Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I’m Feifei.
Phil Hey everyone! I’m Phil and I’m so happy!
Feifei How are you so bouncy at the start of the week? Can you dial down the energy? I’m getting a little tired just listening to you.
Phil OK, OK, I’ll dial it down a bit, and actually that’s what we should learn in this programme – what ‘dial down’ means.
Feifei Well, imagine you’re looking at the controls of a machine. A dial can be something that you turn to change the intensity of something. ‘Dial’ is also a verb so if you dial something down, you reduce its intensity.
Phil Now, you told me to dial down the energy, obviously there aren’t actually any controls – it’s just a metaphor. So, we use it much more generally to talk about reducing the intensity of something.
Feifei Yes. If you want someone to make something simpler, then you can ask them to dial down the complexity. If you want to resolve an awkward situation at work, then you might ask people to dial down the tension.
Phil OK, listen to some more people using the expression ‘dial down’.
Examples
OK kids, it’s getting really noisy in here. It’s time to dial down the volume.
Wow! This curry is so spicy! Can you dial down on the chilli please?
Urgh! He’s always so arrogant in meetings. I really wish he’d dial it down a bit.
Feifei We’ve been looking at the expression ‘dial down’ which means to make something less intense. Informally, we can also use ‘dial back’ to mean the same.
Phil Yes, a shop might decide to dial back the number of discounts they offer if they need to make more money. And don’t forget that the opposite of ‘dial down’ or ‘dial back’ is ‘dial up’
Feifei Yes, for example a sports team might decide to dial up the pressure on their opponents to make sure they win a game.
Phil And if you want to dial up your efforts to learn English, make sure you come back next time. See you then!
Feifei Bye bye!