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A selfdriving bus is pretty complex. It’s an amazing feat of engineering and design.
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not simple, involving many different parts
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The humour in Alan Partridge is quite subtle.
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This means so delicate, specific and precise that it’s difficult to describe or understand
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Alan is utterly incompetent because he always ruins his TV interviews by saying the wrong thing
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Someone who is incompetent is just bad at what they do, they often fail, they make mistakes, they do things badly
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I suppose it was tactless to be so astonished at where he lived.
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socially careless, often offending people by mistake or without realising it
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I think that attitude is a bit petty.
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caring too much about small details to the point of being unkind.
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Alan is very domineering towards Lynn, his assistant
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who is domineering tends to dominate other people in an arrogant or cruel way.
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Alan is oriented towards his career
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When career is the most important thing in ones life, which also means that other things become less important
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As a character, he is socially inept and frequently depressed.
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Socially inept then means that a person is just bad at socialising with other people
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You poor deluded fool!
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Someone who is deluded believes something that is not true.
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This was not optimism, it was delusion.
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Delusion is the state of believing things that are not true.
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His need for public attention drives him to deceit and shameless selfpromotion and sometimes violence.
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the intention to mislead people by lying or not telling the truth.
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She was upset when she learned that her friend had deceived her
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to mislead people, to lie to people
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How deceitful of you not to have told your spouse.
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is used to describe the sort of person who intends to lie or mislead people.
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Alan is guilty of unironic shameless self promotion.
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phrase which is used to describe when people have absolutely no shame about promoting themselves
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He has an inflated sense of importance and celebrity
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If you have a lot of selfimportance, it means you think you’re very important, which is a bad thing because it means you’re arrogant.
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It might just go straight over your head.
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If something goes straight over your head it means you don’t understand it at all.
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the ability to read between the lines
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to find implicit meaning that is not stated directly by the words used.
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You need the ability to pick up on nonverbal clues and other subtle details in order to enjoy the comedy”.
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it means you become aware of something that’s not obvious because there are little clues that you notice
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when you are known by only a few people, it’s like the opposite of fame.
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Alan’s career is going badly. He’s drifted into obscurity
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move slowly away, usually due to water or wind
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when relationships go wrong and people start to go in different directions, just naturally)
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He tried to think about it but his mind kept drifting away.
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meaning move slowly away or lose concentration or consciousness)
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People slowly drifted into the main room of the party.
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meaning to move slowly into a place or a state).
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According to Lynn, Alan is just going through a bad patch and he’ll be able to smile at the end of it
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you can have a bad patch in your life (the rest of your life is fine, except for this brief period)
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The weather will cool down after it rains, I think.
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to lower the temperature of something.
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Alan’s career is on the rocks.
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If something is on the rocks, it means it is experiencing difficulty and might end soon.
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Manchester United’s defence were in disarray last night against Liverpool.
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This means ‘disorganised’ and ‘confused’, a mess.
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Alan claims that he’s just at a loose end, rather than depressed or perhaps having a bad time or going through a bad patch
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If you’re at a loose end it means you’re bored, you’ve got nothing to do.
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What time do you knock off?
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this just means “finish work”.
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I was wearing a backpack and I knocked loads of plates off a shelf accidentally.
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to accidentally hit something and cause it to fall.
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Do you fancy going for a drink? Do you fancy a drink?
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Do you fancy a breath of fresh air?
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A breath of fresh air means a chance to go outside for a little refreshing break.
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It’s a bit difficult to breathe in here. It’s a bit stuffy.
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A stuffy room or building is unpleasant because it has no fresh air
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We just didn’t take precautions
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This means to use protection, or contraception, like a condom or perhaps the pill.
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we were delighted!
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very pleased
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at first I was mortified
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extremely ashamed, extremely disappointed, extremely embarrassed. It’s like you could die, because you feel so bad.
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I got caught in a taxi that broke down. To get caught in traffic / To get stuck in traffic
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getting caught can mean to get stuck, be delayed or be trapped in a situation.
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I think he has a breakdown
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a nervous breakdown
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This is about the gears. You can be in first gear, in second, in third, fourth, fifth, in reverse, or in neutral
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If you ever learn to drive Lynn, when you stop the car, just give it a bit of a wiggle.
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to (cause to) move up and down and/or from side to side with small, quick movements:
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It's only a stopgap solution
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something intended for temporary use until something better or more suitable can be found
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Don’t wear jeans and trainers in this restaurant, they frown on that.
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means that you disapprove of something.
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This document is full of flaws
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an imperfection
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Just pop your clothes off, you can pop them all on that chair.(in gp)
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pop is a replacement for put.
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His arms and back were covered in bruises
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an injury or mark where the skin has not been broken but is darker in colour
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to use horn in a car
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I have an ice scraper in the glove compartment
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This is what we call the little storage space in front of the passenger seat.
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If you think Brexit is going to be a walk in the park or a piece of cake you’re living in cloud cuckoo land.
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If someone is living in cloud cuckoo land, it means they’re not in touch with reality. They’re dreaming.
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Come on, I can drop you off at school.
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You can also drop someone off somewhere, meaning deliver them to that place and let them get out of the car.
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I’ll drop you at a cab rank.
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a place where you can get a taxi
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