Phrasal verbs and idioms in context - Lession 8: Gianna goes to rome

PHRASAL VERBS AND IDIOMS IN CONTEXT 08
GIANNA GOES TO ROME
 Much to Mr and Mrs De Longo’s relief, just six weeks after the attack, their daughter Gianna was accepted for an internship in an auditing company in Rome.
 ‘We don’t think it’ll be a good idea if that Sergio knows anything about your whereabouts,’ said Ernesto De Longo.
 Gianna’s parents knew that Sergio was still ranting and raving and hoped that in their daughter’s absence he’d soon calm down. Mrs De Longo had seen too many horror programmes on TV where young girls had been murdered by their controlling, mindless boyfriends.
 In Gianna’s grandmother’s day it had been considered a crime of passion. Nowadays it was known for what it really was – cold-blooded murder and the penalty was a life sentence. Gianna’s parents were relieved to know their daughter would be out of harm’s way.
 They very gladly accompanied their only daughter to a flat in the north of Rome. Mr De Longo had been in touch with the landlord who’d told him that she’d be sharing with two other girls who were in Rome studying at university. One of the girls came from Milan and the other was from Abruzzi.
 ‘Good,’ he thought. ‘It’s better if none of them are from around this area. You never know. It’s a small world and I wouldn’t want any of them to happen to know Sergio Esposito and mention that a girl called Gianna shared the flat. Esposito was violent but not stupid. He would put two and two together and come up with four. Mr De Longo was not prepared to take any risks whatsoever – none at all.
 Their daughter would be staying in Rome for three months until she’d completed her internship at the auditing company. Hopefully by the time she came back, the low life Sergio would have moved on with his life. They’d miss Gianna but the fact she’d be far away from the menacing Sergio would more than make up for it.
 Gianna was told to inform her friends that she would be going to work in Milan. That would put the scum-bag Sergio right off track should he decide to go looking for her, thought Mr De Longo to himself.
GLOSSARY – PHRASAL VERBS AND EXPRESSIONS
Make up for – compensate
Out of harm’s way –away from danger
Put (someone) off track – misinform so as to cause a person look in another direction
Put two and two together and come up with four – be able to understand a situation
Rant and rave – speak angrily and wildly about something –this idiomatic phrase is generally used with a negative connotation
MARIA BREAKS HER HEART
 Karen had just got up to go to the bathroom. It was two o’ clock in the morning and she could hear the sound of stifled sobs coming from Maria’s room. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard her sobbing in the middle of the night and she sincerely hoped it would be the last. She knew that Maria was finding it difficult to come to terms with Giancarlo being out of her life. Who wouldn’t after dedicating seven of life’s precious years to a man? Karen knew all too well what Maria was going through. She’d been through the same situation herself and it hadn’t been easy. She remembered how everyone had told her that time is the great healer. She hadn’t thought so at the time but now looking back they’d all been right. It had taken Karen months of pain before she began to feel even remotely herself again.
 Yes, many people had told Karen only what they thought she wanted to hear. ‘You’ll get back together,’ they’d said. Maybe they’d just said this to shut her up. People nowadays had little time and patience to listen to other people’s problems – probably because they had enough of their own to deal with.
 The next day was Saturday. Karen was sitting at the breakfast table sipping her early morning cup of lemon tea when Maria walked in. Her slit-like eyes made it obvious she’d been crying.
 ‘Did you have a good night’s sleep Maria?’
 ‘Not really.’
 Maria began to cry.
 ‘I miss Giancarlo so much Karen. He hasn’t been in touch since I came to live here. I’ve sent him a number of text messages but he replies hours later – and in monosyllables. He never asks me how I am or how I’m getting on in my teaching job. It’s as if I don’t exist anymore – as though I’m a complete stranger and not the girl he spent seven years of his life with.’
 ‘Maria it will take time to flush this Giancarlo right out of your system. If it’s any consolation to you, there are people all over the planet going through exactly what you’re going through right in this very moment. I know you don’t want to hear this right now but I’m not going to tell you what everyone told me when I split up with my ex; that is, that he’ll be back. The average person just tells you what they think you want to hear. The truth of the matter is, do you really want him back? If he can just love you and leave you at a moment’s notice then he’s definitely not worth wasting anymore of your time on. You’re twenty four, not fifty four. Think about how many boys out there would give their eye teeth to be with a girl like you. For all you know he could have another girl. Men do not like to be alone. Most of them leave women only when they are sure they have someone else to go to otherwise they stay in a relationship and just plod along until another female takes their fancy and then off they fly like a bird freed from its cage.’
 ‘Don’t say that,’ cried Maria. ‘He can’t have someone else. He has always loved only me and me alone.’
 ‘I hope for your sake that I’m wrong but I wouldn’t bank on it. I’m just telling you the honest truth without beating about the bush.’
 ‘He didn’t leave me,’ cried Maria. ‘I was the one who left him and maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe I should have stayed and maybe we would still be together.’
 ‘Maria, you need to face facts. He forced you out the door with his bad behaviour. Just like my ex did with me. Did he come begging to get you back? No he didn’t. He just let you go. If a man truly loves a woman he would do nothing at all to jeopardize the relationship.’
 ‘Until he came to Rome everything was going well for us. We’d planned our future together and had even talked about marriage and how many children we would have.’
 ‘Yes Maria until he discovered a whole new world that he didn’t want you to be part of. You need to open your eyes to the truth of the matter. I don’t want to be cruel but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and I’m telling you this for your own good. I will get straight to the point.You have two options. Not three or four or five.
 Option number one - ‘you can curl up in a ball in bed all day crying and feeling sorry for yourself until depression sets in, or you can take option two - get yourself dressed up to the nines, put on a bit of makeup and walk out the door with your head held high and think to yourself ‘I don’t deserve this kind of treatment. He’s not worth the tears I’ve shed for him. It’s your choice. Remember you either sink or swim in life.’
 Just then a message came through on Karen’s mobile.
 ‘It’s from Mark. Maria get your glad rags on. We’re going to meet him for a chinwag down at the Irish pub in a couple of hours. We can have a pub lunch and a good old Irish coffee - just what you need to get you back on track.
 Down at the pub Maria felt much better. It had been good to talk to Karen that morning about how she was feeling. Mark always made her laugh with his Liverpudlian wit. He told her one of his many puns.
 ‘Do you know Maria my mother was crying because I told her I didn’t love her anymore?’
 ‘Why did you tell her that,’ asked Maria.
 ‘Hang on a tick Maria. I haven’t finished. I then told her I didn’t love her any less so I couldn’t see why she was crying. Do you get it? Any more/any less. ‘I don’t love you any more mum but I don’t love you any less so what’s the problem?’
 ‘Ah yes Mark, now I get it. You are so funny.’
 He then told her another pun.
 ‘My brother asked me on the phone if I had picked up any Italian yet. I told him I still haven’t had the chance ‘coz I’m always with my girlfriend.’ Maria didn’t understand this one.
 ‘Well, said Mark. ‘Pick up any Italian’ means to begin to acquire some of the Italian language which is what my brother intended, but it can also mean to meet a girl you like (in this case an Italian one) and take her home with you for a romantic romp. ‘A pun’ is a play on words and English people use them all the time. Because they have double meanings, English people jokingly pretend to misunderstand leading to some hilarious consequences.
 ‘I didn’t know you had a girlfriend Mark,’ said an astonished-looking Maria.
 ‘No I don’t. I was just using it as an example to illustrate the pun.’
 Maria found herself sighing with relief and she wondered why. Mark was pleasantly surprised that she’d asked him. Did this mean he stood a chance with her? He hoped so. She was beautiful and he loved her Italian accent when she spoke English. He visualised himself taking her back to Liverpool to introduce her to his family. His mates down at the pub would be green with envy to see him walking in with such a beautiful dark haired, dark skinned Italian girl. She was so refined compared to that snooty, sarcastic, and pretentious ex wife of his. He had not lost in love with that snoot. He now realised he had made a lucky escape the day that bitch walked out on him. Now he was a free agent with a free heart, ready and willing to give it to a girl who deserved it.
 He’d never mentioned his ex wife either to Karen or Maria. If he stood any chance with Maria it could all go down the drain if she found out he was a divorced man, well a nearly divorced man. The divorce–as of yet–was still to be finalised.
 Gawd! Maria was from the south of Italy and he’d heard somewhere that the families had high standards for their daughters’ future husbands. If they were to find out he’d been married, or was still married, for that matter, they might intervene and try to put a stop to the relationship. It would be better if he didn’t mention his ex for the time being. He was falling in love with Maria and he didn’t want anything to ruin any chance he might have with her.
 Maybe one day in the near future he’d confide in Karen to see what she thought about the matter.
***
GLOSSARY – PHRASAL VERBS
Be back – return
Bank on (something) – count on
Deal with – to handle/manage/take action/give the necessary treatment to someone or something
Find out – obtain information/discover/become informed or aware of
Get up – leave one’s bed especially after sleeping and waking up
Go through – experience
Plod along – move forward slowly and aimlessly without any specific direction in mind, achieving nothing worthwhile in the Put on (make up) – apply
Set in – when an unpleasant situation ‘sets in’ it takes root and more than likely remains for a period of time
Shut up – an impolite way of saying ‘keep quiet’. An invitation to someone to be silent
Shut (someone) up – silence a person
Split up – end a relationship
Walk out on (someone) – leave/abandon usually by leaving the home you share with the person
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GLOSSARY – IDIOMS AND EXPRESSIONS
A free agent – have no ties/no commitments
As of yet – until now
Be in touch – make contact with someone
Beat about the bush – reach the point without giving many unnecessary details
Chinwag – a gossiping chat (British colloquialism)
Come to terms with (something) – learn to accept a situation and move on
Dressed up to the nines – dress in beautiful clothes
For all you know – this phrase carries a very specific hypothetical meaning ‘for all you know’ he may have another girl’/there is the possibility that he has another girlfriend
For that matter – used to specify that a subject or category, is as relevant as the one previously mentioned
For the time being – for now, for the present, used to say that although a condition or situation is the way it is now, it could change in the future
For your sake – for your benefit
Get back on track – revert to a previous more favourable position
Get it – understand
Get (one’s) glad rags on – put on some nice clothes (English colloquialism)
Get straight to the point – address the main issue without giving unnecessary details; an emphatic way of saying ‘get to the point’
Give (one’s) eye teeth for (something or someone) – do anything possible to have something or someone
Go down the drain – disappear/be wasted
Hang on a tick – wait a second
Make a lucky escape – succeed in avoiding a bad situation/ narrowly escape danger or an unpleasant situation
Put a stop to (something) – cause something to end/prevent something from continuing
Sink or swim – fail or succeed, depending on one’s own efforts
Stand a chance – have a possibility
Take (one’s) fancy – begin to like
straight to the point