Cultural English

Complete Transcript
You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 23.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 23. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about some differences in the meaning of words used in British English and American English. And as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about some differences between British English – the English spoken in Great Britain – and American English. There’s an old joke that the United States and Great Britain are one people divided by a common language. The idea is that the United States and Britain should be united, or joined together, because we supposedly speak the same language – English. But the reality is that sometimes British and American English are very different, and those differences can divide us, or separate us.

Now, I’m not an expert in this area because I don’t speak British English, but I found a good list of some of those language differences, and I thought we would go over, or talk about, some of those today. One difference has to do with expressions we use for education, for schooling. In Britain, a “public school” is what we would call a “private school” in the U.S. This is very confusing to people in the United States when they go to Great Britain and people say they went to a “public school.”

In the United States, a “public (public) school” is a school that the government supports, meaning the government gives money to run it. It pays its teachers. It buys its books. It manages it. On the other hand, in the United States, a “private (private) school” is a school that is not supported by the government. It is owned usually by a group of people such as a church or other organization and is not owned by the government.

In many cases, “private schools” are supported through “tuition” (tuition), which is the money parents pay for their children to attend, to go to school. In other cases, “private schools” in the U.S. are supported by an institution or organization as I mentioned earlier, such as a church, but even in those cases, you usually have to pay tuition in order to send your child to that school. However, in Great Britain, the term “public school” refers to what we call a private school. That is, it’s not a government school.

Another difference between the U.S. and Britain is the vocabulary we use for different types of transportation. In Great Britain, the word “coach” (coach) is used for what we call in the United States a “bus” (bus). It’s a large vehicle with a lot of seats and is driven by a driver, of course. In the U.S., the most common type of buses are “city buses,” which travel around the city and make a lot of stops to bring people from one part of the city to another.

There are also “school buses” that pick up or transport students from where they live to the school. These buses are usually yellow in color or yellow-orange in color. City buses can be, really, any color. Here in Los Angeles, the city buses are red, but in the city of Santa Monica, which is also in Southern California, the city buses are blue. In Great Britain, people don’t talk about “riding on a bus,” they talk about “riding in a coach,” and just to complicate things – just to make things even more difficult and confusing for you – Americans use the word “coach” also, but it means something different in the U.S.

Usually, you will hear Americans talk about “traveling coach,” or “traveling in coach class.” This refers to traveling in a train or an airplane and going in the cheaper seats, what we might also call the “economy” seats. This is the section where most people travel in. It’s the section of the plane or train that has the least expensive seats. This is called “traveling coach.”

We also use “the coach” to refer to a person who leads an athletic team, a manager of a team such as a soccer team or a basketball team. The coach helps the players practice, tells them which positions to play, and leads the team in their competitions.

There are important differences in another form of transportation, this one common in large cities. In the United States, in large cities such as New York, you travel in something called a “subway” – a “subway” (subway). In England, in particular, in London, their subway is called “the tube” (tube). A “tube” is normally something that is round but long and can be made from many different kinds of materials, such as glass, rubber, plastic, or metal. It’s used to transport something like water or gas from one place to another.

But in London, “the tube” is used to describe what we would call in the U.S. a subway – an underground train, basically, or one that is mostly underground, that takes you from one place to another. Some people might also call this a “metro,” which would be a word popular in Paris for their subway. Another term you’ll hear in England or in Great Britain to refer to a subway is the “underground.” The “underground” is the same thing as the tube. It’s called the underground because the trains mostly travel underground in tunnels underneath the city.

Things can be transported, then, by bus or coach. You can go by subway or underground, but you can also transport things using what in Great Britain is called a “lorry” (lorry). A “lorry” is what we in the United States would call a “truck” (truck). A “truck” or “lorry” is a vehicle with a large space in the back used for moving large things. You may use a truck to transport or move furniture, if you’re moving, or a company might use trucks or lorries in Great Britain to transport their product – what they’re selling – from one place to another.

Well, that’s enough about transportation. Let’s talk about another set of words or terms, this time for clothing – for the things that you wear. A set of “boots” (boots) in American English is something that you put on your feet – a type of heavy shoe that covers the ankle, the part of the body that connects your lower leg to your foot. Sometimes boots cover part of your leg as well. Certain kinds of boots go as far as your knee – the part of the body that connects the two main parts of your leg.

Boots can be made from many different materials. If you’re wearing them for fashion, if you are wearing them to look good, you might wear “leather boots” – boots made from the dried skin of an animal, usually a cow. If you’re going out in the rain, you would wear boots that are made from rubber – a type of thick material sort of like plastic. These we would call “rain boots” or “rubber boots.” In British English, however, you wouldn’t describe these things as boots or rubber boots. You’d use the term “wellies.” “These are wellies” (wellies).

Now, “wellies” are always made from rubber. So they would be, technically, just the kind of boots that we would call in American English “rubber boots.” There is another term for “rubber boots” used in U.S. English that is not as common anymore, but I remember hearing it when I was growing up, and that is “galoshes” (galoshes). My guess is a lot of younger Americans may not know that term. It might be a regional term also. It might be more popular in places where you more often use rubber boots – such as Minnesota and the East Coast – than here in Southern California, where it almost never rains.

Now, to make things again complicated, the word “boot” is also used in British English, but in a completely different sense. In British English, a “boot” is a part of the car. It’s the part of the car that is in the back, usually, where you store or put things such as luggage – that is, baggage or other things that you’re transporting. It’s a large storage space in your car. The space you use to transport things. This space in American English is called the “trunk” (trunk). So that compartment, that area in the back of your car, in British English would be the “boot.” In American English, it’s the “trunk.”

In American English, a “trunk” is also the name for a large storage box, what we might also call a “chest” (chest). And once again, to make things confusing, the word “trunk” can also be used for that long part of an elephant – the long part of the nose of the elephant. That’s also called a “trunk.” While the “boot” is at the back of your car, the front of your car in American English is called the “hood” (hood). Technically, the hood is the door that lifts up, that covers the engine of the car, assuming the engine of your car is in the front, which is usually where it is.

In British English, this door that covers the front of the car is called a “bonnet” (bonnet). In American English, we use the term “hood.” In British English, they say “bonnet.” We have a different meaning for the word “bonnet” in American English that’s a somewhat old-fashioned, not very popular anymore, covering that a woman puts on her head – a hat, basically, that women and girls can wear.

A “bonnet” usually has what we call a very large “brim” (brim). A “brim” of a hat is the section of the hat that sticks out straight or somewhat straight from the head. Usually a bonnet has a thick string or ribbon that goes around your chin. It’s like a little piece of string that goes from one side of the hat to the other underneath the bottom of your face – the bottom of your head, really, underneath your chin. Women and girls used to wear bonnets in the old days to protect their heads and to keep the sun away from their faces.

You don’t see bonnets worn by American women very often anymore, although there is a woman here who lives in my neighborhood in Los Angeles that wears, or often wears, a bonnet. I don’t know her name. Whenever I see her on the street, I call her the “hat lady” because she always has a hat. Wearing hats, at least formal hats, is not as common in the United States as it used to be. You will rarely see women in hats nowadays, unless perhaps they’re at church or at some sort of formal event.

Now going back to hoods or bonnets, there’s a special verb that we use to open a hood or bonnet, and that verb is usually “to pop” (pop). Someone will say to you, “Could you pop the hood?” or “Could you pop the trunk?” The reason we use that verb “to pop” is that in most cars nowadays, there’s a little button or lever that you either push or pull that unlocks the trunk or unlocks the hood – the door that is covering the engine. So we use the verb “to pop.” The opposite would be simply “to close” the trunk or “to close” the hood.

Let me talk about one final difference between British and American English when it comes to describing clothing. That difference has to do with the word “pants” (pants). In American English, your pants are worn on your legs. They cover your legs. They go from the middle of your body, from what we would call your “waist” (waist) to the bottom of your legs or the top of your feet – to your ankles, usually. These are called “pants” and they are worn by both men and women.

In Great Britain however, the word “pants” usually means what we would call in the U.S. “underpants” or “underwear.” These are the pieces of clothing you wear underneath your pants to cover what we might politely call your “private parts.” In U.S. English, it’s “underwear” (underwear). In British English, they call those “pants.”

“Are you going to wear pants to the party tonight?” you might ask someone in American English. That would be a perfectly okay question, but in Great Britain, it would sound a little strange asking if someone was going to wear “pants” – that is, “underwear” – to the party tonight. We certainly hope they do. What do British English speakers call “pants”? The answer is “trousers” (trousers). Interestingly enough, we also use the word “trousers” in American English, but it’s considered rather old-fashioned – not a common word anymore.

So, we’ve talked about a lot of terms, a lot of words, that are different in meaning between U.S. and British English. Now let’s answer some of the questions you have sent to us.

Our first question comes from Pavel (Pavel) in Poland. Pavel from Poland wants to know about the use of “going to” and “will.” When do we use “going to,” and when do we use “will,” especially when we’re talking about something that is going to happen, that will happen in the future? Both “going to” and “will” describe a future action, a future event. It could be something that happens in a day, in an hour, even in a year. The differences are not really in meaning, but more in emphasis and in formality. “Going to” is a little more informal and perhaps a little more common.

“Will” is a little more formal – something that you might use in a book or in writing. Sometimes we use “will” in conversational English when we’re trying to emphasize something. If someone says, “Are you going to call your mother?” you could reply, “Yes, I will call her.” Maybe this person has been asking you several times and you’re trying to emphasize the fact that yes, you will call her.

Our second question comes from Augustine (Augustine) in an unknown place, possibly somewhere in North Africa. Augustine wants to know the meaning of the word “pod,” as in “podcast.” This is a good question. I don’t know if I have the exact answer, but I can give you an answer, one possible answer. “Pod” (pod) is used in one of the world’s most famous MP3 players, made by Apple, called the “iPod.” You’ve probably heard of it.

Well, a “podcast” is a recording that is made usually as an MP3 file, to be played in an MP3 player, and since Apple was the company that had the most successful MP3 player, people started calling these audio files that you can automatically download onto your computer or phone “podcasts.” There’s another word in English, “broadcast,” which refers to the transmission of television or radio programs. So that’s sort of where we get the word “podcast.” We take that second half of the word – “cast” – and add “pod” to it.

Now, you might be asking, “Well what is a pod?” A “pod” is another word for a container, something that holds or contains something else. We don’t use this word very often in English other than some very specific terms such as “peapod.” A “pea (pea) – note the spelling – pod” is what the little green vegetable, what we call “peas,” grow in. When you take them out of the ground, you have to take the peas out of the “peapod” – the container, if you will, of the peas.

In Japan there’s a vegetable called “edamame” that is also a pod, or it comes in a pod. It’s small, almost like a little case. So, a “pod” is anything that holds or contains something else, but is used in English – outside of the context of podcasting – usually just to describe the vegetable or a part of the vegetable: the peapod.

That’s all the time we have for questions today.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on the English Café.

ESL Podcast’s English Café is written and produced by Dr. Jeff McQuillan and
Dr. Lucy Tse. This podcast is copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational
Development.

Glossary
divided – split into two or more parts; separated

* Pierre divided the workload amongst himself and his roommates so that it would get done sooner.


united – joined together; having the same behaviors or beliefs

* Gwenda disagreed with her sister about many things, but they were united in their dislike of family reunions.


boots – a pair of heavy shoes, sometimes made of rubber, which go further up one's leg than a normal shoe

* Zane forgot to wear his hiking boots to go walking in the mountains and he had a difficult time on the rough trail.


trunk – an opening or covered space in the back of a car where one can store things

* Clarissa packed her grocery bags into the trunk of her car.


hood – a cover or lid on the front of the car that protects the engine and other important machines

* When smoke started coming out from the hood of the car, Colin knew there must be something wrong with the engine.


bonnet – a type of hat that covers the back and top of a woman's head, with ribbons tied below the chin; a formal hat worn mostly by babies and children, but once worn by women, that frames the face and is tied under the chin with ribbon

* At Easter, the baby wore a pink dress, shiny leather shoes, and a white bonnet.


pants – a piece of clothing that covers one's legs, starting at the hip or waist and going down to the ankle or top part of the foot

* Sharon had already picked out a shirt to wear on her date, but she still needed to choose pants to match it.


underwear – clothing worn on the lower half of one's body next to the skin and under other clothing

* Mia forgot to pack underwear for her trip and had to buy some at the airport.


trousers – a nice or formal piece of clothing that covers one's legs, starting at the hip or waist and going down to the ankle or top part of the foot

* Daphne needs to buy a pair of black trousers to match her blouse to wear for her job interview.


going to – a casual or informal version of "will"; am about to; an expression used to describe what someone is about to do or plans to do

* After Caprice finishes the laundry, she is going to go to the store.


pod – a somewhat long container that fits an objects inside

* The pod contained a small amount of powdered soap, just enough to wash a single load of clothes in a washing machine.


pea pod – a long green plant that holds small, green, round vegetables called "peas" inside

* Marc ate a stir-fry dish containing carrots, bell peppers, and pea pods.

What Insiders Know
“Knee High by the Fourth of July”

In the U.S., if you grow up in the “Midwest” (the middle, western part of the United States), you will no doubt hear people talking about how the corn should be “knee high by the Fourth of July.” The idea behind the expression is that if the corn “stalks” (plants) are as “high” (tall) as your knees by the fourth of July, then “farmers” (people who grow plants professionally) will have a good year. If the corn is growing well, then the corn will be “knee high” by early July. (The Fourth of July is a national holiday in the U.S. celebrating its independence from Great Britain.)

When Americans think of corn, they usually think of states like Nebraska in the Midwest. One of Nebraska’s nicknames is the Cornhusker State. The “husk” of the corn is the “skin” or part of the plant that protects it. In order to eat the individual corn plant, called an ear of corn, you have to take that husk off, and so we have the verb, “to husk.” A cornhusker is a person who husks corn. The University of Nebraska uses Cornhusker (or just Huskers) as the name of their sports teams.

Other states have plants as nicknames, too. Florida, located in the southeastern U.S., is sometimes called the Orange State, since the weather there is good for growing oranges and other “citrus fruits,” such as grapefruit and key limes. Alabama is the Cotton State. Cotton was once the most important “export” (things made in one area or country and sold in another) of the American South, so it is not surprising that one of those states is called the Cotton State. Finally, Connecticut, located in the northeastern United States, is called the Nutmeg State. “Nutmeg” comes from trees and is used as a “spice” (a type of plant added to food for flavor or taste) for food like pumpkin pie. “Oddly enough” (strangely), there are no nutmeg trees in Connecticut! The name probably comes from the fact that 18th century “traders” (people who buy and sell things from different places) brought the spice to the state from other countries.

Complete Transcript
You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 23.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 23. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about some differences in the meaning of words used in British English and American English. And as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about some differences between British English – the English spoken in Great Britain – and American English. There’s an old joke that the United States and Great Britain are one people divided by a common language. The idea is that the United States and Britain should be united, or joined together, because we supposedly speak the same language – English. But the reality is that sometimes British and American English are very different, and those differences can divide us, or separate us.

Now, I’m not an expert in this area because I don’t speak British English, but I found a good list of some of those language differences, and I thought we would go over, or talk about, some of those today. One difference has to do with expressions we use for education, for schooling. In Britain, a “public school” is what we would call a “private school” in the U.S. This is very confusing to people in the United States when they go to Great Britain and people say they went to a “public school.”

In the United States, a “public (public) school” is a school that the government supports, meaning the government gives money to run it. It pays its teachers. It buys its books. It manages it. On the other hand, in the United States, a “private (private) school” is a school that is not supported by the government. It is owned usually by a group of people such as a church or other organization and is not owned by the government.

In many cases, “private schools” are supported through “tuition” (tuition), which is the money parents pay for their children to attend, to go to school. In other cases, “private schools” in the U.S. are supported by an institution or organization as I mentioned earlier, such as a church, but even in those cases, you usually have to pay tuition in order to send your child to that school. However, in Great Britain, the term “public school” refers to what we call a private school. That is, it’s not a government school.

Another difference between the U.S. and Britain is the vocabulary we use for different types of transportation. In Great Britain, the word “coach” (coach) is used for what we call in the United States a “bus” (bus). It’s a large vehicle with a lot of seats and is driven by a driver, of course. In the U.S., the most common type of buses are “city buses,” which travel around the city and make a lot of stops to bring people from one part of the city to another.

There are also “school buses” that pick up or transport students from where they live to the school. These buses are usually yellow in color or yellow-orange in color. City buses can be, really, any color. Here in Los Angeles, the city buses are red, but in the city of Santa Monica, which is also in Southern California, the city buses are blue. In Great Britain, people don’t talk about “riding on a bus,” they talk about “riding in a coach,” and just to complicate things – just to make things even more difficult and confusing for you – Americans use the word “coach” also, but it means something different in the U.S.

Usually, you will hear Americans talk about “traveling coach,” or “traveling in coach class.” This refers to traveling in a train or an airplane and going in the cheaper seats, what we might also call the “economy” seats. This is the section where most people travel in. It’s the section of the plane or train that has the least expensive seats. This is called “traveling coach.”

We also use “the coach” to refer to a person who leads an athletic team, a manager of a team such as a soccer team or a basketball team. The coach helps the players practice, tells them which positions to play, and leads the team in their competitions.

There are important differences in another form of transportation, this one common in large cities. In the United States, in large cities such as New York, you travel in something called a “subway” – a “subway” (subway). In England, in particular, in London, their subway is called “the tube” (tube). A “tube” is normally something that is round but long and can be made from many different kinds of materials, such as glass, rubber, plastic, or metal. It’s used to transport something like water or gas from one place to another.

But in London, “the tube” is used to describe what we would call in the U.S. a subway – an underground train, basically, or one that is mostly underground, that takes you from one place to another. Some people might also call this a “metro,” which would be a word popular in Paris for their subway. Another term you’ll hear in England or in Great Britain to refer to a subway is the “underground.” The “underground” is the same thing as the tube. It’s called the underground because the trains mostly travel underground in tunnels underneath the city.

Things can be transported, then, by bus or coach. You can go by subway or underground, but you can also transport things using what in Great Britain is called a “lorry” (lorry). A “lorry” is what we in the United States would call a “truck” (truck). A “truck” or “lorry” is a vehicle with a large space in the back used for moving large things. You may use a truck to transport or move furniture, if you’re moving, or a company might use trucks or lorries in Great Britain to transport their product – what they’re selling – from one place to another.

Well, that’s enough about transportation. Let’s talk about another set of words or terms, this time for clothing – for the things that you wear. A set of “boots” (boots) in American English is something that you put on your feet – a type of heavy shoe that covers the ankle, the part of the body that connects your lower leg to your foot. Sometimes boots cover part of your leg as well. Certain kinds of boots go as far as your knee – the part of the body that connects the two main parts of your leg.

Boots can be made from many different materials. If you’re wearing them for fashion, if you are wearing them to look good, you might wear “leather boots” – boots made from the dried skin of an animal, usually a cow. If you’re going out in the rain, you would wear boots that are made from rubber – a type of thick material sort of like plastic. These we would call “rain boots” or “rubber boots.” In British English, however, you wouldn’t describe these things as boots or rubber boots. You’d use the term “wellies.” “These are wellies” (wellies).

Now, “wellies” are always made from rubber. So they would be, technically, just the kind of boots that we would call in American English “rubber boots.” There is another term for “rubber boots” used in U.S. English that is not as common anymore, but I remember hearing it when I was growing up, and that is “galoshes” (galoshes). My guess is a lot of younger Americans may not know that term. It might be a regional term also. It might be more popular in places where you more often use rubber boots – such as Minnesota and the East Coast – than here in Southern California, where it almost never rains.

Now, to make things again complicated, the word “boot” is also used in British English, but in a completely different sense. In British English, a “boot” is a part of the car. It’s the part of the car that is in the back, usually, where you store or put things such as luggage – that is, baggage or other things that you’re transporting. It’s a large storage space in your car. The space you use to transport things. This space in American English is called the “trunk” (trunk). So that compartment, that area in the back of your car, in British English would be the “boot.” In American English, it’s the “trunk.”

In American English, a “trunk” is also the name for a large storage box, what we might also call a “chest” (chest). And once again, to make things confusing, the word “trunk” can also be used for that long part of an elephant – the long part of the nose of the elephant. That’s also called a “trunk.” While the “boot” is at the back of your car, the front of your car in American English is called the “hood” (hood). Technically, the hood is the door that lifts up, that covers the engine of the car, assuming the engine of your car is in the front, which is usually where it is.

In British English, this door that covers the front of the car is called a “bonnet” (bonnet). In American English, we use the term “hood.” In British English, they say “bonnet.” We have a different meaning for the word “bonnet” in American English that’s a somewhat old-fashioned, not very popular anymore, covering that a woman puts on her head – a hat, basically, that women and girls can wear.

A “bonnet” usually has what we call a very large “brim” (brim). A “brim” of a hat is the section of the hat that sticks out straight or somewhat straight from the head. Usually a bonnet has a thick string or ribbon that goes around your chin. It’s like a little piece of string that goes from one side of the hat to the other underneath the bottom of your face – the bottom of your head, really, underneath your chin. Women and girls used to wear bonnets in the old days to protect their heads and to keep the sun away from their faces.

You don’t see bonnets worn by American women very often anymore, although there is a woman here who lives in my neighborhood in Los Angeles that wears, or often wears, a bonnet. I don’t know her name. Whenever I see her on the street, I call her the “hat lady” because she always has a hat. Wearing hats, at least formal hats, is not as common in the United States as it used to be. You will rarely see women in hats nowadays, unless perhaps they’re at church or at some sort of formal event.

Now going back to hoods or bonnets, there’s a special verb that we use to open a hood or bonnet, and that verb is usually “to pop” (pop). Someone will say to you, “Could you pop the hood?” or “Could you pop the trunk?” The reason we use that verb “to pop” is that in most cars nowadays, there’s a little button or lever that you either push or pull that unlocks the trunk or unlocks the hood – the door that is covering the engine. So we use the verb “to pop.” The opposite would be simply “to close” the trunk or “to close” the hood.

Let me talk about one final difference between British and American English when it comes to describing clothing. That difference has to do with the word “pants” (pants). In American English, your pants are worn on your legs. They cover your legs. They go from the middle of your body, from what we would call your “waist” (waist) to the bottom of your legs or the top of your feet – to your ankles, usually. These are called “pants” and they are worn by both men and women.

In Great Britain however, the word “pants” usually means what we would call in the U.S. “underpants” or “underwear.” These are the pieces of clothing you wear underneath your pants to cover what we might politely call your “private parts.” In U.S. English, it’s “underwear” (underwear). In British English, they call those “pants.”

“Are you going to wear pants to the party tonight?” you might ask someone in American English. That would be a perfectly okay question, but in Great Britain, it would sound a little strange asking if someone was going to wear “pants” – that is, “underwear” – to the party tonight. We certainly hope they do. What do British English speakers call “pants”? The answer is “trousers” (trousers). Interestingly enough, we also use the word “trousers” in American English, but it’s considered rather old-fashioned – not a common word anymore.

So, we’ve talked about a lot of terms, a lot of words, that are different in meaning between U.S. and British English. Now let’s answer some of the questions you have sent to us.

Our first question comes from Pavel (Pavel) in Poland. Pavel from Poland wants to know about the use of “going to” and “will.” When do we use “going to,” and when do we use “will,” especially when we’re talking about something that is going to happen, that will happen in the future? Both “going to” and “will” describe a future action, a future event. It could be something that happens in a day, in an hour, even in a year. The differences are not really in meaning, but more in emphasis and in formality. “Going to” is a little more informal and perhaps a little more common.

“Will” is a little more formal – something that you might use in a book or in writing. Sometimes we use “will” in conversational English when we’re trying to emphasize something. If someone says, “Are you going to call your mother?” you could reply, “Yes, I will call her.” Maybe this person has been asking you several times and you’re trying to emphasize the fact that yes, you will call her.

Our second question comes from Augustine (Augustine) in an unknown place, possibly somewhere in North Africa. Augustine wants to know the meaning of the word “pod,” as in “podcast.” This is a good question. I don’t know if I have the exact answer, but I can give you an answer, one possible answer. “Pod” (pod) is used in one of the world’s most famous MP3 players, made by Apple, called the “iPod.” You’ve probably heard of it.

Well, a “podcast” is a recording that is made usually as an MP3 file, to be played in an MP3 player, and since Apple was the company that had the most successful MP3 player, people started calling these audio files that you can automatically download onto your computer or phone “podcasts.” There’s another word in English, “broadcast,” which refers to the transmission of television or radio programs. So that’s sort of where we get the word “podcast.” We take that second half of the word – “cast” – and add “pod” to it.

Now, you might be asking, “Well what is a pod?” A “pod” is another word for a container, something that holds or contains something else. We don’t use this word very often in English other than some very specific terms such as “peapod.” A “pea (pea) – note the spelling – pod” is what the little green vegetable, what we call “peas,” grow in. When you take them out of the ground, you have to take the peas out of the “peapod” – the container, if you will, of the peas.

In Japan there’s a vegetable called “edamame” that is also a pod, or it comes in a pod. It’s small, almost like a little case. So, a “pod” is anything that holds or contains something else, but is used in English – outside of the context of podcasting – usually just to describe the vegetable or a part of the vegetable: the peapod.

That’s all the time we have for questions today.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on the English Café.

ESL Podcast’s English Café is written and produced by Dr. Jeff McQuillan and
Dr. Lucy Tse. This podcast is copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational
Development.

Glossary
divided – split into two or more parts; separated

* Pierre divided the workload amongst himself and his roommates so that it would get done sooner.


united – joined together; having the same behaviors or beliefs

* Gwenda disagreed with her sister about many things, but they were united in their dislike of family reunions.


boots – a pair of heavy shoes, sometimes made of rubber, which go further up one's leg than a normal shoe

* Zane forgot to wear his hiking boots to go walking in the mountains and he had a difficult time on the rough trail.


trunk – an opening or covered space in the back of a car where one can store things

* Clarissa packed her grocery bags into the trunk of her car.


hood – a cover or lid on the front of the car that protects the engine and other important machines

* When smoke started coming out from the hood of the car, Colin knew there must be something wrong with the engine.


bonnet – a type of hat that covers the back and top of a woman's head, with ribbons tied below the chin; a formal hat worn mostly by babies and children, but once worn by women, that frames the face and is tied under the chin with ribbon

* At Easter, the baby wore a pink dress, shiny leather shoes, and a white bonnet.


pants – a piece of clothing that covers one's legs, starting at the hip or waist and going down to the ankle or top part of the foot

* Sharon had already picked out a shirt to wear on her date, but she still needed to choose pants to match it.


underwear – clothing worn on the lower half of one's body next to the skin and under other clothing

* Mia forgot to pack underwear for her trip and had to buy some at the airport.


trousers – a nice or formal piece of clothing that covers one's legs, starting at the hip or waist and going down to the ankle or top part of the foot

* Daphne needs to buy a pair of black trousers to match her blouse to wear for her job interview.


going to – a casual or informal version of "will"; am about to; an expression used to describe what someone is about to do or plans to do

* After Caprice finishes the laundry, she is going to go to the store.


pod – a somewhat long container that fits an objects inside

* The pod contained a small amount of powdered soap, just enough to wash a single load of clothes in a washing machine.


pea pod – a long green plant that holds small, green, round vegetables called "peas" inside

* Marc ate a stir-fry dish containing carrots, bell peppers, and pea pods.

What Insiders Know
“Knee High by the Fourth of July”

In the U.S., if you grow up in the “Midwest” (the middle, western part of the United States), you will no doubt hear people talking about how the corn should be “knee high by the Fourth of July.” The idea behind the expression is that if the corn “stalks” (plants) are as “high” (tall) as your knees by the fourth of July, then “farmers” (people who grow plants professionally) will have a good year. If the corn is growing well, then the corn will be “knee high” by early July. (The Fourth of July is a national holiday in the U.S. celebrating its independence from Great Britain.)

When Americans think of corn, they usually think of states like Nebraska in the Midwest. One of Nebraska’s nicknames is the Cornhusker State. The “husk” of the corn is the “skin” or part of the plant that protects it. In order to eat the individual corn plant, called an ear of corn, you have to take that husk off, and so we have the verb, “to husk.” A cornhusker is a person who husks corn. The University of Nebraska uses Cornhusker (or just Huskers) as the name of their sports teams.

Other states have plants as nicknames, too. Florida, located in the southeastern U.S., is sometimes called the Orange State, since the weather there is good for growing oranges and other “citrus fruits,” such as grapefruit and key limes. Alabama is the Cotton State. Cotton was once the most important “export” (things made in one area or country and sold in another) of the American South, so it is not surprising that one of those states is called the Cotton State. Finally, Connecticut, located in the northeastern United States, is called the Nutmeg State. “Nutmeg” comes from trees and is used as a “spice” (a type of plant added to food for flavor or taste) for food like pumpkin pie. “Oddly enough” (strangely), there are no nutmeg trees in Connecticut! The name probably comes from the fact that 18th century “traders” (people who buy and sell things from different places) brought the spice to the state from other countries.