Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1053.
Buying food at a concession stand.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 1053.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Jim and Suki about buying food when you are at a movie theater.
Let's get started.
We only have three minutes before the movie starts.
Can I help you?
Yes.
I'd like a large popcorn and a hot dog with the works.
Anything else?
Yes.
I'll also take an order of nachos and a pretzel.
Sorry, we're out of pretzels right now, but we have cotton candy, snow cones, and pizza.
All right, then give me a slice of pizza.
Will that be all?
No, I'd also like a box of licorice, a package of beef jerky, and an ice cream sandwich.
Anything to drink?
Yes, I'll take two large sodas.
All right, that'll be $84.50.
What?
That's highway robbery.
Our prices are posted on the board.
You can see them right up there.
Do you still want all this?
Just give me the soda and popcorn.
Are you sure you'll make it through the movie with just that?
Our dialogue begins with Jim talking to someone.
We're not sure who, perhaps his wife or his girlfriend.
We only have three minutes before the movie starts.
You grab two seats and I'll hit the concession stand.
To grab, G-R-A-B, normally means to use your hand and pick up something, often quickly.
However, here it means to go and get two seats, to find two seats and to save them.
There's also the idea here that the theater will fill up and all the good seats will be taken.
And so it's important for Jim's friend or wife or girlfriend to go and get two seats for them to sit in.
Jim says that he's going to hit HIT, the concession stand.
To hit can mean a couple of different things in English.
Here it means to go somewhere and get something quickly, especially to buy something.
You might say I'm going to hit the McDonald's for a hamburger and then drive on the freeway to my brother's house.
To hit here means to go there quickly, get what I want, and leave.
Jim is going to go to the concession, C-O-N-C-E-S-S-I-O-N, stand, S-T-A-N-D.
A concession stand is a place that sells food and drinks, especially in a movie theater or in a place where there's a concert or some sort of sporting event.
If you go and watch a baseball game at Dodger Stadium here in Los Angeles, there are all sorts of concession stands where you can buy food and drinks, including beer.
If you do go to Dodger Stadium, of course, you should call me and invite me to go with you.
Jim is going to hit the concession stand not at Dodger Stadium, but at the movie theater.
The woman at the movie theater, whose name I guess is Suki, says to Jim, Can I help you?
That's the typical way that someone working at a store will start a conversation offering to help you.
Jim says, Yes, I'd like a large popcorn and a hot dog with the works.
A large popcorn would be a large container of popcorn.
Popcorn is a food made from the seeds or kernels of corn, usually put at very high heat, either in oil or in very hot air.
Popcorn is usually served at movie theaters.
It's a popular food at movie theaters, a popular snack.
Typically, popcorn is served with a lot of butter and salt.
Jim asked for a large popcorn and a hot dog with the works.
A hot dog is a food that looks like a small sausage.
It's a type of meat, often a mix of beef and pork, or sometimes just beef or just pork.
That is very popular again at a concession stand, at a sporting event or at a movie theater.
Hot dogs are also eaten by Americans very commonly during the summer.
I love hot dogs and eat them all the time since it's always summer here in beautiful Los Angeles.
Many people think hot dogs are a low-quality food however, so now you know a little bit about the kind of food I eat.
Jim wants a hot dog with the works, W-O-R-K-S.
When you order food such as a hot dog or a hamburger with the works, you're asking for all the typical toppings or other things that are put on the food.
So for a hamburger, for example, the works might include ketchup mayonnaise pickles onions, mushrooms.
Mmm, making me hungry.
A hot dog with the works would probably have things such as mustard ketchup, perhaps horseradish, other kinds of relishes.
All of those are things that you might find on a hot dog.
Me, I just like my hot dogs plain.
Nothing else on them.
But Jim wants a hot dog with the works.
Suki says, anything else?
Jim says, yes.
I'll also take, meaning I also want to buy, an order of nachos and a pretzel.
An order of nachos is a small bowl of tortilla chips, which is kind of a Mexican specialty, or at least a Mexican-American specialty.
Nachos are tortilla chips, fried tortilla chips typically, that have melted cheese on top of them.
A pretzel.
P-R-E-T-Z-E-L is a bread-like snack that is usually made into a certain shape.
It's a long tube of dough of uncooked bread that is folded into a certain shape.
It's hard to describe.
I guess usually it is a shape that looks a little like a heart.
Pretzels usually have lots of salt on them.
Suki says, sorry, we're out of pretzels right now.
She means they don't have any more pretzels to sell.
She says, but we have cotton candy, snow cones, and pizza.
Cotton candy, snow cones and pizza are like nachos and pretzels common foods at a concession stand in a place like a movie theater.
Let's start with cotton, C-O-T-T-O-N, candy.
Cotton is a material that you make clothing out of, but that's not what we're talking about here.
Cotton candy is a dessert that is made by using colored sugar.
It looks a little like a balloon when you're done with it.
It's very light and, of course, very sweet.
Snow cones are...
Desserts made by shaving, that is, cutting ice into very small pieces and then putting it into a little container called a paper cone C-O-N-E.
Then you put flavors on top of the ice, usually some sort of syrup, which is a thick, sweet sauce.
You'll often find snow cones sold at concession stands, but also at places like carnivals and fairs.
A pizza P-I-Z-Z-A is a popular Italian food made by using dough, uncooked bread that's flattened into a large, flat circle.
And you put all sorts of...
Yummy delicious, wonderful things on top of it, like cheese and meat and vegetables and tomato sauce.
Jim says, alright, meaning okay, then give me a slice of pizza.
A slice, S-L-I-C-E, of pizza is one part of the pizza.
Remember, the pizza is a flat, round kind of food.
A slice would just be one section of the pizza.
Suki says, will that be all?
Meaning, do you want to order anything else?
Jim says, no, meaning no, that will not be all.
I have more things I want to buy.
He says, I'd also like a box of licorice, a package of beef jerky and an ice cream sandwich.
Licorice L-I-C-O-R-I-C-E is a kind of long, thin candy, usually red or black, that is chewy, that doesn't melt in your mouth.
In other words, you have to chew it.
Licorice was very popular when I was growing up.
I'm not sure how popular it still is.
I used to love licorice.
All of these things, of course, are basically different forms of sugar that you shouldn't be eating to begin with.
Jim also orders a package of beef jerky, J-E-R-K-Y.
Beef jerky is a little different.
Beef jerky is not made with a lot of sugar.
Instead, it is a salty snack that is made by drying pieces of beef or turkey that have been combined with different flavors.
It's a very different kind of food.
Personally, I don't really like beef jerky.
I do like ice cream sandwiches, however.
An ice cream sandwich is a dessert made by putting ice cream in between two large cookies or things that kind of look like cookies.
The kind that I like aren't really cookies.
It's another kind of sweet covering that goes on both sides of the ice cream.
Suki then asks Jim anything to drink.
Jim says, yes, I'll take two large sodas.
Suki says, all right, that'll be $84.50.
Jim says, what?
He's very surprised at the high price of all of these snacks.
He says, that's highway robbery.
Highway robbery.
R-O-B-B-E-R-Y refers to a very high price for something, something that is way too expensive.
When someone charges you a lot more than you think you should be charged, you might say that's highway robbery.
Suki says our prices are posted on the board.
Posted, P-O-S-T-E-D, here just means written and displayed so that you can see them.
Suki says you can see them right up there.
She's pointing to where the prices are.
Do you still want all this?
Jim says just give me the soda and popcorn.
So he's not going to get anything else but soda pop and popcorn.
Suki says, are you sure you'll make it through the movie with just that?
She's suggesting that Jim is going to need more food in order to last the entire time watching the movie.
Remember, movies are between 90 and 120 minutes, typically.
Jim says, however, I have no choice, meaning I don't have any other options.
I'm forced to do this.
I'd have to commit robbery if I wanted anything else.
To commit, C-O-M-M-I-T, means to perform a crime in this case.
Robbery is when you steal something from someone.
Jim is making a joke here.
He's saying that if he wanted anything else, he'd have to steal it, because he can't afford the price.
He doesn't have enough money to buy all of these things.
It's quite true that the prices in movie theaters for snacks at the concession stands are extremely expensive much, much more expensive than in other places.
But of course they know that you don't have anywhere else that you could buy these things, and most movie theaters don't allow you to bring your own food in.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
We only have three minutes before the movie starts.
You grab two seats, and I'll hit the concession stand.
Can I help you?
Yes, I'd like a large popcorn and a hot dog with the works.
Anything else?
Yes, I'll also take an order of nachos and a pretzel.
Sorry, we're out of pretzels right now, but we have cotton candy, snow cones, and pizza.
All right, then give me a slice of pizza.
Would that be all?
No, I'd also like a box of licorice, a package of beef jerky, and an ice cream sandwich.
Anything to drink?
Yes, I'll take two large sodas.
All right, that'll be $84.50.
What?
That's highway robbery.
Our prices are posted on the board You can see them right up there Do you still want all this?
Just give me the soda and popcorn Are you sure you'll make it through the movie with just that?
I have no choice.
I'd have to commit robbery if I wanted anything else.
You don't have to commit robbery to be able to listen to the wonderful scripts by our wonderful script writer, 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.
