Telephone

ESL Conversation

Key vocabulary and phrases that are discussed in the podcast:

AB: Friends sometimes call people by their initials just for fun.  My name is Andrew Best so friends of mine might call me AB.

What’s going on? A slang phrase meaning, “what are you doing now?  Or what are your plans for the next while?”

Taking it easy: relaxing, not doing much.

Been killing me: A phrase meaning “causing you a lot of stress”.  You can say, my new job has been killing me.  Or you could say, “The summer has been so hot this year, it’s killing me.”

Grab a coffee: In casual conversation, we sometimes use the verb “grab” for food or drinks.  “Let’s grab a coffee”, means, “let’s go somewhere and get a coffee”.

Way too much:  In casual conversation, we sometimes use “way” instead of “far”.  “Way too much”, means, “far too much”.

Caffeine: The drug found in coffee that gives people energy and keeps them awake.

Would you be up for that? A casual phrase meaning, “Do you want to do that”, or “will you do that”.

Patio: A place to sit outside.  Sometimes restaurants and pubs have patios where people can sit outside and eat on a nice day.

6 out of 10: Sometimes people rate things out of 10.  10 out of 10 is perfect.  0 out of 10 is the worst.

At best: Ranking something is subjective, which means that its not always clear what the score out of 10 will be.  If you say, 6 out of 10 at best, it means, 6 out of 10 or even lower than 6 out of 10.

Come with: A slang phrase that means, “come with me” or “come with us”.

You could afford to shed a few more pounds: Sometimes we say “shed a few pounds”, which means, “lose weight”.

We’ll see: It means, “I’m not sure yet”.

Element: In the dialogue, I said the restaurant’s name is Element Fresh.  When both people know clearly what is being talked about, people sometimes use short forms.

K: Slang and short for “ok”.

Later: When hanging up the phone we sometimes say “later”.  It’s slang and should be used only with friends.

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