Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 642, Installing Windows and Doors.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 642.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com to download one of our learning guides.
The learning guides are made for every episode and help you improve your English even faster by giving you vocabulary, definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, culture notes, and... everyone together now, a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is called Installing Windows and Doors, so let's get started.
I really think we've bitten off more than we can chew.
I like do-it-yourself projects but installing a new window and a new door isn't as easy as it looks.
What we don't know, we'll learn as we go.
Okay, we've removed the old window.
This new double-paned one is going to be great and it'll slide open and close easily, unlike the old one.
We just need to put in a new frame first and then we can move it into place.
You make it sound so easy.
Is the screen going to fit?
It looks too big.
Oh sure, it'll fit.
This latch doesn't seem to be working.
It'll work once it's installed.
Come on, give me a hand.
Hmm, the new window doesn't seem to fit exactly.
I'm not sure what the problem is.
Let me think about it.
Let's move on to the door and come back to it later.
Are you sure?
Sure, I'm sure.
Installing the new door will be easier and we can get it out of the way.
Maybe we should wait until the window is installed.
If we can't finish installing the window and the door before nightfall, it'll be a very cold night in the house.
Don't worry.
Let's see.
First we have to remove the old door without damaging the jam.
The hinges are rusted.
It seems to be stuck.
Oh, I think it's finally coming off.
See?
Replacing the door isn't going to be as easy as you thought, is it?
I got it off in the end, didn't I?
Yes, but will you be able to put in the new one before I die of frostbite?
Vern and Genevieve are installing or putting in new windows and doors in their house.
Vern begins by saying...
I really think we've bitten off more than we can chew.
This is an old expression, to bite off.
Bitten is the past tense of bite.
Actually, it's the past participle, but we won't go into that now.
To bite off more than you can chew.
This expression means to try to do something that is too difficult for you to do or for you to finish.
To bite means to typically use your teeth when you are eating food.
You can take a bite out of an apple, for example.
You put the apple in your mouth and you take a piece.
To chew means to move your jaw up and down so that the food goes in between your teeth and you're able to swallow it.
But this expression means that you in a sense have taken or bitten off too much and you can't possibly chew it.
Again, it's a general expression to mean you try to do something that is too big or too difficult.
Vern says, I like do-it-yourself projects.
But installing a new window and a new door isn't as easy as it looks.
Do-it-yourself, sometimes abbreviated DIY, is when you do something typically around your house, such as making a desk or building a table.
In other words, you don't pay someone else to do it or buy it.
You do it yourself.
So a do-it-yourself project would be, for example, trying to install a new window.
To install means to put something in to something else or to put something onto something else so that it can be used.
When you buy a new water heater to make your water hot, you have to install it, you have to take it out of the box, put it where it belongs, connect the water, the electricity or the gas, and so forth.
That's to install.
We use this verb a lot.
We even use it in the computer world.
We talk about installing software.
That's putting the software onto your computer so you can use it.
Verne doesn't think that a new window or a new door is as easy as it looks, meaning you look at it and you think oh, that won't be very difficult.
But then when you try to do it, it is very difficult.
Genevieve says, what we don't know, we'll learn as we go.
To learn as you go means to learn through experience, learn through doing.
You don't take a class, you don't read a book, you just do it and you learn as you are doing, whatever it is you're doing.
That's to learn as you go.
Genevieve, of course, thinks that they can install this new window and new door.
She says, okay, we've removed, we've gotten rid of, we took out the old window.
This new double-paned one is going to be great and it'll slide open and close easily, unlike the old one.
So Vern and Genevieve are trying to install a double-paned window, double hyphen paned, P-A-N-E-D is when you have a window with two pieces of glass very close to each other but there's a small amount of air sometimes there's a special gas they use between the two pieces of glass and What this does is it makes the window thicker or, more importantly, it makes it so that you don't hear what's going on outside, or at least you hear less of what's going on outside.
I, for example, need a double paned window in my house so that I don't hear the children outside.
Or I can do what I usually do, which is go outside and tell the little kids to be quiet.
I'm that nice kind of neighbor, you know.
So Genevieve says that the double-paned window is going to be great.
She says it'll slide open and close easily.
To slide S-L-I-D-E means to move smoothly in one direction, typically when you are rubbing against something else.
I could take a glass of water and slide it across the table.
I push it so that it moves smoothly across the table.
In this case, the windows are going to slide open and close easily, unlike the old one, meaning the old one did not do that.
Genevieve says we just need to put in a new frame first, and then we can move it into place.
The frame...
F-R-A-M-E is the square or rectangular shape usually made of wood or metal, that goes around something.
In this case, it goes around the window.
You could also have a picture frame, which is the part that you see on the very outside, on all four sides, that holds the picture together.
Fern says you make it sound so easy.
Is the screen going to fit?
It looks too big.
A screen is something that you put behind a door or a window so that you can open the door or window and And no bugs or flies will come in.
It's usually made of metal or plastic with lots of small holes in it.
Genevieve says, oh, sure, it'll fit, meaning it will be able to be put here.
The space will be right.
It will not be too big.
Vern says, this latch doesn't seem to be working.
A latch is a small piece of metal that you move to hold something closed or to let it be open.
So on a window you typically have a little latch that, when you move it in a certain direction, allows you to open the window.
When you move it in a different direction, it will keep the window closed.
That's a latch.
L-A-T-C-H.
Fern doesn't think the latch is working, but Genevieve says it'll work once it's installed.
Come on, give me a hand.
To give someone a hand means to help them do something, usually something physical like moving boxes or installing windows.
Genevieve says, hmm, she's uncertain about something or she's surprised by something.
The new window doesn't seem to fit exactly, meaning it doesn't go in the space perfectly.
It must be too big or too small.
Let me think about it.
Let's move on to the door.
Let's start working on the door now and come back to the window later.
Vern says, are you sure?
Genevieve says, sure, I'm sure, meaning yes, I am sure, I am certain.
Installing the new door will be easier and we can get it out of the way.
To get something out of the way means to do something that you don't really like first.
Do it immediately so that you can forget about it and go on to do something that you like better.
That's to get something out of the way.
Vern says, maybe we should wait until the window is installed.
Nightfall.
One word is the time when, or at the time when the sun sets, the time between afternoon and evening when the sky begins to go dark.
That's nightfall.
Verne says that if they don't get the window and door installed, they're going to be cold tonight.
Genevieve says don't worry.
Let's see.
First, we have to remove the old door without damaging the jam, J-A-M-B.
The jam is one of the vertical pieces of wood on the sides of the window or the door.
It could also be made of metal.
She says the hinges are rusted.
It seems to be stuck.
A hinge is a small piece of metal that attaches the door to the door jam.
It allows the door to open and close.
It's what connects the door typically to the door jam or the permanent unmovable part of the door frame.
When something is rusted, we mean that it has an orange or red dust on it.
That is sometimes created when metal gets wet.
The technical term would be oxidized.
So what happens is the hinges are rusted and And that makes it difficult to open the door.
That's why Genevieve says the door seems to be stuck.
When something is stuck, S-T-U-C-K, you cannot move it or open it.
It is something that you can't change because there's some problem.
Genevieve says, oh, I think it's finally coming off.
Vern says, see, replacing the door isn't going to be as easy as you thought.
But Genevieve doesn't give up.
She says, I got it off in the end, didn't I?
In the end means finally, after some work.
I did get the door off.
Verne says yes, but will you be able to put in the new one, the new door, before I die of frostbite?
F-R-O-S-T-B-I-T-E.
One word.
Frostbite is a condition where your fingers or your toes typically are too cold and it starts to damage your skin.
It can even lead to damage to your fingers and toes.
If you live in a northern climate, that is, a place where it gets cold during the winter you probably know about frostbite.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I really think we've bitten off more than we can chew.
I like do-it-yourself projects, but installing a new window and a new door isn't as easy as it looks.
What we don't know we'll learn as we go.
Okay, we've removed the old window.
This new double-paned one is going to be great and it'll slide open and close easily, unlike the old one.
We just need to put in a new frame first, and then we can move it into place.
You make it sound so easy.
Is the screen going to fit?
It looks too big.
Oh, sure it'll fit.
This latch doesn't seem to be working.
It'll work once it's installed.
Come on, give me a hand.
Hmm, the new window doesn't seem to fit exactly.
I'm not sure what the problem is.
Let me think about it.
Let's move on to the door and come back to it later.
Are you sure?
Sure, I'm sure.
Installing the new door will be easier and we can get it out of the way.
Maybe we should wait until the window is installed.
If we can't finish installing the window and the door before nightfall, it'll be a very cold night in the house.
Don't worry.
Let's see.
First we have to remove the old door without damaging the jam.
The hinges are rusted.
It seems to be stuck.
Oh, I think it's finally coming off.
See?
Replacing the door isn't going to be as easy as you thought, is it?
I got it off in the end, didn't I?
Yes, but will you be able to put in the new one before I die of frostbite?
We hope that you are learning as you go by listening to these podcasts.
We thank our script writer, Dr. Lucy Say, for making that possible.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Say.
Hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
