Episode 0125

Hello everyone. Welcome to another lesson at English Pod. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine. So, Marco, what are we talking about today?

Today we're going to be talking about a popular topic all over the world and that is smoking.

Well, not so popular in the States right now, to be honest.

Well, that's the thing. In every country in the world now they are becoming more strict on smoking and where you can smoke, so it's becoming very difficult for smokers nowadays.

Well, it's a good reason to want to quit.

And that's what we're going to be talking about today is is quitting smoking.

Well, before we get going, we do have a really important phrase that we should preview in today's vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

Alright, so on vocabulary preview, we're going to take a look at this word 'pack of smokes'.

Pack of smokes.

A pack of smokes.

So smokes is a word for cigarettes. It's the same thing, smokes or cigarettes.

Right. But a pack is, you know, like 20 cigarettes.

It's a box of cigarettes. You buy them in a pack, you don't just buy one at a time.

So again, the phrase is 'pack of smokes'.

Pack of smokes.

So why don't we listen to our dialogue for the first time and see what's going on with this smoker?

Hi, honey. What's wrong?

Why do you have that look on your face?

No. I said I was gonna cut down, which is very different.

You can't just expect me to go cold turkey overnight.

Look, there are other ways to quit.

You can try the nicotine patch or nicotine chewing gum.

It's not like you can just light up like before.

I know, I know.

Do you, you do smoke, don't you?

Alright, so it is a little bit extreme though. I mean, he's divorcing her because she won't quit.

Well, some people really are health-conscious and are afraid of the negative side of smoking, which has a lot of health side effects.

Yeah. Well, as he was complaining about all the negative effects and the negative aspects of smoking, he did mention, both of them mentioned a lot of great words and phrases, so why don't we take a look at them now in language takeaway?

Language takeaway.

Well, this first word is a word that's very important for any smoker who goes to a bar or a restaurant and needs to put the ash somewhere, right?

So when you smoke, there's some ash, there's some messy, dirty stuff, and you need an ashtray to collect it.

An ashtray.

So an ashtray is something that's usually round or square, and you put it on a table, and it's just very helpful to keep the house clean or restaurant clean.

So if you're in a restaurant, you say, 'Hey, can I have an ashtray, please?'

So the, the residue or the, the stuff that when you're smoking, it comes out the grey, I don't know, like dust, it's called ash.

Right.

And this is a tray. But the, the complaint here is,

oh, 'It smells like an ashtray in here'.

That means it smells really, really bad in here.

Yeah, it smells like cigarettes.

Yeah, so that word again is ashtray.

Ashtray. Alright.

Well, and the guy was complaining and he said, 'Well, I thought you were going to quit smoking'.

And she said, 'No, no. I said I was going to cut down'.

She says, 'It's very different from quitting smoking'.

So, Marco, maybe we should talk about how cutting down and quitting are different.

Alright.

So, if I say I'm gonna cut down on smoking, it's just I'm gonna smoke less.

Mm, okay.

So let's take an example. I smoke 10 cigarettes a day, but I want to cut down. How many should I smoke later?

Maybe like two or three. Two or three.

Instead of quitting, so if you quit smoking, that would mean zero.

Zero cigarettes. No smoking anymore.

Alright. So you can also cut down on carbs, like carbohydrates.

So some people who cut down on carbs eat less bread, they don't eat any pasta.

So these are really good ways of trying to talk about dieting as well as smoking.

Right.

And I think we have a couple of examples of other ways we can use this phrase 'cut down'. So, let's listen to them now.

Example one.

Our company has decided to cut down our workload, so from now on, we leave at 3 p.m. every Friday.

Example two.

You should really cut down on the amount of salt you eat. It's not good for you.

Example three.

My doctor told me I need to cut down on fatty foods because of my heart condition.

And when you want to smoke a cigarette, you have to do something first with some fire, so we call this 'lighting up'.

To light up.

So lighting up, it doesn't mean turning on the light, it actually means using a lighter or some fire to start your cigarette.

Right, so you want to light up with the lighter, matches, or some sort of fire.

The the man says, the husband says, 'It's not like you can just light up like before'.

That means it's not like you can just smoke like before.

So in some cases, 'light up' means to smoke a cigarette.

We're in a movie theater and someone lights a cigarette, and I say, 'Oh, you can't light up in here'.

Right.

So you can't smoke in here.

You can't smoke in here.

It's another way of saying 'smoking'.

Mm-hm.

Very good. And she was explaining, you know, how difficult it is and she's trying to quit, but she said, 'I don't have the willpower to just quit'.

Ooh, willpower.

So this is an important word.

Willpower.

Willpower. You think of the main part of this word is 'will'. That means the desire to do something, you want to do something.

So if I have willpower or I have strong willpower, what am I saying?

You're saying that you can make a decision and you can follow your decision.

So I decide not to eat cake. I have very strong willpower, so I never eat cake.

So that happens, right? Sometimes you don't have strong enough willpower, so you kind of eat a little bit of cake.

Exactly. And you can have willpower about lots of different things.

So this is a great word again to use when you're talking about dieting or smoking or drinking.

Any type of maybe temptation.

Exactly.

Alright. And well, she said she had this 'urge' to reach for her pack of smokes.

Ooh, urge is another good one.

And it's very similar to willpower, but an urge is kind of like a physical feeling that makes you want to do something.

So you have like this strong desire.

Mm-hm. So I have the urge to go swimming today. I don't know why, but I really want to.

Alright, you have an urge.

Interesting word.

Pregnant women often have these kinds of things too. 'I have the urge to do something'.

We also call them cravings.

Oh, cravings or urge to do something.

Alright, interesting.

So we've taken a look at these five great words and I think we should listen to our dialogue again. We're gonna slow it down just a little bit, and then we'll come back and talk some more.

Hi, honey. What's wrong?

Why do you have that look on your face?

No. I said I was going to cut down, which is very different.

You can't just expect me to go cold turkey overnight.

Look, there are other ways to quit.

You can try the nicotine patch or nicotine chewing gum.

It's not like you can just light up like before.

I know, I know.

And we are back. So we have a great part of our show where we like to talk about some phrases that help you attain fluency. That means sounding like a native speaker of English, and today's phrases are wonderful.

Alright, so let's take a look at them now in fluency builder.

Fluency builder.

So, on fluency builder today, let's take a look at two different phrases and let's start with the first one.

She mentioned something about going 'cold turkey' overnight.

What is that phrase, 'go cold turkey'?

Now, this is a very strange phrase.

And second of all, why would, what does it have to do with cigarettes?

Right. So if I say I'm going 'cold turkey', what is that?

So just take this as a phrase. Don't think about the actual words because they won't make sense in this context.

What we're talking about is quitting smoking entirely.

It, it, you're not going to cut down.

It means today I'm not gonna smoke at all, and I'm never gonna smoke again. That means never ever will I smoke another cigarette.

So it's 'cold turkey'.

So if I go cold turkey, it means I stop doing something immediately and suddenly and forever. Entirely.

Alright. So you can use this phrase for different habits, different things that you do, like drinking, for example, or cutting down on sugar.

But generally we just say this about cigarettes.

So it's mostly related to smoking.

Yeah. Going cold turkey.

Some people like to smoke less, like one cigarette a day or one cigarette a week, but going cold turkey is supposed to be the hardest.

Right. Okay. Going cold turkey.

Alright, and well, he was explaining the different negative aspects of smoking. He said, 'Well, you know, they spend a fortune on cigarettes every month'.

And he said, 'Laws are cracking down'.

So if the laws are cracking down, what, what is he trying to say there?

Well, this is actually a very interesting point because in America right now, it's very hard to smoke in public places.

So this means that the government is trying to stop people from smoking.

So they say, 'No more smoking in public places, no more smoking in restaurants, no more smoking in bars'.

And so this is this means they're 'cracking down', they're making it harder to do something.

So they are becoming more strict.

Mm-hm. I think for this phrase, we should listen to a couple of more examples just to make sure we understand it.

Example one.

The police are cracking down on drunk driving in our city.

Example two.

Our school has really started to crack down on tardiness.

Example three.

The president has passed a law that will crack down on possession of illegal substances.

Alright, so the government is cracking down, laws are cracking down.

Yeah, exactly. So this is an important one because you read this in the newspapers as well about certain laws and police action.

Alright, great. So I think it's time for us to listen to this dialogue for one last time and then we'll come back and talk a little bit more about this vice.

Hi, honey. What's wrong?

Why do you have that look on your face?

No. I said I was gonna cut down, which is very different.

You can't just expect me to go cold turkey overnight.

Look, there are other ways to quit.

You can try the nicotine patch or nicotine chewing gum.

It's not like you can just light up like before.

I know, I know.

So, do you have a problem with this vice as you call it?

Are you a smoker?

I'm really not. I'm the type of person that could maybe smoke socially, like if we go out to a bar with drinks, a social smoker, like they call it, right?

Yeah.

But not really, you're a habitual smoker, right?

Right. Well, I was.

I'm trying to cut down, so as a habitual smoker, I often smoked every day. Sometimes I'll smoke a lot, and sometimes I smoke less, but right now I'm in a period where I'm mostly quit.

Okay, almost.

Yeah, well, I haven't smoked in a while, and when I do, it's just one cigarette.

Now, it is interesting because like we mentioned, laws are cracking down on where you can smoke, but also taxes and cigarettes are becoming much more expensive, right?

Absolutely. Especially where I'm from in Chicago, it's easy to spend maybe 10 US dollars or 12 US dollars on one pack of cigarettes.

On a pack of cigarettes.

Imagine that, so, and you have people that can't help smoking one or two packs a day.

So how much is that a month? It's just an amazing amount of money.

Thousands of dollars.

Well, and I have to say though, a lot of my friends who used to smoke in America have quit.

So this is maybe working.

The the whole thing of making cigarettes more expensive.

Yeah, making them much more expensive.

Now, another interesting thing, and what I was reading recently, is that you know those warnings that come on cigarette packs, that say, you know, 'Smoking kills', 'Smoking causes cancer'.

Actually, a study has proven that it's not effective, that people don't mind it or even worry about the cautions on the cigarette packages.

Well, as a smoker, I could say that yeah, you generally, if you're gonna smoke a cigarette, don't look at the label that much.

You just, you know, you throw it in your bag and you forget about it.

Oh, god.

Yeah, it's interesting. So it's not really working, I guess, we're gonna have to find other ways to make people more conscious about this vice.

We should. Mm-hm.

But come to our website at Englishpod.com, tell us what you think about this vice, smoking, is it good, is it bad? Are you a habitual smoker or just a social smoker?

Yeah, we also have lots of great stuff, tools for you on our website, and expansion sentences and all that stuff that helps you continue your studies outside of

well, the car or your house. Um, so check it out, let us know what you think,

and until next time.

Alright, we'll see you there.

Bye.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Informal of saying cigarette.

Stogie.

A receptacle for tobacco ashes and cigarettes and cigars.

Ash tray.

The end of the cigarette which contains the filter and is placed into the mouth to smoke.

But.

Reduce the amount taken or used.

Cut down.

A solid sticky substance that remains when tobacco is burned. It accumulates in the lungs of smokers and is considered carcinogenic.

Tar.

Immediate complete withdrawal from something.

Cold turkey.

A mechanical device for lighting a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

Lighter.

A patch that slowly releases nicotine into the body.

Nicotine patch.

A thin strip of wood or cardboard tipped with a chemical that ignites when scraped against a rough or specially treated surface.

Match.

Gum that slowly releases nicotine into the body.

Nicotine chewing gum.

Smoking a cigarette once, a puff, share a cigarette with someone.

Drag.

To act more forcefully, to regulate or repress.

Crack down.

To start smoking a cigarette.

Light up.

The strength of mind to carry out a decision.

Willpower.

A strong impulse, inner drive or yearning.

Urge.

A box of cigarettes.

Pack of smokes.

Let's try that faster.

A receptacle for tobacco ashes and cigarettes and cigars.

Ash tray.

Informal of saying cigarette.

Stogie.

To start smoking a cigarette.

Light up.

A strong impulse, inner drive or yearning.

Urge.

A box of cigarettes.

Pack of smokes.

A solid sticky substance that remains when tobacco is burned. It accumulates in the lungs of smokers and is considered carcinogenic.

Tar.

The strength of mind to carry out a decision.

Willpower.

The end of the cigarette which contains the filter and is placed into the mouth to smoke.

But.

Immediate complete withdrawal from something.

Cold turkey.

A patch that slowly releases nicotine into the body.

Nicotine patch.

Reduce the amount taken or used.

Cut down.

Smoking a cigarette once, a puff, share a cigarette with someone.

Drag.

A thin strip of wood or cardboard tipped with a chemical that ignites when scraped against a rough or specially treated surface.

Match.

A mechanical device for lighting a cigarette, cigar or pipe.

Lighter.

To act more forcefully, to regulate or repress.

Crack down.

Gum that slowly releases nicotine into the body.

Nicotine chewing gum.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Crack down.

The police is cracking down on drunk driving in our city.

Crack down.

The president has passed a law that will crack down on possession of illegal substances.

Crack down.

Our school has really started to crack down on tardiness.

Cut down.

You should really cut down on the amount of salt you eat. It's not good for you.

Cut down.

Cut down.

My doctor told me I need to cut down on fatty foods because of my heart condition.

Light up.

Light up.

John is addicted to smoking. Anytime and anywhere he has a chance, he lights up immediately.

Light up.

The government is making it more difficult to light up with all these anti-smoking laws.

Willpower.

Willpower.

Kathy is a workaholic. She needs to gather more willpower and refuse to work extra hours.

Willpower.

Willpower and discipline are essential to any person that wants to succeed in life.

Urge.

Urge.

Last night my wife got an uncontrollable urge to smoke every hour. It was weird.

Urge.

When Carol was pregnant, she once had an urge to eat a bacon and tuna sandwich. It was disgusting.