WEBVTT 00:00:00.330 --> 00:00:04.910 Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast 00:00:04.910 --> 00:00:16.969 Number 34. This is English as a Second Language 00:00:16.969 --> 00:00:22.129 Podcast Number 34. I'm Jeff McQuillan coming 00:00:22.129 --> 00:00:25.929 to you from the Center for Educational Development 00:00:25.929 --> 00:00:30.890 in Los Angeles, California. Visit our website 00:00:30.890 --> 00:00:40.530 at www .eslpod .com for more information on this 00:00:40.530 --> 00:00:46.009 podcast. Today's topic is going to the cafe. 00:00:47.829 --> 00:01:02.259 Let's get started. favorite hangouts is a cafe 00:01:02.259 --> 00:01:08.480 near where I live called Bolivar in Santa Monica. 00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:14.659 It's only five minutes away and it's never too 00:01:14.659 --> 00:01:21.200 busy to find a table. Sometimes it can be bustling, 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:26.519 but that's usually just in the morning during 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:33.349 rush hour or at lunchtime. The owners are from 00:01:33.349 --> 00:01:39.090 Venezuela and always have some cool music playing 00:01:39.090 --> 00:01:44.909 in the background. Yesterday, I decided to take 00:01:44.909 --> 00:01:49.930 my New York Times and my laptop and kill a few 00:01:49.930 --> 00:01:56.349 hours there. I ordered the usual as a regular 00:01:56.650 --> 00:02:02.409 The folks there know I want a vanilla latte with 00:02:02.409 --> 00:02:07.810 a double shot of espresso. Hold the whipped cream. 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:15.030 Sometimes I'll order a coffee cake if I'm feeling 00:02:15.030 --> 00:02:22.050 a little hungry. The cafe also has a soup and 00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:28.819 sandwich menu you can order off of. Cafes are 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:34.300 great for people watching. Sometimes, I just 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:39.740 sit and watch the people come and go. You get 00:02:39.740 --> 00:02:45.439 all types at this café. Yesterday, for example, 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:51.479 a mother comes in with her three daughters, and 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:57.889 one of the little girls orders a latte. Well, 00:02:58.509 --> 00:03:03.090 this being Los Angeles, you have your typical 00:03:03.090 --> 00:03:09.849 mix of screenwriters, out -of -work actors, and 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:16.530 various Hollywood wannabes. They make for a colorful 00:03:16.530 --> 00:03:22.930 mix most of the time. Me? I just sit and read 00:03:22.930 --> 00:03:30.479 my paper. I'm no actor. But someday I would like 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:44.680 to direct In talking about Cafe living or spending 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:51.379 time at a cafe I said that it was one of my favorite 00:03:51.379 --> 00:03:56.490 hangouts a hangout is a place where you spend 00:03:56.490 --> 00:04:01.990 time remember the verb to hang out is an informal 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:06.370 expression meaning to spend time somewhere usually 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:13.330 relaxing not working I said that this cafe where 00:04:13.330 --> 00:04:19.500 I like to hang out is near where I live To say 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:24.180 it's near where I live is the same to say it's 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:29.160 near me. I could have said it's near to where 00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:33.180 I live. There's really no difference between 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:38.319 those expressions. This particular cafe that 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:44.199 I like to go to is only five minutes away. When 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:49.009 talking about how the distance between two things, 00:04:49.829 --> 00:04:53.470 especially in a city like Los Angeles, we tend 00:04:53.470 --> 00:04:57.050 to talk about the time rather than the miles 00:04:57.050 --> 00:05:01.930 because there's so much traffic that it's better 00:05:01.930 --> 00:05:06.689 to think about how long it takes. So I say it's 00:05:06.689 --> 00:05:11.370 five minutes away, meaning it will take five 00:05:11.370 --> 00:05:15.990 minutes from my house to get or to arrive at 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:21.560 the cafe. I said that sometimes the cafe can 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:26.220 be bustling. To be bustling means to be very 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:30.339 busy, to have lots of people coming in and out. 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:36.459 This usually happens during rush hour or the 00:05:36.459 --> 00:05:39.899 time when people are going to work or coming 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:46.899 back from work to home or at lunch time. Lunch 00:05:46.899 --> 00:05:52.019 time is of course in the U .S. around noon, 12 00:05:52.019 --> 00:05:57.000 noon, and we use the expression lunch time or 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.199 dinner time. That's all one word, lunch time, 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:05.839 meaning the time we eat lunch. Yesterday when 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:10.839 I went to the cafe, I was going to kill a few 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:16.319 hours there. To kill a few hours or to kill time, 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:24.759 to kill a day which means to spend it doing relaxing 00:06:24.759 --> 00:06:30.980 enjoyable things often but mostly it means to 00:06:30.980 --> 00:06:36.120 use up that time to waste the time not to spend 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:42.639 it very productively not to be working I'm going 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:47.009 to kill a few hours at the mall means I'm going 00:06:47.009 --> 00:06:50.430 to go to the shopping mall, spend a few hours, 00:06:51.029 --> 00:06:55.810 but not work very hard or do anything very important. 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:02.589 I said that when I ordered my drink at the cafe, 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:07.870 I ordered the usual. When someone says, I'll 00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:13.350 have the usual, that means I'll order what I 00:07:13.350 --> 00:07:17.290 usually get. This is an expression. That's very 00:07:17.290 --> 00:07:21.149 closely related to another word. I used which 00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:26.689 was a regular When you say I'm a regular at this 00:07:26.689 --> 00:07:31.810 cafe that means I go to this cafe all the time 00:07:31.810 --> 00:07:37.230 I go there regularly and The people there know 00:07:37.230 --> 00:07:42.750 me So when I come in they know what I want I 00:07:42.750 --> 00:07:47.829 want the usual what I usually order I said I 00:07:47.829 --> 00:07:53.129 usually order a latte a latte is you probably 00:07:53.129 --> 00:07:58.529 know a coffee drink with milk I get mine with 00:07:58.529 --> 00:08:03.689 a double shot of espresso a shot of something 00:08:03.689 --> 00:08:12.009 is a small amount we use this term for espresso 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:15.779 a type of coffee. We also use it for alcohol. 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:21.240 I'll have a shot of alcohol means I'll have a 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:24.639 couple of ounces, a small amount of alcohol. 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:30.639 Usually in bars they have shot glasses. These 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:34.580 are small little glasses that have a few ounces 00:08:34.580 --> 00:08:41.720 of alcohol that they use, a shot glass. But here 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:44.820 I wasn't drinking alcohol. I was just drinking 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:49.620 coffee, and I told them in making my latte To 00:08:49.620 --> 00:08:53.980 hold the whipped cream to hold something when 00:08:53.980 --> 00:08:58.279 you're at a restaurant or a cafe Means to do 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:02.620 not means do not add it do not put it on there 00:09:02.620 --> 00:09:06.720 So if you go to a restaurant and the menu says 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:10.320 that the hamburger that you're going to order 00:09:10.590 --> 00:09:15.169 has lettuce and tomatoes and mayonnaise, and 00:09:15.169 --> 00:09:19.750 you don't want the mayonnaise, you say, I'll 00:09:19.750 --> 00:09:23.289 have the hamburger, but hold the mayonnaise, 00:09:23.830 --> 00:09:28.529 meaning don't put any mayonnaise on it. I mentioned 00:09:28.529 --> 00:09:33.669 that I was hungry. If I get hungry, I sometimes 00:09:33.669 --> 00:09:38.450 order a coffee cake. A coffee cake is just a 00:09:38.450 --> 00:09:43.629 pastry. That you can get at a cafe looks a little 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:48.649 like a cake small This cafe that I go to has 00:09:48.649 --> 00:09:53.090 a soup and sandwich menu that expression soup 00:09:53.090 --> 00:09:56.970 and sandwich Means they of course carry different 00:09:56.970 --> 00:10:00.450 soups and they have different sandwiches but 00:10:00.450 --> 00:10:05.289 it also implies that they don't have a regular 00:10:05.289 --> 00:10:11.710 kitchen a regular place to serve hot meals. So 00:10:11.710 --> 00:10:15.450 you can have a soup and sandwich place, a soup 00:10:15.450 --> 00:10:19.649 and sandwich cafe, but you won't be able to order, 00:10:19.789 --> 00:10:25.929 for example, a steak or mashed potatoes or any 00:10:25.929 --> 00:10:31.789 sort of formal or more difficult to prepare food. 00:10:33.149 --> 00:10:37.210 I said that cafes were great for people watching. 00:10:37.529 --> 00:10:41.450 To people watch, as you probably know, means 00:10:41.450 --> 00:10:44.769 to watch, just to sit and to watch the people 00:10:44.769 --> 00:10:49.350 go by, walking on the street or coming in and 00:10:49.350 --> 00:10:54.149 going out of the cafe. At this cafe, I said that 00:10:54.149 --> 00:10:58.909 you get all types. That means you get all types 00:10:58.909 --> 00:11:05.610 of people. I later said that this being Los Angeles, 00:11:05.950 --> 00:11:10.149 You have a typical mix of screenwriters, out 00:11:10.149 --> 00:11:14.250 -of -work actors, and various Hollywood wannabes. 00:11:14.950 --> 00:11:22.110 That first expression, this being, means related 00:11:22.110 --> 00:11:26.190 to Los Angeles, or what you would expect from 00:11:26.190 --> 00:11:32.330 Los Angeles. This being September, the children 00:11:32.330 --> 00:11:36.759 are going back to school, meaning means this 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:40.059 is September so we expect that the children will 00:11:40.059 --> 00:11:44.419 go back to school. The kind of people you see 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:48.299 at this cafe are some of them are screenwriters. 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:52.779 A screenwriter is a person who writes a script 00:11:52.779 --> 00:11:57.360 or the text of a movie or a television program. 00:11:57.580 --> 00:12:02.220 We call those screenwriters. An actor you already 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:06.590 know, an out -of -work actor, is an unemployed 00:12:06.590 --> 00:12:10.529 actor, someone who doesn't have a job right now. 00:12:11.750 --> 00:12:16.789 And finally I used an informal term wannabes. 00:12:17.610 --> 00:12:22.730 A wannabe or is someone who wants to be something 00:12:22.730 --> 00:12:28.190 but isn't. So if you want to be a famous actor 00:12:28.190 --> 00:12:32.850 but all you can get The only job you can get 00:12:32.850 --> 00:12:37.769 is working at a cafe in Hollywood. Well, you're 00:12:37.769 --> 00:12:41.289 a wannabe. You want to be something that you're 00:12:41.289 --> 00:12:44.190 not. It's somewhat of a negative expression. 00:12:47.070 --> 00:12:51.809 I also said at the end of the discussion, I said, 00:12:51.870 --> 00:12:57.250 me, I just sit and read my paper. Notice that 00:12:57.250 --> 00:13:01.570 this is grammatically incorrect. I should just 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:08.309 say, I sit and read my paper, not me, I sit and 00:13:08.309 --> 00:13:12.830 read my paper. But in informal expressions, in 00:13:12.830 --> 00:13:16.710 informal English, we often, as native speakers, 00:13:17.549 --> 00:13:20.490 use things that aren't necessarily grammatically 00:13:20.490 --> 00:13:25.690 correct. It just means here that I'm talking 00:13:25.690 --> 00:13:31.990 about what I do. I like to watch television at 00:13:31.990 --> 00:13:38.289 night. Me, I like to take a walk in the evenings. 00:13:39.269 --> 00:13:42.309 It's usually when you are comparing yourself 00:13:42.309 --> 00:13:47.269 to someone else. You're distinguishing yourself. 00:13:47.570 --> 00:13:52.830 You're saying what is different about you. Finally, 00:13:52.850 --> 00:13:56.009 I ended the discussion by saying that I'm no 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:01.389 actor, but someday, would like to direct This 00:14:01.389 --> 00:14:06.009 is something of a joke here in Los Angeles Because 00:14:06.009 --> 00:14:10.129 to direct means to be the director of a movie 00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:14.149 or the director of a television show The director 00:14:14.149 --> 00:14:17.990 is the person in charge He's the boss or she's 00:14:17.990 --> 00:14:23.049 the boss So to say well, I'd like to direct means 00:14:23.049 --> 00:14:27.909 I'd like to be in charge of a movie or a TV show 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:33.350 Well, I'm not in charge of a movie or a TV show, 00:14:33.870 --> 00:14:37.750 but I do appreciate all of you listening to our 00:14:37.750 --> 00:14:42.490 ESL podcast and ask that you email us. Our address 00:14:42.490 --> 00:14:53.750 is eslpod at eslpod .com. I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillan 00:14:53.750 --> 00:14:57.090 from Los Angeles, California. We'll see you next 00:14:57.090 --> 00:15:06.700 time. ESL podcast. ESL podcast is produced by 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:09.039 the Center for Educational Development in Los 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:12.200 Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:13.460 2005.