Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast,
number 18. From Los Angeles, California, you're
listening to the English as a Second Language
Podcast. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillan, your
host, from the Center for Educational Development.
Before we begin our podcast today, I want to
thank one of our listeners, Johannes from Germany,
who gave us some very useful technical help over
the weekend for our podcast. So thank you, Johannes.
And thank everyone for writing in and emailing
us. www .eslpod .com for more information. Today's
topic is going to be about transportation and
getting around, particularly here in the United
States. As usual, we'll discuss the topic and
then come back and look at some vocabulary. Now
let's get started. Getting around in the United
States is sometimes not very easy. Most people
own their own cars, but not everyone can foot
the bill for the car plus the insurance, gas,
and maintenance. Most big cities have buses,
but they are much slower. than a car. Several
cities in the US have subway systems, but many
do not. There are even fewer trains that transport
daily commuters. In cities such as Los Angeles,
public transportation is much more limited than
in other countries. To take some form of public
transportation, you need to pay a certain fare.
In most big cities, the fare is anywhere from
one to two dollars. But don't expect the bus
driver to change a bill for you. You usually
need exact change. if you are going to ride a
bus, train, or subway. Whatever you take, you
always have to pay for it. My friends here in
Los Angeles all have different ways of getting
to work. One friend, who lives out in the boonies,
rides the train every day. He takes the train
because it's easier for him than driving or taking
a bus. Another friend I know who works close
to where he lives rides a bike every day. Still
another friend drives his car. I don't know anyone
who rides the bus. but I've taken it once or
twice when my car was in the shop. Worst comes
to worst, you can always hop in a taxi. Taking
a taxi is expensive here, though, so be prepared
for a big fare, not including the tip. We're
talking today about ways of getting around in
the United States. To get around means, of course,
to travel, to go from one place to another. I
started off by talking about how limited public
transportation is in the United States. Public
transportation is anything that is run by the
government. such as buses, trains, and subways.
I mentioned that people who own their own cars
have to foot the bill. To foot the bill means
to pay for the bill. It's an informal expression.
Who's going to foot the bill for this dinner
means who's going to pay for this dinner. In
talking about cars, we often associate words
like insurance. Insurance is what you buy in
case you have an accident. The insurance company
will pay for your repairs. Gas is of course gasoline.
Petro, the fuel for your car. Maintenance is
anything you need to do to your car to fix it
or to keep it running well. Changing the oil,
for example. Checking the air pressure in your
tires. This is all part of maintenance. I mentioned
that there are very few trains in the United
States that transport daily commuters. A commuter
is a person who has to travel usually a long
distance between his or her home and where they
work. Public transportation, I mentioned, is
limited. Public transportation we, of course,
have already covered. In any sort of transportation
other than your own car, you have to pay what's
called a fare. A fare is the term we use for
a taxi cab. It's the term we use for a bus. It's
the term we use for a train, airplane, subway.
All of these use the term fare. I said that bus
drivers in the United States will not change
a bill for you. To change a bill here means simply...
To give you change. So if the fare is 50 cents
and you only have one dollar, you would have
to change your bill. The bill, of course, is
any paper denomination, any paper money. So changing
a bill, we sometimes also use the expression
to break a bill. It means the same. To break
a bill. For example, a $20 bill and get two $10
bills. That's breaking a 20. Exact change, of
course, means that you have the exact amount
that is necessary. In talking about my own friends
here in Los Angeles, I said that one of my friends
lives in the boonies. The boonies is an informal
expression. It means way far away from the main
part of the city. The suburbs, which are places
outside of the central part of the city, can
sometimes be called the boonies. It's a somewhat
negative term. You don't want to tell someone
that they live in the boonies. because it means
they live far away from civilization. In talking
about trains and cars and bicycles and buses,
we often use similar verbs to express what it
means to go on that transportation. For example,
for train, we say we ride the train. We use the
verb ride for trains, for subways, for buses.
We don't use the term ride for taxi cabs, for
your own car, or for planes. You can drive your
own car, and we only use the term drive if you
are the person driving the actual car. So, I
drive to work. But if I go with someone else,
they drive me. For a plane, we use the verb fly.
I'm going to fly to San Francisco. We can also
use the verb take for almost any kind of transportation.
He takes the train. He takes the bus. He takes
the subway. We don't say, though, He takes the
plane. With plane, we only use fly. For a car,
you can also say take. I'm going to take my car
today, meaning I'm going to drive my car. So
drive is just used for cars. Rides and takes
can be used for buses, subways, trains. Takes
can be used for... I'm going to take a taxi or
I'm going to take a cab. And for planes, we use
fly. For bicycles, we can say, usually we say
rides a bicycle. He rides his bicycle to work
every day. But it's possible to say he takes
his bicycle to work. But that's not very common.
Much more common to say he rides his bicycle.
A couple of more expressions. I said that I take
the bus if my car is in the shop. To be in the
shop for a car means to be at the mechanics,
the person who fixes my car. So when your car
breaks down, you take it to the shop. Sometimes
we'll say... The mechanic, or sometimes we'll
say the shop. Shop is short for mechanic's shop.
Notice it has nothing to do with the verb to
shop, which means to buy. A shop is any place
where something is fixed, usually cars. I used
another common expression at the end of my discussion.
Worse comes to worst. This is a very old but
a very common expression. Worse comes to worst
means in the very worst case possible. We sometimes
say worst case scenario, meaning the worst situation.
We use this when we're trying to say what the
most negative or the worst situation would be.
But it's usually followed by an expression of
how we can get out of that situation. I said
that worse comes to worst, you can always take
a taxi. Meaning, even in the worst situation,
you have an alternative. Another way to use the
expression, I go to the doctor's office and I
need to pay for my visit. I need to pay the doctor.
And I forgot my credit card or my checkbook.
Worst comes to worst, I can ask the doctor to
send me a bill, which I will pay later. So worst
comes to worst is always followed by a solution
to that worst problem or that worst situation.
Finally, I said that you can hop in a taxi. This
is a verb a little informal, but we say hop in
this case means the same as take, so it gets
a little confusing. We usually just say hop for
a taxi cab, but you can also say it for a bus
or a train or a subway. I'm going to hop the
subway to downtown means I'm going to take the
subway. We don't use hop for car, and we don't
use hop for bike, and we do not use hop for plane.
But you can say hop for the other types of transportation.
That's going to do it for today's English as
a Second Language podcast. As always, we would
love to hear from you. Please email us and tell
us where you are. And if you have suggestions
for topics for future podcasts, please email
them. We have had many people email us and we
are going to use most of your suggestions. It
will take some time for us to get to everyone's
suggestion, but we will try to... Do as many
as possible. Our email address is on our website,
or you can simply email us at eslpod at eslpod
.com. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillan. I want to
thank you for listening. We'll see you next time
on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast is produced by the
Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles,
California.