EC058_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 58

TOPICS

Table manners in the U.S., Washington, D.C., easygoing, down to earth, to put

someone in harm’s way, to take a shot at someone, inquiry

_____________

GLOSSARY

to say grace – to say a prayer before eating a meal

* At dinner every night, my mother says grace before we begin eating.

forearm – the part of the arm that is between the hand and the elbow

* He has been lifting weights for several months and now, even his forearms look

strong and muscular.

napkin – a square piece of paper or cloth used for wiping hands and lips, and for

keeping clothes clean during a meal

* When I dropped my napkin on the floor, the waiter picked it up for me right

away.

lap – the top part of the legs between the hips and knee when one sits down

* Every time the kids visit their grandfather, they want to sit on his lap while he

reads them a story.

to slurp – to make a loud sucking sound when drinking or eating

* Leann’s mother said to her, “If you don’t stop slurping your soup, you won’t get

dessert tonight.”

to burp – to belch; a loud sound that comes out of one’s mouth when air is

released from the stomach

* There was a very embarrassing moment during the concert when he opened

his mouth to sing, but ended up burping into the microphone.

to chew – to take food between the teeth and for the teeth to go up and down on

it to make the food smaller before swallowing

* She was in such a hurry she barely had time to chew her food!

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 58

delicious – good tasting; tastes good

* The cookies that Dr. McQuillan made for the entire office were delicious!

mayor – the official elected leader of a city

* Many people thought that the mayor should be doing more to get the roads

fixed after the big storm.

judicial – related to courts or judges

* The president and the judicial branch of the government often disagree about

the laws of the nation.

veteran – a person who has been in the military, usually someone who has

fought in a war

* I didn’t know you were a veteran. Which war did you fight in?

easygoing – relaxed; tolerant; someone who does not get angry easily;

someone who does not have strong negative opinions about most things

* Georgina is really easygoing so I don’t think she’ll mind if you use her car

tonight.

down to earth – sensible; straightforward; someone who does not think that he

or she is better than others

* Do you think that people from the Midwest are more down to earth than people

from L.A.?

to put (someone) in harm’s way – to put someone in a dangerous situation

where they may get hurt

* You’ll have to come up with a better plan because I refuse to put my workers in

harm’s way just to make the company more money.

to take a shot at (someone) – to try to convince or persuade someone to do

something; to hit someone physically

* My sister wasn’t able to convince my father to see the doctor, but I’m going to

take a shot at him this weekend to try to change his mind.

inquiry – investigation; asking for information, usually done officially by the

government or another organization

* I wonder if there will be an official inquiry into how this organization lost all of its

money.

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

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 58

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Pig Latin

Pig Latin is language game played mainly by children in the U.S. Kids usually

use Pig Latin for fun and also to talk to each other in front of adults so that the

adults won’t understand what they are saying. Adults, too, can sometimes use it

to talk about private or sensitive topics they don't want very young children to

understand.

The rules for changing standard English into Pig Latin are very simple.

 For words that begin with consonants, move all of the first consonant

sounds to the end of the word and add “ay.”

Here are a few examples:

- ball → all-bay

- button → utton-bay

- star → ar-stay

- three → ee-thray

 For words that begin with vowel sounds (including silent consonant

sounds), add the syllable “ay” to the end of the word.

- honest → honest-ay (because the h is silent)

A few Pig Latin words have become accepted and used in standard American

English. Two of these words are “ixnay” and “amscray.” “Ixnay” comes from the

word “nix,” a verb meaning to cancel or to put an end to something. If you and

your co-worker are planning on leaving work early but your boss gives you extra

work, you may say to your co-worker, “Ixnay on the plans. I have to stay late to

work.” Another Pig Latin word you may hear is “amscray.” “Amscray” comes

from the word “scram,” which is an informal word that means to go away or to

leave somewhere quickly. If some neighborhood children are making trouble and

loud noises outside your window late at night, you may say, “You kids better

amscray before I come out there!”

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2006). Posting of

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

- eagle → eagle-ay

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 58

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café episode 58.

This is ESL Podcast’s English Café number 58. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan,

coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los

Angeles, California.

On today's Café we're going to talk about table manners in the United States,

how people eat their food. We're also going to talk about the capitol of the US,

Washington, DC, and, as always, we'll answer a few questions. Let's get started.

If you haven't visited our website recently at eslpod.com, be sure to do that. We

have some interesting and exciting new features on our website. You can also

get the Learning Guide for this episode, which contains all of the vocabulary,

definitions, a culture note and the complete transcript of the podcast. In today's

Learning Guide we talk something that's very popular among children and is

something that most adults know about, something called Pig Latin. It's a way of

speaking English that I think you'll be interested in finding out about. That's in

today's Learning Guide.

Our first topic today is going to be about what we would call table manners,

“manners,” in the United States, and manners are the way that you behave, the

way you act. If we say someone has good manners, we mean they're polite, they

do things according to the accepted rules of behavior. Table manners refers to

how you are supposed to act when you are sitting at a table eating your dinner or

your meal. I thought that I would go through a list that I found somewhere on the

web about American table manners and talk a little bit about these customs we

have. Many of them, maybe most of them, will be the same in other countries,

but some of them, perhaps, are different. So, if you are going to be having a

meal with a American family, here are some things you can expect.

The first thing is that many American families, as we've talked about before on

the podcast, are very religious. Because of that reason, they often say a prayer

before they start their meal. The prayer is usually called grace, “grace,” so we

say that people say grace. To say grace means to say a prayer, usually thanking

God for the gifts of the food that you are about to eat. This is a common custom

in many families, even sometimes when they eat in public in a restaurant. But

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 58

often at home, for a family meal, we say grace, and that's a common custom in

many families.

Some other customs you can expect at a(n) American dinner table: not putting

your elbows on the table. It's considered rude to put your elbows on the table.

Of course, some people still do it. I would say it's fairly common, but to be more

polite, you don't put your elbows on the table. You can put your arms on the

table, what we would call your forearm, “forearm.” Your forearm is the part of

your arm between your hand and your elbow. So, no elbows on the table!

We usually put the napkin on our lap. The napkin, “napkin,” is that piece of towel

or a piece of cloth that you use to wipe your face. It's also something you put on

your lap. Your lap, “lap,” is your legs, the top of your legs when you are sitting.

At Christmastime, it's a common custom for children to go see Santa Claus and

they sit on his lap, they sit on the top of his legs as he is sitting down. Except

me, I don't...I don't usually sit on Santa's lap anymore. Last year, I think I did, but

not in the future!

Americans also think it is impolite to slurp your food. For example, if you are

drinking a cup of coffee or you are eating soup, it's not considered polite to slurp

it. To slurp, “slurp,” is easiest to define by doing it for you so you can hear what it

sounds like (slurping sound). That is slurping and it's considered rude to do that,

to make a noise when you are eating your soup or drinking something out of a

cup or glass.

It's, however, acceptable now to slurp your noodles when you are eating. This is

true for Italian food. If you are eating spaghetti, people will often slurp up the rest

of the noodle that doesn't go into their mouth, they want to get it in their mouth.

This is also true for many kinds of Asian cooking. This may be different in other

countries, but it's okay to do that, but you, again, try not to make any noise.

It is also common that if you are sitting at a table or in a restaurant with friends

that you wait until everyone has their food before you start eating. So, if you're in

a restaurant and someone brings...the waiter brings food to two people and two

people don't have food, the two people that do have food wait until the other two

people get their food. Sometimes you will say to someone who has their food,

“Don't wait for me; go ahead and eat,” especially if it's something hot. But, that's

the custom is to wait until everyone has their food, or everyone has gotten the

food from the table if you are eating at home.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2006). Posting of

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

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