In today’s podcast, ESL Podcast 320 – Micromanaging the Staff, we talk about the verb “to butt in.” Butt is what we informally call the part of the body that we sit on, so it’s important to use phrases with butt in it carefully. In the “What Else Does it Mean?” section of today’s Learning Guide, we talk about other meanings of “to butt in,” and also “to butt out” and “to butt heads.” Jeff and I never butt heads while working on the podcast. If you believe that, I have some magic beans I would like to sell you.
Another phrase that uses the word “butt” is: to be the butt of a joke. To be the butt of a joke means that someone else told a joke that makes you look bad or silly, and the joke is on you. Nobody likes being the butt of a joke, especially if they’re just minding their own business (not concerning themselves with other people’s business).
One of the topics of English Cafe 110 was eating in a restaurant. We had a couple of good questions about tipping, so I thought I would answering them here. Jeff and I wish we could answer more questions on the blog, but we just don’t have enough time to do it and to produce three podcasts a week. We wish we did! To hear more about the topic of tipping in an American restaurant, listen to English Cafe 41.
Question 1 from David:
Last time my parents and I had a dinner…at the end of the dinner, a waiter put a booklet in our table, inside it’s the check. Then, of course, my mom paid the bill, and it’s by cash. The total amount plus tax is 42 USD. So my mom put 50 USD inside, and we thought the waiter or host will give us back the changes. But he didn’t. We waited there for so long time…so the waiter came by and asked what’s going on…..well, we didn’t say anything because at that time we didn’t know how to say or how to ask (we can’t speak English well was the main point…) At last, we just leaved that resturant, but we did put the tips on the table.
I really don’t understand, is this a kind of American culture that resturant don’t give the changes back? maybe next time I should tell my parents pay by credit card?
The standard tip is 10-15% for lunch and 15-20% for dinner. Since $50 includes about 15%, your waiter may have thought that you were including the tip. (If you are paying cash and you are including the tip, you say “Keep the change.” But normally, the waiter should bring you change back if you don’t say that.) You can do one of two things in this situation:
1) When you give him your payment (money), you can say, “Could I get change, please?”
2) If he doesn’t bring your change and he asks if there’s a problem, you can say, “We’re waiting for our change” or “Could we get our change, please?” He should bring you your change and then you can leave the tip on the table (or in the little book that the check is sometimes placed in).
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Question 2 from Michael:
I generally understand the custom of leaving a tip in US restaurants, but how do you communicate it? If the bill is about $20 and you want to leave a tip of 20% ($4), will you say “make twenty-four”, “make it twenty-four”, “take twenty-four”, “get twenty-four” or something else? I’m not sure if this phrase can be translated from German which would mean “Machen Sie vierundzwanzig.”
Will the tip be given to the waiter separately? E.g. give 2 $10 bills to him for the bill and 4 $1 separately to him. Give him $25 and expect to get $1 back? How do you handle it, if you don’t pay cash, but use your credit card?
If you are paying with cash, there are several things you can do:
1) You can give the waitress a $20 bill and a $5 bill and say, “Just give me a dollar back.”
2) You can hand her the $5 bill and say, “Can I get change for a five, please?” She will bring you five $1 bills and then you can leave $24 on the table.
3) You can do #1 from Question 1.
If you pay with a credit card, there is a separate line where you can write in the tip.
gratuity = tip
Write in the amount of the tip you want to give, add that to the amount of your meal, and then write in the “total” amount. Don’t forget to sign your name at the bottom where it says “signature.” The restaurant will give the tip to your waiter or waitress.
If you own a Nokia cell phone, you can now listen to ESL Podcast right on (directly on) your phone! Nokia has a piece of podcasting software that allows you to listen to various podcasts on your phone.
To get the software, simply go to this page and click on the Download Nokia Podcasting button and install on your phone.
In today’s Cafe, I talk about how to become a teacher in the U.S. One of the problems I didn’t talk about is attrition (the loss of something, sometimes slowly). Teacher attrition happens when teachers quit their jobs and start a new career. This is a huge problem in the U.S., since as many as 50% of all teachers leave teaching in their first five years. Some leave because the pay is not very high, but many leave due to the stress involved in being a teacher nowadays.
An article earlier this week in the New York Times discusses this problem and some possible solutions for it. One solution is to start teacher education students in front of the classroom (teaching) right away, instead of waiting until the end of their training.
The costs of having a wedding in the U.S. keeps going up, but there’s one way to cut costs: a fake wedding cake! According to a Reader’s Digest article, real wedding cakes in the U.S. cost an average of $550.
To save money, some Americans are buying a replica (copy) made of foam, that white stuff used to pack the inside of packages to prevent the contents from breaking. In these fake cakes, there is a secret compartment or section for the first slice (piece) of cake that is “cut” and eaten by the bride and groom. The tradition is for the bride and groom to feed each other the cake, often with their hands, and it can get very messy. Once that part of the wedding reception (party) is over, the fake cake is taken into the kitchen and the guests are served slices of a much less expensive cake.
What will we see next? Candy wedding rings? Paper wedding dresses? Fake brides and grooms?
On second thought, that’s not such a bad idea. You save money on the wedding and the divorce.
Today’s podcast, ESL Podcast 318, is about writing a love song. If you’re like me, you don’t know how to write a love song, but maybe you’re in the mood for (have a feeling of wanting)for love. If so, here’s some Frank Sinatra to make your Monday go by a little easier.
~ Lucy
Fly Me to the Moon
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars.
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars.
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me.
Fill my life with song
And let me sing forevermore.
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore.
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you.
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forevermore = forever; always to long for (something) = to have a strong wish or desire for something to worship = to love and deeply respect, usually a god to be true = to be faithful; to love only me
In Wednesday’s English Cafe 109, Jeff invited me to talk about Tucson, Arizona, where I grew up. Although I moved away many years ago, I still miss many things about Tucson.
The one thing I miss the most is the beautiful, breathtaking (amazing quality) sunsets. The blue skies of the day turn into paintings of yellows, oranges, reds, and purples. No picture I can find can do justice to them to show what they really look like, but some evenings can look like this:
In the Cafe, I also mentioned the rodeo. Here is what a rodeo in Tucson looks like:
As you can see, people sit in the grandstand, the seating area around the field, to watch the horse and other animal demonstrations and competitions. Here, two riders are trying to rope or to capture with a rope, a wild cow.
Other competitions include trying to ride a wild bull (male cow) or a wild horse, called a bronco. So if you’re a good horse rider, you may want to give next year’s rodeo a try!
In the “What Else Does it Mean?” section of today’s Learning Guide, we talk about other meanings of “to butt in,” and also “to butt out” and “to butt heads.” Jeff and I never butt heads while working on the podcast. If you believe that, I have some magic beans I would like to sell you.
In today’s 
cost an average of $550.
