Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 711, A Difficult Place to Find.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 711.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Download this episode's learning guide, an 8-10 page guide to our episode, to improve your English even faster.
This episode is a dialogue between Ricardo and Marcia about a place that is difficult to find.
Let's get started.
I'm making one more pass, and if we don't see a sign for the hotel, I'm heading back into town.
I'm tired and I want a shower.
I'm sure we'll find it.
When I talked to the desk clerk, she said that the hotel is hidden away behind some trees and to keep an eye out for the white sign.
Did she say blink and you'll miss it?
Because we've driven past this stretch three times and I don't see a sign.
She just said that they're a little off the beaten path.
If they know that their hotel is so hard to find, why don't they make it more prominent with some kind of landmark?
That's part of the charm of a small hotel hideaway.
It doesn't have neon signs, and it's tucked away far from the tourist areas.
That's all good and fine, but we have to find it first.
Okay, this is the last pass.
Keep your eyes peeled.
There it is.
I've spotted the sign.
It's over there.
See?
Yeah, now I see it.
Jeez, it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
Ricardo begins by saying, I'm making one more pass.
To make one more pass means to try to do something one more time, especially in this case where Ricardo is driving and he's trying to find a specific place.
And perhaps he's driven down this road once or more than once.
He's going to try it one more time.
He says, if we don't see a sign for the hotel, I'm heading back into town.
To head back is a phrasal verb meaning to begin to go back to the place from which you came, to return to where you were before.
In this case...
Ricardo is going to head back into town.
Here, the word town means any urban area.
It could be a city.
It could be a small town.
The general expression to go into town usually means to go to the busier part of a city or into a city.
Ricardo says, I'm tired and I want a shower.
Marcia says, She said that the hotel is hidden away behind some trees.
The desk clerk is the person who answers the phone for a business or an office.
We might also call the desk clerk a receptionist.
Marsha says that the desk clerk told her that the hotel is hidden away.
To be hidden H-I-D-D-E-N away means that you cannot easily see something, usually because it is behind something else.
In this case, the hotel is behind some trees, so you can't see it from the street, from the road.
The desk clerk also told Marcia to keep an eye out for the white sign that the hotel has.
The expression to keep an eye out says, is very common.
It means to look for something, to be aware of the things around you.
You might say to your husband when you go to the grocery store, keep an eye out for any sales, anything that is being sold at a discounted or lower price.
To keep an eye out then means to be looking for something.
Ricardo says, did she say blink and you'll miss it?
Ricardo is trying to be funny here.
This is an old expression, blink and you'll or you will miss it.
To blink means to open and close your eyelids.
You do this automatically.
The idea is that it happens very quickly.
So when someone says blink and you'll miss it, they mean that if you're not looking carefully, you will go right by it.
You will miss it.
You will not see it.
Perhaps because it is well hidden, or perhaps because it is very small, or perhaps it relates to an event that will happen quickly.
Ricardo is saying that It must be a place that is very difficult to find.
He says because we've driven past this stretch three times and I don't see a sign.
Stretch here refers to a certain part or certain section of a road between one point and another.
It could be three blocks, it could be a half a mile, it could be five kilometers.
It's a somewhat vague, unspecific term to refer to a part of a street or a road.
In this case, Ricardo is referring to the part of the road where the hotel is supposed to be, and they still are unable to find it.
Marsha says she just said that they're a little off the beaten path.
A little here means slightly, a little bit.
To be off the beaten path means to be in a place that is not normally visited by a lot of people.
It's not downtown.
It's not where there are a lot of tourists.
Ricardo says if they know that their hotel is so hard to find, why don't they make it more prominent with some kind of landmark?
Prominent here means to be seen easily because it's very large or perhaps different.
Some buildings have special signs or things that they put on the building so you can find them easily when you're driving down the street.
McDonald's, the hamburger restaurant, has a big yellow M. That makes the restaurant more prominent.
You see that.
You know what that means.
You can find it easily because of it.
Ricardo says that they should make their hotel more prominent with some kind of landmark.
Here he's using the term, I think, to mean some physical change in the building, something that they would add to the building, perhaps a big flagpole with a flag or something that they could tell people to look for that would indicate that their hotel was there.
We also use the term landmark to refer to important buildings or statues.
But here it's used more generally to mean simply something physical that will help you find the location.
Marcia says that's part of the charm of a small hotel hideaway.
Charm here means things that are likable, especially in a somewhat perhaps old-fashioned way, the way things used to be many years ago.
When someone says, oh, this is charming, they mean it's nice, it's pleasant, it's calming perhaps.
Charm is also used to describe a personality characteristic.
When we say that man was very charming, we mean he was very nice, he was very likable.
Marcia says that this is one of the charms of a small hotel hideaway.
Hideaway H-I-D-E-A-W-A-Y, one word is a place where you can go, that you will not be interrupted by other people, a place where you can be by yourself, so that no one will bother you or find you.
Marsha says it doesn't have neon signs, and it's tucked away far from the tourist areas.
A neon, N-E-O-N, sign is a large sign where the words and images are in special lights.
You put a special kind of gas, neon gas, into these tubes and that act like light bulbs and form the sign.
Neon signs were very popular back in the 50s and 60s and 70s and still today in some places.
Las Vegas is famous for its neon signs.
So is Sunset Boulevard here in Los Angeles and, of course, Broadway in New York City.
Anyway, Marcia says that this hotel does not have neon signs.
It's tucked away far from the tourist areas.
To be tucked away means to be far away from other people, other buildings, from where the rest of the people are.
In this case, away from the tourist areas, places where visitors would go.
Ricardo says that's all good and fine, meaning, well, that's nice, but we have to find it first.
Okay, he says, this is the last pass, the last time he's going to drive down this stretch of road.
Keep your eyes peeled, he says.
To keep your eyes peeled.
P-E-L-E-D means to look for something very carefully, especially when you know it is difficult to find.
So it's similar to keep an eye out, but it requires even more concentration.
You have to really be looking for it because you know it's difficult to find.
Marsha says, there it is.
I've spotted or seen the sign.
It's over there, see?
Ricardo says, yeah, now I see it.
Jeez, it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
G's, spelled usually G-E-E-Z, is an expression of surprise or relief or some sort of uncertainty.
In this case, it's more relief than anything else.
Someone says, oh, geez, where did I put my keys?
You're confused, you're lost.
Or someone may say, oh, geez, you scared me when you walked up without knocking on my door.
So it can be used in a lot of different cases.
Ricardo says, yes.
Finding this hotel is like finding a needle in a haystack.
A needle is a small sharp pin that is used for sewing things together, putting together two pieces of fabric for clothing, for example.
A haystack is made of hay.
Hay is basically dried grass that is put together and used on a farm.
The idea of a needle in a haystack is that it's very difficult to find.
It would be very difficult to find any sort of small object that was hidden in a large area.
That's the idea of finding a needle in a haystack.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm making one more pass, and if we don't see a sign for the hotel, I'm heading back into town.
I'm tired and I want a shower.
I'm sure we'll find it.
When I talked to the desk clerk, she said that the hotel is hidden away behind some trees and to keep an eye out for their white sign.
Did she say blink and you'll miss it?
Because we've driven past this stretch three times and I don't see a sign.
She just said that they're a little off the beaten path.
If they know that their hotel is so hard to find, why don't they make it more prominent with some kind of landmark?
That's part of the charm of a small hotel hideaway.
It doesn't have neon signs, and it's tucked away far from the tourist areas.
That's all good and fine, but we have to find it first.
Okay, this is the last pass.
Keep your eyes peeled.
There it is.
I've spotted the sign.
It's over there, see?
Yeah, now I see it.
Jeez, it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
The script for this episode was written by our own charming Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
