Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 599, Shopping for Warm Weather Clothes.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 599.
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.
Download this episode's Learning Guide, an 8-10 page guide that contains the complete transcript, as well as the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, cultural notes, comprehension questions and more.
All of that is found in the Learning Guide that we have for all of our current episodes.
This episode is a dialogue between Spencer and Lauren.
We'll find Spencer and Lauren using a lot of vocabulary that would be related to hot or warm weather, things that you might wear in the summertime, for example.
Let's get started.
I would love to see you in this outfit, a tank top and a mini skirt.
No way.
I wouldn't look anything like that mannequin.
I'm too shy and I'd make a fool of myself wearing such revealing clothes.
That's where you're wrong.
You would look great on the beach in that outfit with a bikini underneath.
I haven't worn a bikini in years.
I always wear a one-piece now.
In fact, I'd feel more comfortable in a t-shirt, cut-offs and flip-flops.
Why would you want to hide that figure?
If you want to do that, why don't you just wear this Hawaiian shirt and these board shorts?
Then no one will know you're a woman.
Don't get mad.
Okay, you can pick out an outfit for me, and I promise to wear it for you, okay?
Fine.
But I'm warning you, I want to see some skin.
We start off our dialogue immediately not liking Spencer.
Spencer says to his girlfriend or wife, Lauren, I would love to see you in this outfit.
A tank top and a mini skirt.
An outfit here means all the pieces of clothing that you wear at one time.
You may have a shirt.
You may have pants on.
You may have a tie.
That would be your outfit.
Outfit has some other meanings as well, but here it means the clothing that you wear together.
What Spencer wants Lauren to wear is a tank top and a mini skirt.
A tank top is a shirt that doesn't have any sleeves.
It doesn't have anything covering the arms.
A mini skirt is a very short skirt, a skirt that ends high above the knees.
You see, of course Spencer is really only interested in one thing here, and he's certainly not interested very much in the way his girlfriend might think.
Lauren says, no way, meaning absolutely not.
I wouldn't look anything like that mannequin.
A mannequin.
M-A-N-N-E-Q-U-I-N is basically a statue of a human being, either a man or a.
So you go to the store and they have these mannequins that have clothes on, so you can see what the clothes look like, rather than having an actual person there, although some stores perhaps do that as well.
But a mannequin is the more common way.
What Lauren is saying is that she isn't going to look the same as this mannequin if she wore the tank top and miniskirt.
She says To be shy means that you are a little afraid of doing things or you don't like other people to be looking at you or finding out about you.
She says that she'd make a fool of herself wearing such revealing clothes.
To make a fool of yourself is to do something or to say something that other people would laugh at.
People would make fun of you.
Revealing means showing things that are normally not shown.
In this case, the parts of the body of Lauren that you could see if she wore this clothing.
So clearly Lauren is not happy.
She doesn't want to wear that kind of clothing.
Spencer says, that's where you're wrong.
The expression that's where you or someone is wrong means that what the person just said is incorrect.
It's sort of a way of emphasizing that the other person disagrees with you.
He says, A bikini is a woman's swimsuit that has two pieces.
One goes on the bottom and the other goes on the top and you don't have anything in between the two.
Lauren says, I haven't worn a bikini in years.
I always wear a one-piece now.
One piece is a woman's swimsuit that is not separated.
In other words, the suit starts at the shoulders and goes down to the legs.
It's one piece.
There's no break like there is with a bikini.
That is, you can't see the woman's stomach or her back in a one-piece swimsuit.
Lauren says, in fact, I'd feel more comfortable in a t-shirt, cutoffs, and flip-flops.
Cutoffs cut hyphen.
O-F-F-S are very casual shorts that that are usually created by taking an old pair of pants, such as an old pair of jeans of Levi's, and cutting the legs so that you have shorts instead of pants.
Flip-flops are very casual shoes.
You often find people wearing them at the beach.
They have a bottom, but they don't have hardly anything on the top.
They just have a V-shaped piece of plastic or cloth that keeps your foot on the shoe.
That's a flip-flop.
Flip-flop can also mean to change your position on something, especially if you are a politician.
But that meaning is very different.
Here it is a kind of casual, informal shoe.
Spencer says, why would you want to hide that figure?
Notice how Spencer is not really listening to Lauren.
Figure here means the shape of your body, especially a woman's body.
Figure has other meanings in English, and those can be found in the Learning Guide.
So Spencer doesn't understand why Lauren wants to hide her figure, hide her body from other people looking at it.
He says if you want to do that, why don't you just wear this Hawaiian shirt and these board shorts?
Then no one will know you're a woman.
A Hawaiian shirt is a large shirt covered with flowers, very bright colors, that is usually worn by a man.
Board shorts, board hyphen shorts, are very long shorts We would say they are baggy.
They're very roomy.
They have a lot of room in them that are again, typically worn by men, often as a swimsuit, especially for riding a surfboard, which is a long board that you can stand on out in the ocean and try to ride on top of the water.
Spencer, of course, is upset that Lauren won't do what he wants her to do, so he's making fun of her.
He's saying well, why don't you just wear this big shirt, this Hawaiian shirt, and these board shorts?
That are both for men.
Then no one will know you're a woman.
Lauren, stupidly, says...
Don't get mad.
Okay, you can pick out an outfit for me, and I promise to wear it for you.
Okay?
So basically, after Spencer makes fun of Lauren and pressures her, tries to make her wear this clothing that she doesn't want to wear, she turns around and says Oh okay, I'll do it.
So we learn that Lauren is basically a weak, pathetic woman who will do whatever her boyfriend tells her to do.
Not a very nice couple, this Lauren and Spencer.
Spencer ends by saying, fine, but I'm warning you, I want to see some skin.
To see some skin means to be able to see skin on your body that is normally covered by clothing, usually because someone is wearing clothing they think is sexier and shows more of their body.
Spencer, of course... is a creep.
A creep is usually a man who we find easy to hate because of his behavior, especially towards women.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I would love to see you in this outfit, a tank top and a miniskirt.
No way.
I wouldn't look anything like that mannequin.
I'm too shy, and I'd make a fool of myself wearing such revealing clothes.
That's where you're wrong.
You would look great on the beach in that outfit with a bikini underneath.
I haven't worn a bikini in years.
I always wear a one-piece now.
In fact, I'd feel more comfortable in a t-shirt, cut-offs, and flip-flops.
Why would you want to hide that figure?
If you want to do that, why don't you just wear this Hawaiian shirt and these board shorts?
Then no one will know you're a woman.
Don't get mad.
Okay, you can pick out an outfit for me, and I promise to wear it for you, okay?
Fine, but I'm warning you, I want to see some skin.
The script for this episode was written by someone who would never make a fool of herself, 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.
