EC105_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

www.eslpod.com

ENGLISH CAFÉ – 105

TOPICS

Why Americans don’t use the metric system, how to dress in Los Angeles versus

New York, yutz, to go back to square one, what to call your cousin’s son, I’m

done with you

_____________

GLOSSARY

signatory – a person, business, or organization that signs a statement or an

agreement

* Most rental agreements have only two signatories: the renter and the apartment

owner.

to establish – to start a business, organization, or committee

* The National Science Foundation established national supercomputer centers

in the 1980s.

commission – an official group, often related to the government; a group of

people who are asked to work together for a specific purpose, often to investigate

something

* This commission is supposed to find out what really happened during the

country’s last natural disaster.

competitive – having a price that allows a product to be sold in the market,

because it compares favorably with other products

* Cars from that country are competitive in the U.S. market because they offer

high quality and are not very expensive.

dress code – rules about what people may and may not wear in a certain place

* Edith’s school has a strict dress code where boys have to wear ties everyday.

to crack the code – to be able to understand something that is difficult,

complicated, or presented in a way so that most people cannot understand it

* My twin brothers created a secret language, but our parents finally cracked the

code and were able to understand them.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 105

underdressed – dressed less formally than one should be; dressed more

casually than everyone else; dressed inappropriately because one’s clothing isn’t

as formal as it should be

* Paolo went to the party wearing jeans, but he felt very underdressed when he

saw that all the other men were wearing suits.

to try too hard – to try to act and dress in a certain way that will impress other

people, but to do it insincerely, so that everyone knows what one is trying to do

* Gary brought his girlfriend’s mother a huge bouquet of flowers and an

expensive bottle of perfume, but I think he’s trying too hard. He should relax and

be himself.

to look smart – to be dressed very well; to wear clothes that make one look

professional, intelligent, and successful

* Yani looked smart in a dark grey suit, white shirt, and red tie.

the Industry – the Los Angeles entertainment industry; the group of people and

businesses that make movies and music in and around Los Angeles, California

* Therese is having a hard time getting her first job in the Industry, but she is

determined to become a movie producer.

financial sector – the part of the economy related to finance, such as banks and

investment institutions

* Many of the people who work in the U.S. financial sector live in New York City.

flyover country – an impolite phrase used to refer to all parts of the United

States that are not on the coasts, meaning that there is nothing worth seeing or

visiting there, so it is best to fly over that part of the country to get to the other

coast as quickly as possible

* Jenny grew up on a big farm in flyover country, and when she turned 18, she

couldn’t wait to move to a big city on one of the coasts.

first cousin – the son or daughter of one’s aunt and uncle

* My mother’s only sister has three children and my father’s only brother has two

children, so all together, I have five first cousins.

distant relative – a person who is in the same family but is not very closely

related; a person who is related to oneself, but is not a parent, brother, sister,

grandparent, grandchild, child, aunt, uncle, or cousin

* Francine is one of my distant relatives. She’s my grandmother’s brother’s

daughter.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 105

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Fashion Trends of the 1960s, 1970s,1980s, and 1990s

“Fashion” (the style of clothing that is popular) changes over time. A “trend” is

the way that something changes over time, and people sometimes refer to

America’s “fashion trends” by “decade” (a 10-year period).

In the 1960s, many young people were considered “hippies,” because they did

not think or dress traditionally. “Hippies” often wore “bell bottoms” (pants that are

very large at the bottom) and their colorful clothes were often decorated with

flowers. Hippies liked to wear “tie-dye” clothing, which was made by tying strings

or “rubber bands” (thin, circular pieces of rubber that stretch to hold things)

around parts of the clothing and then “dying” it (changing a fabric’s color by

putting it in a liquid), so that there were colored lines where the strings had been.

The 1970s had a “disco” fashion trend. Women wore “miniskirts” (very short

skirts) and men wore “tight” (very close to the skin) “pantsuits” (matching pants

and shirt) that were often covered in “sequins” (small pieces of plastic or metal

that are sewn onto clothing to make it shine). People wore “platform shoes,”

which had extra inches on the bottom to make people seem taller.

The 1980s had a “preppy” fashion trend. The word “preppy” refers to the clothing

that people wear in “prep school,” or “preparatory school.” It includes “polo

shirts” (a shirt with a collar and a few buttons near the neck) and “plaids” (fabrics

with vertical and horizontal lines of different colors). Many people tied sweaters

around their necks.

Finally, in the 1990s, “grunge” became popular. “Grunge” clothing is very

“sloppy” (untidy or not neat). Shirts are not tucked in, and clothing is usually too

big for the wearer. The dark colors are usually “faded” (light-colored because it

has been in the sun too much) and the clothes sometimes have holes in them.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 105

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 105.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 105. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in

the beautiful City of Los Angeles, in the State of California here on the beautiful

west coast of the North American continent.

This Café is going to be about the metric system in the U.S., or why there is no

metric system in the United States – why we still use feet, and miles, and

pounds, and so forth. We’re also going to talk about the way people dress in

different parts of the U.S., especially some of the differences between New York

and Los Angeles

Remember, for a complete transcript and Learning Guide to this episode, go to

our website at eslpod.com. And as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions.

Let’s get started.

One question that many people have, when they visit or come to the United

States, is why the U.S. doesn’t use the metric system of kilometers, and

deciliters, and meters – the various ways of measuring things. This is an

interesting question because, actually, the U.S. tried to convert from its current

system of what we might call “weights and measures,” the units that we use to

measure things.

Several years ago, back in 1875, the U.S. was one of the original 17 what we

would call “signatory nations.” The word “signatory” comes from “signature,”

which is when you put your name on an official document or on a letter. So, the

U.S., back in the late 19 th century, was going to join the rest of the world in this

scientific metric system. However, it was very difficult to get people to change.

In the late 1960s, the U.S. government established, or appointed, a commission

– a group of people to study this issue – and this commission recommended that

the U.S. should convert to the metric system in 10 years. The reason was that

the U.S. could be more competitive. When we say someone is “competitive

economically,” we mean that they will be able to do better in business

internationally if they would convert to the metric system.

So the metric system, most Americans recognize, makes a lot of sense – is

logical, is a much better system, I think, than the U.S. system. However, most

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 105

Americans are not convinced that they should change their lifelong use of

pounds, and inches, and gallons, and so forth.

Going back to history, in 1975 the U.S. government passed a law saying that we

were going to convert to the metric system, and the metric system began to

appear in many places in the U.S. In schools, they began to teach the metric

system. When I was going through school, I was in grade school – elementary

school – in 1975, I remember our teachers telling us that very soon, in another 5

or 10 years, every one in the U.S. will be using the metric system. They also

said that in 10 years, we would all be living on the moon! Well, neither of those

things happened; we didn’t live on the moon and we didn’t convert to the metric

system.

The problem was that although many businesses started to, for example, give

the temperature in Celsius and in Fahrenheit, most people didn’t pay a lot of

attention. So, while most students, today, in school still study the metric system,

most people, I would say almost no one in the U.S., actually uses it in their daily

life, except people in the sciences – scientists – and some businesses that do

international trade. But, the average American knows, for example, that a meter

is a little longer than a yard, but can’t really tell you how many centimeters are in

a foot or what the difference is between a deciliter and a milliliter.

A liter Americans kind of understand, because there are some things you can

buy in a liter bottle, Coca-Cola, for example. But, most Americans are not very

used to, and don’t think they should become used to the metric system, even

though it would help the U.S. economy. In fact, although Congress wanted to

convert everyone to the metric system – the government wanted to convert

everyone to the metric system in the 1970s, by 1982-1983 there was very little

official government support for the metric system.

Will we ever convert to the metric system? Well, it makes sense – it’s logical –

but until people see that they have to do it, that it becomes absolutely necessary,

I don’t think it’s going to happen any day soon. Perhaps we’re just too lazy to

switch.

Our second topic today has to do with what you might call the “dress code” in

L.A. and in New York. A “dress code” (two words) is a set of rules about how you

should dress – what you should wear. Now, of course, there’s no official dress

code for most people, although some companies do have a dress code. Most

schools have a dress code – rules about things that students can wear and

cannot wear. But, when we talk about a dress code in L.A. versus New York

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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