Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,085.
Having good and bad luck.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1,085.
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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This episode is a dialogue between Cesar and Olga about luck, chance, fate, Let's get started.
I can't catch a break.
Everything seems to be going wrong these days.
What do you mean?
Have you walked under a ladder or crossed paths with a black cat lately?
I don't think so, but I'm not superstitious.
I don't believe breaking a mirror will bring me seven years of bad luck.
Say what you will, but it doesn't hurt to take some precautions, especially the way things have been going for you.
I don't know.
Here, you can borrow my rabbit's foot and my four-leaf clover.
I'll go home and get you a horseshoe so you can hang it upside down over your front door.
I really doubt any of that is going to do me any good.
You know what tomorrow is, don't you?
The 13th?
Friday the 13th.
Do you really want to take your chances?
I guess not.
Do you really think these good luck charms will help?
We'll know on the 14th, won't we?
Cesar says to Olga, I can't catch a break.
The expression to catch, C-A-T-C-H, a break...
B-R-E-A-K means to be lucky, to experience luck when you have been experiencing a lot of problems or bad luck.
Luck L-U-C-K is the idea that We can have things happen to us even though we don't do anything about them.
We don't cause them in any way.
But somehow the world is arranged so that things will happen to you or not happen to you due to chance.
So to catch a break would be to have something good happen to you, to have good luck.
Cesar says, everything seems to be going wrong these days.
To be going wrong means to be having a lot of problems, to have things result in ways that you don't want them to.
Olga says, maybe your streak of bad luck is because you did something unlucky.
A streak, S-T-R-E-A-K, is when things happen one after the other.
The same thing keeps repeating itself.
This can be a good thing.
For example, if you're a baseball player and you hit the ball every time you get up and it's your turn to hit the ball and you do that 10 times in a row, or 20 times in a row.
We would call that a streak.
Something is happening over and over again.
Now, it could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing.
People talk about a streak of good luck or a streak of bad luck.
That would refer to things that are happening to you over and over again.
Well, in the case of Cesar, he appears to be having a streak of bad luck when bad things are happening to him over and over again.
Now, luck by definition is something that happens by chance, at random, if you will.
But Olga doesn't think that Cesar's streak of bad luck is at random.
She says, maybe this is happening to you because you did something unlucky.
Cesar says, what do you mean?
Olga says, have you walked under a ladder or crossed paths with a black cat lately?
Olga is now starting to talk about the belief that some people have that good luck or bad luck isn't really random.
In fact, it's something that you cause by doing something wrong.
In this case Olga, refers to two common what we would call superstitions, at least here in the United States.
A superstition, S-U-P-E-R, S-T-I-T-I-O-N, is a belief in something that cannot be explained by the laws of nature, if you will, something that seems extraordinary.
Superstitions usually revolve around or involve people believing that if they do one thing, then somehow magically, something else will happen to them.
It's almost like a guarantee, like you're able to control things in ways that we wouldn't normally expect you to be able to.
Well, two popular superstitions that are held by some people in the United States are that if you walk under a ladder or if you see a black cat, you will have bad luck.
A ladder, L-A-D-D-E-R, is something you use to climb up to the top of something.
It's like a set of stairs, but it goes straight up.
You use a ladder, for example, to get to the top of your house to paint it.
Some people believe if you walk underneath a ladder that is right under the ladder as it is put up against the side of a house or a building, you will have bad luck.
Other people believe.
More logically, I think that if you cross paths with a black cat, you will also have bad luck.
To cross paths P-A-T-H-S with someone means to See someone by chance without planning to meet them.
Often we use this expression to cross paths with when you have a disagreement or an argument with that person.
Here it's used just to mean to accidentally or by chance see someone.
So if you see a black cat, many people believe, you will have bad luck.
Now, of course, cats are bad luck, in my opinion, and so this superstition sort of makes sense.
You should try to stay away from cats, is what I'm saying.
Now, Caesar says, I don't think so, but I'm not superstitious.
I don't believe in these superstitions.
I don't believe breaking a mirror will bring me seven years of bad luck.
Cesar mentions another popular superstition, which is that if you break a mirror, something you use to see your reflection in you will not only have bad luck, you will have seven years of bad luck.
I'm not sure where that superstition came from or why people believe it will bring seven years versus I don't know 20 years, but that's the superstition.
Olga says, say what you will, but it doesn't hurt to take some precautions.
The phrase say what you will is used sometimes when you are disagreeing with what another person has said and you want to give your opinion again.
You want to restate your opinion.
Olga knows that Cesar disagrees with her, but she is going to continue with her belief and continue expressing this opinion.
She says it doesn't hurt to take some precautions.
A precaution.
P-R-E-C-A-U-T-I-O-N is something you do to prevent getting hurt or harmed in the future.
A precaution against having your house robbed is to lock the doors at night.
That's a precaution.
It's a safety measure, we might also call it.
Something you do to keep safe, to prevent yourself from being harmed.
Cesar is doubtful of the advice Olga is giving him.
He says, I don't know.
But Olga continues on.
She says, you can borrow my rabbit's foot and my four-leaf clover.
I'll go home to get you a horseshoe so you can hang it upside down over your front door.
Olga now mentions three superstitions that are related to good luck.
One of them is to have a rabbit's, R-A-B-B-I-T apostrophe S, foot, F-O-O-T.
A rabbit's foot is just what it sounds like.
It's the cutoff foot of a rabbit.
Some people believe that this will give you good luck.
I actually had a rabbit's foot when I was younger.
I'm not sure where.
I got it.
I didn't kill the rabbit to get it, I can tell you that much.
Someone did, though.
A four-leaf clover, C-L-O-V-E-R, is a small plant that has four leaves instead of three.
There is a belief that if you have one that has four leaves, you will have good luck.
A horseshoe, H-O-R-S-E, S-H-O-E, is just what it sounds like.
It's a shoe, a piece of metal that is put on the foot or, more accurately, the hoof H-O-O-F of a horse.
Horseshoes are used... on the feet or hooves of horses to protect the horse's hooves.
But some people believe that if you take a horseshoe and you hang it on your wall upside down so that it looks like a?
U, you will have good luck.
Caesar says, I really doubt any of that is going to do me any good.
Olga says, you know what tomorrow is, don't you?
Cesar says the 13th, meaning the date tomorrow is the 13th of the month.
Olga says Friday the 13th.
There's another common superstition that when the 13th is a Friday, that day is particularly bad luck.
There were also a series of movies made, horror movies, called Friday the 13th.
Those were particularly bad movies in addition, perhaps, to being bad luck.
Olga says, do you really want to take your chances?
The expression to take your chances means to take a risk, to do something that may harm you or hurt you.
Cesar says, I guess not.
Do you really think these good luck charms will help?
A good luck charm.
C-H-A-R-M is some small item that, according to superstition, is supposed to bring you good luck.
The horseshoe, the rabbit's foot, these are two examples of good luck charms.
Cesar is asking Olga if she really thinks that these good luck charms will help Cesar with his bad luck.
Olga says, we'll know on the 14th, won't we?
Meaning, since tomorrow is Friday the 13th, we'll know the next day, Saturday the 14th, if these good luck charms helped you or not.
My guess is they probably won't.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Maybe your streak of bad luck is because you did something unlucky.
What do you mean?
Have you walked under a ladder or crossed paths with a black cat lately?
I don't think so, but I'm not superstitious.
I don't believe breaking a mirror will bring me seven years of bad luck.
Say what you will, but it doesn't hurt to take some precautions, especially the way things have been going for you.
I don't know.
Here, you can borrow my rabbit's foot and my four-leaf clover.
I'll go home to get you a horseshoe so you can hang it upside down over your front door.
I really doubt any of that is going to do me any good.
You know what tomorrow is, don't you?
The 13th?
Friday the 13th.
Do you really want to take your chances?
I guess not.
Do you really think these good luck charms will help?
We'll know on the 14th, won't we?
You don't need any good luck charms to improve your English.
You just need to listen to the wonderful dialogues by our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
