What is a Member?

Robin:	The first thing we’re going to talk about today is something called an urban legend or an urban myth.
Maura:	Yes, so we’re definitely talking about culture today, and after we talk about urban legends or urban myths, we’re going to talk about old wives’ tales.
Robin:	Old wives’ tales, indeed. And this is…it’s a similar sort of thing. It deals with myths, once again, and stories.
Maura:	And if you don’t know what it is, keep listening and we’re going to explain it.
Robin:	Absolutely. And the last thing we’ll talk about today deals with superstitions. It’s a big word, superstitions.
Maura:	Right, so some general superstitions that most Canadians know about and maybe some believe in a little bit.
Robin:	Absolutely.
Maura:	OK, so let’s start with the first topic, which is urban legends or urban myths. So it’s two names for the same thing.
Robin:	What is an urban legend or an urban myth?
Maura:	An urban legend is a modern story that’s a scary story or a horror story. Most of them are scary and you usually hear about them from friends. So a friend tells another friend a story, this scary story, and you don’t know where it started, you don’t know where the story came from.

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Jens Dahlin

Maura and Paul

Paul Kerrison is a friend of Maura from England who was visiting North America for the first time. In this interview you get to know Paul, and hear about his American adventures in New York City and the Independence Day celebrations he attended. You’ll also hear about Paul’s impressions of Montreal.
As Paul is from England, you have a chance to compare the Canadian and British accents when listening to this episode. Paul and Maura also discuss slang differences between England and North America.

What is a Member?

Maura:	So what did you do after your time in New York?
Paul:	So after New York, I headed to western Massachusetts, to a town called Greenfield to see my friend’s family and experience Independence Day in America, which was a first for me.
Maura:	Yeah, I’ve never experienced Independence Day, but I imagine it would be pretty huge over there.
Paul:	Yeah, they have lots of flags out in the street and there’s a big festival in the town square with fireworks, and stores with candyfloss, and clams, and roasted chestnuts, the usual kind of festival stalls. We spent the day preparing for it, getting food for the barbecue and making different types of salads, like potato salad and green salad, and then we sat out on the lawn and waited for his family to come round, which was like 20 members, and all his friends as well from high school. And then in the, there was like a square green park and a mountain at the top with like a high tower, and the fireworks were set off from there at about 10 o’clock at night.

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Paul Kerrison and Maura Smith

What is a Member?

Maura:	You might hate money or love money, but you have a feeling about it and you use it. Yeah, and in English there are so many slang terms for money.
Robin:	So many.
Maura:	Yeah, but we’re going to mention a few of the more popular ones.
Robin:	And to start with, what do we have?
Maura:	Well, one of my favourite slang terms for money is moolah.
Robin	Moolah.
Maura:	Yeah, like, “Robin do you have any moolah?”

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Anita Hart

What is a Member?

Robin:	A lot of our listeners haven’t necessarily been to Montreal. What types of things would you recommend they do if they come to the city? Or what are the types of things that you like to do around the city?
Dasilva:	Well, what I like to do… I like the summer more than the winter. I like sunshine, I like, I don’t know… winter is a little bit too cold for me. There’s a lot of snow. When you’re a kid, when you’re young, the winter is fun. There’s lots of things you can do in the winter. You know, you build snow forts, you make snow angels, you… what else do you do in the winter? Snowball fights… things like that are lots of fun when you’re a kid in Montreal, because there’s so much snow. But the older you get, the less you like winter, it seems. For me, in the summertime, I like to ride my bike on the bike path. I’ll ride along the canal—the Lachine Canal. I’ll take my bike from downtown Montreal and I’ll ride all along the Lachine Canal to the west part of the island.
Robin	OK.
Dasilva:	There’s a lake. You can sit by the lake and relax. I also like to go to Mount Royal in the summertime. It’s really fun. It’s relaxing.
Robin	I hear it’s an interesting place, especially on the weekends.
Dasilva:	Yes on the weekends, on Sundays especially, on the mountain, it’s a lot of fun. Sometimes people have picnics in the summer, there’s something called Tamtams, also; people play drums and listen to music and dance around.

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Ricardo Dasilva

Jessie:	Well, I used to be a full-time editor and writer. So I would go into the office, I would sit at my desk. I worked from 9 o’clock to 5 o’clock, from Mondays to Fridays. But now that I’m a freelancer, I’m still writing and editing, so you could say that I’m a freelance writer and a freelance editor. But I work in my office at home and I talk to my clients over the phone or through email or, maybe, sometimes I’ll go into their office to meet with them.
Robin:	OK, that’s quite interesting. You know I heard that more and more people are doing this sort of work in North America and across the world, as well.
Jessie:	Yeah, it seems to be a big trend now because now that we have the Internet and phones are very easy to use, it’s a lot easier for people to communicate. Even if you live in different countries, you could work doing web design, or writing, or things like that. You could easily work for someone who you’ve never even met or don’t live near.
Robin:	Wow, that sounds really interesting. It sounds like something that I’d like to do. Maybe work on a beach in Bali, Indonesia, while working for someone over here in Canada.

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: TypeFiend

Harp:	…So those are some traditional ways where we find people to date.
Maura:	Right, but more and more people take classes, and they work, and of course they have friends, but they still don’t find someone that they want to date or be in a relationship with.
Harp:	Exactly. So there are some new ways that are coming out to find people to date.
Maura:	Yes, and they’re on the Internet.
Harp:	Exactly. There are a lot of dating websites out there now.
Maura:	Yeah, there are so many — I don’t think I can even count them.
Harp:	No, I agree.
Maura:	So more and more it’s become normal for people to use dating websites to find someone to go on a date with.

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Rachel Davies

Robin:	Let’s do a dialogue.
Maura:	I don’t know what to do.
Robin:	What’s the matter?
Maura:	Well, I’ve been looking for a job for months everyday. I send my resume, but I just can’t get a job. I think I’m going to be unemployed all summer.
Robin:	Hey, hey, hey, look on the bright side. At least while we’re in the office, we’re working away, you can sit outside and enjoy that beautiful weather.
Maura:	You’re right. The weather has been nice lately.
Robin:	Yeah, so look on the bright side. At least you can do that.
Maura:	OK, great. So that was a great example of someone who is in a bad situation.

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Pranav Singh

Harp:	I think people like to talk about the weather because it’s an easy, simple topic. So it’s easy to make small talk about it.
Maura:	You’re right. So when people are making small talk, when they are talking with someone they don’t know very well or even a complete stranger, they know that they can talk about the weather and that people will have something to say about it.
Harp:	Exactly. When I’m in the elevator sometimes and someone gets on, and I don’t know them, but I feel awkward if we’re just in silence, I’ll bring up the weather. I’ll say something like, “Oh, it’s a beautiful day out there,” or “When is the rain going to stop?” or “Oh, it’s so cold.”
Maura:	Yeah, yeah. That’s funny ‘cause I thought of an elevator as well. I think the other day someone said something to me about the weather.

Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Culips ESL Podcast

Harp:	Yeah, when I visited my grandma the last time, she kept saying that I looked so similar to my aunt, she kept saying that I was a chip off the old block.
Maura:	Yeah, OK, good. So really the meaning is that someone, like you in that example Harp, is made as the same thing as another person, in that case your aunt. So if you think about the old block as your aunt and the chip being you, you’re a chip off the old block, you’re made of the same stuff, you act alike, you look alike.
Harp:	Yup, that makes sense to me.
Maura:	Yeah, it’s actually a really old expression. It’s been around for a long time. I think since the 1600s.
Harp:	Yeah, but we still use this expression.
Maura:	Yeah, it’s been around for a long time but you still hear it today.
Harp:	Yeah, of course, we use this often.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Anita363

Harp:	Robin, how was the concert yesterday?
Robin:	Incredible. The music is still in my head. I had such a ball. I had a real good time.
Harp:	That’s awesome. So the band was great?
Robin:	It was amazing. You would’ve had a good time.
Harp:	That’s too bad that I missed it.
Robin:	It is.
Harp:	Next time. So in that example, Robin went to a concert and had a really fun time. He had a great time so he used the expression to have a ball.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Dom Sagolla

Robin:	Yes, this expression is not really a compliment. You don’t usually say that someone is over the hill.
Jessie:	Right, it’s usually used as a joke or to describe yourself in a joking way.
Robin:	Can you give us an example of where we might use it in everyday speech?
Jessie:	OK, so for example, when someone has a big birthday, like when they turn 30 or 40, they might complain to their friends and say, “Oh, I’m over the hill. I’m so old now.”
Robin:	When they do say something like that it’s going to be done in a very joking sort of way. They’re not serious.
Jessie:	Exactly. So someone may say it about themselves or you might say it to tease a friend. You might say “Oh, you’re probably not going to come biking with us now that you’re over the hill.”

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: vsz

Jessie:	So where does this expression come from? Why do we say that?
Maura:	Well, it actually does have an origin in baseball, and there are actually a lot of expressions related to baseball.
Jessie:	Yeah, there are tons.
Maura:	So this expression, to be on the ball, is also related to baseball. So when a pitcher throws the ball in baseball, really well and has good control, they would say that he was on the ball.
Jessie:	OK, so originally to be on the ball meant to be in control of the ball but now we mean it to mean, to be in control of your life, to be in control of the situation.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Laura Bittner

Maura:	So, what do you think are some possible advantages or disadvantages to being in a relationship with someone who’s from a different culture or who speaks a different language from your native language?
Melanie:	Well, at the beginning it was hard to express myself in a second language the way you want to express yourself to somebody that close to you. But then over time, as I got more comfortable with the language and more comfortable with Christophe, I found that expressing myself wasn’t as difficult and my French probably improved. Now actually I tend to speak to him only in English, which helps him improve his English, while at the same time allowing me to express myself as I would normally.
Maura:	Yeah, so sometimes, and I know from my experience, when you’re dating someone who speaks another language you have a problem being clear sometimes. Like, you have to use really simple words to express yourself or you have to repeat the same thing more than once.
Melanie:	Definitely there’s a lot of repetition.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Culips ESL Podcast

Harp:	Well I’m going on a holiday very soon so I’m pumped about that.
Maura:	When are you going away?
Harp:	I’m leaving really soon. I’m leaving in a couple days.
Maura:	And where are you going?
Harp:	I’m going back home to visit my parents.
Maura:	So, is that why you’re pumped?
Harp:	That is why I’m pumped. It’s been a long time.
Maura:	So what else could someone be pumped about?
Harp:	Really, you could be pumped about anything: a hockey game, a competition.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Culips ESL Podcast

Maura:	So if you’re throwing a party in Canada and you want it to start at 9 o’clock, don’t expect any guests to show up at that time. They’ll probably start showing up closer to 10 o’clock.
Rita:	I agree, if you want them there for 9:00, you better say the party starts at 8:00.
Maura:	Yup, that’s true. But you made a good distinction Rita, and that was about the dinner party.
Rita:	Ah, yes, the dinner party.
Maura:	That’s different than just a regular old bash.
Rita:	Absolutely, somebody is in the kitchen preparing a meal. They’ve purchased food and they’re making it and timing it, you definitely want to be there on time for dinner.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Eric Kilby

Maura:	OK, so this episode we’re really just looking at funny or clever or unusual ways to say, let’s leave, or I’m going to leave.
Robin:	I’m going to leave.
Maura:	Yeah, and let’s bounce is the first example. So how else can we say, let’s go or I want to leave?
Robin:	Well, there’s another expression that’s very similar and that is let’s jet.
Maura:	Right, good, so let’s jet.
Robin:	Let’s jet.
Maura:	Just kind of like jet, like the airplane. So sometimes this expression can mean to leave quickly, like if I say, “sorry I gotta jet” means that I have to leave quickly and go somewhere else.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Culips ESL Podcast

Robin:	What a beautiful day it is outside. Oh, the birds, the sun — WOW, Harp, how’re you doing?
Harp:	I’m good. How are you?
Robin:	Not bad. I can’t believe I’m bumping into you.
Harp:	Yeah, it’s so random.
Robin:	Shouldn’t you be at work?
Harp:	I should. Today we had the day off. There was a fire alarm.
Robin:	Really? I decided to take a vacation day.
Harp:	Yeah, it’s a beautiful day. You’re enjoying the sunshine?
Robin:	Absolutely. Yeah, well, it’s great seeing you here. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Harp:	Yeah, it’s nice bumping into you.
Robin:	Yeah, nice bumping into you too.
Harp:	OK, so that was a good example of how you can bump into someone.

Podcast/ Lipservice, Photo: victoriapeckham

Harp:	So now, Jessie what’s another meaning for guts?
Jessie:	Well another meaning for the word guts is as a synonym for courage or bravery. So you could say that someone has a lot of guts, that doesn’t mean they have a lot of organs, it means they have a lot of courage.
Harp:	So an example could be when someone goes in front of all their friends and they sing a song. It takes a lot of guts to sing in front of people.
Jessie:	Yeah, it definitely takes a lot of guts. Or the people who compete on TV shows, to see who’s the best singer, that takes a lot of guts.
Harp:	For sure. They’re very courageous, brave people.
Jessie:	Exactly. Now, you can say that someone has a lot of guts or you can say that someone is gutsy. And that means the exact same thing.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: jemsweb

Harp:	I heard that you’re allergic to fish.
Adam:	Yes, I’m allergic to fish.
Harp:	So you can’t eat sushi.
Adam:	Unfortunately, no.
Harp:	That’s too bad, you can’t eat sushi there.
Adam:	No.
Harp:	What kind of food do you like? What do you eat there?
Adam:	I like soba and I like teriyaki, yakitori. Yakitori is like barbequed chicken on sticks. So even though I can’t eat fish, there are a lot of options. It’s not a big problem.
Harp:	OK, that’s good. There’s lots of other good food you can eat. OK, now Adam, when you’re in Japan, what do you miss about Canada?
Adam:	I definitely miss my family and friends but I also miss my favourite restaurant.
Harp:	What is your favourite restaurant?
Adam:	It’s actually Shish taouk.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Adam Hoyt

Harp:	OK, Maura, do you know the origin of this expression?
Maura:	Well, there are a few possibilities but the most interesting one is that it actually comes from the smell of a fish.
Harp:	Oh, OK.
Maura:	So when the fish is fresh it actually doesn’t have a strong odour. But if the fish has been dead for a few days, it starts to have this really strong fishy smell.
Harp:	OK, so that’s where the expression came from.
Maura:	Right, so if you see a fish and it has a very strong fish smell, you think, “I don’t know if that is a good fish.”
Harp:	Right, because it’s not a fresh fish.
Maura:	Yeah, you are suspicious about the fish. Maybe at the market they are saying “fresh fish,” but because of the smell, you are not sure, right?
Harp:	Interesting.
Maura:	Right, so now we use it to talk about anything, not fish.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Illustration: Asami Takemoto

Robin:	And today we have a Catch Word that is a little bit special because we got an email from Italy.
Jessie:	Yeah.
Robin:	From a German woman who’s teaching German and English in Italy, in fact.
Jessie:	Yeah, she teaches conversation lessons.
Robin:	And her name is Bernadette. We’d like to say hi Bernadette.
Jessie:	Hello.
Robin:	And she wanted us to do an episode about the expression to brush up on something.
Jessie:	Yeah, to brush up on something. And I think that is a great phrase for our Catch Word podcast.
Robin:	Absolutely. What does it mean?
Jessie:	Well, to brush up on something is to refresh your memory or to relearn something, to study something that you already kind of know, but you need to improve on.

Podcast/ Lipservice, Photo: alicejamieson

As you can imagine, literally getting a strip torn off you would be a very painful experience. Getting a strip torn off you in the idiomatic sense is often very painful in an emotional way!

Other related idioms we talk about in this episode are
-To chew someone out
-To give someone a piece of your mind

Harp:	Just last week, I was taking the bus and I was waiting at the bus stop, minding my own business, when all of a sudden this couple came to the bus stop, and she was very angry, very, very angry and she just started yelling at him, she was tearing a strip off him.
Robin:	So the guy’s girlfriend was yelling at him. What was she yelling at him about?
Harp:	Apparently he was cheating on her and she just found out.
Robin:	OK. That’s not a conversation that you like to be having in public.
Harp:	At all, ever, but in public would make it worse.

Podcast/ Lipservice, Photo: Culips ESL Podcast

Robin:	Well, the first expression is to be two-faced or simply just two-faced.
Maura:	Right, so two-faced.
Robin:	Two-faced.
Maura:	So…like, to have two faces?
Robin:	Absolutely. And this means that you’re not very honest. So you present yourself in one way around some people and in another way around other people.
Maura:	Right. So you might say things in one situation but then in another situation you might say the exact opposite.
Robin:	I can give you an example…

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Quinn Dombrowski

Robin:	Absolutely. Hey Harp, did you get the shoes that you were looking for?
Harp:	Yeah, I got them.
Robin:	Seriously, you don’t seem so happy. Were they…
Harp:	I got ripped off. I paid a thousand dollars.
Robin:	What? You paid a thousand dollars for those shoes?
Harp:	Weren’t they on sale for seventy-five dollars?
Robin:	Robin, I saw that after and I can’t return these shoes.
Harp:	Wow.
Robin:	I got ripped off.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Jon

Maura:	Can you think of any examples where you encountered a party pooper?
Harp:	Yes, for sure I can think of an example. A couple of weeks ago, my friend threw a big party at their house. It was fun, everyone was laughing and then another friend came to the party. But this friend was so sick, he just sat in the corner miserable all night. He was such a party pooper.
Maura:	Yeah, I think if you are sick, you are kind of a party pooper, because you are tired, you’re not feeling good.
Harp:	Yeah, you’re not joining in the fun.
Maura:	Yeah, sometimes you might be at a party with a lot of people having a lot of fun and then one person keeps talking about work and complaining about work. That person is kind of a party pooper, too.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Thomas Widmann

Maura:	For sure, it’s never a good thing to call someone a wannabe.
Jessie:	Right. And of course there is nothing wrong with wanting to be something, if you want to be a doctor and you’re working to be a doctor that’s great.
Maura:	Right, in that case, probably no one would call you a wannabe.
Jessie:	A wannabe is someone who is just pretending that they’re something they are not.
Maura:	Exactly, that’s a very important distinction. So what about the word itself, wannabe, it’s kind of funny?
Jessie:	Yeah, I think this slang term is actually pretty new.
Maura:	Yeah, it originated sometime in the 1980s, which wasn’t that long ago.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Randy

Harp:Now Rita, with all of your experience in the English and ESL world can you give some tips on choosing a location or city to live and study in Canada?
Rita: Sure, I’d be happy to do that. First thing is to find the city that you want to live in. In order to do that, well, you need to do some research. There are three major cities in Canada. We have Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. And each of them has their unique personality…
Harp: OK, so it’s important for students to kind of decide their priorities when choosing the city.
Rita: Absolutely, you should definitely do some research about cost of living in each of the cities. You can find all of this information online as well. So look at things like taxes and accommodation, rent, you know how much does the average rent cost, as well. And of course you should always check out safety. How safe is the city you want to live in? And check out the different neighbourhoods as well.
Harp: So Rita, can you give us some advice on choosing a language school?

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Rita D’Amico

Maura: So Alethe, that’s an interesting name.
Alethe: Yes, I am Australian however my name is French. My mum’s sister was living in Switzerland when I was born so my name is Swiss French.
Maura: Oh, OK. Yeah, that’s an interesting point because our accents are a little bit different. If you listen to this podcast regularly you usually hear Canadian, North American accents but you do not have a Canadian accent.
Alethe: No, I have no Canadian in me. I was born in Australia, and have always lived in Australia. However I like to take little side kicks everywhere I go.
Maura: So you’re from Australia but you are in Canada. So, how did you end up here?
Alethe: Well, I had a mid-life crisis at 25 and decided I wanted to go and travel the world.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Alethe West

Jessie: So, I know that another example that I would have at work is sometimes, if my boss says something about my work, maybe gives me some criticism, says something I could be doing better, sometimes that kind of hurts my feelings but I know that it’s just work, it’s just my job. So I try to just shrug it off, and, you know, not get upset about it, not care, just shrug it off.
Robin: Forget about it. It’s not a big deal.
Jessie: So, are there any other expressions that we can use to talk about dealing with problems?
Robin: Absolutely. Another expression that we use to deal with problems is to roll with the punches.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Illustration: Asami Takemoto

Harp: Yeah, a bug is an insect.
Maura: Yeah it’s a small little insect. Sometimes it has legs and wings and sometimes they fly around like zzzz.
Harp: Exactly. Some examples of bugs are mosquitoes …
Maura: Yup.
Harp: Beetles … or cockroaches …
Maura: Yup, it could also be a fly or a ladybug.
Harp: A ladybug.
Maura: That one even has the word bug in it.
Harp: Yeah, so a ladybug is red with little black dots on it.
Maura: Yeah most people … they don’t mind ladybugs.
Harp: A ladybug is the only bug I like.
Maura: Yeah, sometimes bugs can be annoying.
Harp: Exactly, which brings us to the slang definition of bug.

Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Movie: This Hour has 22 Minutes Cough Etiquette