Hello and welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 26. Hello again and welcome to English as a Second Language podcast. My name is Dr. Jeff McQuillen coming to you from Los Angeles, California and the Center for Educational Development. If this is the first time listening to our podcast, please go to our website at www .eslpod .com for more information and for the text or script of the first part of our podcast. Today's podcast is going to be about daily errands.
we need to do usually personal things that require us to go outside of our house. I'm going to talk about some of my daily errands. Let's get started. I've had a really busy day today. I rolled out of bed at around 7am, like every morning, and jumped in the shower. After brushing my teeth and shaving, I picked up my morning paper from the front sidewalk and started reading it. I like to eat breakfast when I read the paper,
so I poured myself a bowl of cereal. At around 7 .30, I went into my office and sat down to review my to -do list. First, it was off to the post office to check my P .O. box. Then, I went to the public library down the street to check out some books I've been meaning to read. Next stop, the supermarket. My wife had given me a grocery list as long as your arm of things to pick up. I grabbed a shopping cart and got down
to business. After I checked off everything on my list, I headed to the checkout stand to pay for my items. But I wasn't done yet. I zipped over to the bank where I had to make a deposit and withdraw some money from the ATM. Fortunately, the line wasn't too long and I was able to get in and out quickly. My next stop was the pharmacy, where I needed to pick up my prescriptions. Finally, I headed home. Now I have to go to my real job. Now let's talk about some of the expressions
that I used. I started off by saying that I rolled out of bed at around 7 a .m. To roll out of bed is an informal expression. It means to get out of bed, but somewhat reluctantly. When you're very tired, when you're very sleepy, and you don't want to get up out of bed, but you have to. We sometimes use that expression. I rolled out of bed. After getting out of bed, I said
I jumped. in the shower we use this expression sometimes to indicate how we quickly we do something I jumped in the shower usually means I went there very quickly it's also used for example with your car I jumped in my car to drive to the gas station so to get in to go in Here is expressed by jumped in We don't literally jump of course
up and down. It just is one of those idiomatic expressions After I got my newspaper I sat down to read and Because I like to eat my breakfast when I read my morning newspaper I poured myself a bowl of cereal The verb here to pour is what we use for Usually any sort of liquid I poured
some milk. I poured some orange juice into a glass but we occasionally use it also for Something like cereal that goes with the liquid so I poured myself means I took the box I Tipped it over and I put some of the cereal into a bowl I also mentioned that I went into my office, sat down, to go over my to -do list. To go over something is to review something, to look at it. I need to go over my schedule for tomorrow. Means I need to look at my schedule for tomorrow. We
can go over information in a classroom. For example, a professor may say, today we are going to go over what we talked about last week. It can be any way of presenting or looking at information to go over. The to -do list is, as the word implies, things that I need to do. We sometimes use that expression my to -do list. After looking at my to -do list, I said that it was off to the post office. To be off to somewhere means to be going to somewhere, to be headed in the direction of
somewhere. Where are you off to? Well, I'm off to the supermarket. I'm off to school. I'm off to work. All of those mean I am going to. I used the expression after when I went to the post office. I checked my P .O. box. P .O. stands for post office. But we sometimes use that. Your P .O. box means you have a box at the post office where you can pick up your mail. Many businesses
and some individuals have PO boxes. In the United States it's also very common to have private PO boxes, companies that set up a place where you can get your mail. I went to the public library down the street. To be down the street usually means to be close to something. The post office is one block from the library. So we could say the post office is down the street from the library. It implies a short distance. In going to the
library, I needed to check out some books. To check out books is the word we use particularly for libraries. I need to check out a book means I need to take out a book. I give the librarian my library card and she or she gives me my book. To check out also can mean to investigate. I need to check out that movie. Means I need to look into it or I need to go see it. So to check out has a broader meaning. But here it just means
to get, to get a book. I said that the books that I was checking out were ones that I've been meaning to read. I've been meaning to here means I've been wanting to but I haven't done yet. I've been meaning to call my mother means I've been wanting to call my mother but I haven't done it yet. Usually we use this expression when it's something that we should have done or that we are late in doing. When we procrastinate, when we wait too long for something, we often
use this expression. I've been meaning to call my friend. After going to the post office, I said that next stop, the supermarket. Next stop means next place that I'm going to go. Like a train, when a train goes from one city to another, it sometimes has more stops in between. So if I were to take a train from New York City to Washington DC, The train might make a stop in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is one of its stops. So we talk about stops for trains, for buses.
The bus, in fact, the term we use where a bus stops in the street is called the bus stop. That's where you wait for the bus. But we also use this expression stop to be more general. My next stop is the grocery store. Means the next place I'm going to go is the grocery store. I said that my wife had given me a grocery list. A grocery list is a list of course of things of food to buy at the supermarket. I said the list was as long as your arm. This is a colloquial or slang
expression. For something to be as long as your arm means very long. We often use this expression when we are talking about a list. It's a list as long as my arm. I went into the grocery store, grabbed a shopping cart, what we use to push around in the grocery store to put our groceries in, and I got down to business. To get down to business means to get started at your work, to start doing what you are supposed to do. I went to the cafe yesterday and I was reading the paper.
Finally, I decided to get down to business and work on my homework. That would be an example of getting down to business. After I went to the post office, I went to the bank and at the bank I made a deposit, meaning I put money into my bank account and I also made a withdraw. I said I had to withdraw some money. To withdraw means to take out. We usually nowadays go to a machine a bank machine which we call an ATM,
which stands for automatic teller machine. A teller is the person who works in the bank, but now everyone has a ATM card where they can go to a machine and get their money or deposit their money. The line wasn't too long and so I was
able to get in and out quickly. To get in and out of somewhere is to be able to go Do what you need to do and then leave I was able to get in and out of the grocery store in under or Less than ten minutes means I was able to go do what I needed to do and then come out very quickly That's going to do it for today's English is a second language podcast Many of you are new listeners and we want to thank all of you who
are new listeners. Please email us and tell us who you are and where you are listening from. Our email address is eslpod at eslpod .com That's eslpod at eslpod .com or visit our website to get more information and to listen to some of our previous podcasts. That's all for today. Thank you for listening. This is Jeff McQuillan from Los Angeles, California. We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast. ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational Development in
Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2005.