AA:I'mAviArdittiwithRosanneSkirble, andthisweekonWORDMASTER: Ifyou'relookingforabreakfromalltheU.S. electionnews, we'vegottheanswer. We'rebackwith"Slangman" DavidBurketofinishreadingthroughaletterfilledtothebreakingpointwithexamplesofthemanywaysAmericansusetheword"break."

DAVIDBURKE:"'Ididn'tmeantobreakhisheart, butgivemeabreak-- he'ssorude! IknowIshouldbebreakingouttheChampagnenow, nowthatIbrokeitoff. ButIfeelguiltyandmyvoicebreakseverytimeItalkaboutit. DoyouthinkIdidtherightthing?'

"OK, 'Ididn'tmeantobreakhisheart.'Now, again, inarelationship, hopefullyyou'llneverhearthis, andyou'llneverhavetodoit, tobreaksomeone'sheart. Itmeanstodisappointsomebodysomuchthattheybecomeso, soterriblysad, tobreaksomeone'sheart.

David"Slangman" Burke

"Andifsomeonesaystoyougivemeabreak, nowthisisareallycommonexpression. Wehearitalot. Givemeabreak. Ifsomebodysayssomethingtoyouthat'sabsolutelyridiculous, yousay'Givemeabreak.'Itmeansstoptalkingsuchnonsense. Givemeabreak. That'simpossible, thatneverhappened. Givemeabreak. Thatisreallycommon.

"IwouldsaythatanybodywhocomestoAmericaisprobablygoingtohear'Givemeabreak'withinthefirsthour. It'sprettypopular. Andifsomeonesaysthattoyou, thatmeanstheydon'tbelieveyou.

"Sothenshegoesontosay'He'sjustsorude. IknowIshouldbebreakingoutthechampagne.'Champagneissuchanevent. Wedon'tjustsayto'takeout'thechampagne. Wesaytobreakoutthechampagne. That'sreallyabigcelebration. SoonNewYear'sEveeveryonebreaksouttheChampagne.

"Soshesays'IknowIshouldbebreakingouttheChampagne, nowthatIbrokeitoff.'Sowhenyoubreakitoff, 'it'meanstherelationship. Ibrokeofftherelationship, Ibrokeitoff. Andthenshesays'ButI'mfeelingguiltyandmyvoicebreakseverytimeItalkaboutit.'Sowhenyourvoicebreaks, itstartstoshakeandyoudon'tusuallygettofinishthelastsyllableofyourwordbecauseyourvoiceisbreaking.

"Andthenshesays, ofcourse, 'DidIdotherightthing?'Well, yes, definitely. Asyoubrokeitdown, Iwouldsay, yes, youdidtherightthinginbreakingitofforbreakingupwiththisperson.

"Therearemanyotherexpressionsusingbreak. Ifyou'resick, yourfevercanbreak, too, bytheway. Wehopeyourfeverbreaks. Ifyoueverhaveafever, youwantthefevertobreak. Itjustmeansitcomesdown.

"Totakeabreak, that'sanotherthingyou'llhearprobably, certainlyinthefirsthourofworkingintheUnitedStates. 'It'stimeforabreak. It'sbreaktime.'"

AA:"Maybenotthefirsthour. Afterafewhoursofhardwork. Then."

DAVIDBURKE:"Thenyougettotakethebreak. Butdon'tpeopleusuallytalkabout'Oh, Ican'twaitforthebreak. Inanotherhour, breaktimesoon.'[Laughter] Seeyoujustmademebreakintolaughterwiththatcomment.

"Andbreakingintoabank, tobreakin, breakingandentering-- that'ssomethingwehearsometimesonthenews. Tobreakinmeanstoenterwithforce, tobreakin. So, youknow, it'sinteresting, asIwasgoingthroughtheverb'tobreak,'theremustbeprobablythirtydifferentwaysthatweusebreakeveryday. Andwhat'sinterestingtoanAmericanisthatwehavenoideajusthowmanytimesweusetheseexpressions. Butthesephrasalverbs, weuseallthetime.

"Andweusephrasalverbsthatalsohaveslangmeaningswithintheverbitself, likewithbreak, tobreakdown, tobebroke. Sobreakisareally, reallywonderfulverbtoattachallsortsofprepositionstoandcreateourownnewmeanings, whichagainaretwo- andthree-partphrasalverbs."

AA:"David, letmebreakinhereforonesecondandaskyou, thetemperaturesweresohotinL.A. recently, didyoubreakoutintoasweat."

DAVIDBURKE:"Nice! Yes. IthoughtIhadbrokenafever. [Laughter]"

AA:David"Slangman" BurkeinLosAngelesistheauthorofmorethan60 languagebooks. YoucanlearnmorepopularslangandidiomsthatAmericansuseeverydayatSlangman.com.

AndyoucanfindthefirstpartofourconversationalongwithpreviousSlangmansegmentsonourwebsite, voanews.com/wordmaster. YoucanalsofollowusonFacebookandTwitteratVOALearningEnglish. WithRosanneSkirble, I'mAviArditti.