Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 786, Going to a Bar.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 786.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development.
In Transcription by CastingWords about going to a bar, a place where you go and have an alcoholic drink.
Let's get started.
I've been complaining to a co-worker, Amy, about having to move to the Burbs for my job.
Hey, there you are.
Hey, so this is the famous McHugh's you've been talking about.
This is it.
What would you like to drink?
There are several beers on tap and pretty good well drinks.
I think I'll get a couple of shots.
On a Wednesday night you guys do party hard in the city.
That said, I won't be getting stinking drunk on a school night.
You are right.
This place is nice.
It even has a dance floor.
On the weekends there's a live band or a DJ, although there's also a cover charge on Fridays and Saturdays.
So you do know how to party in the burbs?
Didn't I tell you?
But for me to get a thorough impression of the Burbs, I'll have to come here to check it out this weekend.
What are you doing Saturday night?
Actually, I plan on coming here.
Want some company?
Our story begins with Mujalo saying, I've been complaining to a co-worker.
To complain means to talk about something negative, to say how unhappy you are about something that is happening.
Mujalo's been complaining to a co-worker someone he works with named Amy about having to move to the burbs for my job.
Burbs, B-U-R-B-S, is an informal word for suburb.
Suburbs are areas around the main city outside of the downtown area, usually outside of a major city.
In Los Angeles, the suburbs would be all of the cities around the city of Los Angeles, around the biggest city.
Mujalo says.
Amy said there were plenty of things to do outside of the city and invited me to a bar she likes.
A bar, which would be called a pub in England or a tavern, is a place that serves mostly alcoholic beverages beer wine whiskey, rum and so forth.
I like rum, personally, if I have an alcoholic drink, which is Very, very rarely now.
But I really like the taste of rum.
Bacardi rum.
Especially the rum from Mexico.
For some reason, the Mexican Bacardi is very good.
As good as, I think, the Puerto Rican rum.
Now, if you're from Puerto Rico, you'll probably email and complain that I said that.
But there you go.
Anyway, I'm not drinking.
I'm recording a podcast.
So let's continue.
Amy says, hey, there you are.
We would say that expression there you are for someone who you were looking for, or perhaps you were waiting for and they finally came.
Mahalo says, hey, so this is the famous McHugh's you've been talking about.
The name of the bar is called McHugh's, no relation to me.
Amy says, this is it.
What would you like to drink?
They have several beers on tap and pretty good well drinks.
On tap means available usually from a faucet.
If a beer is on tap, it's in a big barrel, a big container, and it comes right out of that container into the glass, into the mug where you pour the beer and drink the beer out of.
The opposite would be beer in a bottle.
But beer on tap is beer that the bar has in a big container.
A well W-E-L-L drink is any alcoholic drink made from some other kind of alcohol, like whiskey or rum.
Usually it's mixed with something else, either some sort of soda pop or some juice, or some water or something similar.
Mujalo says, I think I'll get a couple of shots.
Well, there are a number of different things you can order at a bar.
A well drink or just a drink would be.
What some people might call a cocktail.
That would be, for example, rum and coke, which we call a Cuba Libre, or a Tom Collins, or a Whiskey 7 Whiskey with 7 Up.
Those are all well drinks.
A shot is when you just have alcohol in a small little container called a shot glass.
And it's a very small amount of alcohol.
You could have a whiskey shot or a shot of whiskey, which would be just one little container full of alcohol, usually served in a very small glass, in a shot glass.
So Mojalo says I think I'll get a couple of shots of Amy says on a Wednesday night you guys do party hard in the city.
She's surprised because getting a couple of shots is a lot of alcohol and it's in the middle of the week, so she's surprised that Mujalo wants to drink so much.
That's why she says, you guys, you people who live in the city...
Party hard.
To party means to have a good time, to celebrate, to drink and dance.
To party hard would be to enjoy yourself, usually by drinking a lot of alcohol, an extreme amount of alcohol, alcohol that would get you drunk quickly and for a long time.
Mojalo says I've had a really rough or difficult week and I welcome any excuse to let my hair down.
To welcome any excuse to let your hair down would be to use any opportunity or reason to relax and have fun.
Not quite sure about his use of the term, let my hair down.
That's something a woman might say, more likely than a man, but maybe Mujalo has long hair.
I don't know.
He says, that said, I won't be getting stinking drunk on a school night.
That said means nevertheless, even though he is looking for an excuse to party to let his hair down.
He won't be getting stinking drunk.
To be drunk is to be intoxicated, to have too much alcohol.
To be stinking drunk is an informal expression meaning to be really drunk, to be incredibly drunk, to be very drunk.
A school night is kind of a joke here, because when you are in school, of course anytime you have to go to school the next day, you can't go out and party at night.
Your parents will often say you have to study and be to bed by 10 o'clock on a school night.
So Monday Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday?
Well Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday are all school nights, because the next day you have school.
Monday through Friday
However, people sometimes use it just to mean a work night, a day or a night that will be followed by a day that you have to go to work.
That's what Mojalo is talking about.
He says, you were right.
This place is nice.
It even has a dance floor.
A dance floor is an area where you can dance to music, of course.
Amy says, on the weekends, there's a live band or a DJ.
A live band is a musical group that performs.
There are actually people up there singing and playing guitars and other musical instruments.
A DJ stands for a disc jockey.
It's a person whose job it is to, well, it used to be to play records, to play discs.
Now they play compact discs or, I guess, MP3s.
I'm not sure.
But that's a DJ, a person who is in charge of selecting the music.
Amy says there's also a cover charge on Fridays and Saturdays.
A cover charge means you have to pay money just to get into the bar or the club.
And, of course, you also have to pay for your drinks.
A cover charge is, I don't know, it used to be like $5, $10, $15.
Now it's probably more than that.
I haven't been to a bar with a cover charge since Ronald Reagan was president.
Mojalo says, so you do know how to party in the burbs.
Amy says, didn't I tell you?
Mojalo's saying, you guys also know how to have a good time.
Mojalo says but for me to get a thorough impression of the burbs, I'll have to come here to check it out this weekend.
A thorough impression means a complete idea.
An impression of can mean the way that you understand something, the opinion you have about something.
Impression can have a few other meanings as well.
Take a look at our learning guide for those.
So Mojalo is saying that in order to really understand whether this bar is a good place, he'll have to come back on the weekend.
He says to Amy, what are you doing Saturday night?
Now, of course, Mojalo and Amy are friends, but now it sounds like Mojalo wants to see Amy again at this bar, so perhaps he has other ideas.
Amy says, actually, I'd planned on coming here.
I was already going to come to this bar again on the weekend.
Mojalo says, want some company?
Company is other people who spend time with you.
And of course, we think Mojalo possibly is interested romantically in Amy.
We'll have to see later on.
When?
Probably never.
Now, let's listen to the dialogue at a normal speed.
I'd been complaining to a co-worker, Amy, about having to move to the Burbs for my job.
She said that there were plenty of things to do outside of the city and invited me to a bar she likes.
Hey, there you are.
Hey, so this is the famous McHugh's you've been talking about.
This is it.
What would you like to drink?
They have several beers on tap and pretty good well drinks.
I think I'll get a couple of shots.
On a Wednesday night, you guys do party hard in the city.
I've had a really rough week, and I welcome any excuse to let my hair down.
That said, I won't be getting stinking drunk on a school night.
You were right.
This place is nice.
It even has a dance floor.
On the weekends there's a live band or a DJ, although there's also a cover charge on Fridays and Saturdays.
So you do know how to party in the burbs.
Didn't I tell you?
But for me to get a thorough impression of the burbs, I'll have to come here to check it out this weekend.
What are you doing Saturday night?
Actually, I plan on coming here.
Want some company?
If you've listened to Dr Lucy Say's scripts, you should have a good impression of what she does.
I hope.
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 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
