Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1162.
Staying in an inexpensive hotel.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1162.
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 Susanna and Kenji about staying in a hotel that doesn't cost very much.
Let's get started.
Remind me why we're staying in this fleabag motel in the seedy part of town.
We agreed that we would skimp on the accommodations so we could spend more money on activities and eating out.
Remember?
I remember, but I didn't bargain for some place as run down as this.
Look at the peeling wallpaper and moldy bathroom.
It's pretty bad, isn't it?
Look on the bright side.
At least it's not rat-infested.
That's small comfort.
Well, I think I'll take a short nap before we go out for dinner.
Ugh!
What's the matter?
This comforter is filthy.
I doubt housekeeping has changed it in months.
Let's get out of here and go get a drink.
Good idea.
If I have more than one, maybe I won't care so much where we're staying.
Given the state of this room, we might need an entire picture.
Susanna begins our dialogue by asking Kenji remind me why we're staying in this fleabag motel in the seedy part of town.
When someone begins a question with remind me why or remind me usually the person is not very happy with the situation or perhaps confused about something, something he doesn't understand.
For example, if you go to a movie and it's a really bad movie, a movie recommended by your friend.
You may say to your friend, remind me why we're watching this stupid movie.
You're criticizing, of course, your friend's choice.
That's what Susanna is doing here.
She's, in effect, criticizing Kenji for having them stay in this fleabag motel.
A motel M-O-T-E-L is like a hotel, but it's usually smaller and less expensive.
The M, I believe, originally comes from motor, meaning.
It was a hotel that was designed for people who were and are traveling by car.
Usually a motel has doors that face out or that look out onto the parking lot where the cars are.
The term fleabag F-L-E-A-B-A-G describes a hotel or perhaps another temporary housing place that is dirty, old and usually falling apart, often with not very clean living conditions.
The rooms aren't clean.
The hotel itself isn't very clean.
The word fleabag comes from flea, F-L-E-A.
A flea is a small animal that you usually associate with Dogs, for example, or other small animals.
Technically, a flea is a small insect that feeds off of the blood of another animal.
If your dog has fleas, your dog will often scratch at the fleas or the flea bites.
Fleabag then would describe a very dirty, not very nice hotel or motel.
Susanna is wondering why they are staying in this fleabag motel in the Seedy S-E-E-D-Y part of town.
The word Seedy refers to an area, perhaps even a person who is somewhat suspicious, possibly even criminal.
It could also describe a place that is dirty or disgusting or unsafe.
If you say that's a seedy character, you mean that's a person whom you can't really trust, a person who might even be a criminal.
To describe a hotel as seedy is.
Kenji says So we could spend more money on activities and eating out remember.
To skimp S-K-I-M-P on something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to spend a very small amount on something, much less than most people would normally spend in order to save money.
Although you could also skimp on something because you don't want very much of it.
There's an adjective skimpy S-K-I-M-P-Y, which describes someone who isn't wearing very much clothing.
If a woman is wearing a skimpy outfit, O-U-T-F-I-T, she's not wearing very much clothing.
A bikini, for example, might be described as being skimpy.
But here it's The phrasal verb to skimp on means not spending very much money.
Kenji says that he and Susanna agreed they would not spend very much money on accommodations.
So accommodations A-C-C-O-M-M-O-D-A-T-I-O-N-S refers to a place where you stay when you are traveling, such as a hotel.
Another word for accommodations is lodging L-O-D-G-I-N-G, although you don't hear that word as much anymore, unless you're talking about your expenses for your company.
If you travel, your company might ask you to give them receipts for your lodging, for your accommodations, basically for your hotel room.
Kenji says the agreement that he and Susanna had was to skimp on accommodations so they could spend more money on eating out, that is, on eating in a restaurant.
Susanna says she remembers this, but...
She says, I didn't bargain for someplace as run down as this.
If someone says, I didn't bargain, B-A-R-G-A-I-N, for something...
She means she didn't anticipate or intend to do something.
Usually, when you say I didn't bargain for this, you mean you are surprised in a negative way because you didn't expect this or you didn't think you agreed to do this.
To be run down means to be in... very poor condition, to be very old, to be perhaps falling apart.
You could describe a building as being run down.
This apartment building is run down.
It's not taken care of very well.
There are things that are broken.
It might be a little dirty.
That would all be part of this description of being run down.
Susanna says, look at the peeling wallpaper and moldy bathroom.
Wallpaper is paper that usually has a certain color or decoration that you put up on a wall instead of painting it.
That's why the term wallpaper makes so much sense.
It's paper that you put on the walls.
If wallpaper isn't put on properly, or if it's very old, it will start to peel.
P-E-E-L.
The verb to peel here means for the wallpaper to begin to come off the wall, especially from the top of the wall.
To peel can also mean to remove the outer layer of something.
You could peel a potato.
You could take the outer layer, what we would call the skin, S-K-I-N, of the potato off.
So peeling wallpaper is wallpaper that is falling off.
A moldy M-O-U-L-D bathroom is one in which there is fungus, something that is caused usually by moisture.
You don't want mold in your bathroom.
It can cause a lot of problems, including health problems.
Kenji says it's pretty bad, isn't it? meaning this motel is pretty bad.
Look on the bright side, he says.
This expression to look on the bright B-R-I-G-H-T side is used when you are asking someone to find something good or positive in a bad situation.
It's another way of saying, be optimistic, be positive, look for the good things here.
He says, at least it's not rat infested.
The positive thing that Kenji points out about this motel is that it doesn't have rats small little animals that you don't really want to see in your house or hotel room.
The term rat infested, I-N-F-E-S-T-E-D, just means full of rats or lots of rats.
Susanna says that's small comfort.
Meaning, it's a good thing, but not very much.
Well, she says, I think I'll take a short nap, a short time to sleep, before we go out for dinner.
Ugh, she says.
Kenji says, what's the matter?
Meaning, what's wrong?
Susanna says, this comforter is filthy.
A comforter, C-O-M-F-O-R-T-E-R, is a thick, warm blanket that you put on a bed.
If something is filthy, F-I-L-T-H-Y, it's very dirty, it's very unclean.
Susanna continues, I doubt housekeeping has changed it in months.
In a hotel or a motel, there usually is a group of people who go around cleaning the rooms, usually every day.
That group of people is called collectively housekeeping, H-O-U-S-E-K-E-E-P-I-N-G.
These are the people...
I'll have to say, in most hotels in the United States usually women who go around and clean the rooms or who are supposed to clean the rooms.
Susanna is complaining that the comforter probably has not been changed or cleaned in many months.
Kenji says, let's get out of here and go get a drink, meaning an alcoholic drink.
That should cheer us up, he says.
To cheer someone up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to make you happy.
Susanna says good idea, meaning yes, that is a good idea.
If I have more than one, meaning more than one drink, maybe I won't care so much where we're staying.
Kenji says, given the state of this room, we might need an entire pitcher.
Given here means considering or in reference to.
The state of this room refers to the condition of this room.
Kenji is saying then that, because of how bad this room is, We might need an entire pitcher P-I-T-C-H-E-R.
A pitcher is a large container.
Here, Kenji is referring to a large pitcher of beer, I'm guessing.
Kenji is saying that, because the room is in such bad condition, he and Susanna might need to drink a whole pitcher of beer in order to feel better, in order to be cheered up enough so that they can continue staying in this fleabag motel.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Remind me why we're staying in this fleabag motel in the seedy part of town.
We agreed that we would skimp on accommodations so we could spend more money on activities and eating out.
Remember?
I remember, but I didn't bargain for some place as run-down as this.
Look at the peeling wallpaper and moldy bathroom.
It's pretty bad, isn't it?
Look on the bright side.
At least it's not rat-infested.
That's small comfort.
Well, I think I'll take a short nap before we go out for dinner.
Ugh.
What's the matter?
This comforter is filthy.
I doubt housekeeping has changed it in months.
Let's get out of here and go get a drink.
That should cheer us up.
Good idea.
If I have more than one, maybe I won't care so much where we're staying.
Given the state of this room, we might need an entire pitcher.
We never skimp on giving you the very best English possible.
That's thanks to 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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
