Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 499, Marrying a Gold Digger.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 499.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpodcom.
Go there today to download a learning guide for this episode, an 8-10 page guide that will help you improve your English even faster by giving you vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, comprehension questions, cultural notes and a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is a dialogue between Liza and Shinobu about the topic of people dating other people not because they love them or are romantically interested in them, but because they want to get their money.
No one would ever do that, of course.
Let's get started.
Isn't Jesse wonderful?
I'm so glad you got to meet him last night.
Uh, he's a little young for you, don't you think?
I know you've had boy toys in the past, but he takes the cake.
He's no boy toy.
It's true that there's a 30-year age difference.
But who cares about age when you're talking about love?
Well, he's certainly dressed for the part with all that bling.
That watch must have set him back a couple of grand at least.
Oh, that was a little token of my affection for our one-month anniversary.
I just wanted him to know how much I cared about him.
Well, he certainly knows now who holds the purse strings, if he didn't before.
I only hope he's not preying on you.
How can you say that?
I've never met anyone more honest or sincere.
He has you wrapped around his little finger, that's for sure.
I hope for your sake he's not a gold digger or that you see his true colors before you make it to the altar again.
Oh, I knew it was a mistake talking to you about Jesse.
You're such a cynic.
And you're a hopeless romantic.
Liza says to Shinobu, isn't Jesse wonderful?
Jesse is a man's name.
I'm so glad you got to meet him last night.
Shinobu says... Shinobu is saying that Liza's new boyfriend is too young for her...
He talks about boy toys.
A boy toy is a young, attractive man whom one may date for a short period of time if you are older, if you are an older woman or if you are much older than the man.
You date this person, but you may not be very seriously interested in them for a relationship.
Shinobu says, I know you've had boy toys in the past, but Jesse takes the cake.
The expression to take the cake means to be the biggest, the best, even the worst, the most shocking, the most important, the most, something in a series or a list of things.
Usually it's something bad that the person has done or you're saying something negative about this case, this circumstance.
In this case Shinobu is saying that Jesse takes the cake, meaning he's the youngest or the most obvious example of a boy toy, not someone that Liza should be dating.
Liza says he's no boy toy.
He's not a boy toy.
It's true, she says, that there's a 30-year age difference.
But who cares about age when you're talking about love?
An age difference is the difference between two people's ages.
My father married my mother once who was four years younger than he.
The age difference was four years.
Sometimes the age difference can be very large.
If you're the I don't know prime minister of a country, you might be dating someone much, much younger than you, although some people probably wouldn't like that.
Anyway, Liza says there's a 30-year age difference.
So Jesse is 30 years younger than she is.
Here in Hollywood this is not uncommon, especially for the man to be older and the woman to be younger.
But this is the opposite case.
Shinobu says, well, he's certainly dressed for the part with all that bling.
To dress for the part means to wear clothes that are appropriate for what you want to do.
Someone may say to you when you're starting a new job, be sure to dress the part, or dress for the part meaning, wear the clothes that are appropriate for this office, for this job.
Bling, B-L-I-N-G, is an informal expression, fairly new in the last probably 10, 15 years.
It means expensive jewelry, things that you wear, such as a watch or, if you're a woman earrings, a necklace for either a man or a woman.
Often these are expensive pieces of jewelry, things with diamonds in them, for example.
That's called bling.
It's a very informal term.
It's common among the younger generation, I would say.
But here, Shinobu is saying that this Jesse...
Shinobu is referring to Jesse's watch, saying that it must have set him back a lot of money.
To set someone back means to cost you a lot of money.
I bought a new car and it set me back $15,000, for example.
That means that the car cost $15,000.
That's what I had to pay for it.
Shinobu says that that watch must have set him back a couple of grand.
A grand means in the U.S.
$1,000.
It's an informal word just like buck, which is $1.
How much is that?
It's $10.
It's $1,000.
$1,000 could also be called simply a grand.
It cost him a grand or two grand or three grand.
Notice that we don't say three grands or two grands.
Even if it's plural, it just remains grand.
In this case, he's saying that the watch cost a couple of grand, meaning two or three thousand dollars.
Liza says, oh, that was a little token of my affection for our one-month anniversary.
A token of your affection is a sign or a symbol that you love someone or that you care for someone.
It's a gift, something that you give that person.
A man may give his wife a necklace as a token of his affection, affection or love.
And if he forgets to give a token of his affection, for example on their wedding anniversary well, he will probably be sleeping on the couch.
Not that I have ever done that, of course.
Shinobu is, of course, not too impressed, doesn't really like Jesse, and Liza tries to defend him by saying oh, that watch is something I gave him.
Shinobu then says, well, he certainly knows now who holds the purse strings if he didn't before.
To hold the purse strings means to be the person who decides how much money is spent.
A purse is a bag that holds money.
Nowadays, many women have purses.
It's not that common for a man.
But the strings of a purse are the pieces of material that you would use in an old purse to make it tight.
You have to loosen the strings in order to open the little bag, which is the purse.
Nowadays, modern purses don't have strings.
They have zippers or buttons.
But the idea here is that the person who holds the purse strings is the person who decides how money is going to be spent.
In this case, Shinobu is saying that Jesse has control of the money.
He holds the purse strings, even though it's not his money.
Shinobu says, I hope he's not preying on you.
To pray P-R-E-Y on someone means to try to control or hurt an animal or a person who is weaker than you are.
There's another word pray P-R-A-Y.
That is related to saying something to God or to some divine being.
But here we're not talking about religion.
We're talking about someone who's trying to control or hurt another person.
Usually that person is weaker than you are.
Liza is upset.
She says, I've never met anyone more honest or sincere.
Shinobu says, The expression to have someone wrapped around your finger or wrapped around your little finger means that that person controls you, that person is able to influence you, often because that person is in love with you.
Really, it's because you are in love with them that they are able to control you.
You may think they are in love with you.
They may not be, but that person controls you because you love them.
So Shinobu is saying that Jesse has Liza wrapped around his little finger.
He says I hope for your sake he's not a gold digger or that you see his true colors before you make it to the altar again.
Couple of different expressions there.
First, for your sake means for your own benefit, to help you.
I hope for your sake, meaning for your good, that Jesse's not a gold digger.
Gold here just represents money.
To dig for gold means to try to find gold, for example, in the earth or in a rock in the mountains.
Here however, a gold digger is a person who marries for money, someone who marries or dates someone so they can get that person's money because they are rich, or richer than the person who is the gold digger.
It's an insulting term.
Usually we think of gold diggers being women marrying rich men, especially younger women marrying older rich men.
But here the gold digger is a man.
Shinobu says he hopes that Liza will see Jesse's true colors before she makes it to the altar.
To see someone's true colors means to see how someone really is, to see the truth about someone.
The altar here refers to getting married in a church, in the front of the church.
There's often an altar, especially in a Christian church.
The altar is where something is sacrificed, at least traditionally, in traditional religious ceremonies.
Here however, it just refers to going to a church to get married since, once again, traditionally most people went to a church or a religious house of some sort to get married.
Obviously, Liza has been married before.
Liza says, oh, I knew it was a mistake talking to you about Jesse.
You're such a cynic.
A cynic.
C-Y-N-I-C is a person who is very negative, who always thinks the worst about something or someone.
Shinobu responds by saying, and you're a hopeless romantic.
A hopeless romantic is a person who wants to fall in love, who always believes the best about other people because they want to be loved by those people.
It's also someone who may have been hurt many times in the past because they don't consider the true colors of the person that they are falling in love with sometimes,
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Isn't Jesse wonderful?
I'm so glad you got to meet him last night.
He's a little young for you, don't you think?
I know you've had boy toys in the past, but he takes the cake.
He's no boy toy.
It's true that there's a 30-year age difference, but who cares about age when you're talking about love?
Well, he's certainly dressed for the part with all that bling.
That watch must have set him back a couple of grand at least.
Oh, that was a little token of my affection for our one-month anniversary.
I just wanted him to know how much I cared about him.
Well, he certainly knows now who holds the purse strings, if he didn't before.
I only hope he's not preying on you.
How can you say that?
I've never met anyone more honest or sincere.
He has you wrapped around his little finger, that's for sure.
I hope for your sake he's not a gold digger or that you see his true colors before you make it to the altar.
Again.
Oh, I knew it was a mistake talking to you about Jesse.
You're such a cynic. and you're a hopeless romantic.
Our script was written by someone who's never a cynic, 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 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
