Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 1,284, Discovering a Minor Theft.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1,284.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
This episode is a dialogue between Maria and the owner of a store about stealing something from the store.
Sounds dangerous.
Let's get started.
What's going on here?
I came as soon as I got your phone call.
Why are you holding onto my son like that?
I thought you'd like to be here when I called the police.
There's no need for that.
He's not a delinquent.
He is, from my standpoint, theft is a serious crime.
I know it is, and I'll make restitution.
Please give him a second chance.
Please don't call the police.
Well, it's not the value of what he's stolen that's important.
It's the fact that he committed an offense.
Please let me pay for it, and I'll make sure he never enters your store again.
I told you that it's not the cost of the item.
It's the principle.
He ate a grape.
One grape?
Yes, before I stopped him.
He could have eaten the entire fruit stand if I hadn't been vigilant.
All this over one grape?
You should be thanking me for alerting you to this behavior.
As a parent...
You know you need to nip these things in the bud.
Today it's a grape.
Tomorrow it's a car.
Okay, how much do I owe you for one grape?
Maria begins our dialogue by asking, what's going on here?
Meaning, what is happening?
Maria continues, I came as soon as I got your phone call.
So someone has called Maria and Maria has traveled from her work or her home to.
Well, it turns out we're inside of a store in this dialogue.
Maria then asks the person who owns the store.
The person whose store it is Why are you holding onto my son like that?
To hold onto someone means to put your arms or hands on someone so the person can't leave, so he doesn't escape or go away from you.
The store owner says, I am restraining your son because I caught him shoplifting.
To restrain R-E-S-T-R-A-I-N someone means to make it difficult or impossible for a person to move.
The store owner is holding on to this person.
I assume child, because the young man was caught shoplifting.
Shoplifting, S-H-O-P-L-I-F-T-I-N-G, comes from the verb to shoplift. which means to steal something from a store, usually a small item, something that isn't worth a lot of money.
The store owner continues, I thought you'd like to be here when I called the police.
The shop owner is saying to the mother of this young man that he's going to call the police and wanted the mother there when he called.
Maria says there's no need for that, meaning that isn't necessary.
He's not a delinquent.
A delinquent is D-E-L-I-N-Q-U-E-N-T.
Is a young person who commits a crime or who does things that are against the law.
I was never a delinquent, though I did know some people who were delinquents, who broke the law when they were young.
The store owner says, he is from my standpoint.
The store owner is saying, actually, yes, your son, Maria, is a delinquent.
He's a delinquent from the store owner's standpoint.
S-T-A-N-D-P-O-I-N-T
Standpoint is another word for viewpoint or perspective.
It describes the way that you view or understand a situation.
The store owner is saying well, maybe you Maria, don't think he's a delinquent, but I think he's a delinquent.
Why?
Well, because he stole something.
Theft, he continues, is a serious crime.
Theft T-H-E-F-T is a noun meaning the crime of stealing things, the illegal act of taking things that don't belong to you.
Maria says, I know it is, meaning yes, theft is a serious crime, I agree.
She says, I'll make restitution.
To make restitution, R-E-S-T-I-T-U-T-I-O-N means to return or pay for something that was stolen. or perhaps to make up for something bad that you did to someone else by giving that person money or by doing something else for that person.
Maria then says to the store owner, Please give him a second chance.
Meaning, Please don't call the police, she says.
The store owner says, well, it's not the value of what he's stolen that's important.
It's the fact that he committed an offense.
Value, V-A-L-U-E, here refers to the price of what the young man stole.
It's how much money something is worth.
The store owner is not worried about how expensive the item that was stolen is, but rather the fact that this young boy committed an offense.
To commit an offense O-F-F-E-N-S-E means to Break a law, to do something that is against the rules of an organization or the laws of a certain place.
It's to commit a crime, in other words.
Maria says, please let me pay for it and I'll make sure he never enters your store again.
What did he take and how much do I owe you, she says.
Maria is asking the store owner how much money she has to give the store owner to pay for what her son stole.
The store owner says, I told you that it's not the cost of the item, it's the principle.
The store owner is saying, well, the price isn't important.
It's the principle, P-R-I-N-C-I-P-L-E.
The principle is the belief or idea that guides your behavior, that tells you what to do.
For example, you could have a principle of honesty that tells you never to lie, especially to your girlfriend or your wife or your mother.
Of course, I hope you don't lie to anyone.
Maria says, what exactly did my son take?
The store owner responds, he ate a grape.
A grape, G-R-A-P-E, is a very small, round, or oval fruit that is usually purple, red, or green.
We make grapes into wine.
We make wine from grapes, for example.
It's a very, very small thing, one grape.
Maria is surprised.
She says, The store owner says, The store owner is concerned that this young boy ate a single grape.
He says, He could have eaten the entire fruit stand if I hadn't been vigilant.
A fruit stand, S-T-A-N-D, is a small store, basically, that sells fruit, usually outside.
It's not something that is permanent.
A fruit stand is usually something that you can move from one place to another.
This man owns a fruit stand and thinks that this young boy was going to eat all of his fruit, because he ate a single grape.
He says he could have eaten the entire, that is all of, the fruit stand if he hadn't been vigilant.
V-I-G-I-L-A-N-T.
To be vigilant means to be very careful about dangers or threats around you, to be watching very carefully to make sure nothing bad happens.
Maria is surprised, shocked perhaps, by the store owner's reaction.
She says all this over one grape, meaning the store owner caused all of this trouble and Just because her son ate a single grape.
The store owner says, you should be thanking me for alerting you to this behavior.
To alert ALT.
ERT someone is to make someone aware of something, to tell someone about something that the person might not have known about, especially if it's a danger or a problem.
The store owner says as a parent, you know you need to nip these things in the bud.
The expression to nip N-I-P something in the bud B-U-D means to solve a problem early, when it's still a small problem, before it becomes more serious or a bigger problem.
For example, if someone at your work always comes in two minutes late, your boss might decide to nip the problem in the bud, just in case the person begins to come in 10 minutes late or 20 minutes late.
You solve the problem when it's still small.
That's what the store owner is suggesting Maria do for her son.
He says, today it's a grape, meaning today his crime is stealing a grape.
Tomorrow it's a car.
Maria then sighs.
She makes a sound indicating that she is perhaps not very happy with the store owner.
She says, okay, how much do I owe you for one grape?
Meaning, how much money do I need to give you to pay for the one grape that my son stole?
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
What's going on here?
I came as soon as I got your phone call.
Why are you holding on to my son like that?
I am restraining your son because I caught him shoplifting.
I thought you'd like to be here when I called the police.
There's no need for that.
He's not a delinquent.
He is from my standpoint.
Theft is a serious crime.
I know it is, and I'll make restitution.
Please give him a second chance.
Please don't call the police.
Well, it's not the value of what he's stolen that's important.
It's the fact that he committed an offense.
Please let me pay for it, and I'll make sure he never enters your store again.
What did he take, and how much do I owe you?
I told you that it's not the cost of the item.
It's the principle.
What exactly did my son take?
He ate a grape.
One grape?
Yes, before I stopped him.
He could have eaten the entire fruit stand if I hadn't been vigilant.
All this over one grape?
You should be thanking me for alerting you to this behavior.
As a parent, you know you need to nip these things in the bud.
Today it's a grape, tomorrow it's a car.
Okay, how much do I owe you for one grape?
We consider the value of our scripts to be priceless because they're written by the greatest script writer on the internet, 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 Podcast.
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.
