Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 1,109.
Reading Poor Handwriting This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1109.
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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On this episode, we're going to listen to a dialogue between Lily and Hassan about handwriting.
You know, using your hand to write on a piece of paper.
Let's get started.
Can you make out what this says?
Jeez, who wrote that?
My doctor.
She wrote down some instructions for me, but I can't read her handwriting.
I have no idea what that chicken scratch says.
I think that's a T, but maybe it's an F.
Face it, those scribbles are illegible.
Why don't you take a photo of that and email it to her nurse?
Maybe she can decipher it for you.
I feel like if I just keep at it, I'll be able to work it out.
Patients shouldn't have to try and read a doctor's sloppy writing.
What if they misinterpret it and do the wrong thing as part of their treatment?
This note isn't that bad.
I think I might have the first two words figured out already.
Then you're better at reading bad penmanship than I am.
Maybe you should have a try at these English essays.
I have 60 of them to grade.
Wow, looking at these, I'd say you have 60 future doctors in the making.
Lily asks Hassan, can you make out what this says?
The phrasal verb to make out O-U-T here means to be able to understand something that someone has said or that someone has written.
To be able to read something.
If, for example, you pick up something and you're trying to read the serial number, the numbers that come on an object to identify it, especially an electronic object, usually the serial numbers are written with very small print.
They're not very large, and so they're difficult to make out.
They're difficult to read.
Hassan says, geez, who wrote that?
Geez, G-E-E-Z is a word used to express surprise or amazement, or perhaps annoyance when something bothers you.
Hassan is asking Lily who wrote this note or message that she's trying to read.
Lily says, my doctor.
This is a bit of a joke, of course.
At least in the United States, doctors have the reputation of having very poor handwriting.
That is, the writing that they make with a pen or a pencil with their hands.
Lily says her doctor wrote down some instructions for her, but she can't read her handwriting.
Hassan says, I have no idea what that chicken scratch says.
The term chicken scratch S-C-R-A-T-C-H is an informal one referring to handwriting.
That is very difficult to read.
That is very, we might say sloppy S-L-O-P-P-Y.
If something is sloppy, it's not neat and organized.
It's not done with care.
If someone describes your handwriting as chicken scratch, he or she is being somewhat insulting saying that your handwriting is very sloppy, almost as if a chicken had written it.
I don't know why a chicken.
That's just the expression.
Lily is trying to read the note.
She says, I think that's a T.
But maybe it's an F.
Lily is pointing to different letters on the piece of paper, trying to guess what they are.
Hassan says, face it.
Those scribbles are illegible.
The expression face F-A-C-E, it I-T is used to tell someone that he or she needs to recognize the truth of what one is saying.
It's usually used when someone is trying to deny something that is obviously true or that perhaps the person knows is true but doesn't want to admit it.
Hassan says those scribbles are illegible.
Scribble, S-C-R-I-B-B-L-E, as a verb refers to writing something down quickly.
Scribbles, as a noun, would refer to writing that was done very quickly and not carefully.
The term illegible, I-L-L-E-G-I-B-L-E, means impossible to read, usually because the handwriting is very bad.
Hassan says, why don't you take a photo of that and email it to her nurse?
Hassan is suggesting that Lily take a photograph and email that photograph to the nurse of her doctor.
Maybe she, assuming now the nurse is a woman, can decipher it for you.
To decipher D-E-C-I-P-H-E-R means to be able to understand the meaning of something that has been written in another code or system, or even language.
To decipher something means to figure it out, to be able to understand it.
Governments, for example, often communicate using special secret codes that no one else can understand.
These are codes, of course, that the country's enemies try to decipher, try to figure out.
Hassan is referring to the doctor's writing, not some special secret code.
He recommends getting the doctor's nurse to decipher it.
Lily says, A couple of common expressions there.
The first one is to keep at it.
To keep at it or to keep at something means to continue to do it, even though it is difficult or challenging.
It's the opposite of giving up.
If you give up, you stop, you quit.
If you continue working on it even though it's difficult, we would say you are keeping at it.
Lilly uses another very common expression, to work something out.
To work something out is to find the answer to some question or solution to some problem.
That is very difficult, that is very challenging.
To figure something out is to work it out.
To work it out usually involves a very complicated problem.
If, for example, you like to read detective fiction novels about private investigators and police who investigate crimes, you might be someone who likes to work out the solution, who tries to figure out who is committed the crime, who committed the murder?
There are lots of, of course, famous writers of detective fiction in English, people like Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers from the early to mid part of the 20th century and, of course many, many others.
I personally love watching detective shows.
I've watched... probably thousands of them.
I love watching a good mystery and trying to work it out.
I never do, of course.
My wife works it out like halfway through the show and I am always surprised at the end, and she's already worked it out a long time ago.
She's much smarter than I am, of course.
Anyway, Hassan says patients shouldn't have to try and read a doctor's sloppy writing.
We talked about sloppy earlier on as being not very carefully done.
What if they, meaning the patients, misinterpret and do the wrong things as part of their treatment?
To misinterpret something is to misunderstand something, to come to the wrong conclusion.
If a patient misinterprets the doctor's instructions, they could be doing the wrong thing in terms of their treatment.
Treatment refers to medical care, things that you or your doctor does to make you feel better, to get better physically.
Willie says, this note isn't that bad.
I think I might have the first two words figured out already.
Figured out, of course, means understood.
Hassan says, then you're better at reading bad penmanship than I am.
Penmanship, P-E-N-M-A-N-S-H-I-P, is just another word for handwriting.
You don't hear the word that often anymore now that we live in a world of computers and texting.
In fact, some parents complain that the schools no longer teach good penmanship anymore, the way they did back when they were young.
My school taught us good penmanship.
The problem is I never really learned it.
They tried to teach me, but I was never very good at it.
Hassan says, maybe you should have a try at these English essays.
It appears that Hassan is a teacher and he has to read some handwritten essays.
An essay, E-S-S-A-Y, is a short written document often done as part of a school assignment.
The teacher will tell students to write several paragraphs in order to demonstrate their knowledge of a certain topic.
This is often done on a test that is given to the class.
Hassan says that he has 60 of these essays to grade, to give a score to as the teacher.
Lilly says, wow, looking at these essays, I'd say you have 60 future doctors in the making.
Lily is making a joke.
She's saying that all of Hassan's students have bad handwriting, have poor handwriting, which must mean that someday they will become doctors.
That's why she says 60 future doctors in the making.
If something is in the making, it is in the process of being made or formed.
It's not finished yet.
It's not in its completed form yet, but it is in the process of being completed.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Can you make out what this says?
Jeez, who wrote that?
My doctor.
She wrote down some instructions for me, but I can't read her handwriting.
I have no idea what that chicken scratch says.
I think that's a T, but maybe it's an F. Face it, those scribbles are illegible.
Why don't you take a photo of that and email it to her nurse?
Maybe she can decipher it for you.
I feel like if I just keep at it, I'll be able to work it out.
Patients shouldn't have to try and read a doctor's sloppy writing.
What if they misinterpret it and do the wrong thing as part of their treatment?
This note isn't that bad.
I think I might have the first two words figured out already.
Then you're better at reading bad penmanship than I am.
Maybe you should have a try at these English essays.
I have 60 of them to grade.
Wow, looking at these, I'd say you have 60 future doctors in the making.
Our scriptwriter's handwriting is never sloppy.
That's because she's always very careful.
I speak, of course, of the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for being wonderful and 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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
