Feifei Welcome to The English We Speak. It’s Feifei here with Rob, and we’re in a bit of a rush…
Rob …yes yes, I’ve hurt my foot and we’ve got to get to hospital. Ouch!
Feifei Ooo, it looks nasty, Rob – all red and swollen. It was a good job I was driving by when you hurt it.
Rob Yes yes, thanks for the lift, Feifei. But it really is hurting, so could you step on it, please?
Feifei What?
Rob Step on it!
Feifei Oh, OK if you say so.
Rob Ow! That was painful – what did you do that for?
Feifei You said ‘step on it’ – I thought that was an odd request, but I did.
Rob No, Feifei! I meant drive faster – that’s what ‘step on it’ means. It’s what you say to someone to ask them to hurry. That hurt so much.
Feifei Oops, sorry! Right, well hold on tight, Rob, I will step on it while we hear some examples….
Examples Taxi! Could you take me to the station please? And could you step on it? I’m late!
Our coach told us to step on it if we wanted to get to the match on time.
Please step on it, otherwise we’re going to miss the plane.
Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. And we’re finding out about the phrase ‘step on it’, which means go faster or hurry up. Well, we’re nearly at the hospital, Rob.
Rob Good good, because my foot hurts so much – I need urgent medical attention.
Feifei How exactly did you hurt it?
Rob I was playing football and another player stepped on my big toe. It was so painful.
Feifei What! So you’ve got me to ‘step on it’ – and drive at high speed – because someone stepped on your big toe? This isn’t an emergency Rob - you can get out and walk.
Rob That’s not very nice.
Feifei You had better step on it, Rob – the casualty department shuts in five minutes. Bye.
Rob Bye.