Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 366, Talking About Prices.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 366.
Transcription by CastingWords.
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It gives you the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, comprehension questions, additional definitions and cultural notes, and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.
This episode is called Talking About Prices when you buy and sell things, as well as some general vocabulary related to the economy.
Let's get started.
Can you believe these prices?
I know we're in a recession, but the cost of everyday necessities shouldn't skyrocket overnight.
I think it has something to do with the shortage of produce.
I don't know why.
I'm surprised that stores like this one try to gouge customers at the drop of a hat.
I guess it's par for the course anything to make a little extra money.
You said it.
Even when there's a good supply, the prices are never dirt cheap.
Any savings the stores get are never passed on to the customers.
I have a mind to stop buying fruits and vegetables until the prices go down.
You mean a boycott?
Yeah, I won't eat any fruits and vegetables until these high prices come down.
How long do you think you can keep that up?
I don't know, but let's find out.
Our dialogue begins with Rosalba saying to William...
I know we're in a recession, but the cost of everyday necessities shouldn't skyrocket overnight.
Recession is used to describe a period of time when a country's economy is not doing very well.
We might say it slows down.
There isn't enough or the same amount of business activity.
This is a recession.
If things are very serious, then we have what's called a depression.
Many times in recessions, at least in recent recessions in the last 30 years sometimes during a recession, you also have something called inflation, where the prices go up as well.
Rosalba says we're in a recession.
But she says the cost of everyday necessities or things that you need, things that you must have, things that are necessary should not skyrocket overnight.
To skyrocket means to increase or go up very quickly.
We often use that word when prices go up very quickly.
The price of gasoline skyrocketed last year.
It went up very quickly in the United States.
She's saying that prices shouldn't skyrocket or go up overnight, meaning suddenly, quickly.
Literally overnight means from one day to the next day.
But here it's used more generally to mean very, very quickly.
William says, A shortage is when you don't have enough of something.
We have a shortage of good ESL teachers in Los Angeles.
We need more good teachers.
We have a shortage of intelligent politicians.
We need a lot more.
In this case, there's a shortage of produce.
Produce is a word we use to describe vegetables and fruits.
If you go into a grocery store, there's usually a produce department where all of the vegetables and fruits are found.
This word has a couple of different meanings.
Take a look at our learning guide for some additional explanations of produce, which can also be a verb to produce.
William says.
William is saying that he doesn't understand, he doesn't know why, that he's surprised.
In other words, he should not be surprised.
It should be something that he expects.
He should expect that stores like this one try to gouge customers.
To gouge G-O-U-G-E means to charge more money or to raise the price on something much higher than usual.
It's a negative way of describing someone, a business, that increases their prices.
Some people say this is an unfair price.
They're charging too much money.
They're gouging us.
This is often done when you don't have anywhere else to go or any other option.
You must pay this because you need it.
William says he should expect that stores try to gouge customers at the drop of a hat.
That expression at the drop of a hat means very quickly, without delay, advance notice or without any good reason.
Something that happens at the drop of the hat happens very quickly.
We might even snap our fingers and use the expression just like that.
Very quickly at the drop of a hat, william says i guess it's par for the course.
The expression par P-A-R for the course means normal usual, something that's to be expected.
This expression actually comes from the game of golf.
A golf course is a place where you play golf.
To be par for the course means to have the average score that you would expect from the course.
Rosalba says to William, This is an informal phrase that we use to show that you agree with someone completely.
For example, someone says Even when there's a good supply, Rosalba continues.
The prices are never dirt cheap.
She's talking about the produce, the fruits and vegetables.
She says, The prices are never dirt cheap.
For something to be dirt cheap means it's very inexpensive, a very low price.
This is dirt cheap.
ESL podcast is dirt cheap compared to many places where you could study English.
Well, that's what I think.
Any savings the stores get are never passed on to the consumers.
Rosalba is saying that even when the store has a lot of something and it isn't expensive for them to buy the product, they never pass on those savings to the customers.
To pass something on to someone means to share it with someone.
Someone gives you something and you give it to someone else.
You pass it on.
The stores do not pass on the money they save to the customers.
William then says The expression is used to show that you are thinking seriously about doing something, or that perhaps you are tempted to do something.
It's something that seems very attractive to you to do.
We often use this expression when we are talking about doing something in reaction to a negative situation.
So your girlfriend calls you up and says oh, I'm sorry, I cannot meet you for dinner.
I have to go with my friend from college.
You suspect that your girlfriend's friend is a boy.
And you say to someone I have a mind to go and find my girlfriend and make sure she's not with another man.
That's never happened to me.
Well, not recently.
But that would be an example of the expression, I have a mind to do something.
Rosalba asks, William, you mean a boycott?
You mean means do you mean?
Is this what you are talking about?
A boycott?
B-O-Y-C-O-T-T?
A boycott is when people agree not to buy or use something until the conditions change, until the situation changes.
Back in the 1970s, there were people who boycotted grapes, the fruit.
The reason they were boycotting them is because they were protesting.
They were saying there was something wrong with the way that the farms were paying and treating the workers.
Many of them came from Mexico, and people thought that they were not giving them enough money.
So there was a boycott there.
People didn't buy grapes so that the companies would be punished.
William says yeah, I won't eat any fruits and vegetables until these high prices come down, until they are reduced to a lower amount.
Rosalba says, how long do you think you can keep that up?
To keep something up is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to continue to do something, to be able to do something.
I'm running five miles an hour and I can keep that up for about five minutes and then I get too tired.
That's to keep something up, to keep doing it.
There are some additional explanations of that phrasal verb in our learning guide.
Take a look at that.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I think it has something to do with the shortage of produce.
I don't know why.
I'm surprised that stores like this one try to gouge customers at the drop of a hat.
I guess it's par for the course.
Anything to make a little extra money.
You said it.
Even when there's a good supply, the prices are never dirt cheap.
Any savings the stores get are never passed on to the customers.
I have a mind to stop buying fruits and vegetables until the prices go down.
You mean a boycott?
Yeah, I won't eat any fruits and vegetables until these high prices come down.
How long do you think you can keep that up?
I don't know, but let's find out.
The script for this episode was written by Dr Lucy Say, who can write a good script at the drop of a hat.
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 2008.
