Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast
number 37. You're listening to English as a Second
Language podcast number 37. Visit our website
at www .eslpod .com for more information about
this podcast. I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillen from the
Center for Educational Development coming to
you today from Los Angeles, California. Today's
topic is going to a pet store. I'm going to talk
a little bit about my experience recently shopping
for a pet. Let's get started. My niece is turning
eight next week, and I decided to buy her a new
pet. She had been asking her parents for a pet
for a long time, but they were worried about
taking care of a pet. I told them I would go
to the pet store and see if I could find a pet
that wouldn't be too much of a bother. I walked
into a big pet store and looked around. I saw
cages with dogs and cats. There were also bird
cages with birds of every color. I even saw I
saw a sales clerk and asked him for help. I told
him that I was looking for a pet that was easy
to take care of. He suggested a cat or a kitten.
But I told him that my niece was allergic to
cats. Then he suggested a puppy. I walked over
to the rows of dog kennels and asked the clerk
how often they needed to be walked. He said that
usually dogs need to be taken out three to five
times a day. That was much too much work I told
him he then showed me some birds including a
parrot then I asked him how often the cages had
to be cleaned and when he told me I nixed that
idea finally he took me to the back of the store
I have the perfect pet for you," he said. I looked
around and saw aquariums full of fish. There
were twenty different kinds. The clerk said that
they were very easy to take care of. With the
right equipment, you don't have to clean the
tank regularly, and all you have to do feed the
fish. That was it. The perfect solution. The
next time I visited my niece, she told me she
loved her fish. She had named them all. She even
named one after me. It was called Jeffish. Get
it? Now she's happy, and so are her parents.
Just before I left, my niece asked me, when can
we go to Disneyland? Ah, the work of an uncle
is never done. I began talking about The fact
that my niece is turning eight next week To say
someone is turning a certain age means they're
going to have a birthday I'm turning Well, I'm
not going to tell you how old I am but to say
I'm turning 29 means I am going to be 29. Usually
we say, I am turning 29 next month. I wish I
were turning 29 next month. I decided to buy
my niece a new pet. A pet, of course, is some
animal that you have in the house, a cat or a
dog often. My niece's parents, however, were
worried about taking care of a pet. To take care
of means to look after, to be the person who
is responsible for. You can take care of a pet.
You could take care of a child. You can take
care of a situation. All of those are possible
uses of that expression, to take care of. I went
to a pet store, a store where they sell pets,
of course, and I was looking for a pet that wasn't
going to be too much of a bother, meaning it
wasn't going to be too much trouble. To say something
is a bother means it causes you problems. I went
into the pet store and one of the things that
I saw was a bird cage. A cage is a usually made
of metal, a place where we keep an animal, like
a bird, sometimes other animals as well. A bird
cage of course is a place where we keep birds.
The clerk at the pet store suggested a cat or
a kitten for my niece. A kitten is a baby cat.
I said my niece was allergic to cats. To be allergic
or to have an allergy means that it causes you
problems when you are around for example, a cat.
You start to sneeze, your eyes start to water.
This is what happens when you have an allergy.
It's a medical condition that some people have,
are born with, typically. The clerk also suggested
a puppy. A puppy is a baby dog. We don't say
baby dog or baby Cat we say a puppy or a kitten
When you have to go on vacation and You do not
want to take your dog or cat with you you can
bring them to a place where you can pay to have
them kept and that place is called a kennel a
Kennel is a place where you will find many dogs
or many cats. I asked the clerk how often the
dogs needed to be walked. To walk a dog means
to take the dog out so the dog can do what dogs
have to do when they are outside. He said that
the dog needed to be taken out three to five
times a day. To be taken out means to go with
the dog outside. But that expression, to be taken
out, can refer to anything that you are moving,
say, from the inside of the house to the outside
of a house. It can also be used for people. When
are you going to take me out? My wife asked me
yesterday. Means when are we going to dinner
or to a movie? When are you going to take me
somewhere else? but that's my problem I Said
that taking the dog out three to five times a
day was much too much work that expression much
too much is Means it's it's way too much It's
a lot. It means the same as too much, but it
is even more dramatic, putting more emphasis
on how much it is. Much too much work, much too
much money. In going through the store, I considered
the idea of buying a bird, but when I found out
that the cages had to be cleaned, I nixed that
idea. To nix, N -I -X, in the past tense is to,
is nixed. I nixed that idea means I decided that
that idea was not good. I rejected that idea.
Instead, I found some aquariums full of fish.
We keep dogs in a kennel we keep fish in a big
usually square tank of water which we call an
aquarium a tank is a big container usually something
that you put liquid into a tank of water for
example is a a Like a big box with water in it
I said that after I gave the fish to my niece,
she was very happy, and she named one after me.
To name something after someone means to give
it that person's name. So when a father, if the
father's name is Patrick, and my father's name
is Patrick, and he has a son, and he names that
son after himself, he calls or gives the son
the name of Patrick. To name something after
someone is a common expression, means you give
that person that same name. My niece named her
fish Jeff Fish, and after I said that, I said
Get it? To get it means, of course, to understand
it. I'm asking if you understood the joke. Jeff
is my name. The fish is Jeff fish. When we tell
a joke, usually a bad joke like that one, and
the person doesn't laugh or the person doesn't
think it's funny, We will sometimes say get it
meaning didn't you understand it? That wasn't
the problem here of course My niece wanted to
go some day to Disneyland and you probably know
Disneyland is here in Southern, California. It's
a Amusement park. It's a big park where people
go usually children to go on rides Rides are
things like a ferris wheel or a merry -go -round
that children like to ride on I ended my discussion
of the pet store trip by saying that the work
of an uncle is never done This is a old expression
in English the work of a Aunt or an uncle or
a father is never done. It's meant to be something
of a joke Meaning I work very hard. I'm always
working That's going to do it for today's English
as a second language podcast Email us tell us
who you are and where you are listening from
our email address is ESL pod From Los Angeles,
California, I'm Dr. Jeff McQuillen. We'll see
you next time on ESL Podcast.