In this mini episode, you will learn the interesting expression “do a number on.”
Episode 309 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the interesting expression “do a number on.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hi, everyone. This is Alalu Borom Gawane from Senegal, West Africa. I hope you enjoy Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 309 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to tell you about an interesting expression that you might not have seen before. The expression is “to do a number on.” To do a number on. That’s do: d-o, a, number: n-u-m-b-e-r, on: o-n. To do a number on.
When we use this expression, it’s always in this kind of construction: to do a number on someone, or to do a number on something.
And what does it mean? What does it mean to do a number on something? To do a number on someone—or something—means to hurt someone or harm someone or damage someone or something in some way.
I understand that this is a strange-sounding expression. I don’t really know why this expression means this, but it does mean this.
Let me give you two examples of situations where somebody might use this expression:
Let’s say we are trying to decide on a restaurant to go to for lunch. And you recommend a restaurant that serves a lot of spicy food, and I say to you, “I don’t think I can go to that restaurant. Spicy food really does a number on my stomach.” Spicy food really does a number on my stomach. That means spicy food hurts my stomach, or spicy food makes my stomach feel bad. Spicy food does something bad to my stomach. It does a number on my stomach.
And here’s another situation:
Let’s say we are talking about a friend of ours who has a boss who is really unfair and mean. This boss is always insulting our friend and saying bad things about our friend. We could say, “Our friend’s boss is really doing a number on her career.” Our friend’s boss is really doing a number on her career. What does this mean? It means our friend’s boss is harming our friend’s career. Our friend’s boss is hurting her career by insulting our friend and saying all of these bad things about our friend. The boss is hurting our friend’s career.
That is “do a number on,” a very strange and interesting expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 309 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Alalu recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode. And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!