Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 562, Buying Fake Products.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 562.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Transcription by CastingWords That will help you improve your English even faster.
If you don't want to become a member, you can send a small donation to support our work.
This episode is called, Let's get started.
Look at this designer bag I bought.
It was such a steal.
Let me see that.
You do know that this is an imitation, not the real thing, right?
What do you mean?
Of course it's real.
Where did you buy it?
Well, there was a guy on the street selling all of these genuine designer bags.
He said he got them straight from the factory, and that's why he could sell them at such a markdown.
The reason he could sell it dirt cheap is because this is a knockoff.
I know you're a sucker for a bargain, but I can't believe you fell for his line.
How do you know this is a knockoff?
Are you an expert on women's handbags?
I still think this is real, and I'm sure I didn't get ripped off.
Whatever you say.
As they say, there's a sucker born every minute.
Lindsay begins the dialogue by saying to Raphael, Look at this designer bag I bought.
It was such a steal.
A designer bag or a designer anything is something that has a particular label or brand, especially in fashion.
When we're talking about clothing, if you said, well, that's a designer dress made by Gucci.
That is, a specific company, a specific designer person who creates the piece of clothing, who designs the piece of clothing the way it looks.
And that would be a designer dress.
Well, this is a designer bag.
She says it was such a steal.
Steal here means a bargain, something that you got at a very low price.
Steal has a couple of other very different meanings, however.
Take a look at the learning guide for some more explanations of that word.
Raphael says, let me see that.
Give that to me so I can see it.
He says, you do know that this is an imitation, not the real thing, right?
An imitation is a copy, a fake, something that is not original.
If you go to Italy, you can often see Roman copies.
Greek original statues.
Of course, the Romans had their own statues that were original, but many times they imitated the Greek statues.
Those statues are imitations.
They're not the original of the statue.
Well, this is an imitation designer bag It's not the real thing.
The expression the real thing means the original, not a copy, not a fake.
Lindsay says, what do you mean?
Of course it's real.
She thinks the bag she bought is in fact really the real thing.
Raphael says, where did you buy it?
She says, well, there was a guy, a man, on the street selling all of these genuine designer bags.
So Lindsay was walking down the street and saw a man selling bags that he said were genuine bags.
Genuine G-E-N-U-I-N-E means real, not fake.
The same as the real thing.
The man said these were genuine bags.
Well, of course, if you are walking down the street in a big city and someone is selling something to you like, for example, a bag made by Prada or some other designer, you probably should realize that these are not usually genuine.
They are in fact fakes.
They make it and then put the name on it, even though it isn't the real thing.
Lindsay, however, apparently is not too smart.
She says, "...the man said he got them straight from the factory."
And that's why he could sell them at such a markdown.
To get something straight from something or someone means directly from.
I once bought a new laptop computer online and I received the computer straight from China, straight from the factory, the place where the computer was made in China.
It was sent to me. internationally directly to my house.
I got it straight from the factory.
Lindsay says that because this person got the bags straight from the factory, he could sell them at a markdown.
A markdown, one word, is a discount.
Raphael says, The reason this man could sell the bags dirt cheap is because this is a knockoff.
The expression dirt, D-I-R-T, cheap, means very inexpensive, very cheap, at a very low cost.
Dirt is what you find on the ground.
It is the ground.
If you dig down in a garden or dig in the front of your house, you will have dirt.
That's the black stuff typically, unless you live in the North Pole, in which case there is no dirt.
But if you live in the North Pole, you probably can't buy designer bags up there.
Anyway, dirt cheap means very cheap.
The reason he can sell the bags dirt cheap is because they are knockoffs.
A knockoff, K-N-O-C-K-O-F-F, one word, is a copy an imitation it's another word for a fake we usually use the term when we are talking about a physical object you could also have for example a fake excuse or a fake reason for doing something But if you use the word knockoff, you're referring to an actual physical item, something that someone is selling that they say is original, is genuine, but isn't.
Raphael says, a couple of expressions there.
First, to be a sucker for something means to be a person who likes something very much.
And because they like it so much, they can be easily fooled, easily tricked into, into thinking that you're getting this thing, even though it isn't real, even though normal people would not necessarily think it's real.
To be a sucker for can also mean you like something very much.
Or when you are presented with this thing, you can't resist.
For example, I'm a sucker for new technology.
If there's some new thing out there, new device, I need to have it.
I want to have it.
I'm a sucker for those sorts of things.
Lindsay is a sucker for a bargain.
A bargain is the same as a steal.
It's a very good price on something.
Raphael says that he can't believe Lindsay fell for the man's line.
To fall for something means to be fooled by someone or to be tricked by something.
Men often fall for women who are beautiful and smile at them and laugh at their jokes.
Here, to fall for would mean to fall in love, but generally it means to be tricked.
I'm not saying that falling in love is the same as being fooled, though wise men say only fools fall in love.
I think I should write a song about that.
Anyway...
Raphael says that Lindsay fell for this man's line.
The word line here means something that someone said to you, usually to trick you, to fool you, to get you to believe something that isn't true.
Line has lots of different meanings in English, however.
Look at the learning guide for some more explanations.
So Lindsay says, how do you know this bag is a knockoff?
Are you an expert on women's handbags?
I think this is real, and I'm sure I didn't get ripped off.
To get ripped off.
R-I-P-P-E-D, off, means to get cheated, to have lost money because you were tricked or fooled.
Raphael says.
This is an informal phrase used when you don't believe what the other person is saying, but you do not want to continue arguing or fighting about it.
He says, There's a sucker born every minute.
As they say is a way of... saying this is a common expression, this is a common saying.
And there is a common expression, a common saying in English.
There's a sucker born every minute.
A sucker is someone who is easily fooled, is easily tricked.
There's a sucker born every minute means there are lots of people who are suckers, who are easily tricked.
This expression is usually attributed to.
People usually say it was first said by the person who founded or started one of the first circuses in the United States, a man by the name of PT.
Barnum.
A circus is a performance where you have animals and people doing interesting tricks.
P.T.
Barnum's circus is still around in the United States.
You can still go see it.
Now it's called Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's Circus.
I used to see it every year when I was a child.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Look at this designer bag I bought.
It was such a steal.
Let me see that.
You do know that this is an imitation, not the real thing, right?
What do you mean?
Of course it's real.
Where did you buy it?
Well, there was a guy on the street selling all of these genuine designer bags.
He said he got them straight from the factory, and that's why he could sell them at such a markdown.
The reason he could sell it dirt cheap is because this is a knockoff.
I know you're a sucker for a bargain, but I can't believe you fell for his line.
How do you know this is a knockoff?
Are you an expert on women's handbags?
I still think this is real, and I'm sure I didn't get ripped off.
Whatever you say, as they say, there's a sucker born every minute.
Don't fall for one of the imitation English podcasts out there.
Get the real thing with the genuine scripts written by our own Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
