Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 321, Buying a Jacket or Coat.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 321.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
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In this episode we're going to go shopping, going to buy a jacket or a coat and discuss the vocabulary related to those items.
Let's get started.
Mom, I don't need a new coat.
I like my old trench coat.
It's comfortable and and I can use it as a raincoat and an overcoat.
So what do I need a new coat for?
If you're going to visit your aunt in Maine, you'll need something warmer than a trench coat.
This parka is nice.
I'm not wearing a parka.
If I'm not warm enough...
I'll wear my denim jacket under my trench coat.
That's ridiculous.
You can't wear a jacket and a coat each time you go outside.
Look, this down coat will keep you nice and warm.
It has a high collar, a hood, and thick cuffs.
And it's very roomy, so you'll be very comfortable in it.
It's too long.
I don't need a knee-length coat.
Yes, you do.
You've never been in really cold weather, and when you get there you'll be thankful to have something so warm.
Now, we also need to buy you a blazer.
A blazer?
What for?
Your aunt is probably going to take you to some nice places, and I don't want you to look like a bum.
See?
This one is nice and fitted.
It's trimmed with flowers.
Those aren't flowers.
They're paisleys.
You'll look very nice in it.
Please, Mom, don't make me wear that.
I'm begging you.
You'll look like a nice young man in this coat and blazer.
I'll be the laughingstock of the entire state of Maine.
No, you won't.
Now, we need to buy you some new underwear.
Mom, shh.
Not so loud.
This is so embarrassing.
Our dialogue between Michael and Lisa, his mother, begins by Michael saying Mom, I don't need a new coat.
I like my old trench coat.
A trench coat is a very long coat that has large pockets.
It is usually one that also has a belt around it.
So you tie the belt to close the trench coat.
Trench coats are not very popular anymore.
They were more popular back in the middle of the 20th century.
There was a famous TV show about a police detective named Columbo.
And he wore a trench coat.
Michael has a trench coat and he doesn't want to get a new one.
He says, it's comfortable and I can use it as a raincoat and an overcoat.
A raincoat, R-A-I-N-C-O-A-T, one word. is a coat that is made to keep you dry when it is raining.
So the material, what we would call the fabric of the coat has some plastic or something on it that makes the rain roll off of it easily.
An overcoat, again one word is a very large, warm coat, that that you wear in the wintertime when it's very cold.
So a raincoat is something you might wear, for example, in London, where it's always or often raining.
An overcoat is something you would wear where it was very cold, such as in Minnesota.
Michael asks, so what do I need a new coat for?
So what do I need a new coat for is the same as why do I need a new coat.
We often use what for informally to mean why.
Notice we put the for at the end of the question.
What are you doing that for?
If you just want to say why, you would say what for.
I'm going to the store.
Your wife says, What for?
Why are you going?
Or, What are you going to the store for?
Those are all the same.
So Lisa responds Michael's mother by saying If you're going to visit your aunt in Maine, you'll need something warmer than a trench coat.
This parka is nice.
Maine is a state that is located in the northeast corner of the United States, where it can get cold in the winter.
Michael's mother, Lisa, says he should get a parka.
P-A-R-K-A.
A parka is a very warm coat of that has either a real or artificial fake fur inside.
Fur is the hair of an animal.
Usually now these are not real furs, real hairs or skin and hair from an animal.
They're just artificial or fake fur.
A parka usually has a very big what we would call a hood, which is the part of the coat that you can pull up and put over the top of your head.
A parka has fur along the edge of the hood.
Michael says, I'm not wearing a parka.
If I'm not warm enough, I'll wear my denim jacket under my trench coat.
A denim jacket is a jacket made from a material, a type of fabric called denim.
We also use denim to make jeans, which is why a denim jacket is sometimes called a jean jacket.
So a jean jacket or a denim jacket is what Michael wants to use to keep warm.
Of course, a denim jacket is usually not very warm.
Lisa says that's ridiculous.
You can't wear a jacket and a coat each time you go outside.
Notice that the word jacket and coat are sometimes used to mean the same thing.
Sometimes a jacket however, is used to mean a very light coat or thin coat, and a coat is something thicker or warmer.
Not always, however.
Lisa says, look...
This down coat will keep you nice and warm.
Down is a kind of material that you put in a coat to make it warmer.
It's actually bird feathers the feathers of birds that are put into the coat in order to make it warmer.
Lisa says the coat has a high collar.
A collar on a shirt, a coat or a jacket is the part that goes around your neck and usually folds down.
So it has a high collar, a hood which you know is the part of the coat that is attached to the neck and you can put over your head, and thick cuffs.
The coat has thick cuffs, C-U-F-F-S.
The cuff of a shirt or a coat is the part that is at the end of the arm, end of what we would call the sleeves of the coat.
The sleeves are the places where you put your arm.
And at the end of each sleeve, where your wrist is next to your hand, there is the cuff of the shirt or the cuff of the coat.
Lisa says the parka is very roomy, R-O-M-Y, meaning it has a lot of room inside.
It's very loose fitting, so you'll be comfortable in it.
Michael says it's too long.
I don't want a knee-length coat.
A knee-length would be some clothing like a coat that goes down to your knees.
Lisa says, yes, you do.
Remember, Lisa is his mother.
She says, you've never been in really cold weather, and when you get there...
She's saying when you get to Maine, where it's cold, you will be happy you have something so warm as a parka.
For a teenager.
Of course, a parka is not necessarily something that is fashionable, that looks attractive on you.
So many teenagers who live in cold parts of the country don't wear very warm coats.
This was true when I was in high school.
Many of the kids would not wear warm coats because they didn't look good, cool meaning they didn't look fashionable, they didn't look nice.
Now, of course, I wear a warm coat because I don't care about how it looks as long as I am warm.
Lisa says to Michael, now we need to buy you a blazer.
A blazer is b-l-a-z-e-r is a kind of jacket very similar to a suit jacket like you would wear with a formal suit for a man a blazer is worn with pants of a different color that would be a blazer a type of jacket You can have a blazer for a man or a woman.
A blazer for a man, especially a teenager, is sort of old-fashioned.
It's not very current.
It doesn't look cool for many kids.
Michael says, Meaning why.
Lisa says your aunt is probably going to take you to some nice places like a restaurant, and I don't want you to look like a bum.
A bum B-U-M in American English is a homeless person, someone who doesn't have a job or a place to live.
It's not a very nice term.
It's not a very nice way to describe someone.
It's somewhat insulting.
Your bum in British English is what we call in American English your butt, your behind, what you sit on.
That would be your bum in British English.
But in American English bum means a homeless person.
Lisa says this one, this blazer, is nice and fitted.
When we say something is fitted f-i-t-t-e-d, we mean that it is cut so that it goes very well on your body.
It fits very close to your skin.
Michael says it's trimmed with flowers.
To trim something is to decorate something along the edges.
This particular blazer along the edges, along the sides of the jacket, has flowers on it.
Obviously a teenage boy will not want to wear something with flowers on it, usually.
Lisa says, those aren't flowers, they're paisleys.
Paisleys refers to a design of fabric that looks a little like flowers.
They aren't exactly flowers, but they look like flowers.
Michael says, please, Mom, don't make me wear that.
I'm begging you.
To beg is to ask for something, usually in a desperate way, meaning you really want this thing.
I'm begging you.
Lisa says, you'll look like a nice young man in this coat and blazer.
Michael responds, I'll be the laughingstock of the entire state of Maine.
The laughing stock.
S-T-O-C-K is the person that everyone laughs at because of something they have done or said.
To be the laughing stock means everyone will laugh at you.
And that is what Michael is saying.
His mother says, no, you won't.
Now we need to buy you some new underwear.
Michael says, Mom, shh, be quiet, not so loud.
This is so embarrassing.
Teenagers are often embarrassed by their parents.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Mom, I don't need a new coat.
I like my old trench coat.
It's comfortable, and I can use it as a raincoat and an overcoat.
So what do I need a new coat for?
If you're going to visit your aunt in Maine, you'll need something warmer than a trench coat.
This parka is nice.
I'm not wearing a parka.
If I'm not warm enough, I'll wear my denim jacket under my trench coat.
That's ridiculous.
You can't wear a jacket and a coat each time you go outside.
Look, this down coat will keep you nice and warm.
It has a high collar, a hood, and thick cuffs.
It's very roomy, so you'll be very comfortable in it.
It's too long.
I don't need a knee-length coat.
Yes, you do.
You've never been in really cold weather, and when you get there you'll be thankful to have something so warm.
Now, we also need to buy you a blazer.
A blazer?
What for?
Your aunt is probably going to take you to some nice places, and I don't want you to look like a bum.
See?
This one is nice and fitted.
It's trimmed with flowers.
Those aren't flowers.
They're paisleys.
You'll look very nice in it.
Please, Mom.
Don't make me wear that.
I'm begging you.
You'll look like a nice young man in this coat and blazer.
I'll be the laughingstock of the entire state of Maine.
No, you won't.
Now I need to buy you some new underwear.
Mom!
Shh!
Not so loud.
This is so embarrassing.
The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2007.
