Curious Questions
Slang: Dude!
Jan 24th
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| Dude! This word is very popular nowadays, especially with young people. You can often hear this word in movies and television shows, or with your Native English speaker friends. It has been around for awhile but young people are using the word dude, more and more. So…dude, what does it mean? |
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Harp: Yeah, so dude is an old word.
Maura: Yeah, and it has had a lot of different meanings that generally refer to a man.
Harp: Yeah exactly. And dude became popular in the 60s and the 70s in surfer culture and then it made its way into mainstream.
Maura: Yeah, so dude was really first used in a popular way by surfers, I guess maybe in California, somewhere where they surf in the USA.
Harp: Exactly, but we’ll talk about dude in the surfer culture in the Lipservice.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Video: Dude – Bud Light
No matter what
Sep 13th
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| No matter what is a common expression used by English speakers. The question in this episode comes from Ae Sun who heard this expression used while she was watching TV. There are also other similar expressions like, no matter what happens and no matter who/when/why/where/which/how. Check out this episode to find out how to use this expression like a native speaker. |
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Harp: Yeah, it’s like saying that it isn’t important what happens. You will complete the action. So, it shows a strong feeling about the action. So even if something is difficult, or if you have to try really hard different ways, it’s still the same result.
Maura: Let’s give an example.
Harp: Hey, are you going to the party? Did your parents say you could go, or are you grounded?
Maura: I’m going to the party no matter what.
Harp: All right! See you there
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Video: No Matter What – Badfinger
Culture: Wedding anniversaries
Jul 26th
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Eliza from China emailed to ask us about Wedding Anniversaries. Here we talk about different ways to wish someone a happy anniversary, what couples do on their anniversaries and the special names of some anniversaries. If you’re married or not, listen below.
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Robin: Right, but this is only for big anniversaries, like 25 years, maybe 30, 40 or 50 years. Usually big parties come after the couple has been married a long time.
Harp: Yes, sometimes it is the children of the couple who plan a big party for the parents’ wedding anniversary. You know I actually did this for my parents’ 25th Anniversary.
Robin: Did you?
Harp: Yeah I planned a party with my 2 sisters.
Robin: Really? Were there a lot of people?
Harp: Yeah, there were actually about 60 people.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: amandabhslater
Pronunciation: Silent P
Jun 27th
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Sometimes English pronunciation is very difficult. Sometimes we spell words quite differently from how they sound. This happens often because the word originally comes from another language. This is the case with the silent P that comes at the beginning of some words. (As we don’t hear the P when we speak, this could be a more difficult podcast for some. Check out our Lipservice.)
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Harp: Did everyone out there know this already? That when we say the word psychology, we do not pronounce the p at the beginning. Psychology is the science and study of the mind and human behaviour.
Maura: Of course if you’re listening, you only hear the s sound but when we write the word psychology it actually starts with the letter p which is not pronounced.
Harp: So to answer Anais’s question, there are not very many words where we do not pronounce the p. But there are a few words.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Asami
Expression: Call Someone Names – Is this an insult?
Mar 21st
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Have you ever been called a name? It is not a nice experience. Mohammed from Egypt wrote to us and asked us about this expression, to call someone names? He wanted to know if it was insulting or not. To find out about this expression and to hear some example of names check out this episode!
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Robin : Absolutely.
Maura : So, for example we could say, “John called Paul an idiot and a jerk”. So John called Paul names.
Robin : That’s right
Maura : Hey, I got another example.
Robin : What is that?
Maura : Robin, did you hear that Sarah was calling Peter names?
Robin : Oh really, what was she calling him?
Maura : She was calling him stupid. Yup, not very nice.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Leonid Mamchenkov
Expression: Call it a day
Jan 9th
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Here we look at a question about the expressions, Let’s call it a day and Let’s call it a night. These expressions are used often after work has been done or you are feeling tired. Listen to this episode for specific cases of when these expressions are appropriate! You’ll also learn about another similar expression, Let’s call it quits!
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Maura: Yes relaxing is good. We could use it in any situation where you are working. It doesn’t have to be at your job. For example, maybe you are a student and you have been working on a school project with your friends and you have been working all afternoon. So you could continue working all night too but you decide that that is enough, that is enough studying, that is enough work. You can say “let’s call it a day”
Jessie : So it kind of means the same thing as “let’s stop working now”.
Maura: Exactly.
Jessie : So if it was last night but we had been working all day and into the night, could we still say “let’s call it a day”?
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Paul Hocksenar
How do you end emails? – Standard & Creative Ideas
Dec 17th
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Are most of you out there writing emails in English? Are you getting bored with ending your emails the same way all the time? Well, then this episode is for you! Here we discuss which email endings are appropriate and when to use them. We also give some fun ideas on how to be more creative with your email closings!
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Jessie:Yeah. There are some people who will never end an email the same way twice.
Maura:Yeah, that’s true. And since it’s a new way to communicate, there aren’t really any “rules” about how to end it.
Jessi:Yeah. It’s not like you can just look it up in the dictionary.
Maura:Exactly. And some people don’t write anything. If you’re writing a really quick email you just sign your name or nothing.
Jessie:Yep.
Maura:So in her email, Yuko mentioned two ideas in her question. She said that she uses “Thanks” and ”Bye for now”. And with “Bye for now” can pretty much use it any time, yeah?
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Illust: m-c
Culture: Kisses In Canada
Nov 15th
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Everywhere around the world there are different customs for greeting. Here in Montreal you can often see people kissing each other on the cheeks. So what is normal here? And what is normal for Canada? In this episode, Robin and Harp kiss and tell!
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Harp:So today’s question is from Asami who is originally from Japan, but she is currently living in Montreal and she’s asking about Canadian culture, I guess, and she is saying: What is the custom when saying goodbye or hello in Canada?
So she wants to know about how to greet someone in Montreal and in the rest of Canada. She says that she often sees people kiss each other on the cheek, but she has also seen people hug or do nothing. So what do we do here in Montreal?
Robin: She says she has often seen people kiss each other on the cheek, but she has also seen people hug or do nothing. So what do we do here in Montreal?
Harp: Exactly, so now just so you understand, this is a cultural question, she is not asking about English, but she wants to know the action that people do, whether they kiss on the cheek, whether they hug or whether they do nothing.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Maura & Harp
Idiom: He had better go to work soon.
Oct 18th
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You had better listen to this episode! Did you understand this first sentence? If you didn’t, check out this episode and hear us explain “had better” for you. We will also give you lots of examples of how to use it.
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Robin: Something bad will happen
Harp: Exactly so it is a fixed expression to say that you have to do something or something bad will happen and the something bad, we don’t always say that in the expression.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: moonwire
Idiom: Have Something Down Cold
Oct 4th
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Do you have all English idioms down cold? If you don’t know every English idiom, listen to this podcast to learn a couple more. The question this week is about the expression “to have something down cold.”
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Maura: “To have something down cold” means that you know something very well.
Robin: The meaning has absolutely nothing to do with “cold.”
Maura: Let’s look again at the example that we got with the question.
Robin: “She has been rehearsing the play for months. She has her part completely down cold.”
Maura: This means that she knows her part for the play very well. She knows every scene perfectly. She doesn’t make any mistakes because she has it down cold.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: -Nat
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