📕 Part 1: Cars

This episode's vocabulary

Driving me up the wall (idiom) – making someone very irritated or annoyed. → Example: These coincidences are driving me up the wall.

Nerve-wracking (adjective) – causing stress or anxiety. → Example: For me, driving is a really nerve-wracking experience.

Lane discipline (noun phrase) – a driver's ability to stay in the correct lane. → Example: I always worry about other people and their lane discipline.

Flout the rules (verb phrase) – to intentionally not obey a rule, law, or custom. → Example: They flout all the rules of the road.

Reckless abandon (noun phrase) – careless behaviour without worrying about the consequences. → Example: They flout the rules with pretty much reckless abandon.

Get car sick (verb phrase) – to experience nausea caused by the motion of a car. → Example: I remember getting car sick once or twice.

Public transport infrastructure (noun phrase) – the system of public vehicles such as buses and trains. → Example: I live in a place with decent public transport infrastructure.

Sit tight (idiom) – to wait patiently and take no action. → Example: I just sit tight and wait them out.

Faff about (phrasal verb, informal) – to spend time doing a lot of unimportant things instead of the thing you should be doing. → Example: I faff about on my phone.

Kill time (idiom) – to do something that keeps you busy while you are waiting for something else to happen. → Example: There's not much else to do in those situations but kill time, is there?

Passenger princess (noun, informal) – a person who prefers to be a passenger and not drive, often enjoying the ride and sometimes critiquing the driver. → Example: I am very much a passenger princess.

Tireless (adjective) – working with great energy and determination. → Example: Rory is a tireless worker.

Questions and Answers

Maria: What type of cars do you like?

Rory: Ones that work. I don't really know much about the different models and makes and brands really. My main priority is that they don't break down so I can get from A to B.

Maria: Do you prefer to be a driver or a passenger?

Rory: I'd much rather be in the passenger seat. For me, driving is a really nerve wracking experience and I absolutely hate it. I always worry about other people and their own lane discipline and how they flout all the rules of the road with pretty much reckless abandon. It's not for me at all. I don't know how other people do it.

Maria: Did you enjoy traveling by car when you were a child?

Rory: I think so. I remember getting car sick once or twice, but that wasn't a regular thing for me, so I didn't mind much. And it usually meant we got to places faster than if we had used public transport.

Maria: Do you think cars are important?

Rory: Oh, it depends who you're asking, really. They're not terribly important for me at the moment, but then I live in a place with decent public transport infrastructure, like buses and trains and taxis. If you're in the countryside, then it's probably a different story altogether.

Maria: Do you think car colors are important?

Rory: I don't know. I mean, they might be important if certain colors reflect heat more effectively in a warm country or in a warmer time of year. But for me personally, that doesn't matter because I'm rarely in cars long enough for that to make a difference.

Maria: What do you usually do when there's a traffic jam?

Rory: Well, since I'm usually in the passenger seat in these situations, I just sit tight and wait them out with a book or by plastering about on my phone or something like that. There's not much else to do in those situations but kill time, is there?

Discussion

Maria: Right, dear listener, if you drive or if you don't drive, well, cars. You can say I enjoy toy cars, for example, if you don't drive. Rory makes a joke like, hahaha, I enjoy cars that work. I don't know much about models and brands. I'm not into cars.

Rory: It's not my thing.

Maria: Yeah, it's not my thing. But if you do enjoy cars,

Rory: Then you're in luck. You could talk about the make or the model.

Maria: Exactly. My favorite one is BMW or I enjoy crossovers, I enjoy pickup trucks, hatchbacks, how do you say sedan?

Rory: Sedan. Sedan.

Maria: Sedan.

Rory: But again, I don't know what those things are.

Maria: Yeah, like I enjoy sedans. A car with seats for four or five people, two or four doors and a separate area in the back for bags, boxes, and suitcases.

Rory: Why do you enjoy them?

Maria: No, but for example, okay?

Rory: But why would you enjoy something like that?

Maria: I don't know, our listener might enjoy them, right? Maybe our listener enjoys minivans.

Rory: Our listeners are very sensible people. I refuse to believe that.

Maria: Okay, dear listener, so there are like minivans, crossovers, sedans, hatchbacks. So if you enjoy cars, you know what I'm talking about. You might like trucks. Okay. Yeah. And then you say, oh, BMW is my favorite or I enjoy Lamborghini. I would love to have a Ferrari. Yeah, and we say kind of, I'd love to have a Ferrari. I enjoy sports cars. Feel free to lie, dear listener, all right? So, I enjoy sports cars. I enjoy luxury cars.

Rory: Or you could just say I don't know much about the different models and brands.

Maria: Rolls Royce. How do you say it? Rolls Royce?

Rory: Rolls Royce. That's a British brand, but God only knows what the difference is. Also, they don't just do cars, they do jet engines as well, I think.

Maria: Yeah, so BMW, Mercedes, luxury cars, luxury brands.

Rory: But you can talk about the model or the make or the brand and that will be okay.

Maria: I'd rather be in the passenger seat. A nice structure. I'd rather drive. So I choose to be the driver. I'd rather be a passenger, I'd rather be a driver. I'd rather be. I would rather be. Driving is nerve wracking for me. So it's I get nervous. It's nerve wracking. It's difficult for me. It causes a lot of worry. So I'm worried, I'm stressed. So driving is the most nerve wracking thing for me. I hate it, I dislike it. Or you can say, I really enjoy it. I'm into driving. Okay? I'm a good driver. Right, what else can I say?

Rory: I have no idea. I'm a terrible driver.

Maria: No, no, I mean, I enjoy driving.

Rory: I am very much a passenger princess. That's someone who likes to sit in the passenger seat and tell the driver what to do.

Maria: I am a passenger princess. Yeah, but if our listener is a man,

Rory: Same idea.

Maria: Oh, seriously? I'm a passenger princess?

Rory: Uh huh. It's not supposed to be a compliment.

Maria: Okay. All right. I used to enjoy traveling by car when I was a child. So used to, right, maybe you don't enjoy it now. Or I didn't used to travel by car. I took a bus or a train. I didn't have a car. Or I always traveled by car. I remember getting car sick. So usually, well, not usually, sometimes children get car sick. Sick is when your food gets out of your body in a car. Well a classical situation, yeah. So to get car sick, you have a child, he's just eaten and then you drive and then this happens, right?

Rory: Oh, well, that could be part of it. It's not always just eating, though. It could be part of motion sickness, which is also the more complex way of describing that.

Maria: Yeah, so people sometimes get sea sick, air sick. So they get sick on a boat, on a plane, in a car. Yeah, so I didn't enjoy it much. I usually used public transport instead. Or again, I always used the car. I started driving when I was 18, 21. I just drove a truck, a tractor, I don't know, a helicopter. Yeah, and different car colors are important because, dear listener, colors have an effect on safety.

Rory: Do they?

Maria: For example, yeah, yeah, the safest cars are

Rory: ones not driven by me.

Maria: So the safest cars are white, silver, or yellow because they are easier to spot in low light, heavy rain or fog. Yeah, so that car colors influence the safety of passengers and the driver.

Rory: No, I did not know that. But that's because I don't drive. Do you know what else influences the safety? Not driving.

Maria: So car colors directly impact safety and maintenance of the car, so you take care of your car. Maintenance, like darker colors, black, show dirt, scratches very easily. Yeah. But lighter colors are better at hiding dirt and imperfections. There we go. Yeah, just give these two ideas, dear listener, now you know. But also you can say that car colors reflect personal style and psychology.

Rory: And if you don't have a car, what does that reflect? The fact that you don't like driving.

Maria: Yeah, for example, I would opt for a red car. It kind of suggests energy. Black suggests power and elegance. White implies it's clean, it's modern, it's stylish. Yeah. Right, in a traffic jam. So if I'm stuck in traffic, I'm plastering about on my phone. So I'm faffing about. I'm plastering about. So plaster about is a phrasal verb which means okay, I do nothing. I faff about. No, plaster about like Cambridge online dictionary doesn't have this word.

Rory: Oh, really? It's slang, Rory.

Maria: We say faff about.

Rory: Fine, faff or faffing about. Plastering about.

Maria: Faff about, do nothing. Spend time doing a lot of unimportant things. So, so I just, I faff about on my phone, I scroll through my social media, so just to kill time. Lovely. Now we are ready for for a joke, for a joke.

Rory: Have we not heard enough jokes?

Maria: No, no, of course not.

Rory: We already talked about being driven up the wall.

Maria: No, Rory, no. So, please tell us, we do need a word. So what do cars have? There are four wheels and on these wheels we have

Rory: tires.

Maria: Yeah, tires. Okay, T I R E, tires. What do you call a car that never stops? Tireless.

Rory: Oh.

Maria: Right, dear listener. So, a car has four tires, right? But tireless means working energetically, continuously. So not being tired. Tireless. So for example, Rory is a tireless worker. He works energetically nonstop, right? So, what do you call a car that never stops? Tireless. So it doesn't get tired.

Rory: Oh, wow. And on that, on that fun note, let's drive off into the sunset.

Maria: Bye.

Rory: Bye.