Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 432, Using the Copier.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 432.
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 and download a learning guide for this episode that will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Using the Copier.
The copier or the photocopier is a machine that we use to make copies of pieces of paper, the things that are on the paper.
We have a dialogue between Tim and Pam about some common problems, some common vocabulary you may encounter, you may hear when talking about the copy machine.
Let's get started.
Damn it.
What's the matter?
Let me see if I can clear it.
This machine is really temperamental.
Tell me about it.
Okay, I found your original, but it's stuck.
I'm afraid if I pull too hard, it'll tear.
Let me try.
I got it.
Okay, I need to shrink the first page and adjust the contrast so that it's more readable.
Then, I need to enlarge the second page.
After that, I need to make 20 collated copies.
Uh-oh.
Don't look now, but the toner light is on.
You'll need to put in a new cartridge.
Is there anything else that can go wrong with this stupid copier?
Don't tempt fate.
It could be worse.
The whole thing could break down.
Tim begins our dialogue by swearing, by saying a not very nice word.
He says, damn it.
Damn it is an expression that you use when you're angry at something or someone.
It's not something you would want to say in front of children or your boss, for example.
Sometimes people simply say damn.
If they want to say something that is not a swear word, not a bad word, they may say something like darn it or darn, although that can seem a little old-fashioned to some people nowadays.
Tim says, damn it, and Pam asks, what's the matter, meaning what's the problem?
Tim says, it's this copier.
The copier is the photocopy machine, what in many offices people call the copy machine.
Tim says, my original didn't come out of the feeder, and there's a paper jam.
The original would be the document or other piece of paper that you are trying to make a copy of.
The feeder F-E-E-D-E-R is the part of the copy machine where you put your paper into the paper that you want to copy.
For example, if you have 10 pages, you would put those 10 pages all at once into a feeder and the copy machine will take one page at a time and copy it.
At least most copy machines have feeders.
Not all of them do.
A JAM J-A-M In this dialogue means a situation where a machine stops working because something inside of it is in the wrong position or the wrong place.
We especially use this expression when we are talking about something that you put into a machine.
For example, you're putting paper into the copy machine.
And if the paper doesn't go through correctly, if it gets stuck we could say if it stops moving inside the machine when it should continue to move, we will say that there is a jam, a paper jam.
If you work with copy machines you know this is a common problem, especially when they get very warm.
Pam says, let me see if I can clear it.
To clear something means, in this case, to fix the jam, to take out the thing that has caused the problem.
Pam says, this machine is really temperamental.
The word temperamental means something that only works some of the time, something that is difficult to operate correctly.
It can also be used to describe someone who is perhaps a little unstable, someone who changes their mood very quickly.
We might describe that person as being temperamental.
Tim says, tell me about it.
After Pam says the machine is really temperamental, Tim uses an expression that shows that he agrees with Pam.
It's often something that you will say, this expression, tell me about it when it's a negative thing, and that you already know about it and you have a lot of perhaps, experience with it.
Pam says, okay, I found your original, but it's stuck.
We mentioned earlier that a paper jam is when paper gets stuck.
Stuck means unable to move, something that is trapped in one place or position.
Sometimes we use this expression when we're trying to figure out a complicated problem.
For example, a student is doing a math problem, let's say an algebra problem, and he starts to solve the problem, but after a few minutes he doesn't know what to do.
He might say, I'm stuck.
I can't move forward.
I don't know the answer.
Here, the term refers to the paper that can't move because it's inside the machine.
Pam says T-E-A-R.
Tear means to be ripped into two or more pieces.
This is a verb we use, for example, when you have a piece of paper and you do this.
If you rip or tear the paper, the paper will now be in two different pieces.
The word tear, like the word feeder that we mentioned earlier, has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations.
Tim says, let me try, meaning let me try to get the paper out of the machine.
He then says, I got it.
He was able to remove it.
Okay, I need to shrink the first page down and adjust the contrast so that it is more readable.
To shrink means to make something smaller, to reduce the size.
To adjust the contrast means to change the difference between two things, usually something that is white and black or light and dark.
So if you have a piece of paper where the writing isn't very clear, you may increase the contrast so that the copier is able to copy more effectively.
So contrast is a difference between two things.
When we're talking about a copy machine, it refers to the black and the white on the page.
Tim says, then I need to enlarge the second page.
To enlarge is the opposite of to reduce or to shrink.
To enlarge means to make larger, to make something bigger.
After that, Tim says, Something that is collated is something that is put into the correct order.
So if you have three pages that you are copying and you need to make 10 copies for a meeting you're going to.
Collated copies would be copies where the pages 1, 2 and 3 are in the correct order, not 10 pages with page 1, 10 pages with page 2, 10 pages with page 3.
That would be uncollated.
Tim says that he needs 20 collated copies, but Pam says, uh-oh, don't look now.
Uh-oh is when something wrong happens, something bad happens, and you are indicating that.
The expression don't look now is a phrase used to tell someone that there's a problem with that you know will make him or her angry or upset.
Pam says don't look now, but the toner light is on.
The toner T-O-N-E-R is the ink, the black stuff or the colored stuff that is used in printers, fax machines and copiers.
Usually you can only get so many copies from one cartridge of toner.
A cartridge is the package, the small, often plastic box where the ink, the toner, is kept.
So if your toner runs out, if there's no more, you'll have to put in a new toner cartridge.
Tim says, is there anything else that can go wrong with this stupid copier?
Notice Tim says the stupid copier.
We often say that about a thing when we are frustrated with it.
Of course, the copier isn't stupid.
It isn't anything at all.
It's not human.
Maybe Tim's the stupid one here.
Pam says, don't tempt fate.
The expression to tempt fate means to take a risk or do something knowing that something bad may happen.
Pam says it could be worse, the situation could be worse.
The whole thing, the entire copying machine, could break down.
To break down is a two-word phrasal verb for a machine or a car to stop working, something that stops working and needs to be fixed.
We use this verb in talking about a car.
My car broke down, meaning something bad happened, something went wrong and the car needs to be fixed.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Damn it.
What's the matter?
It's this copier.
My original didn't come out of the feeder, and there's a paper jam.
Let me see if I can clear it.
This machine is really temperamental.
Tell me about it.
Okay, I found your original, but it's stuck.
I'm afraid if I pull too hard, it'll tear.
Let me try.
I got it.
Okay, I need to shrink the first page and adjust the contrast so that it's more readable.
Then I need to enlarge the second page.
After that, I need to make 20 collated copies.
Uh-oh, don't look now, but the toner light is on.
You'll need to put in a new cartridge.
Is there anything else that can go wrong with this stupid copier?
Don't tempt fate.
It could be worse.
The whole thing could break down.
The script for this episode was written by the never-temperamental 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.
