Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,236.
Dressing inappropriately for work.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,236.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit ESLPODcom to download the learning guide for this episode.
That will give you a complete transcript of everything we say, along with a complete list of all of the key terms and vocabulary we use, with definitions and additional sample sentences to help you improve your English even more.
This episode is a dialogue about wearing the right clothes to work.
Let's get started.
I know it's casual Friday, but some people just don't know how to dress appropriately for work.
I was thinking the same thing.
Look at Sandy.
What she's wearing is far too revealing.
I was actually thinking about Jimmy.
He's wearing cutoffs and flip flops.
Where is his professionalism?
Don't they know how they're dressed can affect their careers?
Some people can't see past poor fashion choices.
Yeah, so many people are closed-minded and think what people wear reflects their abilities.
I've known a lot of people like that.
Me, I always err on the side of caution.
Is that why you never dress down?
That's right, and I've noticed you don't either.
No, just because we suspend the dress code one day a week doesn't mean we have to dress inappropriately.
True, though both Sandy and Jimmy look really comfortable.
Yeah, they do.
It must be nice to walk around the office without dress shoes.
Maybe just once I'll come to work in shorts next week.
What?
After everything you've said?
I was thinking of tasteful shorts.
Nothing tacky.
Just remember that it's a slippery slope, my friend.
I hope to never see you here in a tank top.
Teddy says to Olga...
I know it's casual Friday, but some people just don't know how to dress appropriately for work.
If something is casual, C-A-S-U-A-L, it is not formal.
It's more relaxed.
We could also say informal.
Now, in most offices, in most businesses, everyone has to wear good clothing, and every day of the week.
However, some offices have what is called casual Friday, meaning that you don't have to wear, for example, a tie or a suit coat.
You can dress more casually.
You don't have to dress, as we would say, professionally or formally, as you do every other day of the week.
Not all offices do that, but some offices do have this casual Friday policy.
Terry is complaining however, that even though it's casual Friday, there are some things that you shouldn't wear to work.
He says some people don't know how to dress appropriately.
To dress, as a verb, means to put clothes on your body.
The word dress is also a noun that refers to what a woman would wear.
A dress is usually one piece of clothing that covers both the top and part of the bottom of a woman's body.
But as a verb, to dress means simply to put clothing on.
And to dress appropriately means to dress the way you should dress for a certain situation.
If you are going to a wedding, dressing appropriately usually means wearing formal clothing, not your bikini or bathing suit.
Although here in Los Angeles, that might be okay.
I'm not sure.
Olga says, I was thinking the same thing.
Meaning, I agree with you that some people don't know how to dress appropriately for work.
She then says, look at Sandy.
What she's wearing is far too revealing.
To describe clothes as revealing, r e v e a l i n g means to say that they show too much of your skin.
That Adjective is especially used for clothing a woman might wear that is showing too much of her bare skin, although it could be applied to men's clothing as well.
Terry says, I was actually thinking about Jimmy.
He's wearing cutoffs and flip-flops.
Where is his professionalism?
Cut-offs are shorts that are made by cutting off the legs of pants, especially jeans.
The key to cutoffs is that when you cut off the bottom of the pant leg, you don't sew up the bottom of the shorts or what are now shorts to make them look nice.
So cutoffs are very informal.
They don't look very dressy, we might say.
They don't look very formal.
Of course, they are shorts, and so by definition, usually shorts are not formal wear.
Flip-flops F-L-I-P hyphen F-L-O-P-S are basically a very simple kind of sandal, which is something that you wear on your feet.
It's a type of shoe that you wear on your feet that doesn't have a top on it.
That's what a sandal is.
Flip-flops are a type of sandal that you would wear to say, the beach.
That's why Terry is asking about Jimmy's professionalism, that is, his ability to behave appropriately in a business or professional situation.
Olga continues complaining.
She says, don't they know how they're dressed can affect their careers?
She's saying that the people who are dressing this way don't realize that the way you dress can affect how well you do at work and what kind of jobs you can get.
Olga says, to not be able to see past something means that someone is unable not to notice something, even though you are perhaps trying not to notice.
For example, if someone comes to you and asks for a job and that person says Doesn't look like he dressed very well to meet you, or perhaps didn't comb his hair or shave his face you, even though you think this might be a good person, might not be able to see past the way the person looks.
In other words, you can't ignore it, even though you want to, even though you may think it's not important the way a person dresses in terms of how he might be able to do a certain job.
Olga is saying that some people won't be able to look past the way these people are dressed when determining whether they are going to give them jobs.
Fashion, F-A-S-H-I-O-N, refers to the way that clothing is designed, the way it looks.
Terry says yeah, so many people are closed-minded and think what people wear reflects their ability.
Terry is also complaining about closed-minded people.
To be closed-minded means that you only see your own opinion or only consider your own ideas and are not able to consider other people's ideas.
The opposite of closed-minded would be opened-minded.
Terry is describing closed-minded people as those who think that what people wear reflects their ability to reflect R-E-F-L-E-C-T.
Here it means to be related to or to be an indicator of something.
If I say the way you dress reflects your ability, I'm saying that the way that you look is an indication of how well you will do a certain job.
Now, of course, we may know that that's not true, unless the job is to be a model, I guess.
But nevertheless, people often think that.
Olga says, I've known a lot of people like that.
That is who are closed minded.
Me, I always err on the side of caution.
The expression to err E-R-R on the side of caution C-A-U-T-I-O-N means to be very careful to not take any risks.
I should mention that that word, err, E-R-R, is now often pronounced...
Somewhat mistakenly, but now more commonly as air, as though it were spelled A-I-R.
In fact, it's so common that it's probably considered by most people an acceptable pronunciation in American English.
In British English, however, it is always pronounced er.
What does er mean?
It means to make an error.
It means to make a mistake.
You can see why people pronounce the word air instead of er, because we also have the word error, which is pronounced with that air sound instead of an er sound.
But anyway, back to our story.
Terry says, is that why you never dress down?
He's asking Olga the reason why she never dresses casually.
To dress down is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to dress casually.
Olga says, that's right.
And I've noticed you don't either.
Olga and Terry are saying to each other that, because other people are closed-minded and might think that the way one dresses reflects one's abilities, they themselves never dress casually at work, even on casual Friday.
Terry says no.
Just because we suspend the dress code one day a week doesn't mean we have to dress inappropriately.
A dress code, C O D E, refers to rules about how you are supposed to dress.
To suspend S-U-S-P-E-N-D means to stop doing something for a short period of time, to temporarily stop doing something.
Olga says, true, though both Sandy and Jimmy look really comfortable.
Terry says, yeah, they do.
It must be nice to walk around the office without dress shoes.
Dress shoes are formal shoes.
Maybe, just once, I'll come to work in shorts next week.
Terry and Olga are saying that it is in fact more comfortable to dress casually, and perhaps they should do the same thing as everyone else.
Olga says, what?
After everything you've said?
She's surprised that Terry is thinking of wearing shorts after criticizing other people for wearing shorts.
But Terry says, I was thinking of tasteful shorts, nothing tacky.
If something is tasteful, T-A-S-T-E-F-U-L, it shows good judgment.
It looks, we might say, classy or refined.
Something is tasteful if it is dignified, appropriate especially for a formal setting.
The opposite of tasteful is tacky, T-A-C-K-Y.
Tacky is something that shows poor judgment, something that is of, we might say, a low class.
Olga says, just remember that it's a slippery slope, my friend.
A slippery S-L-I-P-P-E-R-Y slope S-L-O-P-E is a term used to describe a decision or an action that could, in the future, lead to problems, especially if we are talking about changing the rules or doing some sort of action that may seem small now but would later cause further problems.
An example if I say to my teenage daughter if I had a teenage daughter, you must be home by 10 o'clock tonight.
And you cannot come home later than 10 o'clock.
My daughter might say, well, Dad, I want to come home at 10.15.
And you say, oh, well, okay, 10.15.
You may start going down a slippery slope.
My daughter or son might come back to me and say next week well, you said I could come back at 1015.
Why not 10.30?
It's only 15 minutes later.
You see here now the problem that now that you have allowed her to come back 15 minutes later, once she's going to start pushing you so that it'll be even later and later and later.
That's what we would call a slippery slope.
One small action, one small change in the beginning can lead to problems in the future.
Olga is worried that if Terry wears shorts next week, it will be a slippery slope.
That is, in the future, he'll wear even more casual clothing.
She then ends with a joke.
She says, I hope to never see you here in a tank top.
A tank, T-A-N-K, top, T-O-P, is a shirt that doesn't have any sleeves on it, and usually the shirt has a very narrow piece of or strip of material over the shoulders.
Both men and women can wear tank tops.
Tank tops show the skin of your shoulders and around your neck as well.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I know it's casual Friday, but some people just don't know how to dress appropriately for work.
I was thinking the same thing.
Look at Sandy.
What she's wearing is far too revealing.
I was actually thinking about Jimmy.
He's wearing cutoffs and flip-flops.
Where is his professionalism?
Don't they know how their dress can affect their careers?
Some people can't see past poor fashion choices.
Yeah, so many people are closed-minded and think what people wear reflects their ability.
I've known a lot of people like that.
Me?
I always earn the side of caution.
Is that why you never dress down?
That's right, and I've noticed you don't either.
No, just because we suspend the dress code one day a week doesn't mean we have to dress inappropriately.
True, though both Sandy and Jimmy look really comfortable.
Yeah, they do.
It must be nice to walk around the office without dress shoes.
Maybe just once I'll come to work in shorts next week.
What?
After everything you've said?
I was thinking of tasteful shorts, nothing tacky.
Just remember that it's a slippery slope, my friend.
I hope to never see you here in a tank top.
Our dialogues are always tasteful thanks to the wonderful work of our wonderful professional scriptwriter, Dr Lucy Say.
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.
