Here’s a question for those of you who are married: Where did you meet your spouse (general term for husband or wife)? In the U.S., there is a long tradition of using schools as places for making romantic connections. Historically (traditionally), school has been a popular place to meet your future husband or wife in the U.S., as is probably true in many countries. In 1992, 23% of married Americans said that they meet their spouse at school (such as high school) or at the university. Only 15% of people said they met their spouse at work.

Now, things have changed. In 2006, a similar survey found that only 14% of U.S. married couples first met at school, and 18% met at work. The work figure (number) has increased three percentage points, but the school/university number has gone down more dramatically. What is going on here (what is happening)?

While schools were always seen as a place where men and women had time to meet and develop romantic relationships, both men and women nowadays (currently, now) are getting married at a much later age than they did 20 years ago. The average age for a man in the U.S. to marry is 27.5 years; for a woman, it’s 25.5 years. There are many reasons for this change. An article today in the Wall Street Journal says that part of the reason is “credential inflation” at work. Credentials are qualifications, such as a university degree or training. Inflation is when something continues to increase over time. The article is saying that jobs nowadays more and more require people to get higher and better qualifications (Master’s degrees, for example) so that young people have to wait to marry so that they can finish this additional training. Perhaps this is one reason why Internet dating has become more popular. As people have fewer opportunities to meet eligible (unmarried) men and women, they need to find other ways of meeting people. College students now believe that they need to wait to marry, and so don’t start looking for a potential spouse until after they leave school, even though college is probably the one time in their life where they will have a lot of time and opportunity to meet an eligible mate (spouse).

What about me? Well, I married at the age of 33 and met my spouse…at school! So I guess I am an exception to the current trend in some ways.

~Jeff

Many of our listeners like to watch English-language movies for enjoyment, but also to improve their English. We sometimes get emails asking for our recommendations. We don’t have specific films to recommend, but what is important is that any movie (or TV show) you watch is comprehensible, easy to understand. As another listener recently reminded us, using the caption function on your television so that the words appear on the TV screen can help to improve comprehension, and we highly recommend doing that. Keep in mind (remember), however, that reading the caption should not interfere (prevent; get in the way) too much with your enjoyment of the movie. If you find that you’re spending all of your time reading and can’t follow the story, then this movie is too hard for you right now. Try to find something simpler.

In general, dramas are easier to understand than action movies or comedies, but of course, many things can make movies more or less comprehensible. Stay away from movies with too much slang, of course, and period movies (a movie set in the past) that have old-fashioned (not modern) speech. How much you know about the topic of the movie–your background knowledge–also helps to make a movie more or less comprehensible.

You are the best people to ask for movie recommendations: our terrific listeners! If you have seen a movie in English that is enjoyable and easy to understand, please post a comment and let us and our other listeners know about it.

~ Lucy

It has been raining here in Los Angeles pretty much non-stop (without interruption) for the past four days. It is normally very dry in southern California, but this year we have received a lot of rain and snow. One of the nice things about a big storm (bad weather, usually with rain) in L.A. is that the pollution levels go down, and you can see things that you cannot normally see with the dirty air we often have.

Yesterday I was driving around and I saw the beautiful, snow-capped mountains that surround the city. (The cap of something is the top of it, so snow-capped means there was snow at the very top of the mountain.) I imagined what Los Angeles used to look like many years ago, before the cars and smog and pollution of the city made the air dirty. For a brief moment, I was taken back in time.

Perhaps someday we will be able to reduce the pollution in our city so that we can enjoy the beautiful views of the mountain everyday, not just after one of the few days that it rains here.

~Jeff

Today’s ESL Podcast 341 is about annoying cell phone users. I, like many people, get annoyed when cell phone users are inconsiderate (impolite; behave selfishly), and today’s podcast reminded me of this joke.

~ Lucy
….

Several men are in the locker room (changing and showering room) of a gym after exercising. Suddenly a cell phone on one of the benches (low, long seats) rings. A man picks it up and has this conversation:

Man: “Hello?”
Woman: “Honey, It’s me.”
Man: “Hello, darling.”
Woman: “Are you at the gym?”
Man: “Yes.”
Woman: “Great! I’m at the shopping mall. I saw a beautiful mink coat (coat made of animal fur). It is absolutely gorgeous (very beautiful)! Can I buy it?”
Man: “What’s the price?”
Woman: “Only $1,500.”
Man: “Well, okay, go ahead and get it, if you like it that much.”
Woman: “I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership (store where cars are sold) and saw the 2008 models. I saw one I really liked. I spoke with the salesman and he gave me a really good price.”
Man: “What price did he quote (give) you?”
Woman: “Only $80,000!”
Man: “Okay, but for that price I want it with all the options (special features; additions).”
Woman: “Great! Before we hang up, there’s something else…”
Man: “What?”
Woman: “I stopped by to see the real estate agent (a person’s whose job is to help people buy and sell homes and properties) this morning and I saw the house we had looked at last year. The price has dropped (declined).”
Man: “How much are they asking?”
Woman: “Only $650,000, a great price.”
Man: “Well, then go ahead and buy it if you can get the price to $620,000, okay?”
Woman: “Okay, honey. Thanks! I’ll see you later!! I love you!!!”
Man: Bye.”

The man hangs up and asks aloud, “Does anyone know to whom this phone belongs?”

Baseball is one of the United States’ most popular sports, but it has become popular in many other countries as well, especially in Asia and Latin America. In the U.S., the organization of professional baseball teams is called Major League Baseball (a league is a collection of teams who play each other in a sport). Yesterday, the MLB announced that it was going to have two of its teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, play two games in Beijing, China, on March 15th and 16th. This will be the first time that two professional U.S. baseball teams play a game in China. The game will take place in the stadium (an arena or place where many people can gather to watch sports) that will be used for the 2008 Olympics later this year.

As some of you know, I am a baseball fan, especially of the L.A. Dodgers. I don’t think I will be able to make the trip to watch the games in China, but I’m sure they will be on television here, since both the Padres and the Dodgers are from southern California.

By the way, Padres is Spanish for “fathers” or “priests.” The name refers to the fact that some of the earliest Europeans to come to southern California were Catholic priests from Spain (a priest named John would be called “Father John,” for example). The word Dodgers is a bit more difficult to explain. The team began in Brooklyn, a part of New York City, and were originally called the Brooklyn Dodgers. To dodge means to move quickly so you avoid getting hit by something, such as a car or train. Back in the late 19th century, Brooklyn had small trains called trollies, so one of the original names of the team was the Trolley Dodgers, since people had to dodge the trollies when they crossed the street. The team moved to Los Angels in the late 1950s, but the name was kept, so they are now the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It is not uncommon for professional sports teams in the U.S. to move cities but keep the name of the city where they started. Another example: one of the professional basketball teams in Los Angeles is the L.A. Lakers. The team is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were called the Lakers because Minneapolis is called the “City of Lakes,” since there are many lakes inside the city. When the team moved to Los Angeles many years later, the name remained the same, even though there aren’t really any lakes in L.A.!

One more thing: the traditional way to start a baseball game is for the umpire (the referee, the person who makes sure players follow the rules) to shout, “Play ball!” Now I have to learn how to say that in Chinese!

~Jeff

In the news last week was a story of a mother who sold her son’s car after he didn’t follow her rules. This is what happened:

A mother bought her 18-year-old son a car and told him that she had two simple rules: 1) no booze (alcohol) in the car and 2) keep the car locked. One day, the mother decides to check to see if her son had followed her rules. She finds that the car is unlocked and there is a bottle of alcohol under the front seat. He was busted (discovered)!

What did she do? She placed the following classified ad (personal advertisement) in the Des Moines Register, a major newspaper in the State of Iowa where they live:

“OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”

uncool = not nice; not sympathetic
obviously = clearly
snoopy = looking around secretly to find information
to get a life = to not worry about unimportant things
mean/meanest = unkind/the most unkind

Many people thought this ad was very funny because the mother used some of the common words and phrases angry teenagers might use to describe a parent who is doing something they don’t like. Someone who doesn’t share a teenager’s views is “uncool” and someone who pries (tries to find out other people’s private information) is a snoop or is snoopy. A teenager might tell you “to get a life” and to stop bother them. If parents force a teenager to do something they don’t like, they might call those parents “mean.”

The ad got a lot of attention in the media. Many people said that this mother was not only clever (smart and funny) to use her son’s words and point of view in the ad, but that she was right to enforce (to force someone to follow) her rules. This story was reported by the national news and appeared on national television.

~ Lucy

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States, a national holiday. I talked about the great civil rights leader on English Cafe #5. We now sometimes refer to this holiday as “MLK Day.” As on all national holidays, all government offices, schools, and many private businesses are closed.

I was only five years old when Martin Luther King was assassinated (to kill a famous or important person), but soon after the death of King and the assassination that same year (1968) of Robert F. Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy, there was a song released about the killings of these three American leaders (King, Bobby Kennedy, and John Kennedy) and President Abraham Lincoln. The song became very famous, and I remember my parents had a copy of the record (what we used to listen to before CDs!). The song begins with a reference (a mention of) to Abraham Lincoln, who was the president who ended slavery (the treatment of people as property) in the U.S. in the mid-1800s, and who was also assassinated. It connects these four leaders as people who helped others. The song, sung by pop singer Dion, became very popular in the U.S. in the late 1960s.

It is an emotional song, a reminder of the great men who were lost due to violence and hatred. The song became the fourth most popular song of its day, and sold more than a million copies. Several other singers later recorded the song, including Ray Charles. Many people who listen to the song today and who remember those sad days of American history still get tears in their eyes, even 40 years later. I do.

I found this recording on YouTube. The pictures in the video, of course, were added by someone else much later, but you can hear the song and read the lyrics below. This video begins with some traditional patriotic (to be proud of one’s country) symbols of the United States, and then shows photographs of the four assassinated men.
Abraham, Martin, and John
Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed (gave freedom to) a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.*
You know, I just looked around (searched for him) and he’s gone.Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he’s gone.Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked ’round (poetic form of “around”) and he’s gone.

Didn’t you love the things that they stood for (believed in, represented)?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Some day soon, and it’s a-gonna (it’s going to) be one day …

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

*the good they die young - this is a common expression and belief, that good, moral, ethical people often die as young men and women

~Jeff

Bill is a funny word. Normally, it means a statement of what you have to pay someone for a product or service, what you owe him or her. In a restaurant, the waiter brings you the bill (also called the check). Most people complain about all of the bills they have to pay each month – telephone bills, electricity bills, water bills. To bill is also a verb meaning to give or send someone a request for money. If you want to pay for something later but take your product now, you may say to the person selling it, “Bill me!” meaning “Send me a bill for the payment and I will pay you later.”

But there are even more meanings of bill. Bill is also a short form of the name William, as in President Bill Clinton. Bill can also mean a sign or a poster advertising something, usually placed on a public wall or on a telephone pole (a long piece of wood that is used to keep the telephone wires up in the air). You can see here a picture of a telephone pole with hundreds of staples (sharp metal objects that hold paper or other thin material together). Why so many staples? People use these poles to put up notices about a lost dog or a local sale that they’re having at their house. Telephone poles are used as places to put free announcements that can be seen by anyone who walks by them. This pole has had many people use it as a place to post (to put in a place for people to see it) announcements. Another word for announcement or advertising poster is, remember, a bill. So on some walls or poles, you will see a sign that says: Post No Bills, meaning “Don’t put up any of those signs here!”

One more thing: a pole is a long piece of wood, but a Pole (with the “p” capitalized) is a person from the country of Poland. Confusing, right?

~Jeff

P.S. Thanks again to Matteo Mescalchin of Digital Movie for this photograph.

In today’s English Cafe 120, Jeff talks about the dumb blond stereotype. When Americans think of dumb blonds, the classic example is Marilyn Monroe, or at least the characters she played in films. Here she is singing a song from the classic movie Gentlemen Prefer Blonds (1953).

~ Lucy

Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend
The French are glad to die for love
They delight in fighting duels (fight for honor between two people)
But I prefer a man who lives
And gives expensive jewelsA kiss on the hand may be quite Continental
But diamonds are a girl’s best friend
A kiss may be grand (great)
But it won’t pay the rental (rent; money you pay each month for the place you live)
On your humble (modest) flat (British term for “apartment”)
Or help you at the automat (laundromat; where you pay to wash your own clothes)

Men grow cold
As girls grow old
And we all lose our charms (attractiveness) in the end
But square-cut or pear-shaped
These rocks don’t lose their shape
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend

Tiffany’s. . . Cartier. . .
Black frost. . .
Pearl ‘bossed. . .
Talk to me, Harry Winston, tell me all about it!

There may come a time when a lass (girl) needs a lawyer
But diamonds are a girl’s best friend
There may come a time when a hard-boiled (difficult; strict) employer
Thinks you’re awful nice
But get that ice (slang meaning diamonds)
Or else no dice (not okay; cannot proceed)

He’s your guy when stocks are high
But beware when they start to descend (to come down; decline)
Cos (because) that’s when those louses (bad people)
Go back to their spouses (husbands or wives)
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend

I’ve heard of affairs which are strictly Platonic (friendship without sex)
But diamonds are a girl’s best friend
And I think affairs that you
Must keep Masonic (with strength; solid)
Are better bets
If little pets get big baguettes (a shape of diamonds)

Time rolls on (continues), and youth is gone
And you can’t straighten up when you bend
But stiff (not easy to move) back, or stiff knees
You stand straight at Tiffany’s

Diamonds, diamonds. . .
I don’t mean rhinestones (inexpensive stones that look like diamonds)
Diamonds. . .
Are a girl’s best. . . best friend

The expression “Hurry up and wait!” is meant as a joke. To hurry up means to go faster, so there is little point (there is no reason) in hurrying up if you then have to wait. I thought of this expression last week as I was standing in line at the pharmacy to pick up some drugs. I had been rushing (hurrying) to get to the pharmacy, but when I got there, I realized I had to stand in line for 10 minutes to pick up the drugs. I should not have hurried.

At the front of the line, about a meter and a half from the counter where you pick up your prescriptions (drugs the doctor gives you), I saw a small mat (something you stand on that protects the floor or surface under it). On the mat it said:

Please Wait Here / You’re NEXT / Respect Patient Privacy.

Where you see my feet in the photograph (boy, I really need new shoes!), there are little outlines (the outer lines of a figure or object) of feet where you are supposed to stand. “Please wait here” is clear enough. It means “Don’t go any farther! Stop here!” “You’re next” is telling you that you will be the next person who is helped at the counter. “Respect Patient Privacy” is the important phrase here. To respect means in this case to observe, to be careful of or to look out for. Patients are people who are sick and see a doctor. Privacy comes from private, meaning to keep things secret from other people, not to let other people know your personal information. The reason the sign says “Respect Patient Privacy” is that the hospital doesn’t want you to stand too close to the person (patient) at the counter. If you do, you could hear their private medical information which is none of your concern.

There is a reason why hospitals and pharmacies have these signs now. About 10 years ago, the U.S. government passed a set of laws to protect people’s personal medical information so that it would not be given to others without their permission. The law is called HIPAA, which stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It was meant in part to protect people’s privacy when it comes to medical information. If you look very closely at the mat in the picture, you’ll see a little circle on the right hand side. That circle says “HIPAA Compliant,” meaning that this sign (or mat) meets the requirements of the HIPAA law. To be compliant means that you or your organization is doing the things necessary to obey a certain law.

So if you go to a pharmacy here, be sure to look down and find out where you are supposed to stand!

~Jeff