📕 Part 1: Coins

Do you use coins in your daily life?

If I'm honest, I can barely recall the last time I used notes in my country, let alone metal coins. It's all been superseded by cashless payments these days.

Do you often carry coins with you?

Not really, aside from when I'm on holiday, and I always seem to get them back whenever I use paper currency.

Have you ever collected coins?

I have, and I still do, from the different countries I've been to over the years. I have cedi from Ghana and dollars from the US, and now soms from Kyrgyzstan, just to name a few. It's a nice little souvenir that costs next to nothing and doesn't take up too much space in my luggage.

Is it convenient to use coins?

Not these days, unless cashless payments aren't an option. Why would you haul around a load of metal with you when you can just pay for everything via credit or debit card? There's not much point in it, at least in the short term.

Did you use coins as a child?

Definitely more compared to now. I think we were given one pound a week as pocket money or an allowance. It's not worth much now, but back then, for a child that would buy you a lot of things to make your weekend more fun.

Right, dear listener, coins. What a topic! Like when was the last time you held a coin in your hand, dear listener? Actually, today, I found a bag full of coins, and I was thinking, well, I should use them to buy maybe like an ice cream or some chewing gum, just, you know, to pay for everything with these coins, just to get rid of them. Yeah, dear listener, so coins. If you don't remember when you last had coins in your hand, well, this is for you to lie, to imagine, or just to tell the truth, like, I never use coins and explain why. It's also okay. So we say coins, and the paper money, we call them notes. Can I say bank notes?

You could say bank notes. I think most people just call it notes these days or call them notes.

Yeah. So paper money, notes. Coins are coins, like metal coins. And you can say, like, if I'm honest, like, come on, examiner, I want to be honest with you. I want to tell you the truth. So you say, if I'm honest, I can barely recall, I can barely remember the last time I used notes or coins. Barely? Like, oh, hardly like, I can't even remember. Okay? And dear listener, we pronounce coins. Rory, how do you say coins?

Coins.

Yeah, because... And maybe in your language, it's like coins. No, coins. Coins. Say it, say it now, dear listener, after me, coins, coins. So metal coins, and we use metal coins, and we don't use notes, for example. Use is the verb. And what's this verb? It's all been superseded.

Oh, superseded just means it's been replaced by something better. Well, at least in theory, cashless payments that you make with your various cards or with your phone are better than carrying metal coins with you. So most people do that in my country. So it's been superseded.

Supersede, dear listener. A verb. To replace something, especially something older or more old-fashioned with something new. What could be superseded?

Well, landline. Landline telephones have been superseded by mobile phones, mostly.

Yeah, or replaced, if you want. We say cashless payments, dear listener. So no notes, no coins, everything is, you know, online, we don't see the real money anymore, so cashless, no cash. And we also can say, pay by cash or use cashless payments. Make cashless payments. Rory, do you use your phone to make a payment? Just like, you know, you touch it like...

I don't but I'm seriously thinking that I might start doing that.

And what do you call it in English when you go like... And money is gone.

Oh, it's just tapping your phone. Contactless. Make a contactless payment.

Yeah. Contactless payment, dear listener. We don't even need cards anymore. We carry coins. So I carry coins. Well, I don't carry. I kind of have them with me. Or I can have coins in my... Where? Where do I usually keep coins?

In your wallets if you're a man, and in your purse if you're a lady.

Exactly. Yeah, maybe in your pocket. And no, we usually don't. Well maybe, do you, dear listener, do you carry coins with you? When I'm on holiday, yeah, when I change money. And then I'm stuck with all these coins, I bring them home.

And then never use them again.

Exactly. I prefer using the paper currency. Again, notes, bank notes, like not coins, or, for example, many people give coins to the homeless or, I don't know, to people asking for money. It's a good way to get rid of all of your coins. Some people collect coins. What do we call them?

A numismatist.

Numismatist. Yeah, someone who studies or collects coins, paper money or medals, also medals. A numismatist. So dear listener, if you can remember this numismatist, you can say, well, I'm not, I've never been a numismatist.

Does that mean I'm an amateur numismatist then?

Oh, yeah, because you do collect coins.

Yeah.

Yeah. So you can say, I don't collect coins, but I have different coins from different countries because I changed money, and now I'm stuck with them. Yeah, I just have a few from different countries. It's a nice little souvenir, okay? Souvenir. And they take up not too much space, but actually, if a person is a numismatist. Yeah, then kind of they have special bags for coins. And you know, they hold coins in a special way, because we kind of put our fingers all over the coin. But to a true numismatist, it's just like, oh... They go, no, no, don't do that, and they kind of like very carefully, they take a coin and they hold it... What do you call it?

I guess they hold it between their fingers, their index finger and their thumb.

Yeah. Yeah, like this, you know? And they don't put their fingers on the face.

What a truly bizarre thing to do. Okay. Everybody needs a hobby.

Yeah, but the rules. You know? The rules.

It's rules of numismatism.

Interesting, right?

Yeah.

It's convenient to use coins, or it's not convenient to use coins. Again, you can say like, well, not convenient. They're heavy. And if you carry the whole bag of them, your bag is really heavy. So you can say, I use cashless payments. And then Rory asks a question, why would you haul around a load of metal with you?

Haul around. It would be like to carry something heavy around with you. Why would you do that?

C2 word, dear listener. Band nine. Haul. Haul. To pull something heavy, slowly, with difficulty. You know, when there is this heavy boat, and you just haul the boat out of the water. So you can say, like, oh, why would you haul around a load of metal? A load? A lot of metal. A lot of metal coins. You can just pay for everything via credit card. Or you can pay using cashless payments, or contactless payments. So there is not much point in it. Or you can say, I love coins. You can say, I am old school, I don't use, you know, all this, you know, high tech stuff. I don't have a smartphone. So... Coins.

Nice.

When you compare the past to now, you can say definitely more than compared to now. Rory, you use coins more than compared to now? Really?

No. The question was, did you use coins as a child? And I said, definitely more than compared to now. So I used them more as a child compared to now, when I don't use them at all.

Yeah, you can also say I used to use coins, but not anymore. Passive voice. We were given one pound a week, so one pound coin. Ooh, I love those coins. They're so pretty, so nice, like a one-pound coin.

Pound coins? Really?

Yeah. They're very nice.

Why do you think they're so nice?

Because they're kind of like heavy and small, and also like thick. They're thick. I love the shape. And, Rory, what do you call these special coins they make on certain occasions? Like with the Olympic Games or...

Oh, commemorative coins.

Oh, yeah. Dear listener, you can say, oh, I hate coins, but I love commemorative coins because they are special. They usually... Some of them could be quite rare because they issue only, I don't know, like, 10 coins, or like 100 coins in the world. And kind of you get it. Oh, I have coins... The World Cup. With the World Cup.

You do?

Yeah.

Oh yeah. Because, of course, the World Cup was in Russia in 2018, I think?

Yes, yeah. So we have like, special World Cup coins. Yeah. And now, dear listener, I think you can make a coin with your face on it. Rory, would you like to have a coin with your face on it?

No.

And like saying, like, uh, Rory Duncan Fergus... And you're kind of like...

It's been almost five years now, and Maria still cannot say my name correctly.

Oh, dear listener, what a topic, coins. Well, now you know the basic vocabulary and the vocabulary for band nine. Okay? You can use synonyms. Just say coins correctly. Rory, say it again.

Coins.

Coins. Coins. Coins. It's quite difficult. You might just forget and say...

The word coin is also a verb. To coin a phrase.

Oh, really?

Yes. So hopefully we've given you some words to coin for your IELTS exam. Oh, yes.

Ooh, and can I use coin as a verb to answer questions about coins? Rory, come on, come on, we can do it.

I mean, you could if it was a pun.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For example, like, oh, like, do you use coins?

I'm trying to think of a way to do it, like to make a joke on the fly, but I can't. Sorry.

Oh, come on, come on.

You can't just say come on and expect it to happen.

Yeah, but maybe like we can say, do you collect coins? And you say like no, I don't. I used to when I was a child. If I can coin a phrase and then say a phrase.

Yes, say a phrase, Maria. We're waiting. Say the phrase, Maria. Come on.

Okay, okay, okay, wait dear listener. Wait.

See? This is what it feels like.

Okay, okay, okay, I'm doing. I'm doing it. Quotes about coins. We need a famous quote from smart, famous people about coins. Okay? Time is the coin of life. Yeah, yeah. This is the phrase, time is the coin of life. Huh, huh? Okay, so dear listener, check it out. The examiner asks you, do you use coins in your life? Well, not much, but you know, if I can coin the phrase, time is the coin of life. Doesn't make any sense? No?

Please, please, don't do that.

Oh, it's so bad.

Or the examiner is just gonna execute you on the spot.

Yeah, dear listener, it's quite horrible. Yeah, maybe you can come up with a phrase, and maybe you can kind of use it naturally. To coin a phrase. Life is like a coin. Oh, there you go. You know? I don't normally, I never use coins in my life, but you know, if I can coin a phrase, life is like a coin, so I do have a lot of coins in my life. Oh, there you go. There you go.

No, I don't think so. No, banned, disallowed. No, you must stop now. If anyone can think of a more natural way to say it. Write it in the comments.

Oh, my god. Yeah, we can say life is like a coin. Because what do we do with a coin? We flip a coin, yeah? We just like boom. Yes or no? What do I do? We flip a coin and then we find out the answer. Yeah, dear listener. Thank you very much!

No, no, dear listener, do not do that. But thank you very much for listening. Bye! Crazy person... Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff: Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi