Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,248.
Describing old and new equipment.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,248.
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 Oleg and Raquel about describing machines equipment that are old and new.
Let's get started.
Jeez, look at that dinosaur.
This is not a dinosaur.
It's a classic.
It will never go out of style, and it's built to last.
It's an antique and belongs in a museum.
You've got to get with it and get one of these.
What's that?
It's the latest model with cutting-edge design.
It's brand spanking new.
That's all right.
This machine is tried and true, and it never lets me down.
Why don't you take this for a test drive?
It'll be an eye-opening experience for you.
You don't know what you're missing.
That's true, but I'm happy with my machine.
Fine.
I'm just trying to help you move with the times.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I'll stick with what I know and love.
It just goes to show there's no accounting for taste.
Oleg begins our dialogue by saying to Raquel, geez, look at that dinosaur.
Geez, G-E-E-Z, is a word we use to express surprise or amazement at something.
Oleg is amazed at a dinosaur.
The word dinosaur usually refers to an animal that is no longer found living on Earth.
However, we also use the word dinosaur to describe something or even someone who is very very old.
In describing a person, it usually refers to someone in leadership or power in an organization or a government.
When it's used to describe a piece of equipment, a machine, it refers to something that is no longer very usable because it is so old.
So if you have a computer from the 1980s, it would probably be described as a dinosaur.
Because it's so old you can't really use it for anything.
Raquel disagrees with Oleg's description of her machine.
She says this is not a dinosaur.
It's a classic.
A classic C-L-A-S-S-I-C is something that is old but is considered to be a very high quality, something that people admire or recognize as being good.
We might describe an old car as a classic.
In fact, people talk about classic cars or classic movies.
These are things that we consider to have a lot of value or to be of high quality.
Citizen Kane or The Godfather might be described as classic movies.
Don't confuse classic with classical movies.
C-L-A-S-S-I-C-A-L.
Classical usually refers to something from the ancient Greek or Roman period of history, at least in the Western world.
Raquel says her machine is a classic.
She says it will never go out of style. and it's built to last.
To go out of style means to be no longer very popular, to no longer be what we might describe as fashionable, something that people like, something that people want to have.
Certain ways of dressing are go out of style.
People no longer wear that kind of shirt or those kinds of pants.
Raquel says however, that what she has will never go out of style.
She says it's built to last l-a-s-t.
If something is built to last, it will not break or stop working in the future.
Something that is built to last is built very well.
It's constructed very well.
Oleg says, however, it's an antique and belongs in a museum.
An antique, A-N-T-I-Q-U-E, is some object that is considered old.
Usually we talk about something more than 100 years old as being an antique.
Furniture art pottery, other objects that people like to collect, like to own, are often referred to as antiques if they are very old.
I love watching... television programs about antiques.
I like to watch a British show called Bargain Hunt, where they go and try to find antiques.
I know, it's a little weird.
Anyway, Oleg says that he thinks the machine that Raquel has belongs in a museum, M-U-S-E-U-M.
A museum is a building that has objects that are either very old or are pieces of art that people want to look at.
In this case, he thinks this object is very old.
He says you've got to get with it and get one of these.
To get with.
It is an expression meaning to become familiar with what is happening now, to understand things that are going on right now or that are popular now.
Raquel asks, what's that?
Oleg is showing her something.
Oleg says it's the latest model, meaning it's the most recent kind of this thing.
He says it has cutting-edge designs.
The expression cutting C-U-T-T-I-N-G edge E-D-G-E means very modern or with the latest technology, the latest advanced design.
He says it's brand spanking new.
The expression brand B-R-A-N-D.
New means that it is very new, that it has not been used by anyone else before you bought it.
That's something that is brand new.
The word spanking, S-P-A-N-K-I-N-G, in this expression is used for emphasis.
It means the same as very or extremely.
It's really brand new it's brand spanking new it's somewhat unusual to see that construction of putting the adjective after brand brand spanking new you might think it would be spanking brand new but it isn't we say brand spanking new it's an idiom it's just the way that we express that particular idea With those words, it just means very new.
Raquel says that's all right, meaning no, she isn't interested.
This machine, the one that she owns, is tried and true, and it never lets me down.
To describe something as tried T-R-I-E-D, hyphen and hyphened true T-R-U-E means that it has been tested and proven to work well.
It's something that you have used for a long time and you know that it works.
That's something that is tried and true.
The word tried here means tested or used to make sure that it works.
The machine, according to Raquel, never lets her down.
To let someone down means to disappoint someone, to do something that does not meet someone's expectations.
Raquel says this machine never lets her down.
Oleg says why don't you take this for a test drive?
The expression to take something for a test T-E-S-T drive means to try something for a short time to see if you like it, especially something you are considering buying.
If you're going to buy a car.
You would go to a place that sells cars called a car dealership And you would take a car for a test drive.
You would get in and drive the car.
We use that expression to take something for a test drive.
More generally to refer to trying anything, usually a machine of some sort, for a short time to see if you like it and want to buy it.
Oleg says that taking whatever he has for a test drive will be an eye-opening experience for Raquel.
Something that is I-E-Y-E.
Hyphen opening is something that makes you aware of something or gives you knowledge about something in a way that you have never had before or have never been given before.
If you call an experience eye-opening, it means it made you see things or realize things maybe good, maybe bad that you had not realized or seen before.
Raquel, however, is not interested.
She says, no thanks.
Oleg responds, you don't know what you're missing.
The expression you don't know what you're missing means that you are not aware of the good things that someone else knows about or that I know about.
Raquel says that's true, but I'm happy with my machine.
Oleg says fine, meaning okay, fine.
I'm just trying to help you move with the times.
The expression to move with the times is similar to to get with it.
It means to change your attitude or to change your actions so that you can do what other people are doing.
It also means to be more modern, to do things that other people are doing nowadays.
Raquel says, thanks, but no thanks, meaning thank you for offering that, but I am not interested.
She says I'll stick with meaning.
I will continue using what I know and love what I am familiar with.
Oleg ends the dialogue by saying, it just goes to show there's no accounting for taste.
There are two expressions there.
The first one is it just goes to show, S-H-O-W.
It just goes to show, is a phrase used when you want to emphasize what another person has said or demonstrated.
You are coming to a conclusion.
You are making an observation about something.
Oleg's observation is another common expression.
There's no accounting, A-C-C-O-U-N-T-I-N-G for taste, T-A-S-T-E.
There's no accounting for taste is a phrase that means that it's impossible to understand the things that other people like and dislike.
There's no reason, there's no rational basis sometimes for why some people like some things and dislike other things.
I like apple pie and coffee and spaghetti and dumplings and different kinds of noodles.
Other people like other food that I don't like.
There's no good reason.
You can't make an argument why one thing is better than another when it comes to food.
That's why we say there's no accounting for taste.
Taste, however, means more than just what kind of food you like.
It's a general term to describe the things that people like and dislike in other people or in other objects.
This expression is sometimes used as a criticism for another person to say you have bad taste.
That's what Oleg is doing here.
He's saying that Raquel doesn't have good taste because she continues to use this old machine whatever it is, instead of moving with the times and using a new machine.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Jeez, look at that dinosaur.
This is not a dinosaur.
It's a classic.
It will never go out of style, and it's built to last.
It's an antique and belongs in a museum.
You've got to get with it and get one of these.
What's that?
It's the latest model with cutting-edge design.
It's brand spanking new.
That's all right.
This machine is tried and true, and it never lets me down.
Why don't you take this for a test drive?
It'll be an eye-opening experience for you.
No, thanks.
You don't know what you're missing.
That's true, but I'm happy with my machine.
Fine.
I'm just trying to help you move with the times.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I'll stick with what I know and love.
It just goes to show there's no accounting for taste.
Our dialogues never go out of style.
They're classics written by the wonderful scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
