Episode 0202

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

That's right. So sometimes we are looking for an address, we're looking for our friend's house and we can't find it. So what do you have to do? You have to stop and ask someone for directions.

It's actually a joke in many countries that men hate to ask for directions. And so this is the woman's approach, asking and getting directions and finally finding your way. So it's a good thing.

That's a very good thing. So we're going to jump right into the dialogue. Let's see what happens here and if they can find the place they're looking for.

We are not lost. I'm just taking the scenic route.

Excuse me, sir, can you tell me how to get to St. Mary's Church?

Sure. Go down Park Road, turn left, go up as far as the set of traffic lights and turn left. The place you're looking for is the second building on the right.

Thanks.

See, was that hard? If you would only listen to me more often, you would be better off.

All right, we're back. So, well, the woman was obviously a little bit angry that the guy refused to admit that he was lost.

That's right. She's very frustrated and this has been in movies and in books and all sorts of things. This kind of story of the man not wanting to ask for directions.

And so, uh, he keeps saying, listen, I've got these excuses. I'm taking the scenic route, for example.

That's right. And that's our first word for today on language takeaway.

Language Takeaway

So as you say, the scenic route, what does he mean by that?

Okay, route is like a path or a trail or kind of like, uh, the way that you go somewhere. So the route's to my house. But in this case, the scenic route or the scenic route, you can say in both ways, is the most beautiful way to go.

It's a little bit longer than the longer one. Yeah.

So you can say, oh, it's just the scenic route. It's not really true. It's just the longer route.

Right, exactly. So that's the excuse that he's giving her. He's like, no, I'm not lost. We're taking longer because, well, we're taking the beautiful route.

All right, with all the trees and the animals and the lakes. No, I don't, I don't buy it. I don't believe this.

That's right. And she said, yeah, whatever. You know what? We need a GPS.

Okay, GPS, Global Positioning System. So many people have these in their cars these days. This is like a an electronic map that will use your location to show you where to go.

Mhm.

It's very useful and uh especially in places like the United States that have streets that are clearly marked and uh it's just a little bit easier to get around. You know, you can just get in your car, type in the address you want to go to and the thing talks to you. It says turn left, go straight, turn right.

Creepy.

So this is a very useful device. It's like a computer that you use in your computer. A GPS.

Mhm. All right, so she's talking about the GPS. And then at the end of that line, she says, this is so typical.

So what, getting lost, all right? Getting lost is so typical.

Mhm.

So something that is typical is common. This is so normal. This is so typical. This is so something you normally do.

So what other examples could we give with the word typical? Something that is typical.

Okay, well, you can have a behavior like this. What he did was typical. We can also say um in my typical Saturday, I wake up late and drink a coffee and take a nap.

Okay, cool. So it's common, it's regular, it's frequent, maybe.

That's right. Or, you know, you go out to dinner and your friend is late. You say, oh, this is so typical of him.

Right. He's always late. Okay. Very good.

All right, and we have one last set of words here and when the guy was giving him instructions, he said, you know what? Go left, go right, whatever. And then he said, until you reach the set of traffic lights. So what is a traffic light?

Well, you know what a light is. You know what traffic is. Traffic is cars driving on the road, trucks, things like that. So traffic light is a special light with three colors, red, yellow, and green. And it tells you if you can stop or go.

So they're also called stop lights, right?

That's right. Mhm. Okay. So stop lights and traffic lights, there's the same thing. Usually they hang from uh above the street.

Mhm. Okay, very good. Words and phrases there, why don't we listen to our dialogue again and we'll be back in just a little bit.

We are not lost. I'm just taking the scenic route.

Excuse me, sir, can you tell me how to get to St. Mary's Church?

Sure. Go down Park Road, turn left, go up as far as the set of traffic lights and turn left. The place you're looking for is the second building on the right.

Thanks.

See, was that hard? If you would only listen to me more often, you would be better off.

All right, so we've got some great phrases coming up in fluency builder.

Fluency builder

So the first phrase that we're going to look at is what the wife said at the very beginning. She said, we have been going around in circles for the past hour.

Going around in circles. So we could say we've been driving in circles. In circles means you've been making the same route over and over and over again. You keep seeing the same house, the same tree, the same house, the same tree. So this means we're not going anywhere.

You could also say, Marco, I wish you had brought the map. We've been walking in circles for two hours.

Okay, cool. So you can use it if you're driving or if you're walking in any situation like that.

Exactly.

Okay, good. All right, so going around in circles. Now, uh moving on, the guy was a little bit irritated with her.

And he said something that's a little bit impolite. He said, you know what? I'm going to ask for directions if it will shut your trap.

Impolite, this is rude. This is rude. Yeah, this is very rude. So be careful when you use this. You can say, hey, shut your trap. Okay, so shut means to close.

But trap, this is your mouth. Okay? So your mouth is a trap. It's kind of like a trap. In this case, shut your trap is a set phrase and it means shut up. Be quiet. Stop talking.

So how can we say uh this in a nicer way? For example, I've heard people say uh your yap, shut your yap.

Yeah, shut your yapper. Um I would say, can you please stop talking or can we have some quiet time now?

Can we have some quiet time?

Yeah, that's a polite way. The the rude way is shut up.

Shut up. Yeah. Shut your mouth.

That's very direct though, right? Very rude.

Yeah, that's right. Okay. So shut your trap.

Shut your trap. And then the wife said, well, see, there you go. We got directions. We're going to get there now and was that hard? If you would only listen to me more often, you would be better off. So the guy would be better off. That doesn't really make much sense.

To be better off. Okay. So you have to think of this as a phrase, not about the the individual words. To be better off means, um to be happier or in some way better. So, for example, if I earned more money, I think I'd be better off.

Okay. So maybe you have a nicer life to be happier, maybe more successful.

Right. Or if you only listened to me, you would be better off, means you would make better decisions. You would have a better situation.

So I could say, uh if she got a divorce, she would be better off.

That's right. Her life would improve.

Her life would improve.

To be better off. This is a great, great, very useful phrase.

Very useful. All right, so why don't we listen to the dialogue for the very last time and we'll be back to talk a little bit more with you.

We are not lost. I'm just taking the scenic route.

Excuse me, sir, can you tell me how to get to St. Mary's Church?

Sure. Go down Park Road, turn left, go up as far as the set of traffic lights and turn left. The place you're looking for is the second building on the right.

Thanks.

See, was that hard? If you would only listen to me more often, you would be better off.

All right, so the whole thing about men asking for directions. Why do you think men don't like to ask for directions?

Well, it depends on the person, but I think a lot of people don't like to admit that they don't know.

Mhm.

Okay, because if you ask for directions, it means, I don't know where I'm going. I need help.

Mhm.

So this is one problem. The other problem is sometimes directions are bad.

True. I think so too. Sometimes when you receive an invitation or instructions on how to get to someone's house, they're very ambiguous. They're like, you know, you pass the dog that's sitting at the corner and you're like, there's no dog, what? How?

Yeah, I know. I know someone who lives in Costa Rica and her address is, go down the main street, take the second left after the post office and after that, take the right after the general store and 400 paces is the house.

So there's no address. There's no street.

There's no address. It's, you know, so these instructions can be very confusing, very vague, like you said, so I think there's a couple, couple different problems potentially.

I also heard a joke the other day about um a kid asked his mom, he said, hey, why was Moses leading everyone through the desert for 40 years?

Why?

All right, so if you have any questions about today's lessons or comments, maybe you can tell us, do you like to ask for directions or do you like to figure things out alone?

Let us know on our website Englishpod.com. All right, we'll see you guys there. Bye-bye.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Having get to.

An instruction leading to a place or point.

A special offer or discount.

If you want to get to the top of the mountain, you must leave early in the morning.

Better off.

On sale.

Reach, be able to arrive at or in.

Get to.

I think she would be better off with someone her age.

Be in a better condition.

Better off.

Better off.

Circulate.

We would be better off if we got a divorce.

Better off.

Global positioning system.

GPS.

Shut up.

A special offer or discount.

On sale.

Shut up.

Shut your trap.

Global positioning system.

GPS.

Having the usual characteristics of.

Typical.

Circulate.

Go around.

Reach, be able to arrive at or in.

Get to.

Be in a better condition.

Better off.

An instruction leading to a place or point.

Direction.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Direction.

I need walking directions to your house.

Direction.

I sent you an email with driving directions to the restaurant.

Direction.

The directions you sent me were wrong. I couldn't find the house.

Typical.

The typical adolescent spends two hours a day on the phone.

Typical.

A typical diet consists of a light breakfast, a big lunch, and small dinner.

Typical.

The typical American will watch on average six hours one of the 24 equal parts of a day of TV per day.

On sale.

Jackets are on sale at the mall today.

On sale.

I wanted to buy some shoes that were on sale, but I didn't have any money.

On sale.

All items in this shop are on sale.

Get to.

I need to get to a hospital ASAP.

Get to.

John wanted to get to the highway, but he took a wrong turn.

Get to.

If you want to get to the top of the mountain, you must leave early in the morning.

Better off.

I think she would be better off with someone her age.

Better off.

We would be better off if we got a divorce.

Better off.

The company would be better off if the CEO quit.