Happy Hour

Hello, English learners! Welcome back! We are here at EnglishPod! I’m joined with Erica.

And my partner in crime - Marco.

Alright, so, today we’re gonna be talking about a really great topic, one of my favorites…

Beer.

Beer. So, beer is a very popular drink, especially in… in bars and…

Uhu.

When you go out.

Yes, it’s very common with students, I think.

Yes, and it’s also not very strong like, ah, vodka or whiskey.

Yes.

Okay. So, we’re going to be at a bar today and we’re going to be looking at some of this vocabulary that you would find.

Yes, I mean, you’ve got to know this beer vocabulary.

Hehe. Okay, so, let’s listen to our dialogue for the first time and then we’ll come back and look at these words.

Well, it’s pretty expensive for two beers and some food.

Yes. Well, it happens sometimes you go to these very exclusive bars and they charge you like if it was gold.

I mean, that… that’s crazy.

Hehe. Well, let’s take a look at some of these, uh, great words that we saw in “language takeaway”. Voice: Language takeaway.

Our first word is on tap.

On tap.

On tap.

So, he asked “what do you have on tap?” Now, this is a… a strange sentence. What exactly does it mean?

Okay, well, he’s asking about what beers the bar has.

But not in a bottle or not in a can, right?

Right, um, so, you know, in a bar…

Uhu.

There’s often this machine, right?

Uhu.

They… that will pour very fresh beer right directly into the glass.

Into the glass, aha.

Uhu.

Yea… this is a very popular thing, because like you say, it’s fresh beer.

Yeah, it tastes better.

Tastes better.

Yeah.

Okay, so… what do you have on tap?

What do you have on tap?

Alright, let’s take a look at our second word. Happy hour.

Happy hour.

Happy hour.

Happy hour.

Now, this is very common and popular with bars?

Yes.

What does it when they have a happy hour?

Okay, a happy hour is a period of time, where the drinks are very cheap.

Okay. So, happy hour could be from 5 p.m. till 10 p.m. fifty percent (50%) off.

So, if the drink is four dollars, then it is now two dollars in happy hour.

Okay, perfect. And this brings us to our third word. A special.

A special

A special.

A special.

So, this is a noun. And what does that mean when a restaurant or a bar has a special?

It’s like they’re having a sale.

A sale.

So things are cheaper.

So, it could be, for example, a Monday night special.

Uhu. Or, like in the dialogue, a happy hour special.

Okay, so, it is… a promotion.

Yes.

Alright, very good. And now, they ordered a pint of Heineken and half a pint of Budweiser.

Uhu.

Pint.

This is a very, very special beer word. So, a pint is the size of your glass.

Okay, so we understand how much a pint is, wh… how… what is… what would be the equivalent in liters?

A pint is zero point four (0.4) liters.

Okay, so, almost half a liter is…

Yeah.

One pint.

Yes.

Okay. It is very common when you’re going to a bar, you can order a pint of beer.

Yes, exactly, in English we don’t say “I’ll have half a liter of beer”.

Right, right. So, let’s take a look at our next word on language takeaway. Appetizers.

Appetizers.

Appetizers.

Appetizers.

Okay, so… what is an appetizer?

Well, it is, um, food you eat before your dinner or before your lunch.

Okay, so, it’s usually maybe like a salad.

Or a soup.

Uhu.

Or something small, that you can eat right before your big meal.

Okay, so, some common appetizers at a bar and we saw them in our dialogue – nachos and mozzarella sticks.

Nachos, nachos.

Nachos.

Nachos.

So, nachos are little chips, right?

Yeah, corn chips…

Uhu.

Um, and it has cheese and maybe some tomatoes and maybe some beans. [NOTE: Erica's pronunciation of tomatoes is more BrEng than AmEng; there is an old song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" which has alternate pronunciations of several common words]

Aha. Okay, so, those are nachos. They’re very common in the United States.

Yes, yeah.

And what about mozzarella sticks?

Mozzarella sticks - a travesty on the world and humanity and everyone’s arteries.

Well, mozzarella is a cheese, right?

Uhu.

Mozzarella cheese. And the… this cheese is… wh… what is it? How is it prepared?

You put it in some breadcrumbs and then you fry it in oil. You deep fry it.

Aha, and you don’t like this.

No, this is terrible.

Why? They’re so good.

Oh my God, there’re…

Cause then you can dip it in the little sauce…

Oh…

It’s delicious.

Marco, there’re so many reasons why this is wrong.

Hehe. Alright, well, mozzarella sticks are very popular bar food.

Alright, well, why don’t we listen to the dialogue again and we’ll be able to hear these words in context at a slower speed. DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

Okay, so, we saw some really good vocabulary words there and now, let’s take a look at “putting it together”. Voice: Putting it together.

Well, in this lesson we are going to look at one phrase that sometimes causes problems.

So, let’s listen to this phrase that we’re talking about. Phrase: What about some appetizers? What about some appetizers?

Okay, so, this phase what about.

Yeah, I often hear people use it to ask a question.

So, a common mistake…

Uhu.

Is asking “what about your weekend?

What about your new job

Now, this is incorrect, right?

You cannot use the phrase what about to ask a question about information…

Okay.

So you… it cannot ask for information.

Okay, because in our dialogue the bartender said “and what about some appetizers?

Right, because he is making a suggestion.

Right, so, he’s saying “well, why don’t you have some… some food?

Yes, the phrase what about can be used to make a suggestion.

Okay, so, I can say… “What about going to the movies?

Uhu, um, you know what… let’s hear a few more examples of this, cause I think it’s really useful. Voice: Example one.

What about these dirty clothes? You said you would wash them days ago. Voice: Example two.

What about going to the mall instead? I’m tired of going to the movies. Voice: Example three.

What about a pizza instead of noodles?

Alright, so, really good examples and the same thing we can apply to how about.

Exactly. So, again, how about cannot ask for information.

Okay.

So, you can’t say “how about your boss?

Ah, alright…

Yeah.

Perfect. Okay, so, let’s listen to this dialogue one last time and then we’ll come back and talk a little bit more about bars and beers.

Well, Marco, I know you’re a big fan of beer and actually I think everyone here at Praxis [Language] is… is a big beer drinker.

And this is the perfect opportunity to tell everyone about the world renowned beer shake.

Oh my god… I… Oh, okay, Marco…

Alright, so, everyone that listens to this recipe is a non-believer… They say that it… is not possible for it to taste good.

Okay.

But, here’s the recipe. You take a liter of beer or maybe half a liter.

So, a pint.

A pint or a pint and a half.

Uhu.

And you put it in the blender.

Okay.

Alright. Now, you take two eggs…

Aha.

Okay, not cooked, not boiled or anything. You take two eggs and put them in the blender. It could be one or two.

Okay.

And then you take about half a cup of sugar. Put it in the blender.

What?

And you mix all that together and you get this really good, foamy, delicious beer shake.

So, a beer-milk shake.

Well, it has no milk.

Okay.

But it’s actually really good, I… I’ve prepared it for some people and they like “no, that’s not possible, it can’t taste good”. And in the end they like “wow, this is actually pretty good”.

So, did you invent this recipe?

It’s, uh… it’s actually really common in, ah, Ecuador in… in Peru. I’ve even seen in… in Chile usually with a dark beer.

Okay.

Right, so…

So, like a… a Guinness or…

It could be a Guinness or… Yeah, if it’s the… a dark beer is a little bit, uh, sweeter.

Yeah.

So, you wouldn’t add so much sugar. But if you have, uh… another beer like a… like a lager or a stout, you could still do it, but just add a little bit more sugar, because that beer’s a little bit more bitter.

Okay. Well, I am not going to try this recipe…

Hehe.

But maybe you guys are.

You should. Try it out and let me know how it works.

Yeah, you can tell us all about it on our website englishpod.com.

Yeah, and we’re definitely there to answer all your questions and I’ll be posting the recipe as well on the website.

Alright, well, we’re out of time for today, but thanks for listening and until next time…

Bye!

Good bye!