Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 426.
Talking about product quality.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 426.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is a dialogue between Brenda and Yoji, talking about product quality, the quality of things that you buy.
Are they good?
Are they bad?
What are some of the specific words we use in describing different products, different things?
We'll find out in this dialogue.
Let's get started.
It's fun shopping for a new cell phone, don't you think?
Sure, but I just need one with the bare basics.
Not me.
I want one that's top of the line.
My old phone was cheap and flimsy. and it started acting up after only a few months.
I want something that's good quality, but I don't think I should have to pay top dollar for it, especially since I don't need the bells and whistles.
The bells and whistles are the best part.
I like this one.
It seems sturdy and it should last me for years.
I don't care about its looks.
I just want something functional and that won't fall apart.
I'm not arguing for style over substance, but that phone is hideous.
I'll get over it.
Yes, but I'm not sure I will.
Our dialogue begins with Brenda saying it's fun shopping for a new cell phone.
Don't you think?
Notice she says, don't you think?
This implies that the other person will probably agree with her.
Yoji says, sure.
But I just need one with the bare basics.
I just need to buy a cell phone that has the bare basics.
The bare basics would be the simplest version of something.
Something that only has the absolute necessities on it.
Things that you would need and nothing more.
Yoji says that he wants a cell phone with the bare basics.
Brenda says, not me.
I want one that's top of the line.
The expression top of the line refers to the best possible or the best available thing.
The one with the highest quality. the fanciest perhaps, often the most expensive one.
Brenda says my old phone was cheap and flimsy.
When we describe a product as cheap, we mean it's poor quality.
Cheap can also mean not very much money, not very expensive. inexpensive we would say that's if you're using cheap to describe a thing if you're using cheap to describe a person then it's an insulting negative way to describe someone who doesn't like to spend money he's cheap he won't take me out to dinner said my ex-girlfriend Brenda says her old phone was cheap and flimsy, F-L-I-M-S-Y.
Something that is flimsy is very poor quality.
It's something that will break very easily or something that is easy to damage.
Brenda says her phone started acting up after only a few months.
To act up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to have problems or to create problems.
Here it means really to stop functioning properly, to stop working the way it should.
If you have a watch and the watch stops because it's broken or You might say that it is acting up.
It stopped working.
Yoji says I want something that's good quality, meaning I want something that is well made, but I don't think I should have to pay top dollar for it.
The expression top dollar means a very high price, very expensive.
Top dollar, the highest amount you could pay for something.
He says that I don't need the bells and whistles in his new phone.
The expression bells and whistles can be used for any product.
Anything you buy, usually a piece of technology or electronics that has many different features, many complicated perhaps or fancy things.
It does a lot of things besides the bare basic functions.
The cell phone, for example, that has a camera, an MP3 player where you can surf the Internet.
This would be a cell phone with a lot of bells and whistles.
Literally, a bell is something that you ring.
That's what a bell is.
A whistle is something that you would blow to make a very high pitched sound.
In an American football game, for example, the referees the people who make sure that players are following the rules have whistles which they blow so that the players can hear them.
Brenda says the bells and whistles, the fancy stuff, are the best part.
Yoji says, S-T-U-R-D-Y, means that it will not break, that it is strong and reliable.
It's the opposite of flimsy.
Brenda says, that is one ugly phone.
This is a common informal expression.
That is one something.
It's an expression we use to give emphasis.
It's used to show that the following statement or the following expression is true.
For example, you go to a restaurant and you buy a hamburger, and the hamburger costs you $25.
Your friend might say, that's one expensive hamburger.
You're saying it's definitely true.
It's an expensive hamburger.
Well, Brenda is saying that's one ugly phone, meaning it's very ugly.
Yoji says, I don't care about its looks.
Looks as a noun refers to the physical appearance of something, the way something is viewed by other people.
We often use the word looks in talking about a person's physical appearance, but it can be used to talk about a thing, an object.
There are a couple of different meanings of this word.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Yoji says, I just want something functional and that won't fall apart.
Functional means that it is working correctly.
It is able to do what it is supposed to do.
The phrasal verb to fall apart means to break, usually to break into many smaller pieces.
It could also be used just to mean to stop working properly.
The children were building a house of cards with playing cards, little pieces of paper, But then it fell apart.
It fell down.
It broke into all the individual pieces.
Brenda says The expression style over substance says refers to something that is very beautiful but it doesn't work well, something that was made by people who are more interested in the appearance, in the way it looks, then what it can actually do.
So you could have a beautiful watch, for example, but if you can't read it, if you can't see what time it is, That's not very useful, not very functional.
Brenda is saying she doesn't want something just because it looks good.
It also has to work.
But, she says, that phone, the one Yoji wants, is hideous.
Hideous, H-I-D-E-O-U-S, means very ugly.
Extremely unattractive.
It's a very negative way to describe something or certainly someone.
Sometimes informally it also is used just to mean terrible or very bad.
But usually it means very ugly.
Yoji says, I'll get over it.
To get over something is a phrasal verb meaning to accept something is bad.
Something bad has happened, but to continue on with your normal life, to keep living without worrying about this bad thing.
If you had a car accident and you hurt your neck, eventually you will, we hope, get over it.
You will recover.
You will continue with your life as normal.
This expression is sometimes used in a more negative way.
If someone says to you oh, get over it, that expression means you need to stop worrying about that, something that the other person doesn't think is very important.
So, for example, if it's raining and you are complaining to your friend, you are saying all the time oh it's raining, it's so wet, I hate this.
Your friend may say to you get over it.
Stop worrying about it.
Just go on with your life.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
It's fun shopping for a new cell phone, don't you think?
Sure, but I just need one with the bare basics.
Not me.
I want one that's top of the line.
My old phone was cheap and flimsy and started acting up after only a few months.
I want something that's good quality, but I don't think I should have to pay top dollar for it, especially since I don't need the bells and whistles.
The bells and whistles are the best part.
I like this one.
It seems sturdy and it should last me for years.
That is one ugly phone.
I don't care about its looks.
I just want something functional and that won't fall apart.
I'm not arguing for style over substance but that phone is hideous.
I'll get over it.
Yes but I'm not sure I will.
Today's good quality episode 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 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.
