What is surf and turf? 6 Minute English

Rob: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English.

I'm Rob.

Neil: And hello, I'm Neil.

Rob: Now Neil, what do you feel about

surf and turf?

Neil: Surf and turf? Love it. What’s not to

love? Some lobster, a juicy steak – fries

on the side. Mmm, delicious.

Rob: Ah, you know what you’ve done there?

Neil: No, do tell.

Rob: You’ve got completely the wrong end

of the stick.

Neil: I said steak, not stick – a juicy steak.

Rob: No! Wrong end of the stick. You

misunderstood me. I’m not talking about

the surf and turf meal, but the online

shopping habit of surfing

and turfing.

Neil: Oh, my bad – but to be fair this is

quite a new use of this expression, isn’t it?

Rob: Yes, it is. Now, you probably know

that 'surfing' is a verb we use for looking at

things on the internet. Surf and turf refers

to when we go to an online store, select

lots of things for our virtual shopping

basket but when we get to the checkout,

which is the place where

we pay for our shopping, we don’t actually

complete the purchase. We turf out the

basket. We abandon it.

Neil: To turf something out is a phrasal

verb for throwing something out.

Although it’s normally used about people

– for example, someone who is behaving

badly might be turfed out of a club.

Rob: Indeed. Well, I’m sure I’ll get turfed

out of the presenter’s union if I don’t

get to today’s quiz question. According

to recent research, which items are the

most likely to be surfed and turfed? Is it

a) Books b) Watches, or

c) Women’s knitwear?

What do you think Neil?

Neil: Right, I think... I'm also certain it's a)

books.

Rob: Well, we’ll find out if you’re right later

in the programme. Now, this research

also revealed that approximately 40% of

people have abandoned an online

shopping basket in the last year.

Neil: And it was calculated that this

meant there was approximately 18 billion

pounds worth of lost sales.

Rob: I have to say I’m a bit sceptical about

that figure. I don’t trust it. We don’t

always intend to buy everything we put in

our baskets. It’s a bit like window shopping -

We just browse and find it convenient to

put things in our basket to think about

later. Have you ever done that?

Neil: Sure. It’s a bit like browsing in a shop

isn’t it – except you can save items you

are interested in to look at later. You might

also make a basket in one online store

then go to another to see if you can get

the same or similar items cheaper there.

So I agree, I don’t think that the figure of

18 billion represents a total. Some of that

was never intended to be spent and some

would have gone to other stores.

Rob: But there are other reasons we don’t

complete our purchases. For some it’s

finding out at the end that there will be a high

delivery cost or that paying is very

complicated.

Neil: Yes, I agree with that. That’s so

annoying. You spend time collecting all

the things in the basket then find you

have to create an account or can’t use

your favourite payment method or you

have to pay more to use a credit card and you

have to fill out so many details.

Sometimes you get so frustrated that you

just give up.

Rob: Exactly, and this is a subject that

retail expert Clare Bailey discussed in the

BBC programme You and Yours. She talks

about retailers, which are the businesses

that sell things. What does she say 70%

of retailers hadn’t done?

Clare Bailey: We found that something

over 70% of the retailers hadn’t invested

in the payment process in the last two years

so the technology is really out of date -

whereas they have potentially invested

in getting us to that page and then

they fell foul.

Rob: 70% of retailers hadn’t invested in the

payment process. They hadn’t changed

the way people pay online for at least two

years.

Neil: Because online technology develops

so quickly, that means that their systems

are out of date.

Something that is out of date is too old,

it’s no longer suitable.

Rob: She says that companies invest in

the shopping experience of their sites but

have ignored the checkout process. This

is where they fall foul. This is where they

make a mistake and get into trouble –

and where they can lose customers.

Right, before we fall foul of the listeners,

let’s have the answer to the quiz. I asked

you which items were the most

commonly abandoned at the virtual

checkout. Was it books, watches or

women’s knitwear? So Neil, what did you say?

Neil: I am pretty certain it's books.

Rob: The answer was actually women’s

knitwear.

Not books, as you thought.

Neil: Ah well, I can’t be right all the time.

Rob: Some of the time would be nice.

Anyway, let’s have a look at today’s

vocabulary. First surf and turf is an

expression for online shopping without

the actual shopping. You put items in your

basket but never actually buy them.

Neil: It’s also a delicious meal of seafood

and red meat.

Rob: Not if you’re a vegetarian, Neil.

Neil: Ah, good point, good point.

Rob: The verb to turf out means 'to

remove someone from a place or

organisation, possibly because

they’ve broken the rules or behaved

badly'.

For example, if we don’t finish the

programme on time we might be turfed

out of this studio.

Neil: The place where you pay for your

shopping, either in a real shop or online is

the checkout. That can be a verb as well

as a noun, you check out at the checkout.

Rob: The businesses that sell you things

are retailers.

Neil: And with hope they don’t sell you

things that are out of date because that

would mean they are past their best, too

old to be suitable.

Rob: And finally there was to fall foul of

something or someone, which is to make

a mistake and get into trouble with

someone. And as we don’t want to fall

foul of the next team who need

to use this studio, it’s just time for us

to say goodbye and to remind you to join

us again for 6 Minute English next time

and if you can’t wait you can always catch

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where you can find lots of useful audio

and video programmes to help you

improve your English. That's all

for now. Bye bye!

Neil: Goodbye!