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
In today’s ESL Podcast 338 - Refusing an Invitation, we talked about finding an excuse for not attending a party.
Sometimes, though, we decide to accept rather than refuse an invitation. In the Culture Note of the Learning Guide, we talk about different types of people who attend parties. We know that Dr. Jeff McQuillan would always be the life of the party (an amusing person who is the center of attention at a social gathering), but which are you?
Are you normally the: VIP, life of the party, party crasher, party-pooper, or wallflower?
In the Culture Note of today’s Learning Guide, we talk about the comix movement.
A major figure (important person) in the comix movement is R. (Robert) Crumb, who is an American artist and illustrator (a person who draws pictures for magazines, books, advertisements). He had a unique and easy to recognize style of drawing and he often wrote satirical (using humor to criticize or expose other people) and subversive (undermining or getting around authority) stories.
A few years ago, I saw the movie Crumb (1994), which was a documentary about the life of Robert Crumb. It was considered a very good film and it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, a well known and prestigious (high status; highly respected) film festival in the U.S.
Are there well-known or well-respected comics and comic artists in your country? Are there any that have become popular outside of their own country?
In today’s English Cafe 115, Jeff talked about professional wrestling on American television. Sometimes, professional wrestlers will participate in a battle royals, where a large group of fighters enter the ring and the last person standing is the winner.
Here is an example of a battle royal. Remember that this is for entertainment and that all of it is staged (rehearsed; planned), and the wrestlers are not supposed to really get hurt.
The announcers say that it’s every man for himself in the ring, which means each person is trying to help him or herself, and is not concerned about anyone else. In other words, each fighter is fighting alone, without any help from anyone else.
Do you find professional wrestling convincing? Do you find it entertaining?
Today’s English Cafe #114 talks about vanity plates, specialized license plates that you can put on your car. One of the interesting things about these plates is that they often try to spell a word using the fewest letters possible, since there is not much room on a license plate. Here are some examples and what they mean:
Above you see “PIGPN” - this means “pigpen.” A pigpen is the place where you keep pigs, and is supposed to be very dirty. If your mother tells you your room is a “pigpen,” she wants you to clean it up!
This one says “WHOLUVSU” - this means “who loves you.” We sometimes write love “luv” and of course “u” is used for “you,” since they have the same sound.
This plate used a symbol of the heart to communicate the idea of love. It probably means “pure lover.” The adjective pure sometimes means sole or exclusively, the only thing you are.
Have you seen any good vanity plates? Let us know!
~Jeff
P.S. Some of you may have noticed that today’s city, Boston, was also talked about in English Cafe #45. I tried to talk about different things, however, so I hope you will learn even more about this great city.
P.P.S. UPDATE - I want to thank two listeners who posted comments to say that “PURR” lover is probably someone who likes cats. To purr means to make a noise like a cat. The actual noise is usually “meow.” Since I don’t have any cats, I didn’t think of that possibility!
In today’s podcast, 325 - Describing People’s Moods, we talk about being on edge. In the “What Else Does it Mean?” section of the Learning Guide, we also talk about the different meanings of edge, and what competitive edge and cutting edge mean.
Another very common idiom is to be on the edge of (one’s) seat. We use this to mean that we feel very interested in something and that it is very exciting. If I thought that a movie was very good and had a lot of action, I might say that I was on the edge of my seat as I watched the movie from beginning to end. At an exciting basketball game, the fans are on the edge of their seats waiting to see which team will win.
Are any of our listeners on the edge of their seats waiting for each new episode of our podcast? I doubt it!
Today’s Cafe 111 talks about the American celloist Yo Yo Ma. Ma is one of the best known classical musicians in the U.S. If you are interested in what he is up to (what he is doing), take a look at an article in this week’s U.S. News and World Report, one of the three popular newsmagazines in the U.S.
Ma’s latest project is the Silk Road Project. The article describes part of the project as:
a children’s workshop…to bring the sounds and instruments from the historic Asia-Europe trade route to the international scene.
A workshop is a type of class or training program. A trade route refers to the path people used to transport goods from one country to another. Ma is training a group of young musicians to play with the instruments that were found on the trade route between Asia and Europe several centuries ago.
If you want to become a great musician, you may want to study at the Julliard School. Today’s Cultural Note in the Learning Guide will tell you more.
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).
_______
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.
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.
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 
In today’s 
