Learn English Vocabulary Daily #19.5 — British English Podcast

Hello, and welcome to The English Like a Native Podcast.

My name is Anna and you are listening to Week 19 Day 5 of Your English

5 a Day, the series that aims to increase your active vocabulary by

deep diving into five pieces every day of the week from Monday to Friday.

Now, I do have a little bit of a frog in my throat, which is croaking away,

so hopefully I won't need to cough.

Hopefully it will just diminish during this episode.

When you have a frog in your throat, it means you sound a bit croaky, a bit

like that, and you need to cough because the froggy, croaky sound continues.

But if you cough, of course, it's not good for the voice.

It makes more mucus and makes you even more croaky and mucusy.

I mean, you have to cough even more.

So it's a difficult thing to deal with, especially when you're

trying to record a podcast.

Anyway, without further ado, without further frogs, let's start today's list

with a noun and it is bargain, bargain.

We spell this B A R G A I N.

Now it's interesting because we don't pronounce the second A, so

we don't say /ˈbɑːɡeɪn/, we say /ˈbɑːɡɪn/ , bargain, bargain.

It's an absolute bargain.

If something is a bargain.

Then it's something that you get for a price that's lower than

normal, lower than expected.

So, for example, if I go to buy a box of cereal, normally the cereal

I buy is about £3.50 per box.

It's a healthy cereal and it costs about £3.50 for a little box of this cereal.

But, if there's a sale on, and I can get two boxes for the price of one.

So, two boxes of cereal for £3.50.

I'd say,

"Wow, that's an absolute bargain!"

And you know what?

I'm not just going to buy two.

If they really were essentially half price, then I'd probably buy six

boxes, maybe eight boxes, because, you know, that's such a bargain!

And I have to admit, I love a bargain.

When I pick up a bargain, I can't help but tell everybody about it.

I go on and on and on about it for ages.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was brilliant."

"Oh, look at your garden.

You've done a really great job.

All the flowers."

"Yeah.

Yeah.

I got a real bargain actually.

All these flowers were on sale cause they weren't doing very

well and they were the last in the range that were left on the shelf.

So I got them all for next to nothing.

It was a real bargain and my garden looks great this year."

When was the last time you picked up a bargain?

And we do often say that as well as a complete phrase, to pick up a bargain.

I picked up a bargain at the shop.

OK, here's another example sentence,

"Have you tried that new charity shop in town yet?

They have a rail where you can get designer clothes for a real bargain."

Alright, next on the list is a phrasal verb.

We all love phrasal verbs, and it is snap up, and this is a separable phrasal

verb, so we can say snap something up.

Often, you'll snap up a bargain, but let's spell it before we move on.

We spell it S N A P, snap, and then up, U P.

So you snap something up.

This means that you buy it very quickly because it's such a

bargain, because it's so cheap.

You buy it as quickly as you can, snap, you grab it and you put it in your baskets

and you pay for it and run away from the store in case they change their mind.

Because you don't want to be missing out on that bargain.

I often speak to students when I am running a promotion because I

don't often discount my products.

But when I do, I tell my students,

"Hey guys, you've got to snap this up while it's cheap because I'm not going

to discount it again for maybe 12 months.

So snap it up now."

And often, my warnings are heeded and the students do snap up the bargain.

Here's another example,

"When the jacket I've been after for months went on sale, I snapped it up!

An absolute bargain at 50% off!"

Alright, moving on from snap up, we have a verb and it is debate, debate.

Now debate is spelt D E B A T E.

Debate.

To debate in this context means to think about something,

to try and make a decision.

So, you're almost weighing something up in your mind, you're having a discussion

with yourself in your mind to try and make a decision about something.

Now often debate, when you say debate, you're thinking about two

groups of people or two individuals arguing their point, trying to make

a decision about what should be done.

Like if my partner and I have some space at the back of the house, our

garden and we have nothing in it.

It's completely empty.

It's just a patch of soil and we're trying to discuss what to do with it.

He thinks that we should put a lawn down.

So, lots of grass and some flowers in the flower beds at the sides.

I think we should make a little wooded area.

So, I think we should plant loads of trees and just have lots of trees at

the back, but my partner disagrees.

And so, we'll both talk about it.

We'll debate what we want to do.

We'll present our arguments, why we think our idea is a good idea and why

we think their idea is a bad idea.

So, that's debating, but you can debate inside your own mind, on your own,

when you're trying to make a decision.

So, you know, you're kind of mumbling to yourself and going,

"Should I do this?

Maybe I should.

Oh, but I'm quite tired.

But if you don't do it, you're going to be annoyed with yourself.

And if you do do it, you might enjoy it.

So, you should do it.

Yes.

Okay.

I'll do it."

I often debate with myself.

Okay.

Here's an example sentence,

"We've decided to get a dog, but now we're debating over which breed to go for.

I want a Rottweiler, but my husband wants a Labrador!

What do you think?"

Alright, next on the list is an idiom.

And it is the long and the short of it.

The long and the short of it.

So, we spell this, the, T H E.

Long, L O N G.

And, A N D.

The, T H E.

Short, S H O R T.

Of, O F.

It, I T.

This is a long one, isn't it?

The long and the short of it.

The long and the short of it.

When you use this idiom, it means that you're explaining a situation

without going into too much detail.

So, you're basically summarising or summing up the story so, that

you're not boring the other person with a really long-winded story.

You're just trying to get to the point and tell them what they need to know.

So for example, if you say,

"Oh, Anna, what do you do for a living?"

I could give you the long story and say,

"Well, I started my life as a performer I really wanted to be on the stage.

And then I moved into this, that and the other, and I was

teaching this on the side.

And then I enjoyed teaching and I was good at teaching.

And so I started teaching this, that and the other.

And then that led me onto YouTube and that was kind of by accident.

And then I did this, that and the other.

And...."

That's a long story that I could retell.

But instead I could say to you,

"Well, the long and the short of it is I now make content online and I

am a teacher and have my own courses business where I teach people English."

And you say,

"Oh, that's really interesting.

How did you end up doing that?"

"Oh, okay then, you want the long story.

I'll give you the long story then."

Alright.

So to use the long and the short of it is just saying, basically, I'm

going to give you the short story.

I'm going to give you the quick version.

The thing that you need to know.

Here's another example,

"The long and the short of it is, we will get a dog but you kids

have to help look after it too."

Alright, moving on to the last item on our list.

It is an adjective, and it is dominant, dominant, dominant.

We spell this D O M I N A N T, dominant.

If something is described as dominant, then it has authority or

it is stronger than something else.

For example, when I was skiing I decided actually I wanted to switch onto a

snowboard, which was a bad decision at the time because it was a very dry season.

So, it was quite icy, compacted snow, very icy and learning to

snowboard on ice is not fun.

Anyway, when you're snowboarding, you have to decide which is your dominant

leg, which leg do you want to lead with, meaning which one will go forward first?

So which way will you turn your body as you go down the mountain.

And for a long time, I couldn't decide which leg was my dominant leg, which leg

I felt more comfortable putting forward as my stronger leg, my leading leg.

And to be honest, I don't think I'd even know if I got on the slopes now,

even though I've done snowboarding for many weeks in the past.

Anyway, so to be dominant.

We all know dominant people, people with dominant personalities,

but here is an example sentence,

"Jake, you have a dominant personality, could you please

take the staff meeting today?

I think they're becoming a bit lazy and need some discipline."

Okay, so, Jake obviously is quite a strong person.

He seems a little bit more authoritative like he has more authority than others.

So, let's recap today's list.

We started with the noun bargain.

We all love a bargain, something that's a lower price than normal.

Then we had the phrasal verb snap up.

To snap something up is to buy it quickly because it's

really cheap or it's very rare.

So, you want to get it quickly, you snap it up.

Then you, then we had the verb debate, in this case where you

consider something when you're trying to make a decision about it.

Then we had the idiom, the long and the short of it.

When you're explaining a situation without going into too much detail.

And we finished with the adjective dominant.

To have natural authority.

Dominant.

Alright, let's do this now for pronunciation purposes.

So, please repeat after me.

And if you can't speak out loud, just say it in your head.

Here we go.

Bargain.

Bargain.

Snap up.

Snap up.

Debate.

Debate.

The long and the short of it.

The long and the short of it.

Dominant.

Dominant.

Very good.

Let's test your memory, shall we?

So, if I spot something that's really, really cheap, and I want

to buy it very quickly because I don't want anyone else to get it.

What phrasal verb are we going to use?

Snap up.

I'm going to snap it up.

And I'm going to snap it up because it's a lower price than normal.

What noun could I use to describe this item that's a lower price than normal?

It's a bargain.

An absolute bargain.

Now I do have a little conversation with myself to try and decide whether I should

buy two or three of these bargain items.

What verb could I use to describe this process of trying

to make a decision in my mind?

What verb?

Debate.

I'm going to debate with myself.

This is such a bargain.

Should I snap up two or three of these or just get the one that I actually wanted?

Now, when I want to explain the situation to my husband later when I come home with

ten of these items, and I need to explain to him how I ended up with ten of these

items when I only need one, I want to tell him without giving too much detail.

So, what idiom would I use to start the conversation?

"Well, darling, the long and the short of it is they were a bargain.

So, I snapped up as many as I could carry."

And my husband doesn't concern himself too much about the fact that I brought 10 of

these items home because I'm the one who has natural authority in our partnership.

I'm the one who wears the trousers, we might say.

What adjective could you give to me as one of the partners in this relationship?

I am the witch partner.

What adjective would I use?

Being the one with more authority.

Dominant.

I am the dominant partner in our relationship.

Therefore, I do, like, excuse my bad behaviour of snapping

up ten of these bargain items.

But I am the dominant one, so I don't really need to make excuses for my

behaviour, because I'm in charge.

Right.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Let's bring everything together in a little story.

Are you someone who loves a good bargain?

Do you enjoy the thrill of getting a great deal on something

you've had your eye on for ages?

I know I do!

Well, if you're the same, then you might want to consider

waiting for sales in the shops.

Waiting for sales is a great way to save money and snap up some amazing deals.

It's a common debate among shoppers — should you buy something right

away or wait for it to go on sale?

Well, the long and the short of it is that waiting for sales

can have some major benefits.

First and foremost, you can save a significant amount of money.

Many stores offer discounts of 20%, 30%, or even 50% off during sales.

Not only that, but you also have a chance to get your hands on some items

that are usually out of your budget.

That designer bag or pair of shoes that you've been eyeing up, hmm?

It might just be on sale at a price that you can afford.

Another benefit of waiting for sales is that you can become a thrifty shopper.

To be thrifty is to show the careful use of money and not waste it.

By waiting for sales, you have the advantage of knowing when the

best deals are available and can plan your shopping accordingly.

Many high street shops such as New Look, Zara, Primark, and H&M, and online sites

like Amazon are dominant when it comes to the sales and often have products at

prices that are too good to be missed.

So, the next time you're debating whether to buy something at full price, remember

the benefits of waiting for sales.

You never know, you might just find that perfect bargain and snap something up

that you've been wanting for a long time.

Happy shopping!

Alright, that brings us to the end of Week 19.

If you have found this useful in any way, then please do give

this a like, rating or review.

And remember, I'm just at the end of an email, so, if you want to

say hello, give feedback, make suggestions, then feel free to do that.

You can reach me at [email protected].

I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time, have a lovely day and goodbye.