REAL English Conversation | FAST English!

I’m hopping a plane in Florida and you’re invited.  

Let’s study real English  as it happens in real life.

Made it.

I recently hopped on a plane, headed south  and met up some dear friends from childhood.

Come with me on this trip while we study real  American English conversation to learn phrases  

in real life. These girls you’ll meet are so much  fun and I’m so lucky to have them in my life.

But actually, before I get to meet my friends,  

I had to work a few days. I checked myself  into a bed and breakfast for two nights.

I brought my raincoat because unfortunately  it’s supposed to rain most of the time I’m here.

Confession: I was so busy getting my car, getting  directions, groceries, and I forget to get out my  

camera but I’m here now and yes, I bought flowers  for my room. The first thing I’d like to do when  

I get somewhere is I like to get all settled  in and unpacked. Are you this way or do you  

like to get to the fun stuff? To me, I’m going to  enjoy myself more when I have sort of settled in.

The phrasal verb ‘settle in’ means to  become familiar with somewhere new and  

to make yourself happy and comfortable  there. So, for example at a hotel,  

settling in might be unpacking. But you could  also settle in to a new community when you move  

and that might take months to get to know  people and become comfortable and familiar.

Settle in

Settle down

Another phrasal verb with settle is settle down  and this is what you tell your kids when they  

have way too much energy, and maybe they’re  acting out. You have to say ‘Settle down,  

we’re at a restaurant now.  You have to be more calm.’

Now, I don’t usually buy myself flowers but  I was at the grocery store getting some food  

for dinner because I don’t want to leave the  house. Once I’m here, I just want to chill and  

I saw these and I was like, well I can’t resist  that, that’s going to make my room a lot nicer.

That one’s too long isn’t it? I’m not  going to bother with making it shorter.

So I got them, they’re going in a coffee  mug, so I have to trim them significantly.

Trim. This is when you remove  the excess of something. You  

can also mean to make neat or tidy by clipping.

So there are lots of things you might trim. Here,  

I’m trimming the stems. You might trim your  bangs or you might trim your beard. Also when  

you’re cooking. You might trim the fat off  the piece of chicken for cooking it. Trim.

Anyway, this is just going to brighten  my day everytime I look at it.

Let’s finish unpacking. You know what’s better  than unpacking? Unpacking while snacking!

Do you like salt and vinegar?  It’s one of my favorites.

Love the tanginess.

The adjective, ‘tangy’ means having a sour  taste. In this case it’s the vinegar that  

makes it tangy. So adding the –ness turns  this adjective into a noun. Tanginess. The  

tanginess of the chips is because of the  vinegar. Notice on both of these words,  

tangy and tanginess. The ng is making  one sound, the ng sound. So there’s  

not a g also. We don’t say tan-gee or  tan-jee. But it’s tangy. Tanginess.

Not a bad view.

I got settled in. I got unpacked. I worked through  the evening, went to bed. And in the morning,  

it’s time for coffee. I decided to  get really indulgent. Wouldn’t it  

be interesting to put chocolate in  the coffee mug. Yes, let’s try it.

Okay, I kind of hate these machines.  I make it very differently at home.

8 Ounces.

If something is indulgent and you do it, that  means you’re treating yourself. For example,  

putting chocolate in your coffee.  To put chocolate in the coffee mug.

Maybe you take a day off of  work, go to spa, get a massage,  

get a manicure, a pedicure. That is  indulgent. You’re pampering yourself,  

you are treating yourself. You allow  yourself to do something that’s special.

As much as I don’t like these machines,  that is a nice sight to see in the morning.

Alright, I’ve got a little  bit more scriptwriting to do,  

quite a bit of room cleaning  to do before I hit the road.

Hit the road. This is an  idiom that means to leave,  

especially in a car. We’re going to hit  the road. You could also say, ‘head out’,  

a phrasal verb that means to leave. We’re  going to head out. We’re going to hit the road!

I got my work done, got dressed, and packed up  to meet my friends at the beach house we rented.

These girls and I all grew up in  the beautiful town of Gainesville,  

Florida. We get together every year.  And this time we rented a house on  

the coast of Florida for the weekend.  So I drove my rental off the coast.

Most of them are already here and they’re loud  so I’m definitely hearing them through the door.

Hey!

Hey!

These girls and I have been  friends since elementary school.

Ginny and I once stuffed ourselves  into the same pair of pants.

We also dissected a fetal pig together  in the 5th grade. We grew up having pool  

parties in each other's backyards. When we get  together, it’s still the same. This is Erin,  

who gave me her Barbie car in kindergarten. We  just laugh and laugh. So this is what we did.   

We sat on the beach talking.

We hung out on the deck talking.

We played games but we’re mostly just talking and laughing.

And every year, this is what  it is. Three days of non-stop talking about life,  

about the year, about growing up and laughing.  During all our conversations, a few phrases came  

up that I wanted to teach you. So Ginny and  Grace are going to each teach you something.

My friend Grace just used an amazing idiom. Grace,  

you’re talking about your sons and how  they’re saving up for a Nintendo Switch.

And I told them, if they want to  be able to afford Nintendo Switch,  

they’re going to have to tighten their belts.

Tighten their belts.

Save up is a phrasal verb and it  means to accumulate slowly over time.

So for example, these boys are going  to have to save up a little bit of  

their allowance every week in order to  buy this big thing that they want.

And the best way to save up is to spend less. And  to spend less, you need to tighten your belt.

Tighten your belt is an idiom that means to spend  less money. To figure out ways where you can save.

Let’s say that you’re used to going  to get a coffee at a coffee shop a  

couple of times a week. If you need  to save money and tighten your belt,  

you might have to stop doing that and only  go to a coffee shop for your morning coffee,  

maybe once or twice a month. So that that  extra money can go into your savings.

Tighten your belt. Spend less money.

This is a picture of me and  Grace at our senior prom.  

Thank you for being willing to teach this idiom.

Here, come this way just a smidge.

Smidge or smidgen. This means a teeny,  

tiny amount. A very small quantity. I  just wanted her to move a little bit.

So, my friend Ginny is a teacher at a school and  you guys were recently hiring a new teacher and  

she used a word and we thought, wow, would  everybody know that word when used in that  

phrase? Ginny, do you remember that phrase that  you guys said to your applicant in the interview?

Yes, we were acknowledging that this  was the first round of interviews  

and that we might be meeting with other  people again and we said right now,  

we’re just going to have our first  conversations with everybody in the pool.

In the pool. Now, they did not  mean grab your bathing suit,  

towel and ice-cold drink, we’re partying  in the pool. In this case the pool means  

the applicant pool. And so that means  the group of everybody whose applying.

Okay.

The applicant pool.

Okay, so a couple of job-related  words have come up here. First,  

applicant. This is anyone  who has applied for a job.

A round of interviews. You might do several  rounds of interviews if you’re trying to hire  

an important position. And in each round,  you bring less people into the next round.

So for example, we might do three rounds of  interviews if we’re filling an important job  

position. Maybe we interviewed ten  people the first round then we pick  

our five favorites for the second round. And  maybe in the third round, we pick our final  

two choices. And the pool refers to everyone  who has applied. That is the applicant pool.

We also do use in the pool, like uhm,  

especially like collecting money from like  gambling, like your money in the pool.

Yes, yes. We’re going to pool our resources.

So we use the word pool in a lot of ways. We have  a swimming pool. We have an applicant pool. The  

group of everybody who has applied. We have  something called the gene pool. So large gene  

pool is a lot of genetic diversity and a small  gene pool is the opposite. For example, the Amish  

are pulling on a smaller gene pool because they  tend to be separate from the rest of society.

Ginny mentioned collecting money for gambling so,  

you might pool all of your money into one  spot when you’re playing a game of chance  

of a lottery or something like that then  whoever wins, gets the whole pool of money.

You can also pool resources or supplies. This  means lots of people put their resources,  

put their supplies into one  place for a whole group to use.

For example, let’s say that we’re trying to  have a big fundraiser for the neighborhood  

and I have folding tables that I can put  out. My neighbor is a great baker and she  

can make all sorts of tasty treats to sell.  Let’s say my other neighbor has a kiddie  

pool that she can set up and make a really  fun place for kids to come. We might say,  

‘Let’s pool our resources so we can throw a  great party/fundraiser for the neighborhood.

This is me and Ginny in high  school when the Florida Gators  

won the national championship. Thanks  to Ginny for teaching us these words.

Don’t forget this.

The weekend went by too fast and it was time  to head out, it was time to hit the road.

Goodbye Ocean view. Love you!

Love you! Mwah!

It’s always at the ready!

It’s always at the ready!

At the ready means ready for immediate  use in a state of preparation or waiting.

My camera was there, the mic  was plugged in, it was on.

Oh, let me get that. I could just grab  it and film that hug. I didn’t have to  

find the camera or turn it or turn it  on or anything. It was at the ready.

The mic didn’t pick it up too well here.  But I’m about to use the word deadbolt.

Do you think I just do the deadbolt?

Just the deadbolt. So the deadbolt is  the lock on top of the doorknob which  

also has a lock. We use this of course for  outside doors to make them more secure.

Do you still have friends like this  that you get together with? I used  

to go swimming at the pool at Stacy’s house.

This is Jenny, Erin, Ginny and Grace in  highschool.

And Amanda, Stacy and Ginny at Senior prom.

Through or 20s, 30s, now into our  40s, these friendships are still going strong.

Huge thanks to my friends for letting me take  

these photos and clips to  put together this lesson.

Safe travels!

Keep your learning going now with this  real English video from a trip to New  

York City and don’t forget to subscribe  with notifications on. I love being your  

English teacher. That’s it and thanks  so much for using Rachel’s English.