Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 19. Welcome back to English as a Second Language podcast number 19. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is for those trying to improve their English. Go to our website for more information on this podcast. and for the text or script for today's first part of the podcast. Today we are going to talk about going shopping, and I'm going to talk about a recent visit I made to the store. Here we go. Believe
it or not, I don't own an iPod. I know, I know, I'm really behind the times. But I have an excuse. I've been so busy at my work lately, I haven't had time to take a break. So finally yesterday, I went shopping for an iPod. down at the mall in Santa Monica. I walked into the Mac store there and was immediately greeted by a salesperson. He asked, Can I help you find something? No, I said. Just looking. I don't like the feeling
of high -pressure salespeople. Anyway, I looked around the store some more and finally made my way to the iPod section. Then I decided to ask a salesman a question. Excuse me, can I ask you something? Sure, he said. Go right ahead. an iPod, but I'm not sure which one is right for me. What do you recommend? He replied, Are you going to be using it for running, jogging, working out, in your car? Yes, I said, all of those, except the running, jogging, and working out.
He laughed at my somewhat lame joke. Okay, well, I recommend you get the iPod Mini to start. How much is that, I asked. Well, it just went on sale, so I think we can offer you a good price on it. I'll take one, I said, and we made our way. to the cash register. Will that be credit or debit, he asked me. Credit card, I said, as I swiped the card through the reader. I waited, and nothing happened. Could you swipe that card again? It didn't go through. Sure, I said. and
swiped it again. Finally, the card processed, and he handed me the charge slip to sign. I'm sure you'll be very happy with your purchase. Oh, I said, it's not really for me. It's for my wife. Now let's talk about some of the phrases and vocabulary I used. I began my description by saying, believe it or not. This is a very common expression in English when we are going to tell something to someone that is surprising or unexpected. I said that I'm really behind
the times. To be behind the times means to not be up to date, not be current, not be modern. If everyone in your neighborhood has a color TV and you have a black and white TV, You are behind the times. You are not modern or current. I said that I didn't have time to take a break. To take a break means to take a rest, to stop doing something. Usually work, although sometimes we say, I want you to take a break from studying. And the expression is to take a break from. I'm
going to take a break from working. I'm going to take a break from watching television. Anything that you stop doing is possible. When I went into the store, the salesperson said to me, Can I help you find something? This is a very common way for people in a store of any kind to ask you, Are you looking for something? Can I help you find something? It's an offer of help, an offer of assistance. They're giving you help. A very common response is, No. I'm just looking,
meaning I don't want any help right now. I just want to look on my own. Sometimes we'll say, I'm just browsing. Browsing means to look in a very relaxed way. I said that I don't like high pressure sales people. High pressure sales people. are salesmen or saleswomen who try to get you to buy something that you don't really want. When I asked the salesperson a question, he said, sure, go right ahead. Meaning, yes, you may ask me a question. Go right ahead. is
a way of giving permission. For example, I may ask my friend, can I use your car tomorrow? And he would say, sure, go right ahead. Meaning, yes, please do that. I said that I was going to, I was thinking, rather, of picking up. an iPod. To pick up something, you probably know literally means to hold it in your hand and lift it up. I am going to pick up the pen from the floor. But when we are talking about shopping,
picking up means buying. I need to pick up some apples from the store means I need to buy some apples from the store. I asked the salesman, what do you recommend? This is a simple, polite way of asking a salesperson a question for their opinion, for their suggestion. You could also say, what would you recommend? It's the same thing. I told a very not very funny joke and I described it as a lame joke. L -A -M -E. Lame is a common informal word which means not very
good or very bad. It also is used for describing other things. such as, that movie was really lame, meaning it was really bad. Or sometimes we'll just say, that's lame, meaning that's really bad, it's not very good. It's always a negative thing to be lame. The salesperson said that he would recommend... I get an iPod mini to start. When you say to start, you mean that eventually, later, you will get more things, or something more expensive, or something more complicated.
We might use this expression, for example, a child asks his parent, if he can have two pieces of cake and two slices of cake. And the parent says, why don't you have one piece to start? Meaning you can have that now and then maybe something more later. So to start is used in many different contexts. When I wanted to buy, when I decided to buy my iPod, I said, I'll take one. I'll take one means I'm going to buy one.
Sometimes we can say to a salesperson, I'll take one of those and one of those, and I'll take that over there, meaning I want to buy all of those things. The salesperson asked me if I was paying credit or debit. Credit or debit means a credit card, like Visa and MasterCard, American Express. Those are credit cards. But in the United States, there are also debit cards, D -E -B -I -T. Bank takes the money directly out of your
savings account. In a credit card, you can charge it, that is to say pay for it on the credit card, and then you have 30 days usually to pay your bill. With a debit card, the store removes your money, takes your money from your bank account immediately. I said I had a credit card, and I swiped the card through the reader. To swipe something means to pass it by something quickly. A reader, a credit card reader, is a small machine that reads credit cards, that you take the credit
card and pass it through so it can read. the electronic information. To swipe is the verb we use when talking about credit cards or debit cards. You swipe the card through the reader, the credit card reader. The clerk said that, or the salesperson, and clerk, salesperson here mean the same. He said that it didn't go through. Meaning it didn't accept my card. It didn't process my card. So I swiped it again. Finally, he handed
me a charge slip. When you pay for something on a credit card or a debit card, you have to sign a slip. And that is called a slip is a piece of paper. So a charge slip. is a piece of paper with your signature saying, yes, I want to buy this. It's okay to charge me for this. That's going to do it for today's ESL podcast. We encourage all of our listeners to email us and tell us where you are listening from. Our email address is on our website. Or you can just email eslpod
at eslpod .com. Thank you for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California.