Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number one thousand two hundred and ten.
Small Town Charm.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode twelve hundred ten.
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 Alicia and Ramon about living in a small town, in a place that doesn't have very many people.
Let's get started.
Hey, you're back from your vacation.
Where did you go?
New York City?
Miami?
I decided to spend my vacation in Maddyville.
Where is Maddyville?
I've never heard of it.
It's a small town about a six-hour drive from here.
It was really nice.
It wasn't as lively as some places I could have gone, but I enjoyed the quaint shops, the unpretentious people and the genuine friendliness.
What did you do for an entire week?
I perused the shops, ate at the family-owned restaurants and learned about the quirky history of the town by shooting the breeze with the old timers at the local bar.
To each his own, but that sounds like Dullesville to me.
Then I guess you wouldn't want to go back with me this summer for their wine festival.
Did you say wine?
Maybe I shouldn't dismiss small-town charm quite so quickly.
Alicia says to Ramon, hey, you're back from vacation.
You're back here means you have returned from your vacation.
Where did you go?
Alicia asks.
New York City, Miami.
Ramon answers, I decided to spend, that is, to take my vacation in Maddyville.
Alicia says, where is Maddyville?
I've never heard of it, meaning I have never heard that name.
I don't know anything about it.
Ramon says, it's a small town about a six-hour drive from here.
In American English, we often distinguish between a city, a place with hundreds of thousands or millions of people, such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and others, and a town, which is a place with a much smaller number of people.
There isn't an exact number.
We use to a place with say, 3000 or 5000 people or fewer as being a town.
There are some towns in the United States that have only a couple hundred people.
So it's not clear what Ramon is talking about when he says he went to a small town, but we can guess it's a place that has very few people.
I myself have never lived in a small town, but I've been to many small towns.
My sister moved to a small town of 3,000 people after she graduated from college.
She was a teacher in a town even smaller than that, that was near the small town where she lived.
The town where she taught high school had only 500 people.
That was a really small town.
Well, in our dialogue, the town is a six hour drive from wherever Alicia and Ramon are now.
That means it takes six hours in a car to get there.
Ramon says I read about it being a throwback to the days of small shops and friendly neighbors with a charming old-fashioned main street.
Ramon read about this small town as being a throwback, T-H-R-O-W-B-A-C-K.
A throwback is something from an earlier time, an earlier time in history, something that reminds you of the past.
In this case, it's a town that reminds you of the days before there were big cities, when there were just towns with small shops or stores and friendly neighbors, people who were nice to you.
Not like a big city such as Los Angeles.
Ramon says this small town has a charming, old-fashioned main street.
Charming.
C-H-A-R-M-I-N-G is something that is attractive, something that might be described as being cute C-U-T-E.
Old-fashioned refers to something that is the opposite of modern or contemporary.
Something that is old-fashioned is something that is no longer popular nowadays.
Old-fashioned might also refer to a set of beliefs or values that are no longer popular today.
Some people use the term old-fashioned in a negative way to describe something that is no longer done and shouldn't be done anymore.
But here, old-fashioned is a good thing.
It's referring to the way this small town looks, especially its main street.
The main, M-A-I-N, street of a town is the most important street in a town.
In fact, in many small towns, the most important street, where you find all the shops, all the stores, is actually called Main Street.
And there are hundreds of thousands of Main Streets in the United States.
There's a main street in Santa Monica.
There's a main street in Culver City.
There's a main street here in Los Angeles.
Some of these still are the most important streets in those areas.
But here he Ramon, is using the term just to refer to the most important street, the busiest street, the biggest street in this small town.
Alicia says I'm not sure I'd want to travel back in time.
To travel back in time means to experience things the way they were in the past.
Alicia says it doesn't sound very exciting.
Ramon says it wasn't, that is, it was not as lively as some places I could have gone, but I enjoyed the quaint shops, the unpretentious people and the genuine friendliness.
Ramon says this town wasn't as lively L-I-V-E-L-Y.
Lively means with a lot of energy or movement or excitement.
Ramon describes the shops, the stores, as being quaint.
Q-U-A-I-N-T.
Something that is quaint is something that is attractive and a little unusual, a little old-fashioned perhaps, but still something you enjoy.
Unpretentious U-N-P-R-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-U-S refers to a person who is modest, who doesn't try to impress other people, who doesn't try to seem like he is smarter or more intelligent or more important than other people around him.
To be genuine, G-U-N-U-I-N-E, means to be real, to be true.
It's the opposite of being fake or phony or false.
Someone who is genuine is someone who doesn't pretend to be someone else, who doesn't act differently depending on who he is with
Ramon finds that this small town had unpretentious people and genuine friendliness.
Alicia says, what did you do for an entire week?
That is, what did you do for the seven days you were there?
Ramon says.
I perused the shops and ate at family-owned restaurants and learned about the quirky history of the town by shooting the breeze with the old timers at the local bar.
To peruse means to look at, Examine or, in some cases, read something very carefully, paying attention to all of the little details.
So to peruse a shop means to go into a store and look very carefully at everything that is in it.
Ramon says he also learned about the quirky, Q-U-I-R-K-Y, history of the town.
Something that is quirky is something that is unusual or strange or perhaps unexpected, but in a fun way, in a good way.
To shoot, S-H-O-O-T, the breeze, B-R-E-E-Z-E, means to have an informal conversation with someone without any clear purpose.
If you see your neighbor, the person who lives next to you, you may ask Ask how he's doing.
Talk about the weather.
Talk about something going on in your neighborhood.
You're shooting the breeze.
You're just talking to be nice, to be friendly.
You don't have any real purpose in your conversation.
Ramon was shooting the breeze with some old-timers. the bar in this town.
An old-timer is someone who has lived in a particular place for a long time.
Someone who is, I don't know, 70 or 80 years old and has lived in a town or a city his whole life would certainly be considered an old-timer, someone who could tell you a lot about that particular place.
Alicia doesn't quite understand why Ramon went to this town.
She says, to each his own.
But that sounds like Dullesville to me.
The expression to each his own means each person has his own likes, his own wants.
And not everyone may like what that person likes.
I may like drinking wine.
You may like drinking beer.
There's no right or wrong.
Each person has his own preference, his own interest.
Obviously, Alicia doesn't like this idea of going to a small town.
She says, that sounds like Dullesville, D-U-L-L-S-V-I-L-L-E.
Dullesville is a funny word that means a very boring, uninteresting place or situation.
Ramon responds then I guess you wouldn't want to go back with me this summer for their wine festival.
A festival.
F-E-S-T-I-V-A-L is some sort of celebration or party, often organized by a community or a town.
In this case, this town is going to have a wine festival.
Now, Ramon has gotten Alicia interested.
She says, did you say wine?
She's obviously someone who likes to drink wine.
She says, maybe I shouldn't dismiss small town charm quite so quickly.
To dismiss D-I-S-M-I-S-S means to decide to ignore something, to not pay attention to something, or to think something is not very important and therefore not pay attention to it.
Alicia says, maybe I shouldn't.
Dismiss small town charm meaning, even though before she thought this small town was going to be uninteresting.
If they have a wine festival, she might want to go to it.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hey, you're back from your vacation.
Where did you go?
New York City?
Miami?
I decided to spend my vacation in Mattyville.
Where is Mattyville?
I've never heard of it.
It's a small town about a six-hour drive from here.
I read about it being a throwback to the days of small shops and friendly neighbors with a charming old-fashioned main street.
It was really nice.
I'm not sure I'd want to travel back in time.
Doesn't sound very exciting.
It wasn't as lively as some places I could have gone, but I enjoyed the quaint shops, the unpretentious people and the genuine friendliness.
What did you do for an entire week?
I perused the shops, ate at the family-owned restaurants and learned about the quirky history of the town by shooting the breeze with the old timers at the local bar.
To each his own, but that sounds like Dullesville to me.
Then I guess you wouldn't want to go back with me this summer for their wine festival.
Did you say wine?
Maybe I shouldn't dismiss small-town charm quite so quickly.
We thank Dr. Lucy Say for her lively dialogue, as always.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks 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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
