Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1,277.
Inconsiderate subway and train passengers.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1,277.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit ESLPOD.com to find out more about our website.
This episode is a dialogue between Amanda and Felix McQuillan about riding on a subway or train with other people who aren't very nice.
Let's get started.
I love the subway.
I do too.
But it really annoys me when people hog more than one seat, like that guy over there.
Yeah, and I hate it when you're trying to get on the train and the passengers who are blocking the doors won't move out of the way.
Oh, even worse is when you're trying to get off the train and people who want to get on won't wait until you get off.
Even worse is when the train is full.
And people squeeze to get on when there's no more room.
So true.
I also hate it when people fall asleep and start invading my space.
Last week, a guy fell asleep next to me and dropped into my lap.
Gross!
What about when you're holding on to a pole and somebody's hand bumps yours and they don't move away?
That's really annoying.
Oh look, there's a pregnant woman on the other end of the train and those guys aren't giving up their seats for her.
What jerks!
Yeah, what jerks!
At least we don't have any singers, dancers, or loud entertainers on this train.
I hate it when they start performing.
Actually, I kind of like it when people perform.
It helps to pass the time.
Yeah, now that I think about it, I guess I do too.
I love the subway.
Me too.
Amanda begins our episode by saying to Felix, I love the subway.
The subway S-U-B-W-A-Y is an underground train, usually underground, that is used to move people around a large city.
Many cities have subway systems.
Even Los Angeles has a subway system, but it isn't very big.
New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, almost every major city has a subway system nowadays.
We usually refer to the things you travel in in a subway as a train, although the word train T-R-A-I-N can also refer to something that takes you a long distance from one city to another.
So when someone says I'm going to take the train, you have to know what he's talking about to understand if he means a subway train or a train that is going to travel a long distance to another city.
Felix says he loves the subway too.
But, he continues, it really annoys me when people hog more than one seat, like that guy over there.
Obviously, Amanda and Felix are having this conversation on a subway train.
Felix says he's annoyed to annoy a man.
N-N-O-Y means to bother or frustrate someone, to make someone a little angry.
Felix says it annoys him when people hog, H-O-G, more than one seat.
To hog means to use all of something and not let anyone else use it or have it, especially when we are referring to using more than what you should.
To hog means not to share with other people.
If someone is hogging the seats, they're using more than one seat, more than what they need.
Amanda says yeah, I hate it when you're trying to get on the train and the passengers who are blocking the doors won't move out of the way.
Amanda is talking about something else that bothers her.
She's bothered by the fact that sometimes, when you are trying to get on a subway train, there are passengers who block the doors.
A passenger, P-A-S-S-E.
E-N-G-E-R is someone who is like you riding on the train to go from one place to another.
You can talk about a passenger in a car, in a bus, on a train, in a boat, on an airplane or in any vehicle or machine that moves someone from one place to another.
A passenger is a person who is not driving or directing the vehicle.
Everyone else is a passenger.
In a car, the person who drives the car is called, of course, the driver.
Everyone else is a passenger.
Amanda doesn't like passengers who block, B-L-O-C-K, the door.
To block means to be in the way of someone else so that the other person cannot pass through or go by you.
These passengers, Amanda complains, don't move out of the way.
To move or to be out of the way means not to be blocking someone else, not to be preventing someone else from being in that same space.
Felix says oh, even worse is when you're trying to get off the train and people who want to get on won't wait until you get off.
Amanda says, that's totally annoying.
The word totally is an informal way of saying very or completely.
Felix then gives another complaint.
He says even worse.
Meaning even worse than what he just complained about is when the train is full, meaning all of the places in the train are taken and people squeeze to get on when there's no more room.
To squeeze, S-Q-U-E-E-Z-E, means to try to put more into a space than there is room for.
If you squeeze onto a train, you are trying to get onto the train even though there isn't enough room on the train.
So you have to push other people, of course.
That's what Felix is referring to when he says there's no more room.
R-O-O-M.
In this sentence, room means space or unused available empty space.
Amanda says so.
True meaning.
Yes, I agree with you.
I also hate it when people fall asleep and start invading my space.
To invade I-N-V-A-D-E someone's space means to be too close to another person so that that person feels crowded or uncomfortable.
In the United States there is a certain what we would call personal space, that Distance between you and another person that you are supposed to respect, that you're not supposed to invade or go into.
These personal spaces are different in different cultures.
In the US the personal space is probably a little bigger than in some other cultures, at least ones I've been to where it's not unusual for a person to be very close to you and not think that he is invading your space.
Amanda hates it when people fall asleep on the subway and invade her space.
She says, is the top of your legs, the flat area made by your legs when you are sitting, the area above your knees.
Amanda also says gross, G-R-O-S-S.
Gross is an adjective we use for something that we think is disgusting or something that makes us feel very uncomfortable.
She is expressing her dislike of what happened last week, or her disgust at what happened last week when this man fell into her lap on the subway.
Felix says what about when you're holding on to a pole and somebody's hand bumps yours and they don't move away?
That's really annoying.
Most trains on a subway have poles, P-O-L-E-S.
A pole is a tall vertical, usually piece of metal that goes from the floor to the ceiling or top of the train that you can hold on to, in case something Felix is referring to what happens when someone else's hand bumps B-U-M-P-S your hand.
The verb to bump here means to accidentally, not on purpose, touch something or someone else.
If another person's hand bumps yours or bumps into yours, that means the other hand touches yours.
Amanda says oh look, there's a pregnant woman at the other end of the train and those guys aren't giving up their seats for her.
What jerks.
A pregnant, P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T woman is a woman who is expecting a child, a baby.
But the baby hasn't been born yet.
It's still inside the body of the woman.
The guys on the other end of the train aren't giving up their seats for her, Amanda says.
To give up your seat for someone is to stand up and let another person sit where you were sitting, usually because the train is crowded and there are no more seats left.
Felix and Amanda both think these guys, these men or boys, are jerks.
A jerk is a terrible person.
It's an insulting word for a bad person.
Felix says, at least we don't have any singers, dancers, or loud entertainers on this train.
I hate it when they start performing.
In some subways people will come on the train and sing or dance to try to get money from you, to try to get you to give them some money.
These are entertainers, E-N-T-E-R-T-A-I-N-E-R-S.
An entertainer is anyone who provides amusement or fun for another person.
A singer, a dancer, an actor, all of these people are entertainers.
Felix doesn't like it when entertainers come on the train and start entertaining or performing.
Amanda disagrees.
She says, It helps pass the time.
To pass, P-A-S-S, the time, means to spend time doing something so you don't get bored.
Some people on a subway pass the time by reading.
Some people listen to English lessons.
Felix says, yeah, now that I think about it, I guess I do too.
I love the subway.
Amanda says, me too.
Of course, they've just complained about the subway for the last few minutes and now they end by saying that they actually love taking the subway.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I love the subway.
I do too.
But it really annoys me when people hog more than one seat, like that guy over there.
Yeah, and I hate it when you're trying to get on the train and the passengers who are blocking the doors won't move out of the way.
Oh, even worse is when you're trying to get off the train and people who want to get on won't wait until you get off.
That's totally annoying.
Even worse is when the train is full and people squeeze to get on when there's no more room.
So true.
I also hate it when people fall asleep and start evading my space.
Last week, a guy fell asleep next to me and dropped into my lap.
Gross!
What about when you're holding on to a pole and somebody's hand bumps yours and they don't move away?
That's really annoying.
Oh look, there's a pregnant woman on the other end of the train and those guys aren't giving up their seats for her.
What jerks!
Yeah, what jerks!
At least we don't have any singers, dancers, or loud entertainers on this train.
I hate it when they start performing.
Actually, I kind of like it when people perform.
It helps to pass the time.
Yeah, now that I think about it, I guess I do too.
I love the subway.
Me too.
There's nothing annoying about our scriptwriter.
She's the best scriptwriter on the Internet.
I speak, of course, of the wonderful 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.
