Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 706, Feeling Ill from Food While Traveling.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 706.
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 to download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English and your love life.
This episode is called Feeling Ill or Sick from Food While Traveling.
Sounds like fun.
Let's get started.
I'm as sick as a dog.
I warned you not to eat food sold by food vendors on the street.
Cleanliness is not a priority at some of those food stands.
I'm not one to turn up my nose at street food.
On the street is where you'll find the most authentic food, the food the locals eat.
And plus, I have a stomach of steel.
You had a stomach of steel.
And there's no way to guard against undercooked or contaminated food.
Okay, you're right.
It'll probably take days for whatever it is that's making you sick to work itself out of your system.
Some vacation.
Just be grateful you're not puking your guts out like I am.
Believe me, I'm thanking my lucky stars.
Rumi begins our dialogue by saying, I'm as sick as a dog.
This is an old expression that means to be very sick, to be very ill.
I'm sick as a dog.
Hugo says it serves you right.
The expression or phrase it serves you right means that you deserve the negative consequences that you are suffering now.
You did something wrong and now you are paying the price.
It serves you.
Right implies that you did something wrong, and because you did something wrong, now you are suffering.
Hugo says, I warned you, meaning I told you something bad would happen.
I warned you not to eat food sold by food vendors on the street.
A vendor, V-E-N-D-O-R, is anyone who sells something.
But we usually use the term in talking about people selling things from small carts or just from their own pockets on the street.
That's one association of the word.
A food vendor would be a person who's selling food on the street, often from a truck or some small vehicle.
Hugo says cleanliness is not a priority at some of those food stands.
Cleanliness means very clean.
He's saying that some of the food vendors on the street aren't very clean and this is why Rumi is sick.
He says it's not a priority, meaning it's not important to them.
He calls the food vendors food stands.
The stand is actually the physical place where the person is selling the food.
A food stand is small a place where you have the person keeping the food or perhaps cooking the food and then selling it to you.
This happens in many cities, not in Los Angeles very much.
But I know, if you go, for example, to New York City, there will be or used to be the last time I was there People selling hot dogs on the streets, for example.
And many cities have this custom of selling food on the streets.
Los Angeles has food trucks. that go around and sell different kinds of food.
Of course, Los Angeles is very much a car culture.
That is, everyone has a car, and you can't travel very easily without one.
So logically, the food vendors have trucks rather than just stands on the street.
Rumi says, I'm not one to turn my nose up at street food.
The expression to not turn your nose up at something is a complicated way of saying that you don't think that you are too good for something.
You don't think that you are better than someone or something.
If you just say I'm a person who turns his nose up at taking the bus, for example, in Los Angeles, that means that you think you're too good to do that.
You are better than other people.
You are superior, we would say.
Rumi says she's not someone who turns her nose up at street food.
On the street is where you'll find the most authentic food, she says, the food that locals eat.
Locals means people who live in the area where you are visiting, not tourists.
The opposite of a tourist would be a local.
In Los Angeles, I'm a local.
If you live in Tokyo, you are a local in Tokyo.
Rumi says the street is where you find the most authentic food.
Authentic means real, true, something that actually exists.
In this case, really the best food, the food that is most like what people in that area or city eat.
And plus, Rumi says...
I have a stomach of steel.
To have a stomach of steel, or simply a steel stomach, means that you can eat almost anything and not get sick.
Hugo says, you had a stomach of steel.
He's using the verb in the past tense, saying, well, maybe you used to in the past, but not anymore.
He says, there's no way to guard against undercooked or contaminated food.
To guard against...
Something means to protect yourself from something, to do something to prevent something bad from happening to you.
The best way to guard yourself against getting sick is to always wash your hands before you eat.
That's just an example.
That's not always true, of course, but it's a good idea, I think.
Hugo says there's no way to guard against undercooked food.
Undercooked food is not cooked enough.
It's food that needs to be cooked more.
If it's not cooked properly.
Some of the food could be raw, meaning uncooked, and some food is dangerous when it is uncooked.
Pork, for example, the meat of a pig, is often unsafe when undercooked.
Contaminated food is food that has something in it that is not food or that is dangerous.
So, for example, if we say the water is contaminated, we mean that there is something in the water that should not be there and that will make you sick if you drink it.
Rumi says, okay, you're right, meaning you are correct.
Hugo says it'll probably take days for whatever that is making you sick to work itself out of your system.
That's a kind of complicated sentence.
Hugo says it will take days, many days.
For this thing that is making you sick.
It's going to take some time for that to work itself out of your system.
To work itself out of your system means for your body to no longer be affected by it.
Really, it's another way of saying it will take a while for you to get better.
Sometimes sickness caused by a virus or by bacterial infection takes a while to work itself out of your system so that you no longer are affected by it.
Hugo says, some vacation...
Now some is a common word in English with many meanings, some of which you can find in our learning guide.
Here.
However, when used in an expression like this, it's used to mean not, or this is not, or something that would be negative.
For example, you are going to take a walk in the park, and suddenly it starts to rain.
You might say, oh, some walk, meaning this is not a good walk.
You're saying that whatever follows the word some is bad or is not as good as you wanted it to be.
It's showing your disappointment.
Some wedding, the bride never showed up.
The bride is the woman who's getting married.
Some wedding, meaning, boy, that was a terrible wedding.
In fact, it wasn't even a wedding at all because the bride did not go, which is always a problem.
If you're getting married, some advice from me who is married always make sure that the other person is also there to get married with you.
Because if they're not, well, you're going to have some problems.
Rumi says, just be grateful you're not puking your guts out like I am.
Just be grateful means you should be thankful.
You should think yourself fortunate. that you are not puking your guts out.
This is a rather ugly phrase.
To puke, P-U-K-E, means to vomit, to throw up.
When the food that was in your stomach suddenly goes out your mouth the wrong way.
Your guts are a general way of referring to your stomach or the lower part of your abdomen.
The expression means to be sick a lot, to be vomiting a lot.
Hugo says, believe me, I'm thanking my lucky stars.
This is an old expression.
To thank your lucky stars means to be very grateful for something to be very appreciative, to be, in this case, happy that something bad did not happen to you.
Remember that song?
I think it was from the 70s.
And I thank my lucky stars that you are who you are and not just another something.
Something come to break my heart.
Something like that.
Remember that?
No?
Okay, well, now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm as sick as a dog.
It serves you right.
I warned you not to eat food sold by food vendors on the street.
Cleanliness is not a priority at some of those food stands.
I'm not one to turn up my nose at street food.
On the street is where you'll find the most authentic food, the food the locals eat.
And plus, I have a stomach of steel.
You had a stomach of steel, and there's no way to guard against undercooked or contaminated food.
Okay, you're right.
It'll probably take days for whatever it is that's making you sick to work itself out of your system.
Some vacation.
Just be grateful you're not puking your guts out like I am.
Believe me, I'm thanking my lucky stars.
We thank our lucky stars that we have the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say to write our scripts.
By the way, the song that I was thinking of, that's James Taylor, Your Smiling Face, 1977.
I know, you probably didn't care.
From Los Angeles, California, we do care, and I thank you for listening.
I know it's been a weird episode, but I'm hoping that you'll come back and listen to us again soon 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.
