Episode 0213

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

Exactly. So we have a lot of words that are related to all the preparations for when somebody dies and also some phrases that you can say to someone that maybe had a family member who recently passed away. So before we get into all of this, we have a keyword that we want to take a look at now in vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right. So in vocabulary preview, we have that one word and it's the title of our lesson also, funeral.

Funeral. So funeral is an event, it's something that we we have. So basically a funeral is the time when we mourn someone who has died. It's a celebration of their life.

Right. So it's kind of like a ceremony where you respect that person that passed away, right? Some people will talk about the person that passed away or maybe you know, it's a time to maybe honor that person too, as you say mourn and remember that person.

Right. So it's very common for people in different religions to have different traditions. In some religions, like I think in Christianity, you have a priest who will say some things that are very traditional and then say some things about the person who died. Um and other religions have different ceremonies.

Right. So today we're going to take a look at what happens in preparing a funeral.

Thank you. I'm doing much better. I've been organizing everything for the funeral.

How's that going?

It's a lot harder than I imagine. There are many things that you have to arrange. I booked a time and date with the funeral home, but I still have a lot of things to do.

Have you bought a burial plot and a casket?

No, Wendy is being cremated. She always talked about how she didn't want to be buried. I already chose a cremation urn and we plan to spread the ashes in the ocean.

I see. That sounds like something she would have really liked. I'm sure the memorial service will be tasteful. You're doing a great job.

Thanks. It hasn't been easy, but luckily we have life insurance and Wendy left behind a detailed will that will sort out any other legal matters.

All right, we're back. So a pretty interesting dialogue and I'm sure you have a lot of questions regarding some of those words and phrases that you heard. So why don't we take a look at five key words on language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

So basically we have two friends in this dialogue who are discussing arrangements for a funeral and one friend is asking the other about his preparations and asks if he's bought a burial plot.

Okay, burial plot. Now, what is a burial plot and why would you buy one?

Well, a plot, P L O T plot is a piece of land.

So you can think about this logically. A burial plot, burial, to bury is a place, a space in the ground where we bury a person.

Usually you buy one of these at a cemetery, right?

That's right. So cemeteries have some usually a lot of land and you can pay for a piece of land.

A small portion.

A small portion, yeah. And that's a burial plot. Okay, good.

And well, our next word is related to what you put into this burial plot, right? Somebody dies and what goes into this piece of land is a casket.

That's right. And I don't know if any of you are fans of the TV show Six Feet Under, but you'll know from this TV show that there are many different kinds of caskets. So a casket is a box. You can have fancy caskets or you can have wooden caskets that are very simple like pine. And um basically this is the box that the person's body will go into when they're buried.

Right, very good. So that is called a casket. Well, moving on a new trend, I would say in many countries and many people around the world don't want to be buried. So what happens, you get cremated.

Cremated. So this is the option for people who are not buried. In some countries, China for example, I don't think you can be buried. You have to be cremated because there's an issue of space. And um this is an option for most people where basically your friend or your loved one, their body is burned and you can collect the remains afterwards. They're very small, they're ashes.

Right.

So it's like a a burning process.

Okay, interesting. So the word is to be cremated, to get cremated.

Yeah, his body was cremated.

Was cremated. And well, as you said, you take the ashes and you can put them in a cremation urn or just an urn.

Okay, urn. This might sound like a strange word to you. Uh but an urn is a special kind of pot, okay? Or a vessel to hold things in. Uh so for example, in this case we have a cremation urn that is a special pot, usually very beautiful. Um sometimes there's a name on it with the the deceased person's ashes. His or her remains.

Okay, very good. So as you said, it's kind of like a vase or a pot, something very nice and small where you have the person's ashes.

All right, so now we know what happened during the funeral. We know what happens how you maybe cremate the person or you put them in a casket. And uh well, what happens afterwards?

Well, afterwards you have a memorial service. Okay. So many people want to know what's the difference between a funeral and a memorial service.

Right.

In my mind, a funeral is very quiet and sad and you have some respectful words and you usually put the casket into the ground or you have some kind of ceremony, but a memorial service is an opportunity to talk to friends and family, to eat some food, to have some drinks, to talk about the person who died. It's almost like the party if that makes sense.

Mhm. Yeah, exactly. It's uh it's a get together of people who obviously are trying to give support to their friends or their family members who who lost that person. But also to talk about that person in a good way and all the great memories they had. I guess that's why it's called a memorial service because you you remember and you give out your memories about that person.

Exactly.

Okay, great. So a lot of interesting words there. Um very specific to this topic, but obviously really important. So why don't we go back and listen to the dialogue again.

Hi Daniel. How are you holding up?

Thank you. I'm doing much better. I've been organizing everything for the funeral.

How's that going?

It's a lot harder than I imagine. There are many things that you have to arrange. I booked a time and date with the funeral home, but I still have a lot of things to do.

Have you bought a burial plot and a casket?

No, Wendy is being cremated. She always talked about how she didn't want to be buried. I already chose a cremation urn and we plan to spread the ashes in the ocean.

I see. That sounds like something she would have really liked. I'm sure the memorial service will be tasteful. You're doing a great job.

Thanks. It hasn't been easy, but luckily we have life insurance and Wendy left behind a detailed will that will sort out any other legal matters.

All right, we're back. So we have a couple of phrases, four to be exact, um that we want to take a look at now in fluency builder.

Fluency builder.

Okay, this first phrase is a very useful one if you're trying to ask someone about um maybe they're how they're feeling or someone who's had some problems recently, you can ask them, um how things are going.

Uh one person says to the other, hi Daniel, how are you holding up?

Right, how are you holding up? Now, you know that to hold up something means to have it in your hands, but in this case you're talking about how are things going?

Right, but I wouldn't say, hey, how are you holding up?

Right, you wouldn't say that to somebody, right? If normal circumstance.

Not if Marco looks really happy, I want to ask him. But if someone has passed through a very difficult period, for example, if someone dies in their family or perhaps if they've been very sick. Or, you know, there's some negative or difficult things that happen, you can say, how are you holding up?

So basically means how are you dealing with this difficult situation? Or how are you dealing with your illness? Okay, how are you holding up?

Right, exactly. How are you dealing with that difficult situation? And then the person complimented this by saying, and this is a very good phrase. This whole sentence is very useful if you want to say something nice to a person, um that has recently lost someone. You say, I am greatly sorry for your loss.

Okay, so you might have heard the word loss before, lose, lost. Loss is a noun, it's a thing. Uh we we normally say this about uh people who have died because you don't want to say, um I'm really sorry for your dead brother. You know, that's it's it's sad, it's very rude, too direct. So in English we say I'm greatly sorry for your loss, for this part of your life that has been, you know, that has gone away.

Right.

Uh you can also say, I'm very sorry for your loss. This is standard phrase for this is a standard phrase for funerals and um and memorial services.

Exactly. So if somebody's brother died, you go up to that person and you can say, I am greatly sorry for your loss. I am very sorry for your loss. That's that's what you say and it's very respectful and it's very nice to say.

Yes, it's very nice.

All right. So now moving on, we've said that the person is sorry and everything. But uh then they were talking about the girl Wendy and that she had life insurance and that she also left behind a detailed will.

Does that mean she forgot it?

She forgot it. But that it can mean that, right?

Right. No, yeah, this is a phrase that has a couple different meanings. And so it's important to look at this one when we're talking about someone who has died who left behind something. It means that they have um completed it in this case or um it survives them.

Okay. So they left that for you.

Mhm.

Okay. Because as you said, it it has a couple of different meanings like to leave behind can be to lose or to forget. But in this case, specifically, it's to leave for you.

Yeah. You for example, you could say he died and he left behind three children. Okay. So that means that he had three children when he died and they're still, they're still alive.

Right. Okay. Very interesting phrase, to leave something behind. And so she left behind a detailed will, and that's going to sort out any other legal matters.

To sort out. This is a great verb. This is uh well, it's a verbal phrase that we hear a lot um with documents and wills and things like this. Um basically to sort out means um to solve problems or um to fix or to amend. Um for example, um have you sorted out that problem you had with your plane tickets?

Mhm. Okay, yeah, to sort out. So have you fixed those problems or have you solved those problems that you had with your plane tickets?

To sort out, to to fix, to make arrangements for, very, very useful phrase.

Very useful phrase. Okay. So four key phrases there, really good ones. Why don't we go back, listen to the dialogue and we'll be back to talk a little bit more.

Thank you. I'm doing much better. I've been organizing everything for the funeral.

How's that going?

It's a lot harder than I imagine. There are many things that you have to arrange. I booked a time and date with the funeral home, but I still have a lot of things to do.

Have you bought a burial plot and a casket?

No, Wendy is being cremated. She always talked about how she didn't want to be buried. I already chose a cremation urn and we plan to spread the ashes in the ocean.

I see. That sounds like something she would have really liked. I'm sure the memorial service will be tasteful. You're doing a great job.

Thanks. It hasn't been easy, but luckily we have life insurance and Wendy left behind a detailed will that will sort out any other legal matters.

All right, we're back. So now talking about funerals, there's an interesting word. What is it called when a person speaks at a funeral?

Well, normally at a funeral, a loved one or friend will give a eulogy.

Eulogy.

Eulogy.

Okay, that's E U, right?

E U. Uh it looks like a funny word, but uh it's very important and it's something that you hear a lot, who will give the eulogy or his son will give the eulogy. So this is maybe the keynote address in a funeral. This is the important speech where someone will discuss the person who has died and his or her contributions and um and life.

Right. Okay. So that's called a eulogy. That's really really interesting because I don't know, it it's kind of a word that you don't really use much and you wouldn't really know it. I, for example, I didn't really really know about it until I saw it in a movie when they when he made a mistake, he said googley or something like that. I guess right? Yeah, it was in a in a comedy. So uh but a very interesting words. It's a sad topic but it happens sometimes you have to deal with these things and so if you have to do it in English, well, what better way than to learn all of these things, which could come in handy sometimes.

That's right. And you know, you never know you're watching a movie or something and this comes up. There are a lot of comedies like you said, we call them black comedies, means they're very dark and talk about death. And uh they are like Four Weddings and a Funeral is a very famous English movie about this kind of thing. Uh and so this is useful vocabulary and some useful phrases for those situations as well.

Exactly, even if you maybe meet somebody who I remember I uh knew somebody who met a casket salesman. Really? Sold caskets.

Interesting job.

Yeah, so uh you never know.

The English Pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Continue to live through hardship.

Hold up.

The act of burying, especially the internment of a dead body.

Burial.

Burn up something and reduce to ash.

Cremate.

Being in keeping with good taste.

Tasteful.

Having many details.

Detail.

Let's try that faster.

Continue to live through hardship.

Hold up.

Having many details.

Detail.

Burn up something and reduce to ash.

Cremate.

Being in keeping with good taste.

Tasteful.

The act of burying, especially the internment of a dead body.

Burial.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Hold up.

Craig is holding up well after the surgery.

Hold up.

He continued to hold up even with all the stress.

Hold up.

Our family is having a difficult time holding up after my father's death.

Burial.

Burial plot are expensive in Japan.

Burial.

My parents bought burial plot that are next to each other.

Burial.

Each burial plot in our cemetery has an individual ID number.

Cremate.

Cremation is more and more popular these days.

Cremate.

I want to be cremated when I die.

Cremate.

Many people choose to be cremated nowadays.

Tasteful.

This is a very tasteful color you use for your home.

Tasteful.

I think that this place is charming and tasteful.

Tasteful.

The wedding we attended was elegant and tasteful.

Detail.

There are detailed instructions on how to assemble the computer.

Detail.

Mike left detailed contact information in case you need to contact him.

Detail.

This book contains detailed information about Italy.