WEBVTT

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Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast

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number 19. Welcome back to English as a Second

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Language podcast number 19. My name is Dr. Jeff

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McQuillan. This podcast is for those trying to

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improve their English. Go to our website for

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more information on this podcast. and for the

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text or script for today's first part of the

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podcast. Today we are going to talk about going

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shopping, and I'm going to talk about a recent

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visit I made to the store. Here we go. Believe

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it or not, I don't own an iPod. I know, I know,

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I'm really behind the times. But I have an excuse.

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I've been so busy at my work lately, I haven't

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had time to take a break. So finally yesterday,

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I went shopping for an iPod. down at the mall

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in Santa Monica. I walked into the Mac store

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there and was immediately greeted by a salesperson.

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He asked, Can I help you find something? No,

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I said. Just looking. I don't like the feeling

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of high -pressure salespeople. Anyway, I looked

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around the store some more and finally made my

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way to the iPod section. Then I decided to ask

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a salesman a question. Excuse me, can I ask you

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something? Sure, he said. Go right ahead. an

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iPod, but I'm not sure which one is right for

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me. What do you recommend? He replied, Are you

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going to be using it for running, jogging, working

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out, in your car? Yes, I said, all of those,

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except the running, jogging, and working out.

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He laughed at my somewhat lame joke. Okay, well,

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I recommend you get the iPod Mini to start. How

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much is that, I asked. Well, it just went on

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sale, so I think we can offer you a good price

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on it. I'll take one, I said, and we made our

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way. to the cash register. Will that be credit

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or debit, he asked me. Credit card, I said, as

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I swiped the card through the reader. I waited,

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and nothing happened. Could you swipe that card

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again? It didn't go through. Sure, I said. and

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swiped it again. Finally, the card processed,

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and he handed me the charge slip to sign. I'm

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sure you'll be very happy with your purchase.

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Oh, I said, it's not really for me. It's for

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my wife. Now let's talk about some of the phrases

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and vocabulary I used. I began my description

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by saying, believe it or not. This is a very

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common expression in English when we are going

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to tell something to someone that is surprising

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or unexpected. I said that I'm really behind

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the times. To be behind the times means to not

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be up to date, not be current, not be modern.

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If everyone in your neighborhood has a color

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TV and you have a black and white TV, You are

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behind the times. You are not modern or current.

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I said that I didn't have time to take a break.

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To take a break means to take a rest, to stop

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doing something. Usually work, although sometimes

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we say, I want you to take a break from studying.

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And the expression is to take a break from. I'm

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going to take a break from working. I'm going

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to take a break from watching television. Anything

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that you stop doing is possible. When I went

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into the store, the salesperson said to me, Can

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I help you find something? This is a very common

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way for people in a store of any kind to ask

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you, Are you looking for something? Can I help

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you find something? It's an offer of help, an

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offer of assistance. They're giving you help.

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A very common response is, No. I'm just looking,

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meaning I don't want any help right now. I just

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want to look on my own. Sometimes we'll say,

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I'm just browsing. Browsing means to look in

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a very relaxed way. I said that I don't like

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high pressure sales people. High pressure sales

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people. are salesmen or saleswomen who try to

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get you to buy something that you don't really

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want. When I asked the salesperson a question,

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he said, sure, go right ahead. Meaning, yes,

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you may ask me a question. Go right ahead. is

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a way of giving permission. For example, I may

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ask my friend, can I use your car tomorrow? And

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he would say, sure, go right ahead. Meaning,

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yes, please do that. I said that I was going

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to, I was thinking, rather, of picking up. an

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iPod. To pick up something, you probably know

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literally means to hold it in your hand and lift

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it up. I am going to pick up the pen from the

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floor. But when we are talking about shopping,

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picking up means buying. I need to pick up some

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apples from the store means I need to buy some

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apples from the store. I asked the salesman,

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what do you recommend? This is a simple, polite

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way of asking a salesperson a question for their

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opinion, for their suggestion. You could also

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say, what would you recommend? It's the same

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thing. I told a very not very funny joke and

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I described it as a lame joke. L -A -M -E. Lame

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is a common informal word which means not very

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good or very bad. It also is used for describing

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other things. such as, that movie was really

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lame, meaning it was really bad. Or sometimes

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we'll just say, that's lame, meaning that's really

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bad, it's not very good. It's always a negative

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thing to be lame. The salesperson said that he

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would recommend... I get an iPod mini to start.

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When you say to start, you mean that eventually,

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later, you will get more things, or something

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more expensive, or something more complicated.

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We might use this expression, for example, a

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child asks his parent, if he can have two pieces

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of cake and two slices of cake. And the parent

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says, why don't you have one piece to start?

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Meaning you can have that now and then maybe

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something more later. So to start is used in

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many different contexts. When I wanted to buy,

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when I decided to buy my iPod, I said, I'll take

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one. I'll take one means I'm going to buy one.

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Sometimes we can say to a salesperson, I'll take

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one of those and one of those, and I'll take

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that over there, meaning I want to buy all of

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those things. The salesperson asked me if I was

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paying credit or debit. Credit or debit means

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a credit card, like Visa and MasterCard, American

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Express. Those are credit cards. But in the United

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States, there are also debit cards, D -E -B -I

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-T. Bank takes the money directly out of your

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savings account. In a credit card, you can charge

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it, that is to say pay for it on the credit card,

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and then you have 30 days usually to pay your

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bill. With a debit card, the store removes your

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money, takes your money from your bank account

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immediately. I said I had a credit card, and

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I swiped the card through the reader. To swipe

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something means to pass it by something quickly.

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A reader, a credit card reader, is a small machine

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that reads credit cards, that you take the credit

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card and pass it through so it can read. the

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electronic information. To swipe is the verb

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we use when talking about credit cards or debit

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cards. You swipe the card through the reader,

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the credit card reader. The clerk said that,

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or the salesperson, and clerk, salesperson here

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mean the same. He said that it didn't go through.

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Meaning it didn't accept my card. It didn't process

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my card. So I swiped it again. Finally, he handed

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me a charge slip. When you pay for something

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on a credit card or a debit card, you have to

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sign a slip. And that is called a slip is a piece

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of paper. So a charge slip. is a piece of paper

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with your signature saying, yes, I want to buy

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this. It's okay to charge me for this. That's

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going to do it for today's ESL podcast. We encourage

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all of our listeners to email us and tell us

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where you are listening from. Our email address

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is on our website. Or you can just email eslpod

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at eslpod .com. Thank you for listening. We'll

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see you again tomorrow on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast

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is produced by the Center for Educational Development

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in Los Angeles, California.