Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 575.
Being an Early or Late Riser This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 575.
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This episode is a dialogue between Spiro and Nancy.
They're going to be talking about whether they get up early in the morning or late in the morning, and vocabulary related to that topic.
Let's get started.
Hey, watch out.
Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there.
I thought I would be the only person up at the crack of dawn.
What are you doing sitting on the stoop at this ungodly hour?
I'm trying to turn over a new leaf.
What do you mean?
I'm in the habit of staying up until all hours of the night.
I hardly ever get enough sleep and walk around all day sleep deprived.
I'm trying to see if I can make the switch from being a night owl to an early riser.
That sounds very commendable, but that still doesn't answer my question.
What are you doing sitting out here?
I'm waiting for the coffee shop to open.
Can you eat breakfast this early in the morning?
No, but I can drink coffee, lots and lots of coffee.
You'll definitely be the first one in line.
I guess what they say is true.
The early bird gets the worm.
I don't know about worms, but the early bird will definitely get the first dose of caffeine.
Spiro begins by saying, hey, watch out.
Watch out means be careful.
It's a phrase we use to warn someone who is in danger, to tell someone when something bad might happen to them.
We're telling them to be careful.
Watch out.
Nancy says, oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't see you there.
I thought I would be the only person up at the crack of dawn.
To be up at the crack C-R-A-C-K of dawn D-A-W-N means to be awake and out of your bed at a very early hour, very early in the morning.
The dawn is the beginning of the day, the beginning of the morning.
Nancy is asking Spiro why he is sitting on the stoop, S-T-O-O-P.
A stoop is an area outside the front door of some homes or some apartment buildings in the city, usually with several steps that lead down to the sidewalk.
We often associate this with buildings apartment buildings, especially in older cities on the East Coast, but you can have a stoop anywhere.
Stoop has, believe it or not, other meanings as well, and those can be found in the learning guide.
Nancy wants to know what Spiro is doing sitting on the stoop at this ungodly hour.
The expression an ungodly hour means very early in the morning when most people are asleep.
It's sometimes used either to be funny or to express the idea that it is too early for people to be up and awake and sitting on stoops.
Spiro says, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf, L-E-A-F.
The expression to turn over a new leaf means to begin a new phase, a new part of your life by changing your behavior in some way.
I used to always eat McDonald hamburgers for lunch.
But today I'm going to turn over a new leaf.
I'm going to have...
Burger King hamburgers instead.
See, I've changed my behavior.
I'm joking, of course.
That's not a change in your behavior if you're going from one restaurant to another eating the same thing.
To turn a new leaf would be to start eating something different, something healthy.
To turn over a new leaf means to go from doing usually something not good to doing something good.
Nancy says, what do you mean?
And Spiro says, I'm in the habit of staying up until all hours of the night.
To be in the habit of something means to be accustomed to or used to doing something.
Many Americans are in the habit of eating a small breakfast.
That's something they usually do.
To stay up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to not go to bed, to remain awake until it is very late at night, when most people are already sleeping.
All hours of the night is a phrase that means throughout the night, going from perhaps 10 o'clock at night until 5 o'clock in the morning or 7 o'clock in the morning.
College students preparing for an exam may study all hours of the night.
They'll not go to sleep early the day before they have their exam, which is probably not a good idea actually.
Well, Spiro says that he is in the habit of, he's used to staying up until all hours of the night.
He says, To be sleep-deprived means to be very tired because you have not had enough sleep.
To deprive, D-E-P-R-I-V-E, means to withhold or not give someone something.
In this case, you're not giving yourself enough sleep.
He says, from being a night owl to an early riser.
To make the switch means to begin to do something differently, to change to something else.
I used to buy all of my clothing at the store.
Now I'm going to make the switch and buy it online.
Spiros says that he wants to make the switch from being a night owl to an early riser.
A night owl, O-W-L, is a person who enjoys being awake very late at night.
Someone who feels that they have more energy at night.
They like staying up late.
An owl is a bird that is often awake at night, or at least that's what people think.
So a night owl is someone who stays up late.
The opposite of a night owl would be an early riser.
R-I-S-E-R.
To rise means to get up.
To be an early riser, with an R at the end, means to be a person who gets up early.
So he wants to become a person who, instead of being a night owl, is an early riser.
He says, To be a changed man or a changed woman means that you have had a major or very important change in your life, a transformation, something that has made you a better person.
Nancy says that sounds very commendable.
Something that is commendable means it is admirable.
It is good.
It's something that's very impressive, that people should congratulate you for.
Nancy says this is commendable, but that still doesn't answer my question of What are you doing sitting out here on the stoop?
Spiro says, I'm waiting for the coffee shop to open.
He wants to go buy some coffee, so he wants to wait until the coffee shop, the store where they sell coffee, is open.
Nancy says, Can you eat breakfast this early in the morning?
Spiro says no, but I can drink coffee, lots and lots of coffee.
Coffee, of course, has caffeine in it, which is a chemical that will make you stay awake.
Nancy says, you'll definitely be the first one in line, meaning the first one there, when the store opens.
Spiro says, This is an old expression, the early bird gets the worm.
It means that people who wake up early are more successful because they can take advantage of opportunities and that are not available to other people, or they can get to places early and get more things done.
Or if, for example, a store is having a sale a very popular sale and you go early in the morning, you're more likely to get that thing that you want to buy later in the day.
The store may not have any more left.
So the early bird gets the worm.
A worm is a small little animal that crawls on the ground.
It's something that birds, many birds eat.
They go down to the ground and they pick up these worms and they eat them.
The word early bird or the term early bird also means the same as an early riser.
So you could say, I'm an early bird.
That means I get up early.
Nancy says, I don't know about worms.
But the early bird will definitely get the first dose of caffeine.
A dose is the amount of a drug or a medicine that you are supposed to take.
Nancy is making sort of a joke here.
Caffeine, she's saying, is a drug that Spiro needs, that Spiro is going to take when he drinks his coffee.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hey, watch out.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't see you there.
I thought I would be the only person up at the crack of dawn.
What are you doing sitting on the stoop at this ungodly hour?
I'm trying to turn over a new leaf.
What do you mean?
I'm in the habit of staying up until all hours of the night.
I hardly ever get enough sleep and walk around all day sleep deprived.
I'm trying to see if I can make the switch from being a night owl to an early riser.
I'm hoping the new hours will make me a changed man.
That sounds very commendable, but that still doesn't answer my question.
What are you doing sitting out here?
I'm waiting for the coffee shop to open.
Can you eat breakfast this early in the morning?
No, but I can drink coffee.
Lots and lots of coffee.
You'll definitely be the first one in line.
I guess what they say is true.
The early bird gets the worm.
I don't know about worms, but the early bird will definitely get the first dose of caffeine.
If you're in the habit of listening to our podcasts every day, you'll know that the scriptwriter for this episode was probably 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.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
