Transcript of Bitesize Ep 048 Transcript

Charlie:
Hello Hello Hello! It's Charlie here, as usual. And for this episode, I wanted to strip things back a bit because I've heard from a few members that they sometimes feel like they have too many resources that they are expected to get through. So I want to make a conscious effort to make the bite sized episodes exactly that quick and digestible. So I'm going to give you a short catch up I had with Harry. That was very natural because we actually thought that it wasn't going to be aired. We caught up before starting to record a full length, hour long episode, but the conversation was nice and flowed, so I think it's worth your attention. So treat it as a less intense bit of listening practice and see how two native British English speakers catch up when they think they're not being recorded. But do remember, we know each other very well, so I press him a lot more about how he is than I would a stranger. Oh, and I do want to make it clear, though, that there is no expectation with how much work people need to do as members of the Premium podcast or academy. You really can go at your own pace. You can do 15 minutes a day or an hour a day, or even more or less. It's completely up to you. Okay. In we go to a casual catch up with Harry. Can you tell me how things are?

Harry:
Yeah. Yeah, things are. I just said I'm really depressed.

Charlie:
But we're not. We're not going to use this bit unless it's good. So you can tell me the honest answer.

Harry:
I would imagine if I said, like, don't put this bit out, mate. Like, I'm really fed up and then you just put it out. [Yeah] yeah. No...

Charlie:
Straight to upload.

Harry:
So. Yeah. How are things? I'm. I'm depressed. No, no, no, I'm fine. I'm good. I'm feeling good. I slept pretty well. Reasonably well. I didn't have any bad dreams. That's always good.

Charlie:
I feel like when somebody asks somebody how they are and they focus on how they slept, it's normally an indication that generally things are a bit shit and they're just trying to focus on the the very near or very recent. Do you know what I mean?

Harry:
Like I. Well, yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, maybe that's the case. Yeah, I just try to focus on something good. Yeah. So I don't have to tell you all the bad, but. No, no, fine. Absolutely fine. Life is fine. I've got my paddleboard, which kind of enjoying. However, it's I'd say it's probably nearing the end of paddleboard season because summer is definitely over. Today... Do you want to see the weather from my window?

Charlie:
Yeah, yeah, go for it. It's a grey, grey day and there's a seat in the garden that looks a bit cold to sit on.

Harry:
That seat is so depressing. It's got like, it's a really weird seat. It's got like a kind of hollow bit in the middle. And this, like, a puddle just accumulates there gradually. Bedford is grey, but, you know, the sun does shine up here. Not all the time, but it has been and is currently shining.

Charlie:
Good. And Harry pointed to his head when he said up here because without that point I suppose people could think of Sydney versus Bedford maybe, but yeah. So paddle boarding. I'm very excited by this paddle boarding and coming back to the UK and we could maybe go paddle boarding together.

Harry:
Definitely. Yeah. You should erm...

Charlie:
Become paddle boarding bros.

Harry:
I think we'd have a great time. It's just. It's a really nice, meditative, calming day out, and it feels so freeing as well. It's like. It's like you've got a boat, you know, you can literally go anywhere as long as the, you know, the current isn't too mental and the weather conditions are pretty calm. Like it's it's really like freeing and nowadays.

Charlie:
Sorry to interrupt, but do you, on your dating apps do you have on your profile like boat owner or skipper?

Harry:
Captain of Lidl paddle boats. No, but that's a good idea though. I should definitely put a picture of me paddle boarding on my Hinge profile. I think it's a very good shout actually.

Charlie:
And put a captain's hat on. Do you remember those ads advertising those cars that were a bit average? And the guy would be standing next to a very fast, cool car and he'd be saying to the girl, Do you want to come back to mine or something? And he's like, playing with his keys. So she kind of thinks he's got a really nice car. And then I think it was a Toyota Aygo. I just remembered that. He was like, okay, great. And he would like go to the really small little. Yeah, Toyota.

Harry:
Yeah, that's a good one.

Charlie:
That's kind of you with your boat and your paddle board, isn't it?

Harry:
Yeah. I normally like pose next to a yacht for a photo and then just like, start pumping my board up.

Charlie:
So it's a pump.

Harry:
It's a pump one. Yeah. I didn't know there were any other types. I didn't know there were non pump ones, but I guess that makes sense. But yeah, it's actually, I tell you what, it's a bloody good workout, the pumping, because it takes about 15 minutes and it gets progressively harder. Obviously that's the point in pumping. It gets progressively more, more difficult as it gets harder, which is quite nice.

Charlie:
That's, that's great. 15 minutes of progressively getting harder is exactly what a physical - a PT would want.

Harry:
Just so it's the opposite of my sex sessions.

Charlie:
What, you start off really hard and then you get softer and softer?

Harry:
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Charlie:
I mean, the duration is accurate.

Harry:
The durat... Yeah, I'm proud of the duration. I'm proud of the duration. Yeah. This... Your podcast is for, like, adults, isn't it?

Charlie:
Yeah. Some minors get in there and I applaud them, but, you know, I'm not going to get arrested.

Harry:
Well done. Careful about that. You should check. Check the law for that. I did notice the other day when I was checking the vocabulary for a lesson on your website and it said... It was an episode that I was on about pests and I was unnecessarily swearing. I would say. I was just throwing the F-word in like left, right and centre. I just thought that was unnecessary. But I also notice that you didn't you didn't blank it out, you didn't like censor it or anything, so I came here ready to be an absolute potty mouth today, you fuckers.

Charlie:
Good. That's good. Well, yes. I mean, the British English podcast was born from real English with real teachers. So, you know, it's got to have real English in there, hasn't it?

Harry:
Exactly. And swearing is real English. [There we go]. Swearing is definitely real English.

Charlie:
But I did actually notice that the last time I caught up with my aunty, who's quite proper, she was very enthusiastic to hear about my business and my podcast and how it's all going. And then I played 30 seconds of an episode and there were a couple of, you know, slang terms and a maybe a soft swear word in that. And she was absolutely disgraced. And since then she hasn't asked about my work at all.

Harry:
No! What was the episode?

Charlie:
I think it was a bitesize one of me just going off on one about British humour, maybe. I think so. But yeah, I didn't seem... I didn't see it being a problem. And then yeah, she's very, very, I would say, narrow minded.

Harry:
She's going from being proper to being a narrow minded bitch.

Charlie:
Oi, watch it. That's my auntie you're talking about.

Harry:
Yeah. Sorry Mrs.. What's her name. Is she Mrs. Baxter?

Charlie:
No, she is.

Harry:
Or is she Miss Baxter? Or Ms? Is she Ms?

Charlie:
She's a Helden.

Harry:
She could have been Helden Baxter, although Baxter Helden sounds better.

Charlie:
Oh, I see.

Harry:
Is her name Gaye? Is it Gaye Helden Baxter? That is the worst name ever with Helden Baxter. It doesn't sound good.

Charlie:
It can't be in them.

Harry:
But then again, Gaye... Gaye Helden sounds much better than Gaye Baxter. That was like your nickname in school, wasn't it?

Charlie:
Oi! I wanted to keep that...

Harry:
Sorry.

Charlie:
...to myself. Off air.

Harry:
It's not okay nowadays to... Because it's interesting, actually. You know, in school, like the biggest insult. I think it's okay to say this because, like, the way we think and consider like homosexuality nowadays, people are a lot more open. Thank God. And it's now probably not an insult, I don't know. But in school we used to say, Oh, you're gay. And that used to be an insult. [Yeah] didn't it?

Charlie:
Yeah, definitely.

Harry:
And even used to be a way of just saying something was shit. You'd say, Nah that's gay.

Charlie:
Yes.

Harry:
Meaning that's rubbish or that's sad or that's, that's not very that's not worth doing. Oh, that's so gay.

Charlie:
Yeah.

Harry:
That's so bad isn't it?

Charlie:
As linguists, we could probably redefine the word and we could have multiple meanings for it because as you've just described, there are definitely at least two, one being crap, two being homosexual, and three I'd say being a bit of a a softie, not being bold and brave.

Harry:
Being a wimp. Yeah. I wonder if we went back to school now and yeah, just to see what kind of language the kids are using. There'd be loads of words we don't know...

Charlie:
So many.

Harry:
...for starters. But it'd be really interesting to see how they use those words that used to be used in a derogatory way. I wonder. I hope kids don't say use gay in those ways.

Charlie:
I imagine they don't anymore. We used to always say or one one guy that annoyed me, he used to always say, Pee off as in piss off. But he wasn't brave enough to say the swear word.

Harry:
I bet his proper aunty told him to say pee off instead of piss off.

Charlie:
Yeah, maybe.

Harry:
But it's still not acceptable, is it? Saying pee off. It's not, it's not good. [No] It's not light.

Charlie:
And if anything it's less informative than the actual swear word, which is what most people who don't swear argue about it, saying it's lazy, not using enough vocabulary.

Harry:
I need to just say something about the word piss before we move on. And I think it's very important because I think sometimes when you learn a colloquial expression as an English learner, you really want to use it because it helps you to sound like a native and you know, it might be really liked by the recipient, by the person you're speaking to. But it's important to know that any, any expression containing piss is a bit rude. And like you should, you should be careful in what kind of context you use it. And also think about the type of like language that you yeah, you might use in certain contexts. I was having a trial lesson the other day with a really sweet Thai woman, and, but it was a trial lesson, right? And everything. It was like towards the end of the lesson and she suddenly said, like, I was really pissed off. But I remember just being really shocked that she said pissed off because it was just completely out of complete as a of a completely different tone to the rest of the conversation. And it was suddenly like almost aggressive and it was like, that really doesn't suit the way you speak. And it was like it was it was really odd, you know what I mean? Like if you're pissed off, it's like you're really annoyed about something, right? And you're like, you're using a swear word because it's something that really annoys you.

Charlie:
Yeah, it cuts through the air for an English person, doesn't it? It's quite aggressive, [definitely] and especially if the person that you're listening to is the opposite of aggressive. You might expect it from somebody, you know, who is talking loudly using other swear words and being generally annoying.

Harry:
Oh yeah. Or if they're drunk, had a couple of drinks and yeah, it's getting a bit more animated.

Charlie:
I thought you were also, I thought the other route that you were going to take with this word is that you're going to talk about toilet habits. And this, this cute Thai person was being really innocent. And then she said, Oh, sorry, I need to go for a piss. And that that would have done the same. That would have been like, oh, gosh, no, just say toilet, go to the toilet or bathroom or even pee. Pee is much softer, isn't it?

Harry:
Go for pee. Even then, it's a bit too much information [Oh yeah. Yeah] with someone you've just met.

Charlie:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's softer than piss.

Harry:
But that's interesting. Yeah, but like, the word piss is used in Spanish, and I really don't think it's as harsh or rude or it's not at all sweary. It's actually I think it's quite a normal way to say I'm going for a wee. [Yeah]. Yeah, hacer pis and I don't think it sounds like piss does in English. I'll have to verify that with some Spaniards, because, yeah, I think it's a lot softer.

Charlie:
But it's the same. You just.

Harry:
It's literally the same word pi.... But I think it's just with one s. Pis.

Charlie:
But that is the wonders of different languages and the amazement and the frustration at the same time.

Harry:
Absolutely. Absolutely. I wanted to ask you quickly, before you tell me what we're up to in the podcast, how your Spanish is going. Are you are you still taking classes? And if so, how goes it?

Charlie:
Yeah, Yeah. So I started the marathon. If you remember the half marathon, at Lingoda. This isn't sponsored by them...in October last year, so I've now been doing a whole year of lessons pretty much consistently, not as consistently as that half marathon that was every other day. But since like the end of that stint, I've been having at least one, maybe two a day, two a week. And yeah, I definitely feel better. My goal was to be of a B1 standard by the end of the year and I feel like I'm not going to quite make it. But yeah, I'm enjoying it and, and when I stop it, like I went on a holiday recently and I'm looking forward to getting back into it, which is a nice feeling. Like, you know, when you miss a hobby and you, you are excited to get back to it.

Harry:
That's great. That's really good. Are there any YouTube channels that you like following and stuff? For me, that made a big difference because like if you're away, you can just keep you can keep up with with your Spanish and it's it's easy and it's and it's just enjoyable. And it means you can you can make it a part of your day to day very easily by just popping on a video. Are there any YouTube channels that you like or podcasts for for Spanish learners?

Charlie:
That's interesting that you brought that up. I feel like I'm very conscious of whether I'm actually learning when I'm doing some Spanish and when I'm... There's this one audio book that I listen to that is very like active in the way that it says it in English, and then it says, Do you know how to say this in Spanish? And then it has a pause and it makes you think. [Paul Noble?] I've heard of him. I don't think it is. But yeah, similar kind of concepts and it really helps me think in Spanish and it makes me feel like I'm, you know, using my time effectively. When I put a podcast on or a YouTube video. I don't think I'm of a level yet where I can absorb it properly and it kind of just goes over me unless they're bilingual. But then I start to feel frustrated that they're talking to me in English.

Harry:
Yeah, yeah, that would annoy me too. [Yeah]. But I think that's interesting though. I think, like, there are some channels, there's one really cool channel. It's called like Spanish After Hours, and she does. Her approach is all about comprehensible input. So she does these videos for, you know, for beginners and for intermediate, lower intermediate. And she, she only speaks in, in Spanish. But it's always understandable, like she's got some videos that are appropriate for even absolute beginners. But because she's so good at like demonstrating stuff and and just grading her language, it's brilliant. I'd really recommend it.

Charlie:
Okay, I'll take it. Um, I've written it down and I'll give it a go. I'll give her channel a go. Nice.

Harry:
She's really nice, [Yeah] really nice girl.

Charlie:
I mean, we've had a long chat. I'm not sure where this will go in the podcast, whether it will go at the end or the beginning, but I'm going to go into the topic now. All right. So that was the end of the catch up Harry and I had before we started recording an episode. If you are interested, that episode will be called something along the lines of How Awkwardly British Are You? But as I said, this one was a bite sized one, quick, digestible and hopefully enjoyable for you. Thank you very much for listening to the end of this episode. I've been Charlie Baxter, the host of this show, and I'll see you next time on the British English podcast.