to The English We Speak. I'm Feifei.

Rob: And I'm Rob. Phew, Feifei, is

the air conditioning on?

Feifei: Let me check.

Looks like it's broken.

Rob: Again? The company fixed it

just this week.

Feifei: Yeah.

Rob: And that's three times this month!

Feifei: I know...

Rob: I honestly can't face calling

the company one more time.

I've wasted hours on the phone

to them! Seriously.

Feifei: OK, OK, Rob. No need to get so

hot under the collar!

Rob: But... OK. You're right.

Give me a minute.

Feifei: While Rob is cooling down, let me

explain that phrase I just used.

To get 'hot under the collar' means

to become very annoyed or angry

about something. There is another

meaning, but we'll get there later.

OK, Rob, how are you now?

Rob: Just a minute more.

Feifei: OK, let's listen

to these examples first.

Nick got a little hot under the collar

when he returned from a meeting

to discover his

colleagues had eaten all his chocolates.

I hate driving in big cities. I just get

too hot under the collar

when others drive badly.

I prefer to take a bus and chill out.

Try not to say anything about

Wayne's new haircut.

He knows it looks terrible. When

I mentioned it he got

very hot under the collar.

Feifei: This is The English We Speak

from BBC Learning English.

So, how are you feeling now, Rob?

Rob: Much better. Don't worry,

I'll call the air conditioning company.

Feifei: If you do, err... can you ask them

which engineer is coming to fix it?

Rob: Why does that matter?

Feifei: Well, you see, there's

this one engineer who makes me...

all hot under the collar!

Rob: Ahh, I see! You find this person

attractive and they make you feel

excited or even a bit nervous?

Well, that's the other meaning of

hot under the collar, by the way.

Feifei: Well, yes. Sorry. I should admit it.

It's been me who has been breaking the

air conditioning all along... Just...

just... just in the hope that...

Rob: Just so that you can see

that cute engineer?

Feifei! That really is shocking. OK, let me

make that call.

Feifei: Yes, it's getting a bit hot in here.

Bye.

Rob: Bye.