Episode 0318

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod. My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we're talking about something that I think a lot of people experience, especially with certain things like peanuts and cats.

That's right. Today we are talking about allergies. So that means that we have a problem with maybe cats, they make us uh sick or with certain foods.

Mhm, like a lot of people who are allergic to milk, actually.

That's right. So we're gonna talk about a couple of these allergies and symptoms. So why don't we have a listen to our dialogue and we'll be back in a bit.

Wow, you're not dying, are you? Looks like you have a cold. You should take some medicine.

I don't think it's a cold. I feel fine if I move a few feet away from my desk.

Jokes aside, I think you might have an allergy.

An allergy? I never thought about that. I don't think I'm allergic to pollen though and I'm desensitized to bee stings after being stung so many times.

Hmm.

Just checking if you're allergic to peanuts. I guess not.

Okay, my bad.

How about dust? This office is full of it.

Yes, the whole office is dusty, yet I only feel affected near our desks.

All right, so now let's take a look at vocab on Language Takeaway.

All right, so Marco, we have a number of things that might happen if you're feeling like you're allergic to something. The first one is, my eyes are all watery.

Okay, so your eyes get watery and that means you start to have a lot of water, a lot of tears in your eyes.

That's right, but you're not sad, you're not crying, it's just that you have this reaction that you cannot control and the water maybe comes down from your eyes.

Right. Usually it gets your eyes get wet and watery, uh itchy, red.

Yeah. So a lot of that.

There's another thing too, this happens a lot. You feel like you can't stop sneezing.

Mhm, to sneeze.

A sneeze is something you do when the air comes out of your nose.

out of your nose, out of your mouth, out of everywhere.

Yeah, and you can't control it and sometimes it's very, very strong. You move your head but uh it's something that you do when you're allergic to something like a cat or a flower, but also maybe when you you smell something very some some spice like uh pepper.

Yeah, yeah, or when you're sick, when you have a cold.

That's right.

And so his friend says that maybe they should put him into quarantine.

All right, now this is a joke. If you have allergies, you don't have to go to quarantine, but quarantine is very serious. It's a place where people go when they have a dangerous or very infectious disease and quarantine means that no one else can come in and you cannot go out.

Right, exactly. So I think uh when they had the pig flu, the swine flu, many people were put into quarantine to make sure they didn't give it to someone else.

That's right. So usually in quarantine you have to wait until you can prove that you're not sick anymore and then you get to leave.

That's right.

All right, so uh they were talking about maybe the options of what he is allergic to. He says I'm not I don't think I'm allergic to pollen. So what is pollen and where does it come from?

All right, now pollen is actually a very common allergy and uh pollen comes from flowers. It's it's kind of like a special dust or special kind of thing that you see on flowers, um that gets blown away. Uh so when it's springtime many people suffer from allergies because there's a lot more pollen in the air.

Uh-huh. So it's that little dust, usually sometimes yellow that you can find on flowers and this is actually what butterflies and bees look for.

That's right.

Okay. And then he talked about uh well he's not allergic to bees and his friend threw a peanut at him, but he he said it in a very strange way, he said, why did you chuck that peanut at me? To chuck.

To chuck. Now, this is a very spoken English way of saying something. Uh to chuck means to throw.

Um so like Marco, why did you chuck that pillow at me? That was mean.

Uh-huh. All right, so to chuck is to throw, but usually to to throw something strongly.

Uh-huh. So as you said, it's very spoken English, it's not really proper to actually write it or or say it to someone in a formal occasion.

Mhm. Yeah, that's right. So you wouldn't say this in your English exam, but you could say this with your friends.

Okay. So to chuck something. So that's all the vocab we have for you. Why don't we go back and listen to the dialogue again?

Wow, you're not dying, are you? Looks like you have a cold. You should take some medicine.

I don't think it's a cold. I feel fine if I move a few feet away from my desk.

Jokes aside, I think you might have an allergy.

An allergy? I never thought about that. I don't think I'm allergic to pollen though and I'm desensitized to bee stings after being stung so many times.

Hmm.

Just checking if you're allergic to peanuts. I guess not.

Okay, my bad. How about dust? This office is full of it.

Yes, the whole office is dusty, yet I only feel affected near our desks.

All right, we're back, so now it's time for Fluency Builder.

All right, now we heard a very difficult word later on in the dialogue. Jim said, not funny! I could have gone into anaphylactic shock.

Right. All right, so this phrase to go into shock is very important.

Go into shock. Now, what does it mean to go into shock?

Well, shock is something especially anaphylactic shock, which means that I think you can you stop breathing because uh your your body basically shuts down and you can't, you know, you your throat tightens so you can't breathe. But to go into shock means that your body will kind of stop doing its normal functions. Um, for example, if you've fallen very, very, very cold water,

Mhm.

Your body goes into shock.

Right.

Uh and this is something that is a is a physical reaction.

You see it all the time in movies, I think, when uh a nurse or a doctor or someone yells, he's going into shock, right?

That's right. And they have to get the paddles and beep.

Right, exactly.

So, um that that's what it means when you uh go into shock, but you use this verb, you go into shock, he's going into shock.

That's right. Doctor, he's gone into shock.

Uh-huh. And uh well, he said, okay, I'm sorry, my bad. He said my bad. What is my bad?

All right, my bad is another phrase that comes from spoken English, so be careful with how you use it. This is something you can use with your friends. Um my bad is a way of saying my fault or excuse me, you know, that was my mistake.

My mistake. So, if you do something wrong and you say, oh, I'm sorry, that was my mistake, you can just say, oh, my bad.

That's right. Or, you know, Jerry, can we go outside for a second and I have to talk to you? I mean, Marco, oh, my bad.

Right, exactly.

That means I'm, you know, my fault. I'm sorry. I made a mistake.

So, but this is very colloquial and I think it's very juvenile, right? I think uh younger people use this, my bad.

My bad. Yeah, it's it's younger, yeah.

It's a younger. All right. And uh for our last phrase when uh Jim was talking about maybe being allergic to pollen or he said, I'm desensitized to bee stings.

All right. So, desensitized, you should know automatically that prefix D means not.

All right. So it's negative. Um, I'm desensitized means that, um, I'm not sensitive to. All right. That means that, you know, if I get stung by a bee, like me, it gets big and red and it hurts.

Right.

But this person, he doesn't have a reaction. He's desensitized. So, there's no reaction, there's no red, there's no swelling.

I think uh you see it a lot uh for people that maybe live in an area where there are a lot of mosquitoes. And if we go there, we're going to get bitten and uh you can it's going to be itchy. But people who live there, they've been bitten so many times that they you probably don't even feel it or probably don't even get bitten anymore. They desensitize.

That's right. Or you could say that I'm desensitized to loud noises. Okay. I live in the city and there's a there's a metro near my apartment. I can hear it. It's very loud. And so I am desensitized to the noise. That means I don't really notice it anymore. It doesn't bother me.

Right, very good.

So that's all the vocab and phrases we've prepared for you today. Let's listen to this dialogue one last time.

Wow, you're not dying, are you? Looks like you have a cold. You should take some medicine.

I don't think it's a cold. I feel fine if I move a few feet away from my desk.

Jokes aside, I think you might have an allergy.

An allergy? I never thought about that. I don't think I'm allergic to pollen though and I'm desensitized to bee stings after being stung so many times.

Hmm.

Just checking if you're allergic to peanuts. I guess not.

Okay, my bad. How about dust? This office is full of it.

Yes, the whole office is dusty, yet I only feel affected near our desks.

All right, so speaking about allergies, we always talk about the common ones, like a pollen, dust, um and we you also mentioned about food, like somebody who cannot drink milk, they're allergic to milk.

That's right. We have a special name for this actually. Someone who cannot drink milk or dairy products like ice cream, um is called lactose intolerant.

Mhm.

So, if you're lactose intolerant, it means that your stomach is very upset after you have dairy products because lactose uh is is basically dairy.

Mhm. And uh there's some people also who are allergic to seafood, for example, fish or shrimp or any type of seafood.

That's right. And also people who are allergic to gluten. Now gluten is a very common product that is found in breads and um cereal, things like that. And so people who have an allergy to gluten actually have to change their diet quite a bit.

Yeah, yeah, they have to look for things that are gluten-free, which is very hard because apparently it's in everything.

That's right. So if you if you have one of these allergies, you can you can find dairy-free on a box or gluten-free on the box and specialty food stores will have these labels.

And uh so are you allergic to anything?

No, not really. Sometimes in in here in China, uh I feel like I'm a little bit allergic when I have allergies when the seasons change.

Uh-huh. Um but at home, no. I have no allergies.

No allergies. No, me neither and I can uh uh I'm very lucky I think because I can't imagine if I had an allergy like uh to peanuts or to seafood, which not only would be a shame because you can't have these foods, but if you accidentally have it, it could be life-threatening.

That's right. Like my dad who is allergic to bees would go into anaphylactic shock if he were stung. And so you have to be very careful because you never know when you'll have an accident like that.

Exactly. So this is an interesting topic. Maybe you guys want to share if you were allergic to anything, maybe you're allergic to uh maybe you are allergic to certain types of foods, chemicals.

Uh some people are allergic to certain types of shampoo, for example.

Or fabrics like cotton.

Mhm. So, if you want to share with us, let us know at our website EnglishPod.com.

We'll see you guys there. Bye.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

The fertilizing element of flowering plants consisting of fine powdery yellowish grains or spores.

Pollen.

To lessen the sensitiveness of.

Desensitize.

Have allergy towards something.

Allergic.

To act on, produce an effect or change in.

Affect.

Dry fine powdery material such as particles of dirt, earth or pollen.

Dust.

Severe and sometimes fatal allergic reaction to a foreign substance such as bee venom.

Anaphylactic shock.

A strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.

Quarantine.

Let's try that faster.

The fertilizing element of flowering plants consisting of fine powdery yellowish grains or spores.

Pollen.

A strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.

Quarantine.

Severe and sometimes fatal allergic reaction to a foreign substance such as bee venom.

Anaphylactic shock.

To act on, produce an effect or change in.

Affect.

To lessen the sensitiveness of.

Desensitize.

Have allergy towards something.

Allergic.

Dry fine powdery material such as particles of dirt, earth or pollen.

Dust.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Allergic.

Allergic.

My friend is allergic to certain flowers.

Allergic.

If I have an allergic reaction to peanuts, I may die.

Quarantine.

When we moved to Australia, we had to put our cat into quarantine.

Quarantine.

Quarantine.

I have to wait six months before I can collect my plant from quarantine.

Dust.

My house has so much dust in it, I really need to clean it.

Dust.

I hate dust, it always makes me want to sneeze.

Dust.

This television is so dusty, I can't even watch it.

Desensitize.

After watching so many horror movies, I've become desensitized to violence.

Desensitize.

I will desensitize my son's allergy to nuts by slowly entering them into his daily diet.

Desensitize.

I desensitize the spiciness of chilies by covering them in yogurt.

Affect.

These horror movies never seem to affect me. I'm not scared at all.

Affect.

Affect.

She seemed to affect her brother with her constant whining.