Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 346, Using the Restroom.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 346.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from where else?
Beautiful Los Angeles, California, and the Center for Educational Development.
Our website is eslpod.com.
On it, you can find a learning guide for this episode that you can download to help you improve your English even faster.
You can also find our ESL podcast blog where, several times a week, we give you additional help in learning English, and our ESL podcast store, where we have business and personal English courses for you to purchase.
This episode is called Using the Restroom.
A restroom is another name for a bathroom, a public usually bathroom, where you have toilets and sinks and so forth.
Let's get started.
Excuse me, where is the restroom?
It's down the hall on your left.
When I got into the bathroom, it was a mess.
I walked into a stall and there was toilet paper all over the floor.
There were no toilet seat covers and the toilet wouldn't flush.
Even the toilet seat was broken.
I gave up on the stall and decided to use a urinal.
I went to wash my hands but there was no soap in the dispenser.
I kept hitting the pump but nothing came out.
When I turned on the faucet, water splashed all over my pants.
I looked for some paper towels to dry myself, but they were out.
I tried using one of the hand dryers, but that was broken too.
I couldn't believe what a mess this bathroom was.
I just thought, what happened here?
World War III?
Our story begins with Denzel saying to someone at the restaurant, excuse me, where is the restroom?
He could also say, could you tell me where the restroom is?
The server says it's down the hall on your left, meaning walk down the hallway.
You'll see the door on your left-hand side.
Denzel says thanks.
He then says, when I got into the bathroom, it was a mess.
Something that's a mess is unclean.
It's unorganized or disorganized.
It's the opposite of neat.
My mother would always tell me, Jeffrey, your room is a mess.
She was right.
Now my desk is a mess. says, I walked into a stall and there was toilet paper all over the floor.
A stall, S-T-A-L-L, is a small area with one toilet.
Usually there is a toilet that has walls on either side and a door in front for privacy, so no one else can see in.
That's a stall or a restroom stall.
So he walks into the restroom stall, and there was toilet paper all over the floor.
Stall, I should say, has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for additional definitions.
Toilet paper is a usually white, soft paper that is... put on what we would call a roll.
It goes round and round and round, a center stick.
You tear the toilet paper off and use it to clean your skin, basically after you have used the toilet.
He then says there were no toilet seat covers and the toilet wouldn't flush.
The toilet is usually a device that is made from a material called ceramic.
And you either sit on the toilet or you stand in front of the toilet in order to urinate.
The informal word for urinate would be to pee, P-E-E.
That's a word that children may use, not a word that you would use in general public.
The technical term is to urinate.
The other thing that happens is on a toilet, you can defecate.
The informal, sometimes a word used by little children, is poop.
P-O-O-P.
Again, you don't want to say that to your boss.
The technical word is to defecate, although you probably don't want to tell your boss about that either.
So a toilet is a device that takes that urination or the results of your defecation and washes it away, usually with water.
That's a toilet.
Toilet seat covers are the things that go on top of the toilet.
They're thin pieces of paper that you can put on so you don't have to sit on a public toilet seat.
Usually you will find these, if they are available, above the toilet on the wall.
Denzel says the toilet wouldn't flush.
To flush means that water moves in the toilet to take away the results of your going to the bathroom.
To flush a toilet then means you push down on a handle so that the water comes out and washes things away.
Someone says to you, be sure to flush the toilet when you are finished.
Seems like an obvious thing to do, but some people need to be told, children in particular.
Denzel says, even the toilet seat was broken.
The toilet seat is the part of the toilet that you would sit on.
He then says, I gave up on the stall and decided to use a urinal.
To give up on something or to give something up is a phrasal verb meaning to stop trying to do something, usually because it is too difficult.
Denzel is having problems in the stall, so he decides to use a urinal.
Urinal, U-R-I-N-A-L, is related to the word to urinate.
It's a ceramic device that men can use.
Women don't normally use a urinal.
It's something you would find in a men's bathroom.
And it is a place where you can urinate by standing.
You don't have to sit down.
One of the few advantages of being a man, I think.
There are several different kinds of bathrooms that you might encounter in the United States.
Take a look at our learning guide in our cultural note where we talk about those different kinds of bathrooms or restrooms.
Denzel says, I went to wash my hands, but there was no soap in the dispenser.
There was no soap, no detergent, what you use to clean something, in the dispenser.
The noun dispenser comes from the verb to dispense, which means to give something to someone.
A dispenser is a small device, in this case a thing that holds liquid things and allows you to get the liquid out.
The soap is liquid, and the soap dispenser is a place where you get the soap from.
It's what holds the soap.
He then says, if you are putting gasoline into your car, you use a gasoline pump.
It takes it out of the tank below and puts the gasoline into your car.
When I turned on the faucet, water splashed all over my pants.
Denzel's having a bad day.
The faucet... is the part of the sink where the water comes out.
The sink is where you wash your hands.
The faucet is the little piece of metal where the water comes out of to wash your hands.
To say something splashed all over your pants means that the water went onto your pants.
We use this verb to splash when we are talking about something liquid.
Sometimes you can splash something in someone's face.
In this case, the water splashed on his pants.
His pants got wet.
The water went onto them.
Denzel says, But they were out.
Paper towels are small, square pieces of paper you can use to dry your hands.
When we say something is out, we mean it is no longer available.
There's no more remaining.
You may say to someone, We're out of milk.
I need to go to the store to buy some.
We no longer have any.
Well, they were out of paper towels.
So Denzel tried using one of the hand dryers.
A hand dryer is something you find in many restrooms, public restrooms nowadays.
It's an electric device that blows hot air onto your hands and you move your hands back and forth so you can dry them.
It's better for the environment, of course.
At least I think it is.
Denzel ends the story by saying, I couldn't believe what a mess this bathroom was.
I just thought, what happened here?
World War III?
It was like there was a war in the bathroom.
Things were so messy.
Things were so broken.
Now let's listen to the story, this time at a normal speed.
Excuse me, where's the restroom?
It's down the hall on your left.
Thanks.
When I got into the bathroom, it was a mess.
I walked into a stall and there was toilet paper all over the floor.
There were no toilet seat covers and the toilet wouldn't flush.
Even the toilet seat was broken.
I gave up on the stall and decided to use a urinal.
I went to wash my hands, but there was no soap in the dispenser.
I kept hitting the pump, but nothing came out.
When I turned on the faucet, water splashed all over my pants.
I looked for some paper towels to dry myself, but they were out.
I tried using one of the hand dryers, but that was broken too.
I couldn't believe what a mess this bathroom was.
I just thought, what happened here?
World War III?
The script for this episode was written by the never-messy Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
