Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 969, Using Electronics on Airplanes.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 969.
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 and become a member of ESL Podcast.
You can also take a look at our ESL podcast store as well as our ESL podcast blog.
And why not like us on Facebook at facebook.com slash ESL POD.
This episode is a dialogue about using electronic devices.
Things like phones and games and computers on airplanes.
Let's get started.
I'm sorry sir, but all passengers need to turn off their portable electronic devices for takeoff, so you'll need to turn off your laptop.
I just need to finish one last email.
Sir, we can't take off until you turn that computer off.
Fine.
It's off.
Why all the fuss, anyway?
All right.
Sir, you'll also need to turn off your tablet computer and your cell phone.
Those are also considered portable electronic devices.
You've got to be kidding me.
You mean I have to sit here twiddling my thumbs while I wait for the plane to take off?
I thought the FAA eased up on those regulations.
I'm afraid not, sir.
Please power down all of your devices so we can proceed with takeoff.
Okay, fine.
What am I supposed to do now?
Until we get the all clear to use our electronics again.
That's what I was doing on my tablet before you made me turn it off.
Perhaps you could take a flying leap out the window.
What did you say?
I said look at that luggage heap out the window.
Our dialogue begins with the flight attendant talking to one of the passengers named Alex.
A flight attendant is an employee of the airline who brings you food and things to drink during your flight, when you are traveling in a plane from one place to another.
Flight attendants are also responsible for the safety of the aircraft, to make sure everyone is sitting down when the plane takes off and lands, for example.
A passenger is a person who flies in an airplane.
The flight attendant says to Alec, one of the passengers, I'm sorry, sir.
But all passengers need to turn off their portable electronic devices for takeoff.
So you'll need to turn off your laptop.
A portable electronic device is something that you can bring from one place to another, something that is small and easily moved.
A device, D-E-V-I-C-E, is a small piece of equipment, often an electronic piece of equipment.
Electronic refers to things that run on electricity and often have some sort of computer inside of them, something like a cell phone or a tablet device, an iPad, a computer and so forth.
All of these would be portable electronic devices.
They're things that you can take with you.
You can put in a small bag and carry them.
The flight attendant is telling Alec he has to turn off his portable electronic devices for takeoff.
Takeoff, T-A-K-E-O-F-F, is when the plane leaves the ground.
Although the rules are changing for this, for a long time you could not use any sort of electronic devices for the first 10 minutes or so of your flight when the plane was taking off, and then again at the end of your flight when the plane was landing.
That's what the flight attendant is talking about here.
She's telling Alec he has to turn off his laptop.
A laptop, L-A-P-T-O-P, is also called a notebook computer.
It's a very small computer that usually folds up like a book so that you can carry it more easily.
Alex says, I just need to finish one last email.
The flight attendant said, sir, we can't take off until you turn that computer off.
The flight attendant is telling Alec that the plane can't leave until he turns off his computer.
Alec says, fine, it's off.
Notice the way he says fine indicates that he's angry.
Even though fine normally means okay, it's clear Alec is not happy.
He says, why all the fuss anyway?
Fuss, F-U-S-S, can be used in a couple of different ways.
Here it means why all of the Why all of the excitement?
Why are we making such a big deal of this particular situation?
To make a fuss means to cause problems or to get excited about something.
Some people, when they complain about something, make a fuss.
They yell and they get angry and they get very excited.
That's one meaning of fuss.
The flight attendant says it's regulations, meaning the reason is that we have rules, that is, regulations about using portable electronic devices on airplanes.
She says signals emitted by electronics may interfere with the plane's communication systems or navigation.
A signal, SIGNAL, is an electronic message.
Emitted E-M-I-T-T-E-D means produced or sent out electronics sometimes send out signals, especially for example a cell phone.
These signals, according to the flight attendant, may interfere with the plane's communication systems.
To interfere with something is to create problems for something, to prevent something from doing what it is supposed to do.
Communication systems are the radios and computers that the plane uses to communicate with other planes and with the people on the ground.
Navigation, N-A-V-I-G-A-T-I-O-N, refers to how you get from one place to another.
Your navigation systems are the systems that tell the plane where to go.
Maps and other electronic instruments are used in navigating the plane and getting the plane to go from one place to another.
In making sure the plane goes to the right place,
If you're taking a plane to Chicago and the plane instead goes to Dallas, you won't be very happy.
Alex says, all right, meaning okay.
The flight attendant says sir, you'll also need to turn off your tablet computer and your cell phone.
Your tablet T-A-B-L-E-T computer, more commonly nowadays called simply your tablet, is an electronic device that does a lot of the things that a computer does, but is smaller and usually doesn't have a keyboard.
It doesn't have a place for you to type other than the actual tablet itself.
It depends on the tablet you have. iPads, for example, are tablet computers.
They're computers in the form of a tablet.
The flight attendant tells Alec to turn off his tablet and his cell phone.
Those are also considered portable electronic devices, she says.
Alec says, you've got to be kidding me.
That expression you've got to be kidding me is when you are very surprised at what someone is saying.
It may even indicate that you disagree with what a person is saying, or you think that what a person is saying is wrong.
Alex says, you mean I have to sit here twiddling my thumbs while I wait for the plane to take off?
To twiddle, T-W-I-D-D-L-E, your thumbs, T-H-U-M-B-S, means to be bored and have nothing to do.
Literally, it means to put your hands together and move your thumbs around each other very quickly.
To twiddle your thumbs means to sit around and do nothing.
In this case, Alex says, I thought the FAA eased up on those regulations.
The FAA in the United States is the Federal Aviation Administration.
It's the U.S. government agency that takes care of regulating and making rules for airplanes.
To ease E-A-S-E up on something means to do less or use something less.
The FAA.
Easing up on regulations would mean the FAA is no longer enforcing, no longer telling people they have to follow the regulations, or changing the regulations to make things easier.
Alec is saying that the FAA has eased up on the regulations.
They've changed the rules on things like using portable electronic devices on airplanes.
The flight attendant says, however, I'm afraid not, sir.
Please power down all of your devices so we can proceed with takeoff.
To power down something means to turn it off, especially something that is running on electricity.
Alex says, okay, fine.
What am I supposed to do until we get the all clear to use our electronics again?
The term all clear C-L-E-A-R refers to a signal that you are given, a message that is communicated to you, that indicates that what you could not do before, you can now do.
That the situation has changed so that you are now able to do something that you were not able to do before.
In this case, to use electronic devices.
The flight attendant says, perhaps you could read a magazine.
Alex said, that's what I was doing on my tablet before you made me turn it off.
The flight attendant is referring, of course, not to an electronic magazine, but to a paper magazine.
She says, perhaps you could take a flying leap out the window.
To take a flying leap.
L-E-A-P is a very rude informal expression used to tell someone to leave or to go away.
You can take a flying leap is something you would say to someone who perhaps did something wrong or made you angry, or And now, you want that person to leave.
It's an insulting, informal phrase.
Alex says, what did you say?
He can't believe what the flight attendant just told him, since flight attendants are not supposed to be rude to their customers.
So the attendant changes what she just said, pretends as though she had said something else.
She says, I said, look at that luggage heap out the window.
A heap H-E-A-P is a large pile of something, a large number of objects that are sitting one on top of the other.
When they put your luggage, your bags, into the bottom of the plane, usually they come out on a big cart, a big truck, and the bags are all put one on top of the other in a large pile or a large heap.
The flight attendant is changing what she said so that Alec doesn't get angry.
She's pretending that she said look at that luggage, heap out the window, rather than take a flying leap out the window, which is what, of course, she actually said.
The flight attendant is not very happy with Alec, since Alec is causing all sorts of problems on the airplane.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm sorry sir, but all passengers need to turn off their portable electronic devices for takeoff, so you need to turn off your laptop.
I just need to finish one last email.
Sir, we can't take off until you turn that computer off.
Fine.
It's off.
Why all the fuss, anyway?
It's regulations.
Signals emitted by electronics may interfere with the plane's communication systems or navigation.
All right.
Sir, you'll also need to turn off your tablet computer and your cell phone.
Those are also considered portable electronic devices.
You've got to be kidding me.
You mean I have to sit here twiddling my thumbs while I wait for the plane to take off?
I thought the FAA eased up on those regulations.
I'm afraid not, sir.
Please power down all of your devices so we can proceed with takeoff.
Okay, fine.
What am I supposed to do until we get the all clear to use our electronics again?
Perhaps you could read a magazine.
That's what I was doing on my tablet before you made me turn it off.
Perhaps you could take a fine leap out the window.
What did you say?
I said, look at that luggage heap out the window.
Our scriptwriter does not sit around here at ESL Podcast twiddling her thumbs.
No, she works hard to produce the wonderful dialogues that we listen to.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
