Episode 0181

Hello everyone and welcome back to English Pod. My name is Marco.

Yeah, I guess that's when you're a kid, though. I guess when you're an adult, do you really get excited when you wake up for Christmas?

Especially, I think, because of the special breakfast you get, like pancakes, scrambled eggs.

Mm-hm.

But anyways, we're going to be taking a look at a situation here where a kid is opening Christmas presents and we are preparing a meal for Christmas because that day people are going to come over. So, let's listen to this dialogue for the first time.

Of course we can, honey. Bill, come on, get dressed.

Bill, honestly, you can be such a grouch sometimes.

All right, Timmy, knock yourself out. We should get ready and head to the market to buy everything for Christmas dinner tonight.

I got the list right here: ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, ingredients for the gravy, and of course, yams.

My dad offered to bring the eggnog, so we should be set.

All right, we're back. So there were a couple of different and interesting words there. So let's take a look at them now in Language Takeaway.

Okay, this first word is not a very happy word. It's a, it's a word that we try not to use too much around the Christmas season, but sometimes you're just tired of people.

Because the holidays is all about people and doing stuff.

Someone who's not being very happy, someone who's a little bit grumpy is called a grouch.

Okay, so a person that's not very happy, not very friendly, is a grouch.

Okay, so a person is a grouch or you can act like a grouch or be a grouch.

Don't be a grouch.

All right. And well, they were talking about heading to the market to buy something for dinner. So, to head to.

Okay, to head to is a way to say to go towards someplace or to go somewhere.

All right, so if I'm driving my car and you ask me where I'm going, I'm saying, oh, I'm heading to, to the bank.

Right, so to head to means to be on your way somewhere, I'm going somewhere. It's a, it's a way to say that you're in the process of going. You can't say, next year I will head to Alaska.

Okay.

It, it doesn't make as much sense. You usually say, you know, I'm heading to the bank or.

Let's head to the market.

Let's head to the market.

Okay. And, uh, well, they were talking about heading to the market because they are hosting Christmas dinner. So, to host.

To host is a, well, it's a very important holiday term. Um, it's a verb, you do it, and it means that you are the person who has the special dinner and your friends and family, they come to your house.

Okay.

Okay, so we could say, this Christmas, I'm hosting the dinner at my house. So I want everyone to come to my house and eat.

All right. And it can also be a a noun, right? You can say I am a host.

Exactly.

The host of this dinner.

Right. And you, it doesn't have to be holidays either. You could say, hey, Marco, how about you host a dinner next week? I'll come.

Right. I'll bring wine.

All right.

So, to host a dinner or to host a party, et cetera. And our fourth word for language takeaway is probably the most popular drink during the Christmas season, eggnog.

Okay, it sounds kind of disgusting.

Yeah, a drink with egg.

But it's a very popular creamy eggy drink, it's very thick and it's cream-colored, and normally you add a little bit of rum.

Okay, so it's alcoholic.

Yeah. And, uh, you, you drink it warm, and it's kind of just a thick, warm alcoholic beverage that's very, very popular and, um, my dad loves it.

During Christmas, right? Usually you don't have it like any other day.

No, you wouldn't want to. It's too heavy. But it's very, very popular, like the days before Christmas and on Christmas.

Okay, so eggnog. Very good. So I think we should take a look at the dialogue again and we'll be back soon with Fluency Builder.

Of course we can, honey. Bill, come on, get dressed.

Bill, honestly, you can be such a grouch sometimes.

All right, Timmy, knock yourself out. We should get ready and head to the market to buy everything for Christmas dinner tonight.

I got the list right here: ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, ingredients for the gravy, and of course, yams.

My dad offered to bring the eggnog, so we should be set.

All right, we're back. So now let's take a look at a couple of phrases on Fluency Builder.

Okay, so this first phrase is a phrase that I often heard as a child because I never wanted to go to sleep. So I'd go downstairs and my parents would say, Catherine, go back to bed.

Go back to bed.

Okay, go back to bed. So, um, this is just a very common, colloquial, spoken way of saying, go back to sleep.

Go to sleep.

Don't be awake.

So you can say go to sleep or you can say go to bed, or if somebody has gotten out of bed, you say, go back to bed.

Exactly. And so parents often use this with their kids because they want their kids to sleep. But you can also say it about someone who's, you know, up, up at night worrying, and you say, come on, go back to bed. Go sleep, relax.

Okay. And then we also saw this phrase, knock yourself out. All right, Timmy, knock yourself out. So, what is this? Knock yourself out.

Well, I'm not really sure where this phrase comes from. I mean, to knock is like, to knock on a door, right? Um, but to knock yourself out, if I think about it, it probably means that you hit yourself in the head and you fall over. Um, but the, the real meaning of this is, go have fun. Okay? Have as much fun as you can have.

Right. Have as much fun as you want, go knock yourself out.

So the parent is saying, hey Timmy, go have as much fun as you want, just go do it, enjoy yourself.

Yeah, like go open all these presents. Have all the fun you want.

All right. And then we saw another phrase when they finished talking about dinner and all the things they have to to buy, they said, we should be set. We should be set or we are set.

Well, this is funny because she says, well, my dad's going to bring the eggnog, so we should be set, which means, um, we should have everything we need.

So, we don't need anything else. We're ready. Everything's good.

Exactly. Exactly. So we can say, we are set. I'm set. Are you set? It's a way to say, are you ready? Are you prepared? Do you have everything you need? So I often use this when I'm going on a trip.

Right.

I say, are you set? Did you pack everything? Are you all set?

Are you all set, yeah. Or I finished packing. I'm all set. I'm ready to go.

All set and ready to go.

Okay, so some interesting phrases there as well. Why don't we have a look at our dialogue for the last time?

Of course we can, honey. Bill, come on, get dressed.

Bill, honestly, you can be such a grouch sometimes.

All right, Timmy, knock yourself out. We should get ready and head to the market to buy everything for Christmas dinner tonight.

I got the list right here: ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, ingredients for the gravy, and of course, yams.

My dad offered to bring the eggnog, so we should be set.

All right, we're back. So as you mentioned, Christmas morning is great. You open presents, and, well, breakfast, and it's it's a time to be together with your parents, your family, but as in this case, you can be a little bit of a grouch because you just out of kind of tired because you had Thanksgiving in November and then Christmas and now you're having New Year's, so you're kind of just like, uh.

Yeah, the holiday season can be exhausting and I know a lot of families have a special dinner on the 24th, that's Christmas Eve. And then by the time it's Christmas Day, the 25th, you're exhausted, you didn't get any sleep, you might have had too much to drink last night. And so it can be very tiring. Also because the kids always get up way too early, like 6:00.

Right, to open their presents, right? And then they'll be playing with their toys all day and you'll be, you'll have a headache. But it's a great season to spend time with the family and, well, we want to know how you spend your Christmas Eve on your Christmas morning. So, why don't you come to our website, englishpod.com, and leave your questions and comments there as well.

Bye.

The English part audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

A bad tempered person.

Grouch.

Go ahead. Do as you please.

Knock oneself out.

Go directly to.

Head to.

Hold an activity.

Host.

Ready for something.

Set.

Let's try that faster.

A bad tempered person.

Grouch.

Ready for something.

Set.

Go directly to.

Head to.

Go ahead. Do as you please.

Knock oneself out.

Hold an activity.

Host.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Grouch.

That old man is such a grouch. He yells at anyone who even steps into his yard.

Grouch.

Grouch.

Knock oneself out.

Knock oneself out.

Knock oneself out.

Knock yourself out at the dance tomorrow night, all right?

Head to.

I need to head to the corner store to get more milk.

Head to.

She headed to the church for the Christmas Eve service.

Head to.

You need to head to the doctor's office right now and get that cough checked out.

Host.

I'm hosting a games night at my house on Thursday nights.

Host.

He decided to host the party at his parents' place.

Host.

My sister is hosting a birthday supper for her friend.

Set.

Once I get the ribbon, we should be set to start wrapping the presents.

Set.

We should be set to go as soon as my friend arrives.

Set.