In this mini episode, you will learn the expression “Be my guest.”
Episode 358 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the expression “Be my guest.” Send your questions about English and your comments and suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello! This is Alicia, from China. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 358 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 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 teach you the expression “Be my guest.” Be my guest.
That’s b-e, m-y, g-u-e-s-t. Be my guest.
Before I tell you about this expression, let me make sure that you understand the word guest.
Do you know what a guest is? A guest is someone who has been invited to spend time in someone’s home, or a customer at a place like a hotel, and maybe a customer at some other kinds of businesses. The point is that a guest is someone who has been invited to spend time somewhere and is welcome somewhere.
If you invite someone to come to your apartment for dinner, that person will be your guest. And that means you will treat this person like a host treats somebody. You will try to make your friend feel comfortable.
That’s what it means to have a guest. It means to invite someone into your home, or into certain other kinds of places.
The expression “Be my guest” is often used in other situations. We don’t usually use it to mean, “Please come to my home.” That would be a very literal meaning of this phrase. And usually when people use it, they don’t mean it in that literal way.
Let me give you an example of a situation where somebody might use the expression “Be my guest.” And then I think you will understand what it means.
Let’s say you are at a café with your friend. You see a little table, but there is only one chair at the table, and you need two chairs. Then, you notice at another table, there seems to be an extra chair. The people at that other table are not using that extra chair. And so, you go up to the people sitting at that other table, and you say, “Is it all right if I take this chair?” Is it alright if I take this chair? Can I take this chair? And, one of the people at that other table says, “Be my guest.” Be my guest.
What do they mean? Why would they say, “Be my guest”? You are not their guest. You have not been invited to spend time in their home. So, why are they saying that? What does it mean in this kind of situation?
In this situation, “Be my guest” means “Please make yourself comfortable. Please do what you would like to do.” In other words, it’s kind of like saying, “Let’s pretend you are my guest, and I am the host. As a good host, I want you to be comfortable. I want you to do what you would like to do.”
So if I say to somebody, “Be my guest,” that means “Please—you may do what you want to do.” In this case, that would mean, “Yes, please take this chair. That’s all right. Please act as though you are my guest, and you are visiting my home. And of course, I will allow you to take this chair or to do anything else that you need to do to be comfortable.”
I think this is a common expression that you will hear in situations like this. It is not about guests and hosts in any literal way, but it means “Please do what you would like to do. Please make yourself comfortable. Please don’t let me stop you from doing what you would like to do. Be my guest. Yes, you may do that. Yes, of course, you may borrow this chair. That’s fine. Be my guest.”
And that is “Be my guest,” a common and useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 358 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 Alicia 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!