Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 982, Home Shopping.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 982.
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 and become a member of ESL Podcast and download a learning guide for this episode.
This episode is a dialogue between Victor and Julia about buying things not by going to a store, but by watching television and using your telephone.
Let's get started.
I wasn't going to do anything.
And you have the phone in your hand. which means you're about to call them and order something.
Admit it.
I just wanted to ask some questions about this amazing item that's on screen right now.
It's 30% off if I call within the next 8 minutes.
Look how nice it looks on the model.
It's a limited edition necklace.
If I don't call soon...
They'll be sold out.
That's why I have to keep you from calling.
You don't need another piece of second-rate jewelry from the home shopping channel.
Oh, look what you've done.
They're sold out.
But hey, look at that machine they're demonstrating.
It's amazing what it can do.
You don't need another ridiculous gadget that you buy after watching some rigged demonstration.
You know that they never work the same way at home as they do on TV.
Some of them do.
Remember that machine I bought for washing nuts?
That worked well.
Yeah, and how much use did we get out of that?
We have an entire garage full of steels you just couldn't resist.
That's why I need to do something drastic.
What?
I'm confiscating that remote.
Victor begins our dialogue by saying to Julia, Turn off the TV and put down that phone.
I know what you're about to do.
Victor tells Julia to stop watching the television and to put down that phone.
Julia is holding the phone in her hand.
Victor is telling her to put it down, to return it back to the table or the desk where it was sitting before.
Victor says, I know what you're about to do.
I know what you are going to do.
That's what about to means here.
Julia says, I wasn't going to do anything.
Victor says you're watching the home shopping channel and you have the phone in your hand, which means you're about to call them and order something.
Admit it.
Home shopping is the practice of purchasing or buying things at home, watching your television and using your telephone to call in and order whatever it is you are buying.
Nowadays in the United States you can watch your television and they have programs where they are selling things, all sorts of things perfume jewelry clothing, almost anything you can think of that can be sold.
They sell it on these home shopping channels, these home shopping programs.
You watch the program, and they give you a telephone number to call.
You call the number, you say I want this and you give them your credit card information and then they send it to you.
That's what Julia is about to do.
That is what she was getting ready to do, what she was going to do.
Victor says, admit it.
Admit A-D-M-I-T.
It is a phrase we use to force someone to agree with what we have just said, especially when the person doesn't want to say that it's true.
But you know it's true and you're trying to get the person to say yes, that is true.
So, for example, you might say you are afraid to ask Julie on a date, aren't you?
Admit it.
You could say that to your friend who is maybe scared of asking a woman out on a date.
Admit it.
You don't want to ask her because you're scared.
You could use admit it in lots of different circumstances, but it always refers to a case where the person you are talking to doesn't want to tell the truth, because or is embarrassed or perhaps afraid to tell the truth.
Julia is not admitting that she was about to call and order something.
However, she says I just wanted to ask some questions about this amazing item that's on screen right now.
Amazing means wonderful, great.
An item, I-T-E-M, is just a thing that is being, in this case, sold.
On screen means on the television, showing on the television right now.
Julia says this item that is on screen right now we don't know what it is is 30 off if I call within the next eight minutes.
Home shopping channels motivate you to pick up the phone and buy.
By giving you a deadline, by saying well, you can get a discount if you buy this item in the next 8 minutes or 10 minutes or 30 minutes.
That time pressure forces you to make a decision, and it is very effective in getting people to buy.
30% off OFF means a 30% discount.
That's what you will get if you buy this item within the next eight minutes.
Julia says, look how nice it looks on the model.
A model M-O-D-E-L is a person who is used to show how nice a piece of clothing looks, or perhaps a piece of jewelry looks.
These home shopping channels are very popular with women, who are buying clothing and jewelry, or at least it would seem that way based on the kinds of shows that you see there.
Julia then tells us what she's talking about.
She's talking about a limited edition necklace.
A necklace is something that you wear around your neck.
Women especially often wear necklaces.
Limited edition means that there are only a small number of these items that have been made and that we are selling.
Something that is limited edition is something that is not going to be made in large numbers, in large quantities.
Julia says, if I don't call soon, they'll be sold out.
Sold out means there are no more left to buy.
When an item is sold out, it is no longer available because the store sold all of the items that it had.
Victor says, that's why I have to keep you from calling.
That's why I have to prevent you from calling.
You don't need another piece of second-rate jewelry from the home shopping channel.
Second-rate, R-A-T-E, means inferior in quality, not a very good quality.
To call something second-rate is to say it's not very good.
If you say something is first rate, then you're saying that it is high quality.
It is very good quality.
But this jewelry is not very good quality, according to Victor.
Julia says, oh, look what you've done.
She uses this expression as a way of blaming Victor for something that happened.
He's done something wrong.
That's why she says, look what you've done.
They're sold out.
There aren't any more available to buy.
Then she says, but hey, look at that machine they're demonstrating.
They're showing you how to use.
It's amazing what it can do.
Victor says you don't need another ridiculous gadget to that you buy after watching some rigged demonstration.
A gadget g a d g e, t is a small device, a small tool or machine that usually has one limited use.
I remember It used to be very popular for people to buy a little machine that you would use to make hamburgers.
That's all really it did.
It made hamburgers.
It was like a hot plate.
It was like two hot pieces of metal that you put on either side of the beef and And you would use it to make a hamburger.
These were very popular 20, 30 years ago.
Also very popular were special machines that made popcorn.
When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, everybody had these machines that only made popcorn.
That's really all you could do with it.
Of course you could make popcorn in other ways, with a regular pan, but these machines were Very popular because I guess everyone needed to eat popcorn in the 70s.
I don't know.
Well, these home shopping networks, these home shopping channels sell a lot of these machines, these small tools or gadgets that make things that aren't always the most useful.
Victor doesn't want Julia to buy one of these.
He says that the demonstration that she is watching on television is rigged.
When something is rigged, R-I-G-G-E-D, it has somehow been made to look better than it is.
It's not authentic.
It's not real.
If a contest has been rigged, the results of the contest cannot be trusted, because someone has done something to make it unfair, to make it so that it's not a real contest.
If you pay a boxer a million dollars to lose his next fight That would be rigging the competition.
That would be rigging the contest so that it's not a real contest.
That's what Victor is saying is happening with these demonstrations on television.
They're not real.
They're not legitimate demonstrations.
Victor says, you know that they never work the same way at home as they do on TV.
He's saying these gadgets never work as well when you get them in your own house as they do when you are watching them on television.
Julia says some of them do.
She disagrees with Victor.
Remember that machine I bought for washing nuts?
That worked well.
Julia apparently bought a machine that did nothing but wash nuts, a kind of food.
Julia says that machine worked well.
Victor says yeah, meaning yes.
And how much use did we get out of that?
Meaning, how much did we actually use it?
Victor goes on and says, we have an entire garage full of steels you just couldn't resist.
That's why I need to do something drastic.
A steel, S-T-E-A-L, here means a bargain, something that you bought for a very low price.
To resist means to avoid doing something, to stop yourself from doing something.
Drastic, D-R-A-S-T-I-C, is extreme or severe.
Victor says that Julia cannot resist, cannot stop herself from buying things she thinks are steals or good deals.
That's why he has to do something extreme, something that he wouldn't normally have to do, in order to stop Julia from buying more things.
Julia says what?
Victor says, I'm confiscating that remote.
To confiscate C-O-N-F-I-S-C-A-T-E means to take something away so that another person can no longer use it or have it.
It's a verb normally used when we're talking about the police taking illegal drugs from someone, or perhaps a teacher taking something away from a student that the student shouldn't have.
Victor is going to confiscate the remote.
The remote is the remote control.
It's that small device that you use to change the channels on your television or to turn the volume up and down.
Many years ago, of course, we didn't have remote controls.
You actually had to get out of your chair and walk over to the television and turn the channel or turn the volume up or down.
Oh, the good old days.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Turn off the TV and put down that phone.
I know what you're about to do.
I wasn't going to do anything.
You're watching the home shopping channel and you have the phone in your hand, which means you're about to call them and order something.
Admit it.
I just wanted to ask some questions about this amazing item that's on screen right now.
It's 30% off if I call within the next 8 minutes.
Look how nice it looks on the model.
It's a limited edition necklace.
If I don't call soon, they'll be sold out.
That's why I have to keep you from calling.
You don't need another piece of second-rate jewelry from the Home Shopping channel.
Oh, look what you've done.
They're sold out.
But hey, look at that machine they're demonstrating.
It's amazing what it can do.
You don't need another ridiculous gadget that you buy after watching some rigged demonstration.
You know that they never work the same way at home as they do on TV.
Some of them do.
Remember that machine I bought for washing nuts?
That worked well.
Yeah, and how much use did we get out of that?
We have an entire garage full of steels you just couldn't resist.
That's why I need to do something drastic.
What?
I'm confiscating that remote.
We'd like to thank our first-rate script writer, Dr. Lucy Say, for her first-rate scripts.
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 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
