Understand Fast Speech: Native Pronunciation of “To” in English with the Big Bang Theory

It can be difficult to maintain motivation learning; especially when you are busy and have many commitments. Maybe it is just hard to find the time to study. And even when you do have the time, you are tired and the last thing you want to do is open a book! 

That is why it is so crucial to find ways to learn that are fun and fulfilling, so studying becomes easy to do.

We are constantly looking for ways to make learning faster and more fun to help make your journey to fluency effortless! 

In this short lesson, you will learn a "hack" [fast shortcut] to help you better comprehend natives (and even improve your own speaking)! Plus, you will learn tons of new vocabulary and laugh. 

Also, remember to sign up for our FREE 3-Part Mini Course at the bottom of the page, which will teach your our methodology for learning English with TV series, so that you can understand fast-speaking natives without getting lost, without missing the jokes, and without subtitles! 

Below the video you have some notes to help you study the scene 🙂 

I’m sorry, Ma

I have to stay late at the office.

No, he’s doesn’t! He’s lying to you!

Will you be quiet?

Well, if you want privacy let go of the ring.

I’m so glad we came to this gentile strip club!

Howard, here’s more bacon to tuck into the shiksa’s G-string!

I’ll call you back.

I think it’s lovely you call your mommy

and let her know you’re going to be late for dinner.

From what I know about these things,

if a woman doesn’t breastfeed on time,

it’s very uncomfortable for her boobies.

Don’t you talk about my mother’s boobies!

If you’re offended, let go of the ring and

go on home to your mother’s boobies.

Excellent, excellent.

Tire each other out, the ring will be mine.

Howard, why don’t you go after Raj’s mother?

Why don’t we go after your mother?

Go ahead.

I have no illusions about my mother.

She is a kind, loving, religiously fanatical right-wing Texan

with a slightly out-of-scale head and a mild Dr. Pepper addiction.

Anything you’d like to add?

That’s not gonna get you anywhere

Better pull out the big gun.

You’re right.

Let’s talk about your grandmother.

No!

I call no Meemaws.

Think about this.

The only way your mother was born was your Meemaw had sex.

I don’t want to hear this.

Then let go of the ring and walk away.

Never.

All right.

I’ll bet your Meemaw didn’t just have sex to have your mother.

I bet she had sex because she liked it.

Stop it!

Yeah, Meemaw did the nasty.

I said stop it!

We’re getting to him.

Waterfalls!

What?

Waterfalls.

Crashing waves.

Babbling brooks.

What are you doing?

Subliminal messaging.

I’m going to make you want to pee.

Dripping faucets.

Leaky gutter.

Peeing.

It’s, it’s not working, dude.

Oh-ho-ho

It’s working all right.

I have to pee.

Then let go of the ring and go.

No, actually, I wouldn’t mind going, too.

Fine. Um, on the count of three.

One, two…

Wait, just to clarify.

When you get to three

do we stand up

or do we pee?

We stand up.

Excellent choice.

Three.

Something tells me this was a bad day to wear suede shoes.

I’ve done it!

I’ve won!

The ring is mine!

It’s mine!

We’re going to clean it up

and make it pretty.

My own.

My love.

My precious.

Quiet

Not talking or making very little noise. We say be quiet to someone when we want them to stop talking or making noise. A stronger, ruder way to say this is “shut up”.  

The teacher told her students to be quiet.

Let go of (someone/something)

To stop holding someone or something.

The little dog was biting my jeans and didn't want to let go.

Glad

Happy

Strip club

A place where the audience is entertained by performers doing a striptease, which is when someone takes off his or her clothes, usually while dancing to music.

gentile strip club… Here’s more bacon to tuck into the shiksa’s G-string!

To make it sound more real, Raj is painting an image of what they would be doing if they really were at a strip club.

Howard is Jewish, so in order to worry his mother more,  he says a “gentile strip club.” A gentile is a non-Jew.

To tuck something in or into something means to put something tightly in a particular place. A G-string is a very small type of women’s underwear. At a strip club, money is generally tucked into women's underwear, but to continue offending Howard’s Jewish mother, he says they are tucking bacon into a shiksa’s G-string. Bacon (and all other meat from pigs) is prohibited in a Jewish kosher diet. A shiksa is a term from Yiddish language meaning a non-Jewish woman.  

Ways to talk about one’s mother

There are many ways to refer to your mother, as we see in this scene.

Mom - is probably the most commonly used word to talk about mothers in the United States. In the UK and Australia, they say mum.

Mommy - is a more childish way to refer to one’s mother. An adult would likely not call his mother mommy. So Raj uses it to show that Howard has an unusually close and dependent relationship with his mother for a man his age.

Mother - most people will not call their mom “mother” unless they do not have a close relationship with her. It is used more for official or formal purposes.

Mama - is usually the first word babies say for their mother. It is used by young children, but it is less common for adults to call their mother “mama.”

Breastfeed

To feed a baby milk from a mother's breast..

Boobies

An immature way to talk about women’s breasts

Don’t you + verb

Used to emphatically say to someone that they shouldn't do something.

Don't you say a word.

A common collocation is don't you dare, which further intensifies the imperative tone of this phrase.

Don't you dare eat my food.

Tire someone out

To make someone exhausted.

The kids played together until they tired each other out.

Go after

Generally this means to follow and try to stop or catch someone, but in this context Sheldon uses this verb with the meaning of to attack or tease someone verbally.

Go ahead

Used to say to someone he or she can do something.

The boss told me I can go ahead and leave early today.

Fanatical right-wing Texan

Someone who's right-wing in politics is someone who supports conservatism. A left-wing is someone who has a more liberal, radical and reforming ideology. People in Texas are stereotypically right-wing. Fanatical means obsessive.

Out-of-Scale

Too big or small for something. In this scene, we can imagine that Sheldon’s mom has a head that is too big (or too small) for her body.

Those mirrors are out-of-scale for his big car.

Mild Dr. Pepper addiction

Mild means not too strong, or not strongly felt. In this case, for example, a mild addiction is less strongly felt than a severe addiction.  

Dr. Pepper is an American soft drink.

To get (somewhere)

To make progress.

Now that I have found ways to make learning English fun, I’m really getting somewhere!

And we often say “(something) isn’t going to get you anywhere,” as in this scene.

You won’t get anywhere if you only focus on studying grammar and don’t open your mouth.

Pull out the big gun

This means to use the most powerful weapons, tools or people available. For example, in a sports team, if you play against another team and decide to pull out the big guns against that team, it means you're going to use your best players to win.

Meemaw

What Sheldon calls his grandmother.

Do the nasty

Humorous way to say have sex.

Click at the top right for more sex related slang and expressions.

Get to someone

If you do or say something to make someone angry and you succeed, we say that what you did or said got to him or her.

In this case Howard and Raj tried to get to Sheldon by talking about his grandmother.

Babbling brook

A brook is a small river. Babbling comes from the verb to bable, which in this case refers to the sound of water rolling over stones in a relatively quiet stream.

Subliminal Messaging

A type of hidden message or advertisement, used to make someone do or feel something without him or her knowing it.

Movies used to have subliminal messaging meant to make you want to buy certain products.

Dripping faucets

To drip means to fall in individual small drops. A faucet is what sinks and baths have to control the flow of water.

Leaky gutter

A leak is a crack or hole through which water or other fluids escape.

A gutter is a long, hollow device that is attached to the edges of a roof to catch rain and carry it away from a building.           

Don't mind something / doing something

If you don’t mind something or doing something, it is not something that makes you worry or that gives you trouble.

As here, sometimes we use this expression to say that we would actually like doing something.

I wouldn't mind cooking for everybody again. It actually helps me release some stress.

Suede shoes

A type of leather shoes.