#ESL Podcast 173 - Buying Souvenirs
##GLOSSARY
**souvenir store –** a store that sells objects to help you remember where you
have traveled
*There is a good souvenir store across the street from the hotel.
**T-shirt –** a shirt with short sleeves and no collar
*If I wear a t-shirt with no jacket, I’ll be cold all night.
**Can I help you find something? –** something that a clerk in a store asks when
you first enter meaning, do you know what you are looking for?
*Hi, welcome to Lucy’s Shoe Store. Can I help you find something?
**about (someone’s) size –** to have the same height or body shape as someone
else; to wear the same size clothing as someone else
*I thought his son was about my size, but he’s actually a lot taller.
**small, medium, large –** three standard sizes of clothing; from smallest to largest
*I tried on a small and it didn’t fit. I think I need a medium or a large.
**style –** a pattern or design
* What style do you think would look good on me?
**Could you recommend… –** Can you give me a suggestion about…?
*Could you recommend a good restaurant near the airport?
**locally-made –** made in the same city or area you are visiting
*We have a lot of items to choose from, including these locally-made music
boxes.
**mug –** a tall, round cup with a flat bottom and a handle; often used for drinking
coffee
*Do you want your tea in a glass or in a mug?
**key chain –** a ring that can hold keys; usually attached to another object
*My house key fell off my key chain and I can’t find it anywhere!
**snow globe –** a round glass container filled with water and glitter, with a small
building or statue inside; when you shake it, it looks like snow is falling on the
building or statue
*It’s strange to see snow globes of Los Angeles since it never snows here.
**jewelry –** ornaments such as rings, necklaces, or bracelets
*What kind of jewelry do you think I should wear with this dress?
**bracelet –** jewelry that can be worn around the wrist
*The bracelet is made of gold and is very heavy.
**How much is it? –** What is the cost? How much do I have to pay for this?
*I really like that new car. How much is it?
**I’ll take… –** I will have; I would like to have
*I’ll take some bread, chocolate cake, and cookies.
**There you go. –** Here is what you need; usually used when giving something to
someone else
*There you go. These are the clothes for the poor we collected in our
neighborhood.
**change –** the difference between what you owe and what you pay
*I gave the waitress $20 but she only gave me change for a $10 bill.
##COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. When Lydia asks the clerk for a recommendation, the clerk suggests:
a) a key chain or a snow globe.
b) a framed picture of Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
c) some locally-made jewelry.
2. Lydia decides to buy:
a) a bracelet.
b) a bracelet and a t-shirt.
c) a bracelet, a t-shirt, and a mug.
##WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?
mug
The noun *“mug,”* in this podcast, means a large cup with a handle, usually used
for hot drinks: *“Drinking a big mug of tea helps me stay warm on a cold night.”*
*“Mug”* can also be used as a verb to mean to attack and rob someone: “I was
walking in the park when I was mugged.” A person who does the attacking and
robbing is called a *“mugger”*: “The mugger told me to give him my money or he
would use his knife on me.”
change
In this podcast, the word *“change”* means the extra money returned to you when
you pay for something: *“Did you give me the correct change?”* *“Change”* can
also be used as a verb to mean to put on a clean diaper—a piece of material
around a baby’s bottom for the baby to go to the bathroom: “The more that baby
eats, the more often I have to change her.” *“Change”* can also be used to mean
to put on different clothes: “After work, I plan to go home to change before going
to the party.”
##CULTURE NOTE
People often collect souvenirs to remember a good time they had when they
traveled, or to prove that they have been somewhere. A souvenir usually has the
name or the picture of the place you are visiting. Some souvenirs can be useful,
like clothing, pens, or books. Other souvenirs are objects used for decoration
like toy animals, snow globes, or very small spoons or forks.
Some people collect souvenirs for themselves because they like to have them.
Often souvenirs are given as gifts, as a way to share the travel experience with
others. It is a tradition to bring gifts for close family and friends after taking a long
trip or vacation. The good thing about souvenirs is that when someone else sees
a souvenir, they can ask about it and you can talk about your experience
traveling. It is a nice way to get to know someone with similar interests.
Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – b
##COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to Number 173, “Buying
Souvenirs.”
This is Episode 173. I'm your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California. Be sure to visit our website at
and get the Learning Guide, the 8-10 page Learning Guide for this podcast which
has all of the words, definitions, sample sentences, cultural information, and a
complete transcript of this podcast. Go to eslpod.com.
Today's podcast is going to be about buying souvenirs. Let's get started.
[start of story]
I was vacationing in Miami, Florida, and I went to a souvenir store to get some
gifts for friends back home.
Lydia: Could you show me where the T-shirts are?
Clerk: Sure, they're on the left, along the wall. Can I help you find something?
Lydia: I'd like to get a T-shirt, but I'm not sure about the size. It's for a friend
who's about your size.
Clerk: Well, in that case, you'll need a large. I only have these in medium or
small, but I have these two in size large.
Lydia: Do you have anything in another color or another style?
Clerk: How about this one?
Lydia: That's great. Could you also recommend a gift for a young woman?
Clerk: We have a lot of locally-made items. I don't think you want a mug, a key
chain, or a snow globe. But, how about some jewelry?
Lydia: Oh, this bracelet is nice! How much is it?
Clerk: It's on sale for $36.00.
Lydia: Okay, I'll take the T-shirt and the necklace. Do you have a box for the
necklace?
Clerk: Sure, no problem. That will be $59.60 with tax.
Lydia: There you go.
Clerk: Here's your change. Thanks for coming in.
[end of story]
This podcast is called, *“Buying Souvenirs.”* And a *“souvenir”* is something that
you buy when you go on vacation. You take a trip to somewhere else, and you
want something to remember that place that you visited; something you can take
back home with you. It may be a picture, lots of different things that have the
name of the place you visited. All of these could be souvenirs.
Well, in this story, Lydia is vacationing in Florida. Notice that the word *“vacation”*
is a noun. It means what they would call in Britain a *“holiday.”* And a vacation or a
holiday is when you don't work and you go somewhere else to relax or see
something. It can also be a verb: *“to vacation.”* So, *“I am vacationing,”* “I was
vacationing,” is also a possible use of that word. Well, she's vacationing in Miami,
Florida. Florida, as you may know, is located in the southern part of the United
States, the southeastern part. It's famous for Disneyland, or, I’m sorry,
Disneyworld in Orlando. Disneyland is here in southern California. But, Miami is
very famous for being a very nice place to take a vacation.
So, she's vacationing in Miami and she goes into a souvenir store. Of course, a
souvenir store would be a store that sells things that have the name or the
picture of the place where you're visiting. And if you go to somewhere that has a
lot of tourists - a lot of people who are visiting or vacationing - you will find a
souvenir store. Well, she wants to get some souvenirs, some gifts, for friends
back home. She asks the clerk in the store if he could show her where the T-
shirts are.
A *“T-shirt”* is a piece of what we would call casual clothing. *“Casual”* is the
opposite of formal. We don't normally say *“informal”* clothes; we would say casual
clothes. And a T-shirt is a piece of casual clothing. You can wear a T-shirt
underneath a formal shirt. And usually, when a man does that, it's a white T-shirt.
A T-shirt is usually short-sleeved. That is, the *“sleeve,”* which is the part of the
shirt that is on your arm, that sleeve is not long; it doesn't go to your hand, to
your wrist, but it stops in the upper part of your arm. And we call that a “short-
sleeved shirt.” Well, a T-shirt is a short-sleeved shirt, a casual shirt. It's very
popular in many souvenir stores to find shirts that have the name of the town or
the place where you're visiting. My brother, Mark, used to own a lot of T-shirts
that had names of places where he had visited. And then he got married and his
wife made him throw them all away. So, because they're very casual clothing and
you wouldn't want to wear them to a formal event.
But anyway, the person here in our story, Lydia, has T-shirts that she wants to
buy. The clerk shows her where they are and asks Lydia, “Can I help you find
something?” – is a common question that a person in a store will ask you when
you walk in. *“Hi! Can I help you?”* *“Can I help you find something?”* And if you
want their help, of course, you can say, *“Yes. I'm looking for a T-shirt.”* “I'm
looking for a camera.” *“I'm looking for a girlfriend.”* - whatever you're going to get.
The clerk will, of course, try to help you and their job is to sell you something.
Sometimes, you don't want any help and in that case, you say, *“I'm just looking.”*
So, a clerk says, *“Can I help you find something?”* You say, “No, thank you. I'm
just looking.” We can also say, *“I'm just browsing.”* To *“browse”* means to look at
things, but not looking for anything specific, necessarily; just sort of looking at
different items in the store. Of course, the word *“browser”* is what you use on
your Internet connection on your computer to look at the Worldwide Web. You
are browsing the web; you are looking around at different things.
Well, the clerk here tells Lydia where the T-shirts are, and Lydia says, “I'd like to
get a T-shirt, but I'm not sure about the size. It's for a friend who is about your
size.” Well, *“size”* is how big or how small a piece of clothing is. And when
someone says, *“Oh, this is about your size,”* means that it is the same size shirt
or pants that you wear. So, someone says, *“Oh, he's my size”* means he’s
basically the same height and weight as I am and wears a similar size clothing.
Brad Pitt is my size, for example. He and I look alike and we have similar sizes in
our clothing.
Well, the clerk says, *“I wear a large.”* A *“large,”* is of course, one of the sizes; it's
the bigger size. We have large for bigger people, medium, and then small. We
also have extra-large for people who are even bigger than normal. And you even
can find extra, extra-large. On a piece of clothing, you would normally see these
as letters, so a large would be an *“L,”* and a medium would be an *“M,”* and a
small would be an *“S,”* an extra-large would be an *“XL,”* an extra, extra-large
would be an *“XXL,”* and so forth. Lydia says that she wants to see if the clerk has
anything in another color or another style. And a *“style”* is the look of the piece of
clothing. It might, for example, be a pair of pants that has lots of pockets. That
could be one style. And a different style could be a pair of pants that had no
pockets. So, a style is the way that a piece of clothing looks, in this case.
The clerk suggests another T-shirt to Lydia and she says, *“That's great,”* meaning
yes, that's the one I want. “Could you also recommend a gift for a young
woman?” *“Could you also recommend...”* is a polite way of saying, “Can you give
me your idea? Can you give me your opinion? Can you give me a
recommendation for a gift?” The clerk says, *“We have lots of locally-made items.”*
*“Local”* means in the area where you are. So, here in Los Angeles, locally, we
have lots of movie stars and we have lots of singers and artists. That's what we
have here in this area - locally. So, *“locally”* describes things in an area. If we say
something is *“locally-made,”* we mean that it is made in that area. So, if you go to
visit Tokyo and someone says, *“Well, this is locally-made,”* it means it's made in
Tokyo. Or if you go to Nairobi and they say, *“Yes, this is locally made,”* they
mean it's made in Nairobi, Kenya. That is a use of that expression.
So Lydia is asking for a recommendation and the clerk says, “I don't think you
want a mug, a keychain, or a snow globe.” These are three very common items,
very common things you will find in a souvenir store that have the name of the
place on them. A *“mug”* is a cup, usually like a coffee cup. So, if you go on to
eslpod.com, our website, and you look at the little picture we have for the English
Café, you will see a mug of coffee, a cup of coffee. So, a mug is a big cup that
you drink coffee or tea in. Right now, for example, I have a mug of hot tea. I like
Chai tea, a spiced tea, in front of me. And I drink that so that I can keep my voice
here, like that. Well, that's a mug of tea.
A *“key chain,”* two words, is what you have your keys on, what you keep your
keys on. In many places, you can buy key chains that have the name of the
place. So, it's a little ring that you put your keys on; that's a key chain.
A *“snow globe”* – two words, *“snow,”* like snow that falls during the winter time
where it's cold, and a *“globe,”* a globe is usually a representation of the world, of
the entire earth; and it's something that you can look at where different countries
are. But here, a globe just means a round-like piece of glass that inside has a
little picture or representation of the place you are visiting. So, for example, if you
go to Sydney, Australia and you bought a snow globe, inside of the globe, which
is only a couple of inches tall, you would see a little model, a little representation
of the Sydney Opera House. And that would be inside this snow globe. Inside the
snow globe there's water. And there's also little white pieces of...it's almost like
white pieces of sand, so that if you take the snow globe and you shake it, you
move it up and down. The sand will start falling from the top like it is snow, as if it
were snow. And that's a snow globe. You may have seen one of these; they’re
very popular, at least in American tourist stores. So, it's sort of a joke gift now
because people don't normally buy them anymore. But, many places still sell
them. And it is a very popular item in a souvenir store. Well, that's a snow globe.
The clerk says, instead, *“How about some jewelry?”* That expression “How
about...” means *“why don't you buy”* or *“why don't you consider this idea.”* “How
about some jewelry?” means *“why don't you think about buying some jewelry?”*
*“Jewelry”* is things like rings and pendants and earrings - things that you wear on
your body. Women often wear jewelry, for example. Well, the clerk says, “How
about some jewelry?” And Lydia says, *“Oh, this bracelet is nice.“ A “bracelet”* is
something that goes around your wrist, at the end of your arm, between your arm
and your hand - we call that your *“wrist.”* And that is a place where women and
men sometimes put a bracelet. So it goes around it.
Lydia says, *“How much is it?,”* meaning *“how much does it cost?”* And the clerk
says it's 36 dollars. And Lydia says, “36 dollars! That's outrageous. That's too
much.” No, she doesn't say that. She actually says, “Okay, I'll take the T-shirt and
the bracelet.” When you say in a store, *“I'll take it,”* that means, *“I will buy it.”* “I
would like to buy it.” *“I am going to buy it.”* She asks the clerk if he has a box. A
box here would be something that you would use to put it in and put paper
around it, we would say to *“wrap”* it, if you are going to give it to someone as a
gift. So, she asks for a box. Many stores that sell gifts will also give you a little
box, if you ask them. You have to ask them, however.
The clerk says, *“Sure, no problem. That will be $59.60 with tax.”* Lydia says,
*“There you go.”* What she's doing at that point is she's giving the clerk money or
her credit card. And that expression is something we use when we're handing
something or giving something to someone else. *“Well, here you go”* or “there
you go” - either way, it's when you're giving the money to the clerk, the person
who works at the store. The clerk says, *“Here's your change.”* *“Change”* is the
money you get back from the money you give to the clerk. So, if it's $59.60, and
you give the clerk 60 dollars, your change is 40 cents. So, *“change”* is the money
you get back from what you are buying. The clerk finally says, “Thanks for
coming in.” *“To come in”* here means to visit, to go to. So, *“Thanks for coming in.”*
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a native rate of speech.
[start of story]
I was vacationing in Miami, Florida, and I went to a souvenir store to get some
gifts for friends back home.
Lydia: Could you show me where the T-shirts are?
Clerk: Sure, they're on the left, along the wall. Can I help you find something?
Lydia: I'd like to get a T-shirt, but I'm not sure about the size. It's for a friend
who's about your size.
Clerk: Well, in that case, you'll need a large. I only have these in medium or
small, but I have these two in size large.
Lydia: Do you have anything in another color or another style?
Clerk: How about this one?
Lydia: That's great. Could you also recommend a gift for a young woman?
Clerk: We have a lot of locally-made items. I don't think you want a mug, a key
chain, or a snow globe. But, how about some jewelry?
Lydia: Oh, this bracelet is nice! How much is it?
Clerk: It's on sale for $36.00.
Lydia: Okay, I'll take the T-shirt and the necklace. Do you have a box for the
necklace?
Clerk: Sure, no problem. That will be $59.60 with tax.
Lydia: There you go.
Clerk: Here's your change. Thanks for coming in.
[end of story]
Today's script was written by our wonderful writer, Dr. Lucy Tse, and producer of
this podcast. That's all we have time for. From Los Angeles, California, I am Jeff
McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,
hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.
