Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 677, Feeding a Picky Eater.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 677.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles California, on a beautiful sunny day here in Los Angeles.
I'm not so sunny.
I have allergies.
I have problems that affect my nose and throat today.
So if I sound stranger than usual, I mean, I always sound a little strange, right?
Now you know why.
Oh, by the way, we have a learning guide for this episode.
You do not want to miss it.
You want to get it at our website at eslpod.com.
This episode is called Feeding a Picky Eater.
It's a dialogue between Jeremy and Keely.
Let's get started.
You bet.
Great.
Here's the first course, a light soup.
How do you like it?
It has an interesting flavor.
You don't care for it.
It's just a little greasy for my taste.
Sorry about that.
Why don't you try this dish?
It's an old family recipe.
What's wrong?
Oh, nothing.
I just don't think it's agreeing with me.
Maybe it's an acquired taste.
Okay, maybe I can whip up something else for you.
I don't want to put you to all that trouble.
Sorry to be so fussy.
No, no trouble at all.
I like cooking but with such a picky eater like Jeremy I might be cooking into next Tuesday.
Our dialogue begins with Jeremy saying to Keeley, Keeley says, You've been so helpful to me.
You've helped me so much.
It's only fair that I return the favor.
The expression, it's only fair, means that it is just, it is right.
When you do something nice for someone and they say oh, you should not do that, and you are in fact doing something nice because they have already done something nice for you, you can say well, it's only fair.
To return the favor means to do something nice for someone after they have done something nice for you.
Remember, Keely is making dinner, making some food for Jeremy.
And so she says I hope you've brought your appetite.
This expression means that I hope you came here feeling hungry.
Especially when you are coming to someone's home for a meal, they might say that.
Your appetite, A-P-P-E-T-I-T-E, is the amount of hunger that you feel, how hungry you are.
Jeremy says you bet.
You bet is an expression that means yes, absolutely, of course.
Where I'm from in Minnesota, we say you betcha.
Don't ask me why.
Keeley says great.
Here's the first course, a light soup.
A course is a part of a meal, one of several things that you eat in a certain order.
For an American meal, a soup or salad is usually part of the first course.
Then you have meat or fish. what we call an entree as a second course.
And then you might have something sweet for the third course, which is dessert.
Keeley's having Jeremy eat a light soup.
Light here means it doesn't have a lot of cream, butter, or oil.
Keeley says, how do you like it?
Jeremy says, it has an interesting flavor.
Before I go on, the word course has some other meanings in English and those can be found in the wonderful, fantastic learning guide prepared by our own Dr Lucy.
Say just for you.
Flavor is the way something tastes.
Now when someone says in English, in American English, that has an interesting flavor after someone has asked how they like it, they're really saying I don't want to be rude, but it really isn't something I like very much.
Someone may say, how do you like this dress?
And you say, well, that's interesting.
That's a bad thing to say.
The person knows that you don't like it.
But you're trying to be polite.
You're trying not to be insulting to the person.
Keeley says, understanding exactly what Jeremy means, you don't care for it.
To not care for something means not to like something, not to enjoy something, to think it is bad.
I don't care for mustard, that orangey liquid that you put on a hamburger or a hot dog.
I don't like mustard.
I don't care for mustard.
Well, Keeley says that Jeremy doesn't care for her soup.
Jeremy says, it's just a little greasy for my tastes.
Something that is greasy.
G-R-E-A-S-Y is something that is oily, something that has a lot of fat and oil in it.
The expression for my taste means in my opinion.
It can be used for things other than food.
You can say, well, that movie wasn't very good for my taste anyway.
I have to stop and drink some tea for my voice.
I apologize.
Where were we?
Oh, yeah.
Keely says, sorry about that, Jeremy, you idiot.
I made you this dinner, and now you tell me that you don't like it.
No, she doesn't say that, actually.
She just says, sorry about that.
Why don't you try, why don't you taste this dish, this food that I've made?
It's an old family recipe.
A recipe, R-E-C-I-P-E, are instructions for how to prepare some kind of food.
Then Keeley says to Jeremy, looking at his face as he is trying this other type of food, "'What's wrong?'
Jeremy says, "'Oh, nothing.'
I just don't think it's agreeing with me.
When we're talking about food, especially, the phrase to agree with means that you like it.
You find it pleasant.
It doesn't bother your stomach.
Something that doesn't agree with you is food that perhaps made you a little sick.
Jeremy doesn't think that the old family recipe, the food that was made, agrees with him.
Then he says, maybe it's an acquired taste.
Something that you acquire, A-C-Q-U-I-R-E, is something that you get over time, not right away.
Sort of something that you've learned.
In this case, that you've learned to like food, a kind of taste that you've grown to like.
When I first came to Los Angeles I didn't like eating crab, because where I'm from in Minnesota, we don't eat a lot of crab.
It's very expensive, a kind of seafood.
But I began to like it the more I ate it.
And now I enjoy eating crab when I have the money to buy some.
In the dialogue.
However, Jeremy is being a little insulting again by saying that the dish that Keeley is serving him is an acquired taste, meaning he hasn't learned to like it.
It doesn't have to be an insult, but I think in this case it is in part insulting.
Keeley says, okay, maybe I can whip up something else for you.
To whip W-H-I-P up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to cook something quickly when little effort is required.
I'll whip up some... scrambled eggs for you.
It's easy to do.
It won't take a lot of time.
There are other meanings of this expression.
Those can be found once again in our learning guide.
Jeremy says, I don't want to put you to all that trouble.
To put someone to all that trouble, or all the trouble is, means to create a lot of work for another person, to do something that makes another person have to do a lot of work, especially when it's for your benefit, when it's for you.
Jeremy says Fussy F-U-S-S-Y is a word that we don't use as much anymore, but you'll still hear it.
It's the same as picky, P-I-C-K-Y.
A picky or fussy person is difficult to please.
Someone who is hard to make happy.
Someone who has a lot of requirements and preferences.
Someone who's very difficult to please.
Keeley says, no, no trouble at all.
Then at the end, she gives us her real opinion.
She says, I like cooking, but with such a picky eater, an eater is a person who eats, so a picky eater is someone who eats but is difficult to please.
With such a picky eater like Jeremy, I might be cooking into next Tuesday.
Into here is used in a slightly unusual way, but still something that you will definitely hear and read.
It means I'm going to be doing this activity from now until some future point in time, until next month, until tomorrow.
So into here means until and through.
The other possibility, of course, is to tell Jeremy to go home or go to a restaurant and get his own food.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native speed.
It's really nice of you to make dinner for me tonight.
I'm glad to do it.
You've been so helpful to me.
It's only fair that i return the favor.
I hope you brought your appetite.
You bet great.
Here's the first course, a light soup.
How do you like it?
It has an interesting flavor.
You don't care for it.
It's just a little greasy for my taste.
Sorry about that.
Why don't you try this dish?
It's an old family recipe.
What's wrong?
Oh, nothing.
I just don't think it's agreeing with me.
Maybe it's an acquired taste.
Okay.
Maybe I can whip up something else for you.
I don't want to put you to all that trouble.
Sorry to be so fussy.
No, no trouble at all.
I like cooking, but with such a picky eater like Jeremy, I might be cooking into next Tuesday.
I hope you do care for the scripts we have here on ESL Podcast.
That's because they're 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 again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
