Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 422, Shopping for Underwear.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 422.
© transcript Emily Beynon.
The learning guide is an 8-10 page file that contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension questions and a complete transcript of this entire episode.
This episode is called Shopping for Underwear.
Everyone, well, almost everyone wears underwear.
And this is a dialogue that gives you some vocabulary about buying underwear for both men and women.
Let's get started.
It's perfectly acceptable for women to buy men's underwear.
But do I have to go in to the lingerie store?
All of the women in the store laugh at me.
No, they don't.
I just need a few things.
Here we are.
Okay, I need a new bra with underwire, and I need a strapless one, too.
Do you see any in a bee cup?
I'm not helping you look.
I'm standing over here where nobody can see me.
Fine.
Let's see.
I need some panties and a slip, too.
Oh, these pantyhose are on sale.
Can you please hurry up?
That woman over there is snickering.
She's only laughing because you look so uncomfortable.
Okay, I'm done.
Let's go get your underwear.
Thank God.
I just need some new boxers with a comfortable waistband and a button fly.
I thought you liked the boxer briefs I bought before.
You know, the seamless ones.
I tried them, but they were too small.
I think I'd actually like to try some regular briefs.
Here are some over here.
You'd better look again.
Those are G-strings.
If you insist on buying those, it'll be my turn to hide.
Our dialogue begins with Carrie saying to Russell, We're almost done with the shopping.
Underwear is the clothing you wear underneath your regular clothing.
It's clothing that you don't normally see.
Carrie says she needs to get some underwear for Russell and some unmentionables for herself.
To mention something is to say something.
If you say it is unmentionable, that means that you shouldn't or don't say it.
In this case, Carrie is simply making a joke.
Unmentionables is just a funny way to refer to underwear.
The joke is that it's somehow inappropriate to talk about underwear in a conversation.
So she makes a little joke and says unmentionables.
Russell says it's perfectly acceptable for women to buy men's underwear.
So a woman can buy underwear for a man in a store.
But, he says, do I have to go in to the lingerie store?
All of the women in the store laugh at me.
So Russell, who's a man, is embarrassed by going into the woman's underwear store.
A woman's underwear store is sometimes called a lingerie, L-I-N-G-E-R-I-E store.
Lingerie actually refers to women's underwear, but sometimes it refers also to fancy expensive, perhaps sexy clothing that a woman might wear as underwear.
Russell doesn't want to go into the lingerie store.
Carrie says that the women are not laughing at Russell.
She says, I just need a few things, and they walk into the store.
Here we are, she says.
Okay, I need a new bra with underwire, and I need a strapless one, too.
A bra, B-R-A, is a type of underwear that a woman wears...
It goes over her shoulders.
They have what are called straps.
And these straps go over the shoulders.
And in the front of the body, the bra is there to support the woman's breasts.
So it's the chest of a woman where you will find a bra.
Men typically do not wear bras, most men, the men I know.
The bra that Carrie is looking for has an underwire attached.
An underwire is a piece of metal that is sewn into, that is made as part of the bra to provide extra support for large breasts, shall we say.
Carrie says she also needs a strapless bra.
Remember I said that there are these things that go over the shoulder.
They connect the front of the bra to the back, so they help hold up the breasts.
The strapless bras are bras that don't have this strap going over the shoulder.
Usually...
It's a dress that is strapless or a bra that is strapless, so you don't see anything on the woman's shoulder.
Carrie then asks Russell, do you see any bras in a B cup?
A cup is the part of the bra that is round and that fits over one breast.
Cups come in different sizes because, of course, women have different sized breasts, or at least that's what people tell me.
Now that I'm married, I don't look at other women anymore.
The bras come in cup sizes from AAA, which is the smallest, to DDD, which is the biggest.
Most women are somewhere in between there, A cup, B cup, C cup, maybe D cup.
But, well, women come in all different sizes, and so there are all different sizes of bras.
Isn't this exciting?
Now, Russell says, I'm not helping you look.
I'm standing over here where nobody can see me.
So Russell is embarrassed.
Carrie says, fine.
I need some panties and a slip, too.
Oh, these pantyhose are on sale.
Carrie says she needs some panties.
Panties are the underwear that a woman wears around her waist, over her bottom and between her legs.
That's panties.
We don't usually call that kind of underwear panties for a man, however.
We never do.
Only for a woman.
A slip S-L-I-P is a piece of underwear that is like a skirt and it is supposed to be worn under a regular skirt or so that you cannot see in between the woman's legs.
It blocks the light.
So if a woman is wearing a very thin skirt, she might also wear a slip underneath it to cover up her legs better.
The word slip has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Carrie says she also sees some pantyhose.
Pantyhose, P-A-N-T-Y-H-O-S-E, one word, are also called nylons, N-Y-L-O-N-S.
They're a type of clothing that you put on your legs a woman puts on her legs and They are made from a very thin material, a thin fabric, we would say, that you can usually see through.
They're often brown or black in color.
A woman wears these over her legs up to her waist.
They're used to make her legs look smooth and evenly colored, especially when she is wearing a skirt or a dress.
Often they're used for more formal occasions as well.
Russell says, The woman over there is snickering.
To snicker...
S-N-I-C-K-E-R means to laugh quietly, usually laughing at another person.
It's not considered very nice to snicker at someone.
It's something that children might do.
They're laughing at another person, but not very loudly.
Russell thinks this woman is snickering at him, is laughing at him.
Carrie says she's only laughing because you look so uncomfortable.
Okay, she says, I'm done.
I'm finished.
Let's go get your underwear.
Russell is very happy to be leaving the lingerie store or the lingerie section of the store.
He says, I just need some new boxers. with a comfortable waistband and a button fly.
Boxers are a kind of underwear that a man wears around his waist.
Most men only wear one kind of underwear that goes around the middle of their body, their legs, top of their legs and their waist.
Boxers is a particular kind of underwear that is loose, that is not tight.
The waistband is the part of underwear, either for a man or a woman, or some other type of clothing, worn around your waist, which is the center of your body.
This is an expandable piece of fabric or material, meaning that it will get larger or smaller depending on how big your waist is.
It helps to keep the clothing from falling down.
So you have a waistband on underwear.
You may have a waistband on a pair of sweatpants.
Russell wants a comfortable waistband, one that isn't too small, one that isn't too tight.
He also wants a button fly.
A button is what you use to connect two pieces of clothing.
Usually you have buttons, for example, on the front of a formal shirt.
Your fly... is the part of a piece of underwear for a man that can be opened and closed.
Men often use the restroom, use the bathroom, the toilet by standing up.
I think you understand what I mean.
The fly then, is used, so that a man doesn't have to take his underwear off when he wants to use the bathroom.
Russell then wants a button fly.
He wants a fly in the front of his underwear that has a button to keep it closed.
Well, Carrie says, I thought you liked the boxer briefs I bought you before.
The seamless ones.
Briefs are another kind of underwear for a man.
They are not loose, but they are tight.
Boxer briefs is sort of in between a boxer and a brief.
They're longer pieces of underwear, but they're still tight around the legs as well as around the waist.
Seamless means literally without seams.
A seam is typically a line that is created when you sew two pieces of fabric or material together.
Something that is seamless then, is made with one single piece of fabric or one single piece of material.
Russell says he tried the boxer briefs, but they were too small.
I think I'd actually like to try some regular briefs.
So Russell is interested in wearing a piece of underwear that is usually white and and that is smaller than a boxer and is tight around the legs as well as around the waist.
So we have three kinds of underwear for men here.
We have briefs, which are tight around the leg and the waist.
We have boxers which are tight around the waist but loose around the legs and are usually a little longer.
They almost look like shorts.
And then you have boxer briefs, which is somewhere in between, a combination of these two things.
The word brief has several different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Russell thinks that he has found some briefs in the store, but Carey says, you'd better look again.
You better look more carefully again.
Those are G-strings.
A G-string is a kind of underwear that a woman wears.
It's a piece of underwear that doesn't have any material in the back other than a single piece of fabric, a single piece of material that goes up and connects to a very small waistline.
So a woman's behind, a woman's butt, essentially, has no fabric over it.
This is a G-string underwear.
Some women wear it because they think it's sexy.
Again, I don't know.
Well, obviously this is not something a man such as Russell would want to buy.
That's why Carey says if you insist on buying those, if you must buy those, or say that you have to buy those, It'll be my turn to hide.
I'm going to hide because I'll be embarrassed, just like Russell was embarrassed going into the lingerie store.
Now let's listen to the dialogue.
Wasn't this a fun dialogue?
Now let's listen to the dialogue at a normal speed.
We're almost done with the shopping.
We just need some underwear for you and some unmentionables for me.
It's perfectly acceptable for women to buy men's underwear.
But do I have to go into the lingerie store?
All of the women in the store laugh at me.
No, they don't.
I just need a few things.
Here we are.
Okay, I need a new bra with underwire, and I need a strapless one, too.
Do you see any in a B cup?
I'm not helping you look.
I'm standing over here where nobody can see me.
Fine.
Let's see.
I need some panties and a slip, too.
Oh, these pantyhose are on sale.
Can you please hurry up?
That woman over there is snickering.
She's only laughing because you look so uncomfortable.
Okay, I'm done.
Let's go get your underwear.
Thank God.
I just need some new boxers with a comfortable waistband and a button fly.
I thought you liked the boxer briefs I bought before.
You know, the seamless ones.
I tried them, but they were too small.
I think I'd actually like to try some regular briefs.
Here are some over here.
You'd better look again.
Those are g-strings.
If you insist on buying those, it'll be my turn to hide, for this episode was written by Dr Lucy Say.
Who else?
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us 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.
