Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 446, Going to a Home Improvement Store.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 446.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpodcom.
You can download a learning guide for this episode, an 8-10 page PDF guide that will help you improve your English even faster.
This episode is called Going to a Home Improvement Store.
It's a place where you buy things to fix your home.
The dialogue is between Paige and Vern.
They're going to talk about some things you would typically find in a store like this to fix up or to repair your home.
Let's get started.
I think we can get everything we need to fix up the house in one trip.
What do you think?
We can try.
It seems like everybody had the same thought when they woke up this morning.
Go to the home improvement store.
Yeah, it's a little crowded, but I still think we can get all we need today.
To do that, I think we need to split up.
Let's look at our list and divvy it up.
Okay.
We need to get some wiring to install the new lights.
I'll go to the electrical department for that.
All right.
We need lumber for the new fence, so I'll go to the building materials department.
What about the pipes and fixtures we need for the bathroom?
Can you go to the plumbing department for those while I go to the hardware department for the tools?
Okay, I can do that.
But aren't you feeling tired already?
I know I am.
Come on.
How are we supposed to be weekend warriors if we can't even do some simple shopping?
We'll meet in the garden department afterwards, okay?
Whatever you say.
Ready, set, go.
Paige begins the dialogue by saying I think we can get everything we need to fix up the house in one trip.
To fix up is a two word phrasal verb meaning to improve something, to make something better or, if it is broken, to fix or repair something.
Fix up has a couple of different meanings in English.
Go to the learning guide for today to find out more about what this verb means.
Paige says, we can fix up the house in one trip, meaning one time going to the store.
We don't need to go back again and again.
Paige says, what do you think?
Vern says, well, we can try.
Meaning, everybody else is also going to the store.
Vern says, Home improvement stores are popular in the United States.
There are two very large companies that have stores where you can buy things to fix or repair your home.
Page says, yeah, it is a little crowded, meaning there are a lot of people here.
But I still think we can get all we need today.
Verne says to do that, in order to do that, I think we need to split up.
To split up is another two-word phrasal verb meaning for two people to go in different directions to different places.
If there are two of you in this store and you say let's split up, you mean you go and buy some things, I'll go and buy other things.
To split up can also mean to end a romantic relationship.
My girlfriend and I split up.
It was probably a good idea since I'm married.
Vern says, let's look at our list and and divvy it up.
To divvy D-I-V-V-Y something up means to divide something between two or more people, to give part of something to each person in the group.
If you have a cake and you decide to divvy it up, you're going to give everyone a piece of the cake that's present.
That is there.
Page says, okay, we need to get some wiring to install the new lights.
Wiring, in this case, refers to long, thin pieces of metal that are usually covered in plastic.
And they're used to move electricity or other electronic energy from one point to another.
We sometimes call them cables, depending on how they're used.
Page says, we need some wiring to install the new lights.
To install something means to put a piece of equipment into a home or another building, usually connecting it to electricity, but not always.
Someone may say, I am going to install new lights today.
They mean I am going to put in new lights and I will connect them up so that they work.
Page says, I'll go to the electrical department for that.
The electrical department is the part of the store that sells cables wiring, that is, other things that are used for putting electricity in your house or building.
Vern says, all right, okay.
We need lumber for the new fence.
Lumber.
L-U-M-B-E-R are pieces of wood that have been cut, usually in standard or very common sizes, that you use for building things.
So if you are going to put up a fence between you and your neighbor, you would buy some lumber long pieces of wood that you would use to build your fence.
Vern says, I'll go to the building materials department.
The building materials department is the part of a home improvement store that sells things like wood or things to put on your roof or the floor, things that you would use to build things, especially houses or other buildings.
Paige says, what about the pipes and fixtures we need for the bathroom?
A pipe.
P-I-P-E is a long round piece of plastic or metal that's usually used to carry water from one part of the house to another.
A fixture is something, anything that you attach to the wall of a home or to the ceiling of the home.
It's something that you would leave when you sell the house.
It's permanently attached, that is, to the wall or to the ceiling of your house.
Paige says can you go to the plumbing department for those, while I go to the hardware department for the tools?
The plumbing department is the part of the home improvement store that sells things related to how water is used in your home.
So toilets and showers and pipes, all of these would be sold in the plumbing department.
The hardware department is the part of the store that sells tools and things you need to make things.
Hammers, nails, screws, these are all things found in a hardware department.
Tools. are things you use usually to do something else.
And they're usually some things that are held in your hand.
It's a general term referring to things like hammers, saws, screwdrivers.
All of these are tools.
Tool has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Vern says, okay, I can do that, but aren't you feeling tired already?
I know I am.
Vern is already feeling tired.
Paige says, come on, meaning let's go.
How are we supposed to be weekend warriors if we can't even do some simple shopping?
It can also refer to someone who does a lot of exercise or plays sports on the weekend.
But here it refers to someone who works on their house every weekend in order to make it better.
Page says...
We'll meet in the garden department afterwards, after we are finished shopping.
The garden department is the part of the store that sells plants and other things for improving your garden outside of your house.
Vern says This is a phrase that says that you will agree to whatever the other person is proposing, whatever they are suggesting.
It doesn't mean that you think it will be successful.
Sometimes this is a phrase used when someone says something that isn't necessarily correct.
You may just say oh well, whatever meaning.
If you say so, that means I don't necessarily believe you.
But here Vern uses the expression to mean I'll do whatever you tell me to, even though I'm not 100 convinced.
Page says, ready, set, go.
These three words, ready, set, go, are used to start a race.
You're telling all of the participants, for example, who may be running in a race, to get ready, and then, when you say the word go, they start the race.
Paige is making a little joke here about what they are going to do now when they shop.
Now let's listen to the dialogue this time at a normal speed.
I think we can get everything we need to fix up the house in one trip.
What do you think?
We can try.
It seems like everybody had the same thought when they woke up this morning.
Go to the home improvement store.
Yeah, it's a little crowded, but I still think we can get all we need today.
To do that, I think we need to split up.
Let's look at our list and divvy it up.
Okay.
We need to get some wiring to install the new lights.
I'll go to the electrical department for that.
All right.
We need lumber for the new fence, so I'll go to the building materials department.
What about the pipes and fixtures we need for the bathroom?
Can you go to the plumbing department for those while I go to the hardware department for the tools?
Okay, I can do that.
But aren't you feeling tired already?
I know I am.
Come on.
How are we supposed to be weekend warriors if we can't even do some simple shopping?
We'll meet in the garden department afterwards, okay?
Whatever you say.
Ready, set, go.
The script for this episode was written by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
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.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
