Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Verb Phrase 122. The verb phrase today is
goof off. So to goof off. All right. Let's look at the note here. If someone goofs
off , he or she spends time doing something or saying things or having fun
when they are supposed to be working hard or are supposed to be doing
serious work. Then we say somebody is just goofing off there.
Kind of like fooling around. Okay. Good. So let's look at some examples here. Example
number one. This is typically the way you would hear it. Stop goofing off. We need
to get serious and get this work done. Okay. Maybe again. Maybe somebody's
goofing off. They're fooling around just trying to have fun or number two here. The
boss fired him because he caught him goofing off several times. It could be.
Number three. Her son is often goofing off playing
video games rather than being a serious student. Yeah. Again. So again just having
fun fooling around you know, not doing what you're supposed to be doing. Not
working hard. We could also turn it into a noun and say a goof-off. You know with a
hyphen in the middle. Meaning a person who's a time-waster. You know, and just
fooling around. When I was looking at this, It always reminds me that we say ..
There used to be a Prince song and the very beginning of the Prince song just you
know, sums this up perfectly of what a goof-off is. It was as a song, a Prince song
called "Raspberry Beret" it's actually a good song , that's a good love song. But
this is how it starts. These are the first five or six lines of the song, and this
describes a person who is a goof-off and here it goes like this. I was working
part-time at a five-and-dime, my boss was Mr. McGee. All right. So when he's basically...
well part-time and a five-and-dime. We don't really have these anymore
they were stores that used to sell things cheap they would be call five and
dimes, originally from like five cents and ten cents. These stores are long gone. I
think turned into Woolworths, and I think even
most of them are gone. But they used to be a famous chain of stores that sold
things very , very cheaply. That had cheap things in it. So that's why it was called a
five-and-dime. Like for five cents and ten cents. Like our nickel or a dime. But
anyway, let's get back to this. I was working part-time in a five-and-dime, my boss
was MR. McGee. He told me several times that he didn't like my kind because I
was a bit too leisurely. Well a little too leisurely too relaxed too clam. You
know, taking it easy. He's something like that and then then
it continues with these lines Seems that I was busy doing something close to
nothing , but different than the day before.
Well again, this, this just sounds like a goof-off. You know somebody goes to work
and they're not really ambitious. They're not trying to work hard but sometimes
they try to look like they're busy doing something.
Even though just like this song. The line here says, I was busy doing something
close to nothing. You know , you may be the boss can see through this. That he's not
really doing anything. But he's pretending like he's doing something. So
but you know, I guess he could get paid and get by. Anyway, I hope you got it. I
hope it's clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.