Obsessive Behavior Vocabulary [Effortless English DVD1 > LV2 > 08]

Welcome to the vocabulary lesson for Obsessive Behavior. Let's get started.

In the headline we see the title: “Parents deny probable cause of son’s

 obsessive behavior.”

“To deny” is to say something is wrong or you don't believe it. So if you deny  the cause it means you won't listen to the cause, or you say the cause is wrong. “It’s Not!”, “That's not!” , “That's not the cause!” You're denying it. You're saying “no, it's not true”, “no, it's not true”, that's to deny. To deny. Okay.

And “an probable” means…  probable cause. You probably know “probably”, right? That’s an adverb, “probably”. But “probable” is the additive. So probable cause means the likely cause. It means it's not a hundred percent, but maybe you know, ninety percent. We're sure ninety percent that this is the cause. Okay.

And then… What are we talking about? The cause of what? We're talking about the cause of their son’s obsessive behavior. To behaviors how you act.

“Obsessive”. “Obsessive” is to do something too much. You focus on only one thing. Now it can be a verb: to obsess. To obsess. Yep, it means you focus on one thing, you think about it all the time.

For example, if I obsess about studying English, it means everyday I think about English, English, English. I wake up in the morning, I'm thinking about English, must study English, must study English. At lunch time I'm thinking about English. Must study English, must study English. You only think about this. That's the verb: to obsess.

If you use it as an additive, we use it, we say “obsessive”. So obsessive behavior means doing something all the time. For example, somebody washes their hands a lot, every five minutes they wash their hands and then they touch something on a desk, they wash their hands again. Hen they touch a person, they wash their hands again. They’re washing their hands, washing their hands  all the time. This is obsessive behavior. it's doing one thing too much or all the time. Okay.

And then in the first paragraph of the letter, we say that… The woman says that her nephew has problems with obsessive hand-washing. (That's what I’ve just described.)

“Obsessive hand-washing” means you wash your hands all the time, much, too much, always doing it, again and again, and again, and again. “Obsessive hand-washing”.

“Nephew”. What’s a “nephew”? A nephew is your sister’s son or your brother’s son. That’s a nephew. Okay.

So this nephew  he has obsessive hand-washing. He washes his hands much, too much.

And then in the… She says, “I think he needs professional help.” He needs somebody to help him.

“I suspect” means I think , (in this case). She strongly suspects that he suffers from  obsessive-compulsive disorder – OCD.

“To suspect” means to think. It means you're not sure but you think probably this is happening. And obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it's a kind of a mental illness, mental sickness, where you… you constantly always do something again and again, and again. Hand washing is common example. But you're always thinking about one thing and doing one thing. Maybe this kid thinks about cleanliness. Always wants to be clean and he always washes his hands. So if you do that too much, if it's really, really, really too much, all the time,  it's kind of crazy. Then we might say the person has obsessive-compulsive disorder – OCD. All right.

And then she said her brother and his wife refuse to believe their child has a problem. So, again “refuse” is a little bit like “deny”. “Refuse” means to say no. To say no to something. Usually, when you refuse, it's because of request. You say “I won't do something”. All right! Somebody wants you to do something but you won't do it. You say, “No, I won't do it.”  That's “refuse”. You refuse to do it. In this case, they refuse to believe. So, usually refuse to do something, refuse to think something, refuse to believe something. Alright. So, you deny a situation. You deny information. But you refuse an action. That's how they're different. Alright.

And then, in the next sentence she says, “My nephew’s hands are chafed and raw.”

“Chafed” means fairy rub. It means if you rub your hands together, alright, you’re rubbing your hands together very fast. Together, together, rubbing together, if you do that a very very long time, your hands will start to hurt, right? Your hands become red. Maybe they get a crack. Maybe they start to bleed, right?  It's very… It becomes painful if you do it too long. Well, that's called “chafed”. “Chafed”, it means your skin is hurt from rubbing, from moving against something else. So it's… it’s not like, like scratched. It similar to scratched. But “scratched” is usually like one line. Alright!  Scratched with a… with a knife. Scratched with scissors. It's one thin line.

“Chafed” usually is a larger area. Like a… a bigger area. Like all of your hands can be chafed, or part of your legs can be chafed. It's rubbing against your pants maybe. And rubbing, rubbing, rubbing, the skin becomes red, the skin hurts a little bit. That's…We call that “chafed”.

And sometimes we’ll say the skin is raw. Skin is raw (in this situation). And that again, that also means the skin is very red and painful.  So “chafed” and “raw”, quite similar. Okay.

And then she says that the boy's parents reprimand him for his behavior when he really needs help.

“To reprimand”. “To reprimand” is… is a little bit like criticizing but ,it's a little different. When someone does something wrong, you reprimand him. So, “to reprimand” means to tell somebody they did something wrong.They say, “Stop washing your hands so much. That's bad!”

Okay. I reprimanded him. Or maybe you steal money and then I tell you, “That's bad! You stole the money. You should not do that.” Okay? I'm reprimanding you.

“Reprimanding” is different then “punish”. “Punishing”, is as you actually do something to the person. So “reprimand” or “to reprimand”, just means you say something. Okay. It's only talking. So that's how “reprimand” and “punishment” are different. All right.

And then finally,… last paragraph she says, “His mother is the biggest problem. She nixes all issues that suggest a problem, and my brother will not stand up to her.”

Okay. “To nix” (N-I-X), to nix something. “To nix” means to…. It's kind of like to destroy it, or eliminate it, or get rid of it. And usually it means somebody makes a suggestion,  and then you shoot this suggestion. Alright! We sometimes say “shoot it down”. You… You immediately you say “No, this is not true”, “No, we will not do it”. Okay. You’re nixing the idea. You’re nixing the suggestion. You're immediately saying “no”. And denying it and refusing to do it. That's “to nix”.

So , she says, “she mixes all issues that suggest a problem”, it means she immediately and quickly says “no” anytime somebody says their son has a problem. So, they say, “Look, I think your son might have a problem”. Immediately, she says, “No, he did not have a problem. Absolutely not. There is no problem”. That's “to nix”.  to immediately deny something, to immediately say no to any suggestion.

Okay. And finally, she says  her brother will not stand up to his wife.

“To stand up to”, is a common phrase in English. “To stand up to” means to

 go against somebody. Maybe argue with them. Maybe fight them. But it means you will not be bullied, you won't let somebody else push you around, or make you do something.  You… If you stand up to someone, it means somebody else is strong, but you will go against them, you will disagree, you will tell them they're wrong. That's “to stand up to somebody”.

And we sometimes use it in the negative. If you say, “he won't stand up to his wife”, it means he always says “yes” to his wife. If his wife says, “Wash the dishes now”, he will say “Yes, yes. Okay”. And if she says “Take out the garbage.” He’ll say, “Yes. Yes. Okay.” And if she says, “You’re stupid. Your your ugly.” He'll say, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry”. Alright! He won't stand up to her. He won't go against her. He won't argue with her. He won't fight with her.

If he does fight with her if she says “you're ugly and stupid”, and then he says “don't call me ugly and stupid. Don't ever say that again. Damn it!” Okay. Now he is standing up to her. All right. You have… You can picture it in your head. “To stand up to someone” means you stand tall against them. If they… They're yelling at you, if you… if you sit down and you put your head down, right, it means you're very weak. But if you stand tall, face to face, then you’re… you're also strong.  So “to stand up to someone” means be strong against somebody else.

All right. That is all of the vocabulary for this lesson. Move on to the mini story. Thanks!

This vocabulary is typed by MT.Dang. Please do not use it in business. Nội dung bài Vocabulary được gõ lại bởi MT Dang. Vui lòng không sử dụng lại với mục đích kinh doanh - mua bán.Thank you!