1970's English

Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to another edition here with us at EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

Erica: And I’m Erica.

Marco: And today we are doing the third part of our old English series and today we’re transported back to the nineteen seventies (1970’s).

Erica: That’s right, so, we’re gonna learn some nineteen seventies’ slang, um, some phrases that were really popular back in the seventies, but are also still in use today.

Marco: Exactly, so, it’s gonna be a very, uh, cool lesson today and before we start with the dialogue, let’s take a look at some of the words that we’re gonna find in “vocabulary preview”.

Erica: Well, we have two words for you in vocabulary preview and they’re both found in the dialogue. The first one – roller rink.

Marco: A roller rink.

Erica: A roller rink.

Marco: Okay, so, a roller rink, let’s break that down and let’s look at the first part.

Erica: Alright, so, roller – we might recognize this from rollerblades or roller-skates.

Marco: Okay, so, yeah, when you go rollerblading, roller-skating, those things that you put on your feet to skate.

Erica: Right, wheels not… not like a blade or a knife.

Marco: Exactly, so, that’s roller.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: And what about rink?

Erica: Rink is the place where you do skating.

Marco: Okay, so, if you go to a roller rink, it’s this big area, where everyone can rollerblade or roller-skate.

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: Okay. And what about the next word?

Erica: A block.

Marco: Block.

Erica: A block.

Marco: Okay, so, this is a noun - a block.

Erica: Uhu. And a block is a part of a city that is surrounded by four streets.

Marco: Okay, so, a city is made up of many blocks.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: And everyone lives on a block.

Erica: Exactly, so, it’s a square within the city.

Marco: Alright, very good, so, these are the two words that we previewed and we’re gonna listen to them now in the dialogue; we’re gonna hear two guys just talking about normal everyday things, but we’re gonna be listening to them in nineteen seventy.

Erica: Okay, groovy dialogue.

Marco: Yeah, really nice, ha?

Erica: Alright, so, some interesting language in here and like we said it sounds a bit strange, but a lot of this is still used today in modern English, so, why don’t we look at some of these words in “language takeaway”?

Marco: Alright, on language takeaway today we have the first word – far out.

Erica: Far out.

Marco: That was far out.

Erica: To be far out.

Marco: Okay, so, it’s just another way of saying…

Erica: Cool.

Marco: Cool.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: That was nice.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: It was really cool. So, they went to the roller rink, it was far out, it was really cool, but the other guy couldn’t go because he saw a foxy lady.

Erica: A foxy lady.

Marco: Okay, foxy lady.

Erica: So, basically, a foxy lady is a really good looking or sexy woman.

Marco: Right, commonly you would hear some men refer to an attractive woman as a fox.

Erica: Okay, so, foxy lady.

Marco: Okay.

Erica: Now, Marco, can we say “a foxy man”.

Marco: No, this is a phrase that you would only use for women.

Erica: Okay, so, foxy lady.

Marco: Foxy lady.

Erica: So, after he met up with the foxy lady, they both just decided to mellow out at her place.

Marco: To mellow out.

Erica: To mellow out.

Marco: Okay, so, mellow out, what does this mean, exactly?

Erica: Basically, just to relax.

Marco: Right, so, to relax, to take it easy.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: To mellow out.

Erica: So, what did you do on the weekend?

Marco: Oh, nothing, I just stayed at home and mellowed out.

Erica: Okay. Alright, and so the response to that was…

Marco: Right on.

Erica: Right on, right on.

Marco: Right, right on, right on.

Erica: And, so, basically, they’re saying “okay”, “good”, “I agree”.

Marco: Yeah, this phrase is… you can say as “good”, “yeah, that’s nice” or you can also say it as well “correct”, “correct, I agree”. So, why don’t we listen to some examples of how we can use this phrase in other situations?

Erica: Okay, so I think that’s pretty clear; we can see how it means – “correct” or also “okay, good”.

Marco: Alright, right on. And now we also have another word that’s similar to far out.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: He said gravy.

Erica: Gravy.

Marco: Gravy.

Erica: Gravy.

Marco: Now, if you look it up in a dictionary, it… it’s gonna tell you something else, right?

Erica: Yeah… gravy is a sauce you put on meat.

Marco: Right, but in this case we say gravy is cool.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: It’s nice.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Right, so, gravy.

Erica: That was gravy.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: Now, finally, at the end of their conversation, they said “wanna book”.

Marco: Okay, let’s book.

Erica: Book.

Marco: So, to book… as a verb.

Erica: Yeah, interesting verb, it basically means to leave a place quickly.

Marco: Okay, so, “we have to book, the police are coming”.

Erica: Right, or “I gotta book guys, I’m late”.

Marco: Aha, so, book – to leave quickly, to leave suddenly.

Erica: Yeah, and that word is used quite commonly today, isn’t it?

Marco: Yeah, yeah, it’s used among like younger people. You would say “yeah, let’s book, this party is dead”.

Erica: Okay, great, so, there’s a lot of pretty cool phrases in this dialogue, pretty groovy phrases.

Marco: Mmm, yeah.

Erica: Why don’t we hear them again in context?

Marco: Alright, so, now that we understand these six words that we saw in language takeaway, it’s time for us now to take a look at some great phrases that we can use today in “fluency builder”.

Erica: Okay, so, at the start of the conversation there was an interesting way he started talking to his friend, right?

Marco: Alright, he said how’s it hanging?

Erica: How’s it hanging?

Marco: How’s it hanging?

Erica: Okay, so, basically, how is it going?

Marco: How’s it going?

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: How are you?

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Now, you noticed in the spelling that we do have a G at the end, -ing, right?

Erica: Yeah, but usually you don’t really pronounce the G in this context, cause it’s very informal, so, how’s it hangin’?

Marco: How’s it hangin’? So, he said everything was just groovy and then he started telling him about how he met a girl and he chat her up a bit.

Erica: To chat her up.

Marco: Okay, so, to chat somebody up.

Erica: So, when you chat someone up, um, you… you talk with them, right?

Marco: Yeah, you… you’re making conversation.

Erica: But it’s… it’s sort of… it’s more than just conversation, isn’t it?

Marco: Yeah, you’re trying to be a little bit flirty and maybe saying nice, romantic phrases or something like that.

Erica: Yeah, so, usually it’s between a woman and a man.

Marco: Yeah.

Erica: Right?

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: And it’s the man who chats up a woman.

Marco: Yeah, exactly.

Erica: So, a little bit of a sexist phrase here.

Marco: Hehe. To chat someone up or to chat up a girl, right?

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: Okay, so, he was chatting her up.

Erica: That’s right, and, so, they were talking about how Jim went to the roller rink, but he didn’t have any money, right? Because Jim is always hitting his friends up for cash.

Marco: Okay, so, to hit someone up.

Erica: To hit someone up.

Marco: So, before we explain this word, let's listen to some other examples, so then we can maybe understand the meaning.

Man A: Can you believe Patrick? He came up to me a month ago and tried to hit me up for some money.

男A: 你敢信帕特里克？他一个月前跑过来，硬是找我讨钱/借钱。

Woman B: When I was a kid, I used to always hit my dad up for lunch money.

女B: 我小的时候，总是向我老爸要午餐钱。

Man C: This is the last time I lend you money; don’t even try to hit me up for more.

男C: 这是我最后一次借钱给你，以后少来找我要钱了。

Erica: Alright, so, when you hit someone up for something, you ask for it.

Marco: So, usually, it’s to ask for money, right?

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: Okay, so, to hit someone up. And now, for our last phrase – let’s book and let’s go grab some grub.

Erica: To grab some grub.

Marco: Grab some grub.

Erica: Okay, let’s break this one down. With the final word grub what are we talking about?

Marco: Grub is an informal way of saying food.

Erica: Okay, so, to grab some grub is to get some food quickly.

Marco: Yeah, let’s go get some food.

Erica: Alright, so, maybe it’s time for us to grab some grub, um, and while we’re doing that, you can listen to the dialogue one last time.

Marco: Alright, so, some interesting phrases and even though some of these words you may not really commonly hear anymore, they might still be used in movies or something that’s related to the disco era, because it’s very, very popular still, right?

Erica: Yeah, that’s right, some of our more advanced users could even use a lot of these phrases in a kind of funny way to reference back to nineteen seventy (1970).

Marco: Yeah, exactly, so, it’s fun and well, you will use them or you will hear them from time to time even today.

Erica: And remember if you have any questions about the language you hear in these lessons, check out our website at englishpod.com.

Marco: Exactly, we’re there to answer any questions and, uh, we’ll see you guys there.

Erica: Thanks for listening and until next time… Good bye!

Marco: Bye!