Unexpected Marijuana - 4:20 English Listening Interview
Unexpected English!
05/23/21
•4m
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[EP 72] Content Warning, drugs! [Street interview episode] So I'm taking my daily walk, walking down the street and I walked by this vehicle with open windows and I get a powerful odor of what is currently called ... marijuana. ---> LISTEN NOW! [4:20 = time to get high]
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Hey everybody it's me, Louis. Welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English! Yes it's episode 72, I think? It's episode 72? I know it's late, it's very late, but I know I'm also very lazy which is why it's very late, so I won't even talk, let's just get right to the episode. I apologize for the sound, you know, it was in the street , one of those spontaneous things, but here it is. Let's go!
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So I'm taking my daily walk, walking down the street and I walked by this vehicle with open windows and I get a powerful odor of what is currently called ... marijuana. So I thought I would stop and ask these guys... Am I right? Are you? Yeah. Smoking a *Backwood, it’s a natural weed. A natural... what is a natural? It’s a tobacco leaf, instead of the processed tobacco.
Oh wait a minute. You... There's weed in it, but its... [inaudible] OK, help us understand here for those of us who don’t. We are smoking... what I say “we” I mean you, not me, dear listeners! I’m, I’m **straight arrow. But this is weed wrapped in a tobacco leaf? Yeah.
All right... and... where did you acquire your... your weed? Weed? From the ***dispensary. And then the Backwoods from just any liquor store. OK but, the dispensary, when you go in there, don’t they have like a whole lot of choices? Yeah. Hundreds of choices, ****edibles, everything. And so for your particular choice, thought, I mean, do you always get the same thing, or how do you decide? Because, say, I am a newbie and I go in there and see wow look at all this, look at all this weed. How do I know what to get? I personally like Indica there's 3 different types: indica, sativa and hybrid, Indica makes you go to sleep, hybrids in the middle, and then sativa makes it kind of makes you say up and be active.
And, and what’s, what's the going rate for...I don't know how they sell what kind of quantity. An eight at the dispensary, anywhere from 20 ****bucks to like 60. $20 for how much? An eighth. To $60. $20 to $60 depending on quality. $20 up to $60 for an eight of... I mean, I don’t know what an eight is. Of weed. It’s 3.5 grams. Oh, ok 3.5 grams, between $20 up to $60. Alright, anything else my listeners should know? No, that’s about it. All right, well, thanks very much for your time!
OUTRO MUSIC: “Let me get to the point, let me roll another joint, turn the radio loud, I’m too aloud alone to be proud, you don’t know how it feels...to be me...”
P.S. Like the podcast? Spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! And of course, thanks for listening and for your support!
Vocabulary:
*Natural tobacco leaf sometimes used as a wrapper for marijuana
**a person who a person who leaves a clean and conventional life with hight moral standards
*** place that sells legal marijuana
****cannabis-based food products
***** dollars
Previous Episode
American Intonation: Uptalk! ⤴️
April 29, 2021
•4m
[EP71] What is Uptalk? Have you heard it? Is it a joke, a bad habit, or a real thing? Learn about this American English speaking style in this episode of Unexpected English! Transition here below to help!
Transcription: Hey everybody, I was listening to a podcast, and I heard this. Let's listen: “They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to be able to adapt more quickly.”
Okay now, why did that make me stop? Well you may have noticed that the person was not asking a question, but their voice went up at the end, making it sound like a question. “They also have a lack of complex body parts...”
What's up with that?! Well, it is UP. In fact, it's called Uptalk. That's when people's voices go up at the end, even though they're not asking a question. So when I heard this, I thought, hmm, I wonder if my listeners have ever heard it, or noticed it, or thought about it, so I just thought I would share that example. Let's listen again: “They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to be able to adapt more quickly.”
Okay now, I'll say the same thing. Here we go. Okay. "They also have a lack of complex body parts, which allows them to adapt more quickly." (applause) Right, right. Okay, thank you, thank you. The difference is, it was not a question. All right, so there it is. You've heard your examples of Upspeak or Uptalk, and I wanted to share them with you because it is fairly common. And now that you've heard it, you might notice it more and more.
[Satire:] “Uptalk is, like, super annoying if you're under the age of 40, though it's probably not that big of a deal to you. Until an older family member or colleague, tells you about this super irritating habit of young people, where every sentence ends like it's a question?”
On the other hand, ...on the other hand, it can also be explained as having a purpose, of course, because everything supposedly has a purpose, right? And the purpose of Uptalk could be, for one thing, just to sound more invitational and less aggressive, less assertive. So, if I say something, and my voice goes up a little bit. So, to be a little friendlier, a little friendlier tone, for one thing. O as a kind of unconscious gambit, that says, “I’m not done talking yet. Right, so there's more to come.” And is there a third reason for uptalk? Uhhh.. boh [great Italian word] I dunno. Wait. Oh wait, now I remember the third reason that people could be using Uptalk. And that is to check for comprehension, check for understanding from the person I'm speaking to. In a face to face conversation, if my voice goes up a little bit. I'm looking for clues from you, that you're following what I'm saying. So that could be another legitimate reason that people use Uptalk.
---> "Body parts? Adapt more quickly” Body parts? Adapt more quickly?" <--
Okay, that was it. That was the “uptalking” episode. I hope you liked it, and we'll catch you next time. Ciao ciao!
P.S. Like the podcast? Spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! And of course, thanks for listening and for your support!
Next Episode
Cupcakes are Yummy! [English Listening Fun Practice]
June 16, 2021
•5m
[EP 73] Love cupcakes? Love English? Want some fun listening? Let's do this!
[Transcript] Hi everybody, this is Louis and you're listening to another episode of Unexpected English, your favorite English podcast! Now, you know I say that just because I like to say it, not because I think it's true. But what IS true: CUPCAKES ARE YUMMY!! ...is that this is episode 73. And in this episode, like every episode of Unexpected English, you get the practice your listening with something... a little weird ...well, I won’t say weird... a little different, and fun, in under five minutes. So now that I was able to start doing interviews again, this one *is* an interview, so let's give a listen...
Okay, so I was just walking here in PB, Pacific Beach, that is Pacific Beach, San Diego, and I noticed a place called Pure Cupcakes. And that sounded so good to me, so I thought I would go in and see what I could find out. So, I asked to speak with somebody and here she is!
Hi, my name is Christina, I'm the supervisor for the weekends here at Pure Cupcakes,
Pure Cupcakes. So, okay so what are some of the most popular... do we say flavors? Flavors, what are some of the top flavors, where everybody says, “Oh, I love this one!”
I would say we have a salted caramel, that's a chocolate with caramel frosting, and a caramel drizle on top. We have a Rollo cupcake, that's going to be chocolate with caramel frosting filled with caramel and dipped in chocolate.
Ohhh, can you just stop right now because the more you're talking about those cupcakes, the more I want to have a cupcake. And I hope that's not happening to you, because if you're listening and there's no place to buy a cupcake, then you're just like, oh! what can I do? Hmm. I see here in the window that you won some awards for the best cupcakes!
We did, yes we won Cupcake Wars in 2013.
Cupcake Wars? Yes! Its that where everybody comes out and throws cupcakes at each other?
I wish! I wish! That would have been super fun! It was a TV show where different bakeries competed and the the winner had their cupcake showcased at a large event. Ours happened to win at the San Diego Zoo event.
So, there was a cupcake war at the San Diego Zoo (yes!) that did not involve throwing cupcakes. No, believe it or not! It's just, just showing them and eating them. Yes. And how many people participated in this cupcake war? I believe it was four. Okay, oh it was kind of a face off, kind of a face off. Yeah, four people. I should do the dramatic music now, you know, boom, boom.
[Dramatic: Cupcake makers, everything comes down to this....dramatic music.. You are the winner of Cupcake wars. Congratulations. Thank you! Thank you guys!!!]
Dun dun duh! OK, so, so they had Cupcake Wars, and you won the Cupcake Wars in.... 2013
Do people buy cupcakes one by one?
We can, we can do them one by one, or we can do weddings, we can do parties so as few or as many as you'd like, you can come on in and check it out.
What's the biggest order, you've ever got for a single bunch of cupcakes? Probably upwards of a couple of thousand. You can make a couple thousand cupcakes?? Right just...Yes sir, anything! Right, well there you go! So now you know if you're looking for cupcakes when you're in Pacific Beach, San Diego, stop by at Pure Cupcakes, and you'll be happy. Thank you enjoy, guys! Okay thanks for your time. Yeah, of course, do you want a cupcake?
[OUTRO] P.S. Like the podcast? Spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! And of course, thanks for listening and for your support!
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