Allergies

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Kathryn and today we're talking about something that I think a lot of people

experience especially with certain things like peanuts and cats.

So what are we talking about?

That's right.

Today we are talking about allergies.

So that means that we have a problem with maybe cats.

They make us sick or with certain foods.

Like a lot of people who are allergic to milk actually.

That's right.

So we're going to talk about a couple of these allergies and symptoms.

So why don't we have a listen to our dialogue and we'll be back in a bit.

I feel terrible.

I keep sneezing and my eyes are all watery.

What's wrong with me?

Wow, you're not dying, are you?

It looks like you have a cold.

You should take some medicine.

I don't think it's a cold.

I feel fine if I move a few feet away from my desk.

Maybe we should put you into quarantine.

Jokes aside, I think you might have an allergy.

An allergy?

I never thought about that.

I don't think I'm allergic to pollen though and I'm desensitized to bee stings after being

stung so many times.

Hmm.

Ow!

Why did you chuck that peanut at me?

Just checking if you're allergic to peanuts.

I guess not.

Not funny.

I could have gone into anaphylactic shock.

Okay, my bad.

How about dust?

My office is full of it.

Yes, the whole office is dusty yet I only feel affected near our desks.

You brought your cat into the office?

Yeah, it's Mr. Snuffle's birthday today.

I didn't want him to be alone on his special day.

Ah, put it away.

I guess we found the problem.

You're allergic to cats.

Alright so now let's take a look at vocab on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

Alright so Marco we have a number of things that might happen if you're feeling like you're

allergic to something.

The first one is my eyes are all watery.

Okay, so your eyes get watery and that means you start to have a lot of water, a lot of

tears in your eyes.

That's right but you're not sad, you're not crying.

It's just that you have this reaction that you cannot control and the water maybe comes

down from your eyes.

Right, usually your eyes get wet and watery, itchy, red, so a lot of that.

There's another thing too, this happens a lot.

You feel like you can't stop sneezing.

To sneeze.

A sneeze is something you do when the air comes out of your nose.

Out of your nose, out of your mouth, out of everywhere.

Yeah and you can't control it and sometimes it's very, very strong.

You move your head but it's something that you do when you're allergic to something like

a cat or a flower but also maybe when you smell something very, some spice like hot

pepper.

Yeah, or when you're sick, when you have a cold.

That's right.

And so his friend says that maybe they should put him into quarantine.

Alright now this is a joke.

If you have allergies you don't have to go to quarantine but quarantine is very serious.

It's a place where people go when they have a dangerous or very infectious disease and

quarantine means that no one else can come in and you cannot go out.

Right, exactly.

So I think when they had the pig flu, the swine flu, many people were put into quarantine

to make sure they didn't give it to someone else.

That's right.

So usually in quarantine you have to wait until you can prove that you're not sick anymore

and then you get to leave.

That's right.

Alright, so they were talking about maybe the options of what he's allergic to.

He says I don't think I'm allergic to pollen.

So what is pollen and where does it come from?

Alright, now pollen is actually a very common allergy and pollen comes from flowers.

It's kind of like a special dust or special kind of thing that you see on flowers that

gets blown away.

So when it's springtime many people suffer from allergies because there's a lot more

pollen in the air.

So it's that little dust, usually sometimes yellow, that you can find on flowers and this

is actually what butterflies and bees look for.

That's right.

Okay.

And then he talked about, well, he's not allergic to bees and his friend threw a peanut at him

but he said it in a very strange way.

He said, why did you chuck that peanut at me?

To chuck.

Alright, to chuck.

Now this is a very spoken English way of saying something.

To chuck means to throw.

So like, Marco, why did you chuck that pillow at me?

That was mean.

Alright, so to chuck is to throw but usually to throw something strongly.

So as you said, it's very spoken English.

It's not really proper to actually write it or say it to someone in a formal occasion.

Yeah, that's right.

So you wouldn't say this in your English exam but you could say this with your friends.

Okay.

So to chuck something.

So that's all the vocab we have for you.

Why don't we go back and listen to the dialogue again.

Oh, I feel terrible.

I keep sneezing and my eyes are all watery.

What's wrong with me?

Wow, you're not dying, are you?

It looks like you have a cold.

You should take some medicine.

I don't think it's a cold.

I feel fine if I move a few feet away from my desk.

Maybe we should put you into quarantine.

Jokes aside, I think you might have an allergy.

An allergy?

I never thought about that.

I don't think I'm allergic to pollen though and I'm desensitized to bee stings after being

stung so many times.

Hmm.

Ow!

Why did you chuck that peanut at me?

Just checking if you're allergic to peanuts.

I guess not.

Not funny.

I could have gone into anaphylactic shock.

Okay, my bad.

How about dust?

This office is full of it.

Yes, the whole office is dusty yet I only feel affected near our desks.

You brought your cat into the office?

Yeah, it's Mr. Snuffle's birthday today.

I didn't want him to be alone on his special day.

Ah, put it away!

I guess we found the problem.

You're allergic to cats.

Alright we're back so now it's time for Fluency Builder.

Fluency Builder.

Alright, now we heard a very difficult word later on in the dialogue.

Jim said, not funny, I could have gone into anaphylactic shock.

Right.

Alright, so this phrase, to go into shock is very important.

Go into shock.

Now what does it mean to go into shock?

Well shock is something, especially anaphylactic shock, which means that I think you stop breathing

because your body basically shuts down and your throat tightens so you can't breathe.

But to go into shock means that your body will kind of stop doing its normal functions.

For example, if you fall in very, very, very cold water, your body goes into shock.

And this is something that is a physical reaction.

You see it all the time in movies I think when a nurse or a doctor or someone yells

he's going into shock, right?

That's right and they have to get the paddles and beep.

So that's what it means when you go into shock but you use this verb.

You go into shock.

He's going into shock.

That's right, doctor, he's gone into shock.

And well he said, okay, I'm sorry, my bad.

He said my bad.

What is my bad?

Alright, my bad is another phrase that comes from spoken English so be careful with how

you use it.

This is something you can use with your friends.

My bad is a way of saying my fault or excuse me, that was my mistake.

So if you do something wrong and you say, oh, I'm sorry, that was my mistake, you can

just say, oh, my bad.

That's right.

Or Jerry, can we go outside for a second?

I have to talk to you.

I mean, Marco, oh, my bad.

Right, exactly.

That means, you know, my fault.

I'm sorry, I've made a mistake.

But this is very colloquial and I think it's very juvenile, right?

I think younger people use this, my bad.

My bad.

Yeah, it's younger, yeah.

That's a younger, alright.

And for our last phrase, when Jim was talking about maybe being allergic to pollen or he

said I'm desensitized to bee stings.

Alright, so desensitized, you should know automatically that prefix D means not, alright?

So it's negative.

I'm desensitized means that I'm not sensitive to, alright?

That means that, you know, if I get stung by a bee, like me, it gets big and red and

it hurts.

Right.

But this person, he doesn't have a reaction.

He's desensitized.

So there's no reaction.

There's no red.

There's no swelling.

I think you see it a lot for people that maybe live in an area where there are a lot of mosquitoes.

And if we go there, we're going to get bitten and it's going to be itchy.

But people who live there, they've been bitten so many times that they probably don't even

feel it or probably don't even get bitten anymore.

They desensitize.

That's right.

Or you could say that I'm desensitized to loud noises.

Okay.

I live in a city and there's a metro near my apartment.

I can hear it.

It's very loud.

And so I'm desensitized to the noise.

That means I don't really notice it anymore.

It doesn't bother me.

Right.

Very good.

So that's all the vocab and phrases we've prepared for you today.

Let's listen to this dialogue one last time.

Oh, I feel terrible.

I keep sneezing and my eyes are all watery.

What's wrong with me?

Wow.

You're not dying, are you?

It looks like you have a cold.

You should take some medicine.

I don't think it's a cold.

I feel fine if I move a few feet away from my desk.

Maybe we should put you into quarantine.

Jokes aside, I think you might have an allergy.

An allergy?

I never thought about that.

I don't think I'm allergic to pollen, though, and I'm desensitized to bee stings after being

stung so many times.

Hmm.

Ow!

Why did you chuck that peanut at me?

Just checking if you're allergic to peanuts.

I guess not.

Not funny.

I could have gone into anaphylactic shock.

Okay, my bad.

How about dust?

This office is full of it.

Yes, the whole office is dusty, yet I only feel affected near our desks.

You brought your cat into the office?

Yeah, it's Mr. Snuffle's birthday today.

I didn't want him to be alone on his special day.

Put it away!

I guess we found the problem.

You're allergic to cats.

Alright, so speaking about allergies, we always talk about the common ones like pollen, dust,

and you also mentioned about food, like somebody who cannot drink milk.

They're allergic to milk.

That's right.

We have a special name for this, actually.

Someone who cannot drink milk or dairy products like ice cream is called lactose intolerant.

So if you're lactose intolerant, it means that your stomach is very upset after you

have dairy products because lactose is basically dairy.

And there are some people also who are allergic to seafood, for example, fish or shrimp or

any type of seafood.

That's right.

And also people who are allergic to gluten.

Now, gluten is a very common product that is found in breads and cereal, things like

that.

And so people who have an allergy to gluten actually have to change their diet quite a

bit.

Yeah, they have to look for things that are gluten-free, which is very hard because apparently

it's in everything.

That's right.

So if you have one of these allergies, you can find dairy-free on a box or gluten-free

on the box.

And specialty food stores will have these labels.

And so are you allergic to anything?

No, not really.

Sometimes here in China, I feel like I'm a little bit allergic.

I have allergies when the seasons change.

But at home, no.

I have no allergies.

No allergies.

No, me neither.

And I'm very lucky, I think, because I can't imagine if I had an allergy like to peanuts

or to seafood, which not only would be a shame because you can't have these foods, but if

you accidentally have it, it could be life-threatening.

That's right.

Like my dad, who is allergic to bees, would go into anaphylactic shock if he were stung.

And so you have to be very careful because you never know when you'll have an accident

like that.

Exactly.

So this is an interesting topic.

Maybe you guys want to share if you are allergic to anything.

Maybe you are allergic to certain types of foods, chemicals.

Some people are allergic to certain types of shampoo, for example.

Or fabrics like cotton.

So if you want to share with us, let us know at our website EnglishPod.com.

We'll see you guys there.

Bye!