Hello, English learners.
Welcome back to another edition here with us at EnglishPod.
My name is Marco.
And I'm Erika.
And today we are doing the third part of our Old English series.
And today we're transported back to the 1970s.
That's right.
So we're going to learn some 1970s slang, some phrases that were really popular back in the 70s but are also still in use today.
Exactly.
So it's going to be a very cool lesson today.
And before we start with the dialogue, let's take a look at some of the words that we're going to find in Vocabulary Preview.
Vocabulary Preview.
Well, we have two words for you in Vocabulary Preview and they're both found in the dialogue.
The first one, roller rink.
A roller rink.
A roller rink.
Okay, so a roller rink.
Let's break that down and let's look at the first part.
All right, so roller.
We might recognize this from roller blades or roller skates.
Right, wheels, not like a blade or a knife.
Exactly.
So that's roller.
And what about rink?
Rink is the place where you do skating.
Okay.
So if you go to a roller rink, it's this big area where everyone can rollerblade or roller skate.
That's right.
Okay, and what about the next word?
A block.
Block.
A block.
Okay, so this is a noun, a block.
And a block is a part of a city that is surrounded by four streets.
Okay, so a city is made up of many blocks.
Yep.
And everyone lives on a block.
Exactly.
So it's a square within the city.
All right, very good.
So these are the two words that we previewed, and we're going to listen to them now in the dialogue.
We're going to hear two guys just talking about normal everyday things, but we're going to be listening to them in 1970.
Okay.
Hey, man, how's it hanging?
Hey, man, everything is just groovy, baby.
Did you go to the roller rink on Saturday?
I heard it was far out, man.
I wanted to, but I ran into this foxy lady that just moved to my block.
I was chatting her up a bit, and then we mellowed out at her place.
Right on, right on.
Well, Jim went to the rink with Sherry, and he said it was dynamite.
He was low on bread, but Sherry paid for everything.
Gravy?
Jim is such a jive turkey, man.
He's always hitting me up for cash.
Anyway, you want to book and go grab some grub?
Yeah, man.
I'm starving.
Okay, groovy dialogue.
Yeah, really nice, huh?
All right, so some interesting language in here.
Like we said, it sounds a bit strange, but a lot of this is still used today in modern English.
So why don't we look at some of these words in Language Takeaway?
Alright, on Language Takeaway today, we have the first word, far out.
Far out.
That was far out.
To be far out.
Okay, so it's just another way of saying cool.
Cool, that was nice.
It was really cool.
So they went to the roller rink.
It was far out, it was really cool.
But the other guy couldn't go because he saw a foxy lady.
A foxy lady.
Okay, foxy lady.
So basically a foxy lady is a really good looking or sexy woman.
Right, commonly you would hear some men refer to an attractive woman as a fox.
Okay, so foxy lady.
Now, Marco, can we say a foxy man?
No, this is a phrase that you would only use for women.
Okay, so foxy lady.
Foxy lady.
So after he met up with the foxy lady, they both just decided to mellow out at her place.
To mellow out.
To mellow out.
Okay, so mellow out.
What does this mean exactly?
Basically, just to relax, right?
Right, so to relax, to take it easy, to mellow out.
So what did you do on the weekend?
Oh, nothing.
I just stayed at home and mellowed out.
Okay.
All right, and so the response to that was... Right on.
Right on, right on.
Right, right on, right on.
And so basically they're saying, okay, good, I agree.
Yeah, this phrase you can say as good.
Yeah, that's nice.
Or you can also say it as well correct correct, I agree.
So why don't we listen to some examples of how we can use this word in other situations.
Example 1.
Right on.
You got a high score.
That's amazing.
Example 2.
You got the job.
Right on.
Example 3.
Jenny was right when she told me she thought Rick was no good for me.
I should have listened to her.
Okay, so I think that's pretty clear.
We can see how it means correct or also okay, good.
All right, right on.
And now we also have another word that's similar to far out.
He said gravy.
Gravy.
Gravy.
Gravy.
Now, if you look it up in a dictionary, it's going to tell you something else, right?
Gravy is a sauce you put on meat.
Right.
But in this case, we say gravy is cool.
It's nice.
Yep.
Right?
So gravy.
That was gravy.
Now, finally, at the end of their conversation, they said, want a book?
Yes.
Okay, let's book.
Book.
So, to book is a verb.
Yeah, interesting verb.
It basically means to leave a place quickly.
Okay, so we have to book, the police are coming.
Right, or I gotta book guys, I'm late.
Uh-huh, so book, to leave quickly, to leave suddenly.
Yep, and that word is used quite commonly today, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, it's used among like younger people.
You would say, yeah, let's book, this party is dead.
Okay, great.
So there's a lot of pretty cool phrases in this dialogue, pretty groovy phrases.
Why don't we hear them again in context?
Hey, man, how's it hanging?
Hey, everything is just groovy, baby.
Did you go to the roller rink on Saturday?
I heard it was far out, man.
I wanted to, but I ran into this foxy lady that just moved to my block.
I was chatting her up a bit, and then we mellowed out at her place.
Right on, right on.
Well, Jim went to the rink with Sherry, and he said it was dynamite.
He was low on bread, but Sherry paid for everything. gravy.
Jim is such a jive turkey, man.
He's always hitting me up for cash.
Anyway, you want to book and go grab some grub?
Yeah, man.
I'm starving.
All right.
So, now that we understand these six words that we saw in language takeaway, it's time for us now to take a look at some great phrases that we can use today in Fluency Builder.
Fluency Builder.
Okay, so at the start of the conversation there was an interesting way he started talking to his friend, right.
All right, he said, how's it hanging?
How's it hanging?
How's it hanging?
Okay, so basically, how is it going?
How's it going?
How are you?
Now, you notice in the spelling that we do have a G at the end, I-N-G, right?
Yeah, but usually you don't really pronounce the G in this context because it's very informal.
So, how's it hanging?
How's it hanging?
So he said everything was just groovy, and then he started telling him about how he met a girl and he chat her up a bit.
To chat her up.
Okay, so to chat somebody up.
So, when you chat someone up, you talk with them, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, you're making conversation.
But it's more than just conversation, isn't it?
Yeah, you're trying to be a little bit flirty and maybe say nice romantic phrases or something like that.
Yeah, so usually it's between a woman and a man, right?
And it's the man who chats up the woman.
Yeah, exactly.
So a little bit of a sexist phrase here.
To chat someone up or to chat up a girl, right?
Okay, so he was chatting her up.
That's right.
And so they were talking about how Jim went to the roller rink, but he didn't have any money, right?
Because Jim is always hitting his friends up for cash.
Okay, so to hit someone up.
To hit someone up.
So before we explain this word, let's listen to some other examples, so then we can maybe understand the meaning.
Example one.
Can you believe Patrick?
He came up to me a month ago and tried to hit me up for some money.
Example 2 When I was a kid, I used to always hit my dad up for lunch money.
Example 3 This is the last time I lend you money.
Don't even try to hit me up for more.
Alright, so when you hit someone up for something, you ask for it.
So usually it's to ask for money, right?
That's right.
Okay, so to hit someone up.
And now for our last phrase.
Let's book and let's go grab some grub.
To grab some grub.
Grab some grub.
Okay, let's break this one down.
With the final word, grub, what are we talking about?
Grub is an informal way of saying food.
Okay, so to grab some grub is to get some food quickly.
Yeah, let's go get some food.
All right, so maybe it's time for us to grab some grub.
And while we're doing that, you can listen to the dialogue one last time.
Hey, man, how's it hanging?
Hey, man, everything is just groovy, baby.
Did you go to the roller rink on Saturday?
I heard it was far out, man.
I wanted to, but I ran into this foxy lady that just moved to my block.
I was chatting her up a bit, and then we mellowed out at her place.
Right on, right on.
Well, Jim went to the rink with Sherry, and he said it was dynamite.
He was low on bread, but Sherry paid for everything.
Gravy!
Jim is such a jive turkey, man.
He's always hitting me up for cash.
Anyway, you want to book and go grab some grub?
Yeah, man, I'm starving.
All right.
So some interesting phrases, and even though some of these words you may not really commonly hear anymore, they might still be used in movies or something that's related to the disco era, because it's very, very popular still, right.
Yeah, that's right.
Some of our more advanced users could even use a lot of these phrases in a kind of funny way to reference back to 1970.
Yeah, exactly.
So it's fun and, well, you will use them or you will hear them from time to time, even today.
And remember.
If you have any questions about the language you hear in these lessons, check out our website at englishpodcom.
Exactly.
We're there to answer any questions and we'll see you guys there.
Thanks for listening and until next time, goodbye.
Bye.
