Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast
number 19. Welcome back to English as a Second
Language podcast number 19. My name is Dr. Jeff
McQuillan. This podcast is for those trying to
improve their English. Go to our website for
more information on this podcast. and for the
text or script for today's first part of the
podcast. Today we are going to talk about going
shopping, and I'm going to talk about a recent
visit I made to the store. Here we go. Believe
it or not, I don't own an iPod. I know, I know,
I'm really behind the times. But I have an excuse.
I've been so busy at my work lately, I haven't
had time to take a break. So finally yesterday,
I went shopping for an iPod. down at the mall
in Santa Monica. I walked into the Mac store
there and was immediately greeted by a salesperson.
He asked, Can I help you find something? No,
I said. Just looking. I don't like the feeling
of high -pressure salespeople. Anyway, I looked
around the store some more and finally made my
way to the iPod section. Then I decided to ask
a salesman a question. Excuse me, can I ask you
something? Sure, he said. Go right ahead. an
iPod, but I'm not sure which one is right for
me. What do you recommend? He replied, Are you
going to be using it for running, jogging, working
out, in your car? Yes, I said, all of those,
except the running, jogging, and working out.
He laughed at my somewhat lame joke. Okay, well,
I recommend you get the iPod Mini to start. How
much is that, I asked. Well, it just went on
sale, so I think we can offer you a good price
on it. I'll take one, I said, and we made our
way. to the cash register. Will that be credit
or debit, he asked me. Credit card, I said, as
I swiped the card through the reader. I waited,
and nothing happened. Could you swipe that card
again? It didn't go through. Sure, I said. and
swiped it again. Finally, the card processed,
and he handed me the charge slip to sign. I'm
sure you'll be very happy with your purchase.
Oh, I said, it's not really for me. It's for
my wife. Now let's talk about some of the phrases
and vocabulary I used. I began my description
by saying, believe it or not. This is a very
common expression in English when we are going
to tell something to someone that is surprising
or unexpected. I said that I'm really behind
the times. To be behind the times means to not
be up to date, not be current, not be modern.
If everyone in your neighborhood has a color
TV and you have a black and white TV, You are
behind the times. You are not modern or current.
I said that I didn't have time to take a break.
To take a break means to take a rest, to stop
doing something. Usually work, although sometimes
we say, I want you to take a break from studying.
And the expression is to take a break from. I'm
going to take a break from working. I'm going
to take a break from watching television. Anything
that you stop doing is possible. When I went
into the store, the salesperson said to me, Can
I help you find something? This is a very common
way for people in a store of any kind to ask
you, Are you looking for something? Can I help
you find something? It's an offer of help, an
offer of assistance. They're giving you help.
A very common response is, No. I'm just looking,
meaning I don't want any help right now. I just
want to look on my own. Sometimes we'll say,
I'm just browsing. Browsing means to look in
a very relaxed way. I said that I don't like
high pressure sales people. High pressure sales
people. are salesmen or saleswomen who try to
get you to buy something that you don't really
want. When I asked the salesperson a question,
he said, sure, go right ahead. Meaning, yes,
you may ask me a question. Go right ahead. is
a way of giving permission. For example, I may
ask my friend, can I use your car tomorrow? And
he would say, sure, go right ahead. Meaning,
yes, please do that. I said that I was going
to, I was thinking, rather, of picking up. an
iPod. To pick up something, you probably know
literally means to hold it in your hand and lift
it up. I am going to pick up the pen from the
floor. But when we are talking about shopping,
picking up means buying. I need to pick up some
apples from the store means I need to buy some
apples from the store. I asked the salesman,
what do you recommend? This is a simple, polite
way of asking a salesperson a question for their
opinion, for their suggestion. You could also
say, what would you recommend? It's the same
thing. I told a very not very funny joke and
I described it as a lame joke. L -A -M -E. Lame
is a common informal word which means not very
good or very bad. It also is used for describing
other things. such as, that movie was really
lame, meaning it was really bad. Or sometimes
we'll just say, that's lame, meaning that's really
bad, it's not very good. It's always a negative
thing to be lame. The salesperson said that he
would recommend... I get an iPod mini to start.
When you say to start, you mean that eventually,
later, you will get more things, or something
more expensive, or something more complicated.
We might use this expression, for example, a
child asks his parent, if he can have two pieces
of cake and two slices of cake. And the parent
says, why don't you have one piece to start?
Meaning you can have that now and then maybe
something more later. So to start is used in
many different contexts. When I wanted to buy,
when I decided to buy my iPod, I said, I'll take
one. I'll take one means I'm going to buy one.
Sometimes we can say to a salesperson, I'll take
one of those and one of those, and I'll take
that over there, meaning I want to buy all of
those things. The salesperson asked me if I was
paying credit or debit. Credit or debit means
a credit card, like Visa and MasterCard, American
Express. Those are credit cards. But in the United
States, there are also debit cards, D -E -B -I
-T. Bank takes the money directly out of your
savings account. In a credit card, you can charge
it, that is to say pay for it on the credit card,
and then you have 30 days usually to pay your
bill. With a debit card, the store removes your
money, takes your money from your bank account
immediately. I said I had a credit card, and
I swiped the card through the reader. To swipe
something means to pass it by something quickly.
A reader, a credit card reader, is a small machine
that reads credit cards, that you take the credit
card and pass it through so it can read. the
electronic information. To swipe is the verb
we use when talking about credit cards or debit
cards. You swipe the card through the reader,
the credit card reader. The clerk said that,
or the salesperson, and clerk, salesperson here
mean the same. He said that it didn't go through.
Meaning it didn't accept my card. It didn't process
my card. So I swiped it again. Finally, he handed
me a charge slip. When you pay for something
on a credit card or a debit card, you have to
sign a slip. And that is called a slip is a piece
of paper. So a charge slip. is a piece of paper
with your signature saying, yes, I want to buy
this. It's okay to charge me for this. That's
going to do it for today's ESL podcast. We encourage
all of our listeners to email us and tell us
where you are listening from. Our email address
is on our website. Or you can just email eslpod
at eslpod .com. Thank you for listening. We'll
see you again tomorrow on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast
is produced by the Center for Educational Development
in Los Angeles, California.