the bud? |
| Birdsong and music |
| William: | Well, it comes from gardening, actually. A bud is the part of a plant that becomes a flower, a leaf or stem. If you nip something in the bud, you cut the bud off the plant before it has time to grow. |
| Helen: | Oh. That's not very nice. |
| William: | Well, gardening is a tough game, Helen. You have to nip things in the bud sometimes. You also have to kill slugs and snails. |
| Helen: | Eugh! I'm glad I don't have a garden. |
| William: | Bye! |
| Helen: | Bye! |
