Hello and welcome to today's edition of English
as a Second Language podcast. My name is Jeff
McQuillan. English as a Second Language podcast
is brought to you by www. www .eslpod .com Visit
us on the web. In today's podcast, we're going
to talk about nasty habits or bad habits that
people have. I'm going to talk about some of
my bad habits, which include... Smoking and drinking.
Let's get started. Well, my worst habit that
I have ever had is probably smoking. I don't
smoke anymore, but when I graduated from college,
I... went abroad to study in Mexico. And almost
everyone around me was a smoker. So it was very
difficult for me not to smoke. And I just decided
after a couple of months to give in and to start
smoking myself. I smoked for probably about two
or three years, and then I decided to quit smoking.
I was lucky because I was able to quit cold turkey,
whereas other people who try to quit often have
to use... Nicotine patches or nicotine gum or
something like that. But I was fortunate. I missed
smoking after I stopped it for probably five
years. When I would go by someone or walk by
someone who was smoking, I would inhale deeply
to smell. the smoke because it gave me a certain
satisfaction a certain pleasure but after about
five years i got sick of the smoke so that now
and this was 10 years ago that i quit smoking
now i i can't stand the smell of smoke i try
to get away from the smell of smoke in a restaurant
or on the street. The other bad habits that I
have include drinking alcohol, although I don't
drink very much alcohol. I used to drink when
I was in college and after college, but now I
don't drink as much. partly because I can't handle
my alcohol very well anymore, and I don't have
a lot of occasions to drink. I don't go to bars
anymore, and I don't hang around a lot of people
or friends who are heavy drinkers. I also like
to drink tea. I was a coffee drinker for many
years. I drank coffee almost every day, but eventually
the coffee started to irritate my stomach, and
so I had to stop drinking coffee, and I switched
to tea. And now I drink all sorts or all kinds
of tea. I drink black tea. I drink oolong tea.
I drink jasmine tea. I drink chai tea. My favorite
drink with tea is a hot chai tea latte. A latte
is a drink, either tea or coffee. That's made
with milk and sugar. Sometimes a little cream,
too. I usually have a cup of tea every morning.
It helps me wake up. I like the caffeine in the
morning. It gets me going. However, if I drink
tea at night, I have problems sleeping. So I
try to avoid drinking tea. As usual on ESL Podcast,
we recommend or we suggest that you listen to
this podcast several times, two, three, four
times, in order to understand everything that
we say. Now we're going to talk about... some
vocabulary that you may have had difficulty with
or difficulty understanding. The first expression
used at the beginning of the segment was to give
in. I said how I gave in when I was in Mexico
because everyone else around me was smoking.
To give in means to do something because you
are pressured somehow or that you receive pressure
from other people. For example, I ask my sister
to lend me her car and she says no. And then
I argue with her. I give her reasons. I beg her,
I bribe her, I give her money, and eventually
she gives in and allows me to use her car. So
to give in means that you are reluctant or you
don't want to do something, but eventually you
do. Another expression we used in talking about
smoking was cold turkey. I said that I quit smoking
cold turkey. To quit cold turkey means to stop
completely without ever going back. We often
use this expression when talking about bad or
nasty habits, such as smoking and drinking. So
to quit cold turkey is to stop some vice, some
habit, some addiction you have completely. Two
other expressions that we mentioned in our talk,
can't stand and can't handle. I mentioned that
I can't stand the smell of smoke. Can't stand
means or not able to stand. means that you do
not allow it, you do not tolerate it, you do
not put up with it. That is to say, for example,
I can't stand people who shout, meaning I'm very
bothered by people who shout. I try to get away
from people who shout. So the expression... Can't
stand means you can't tolerate, you can't put
up with. The expression can't handle is a little
different. To be able to handle something or
someone means that although that person or thing
is difficult, get along with that thing or that
person. So when I said earlier in the talk, I
can't handle my alcohol, that means that alcohol
gives me problems, problems that I can't control
very well. So, well, that's going to wrap it
up. for this edition of ESL Podcast. We are going
to come to an end, but we invite you to come
back tomorrow for another English as a Second
Language Podcast. Thank you for listening.