This is the Let's Master English Podcast and I'm your host, Coach Shane.
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Let's Master English Podcast.
I am Coach Shane. Thank you so much for joining me.
LME, Let's Master English, 105 super excited, great stories.
A grandma's Scrooge, flying turkeys, fresh cars, pumpkin pies, to re or to ruh, TNT pronunciation.
Today in history, birthday song requests and so much more.
I'm so happy to have you listening to the Let's Master English Podcast.
The release dates Monday, November 25th.
Of course, this week, Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States.
So if you're thankful for something or for someone, now is a great time to think about that person and maybe send a text message or just say thank you.
And that's what I'm doing to you.
Thank you. Thank you so much for being part of my podcast.
A grandmother in England is going viral because she charges her family for Christmas dinner from all guests, including her grandkids.
She says it helps offset expenses.
Fees range from six dollars to 18 dollars.
I shouldn't have to pay for presents.
All the food, do the shopping, cooking, electricity and cleaning.
Plus, it costs to heat the house when they are there.
I'm not being a Scrooge.
I'm being sensible.
My festive finances depend on it.
The holiday travel season has already begun.
The TSA is going to allow people to fly with Thanksgiving turkeys in their carry on bags.
Other Thanksgiving dishes like pies, cakes, cookies, stuffing, fruit, vegetables, casseroles, mac and cheese and candy can also be taken on planes if packaged properly.
And finally, tick tockers are placing cat litter under their seats in their cars to eliminate odors and prevent window fog.
The litter is placed in a sock and then allowed to sit on the car floor.
Car experts confirm cat litter removes car odors and prevents window fogging.
While three really interesting stories quite different.
The first story did you understand?
Oh, my God. You know, so in America, we have Thanksgiving and we have Christmas.
And when I was a kid for Thanksgiving, we would go to my mom's parents, my grandma and grandpa.
And for Christmas, we'd go to my dad's parents, my other grandma and grandpa.
So, you know, we'd switch in the UK.
They don't have Thanksgiving in the UK.
They only have Christmas.
But this grandmother in the UK, in England, she is charging her family for Christmas dinner.
Wow. What do you think?
Is that is that good?
Is that bad? What do you think about that?
You know, I must say good for her.
I think that's OK unless she's rich, right?
If she's rich, well, then she should pay for it.
But if she's not rich and let's face it, you know, 2024 right now, the economy is pretty tough.
We have hope for the future, but a lot of people are struggling.
And Christmas, Christmas is expensive for so many people.
I mean, it's December.
So for many people in the northern hemisphere, it's very cold.
So there's the heating of the house.
Then there's the decorations, the Christmas tree, that's elect that's extra electricity bills.
Then you've got the shopping, you've got to buy presents for all the kids.
The holidays, so much cooking.
There's cookies and regular food.
You've got to clean if somebody is coming to your house.
It is a super, super busy time of year and expensive, right?
Yeah, it is. So this grandma says it's too much.
However, if my family pays, then I'll do it.
And that's what she is doing.
She's charging. I think it's a great idea.
Good job, Grandma. Let me go through the story.
A grandmother in England is going viral.
V I R A L, really something, something, a video or a story that's really, really, really popular on the Internet, going viral.
Why is she going viral?
Because she charges her family for Christmas dinner.
She makes her family pay for Christmas dinner from all guests, including her grandkids.
Not just her sons and daughters and their wives, but also her grandchildren must pay.
She says it helps offset expenses.
Great expression. Offset.
O F F S E T offset expenses.
So I don't know a typical Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people probably costs about $300 in the US, $300 for 10 people.
That's the food, the cooking, the time.
So if one person is doing that, don't you think each person, each of those 10 people should pay $30?
That would cover the cost.
But this grandmother's being nice.
She doesn't want to cover the cost.
She just wants to offset the cost.
And in this case, offset the cost to reduce the cost to make it not so painful.
So she charges from $6 probably for the little kids to $18 for the older children, her children.
Of course, I think it's great.
She says, I shouldn't have to pay for presents, Christmas presents, all the food, the turkey, all that delicious food, do all the shopping.
You had to go to the store, the cooking, cook all the food, the electricity for the stove, for the Christmas tree and the cleaning.
She's right. She shouldn't have to do everything to pay for everything.
Plus, she adds, it costs to heat the house when they are there.
There's a lot of people in the house.
I got to heat the house.
She says, I'm not being a scrooge.
I'm being sensible.
I'm being smart. My festive finances, my Christmas money depend on it.
My festive finances depend on it.
If I didn't have this money coming in from my family, then I could not afford to do everything.
And I want to do everything, but they have to help with the money.
Good job, Grandma. Great job, Grandma.
I think that's so wonderful.
Does everyone know what a scrooge is?
S -C -R -O -O -G -E, a scrooge.
A Scrooge is a miser.
M -I -S -E -R. Somebody who does not want to spend money.
There's a very famous story, A Christmas Carol.
No, it's a Christmas tale.
Oh my God. What is this story called?
Let me find it. A Christmas Carol.
That is the name of the story.
There's also many movies, A Christmas Carol.
And Scrooge was actually a man, Ebenezer Scrooge.
It was his last name.
Like my name is Shane Peterson.
His name was Ebenezer Scrooge.
And his character was really greedy.
He was a cold hearted businessman and he hated Christmas.
He hated Christmas.
Somebody would say, Merry Christmas, Mr.
Scrooge. And he would say, B -A -H -U -M -B -U -G.
Which means get out of here.
Really terrible guy.
So if you see a person like that during Christmas time, we call that person a Scrooge.
Do you think that grandmother is being a Scrooge?
I absolutely do not.
She's a great woman.
We love our grandmothers.
The next story. The holiday travel season has already begun.
So once again, lots of Americans travel.
Thanksgiving in the U .S.
The final Thursday of November, the last Thursday of November, all the way until New Year's Day is called the holiday season.
There's many holidays.
I think the biggest holiday, as you probably know, happens on December 22nd.
Right? That is, of course, my birthday.
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Oh, thank you. Oh, you want to send me a birthday card?
Wonderful. I'll give you my address.
Are you ready? Seriously.
Yeah, you can do that.
I would love that. This is my address.
Shane Peterson. Or you can say coach Shane, C -O -A -C -H, Shane S -H -A -N -E.
That's the first line.
Coach Shane. First line.
The second line, P -O Box 341.
P -O, that means post office.
P -O Box 341. The third line, Newport, N -E -W -P -O -R -T, Newport, Vermont, V -E -R -M -O -N -T, Newport, Vermont, 05855.
And then the fourth line, U -S -A.
That's it. It's easy.
Coach Shane, P -O Box 341, Newport, Vermont, 05855, U -S -A.
I would love to get a birthday card from you.
Thank you so much. Even a letter just saying, hi.
Oh my God, really? That'd be so cool.
I'll introduce you.
If you send me something, I'll introduce you in the podcast.
That'd be really cool.
December 22nd, you have time.
Anyway, anyway, the holiday travel season has already begun.
It has indeed. The TSA, the TSA, everybody.
If you go to the airports in the United States, we have what they call the TSA.
Basically, it's the security people for the airports.
They don't look that tough.
I've been to airports in Indonesia.
I've seen their security.
They look tough. I remember they were holding like automatic machine guns.
I couldn't believe it.
So some airports have really good, tough looking security.
America's TSA, it tends to be a lot of fat older people.
But anyway, we like them.
They work hard. The TSA is going to allow people to fly with Thanksgiving turkeys and their carry on bags.
Oh my God, you know, you're you get onto an airplane, you carry on a bag to your seat in your bag.
You can have a turkey.
Is it a cooked turkey?
Is it a frozen turkey?
Is it a real live turkey?
I have no idea. I can't imagine bringing a turkey.
I just don't understand who really you would like, I guess, cook a turkey at home and then put it in a bag and then fly someplace to share.
That's very nice. It's very nice.
How I don't understand how you can transport a turkey.
A frozen turkey. That's like a big heavy block of ice on your back and you're going to put it in a bag in an airplane.
But I just don't understand.
It's crazy. But if you want to, you can.
Other Thanksgiving dishes like pies.
Oh pumpkin pie. Oh my God.
Have you ever had a pumpkin pie?
Oh, they're so delicious.
My wife is an excellent pumpkin pie baker.
She can make wonderful pies.
They're so delicious.
Pumpkin pies, cakes, cookies, stuffing.
Stuffing is the the breaded and a little bit of vegetables stuff that you put inside the turkey.
So when you bake the turkey inside the turkey, you can stuff breadcrumbs and celery and spices inside there.
And that's called stuffing.
Of course, fruits, vegetables, casseroles.
Casseroles are like noodle dishes.
Mac and cheese, macaroni and cheese, a noodle dish and candy can also be taken on planes if packaged properly.
If you make the right packaging.
Wow. Can can you imagine what the airplane would smell like?
If people have like cooked turkeys and cooked stuffing and vegetables and cakes and pies.
Can you imagine what the airplane would smell like?
Now, personally, I think I would like that smell, but you might not.
It might be a horrible smell.
Wow, that's crazy. I knew I had no idea you could bring a Thanksgiving turkey in your carry on bags.
Wow. All right. Speaking of smell, the last story, Tik Tokkers, you know, Tik Tok, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, those social media sites, YouTube, Tik Tokers.
People on Tik Tok are placing are putting P -U -T -T -I -N -G putting placing same thing.
Cat litter under their seats in their cars.
Cat litter, C -A -T, cat litter, L -I -T -T -E -R.
If you have a cat, you know that cats need to go pee pee and they need to go poo poo.
So if you have a cat, you probably have a box where the cat can go pee pee and poo poo.
And in that box, what do you put?
Well, we put litter in there, which is like dirt.
It's not dirt, but it's like dirt.
It's special dirt. It's dirt that so if the cat goes pee pee, the litter, you know, kind of soaks up the water.
And if the cat goes poo poo, the litter will cover the smell, disguise the smell of the poo poo.
So if you have a cat, you need litter.
And people are placing cat litter under their seats in their cars.
What? Why? To eliminate odors, to remove odors, bad smells, and prevent window fog.
Oh my God. That's very interesting.
So I have a truck and I don't know, there's a smell in my truck.
It's not a horrible smell, but there is a smell that is not supposed to be there.
And I've cleaned the truck.
I have no idea where the smell is coming from, but it's there.
Like I said, it's not horrible, but you know, you can smell a smell that's not supposed to be there.
You don't like it. I should use cat litter.
And now in the winter, you know, it's like really cold outside and then you get inside your car and your body is warm and you're breathing.
What happens? The windows, the windows, they get off.
You can't see out the windows.
It's terrible. Cat litter.
Cat litter will absorb the moisture in the air.
Cat litter will take away that weird smell and cat litter will help reduce window fogging.
That that, you know, the fog, like the clouds that you can't see out the window.
Amazing. Is this really true?
The litter is placed in a sock.
You put the litter in a sock and an old sock.
Dobby would not be happy.
And then you put the sock on the floor under your seat.
Oh, car experts confirmed.
Yes, it's true. Cat litter removes car odors and prevents windows fogging.
Amazing. Good news.
So if you if you have a cat, save some of that litter and put it in your car.
Don't just spread it around, put it in the sock and put it in your car.
And I guess it's supposed to work.
Those are the three stories.
I hope you understand everything.
Let me read them one more time.
A grandmother in England is going viral because she charges her family for Christmas dinner from all guests, including her grandkids.
She says it helps offset expenses.
These range from six dollars to 18 dollars.
I shouldn't have to pay for presents.
All the food, do the shopping, cooking, electricity and cleaning.
Plus, it costs to heat the house when they are there.
I'm not being a Scrooge.
I'm being sensible.
My festive finances depend on it.
The holiday travel season has already begun.
The TSA is going to allow people to fly with Thanksgiving turkeys in their carry on bags.
Other Thanksgiving dishes like pies, cakes, cookies, stuffing, fruit, vegetables, casseroles, mac and cheese and candy can also be taken on planes if packaged properly.
And finally, Tik Tokers are placing cat litter under their seats in their cars to eliminate odors and prevent window fog.
The litter is placed in a sock and then allowed to sit on the car floor.
Car experts confirm cat litter removes car odors and prevents window fogging.
Where education and entertainment come together, let's master English, do it.
How you doing everybody?
This is country Shane and I'm bringing you the facts.
Hey everybody, always good to be back.
I heard coach Shane likes his pumpkin pie.
Oh, mate, too. I love pumpkin pie.
But did you know pumpkin pie wasn't part of the original Thanksgiving meal?
No, no, no. Pumpkin pie became popular in the 19th century in the 1800s when canned pumpkin was introduced.
Wow, I had no idea country Shane.
Oh my God, that's so interesting because in America, most American families, when they have Thanksgiving, turkey is very common, you know, vegetables, stuffing.
And the most common dessert is pumpkin pie.
I just thought, you know, pumpkin pie was always a thing.
But no, it became popular after canned pumpkin was introduced.
That's astonishing.
You understand canned pump, you go to the supermarket, you see a can of beans, a can of corn, a can of pumpkin.
Yeah, only then did pumpkin pie become popular.
That is amazing. I had no idea.
Do you guys have you ever had pumpkin pie?
Oh, I hope you do. But but it has to be good.
I have had bad pumpkin pie.
Pumpkin pie, you know, pumpkins are like a vegetable, but you can make it sweet, add a little bit of sugar.
And these are the spices that are necessary.
Write this down. If you want that fall, that autumn, A -U -T -U -M -N, that autumn smell, that fall smell, that fall flavor.
These are the spices you need.
Are you ready? It's only three.
Here you go. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
I'll spell it cinnamon.
C -I -N -N -A -M -O -N, cinnamon, nutmeg, N -U -T -M -E -G, nutmeg and cloves, C -L -O -V -E -S.
Those three spices together, they smell like fall and they belong in a pumpkin pie.
We always get the greatest questions from you guys.
My students, my DDM members, my perf members, my camp members.
They're geniuses. So I got two great questions.
You know the re, like remember, right?
Re, remember, re, mind, re, do, right?
Replace, reply, replay, everybody.
You know re, re. Did you ever notice that sometimes Americans say re and sometimes Americans say re.
For example, you will hear remember, re, remember.
And you will also hear re, remember, remember.
So the question was, can we say re whenever we want?
And can we say re whenever we want?
It's such a good question.
And the simple answer is you can say re whenever you want, but you cannot say re whenever you want.
Oh my God. So what's the situation?
What's the rule? And I have the rule for you.
This is the easy rule to remember.
If the word you're saying means do again, then you say re.
So, for example, re, do.
Re, do means do again.
So you should say re, do.
Re, play. Means play again.
So you should say re, play.
Re, try, means try again.
So you should say re, try.
Remember means remember again.
No, it doesn't. So say re, remember.
Re, ply means ply again.
No, it doesn't. So you should say re, reply.
And here's a tricky one too.
Re, place means place again.
No, it doesn't. So you should say re.
If you take off the re and the remaining verb, if the word means do the verb again, say re.
If it does not mean do the verb again, say re.
I hope that makes sense.
When I do a video class, you can see the words and it's a lot easier.
So I think it might be confusing in a podcast.
But so join my classes.
The next question is so great.
TNT pronunciation. Yeah.
So you guys know the word important, right?
Important, but you probably know many Americans usually don't say important.
We say important, important.
And the question is, what happened to the tint important?
So this is the pattern you need to recognize.
When we have a T followed by an unstressed syllable with an N, we stop the T sound.
We leave the tongue at the T position and we change to an N pronunciation.
So important, I go import and I stop my tongue.
I don't say import I stop import.
Now that T position that stopped tongue position is the same position as the N.
So I go import and change it to an N.
And then I got the final T same position.
Import. Important, important.
Another example. Mountain, tin.
Mount, mountain, mountain.
The tongue never moves.
A small cat is a kitten.
Kitten on your shirt.
You might have a button button.
When the tongue goes to the T, the tongue stops and then it makes an N.
Kitten, button, mountain, important.
Hitting can sound like hitting.
Monotonous can sound like monot -ness, monot -ness.
Oh yes. These are really important tricks that we learn in my classes, in my perf class and also in my DDM class and also in my camp, my English camps.
If you're not a member, I really do encourage you to join because there's so many valuable things that you will learn.
Plus it's so much fun.
And by the way, we have our sale coming up, Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale, big sale coming up starting on Friday, this Friday.
So if you are interested, get my newsletter, www .Let'sMasterEnglish .com.
Monday, November 25th.
It is the 330th day of the year.
There are 36 days remaining until the end of the year.
Today is National Parfait Day.
That's a dessert. Parfait, P -A -R -F -A -I -T.
I have never had one.
There are three days left until Thanksgiving, four days till Black Friday, seven days till Cyber Monday, big sale days, and the big one, 30 days left until Christmas.
Woo -hoo! So I was looking at the birthdays of celebrities and just nobody really.
Last Friday, the actress Scarlett Johansson, she's 40.
On Saturday, Alex loves Miley Cyrus, right?
Alex, I think you do.
She's 32. Bruce Hornsby, great musician.
He's 70. Today, Monday, the competitive eater, you know, the hot dog eating champion in America, we got some weird people, weird competitions, and this guy named Joey Chestnut, he eats like 10 million hot dogs in two minutes.
He's crazy. He's 41.
The Bush twins, George W.
Bush, President of the United States, his two twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara.
They're 43. Amy Grant, great singer.
Amy Grant is 64. Joe DiMaggio, if he were alive today, he'd be 110, but he died 25 years ago.
But there is an extremely important birthday, and that is one of my dear students, Evelyn Vincent.
She is celebrating her birthday today, and she has a special request.
So, Evelyn, at the very end of this podcast, I'm going to play, because it's a long song.
I'm going to play your song, and it's Anushka Shankar's Voice of the Moon.
Evelyn, from me, and I'm sure everybody listening to this podcast, we wish you the most sincere and happy happiest of all, happy birthdays.
Happy birthday, Evelyn.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast, the Let's Master English podcast.
What number is it, 104?
Oh, 105. Oh my God, 105.
Let's Master English 105.
We're doing good. Every week, we're continuing to crank out the podcast.
I need your participation.
I need you to send me an email, contact at Let'sMasterEnglish .com, request some songs.
If it's your birthday or something coming up, let me know.
Let me make an announcement.
Yeah, it's, I'm doing the podcast for you.
It's your podcast, so I want to make sure that it sounds exactly the way you want it to.
If you're not a member, it's so easy to be a member, so you can listen to the music version.
Just send an email, contact at Let'sMasterEnglish .com, and we'll tell you how to do that.
If you are a member, of course you have access to the music version and the non -music version of the Let's Master English podcast.
Get our newsletter, join our classes, Let'sMasterEnglish .com.
Thank you so much, everybody.
As promised, taking us out will be Evelyn's request song.
And to everybody else, I wish you a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving.
Together, let's master English.
