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.