📙 Part 2: Describe a situation when someone apologized to you

This episode's vocabulary

Mess something up (phrasal verb) – to make a mistake or handle something badly. → He apologized for messing up the order.

Rock up (phrasal verb) – to arrive somewhere, often casually or without a prior arrangement. → I was a bit surprised when I rocked up at quarter past six and there was no one to be seen.

Prompt (adjective) – acting without delay. → Usually people there are pretty prompt with letting people in.

A solid [amount of time] (idiom) – an entire, uninterrupted period of time. → I was waiting for a solid 25 minutes.

Call it a day (idiom) – to decide to stop doing something for the rest of the day. → I waited for 25 minutes before I called it a day and headed home.

Not a huge deal (idiom) – not a serious problem; not very important. → It wasn't a huge deal because I can find other things to do.

As it turned out (phrase) – used to describe what happened in the end, often with an element of surprise. → As it turned out, the yoga teacher had completely forgotten about the class.

Oversight (noun) – a mistake made because of a failure to notice something. → He sent an email expressing his apologies about the oversight.

Slip one's mind (idiom) – to be forgotten. → The fact this could slip his mind was extremely surprising.

Highly strung (adjective) – very nervous and easily upset. → I suppose if I were more highly strung, I'd have made a big deal out of it.

Make a big deal out of something (idiom) – to treat something as more important than it really is. → I didn't make a big deal out of it because I'm not that kind of person.

Lose one's cool (idiom) – to become angry or upset. → It's pretty ironic for a yoga student to lose their cool over a missed class.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe a situation when someone apologized to you. You should say what happened, who apologized to you, how you reacted and explain how you felt after the incident.

Rory: Well, this certainly doesn't happen very often because usually everything in my life goes to plan, but recently someone said sorry to me for messing something up. Mercifully, it wasn't serious. I was due to have a yoga class at about half six in the morning a few weeks back. And I go at the same time about three times a week. So I'm used to getting up early and throwing on some clothes to head there about fifteen minutes before the class is due to start.

So I was a bit surprised when I rocked up at quarter past six and there was no one to be seen. Usually people there are pretty prompt with letting people in, but this time all the lights were off and there was no one to be found. And I was waiting for a solid twenty five minutes before I called it a day and headed home. Like I said, it wasn't a huge deal, just because I'm quite experienced and can find other things to do at that time. But I wasn't a big fan of waiting out in the cold for ages.

As it turned out, the yoga teacher who was supposed to let me in had completely forgotten about the class and sent an email expressing his apologies about the oversight. Like I said, they are usually pretty reliable and very good at their job. So the fact this could slip his mind was extremely surprising. When it was all done and dusted, I just dropped in to the next class and said hello and thanked him for the apology. It wasn't a big deal and we've been fine since then. I suppose if I were more highly strung, I'd have made a big deal out of it, but I'm not that kind of person.

Discussion

Maria: Thank you, Rory for the story. So, a situation when someone apologized to you. Someone said sorry. It could be something light and not serious, like Rory talked about with his yoga teacher, or something serious, dear listener. And you can start off with, "this certainly doesn't happen very often. Because usually my life goes to plan." So I plan and this is how everything goes.

Rory: Things happen. It unfolds in the normal way.

Maria: Yeah, but recently, someone said sorry to me. So someone apologized to me, or someone said sorry to me for doing something, dear listener. For example, "my brother said sorry for eating my cake." "My friend said sorry for being late." "My friend said sorry for forgetting my birthday." And then you explain a situation. So here, Rory went to a yoga class at freaking half six in the morning. Can you imagine, dear listener? It's just wrong going to a yoga class at half past six in the morning. Six a.m. in the morning. No, it's just crazy. No, I would be really upset if I had to get up at freaking five a.m. and go somewhere as early as six a.m. in the morning and they forgot the lesson. No, I think I would be just furious.

Rory: To be fuming.

Maria: But Rory was all chill. He was cool. He does his yoga, so...

Rory: It was funny though, because there were other people there and as I was leaving, they said, "Oh, are you not staying?" And I just said "No, they're not coming. I have things to do."

Maria: It's Rory's habit to get up as early as six o'clock. So he says, "I'm used to getting up early." So he does it every day. It's his habit. And he usually goes there 15 minutes before the class. No rush, to get ready for some yoga. And they say, if you have to rush to yoga, you are doing something wrong. Because usually we should be relaxed, not rushing about. "I was a bit surprised when I didn't see anybody," because usually there are people there. And the lights were off, so there was no light. "And I waited for a solid 25 minutes." Solid means that I waited exactly 25 minutes. But nobody came and "I headed home." So, "I called it a day." When you call it a day, you stop waiting, you go home.

Rory: You give up and you go home.

Maria: Yeah. And Rory, really at that time you didn't feel any... what's going on? You didn't feel angry or frustrated. So you just go, "okay, it happened."

Rory: Just like, well, obviously they're not here, so I'm just gonna go.

Maria: And you see this, you can say, "well, it wasn't a huge deal." So I was fine with that. All right. I accepted the reality. It wasn't a huge deal. It wasn't a big deal. Or you can say, "I was angry, I was furious. I was enraged," like very angry. It was a big deal because I woke up at an ungodly hour. Six freaking a.m.

Rory: I just think it's really funny. I was just like, well, it's fine. But, of course, you might not be a chilled out person. You might be highly strung, which is what I said.

Maria: "As it turned out, the teacher had completely forgotten about the lesson." So it turned out that the teacher had forgotten about the lesson. Past perfect because he first forgot and then the class didn't happen. And the teacher "sent an email expressing his apologies." So he expressed his apologies. He apologized to us. He called me to express his apologies. And he overslept perhaps. Because yeah, freaking six a.m. in the morning. As a yoga teacher, you can kind of oversleep.

Rory: Anyone can oversleep.

Maria: Yeah, that's true.

Rory: The world will not end because one yoga class does not happen.

Maria: Usually this teacher is pretty reliable. So he comes to all his classes. And it was very surprising. And perhaps it "just slipped his mind." So if something slips your mind, you just forget about it. And it was a pretty forgivable oversight. What's oversight?

Rory: Oversight is just, well, it's like when something slips your mind, you just forget about it.

Maria: So if you talk about something that other people forget and then they apologize to you, you can say, "well, he apologized for his oversight." A mistake made because of failure to notice something. It was an oversight. And it was forgivable. Forgivable is something that you can forgive easily. So a forgivable mistake.

Rory: Or it was not unforgivable.

Maria: And we've all had times when we forgot something and I think you also dear listener, sometimes forget things. So it's fine to forgive other people when they forget something. Even if you woke up at freaking five a.m. in the morning, if all your plans were...

Rory: I didn't wake up at five a.m. I woke up at six. It's hardly a big deal. Maybe for other people it was a big deal, but for me, I was just like, okay, let's move on.

Maria: And it wasn't a huge inconvenience. And you can say that "no one was seriously inconvenienced as a result." Or in more simple words, we can say, "it wasn't a serious inconvenience for me." So it was okay, not a big deal. Or "I wasn't seriously inconvenienced." It was just one of those things, just a regular thing. Okay, he forgot. Not a big deal. And here Rory does tell us that it's pretty ironic for a yoga student to lose their cool. So if Rory started being mad like, "what's going on, I'm going to call everybody." If Rory started like this coming to a yoga lesson, that would have been strange. But Rory kept his cool. He was fine with life. And Rory just went to the next lesson, some other day, said hello and thanked the teacher for the apology. So here we are using a noun. An apology. And people usually make an apology. You make an apology, right Rory?

Rory: Yes, and then you accept an apology. Ideally.

Maria: I accepted his apologies, right? So he made an apology. He apologized and I accepted it. And "we've been fine ever since." So present perfect. He apologized. We have been fine ever since. So we didn't fall out, we didn't argue, we are still friends. So "I didn't make a big deal out of it." It happened, okay. I didn't make a big deal out of it because "I'm not that kind of person." I'm not that kind of person to throw a scandal. So I was cool. Right, dear listener. You can pick your story. When did someone apologize to you? Maybe someone broke something, or they forgot something, or they were late, or they didn't do what you asked them to do. And Rory, usually people apologize for what? Maybe for breaking things, for being late, for forgetting.

Rory: Stepping on someone's foot.

Maria: No, but this is a situation, like seriously.

Rory: Oh, maybe you're in a restaurant and someone makes a mistake or a cafe and someone messes up your order.

Maria: Yeah, like in a restaurant they messed up your order, for example.

Rory: So there you go. You don't need to talk about my yoga story or do yoga to use some of the things here. For example, someone usually apologizes if they mess something up, and I said mess up. And then I said "I was a bit surprised." And then rocked up is you arrive somewhere. And then I said "as it turned out," or you could also say "it turned out that" to describe the result. And then we could talk about things like "it was a forgivable oversight" or "it was absolutely unforgivable." So lots of words here that you could use to describe any situation, not just when some freak accident happens at yoga.

Maria: Yeah, and people apologize for something. So he apologized for arriving late. And he apologized to me. He apologized to my friends. He sent me an apology email, or he made apologies. I accepted his apology. So it was sincere. Sincere like honest, true. And often we say, "oh, you owe me an apology, mister." So, okay, you forgot to send me flowers. You owe me an apology. So you must apologize. And you can say, "oh, he didn't apologize. He owes me an apology." Rory, do you often apologize to people?

Rory: No, because I'm flawless.

Maria: Yay, you always remember stuff because you have everything written down.

Rory: I can't remember the last time I apologized to someone, but I'm sure I've gotten something wrong at some point.

Maria: Right, dear listener. Thank you very much for listening. And we'll get back to you in our new episode about apologies.

Rory: And we'll see you then.

Maria: Bye.