Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 758, Showing Off a New Purchase.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 758.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to our website at eslpodcom, Download a learning guide, improve your English and win a million dollars.
Two of those three things, anyway.
This episode is called Showing Off a New Purchase.
It's a dialogue about a man who's just bought a new car and wants everyone to know about it.
Let's get started.
Wow, check you out.
When did you buy a new car?
This isn't just any new car.
It's a Ferrari.
I can see that.
It must have set you back a few.
Yeah, but it was worth it.
You should see the looks I get riding around in this baby.
My brother is green with envy.
Then you've been showing it off around town.
No, I've just been showing it off to a few friends and family members.
There's no sense owning a fine machine like this and not bragging a little, right?
Especially since your brother has been gloating about his new boat, you mean.
There is that.
I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think a new Ferrari trumps a measly new boat, don't you?
Do you and your brother always whip it out like this?
Like what?
True words were never spoken.
Monica begins by saying to Kevin, Wow! which is an expression of surprise, check you out.
This is an informal expression, check, C-H-E-C-K, you out.
It means look at this person, pay attention to how he or she looks, because somehow it is unusual or impressive.
So you come in with a new shirt or a girl comes in with a new dress.
You might say, wow, check you out, meaning you're looking very fancy.
You're wearing impressive clothing.
To check out as a phrasal verb can mean to look at someone, perhaps with some sort of romantic or sexual interest, or Checkout can also just mean to investigate.
Checkout can also be what you do at a store when you are buying something.
It has a lot of different meanings, none of which are in the learning guide.
Monica says, check you out.
When did you buy a new car?
Well, now we see that it isn't what Kevin is wearing.
It's his new car that he bought.
Kevin says, this isn't just any new car, meaning it's not like buying a new Ford or a new Toyota.
It's much more important, much more, in this case, expensive than that.
It's a Ferrari.
A Ferrari is a very expensive, fast sports car, made in Italy, of course.
Monica says, I can see that, meaning, yes, you don't have to tell me.
I can see with my own eyes.
It must have set you back a few, Monica says.
To set someone back a few is an expression meaning to be very expensive.
It must have cost you a lot of money.
That's what Monica is saying.
When you buy something expensive, you may say, yeah, it set me back a few.
The phrasal verb to set back can mean to put you in a worse situation than you were before.
In this case a worse situation financially than Kevin says.
Yeah, but it was worth it, meaning it was worthwhile.
It was something that was good enough or had a good enough benefit that you can say okay well, I think that was a good idea to spend that much money or work that hard.
He says, you should see the looks I get riding around in this baby.
You should see, means that you would be impressed by the looks, the way people look at him when he is riding in the car, when he's riding around around the town in this baby.
Baby B-A-B-Y here is used to refer to something you own, that you value a lot, that you're very proud of.
Perhaps that's very expensive.
It's not the baby that you have after nine months of being inside the mother.
That's a different kind of baby.
There are a And those, yes, can be found in the Learning Guide.
Kevin says, My brother was green with envy.
To be green with envy, E-N-V-Y, means to be very envious.
To be envious or to have envy means to want what another person has, to want it very much.
Monica says, then you've been showing it off around town.
To show something off or to show off something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to use or display something in such a way that everybody sees it.
You want everyone to see what, in this case, a wonderful car you have.
Or you want everyone to see your new watch.
You bought a new watch and you show everyone, oh, hey, look, here's my new watch.
You're showing it off.
As a noun.
To be a show-off is a negative way of describing someone who's always showing other people how good they are, how much money they have, or so on.
A beautiful woman might wear a short dress to show off her legs, for example.
I wouldn't know.
I don't look at other women, of course, being married.
Monica says that Kevin has been showing off his new car and Kevin says no, I've just been showing it off to a few friends and family members.
Not everyone, just friends and family.
Kevin says, there's no sense owning a fine machine like this and not bragging a little, right?
The expression there's no sense.
S-E-N-S-E means you are talking about something that doesn't make sense.
That would be wrong or illogical.
There's no sense going to Disneyland and not seeing Mickey Mouse.
I mean, if you're going to travel thousands of miles to see Disneyland, you should make sure you see Mickey Mouse.
Tell him hello.
Tell him I said hello.
I last saw him in 1972, so we haven't seen each other in a long time.
Anyway, Kevin says there's no sense owning or having a fine a beautiful machine in this case a car and not bragging a little.
To brag B-R-A-G means to talk about the things you have or the abilities that you have that other people don't have.
It's considered rude to brag, to say, oh, I have so much money and you don't have any.
I'm so sorry.
That's kind of bragging.
You are telling the person about things that they don't have so that they will think you are a better person.
Usually that doesn't work.
Men like to brag, of course, especially in front of a pretty girl.
They want to let them know what a great person they are.
While Kevin is bragging a little with his car.
Monica says, especially since your brother has been gloating about his new boat.
You mean?
To gloat means something similar to brag.
It means to show how very proud you are of the things that you have or the things that you've done, but do so in sort of a rude way.
When you win a game, you beat the other team.
Then you yell at them, yeah, you guys were terrible.
We killed you.
We demolished you.
We beat you bad.
That would be gloating.
That also might get you into a fight.
Monica knows that Kevin's brother recently bought a new boat, a new small ship for a lake or the ocean, and that his brother has been bragging about it, has been gloating about it.
Gloating is usually when you have a competition.
That's at least how I think we use the word more commonly.
Kevin says, there is that.
That's a phrase we use to show that what the other person just said is correct, that they have identified another reason why you are doing what you are doing.
So in this case, the reason that Kevin is bragging is because his brother was bragging earlier about his new boat.
Kevin says, I don't want to toot my own horn.
Toot T-O-O-T your own horn H-O-R-N means to brag about your accomplishments, to tell everyone how good you are, how successful you are.
Sometimes, for example in an American job interview, it's expected that you will toot your own horn a little.
You will tell the person what a good job you did in your other company.
Kevin says, I think a new Ferrari trumps a measly new boat, don't you?
To trump, T-R-U-M-P, means to be better than, to be superior than something else.
Measly, M-E-A-S-L-Y, means unimportant, insignificant, too small, not very important.
Kevin is saying that he thinks his new Ferrari is better than the small, insignificant new boat that his brother has.
Monica then asks, Do you and your brother always whip it out like this?
Here this very informal expression not one you would want to use with your boss for sure means to brag, to try to show other people that you are better than them.
Kevin says, like what?
I'm just sharing my new toy with my brother.
Kevin is saying he's not bragging.
He's just letting his brother see his new car, knowing that his brother will be happy for him, as he was happy for his brother when his brother bought a new boat.
Of course, he wasn't happy for his brother, and his brother isn't happy for him.
So it's true that Kevin is as happy for his brother as his brother is for him, because neither of them are really very happy for the other at all.
Monica, at the end, uses a famous expression, truer words were never spoken.
Truer means more true.
The phrase is used to show that you completely agree with what the other person has just said.
Truer words were never spoken.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Wow, check you out.
When did you buy a new car?
This isn't just any new car.
It's a Ferrari.
I can see that.
It must have set you back a few.
Yeah, but it was worth it.
You should see the looks I get riding around in this baby.
My brother is green with envy.
Then you've been showing it off around town.
No, I've just been showing it off to a few friends and family members.
There's no sense owning a fine machine like this and not bragging a little right.
Especially since your brother has been gloating about his new boat.
You mean, There is that.
I don't want to toot my own horn, But I think a new Ferrari trumps a measly new boat, don't you?
Do you and your brother always whip it out like this?
Like what?
I'm just sharing my new toy with my brother.
I'm sure he's just as happy for me as I was for him when he bought his new boat.
Truer words were never spoken.
She never toots her own horn, but she certainly should.
That's because she's the most wonderful scriptwriter on the Internet, I think, 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 Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
