Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.
Rob And I’m Rob. Phew, Feifei, is the air conditioning on?
Feifei Let me check. Looks like it’s broken.
** Rob**Again? The company fixed it just this week.
Feifei Yeah.
** Rob** And that’s three times this month!
** Feifei** I know…
** Rob** I honestly can’t face calling the company one more time. I’ve wasted hours on the phone to them! Seriously.
** Feifei** OK, OK, Rob. No need to get so hot under the collar!
** Rob** But… OK. You’re right. Give me a minute.
** Feifei** While Rob is cooling down, let me explain that phrase I just used. To get ‘hot under the collar’ means to become very annoyed or angry about something. There is another meaning, but we’ll get there later. OK, Rob, how are you now? **
Rob** Just a minute more.
** Feifei** OK, let’s listen to these examples first.
ExamplesNick got a little hot under the collar when he returned from a meeting to discover his colleagues had eaten all his chocolates.
I hate driving in big cities. I just get too hot under the collar when others drive badly. I prefer to take a bus and chill out.
Try not to say anything about Wayne’s new haircut. He knows it looks terrible. When I mentioned it he got very hot under the collar.
Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. So, how are you feeling now, Rob?**
Rob** Much better. Don’t worry, I’ll call the air conditioning company.
Feifei If you do, err… can you ask them which engineer is coming to fix it?
** Rob** Why does that matter?
** Feifei** Well, you see, there’s this one engineer who makes me… all hot under the collar!
** Rob** Ahh, I see! You find this person attractive and they make you feel excited or even a bit nervous? Well, that’s the other meaning of hot under the collar, by the way.
Feifei Well, yes. Sorry. I should admit it. It’s been me who has been breaking the air conditioning all along… Just… just… just in the hope that…
** Rob** Just so that you can see that cute engineer? Feifei! That really is shocking. OK, let me make that call.
** Feifei** Yes, it’s getting a bit hot in here. Bye.
RobBye.