Summary

Rob's hurt his foot and Feifei's taking him to hospital. He uses an expression that leaves him in even more pain. Listen to the programme to find out about the phrase 'step on it' and how you should really use it.

Transcript

Feifei
Welcome to The English We Speak. It's Feifei here with Rob, and we're in a bit of a rush…

Rob
…yes yes, I've hurt my foot and we've got to get to hospital. Ouch!

Feifei
Ooo, it looks nasty, Rob – all red and swollen. It was a good job I was driving by when you hurt it.

Rob
Yes yes, thanks for the lift, Feifei. But it really is hurting, so could you step on it, please?

Feifei
What?

Rob
Step on it!

Feifei
Oh, OK if you say so.

Rob
Ow! That was painful – what did you do that for?

Feifei
You said 'step on it' – I thought that was an odd request, but I did.

Rob
No, Feifei! I meant drive faster – that's what 'step on it' means. It's what you say to someone to ask them to hurry. That hurt so much.

Feifei
Oops, sorry! Right, well hold on tight, Rob, I will step on it while we hear some examples….

Examples
Taxi! Could you take me to the station please? And could you step on it? I'm late!

Our coach told us to step on it if we wanted to get to the match on time.

Please step on it, otherwise we're going to miss the plane.

Feifei
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. And we're finding out about the phrase 'step on it', which means go faster or hurry up. Well, we're nearly at the hospital, Rob.

Rob
Good good, because my foot hurts so much – I need urgent medical attention.

Feifei
How exactly did you hurt it?

Rob
I was playing football and another player stepped on my big toe. It was so painful.

Feifei
What! So you've got me to 'step on it' – and drive at high speed – because someone stepped on your big toe? This isn't an emergency Rob - you can get out and walk.

Rob
That's not very nice.

Feifei
You had better step on it, Rob – the casualty department shuts in five minutes. Bye.

Rob
Bye.