Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 963, Admiring a Baby.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 963.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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And visit our ESL podcast blog for some more interesting and always entertaining English.
On this episode we're going to listen to a dialogue between Maya and Jean-Paul about looking at a little baby.
Let's get started.
Isn't this baby precious?
She is just darling.
Kuchiku!
Why do women fawn over babies?
One baby looks pretty much like any other.
You wouldn't say that if you'd ever spent time with babies.
Come over here and look at this one.
She's a doll, and her face is so expressive.
Aren't you a little doll, aren't you?
I'm not wasting my time looking at a little brat.
Let's go.
Wait, she's smiling.
Come look.
She has gas and needs to be burped.
I don't even need to look at her to know that.
You wouldn't say that if you looked at her face.
She has the most angelic expression on her face and the sweetest temperament.
Whatever Just come over here and look at her.
I think you'll find her just as lovable and adorable as I do.
All right, let's take a look at this precious darling of an angel with an expressive face.
See what I mean?
She is, well, kind of cute and cuddly.
When you see her, don't you just want to... Coochie-coo, coochie-coo.
Maya begins our dialogue by saying, isn't this baby precious?
When we describe a baby as precious, P-R-E-C-I-O-U-S, we mean it's very beautiful.
We could use that to describe a person such as a cute baby.
We could also use that to describe a piece of art, for example, or something that is very beautiful or very beautifully made.
Maya says, she is just darling.
Darling, D-A-R-L-I-N-G, is another one of those words we would use to describe a beautiful baby.
Someone who is darling is someone who is very cute, very beautiful.
Then Maya uses an expression that we sometimes use in talking to little babies.
She says, koochie koo, koochie koo, koochie koo. aren't real words in English.
They're just words we use with a very high-pitched sound, as I did in the example that we use in talking to babies to get their attention perhaps.
I'm not sure where we came up with that phrase, but it is one that people use when communicating with a little baby.
Jean Paul says, why do women fawn over babies?
To fawn F-A-W-N over someone is to give someone a lot of attention, to give someone a lot of praise, to say nice things about a person.
It could also, I suppose, be used in talking about an object as well.
We could talk about fawning over a beautiful painting, saying how wonderful it is.
Here we're talking about fawning over little babies.
Jean-Paul says one baby looks pretty much like any other.
Jean-Paul is saying that most babies look alike, and so...
There's no reason to consider one baby cuter than another, I suppose.
Maya says, Come over here and look at this one.
She's a doll, and her face is so expressive.
A doll D-O-L-L is normally a little toy that young children, often young girls, play with that looks like a human being.
When we use this in describing a baby, we are saying that the baby is very cute.
It's another way of saying cute or beautiful, just like we use the words precious and darling.
Maya says then that the face of the baby is expressive, E-X-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E.
To be expressive means to show a lot of emotion in the way that you move your face or move your hands or move your body.
To express your emotions is to be expressive.
Then Maya turns to the baby and says, aren't you a little doll?
Aren't you?
Jean-Paul says, I'm not wasting my time looking at a little brat.
Let's go.
A brat, B-R-A-T, is a child who behaves very badly.
We might also use the adjective spoiled, S-P-O-I-L-E-D.
A spoiled child is a child who always gets what he wants.
And if he doesn't get what he wants, he cries or screams or does something to make his parents give him what he wants.
It's usually a bad idea, although there are many parents who treat their children that way.
My parents never treated me that way.
When you are the youngest of 11 children, you're never going to get everything you want.
Although my older brothers and sisters say that because I was the youngest, I did get everything I want.
But believe me, that's not true.
Just ask me.
Jean-Paul says that he's not going to waste his time looking at this little brat.
Maya says, wait, she's smiling.
Come look, meaning come over and look at the baby.
Jean-Paul, however, is still not convinced.
He says she has gas and needs to be burped.
I don't even need to look at her to know that.
When we say a little baby has gas G-A-S, we mean they have air trapped inside their body that may make them feel uncomfortable.
What you do with little babies, I'm told, is pick them up and put them on your shoulder, and then you tap them lightly, perhaps on the back.
This will help them burp, B-U-R-P.
To burp means to release that gas, that air in your stomach, out through your mouth.
To be burped would mean to have the baby on your shoulder and helping it burp out that gas.
Get rid of that air inside his stomach.
Jean-Paul says that he doesn't even need to look at her to know that.
He knows that that's what is happening here.
Maya says, you wouldn't say that if you looked at her face.
She has the most angelic expression on her face and the sweetest temperament.
Angelic, A-N-G-E-L-I-C, comes from the noun angel, A-N-G-E-L.
In this case it means a very beautiful, peaceful look.
Maya says she has the sweetest temperament.
T-E-M-P-E-R-A-M-E-N-T.
Your temperament is... how you normally react to something, your characteristics and moods.
To have a sweet temperament would be to be happy, to always be peaceful, to be smiling.
That's what this little baby has, according to Maya.
Jean-Paul says, whatever.
We use that expression very commonly now in English informally to mean oh okay, I'm not going to pay attention to that anymore, or I don't think that's very important, or I am not interested in that.
There are lots of ways of using that expression, whatever.
The important part is the way you say it.
You don't say, whatever.
You say, whatever, or whatever, whatever.
You have a certain intonation in your voice that indicates that you're bored or you're uninterested, or perhaps you don't want to talk about something anymore.
Maya says, just come over here and look at her.
Jean-Paul says, you're not going to let me leave without looking at her, are you?
Jean-Paul knows that they won't be able to leave unless he goes over and looks at the baby.
Maya says To be lovable.
L-O-V-A-B-L-E means to be easy to love, especially because someone is good, kind and beautiful.
Adorable, A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E, is another adjective for pretty, beautiful, attractive, lovely.
Jean-Paul says, all right, let's take a look at this precious darling of an angel.
And here he's sort of making fun of Maya's previous descriptions of with an expressive face.
Maya says, see what I mean?
Jean-Paul, now that he's looking at the baby, says she is, well, kind of cute and cuddly.
To be cute, C-U-T-E, is to be attractive, especially in a young, childlike way.
To be cuddly, C-U-D-D-L-Y is to have qualities that make you want to pick up, in this case, the baby or child, and put him in your arms because it feels good to hug him.
Then Maya says when you see her, don't you just want to?
And Jean-Paul interrupts her with the same expression that Maya used at the beginning of the dialogue that we use with young babies.
Coochie-coo, coochie-coo.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Isn't this baby precious?
She is just darling.
Coochie-coo.
Why do women fawn over babies?
One baby looks pretty much like any other.
You wouldn't say that if you'd ever spent time with babies.
Come over here and look at this one.
She's a doll, and her face is so expressive.
Aren't you a little doll?
Aren't you?
I'm not wasting my time looking at a little brat.
Let's go.
Wait!
She's smiling.
Come look.
She has gas and needs to be burped.
I don't even need to look at her to know that.
You wouldn't say that if you looked at her face.
She has the most angelic expression on her face and the sweetest temperament.
Whatever.
Just come over here and look at her.
You're not going to let me leave without looking at her, are you?
I think you'll find her just as lovable and adorable as I do.
All right, let's take a look at this precious darling of an angel with an expressive face.
See what I mean?
She is, well, kind of cute and cuddly.
When you see her, don't you just want to coochie-coo, coochie-coo?
Our scriptwriter is always very expressive.
That's why she writes such wonderful scripts.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
