Small Talk 5 - Brief Talk With A Stranger

Hello everyone and welcome to EnglishPod.

My name is Marco.

My name is Catherine and today we have another episode in our series about small talk.

So small talk Marco is what exactly?

Quick little conversation that you have maybe with a colleague or friend or even with a

stranger maybe in the elevator.

Just about the weather or some small little topic.

So you're not talking about the meaning of life.

You're talking about the weather or food.

So let's check out today's dialogue and we'll be back in a minute to talk more about what's

going on.

Oh dear miss, you are soaked.

Wow, it's really raining heavily outside.

Yes, it sure is.

I had to run here from work.

I need to rush as I'm on my lunch break.

Well please, why don't you go ahead of me in line.

I'm in no hurry.

Oh, that's so nice of you.

Thank you very much.

My pleasure miss.

Actually, could you recommend what to eat here?

I've never been here before.

Sure.

Well, the avocado sandwich is delicious and it's the healthiest thing on the menu.

Personally, I think the beef salad is the tastiest choice.

I usually get that.

Also, the milkshakes are the best milkshakes in town.

Well, thanks for the suggestions.

No, don't mention it.

Alright we're back.

So, as we saw in this dialogue, it's a small talk conversation with two strangers who are

actually buying some food.

So this is something that could happen if you are waiting in line at a supermarket,

if you're at the bank or even at a shop like in this case.

Exactly.

This kind of conversation happens all the time.

So let's take a look at some words and phrases in today's language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

Alright so the first word that we have for you today is the gentleman, the older person,

noticed how wet the girl was.

She said you are soaked.

Alright so it's raining outside and he says oh dear miss, you are soaked.

Alright this is an adjective.

It describes what she looks like.

So if you are soaked, it means that you are a little bit wet?

Very wet.

Very wet.

You know you can say that someone is a little wet but if they're soaked, it means their

shoes, their pants, their shirt, their hat, everything is very wet.

Okay, you are soaked.

And so it's an adjective even though it has an ed ending, it may look like a verb or in

the past but it's not.

It's an adjective with an ed ending.

That's right.

So it's raining outside, this woman is very wet, she's soaked, she's wet and she says

I have to rush, I have to hurry because of what?

Because I'm on my lunch break.

She's on her lunch break.

Okay so during work, we might have something called a break.

This is a short time when we don't have to work.

Five minutes, ten minutes.

And the break that we have at lunch when we get to eat is a little bit longer.

So we call this a lunch break.

That's right.

So usually people have their lunch break let's say at noon or one o'clock and it's usually

an hour like you say.

That's right, an hour.

Okay so she's on her lunch break and that's why she's in a hurry and so the other guy

let her go in front of him and he asked her for some suggestions.

What is good here?

What do you recommend to eat?

That's right.

So he's not familiar with the food but the woman is and she says well, the avocado sandwich

is delicious.

Now let's talk about this fruit because it is a fruit, right Marco?

It's a fruit, an avocado.

You see this, it looks like a big green pear more or less.

That's right.

Well it's green on the inside and it's dark on the outside.

So to eat it, you have to take off the skin.

Yeah, that's right.

And inside it's kind of buttery almost.

It's not hard like a banana or an apple.

It's kind of more very, very soft.

You can take it out with a spoon.

That's right.

It's very, very delicious and it's very common in a lot of Latin cooking where you have for

example guacamole in Mexican cooking which is made primarily of avocados.

That's right.

So she recommends the avocado sandwich and then she goes on to describe some of the food

and now here, we're going to take a look at some adjectives but in a superlative form.

For example, she said it's the healthiest thing on the menu, this sandwich.

Okay, so this is a really important point Marco and I'm glad you brought it up.

I can say that this food is healthy.

That means it's good for my body.

But if I say that it's the healthiest, what does that mean?

How is that different from healthy?

Usually you're saying that it's on the list of things that are at the restaurant maybe

that are healthy.

This is the most healthy.

But you don't say most healthy.

You say healthiest.

Healthiest, okay.

So is chocolate cake the healthiest thing on the menu?

No, probably not.

It's probably the least healthy.

So on top we have the healthiest thing on the menu.

We also have another superlative.

We heard the word tastiest.

Right.

This comes from the adjective tasty.

Something is delicious.

It's tasty.

It's good.

But here we're saying that it's the thing that tastes the best, the tastiest choice.

Okay, so I think that the avocado sandwich is the tastiest.

That means I think it's the best thing you can eat.

And that's another one actually.

Best is another superlative but it's a little bit different because it's not an is, is,

is.

Right.

It's not like tastiest or healthiest.

It's just best.

Right.

You're saying that it's the number one.

So the best milkshake in town like in this dialogue.

Or you say the best soccer player in the world is so and so.

Alright, so this comes from the adjective good.

So we have good which is not bad and the best which is the most good, right?

Yeah, exactly.

But you don't say the most good.

You say the best.

He's the best.

So maybe Ronaldo is one of the best soccer players in the world.

Exactly.

Alright.

So now let's take a break.

Let's take a look at everything again and we'll be right back with Fluency Builder.

Oh, dear miss, you are soaked.

Wow, it's really raining heavily outside.

Yes, it sure is.

I had to run here from work.

I need to rush as I'm on my lunch break.

Well, please, why don't you go ahead of me in line?

I'm in no hurry.

Oh, that's so nice of you.

Thank you very much.

My pleasure, miss.

Actually, could you recommend what to eat here?

I've never been here before.

Sure.

Well, the avocado sandwich is delicious and it's the healthiest thing on the menu.

Personally, I think the beef salad is the tastiest choice.

I usually get that.

Also, the milkshakes are the best milkshakes in town.

Well, thanks for the suggestions.

Don't mention it.

All right, we're back so now let's take a look at three phrases we picked out on Fluency

Builder.

Fluency Builder.

So, we have a great phrase here, something that we often hear in conversation, polite

conversations.

The older man says, I'm in no hurry.

Now, what does this mean?

Does this mean he needs to go somewhere?

No, he says, you know what?

I really don't have to go anywhere fast.

That's why he let her, the girl, get in front of him in line at the shop.

All right, so basically it means I can wait.

I can wait, yeah.

So, if somebody says, oh, I'll be right back.

Please wait a moment.

You can say, I'm in no hurry.

Take your time.

Okay, so I'm in no hurry means it's not that important.

I don't have to go fast.

Right, but if you change the no and you say, I'm in a hurry, then that means that you have

to go fast.

Come on, Marco.

Speed it up.

I'm in a hurry.

I'm in a hurry.

Okay.

Yes.

So, just changing those two words, that gives you a completely different meaning.

And well, the girl, Michelle, she said, oh, that's so nice of you.

Thank you very much.

And he says, my pleasure.

All right, so this is an alternative to the phrase, you're welcome.

This is a very polite way to say you're welcome.

And so, when we hear her thank him for something, you know, thank you for letting me go ahead

of you, he says, my pleasure.

This is a great, great phrase for you guys.

Exactly.

So, now you have another alternative instead of saying, you're welcome or no problem or

don't mention it.

Now you have, it's my pleasure.

This is a little bit more formal, but you can use it in any circumstance.

That's right.

And as I said, another option here is the phrase, don't mention it, which means exactly

the same thing.

You're welcome.

That's right.

So, the older gentleman says, thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks for your help.

And what does the young woman say?

Don't mention it.

Don't mention it.

So, this is more colloquial.

This is a little bit more spoken language.

She's saying, no problem.

You're welcome.

That's right.

So, you have, you're welcome, no problem, my pleasure, don't mention it.

All ways of saying the same thing.

All right.

So, let's take another listen to our dialogue.

We'll be back in a moment.

Oh, dear miss, you are soaked.

Wow, it's really raining heavily outside.

Yes, it sure is.

I had to run here from work.

I need to rush as I'm on my lunch break.

Well, please, why don't you go ahead of me in line?

I'm in no hurry.

Oh, that's so nice of you.

Thank you very much.

My pleasure, miss.

Actually, could you recommend what to eat here?

I've never been here before.

Sure.

Well, the avocado sandwich is delicious and it's the healthiest thing on the menu.

Personally, I think the beef salad is the tastiest choice.

I usually get that.

Also, the milkshakes are the best milkshakes in town.

Wow, thanks for the suggestions.

No, don't mention it.

All right, we're back.

So, talking about the superlatives, I know it's a complicated subject because grammar-wise,

it can be a little bit difficult to determine when do you say, for example, beautiful.

Do you say more beautiful or do you say beautiful-est?

You say more beautiful.

That's right.

Well, I don't really have a hard and fast rule for everyone.

It's one of those things that you learn while you're studying English and you just have

to remember.

Yes, there are some exceptions, but usually you can guide yourself by adjectives that

have usually three or more syllables.

You probably have to use most or more.

Amazing.

Right, you don't say amazing-est.

Most amazing.

Most amazing or more amazing.

What about funny?

Funny.

Often you say funnier or funniest.

Or sad.

You can say saddest.

All right, so sad, funny, these are one and two syllables, sad, funny, saddest, funniest,

you can use this ending.

But with the words like beautiful or amazing, there are three syllables, they're long, you

have to say most amazing, most beautiful.

Yeah, and there are some exceptions to the rule, you may find them, but usually if you

see an adjective that's a little bit long like this, you can just say, you can just

use more for the comparative or most for the superlative.

All right, so lots of stuff there.

I recommend that you guys go check out the dialogue and expansion sentences we have for

today.

Our website is EnglishPod.com.

All right, we'll see you guys there.

Bye.

Basically we're looking at the phase回去 we talked about, the phase word here.

So the words回來, come back here and then we say back, come back here, come.

Right?

Okay.

Bye.