to loosen (someone) up

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 457: Apologizing for a Bad Date.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 457. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Go to our website at eslpod.com and download a Learning Guide for this episode to help you improve your English even faster.

This episode is called “Apologizing for a Bad Date,” a bad romantic outing or event. This episode is a continuation of the story that we started in ESL Podcast 455, so if you haven’t listened to 455, “Ending a Bad Date,” you might want to listen to it to understand this one a little better. Let’s get started.

I really blew it last night. I finally asked my neighbor, Fatima, out on a date and she walked out on me in the middle of it.

I didn’t blame her. I wanted to make a good impression on her, but I felt I was floundering a half an hour into the date. I decided to liven things up a bit with a few drinks.