Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,226, Describing Sounds.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,226.
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 Naomi and Omar about describing sounds that are made by humans and non-humans.
Let's get started.
Stop!
Stop!
What's the matter?
My bike is making a strange sound.
What kind of sound?
It's a clanging sound followed by a hissing or buzzing noise.
I need to pinpoint where it's coming from.
Walk your bike and we'll both listen, you on one side and me on the other.
Okay, here goes.
Hear that?
Yeah, but it's more of a popping or pinging sound.
It sounded different when I was riding it.
I'll get on and you run alongside.
What do you hear?
I hear the whirring of the pedals and the creaking and rattling of the chain, but no clanging sound.
I'll speed up.
What do you hear now?
Nothing.
Just the rustling of my own clothes.
The sound gets louder as I speed up.
I'll go faster.
Now what do you hear?
Just my own panting and my last gasp.
Naomi shouts at Omar, stop, stop.
Omar says, what's the matter?
Meaning, what is wrong?
Naomi says, my bike is making a strange sound.
A bike.
B-I-K-E is a bicycle, something with two wheels and a seat that you move by moving your legs up and down in a circle.
Naomi says her bike is making a strange sound, a strange noise.
Omar says, what kind of sound?
Naomi says it's a clanging sound followed by a hissing or buzzing noise.
I need to pinpoint where it's coming from.
A clanging C-L-A-N-G-I-N-G sound comes when you have two pieces of metal that are hitting each other, such as two pans in your kitchen, something like this.
That's a clanging sound.
Clanging comes from the verb to clang, C-L-A-N-G.
Naomi says, is followed by a hissing sound or a hissing noise.
To hiss h i s s means to make a sound similar to what, i guess, a snake would make.
In fact, we often describe the sound made by a snake as being a hissing sound.
It sounds a bit like ssss, a bit like that.
Naomi says her bike, which seems to be an amazing sound machine, also makes a buzzing noise.
To buzz, B-U-Z-Z, is to make a sound like a bee, something like this.
Naomi says that she needs to pinpoint where it's coming from.
To pinpoint P-I-N-P-O-I-N-T is to identify or find the exact place or location of something.
Naomi wants to pinpoint where this noise is coming from.
Omar says walk your bike and we'll both listen, you on one side and me on the other.
Omar is telling Naomi to get off of her bike and walk with the bike in her hands so that she can listen on one side of the bike and Omar can listen on the other side of the bike.
Naomi says, okay, here goes.
That expression here goes is used immediately before you try to do something, especially if you're not sure if what you are going to do will be successful.
For example, you may say to someone, I'm going to sing you a song.
I'm not a very good singer, but, well, here goes.
Meaning, I'm now going to do it.
I'm now going to, in this case, sing, even though I may not sing very well.
I should probably say that every time before I try singing.
Naomi then says to Omar, hear that?
Meaning, do you hear that sound, that noise?
By the way, I've been using both the word sound and noise in this explanation.
A noise is usually a sound that isn't pleasant, that you don't want to hear.
If someone describes your singing as noise, as my singing has often been described well, that means the person doesn't like your singing very much.
In any case, in our dialogue, Omar is trying to hear the noise that Naomi hears.
He says, yeah, meaning yes, I hear that noise.
But it's more of a popping or pinging sound.
Omar thinks that the sound the bike is making is more of a popping sound.
Popping comes from the verb to pop P-O-P, which is to make a loud, short sound.
That is made, for example, if you have a balloon and then suddenly the balloon breaks.
The verb we would use in that case would be pop.
The balloon pops.
It sounds something like this.
Did I scare you there?
Were you drinking your coffee and suddenly I made you spill it?
Sorry about that.
Oops, there I go again.
That's a popping sound.
To ping, P-I-N-G, is to make a higher pitched sound.
It is made by two things hitting against each other.
It sounds something like this.
We would describe that as a pinging sound, I think.
Naomi says it sounded different when I was riding it, meaning the bike was making a different sound when Naomi was actually on the bike, riding it rather than walking it as she was just now.
She says, I'll get on, meaning I will get on the bicycle, and you run alongside.
What do you hear?
To run alongside, A-L-O-N-G-S-I-D-E, means to run next to something or someone.
Omar says I hear the whirring of the pedals and the creaking and rattling of the chain, but no clanging sound.
Omar says he hears some sounds as Naomi is riding the bicycle, but they are different sounds.
One of the sounds is coming from the pedals, PE.
E-D-A-L-S.
The pedals of a bicycle are those two things you put your feet on in order to move the bicycle, in order to make the bicycle go forward.
Your foot goes on the pedal.
The chain C-H-A-I-N of a bicycle connects the little wheel that you are spinning when you are moving the pedals up and down and the wheel in back of the bicycle.
That round metal loop is called a chain.
The pedals, according to Omar, are making a whirring sound.
Whirring is a sound made by objects that are moving very quickly through the air.
Another whirring sound would be made by a helicopter, for example.
Of course, a pedal doesn't make a sound that loud.
That's a helicopter making a whirring sound.
Omar describes the sound that the chain is making as a creaking and rattling sound.
We usually use the verb to creak when we are describing a piece of wood that you are walking on and is making a sound.
An old floor made of wood, for example, would probably creak.
I'm not sure if a bicycle chain would creak, but I guess it's possible that something made of metal that is put under a lot of pressure might also creak, making a high-pitched sound again.
Here's wood creaking.
Interestingly enough, there's another word we use to describe noise, which is squeaking.
S-Q-U-E-A-K-I-N-G.
Squeaking sounds like creaking, except it has a much higher pitch.
The sound is a lot higher.
Here would be an example of a door squeaking.
So creaking is like squeaking, except it's a lower sound.
Rattling is a noise that is made when two things are hitting each other.
They could be made of metal or some other material.
If you have a set of keys in your pocket, they could be rattling together, or making A bunch of coins could rattle as they hit each other and made noise.
Here would be an example of something rattling.
R-A-T-T-L-I-N-G.
That's a chain rattling.
So Omar doesn't hear the clanging sound that Naomi heard.
Naomi says, I'll speed up.
To speed up means to go faster, to increase your speed.
Remember, Naomi is riding on her bicycle.
What do you hear now, Naomi asks.
Omar says, nothing, just the rustling of my own clothes.
A rustling R-U-S-T-L-I-N-G sound is what we would describe as a gentle sound made by a soft object that is rubbing against another soft object.
You can think of the leaves in a tree as rustling against each other as the wind blows through the tree.
Here would be an example of a rustling sound.
Although it sounds like the wind is blowing rather strong in this example.
Let's listen.
That might be paper rustling in that example.
Omar says the only thing he hears is the rustling of his own clothes.
He's running so fast that he hears the wind against his own clothing.
Naomi says the sound gets louder as I speed up.
I'll go faster.
Remember, Naomi is riding the bicycle and Omar is running next to her.
She then says, Omar says, Omar is too tired to continue running.
He says the only thing he hears is his own panting.
To pant, P-A-N-T, is something that a human or other animal does.
When it breathes very quickly.
You can hear the sound coming from your mouth because you are very tired.
If you run suddenly or walk up a lot of stairs you might pant because you are so tired.
You have problems breathing.
Omar is panting, and the only thing he can hear is the panting and his last gasp.
Your last gasp, G-A-S-P, is the last thing you do before you die.
It's your dying breath.
Sometimes you will hear on a TV show or movie someone who is just about to die and the last thing you hear is their last gasp.
And then they die.
Well, I didn't die.
I just finished our explanation.
And now we'll listen to the dialogue one more time.
Stop.
Stop.
What's the matter?
My bike is making a strange sound.
What kind of sound?
It's a clanging sound, followed by a hissing or buzzing noise.
I need to pinpoint where it's coming from.
Walk your bike and we'll both listen, you on one side and me on the other.
Okay, here goes.
Hear that?
Yeah, but it's more of a popping or pinging sound.
It sounded different when I was riding it.
I'll get on and you run alongside.
What do you hear?
I hear the whirring of the pedals and the creaking and rattling of the chain, but no clanging sound.
I'll speed up.
What do you hear now?
Nothing, just the rustling of my own clothes.
The sound gets louder as I speed up.
I'll go faster.
Now what do you hear?
Just my own panting and my last gasp.
We love all the sounds made by our wonderful scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say, and we thank her for her wonderful 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 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
