Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 369, Going to Happy Hour.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 369.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Additional explanations, cultural notes, comprehension checks and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.
This episode is called Going to Happy Hour.
Happy Hour is a period of one to two hours, sometimes three hours, and Normally after work, so between 4 and 7 or 5 and 8 at night, where bars and restaurants often offer cheap drinks and cheap food to get people to come after their work and have a drink and eat.
Let's get started.
Hey, over here.
I'm glad you could make it.
This place has a great happy hour.
Let me get the waitress, Brenda, so we can order our drinks.
Hi, Gary.
You sound like a regular.
Do you come here a lot?
Yeah, I like stopping by on my way home now and then to wind down.
Is there another bar stool?
Oh, sorry.
Let me get another one for you.
Have a seat.
What will you have?
I usually don't drink very much.
Alcohol sometimes doesn't agree with me.
I've had a tough day, though, and I need to loosen up.
Okay, one scotch coming up.
Here comes the waitress.
Okay, that's one scotch for Shanice and a draft beer for me.
On second thought, bring a picture of the draft beer, would you?
Thanks, Brenda.
I'm starving.
The sign outside says that they have all-you-can-eat appetizers during happy hour.
Is that right?
Right you are.
And they have specials on everything on their menu.
I don't usually go to happy hours, but I like this place.
I'm glad you invited me to come.
Would I steer you wrong?
Now let's get some grub.
Our dialogue begins with Gary at a bar somewhere saying to Shanice, Hey, over here.
He's getting her attention.
He's already at the bar and she is coming into the bar.
Gary says, I'm glad you could make it.
I'm happy you could be here.
This place has a great happy hour.
A happy hour is a period of time, usually for a few hours after work, when bars have lower prices on their drinks and food.
Gary says, let me get the waitress, Brenda, so we can order our drinks.
Gary knows the name of the waitress, so he probably goes to the bar a lot.
Shanice says, hi Gary, you sound like a regular.
A regular...
Here is a noun to refer to a person that goes to a restaurant, a bar, or a store very frequently.
And the people who work there know that person.
They know his or her name.
You're a regular at a certain restaurant, for example, would mean that you go to that restaurant a lot.
They know who you are.
My wife and I go to certain restaurants here in Los Angeles, and the waitress knows who we are.
She even knows what we want to order.
The usual, you would say, meaning what I normally get.
I'll have the usual.
Shanice says to Gary, do you come here a lot?
Obviously, he does.
Gary likes to drink here.
Gary says, yeah, I like stopping by on my way home now and then to wind down.
To stop by somewhere means to go to a place for a short period of time, usually because you are on your way to another place.
So I'm going to the store, but I'm going to stop by at the pharmacy to pick up some drugs.
Gary says that he likes to stop by at this bar on his way home, meaning when he is driving from work to home now and then, meaning sometimes once in a while.
He likes to stop by to wind down.
To wind down.
W-I-N-D down is a phrasal verb meaning to relax, especially at the end of a long day of work.
Notice that W-I-N-D can also be pronounced wind.
When it is pronounced wind instead of wind, it's a noun referring to air that moves quickly.
Shanice then says, is there another bar stool?
A bar stool, one word, B-A-R-S-T-O-O-L, is a tall seat, usually that has a cushion on the top for you to sit on. but it doesn't have any what we would call arms, meaning there's nothing on the side of the chair to put your arms on, and it doesn't have a back either.
That's a stool.
A bar stool is usually very tall.
What is happening here is that Gary is sitting down and Shanice is standing up and Shanice is asking for a place to sit.
She wants a bar stool.
Gary says, oh, sorry, let me get another one for you, another bar stool.
Then he says, have a seat, which is what you say to someone when you are inviting them to sit down.
Have a seat.
What will you have, Gary asks.
He's asking what Shanice wants to drink.
What will you have?
Shanice says, I'll have a scotch straight up.
Scotch is a type of alcohol.
When you have your alcohol served to you straight up.
We mean without any ice or any other alcohol or soda or other liquids mixed in.
Whiskey straight up would be just whiskey, nothing else.
No ice, no other alcohol, no other beverage.
Well, scotch is usually a pretty strong drink.
Shanice orders a scotch straight up, which is not the most common drink for many women when they go to a bar.
But Shanice says I usually don't drink very much, which I find hard to believe.
Difficult to believe if she's ordering her scotch straight up.
Shanice says, alcohol sometimes doesn't agree with me.
When you talk about something not agreeing with you, We mean that it sometimes causes problems with your stomach.
It sometimes makes you a little ill or sick.
So when a food or drink doesn't agree with you, it can make you sick.
That's what you're saying.
Shanice says, I've had a tough day, though, and I need to loosen up.
She doesn't care about getting sick.
She wants to have her Scotch.
So she says she wants to loosen up.
This is a phrasal verb meaning to relax, to become less stressed and more comfortable.
Certainly, drinking scotch straight up will loosen Shanice up.
Gary says, okay, one scotch coming up.
Coming up here means it will be served very soon, in the very near future.
It's on its way.
So he tells the waitress to get Shanice her scotch.
He says, here comes the waitress.
Then Gary, speaking to the waitress, says okay, that's one scotch for Shanice and a draft beer for me.
Draft D-R-A-F-T beer is beer that comes in a large container behind the bar, not from a bottle or a can.
Draft beer is beer that a bar will have in a big case, a big container.
We actually call it a keg, K-E-G.
That's a big, almost like a barrel that holds the beer.
The word draft has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
So Gary orders a draft beer for himself.
Then he says to the waitress on second thought, meaning I've reconsidered and I want to change my mind.
On second thought, bring a pitcher of the draft beer.
A pitcher is a large container that is used to hold liquids.
It usually has a handle on it where you can hold it.
You have beer and soda sometimes put in a pitcher container.
You can have milk in a pitcher, lemonade in a pitcher.
Restaurants will sometimes put a whole pitcher of water or soda on your table, so you can just pour more of the liquid into your glasses when you need it.
Perhaps Gary should also get a pitcher of scotch for Shanice.
Shanice then says, I'm starving.
I'm very hungry.
The sign outside says that they have all you can eat appetizers.
Shanice is saying that there's a sign outside the bar that says they have all you can eat, meaning as much as you want to eat.
Some American restaurants have all you can eat food and they put the food out and you can take as much as you want.
Sometimes they have pizza, sometimes they have salad, many different kinds of all you can eat.
In addition to drinking a lot, apparently Shanice likes to eat a lot as well.
Gary says, right you are, which means you are absolutely correct.
You are right.
Right you are.
And they have specials on everything on their menu.
A special is a lower than usual price on something.
When you go to a restaurant, the waitress will often say to you, here are our specials for tonight.
Here are some dishes that we don't have, for example, on our menu, but they are available.
Sometimes specials also have a lower price, and that's what Gary is referring to here.
Shanice says, I don't usually go to happy hours.
Yeah, right.
But I like this place.
I'm glad you invited me to come.
Gary says, would I steer you wrong?
To steer S-T-E-E-R someone wrong means to mislead someone to take them to a place that they will not like or to tell something to them that they won't like.
Gary says, would I steer you wrong?
Meaning, I will not steer you wrong.
I will take you to somewhere that you will like.
Then he says, now let's get some grub.
Grub, G-R-U-B, is an informal word for food.
You don't hear it all that often anymore, but you will sometimes hear it.
It's an informal expression for food.
Now let's listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.
Hey, over here.
I'm glad you could make it.
This place has a great happy hour.
Let me get the waitress Brenda so we can order our drinks.
Hi, Gary.
You sound like a regular.
Do you come here a lot?
Yeah, I like stopping by on my way home now and then to wind down.
Is there another bar stool?
Oh, sorry.
Let me get another one for you.
Have a seat.
What will you have?
I'll have a scotch straight up.
I usually don't drink very much.
Alcohol sometimes doesn't agree with me.
I've had a tough day, though, and I need to loosen up.
Okay, one scotch coming up.
Here comes the waitress.
Okay, that's one scotch for Shanice and a draft beer for me.
On second thought, bring a picture of the draft beer, would you?
Thanks, Brenda.
I'm starving.
The sign outside says they have all-you-can-eat appetizers during happy hour.
Is that right?
Right you are.
And they have specials on everything on their menu.
I don't usually go to happy hours, but I like this place.
I'm glad you invited me to come.
Would I steer you wrong?
Now let's get some grub.
The script for this episode was by a woman who never drinks scotch, Dr. Lucy Say.
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.
