PE 8/19 Randy Pausch’s Speech: The Last Lecture –Part 3

Never give up. I didn’t get into Brown University. I was on the wait list. I called them up and they eventually decided that it was getting really annoying to have me call everyday so they let me in.

* wait list: a list of the people who were not the first selected for or the first to sign up for something

ex> Give me your name for the wait list and we will call you when a table is available.

All my good students go to Carnegie Mellon. Yeah, you know what’s coming. And so he said, you’re going to go to Carnegie Mellon, no problem.

* what’s coming: the next thing

ex> You have no idea what’s coming in the movie, so don’t leave your seat!

And he also didn’t know I was going to tank my GRE’s because he believed in me. Which, based on my board scores was a really stupid idea.

* tank: to fail in a big way

ex> Randy’s first business tanked badly and he went bankrupt.

And I was a bit of an obnoxious little kid. I went into Andy’s office and I dropped the rejection letter on his desk. And I said, I just want you to know what your letter of recommendation goes for at Carnegie Mellon.

* obnoxious: rude and aggressive

ex> The salesman was obnoxious in his attempts to get me to buy a car.

And he said, look, Carnegie Mellon’s where you’re going to be. He said, I’ll tell you what, I’ll make you a deal.

* (I’ll) tell you what: an opening phrase used to make an offer

ex> I’ll tell you what, if you work hard for the next 90 days, I guarantee you will see results.

<Practice Makes Perfect>

1. The wait list for Harvard University is only around 50 names annually.

2. You won’t know what’s coming if you don’t go to your company’s event.

3. Bob tanked his driving test and now he has to wait another month to try again.

4. His obnoxious behavior got him kicked out of the restaurant.

5. I’ll tell you what, you drop the price by 50 dollars and I’ll take it.