Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1143.
Repairing an Appliance.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1143.
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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On this episode we're going to hear a dialogue between Alonso and Virginia about fixing or repairing an appliance, a machine in your house that does some work for you, such as a dishwasher or a clothes dryer.
Let's get started.
Hand me that screwdriver, will you?
Don't tell me you're trying to fix that dryer yourself.
We need to call in an authorized repairman or repairwoman.
Do you have any idea what they'll charge?
All right, then I'll call a handyman and see if he knows anything about fixing dryers.
If he doesn't, he might make matters worse.
I think it's just a matter of clearing a clog or replacing a worn component.
Yes, but which one?
We should just upgrade to a newer model.
This dryer does not need to be replaced.
It's not that old.
But it's been on the fritz on and off for a year.
I don't want to throw out a perfectly good appliance just because of a minor problem.
Well, this minor problem is the reason I had to walk to work in damp clothes this morning.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
In the middle of winter?
You try walking with icicles in the most uncomfortable places.
This episode is called repairing an appliance.
An appliance.
A-P-P-L-I-A-N-C-E is any machine powered, usually by electricity, that performs tasks in the home, such as a dishwasher, a washing machine a, a toaster, a coffee maker.
All of these could be called appliances.
Our dialogue begins with Virginia asking Alonso, Hand me that screwdriver, will you?
To hand someone something means to give it to the person, to put it in the person's hand.
Virginia asks for a screwdriver, which is a special tool used for putting in and taking out small metal pieces called screws S-C-R-E-W-S.
A screw is used usually to connect two pieces of material, such as two pieces of wood in a chair.
Alonso says don't tell me you're trying to fix that dryer yourself.
To fix, F-I-X, means the same as to repair.
When something is broken, when something isn't working properly, you may try to repair it, to fix it.
Virginia is trying to fix a dryer, D-R-Y-E-R, which is an appliance you use to dry wet clothing.
Alonso says we need to call in an authorized repairman or repairwoman.
To call in is a phrasal verb meaning to get someone to come to your house or your business, usually to fix something or to help you with something.
An authorized A-U-T-H-O-R-I-Z-E-D person is someone who has official permission to do something.
For example, if you own an Apple computer, you can take it to a person or a store to get it fixed.
The person might be authorized by Apple, meaning Apple has said yes, this person knows how to fix our computers.
Some companies have authorized repair places or repair shops, we might call them that you can use to bring your broken appliance or broken machine and get it fixed.
Alonso thinks they should call an authorized repairman.
A repairman is a person who fixes something.
Now, more recently, we have started to use repairman to refer only to a male human being who fixes things.
That's why Alonso says a repairman or a repairwoman.
I suppose we might also say a repair person, meaning you're not sure if it's a man or a woman.
Virginia says, do you have any idea what they'll charge?
To charge, C-H-A-R-G-E, here means to request an amount of money in order to do something.
If you go to get your car fixed.
The mechanic, the person who fixes your car, will charge you something for doing it.
He will say, you have to pay me $1,000.
That's what he is charging you.
Virginia asks Alonso, do you have any idea what they'll, meaning the repair people, charge?
This particular question do you have any idea?
Is usually used when you are angry or perhaps surprised that another person thinks something that you think is clearly wrong or doesn't have the information that the person should have.
If your wife says, I think we should drive from New York City to Los Angeles for our vacation.
You might say, do you have any idea how long it will take to drive from New York to Los Angeles?
You're surprised that your wife is suggesting this.
Anyway, Alonso says all right, then I'll call a handyman and see if he knows anything about fixing dryers.
A handyman, H-A-N-D-Y-M-A-N, is a person whose job it is to fix things.
Usually someone who isn't an expert or doesn't have formal training in dryers doing the kinds of things that he does, but sometimes a handyman will in fact have some education.
Usually handymen don't have licenses or official permissions to do things, but they know how to do them.
Many people, instead of going out and say getting an electrician to fix a problem in their home with the electricity, will hire a handyman someone who doesn't have the same education and training but may know how to fix smaller problems that you have in your house.
Virginia says, if he doesn't meaning if he doesn't know anything about fixing dryers, he might make matters worse.
The phrase to make matters M-A-T-T-E-R-S worse means to make a bad situation even worse, to make a problem bigger than it is right now.
Virginia says.
I think it's just a matter of meaning.
It only requires clearing a clog or replacing a worn component.
A clog, C-L-O-G, is when you have something blocking the flow of water through a pipe.
If your kitchen sink is clogged, the water won't go down into the pipes.
The pipe is clogged.
There's something blocking it.
And sometimes you need to do something to get that clog removed.
You may need to pour some sort of chemical into the pipe.
I don't know.
I'm not a plumber.
I'm not a person who fixes things like clogged pipes.
Virginia thinks the problem with this dryer is a clog, which is kind of unusual, since dryers don't normally have clogs.
They don't usually use water.
Although I suppose you could have a clog and a pipe connected to a dryer that goes to the outside.
You know, sometimes clothes dryers have a pipe that goes to the roof or goes to the outside wall.
There might be a clog in that, I suppose.
Virginia also thinks the problem might be a worn, W-O-R-N, component.
C-O-M-P-O-N-E-N-T.
A worn component would be a piece of something that has been used so much that it's no longer doing what it's supposed to be doing.
You can think of your tires on your car being worn.
They have been used so much that they no longer are able to do what they are supposed to do.
You have to get them replaced.
Alonso says, yes, but which one, meaning which part, which component is worn?
He then says, we should just upgrade to a newer model.
To upgrade U-P-G-R-A-D-E means to buy a newer version of something.
So if you own, say, an iPhone 4, you might want to upgrade to an iPhone 5 or an iPhone 6.
You might want to buy the newer model, M-O-D-E-L.
The model is the version of a product.
The iPhone 4, 5, and 6 are three different models of the iPhone.
Virginia says this dryer does not need to be replaced.
To replace something means to bring something in to do what the machine is doing now.
Basically to get a different machine.
She says, it's not that old, meaning it's not very old.
Alonso says, but it's been on the fritz, on and off, for a year.
To be on the fritz, F-R-I-T-Z, means not to be working reliably, not to be working correctly.
It's an informal expression, to be on the fritz.
You don't hear it as much anymore, but you can still use it.
If something is happening on and off, it isn't happening all the time.
If you describe your relationship with a girlfriend as being on and off, that means that sometimes she's your girlfriend and sometimes you break up and are not going out together.
And then perhaps later she becomes your girlfriend again.
It's on and off.
Why?
I don't know.
She's not my girlfriend.
Virginia says I don't want to throw out, that is, I don't want to get rid of a perfectly good appliance just because of a minor or not very important problem.
Perfectly good means there's nothing wrong with it.
It's good enough.
It works.
Alonso says well, this minor problem is the reason I had to walk to work in damp clothes this morning.
Damp, D-A-M-P, means slightly wet or a little moist.
Alonso is saying that he had to walk to work in damp clothes because the clothes dryer wasn't working.
Virginia asks, however, that wasn't so bad, was it?
Meaning, that isn't really that bad.
What are you complaining about?
Alonso says however, in the middle of winter you try walking with icicles in the most uncomfortable places.
We learn that Alonso had to walk to work in damp clothes in the middle of winter.
And of course, if it's in the middle of winter and you have water, sometimes icicles form.
An icicle I-C-I-C-L-E is a long, pointed piece of ice usually formed when water is dripping from a high surface such as a roof or the branch of a tree.
Now, of course, in the case of Alonso, he probably didn't actually have icicles on his clothing.
He's just Telling Virginia that he doesn't want to walk to work in damp clothing in the wintertime when it's cold out.
And I can understand that.
Now let's listen to the dialogue at a normal speed.
Hand me that screwdriver, will you?
Don't tell me you're trying to fix that dryer yourself.
We need to call in an authorized repairman or repairwoman.
Do you have any idea what they'll charge?
All right.
Then I'll call a handyman and see if he knows anything about fixing dryers.
If he doesn't, he might make matters worse.
I think it's just a matter of clearing a clog or replacing a worn component.
Yes, but which one?
We should just upgrade to a newer model.
This dryer does not need to be replaced.
It's not that old.
But it's been on the fritz on and off for a year.
I don't want to throw out a perfectly good appliance just because of a minor problem.
Well, this minor problem is the reason I had to walk to work in damp clothes this morning.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
In the middle of winter, you try walking with icicles in the most uncomfortable places.
Our scriptwriter is like an authorized repairwoman for your English.
I speak, of course, of the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say, who can fix any language problem you might have.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to me again.
Well, listen to us again, really, 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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
