Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 286, Describing Facial Features.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 286.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
Click on the name of this podcast and you can see the script for today's dialogue.
If you want the complete transcript plus all of the vocabulary words, definitions, cultural notes and more, get a learning guide for this podcast.
You can download that also on our website.
This episode is called Describing Facial Features.
It's going to be about a woman who was unfortunately robbed.
She's going to try to describe who the person was that stole her money.
Let's get started.
I was mugged while I was walking home last night.
This morning I was at the police station with a sketch artist to see if we could come up with a picture of what the thief looked like.
His face was long and thin, I think.
Bulging or squinty?
Well, I think they were round, but not too round, and he had bushy eyebrows.
He also had a pointed nose, not a hooked one.
Take a look at this so far.
Is this right?
His nose in the sketch is a little too turned up.
It was more straight.
What about his ears?
Were they big or small?
And his mouth?
Did he have thin or thick lips?
His ears were average size and they didn't stick out too much.
His lips were more thin than thick.
We're almost done.
What about his hair?
Did he have long or short hair?
Oh, didn't I tell you?
He's bald.
Okay, then.
I'm done.
What do you think?
Is this the guy?
Wow, you've done a great job.
Yeah, that's him.
That's the guy who stole my wallet.
You know, he looks familiar.
I have a feeling I've seen him before.
I hope so.
Maybe you can help find him.
Yeah.
Now, if only I could remember where I've seen him before.
Our story begins with Anna saying that she was mugged.
When she was walking back home, someone came and stole her money.
To be mugged, M-U-G-G-E-D, means to be robbed.
When someone forces you to give them your wallet or your purse, for example.
When someone does this, we call it a mugging, M-U-G-G-I-N-G.
I've been mugged once back in St.
Paul many years ago when I was still in high school.
I had a couple of tickets that I was selling for a concert there.
And a couple of guys teenagers like me at the time walked up to me, said they wanted to buy my tickets, and then they grabbed them from me, they stole them and they ran away.
So I lost my tickets.
Many people, when they are mugged, however, are hurt by the person who steals their money.
Anna was not hurt, but she was mugged.
In the morning she went to the police, to the police station, the place where the police are the building, and she talked to a sketch artist.
A sketch S-K-E-T-C-H artist is a person who usually works for the police, who draws the face of someone based on your description.
So you tell the person how the person in this case, the criminal, the person who took your money how that person looks.
You describe them and they will make a picture.
That is a sketch artist.
A sketch is a picture usually made with pencil.
The sketch artist says to Anna, Okay, you said that this man was in his 40s.
Can you tell me the shape of his face? thin, round, oval, or square.
So the sketch artist starts by asking Anna what the shape of the face was.
How did it look?
Did it look like a circle?
We would say round.
Did it look very thin, long and narrow, not wide?
Did it look oval?
Oval is like a circle, but it's longer, sort of like an egg.
Or someone's face can be square, meaning the top, the bottom and the two sides are about the same length.
That's a square.
Anna says his face was long and thin, I think.
The sketch artist then says, were his eyes more round, bulging, or squinty?
You can describe someone's eyes as being round.
Bulging, B-U-L-G-I-N-G, is when the eyes... come out of the face a little.
We would say stick out.
They come out of your face in a very round shape.
Your eyes could also be squinty, S-Q-U-I-N-T-Y.
This is when the eyes are partially or partly closed so that you only see a small line of the eye.
So we have around, bulging, and squinty.
Squinty comes from the verb to squint, which means to try to look at something that is difficult to see, perhaps because it is far away or you have some problem with your eye.
When you squint, you usually close your eyes a little to help you see a little better or more clearly.
Anna says that, well, I think... the eyes were round but not too round.
She also says that the person who robbed her had bushy eyebrows.
Eyebrows are the curved line of hair that is above your eye, so it is on the bottom of your forehead.
The adjective bushy, B-U-S-H-Y, means you have a lot of hair, usually disorganized or messy.
So bushy eyebrows would be big eyebrows that have a lot of hair on them.
The word bushy is not related to any of the presidents of the United States.
That's completely different.
Anna describes the man as having a pointed nose.
A pointed, P-O-I-N-T-E-D, or pointy, would be with a sharp end.
It is sort of the opposite of flat.
Someone's nose is pointy if it looks like it comes to a single point.
Sort of like a pencil comes to a point.
Pointed has a couple of meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for additional explanations.
Anna says that the man's nose was not hooked.
H-O-O-K-E-D.
If your nose is hooked, there's a curve at the end of it.
It bends.
It comes down suddenly or goes up suddenly.
It's sort of the opposite of straight.
To be hooked is not straight.
It bends.
It curves.
But the robber, the person who mugged her, does not have a hooked nose.
The sketch artist shows Anna what he has drawn.
Anna says that the nose in the sketch, the drawing, is a little too turned up.
Turned up means it goes up, it curves upwards.
Again, not straight.
We also have an expression to turn up your nose at something.
That means to decide that you are too good for something that, whatever it is, is not good enough for you.
You turn up your nose.
It's a negative idea that you think you are too important, too good to do something.
In this case, turned up just means curving upwards.
The sketch artist asks about the ears and the mouth.
He says, did he have thin or thick lips?
Your lips, L-I-P-S, are what is around your mouth.
They could be thick or thin lips.
Ana says his ears were average size and they didn't stick out too much.
The verb to stick S-T-I-C-K out two words means that you could notice them easily because they were bigger or taller larger perhaps.
Something that was different than normal.
Something sticks out.
Take a look again at our learning guide for some additional definitions of that verb.
The sketch artist says, well, we're almost done.
What about the hair?
Did he have long hair or short hair?
Anna says, oh, didn't I tell you?
He's bald.
B-A-L-D, meaning he doesn't have any hair.
Hmm, this guy looks just like me.
The sketch artist then says, okay then, I'm done.
What do you think?
Is this the guy, the man who robbed you?
Anna says, yes, that's the guy who stole my wallet.
Your wallet is usually a small folded piece of leather or cloth you use to put your money and your credit cards and your identification in.
The sketch artist says, you know, he looks familiar.
I have a feeling I've seen him before.
I have a feeling means I think, but I'm not sure.
I believe I'm pretty sure.
Anna says, I hope so.
Maybe you can find him.
The sketch artist says, yeah.
Now, if only I could remember where I've seen him before.
I wonder too.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, you said that this was a man in his 40s.
Can you tell me what shape his face was, thin, round, oval, or square?
His face was long and thin, I think.
Were his eyes more round, bulging, or squinty?
Well, I think they were round, but not too round, and he had bushy eyebrows.
He also had a pointed nose, not a hooked one.
Take a look at this so far.
Is this right?
His nose in the sketch is a little too turned up It was more straight What about his ears?
Were they big or small?
And his mouth Did he have thin or thick lips?
His ears were average size and they didn't stick out too much.
His lips were more thin than thick.
We're almost done.
What about his hair?
Did he have long or short hair?
Oh, didn't I tell you?
He's bald Okay then, I'm done What do you think?
Is this the guy?
Wow, you've done a great job.
Yeah, that's him.
That's the guy who stole my wallet.
You know, he looks familiar.
I have a feeling I've seen him before.
I hope so.
Maybe you can help find him.
Yeah, now if only I could remember where I've seen him before.
The script for this podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
