📕 Part 1: Jewellery

Please excuse us for the audio quality. Next week's episodes will all be studio quality 🙏

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This episode's vocabulary

Distinct (adj.) - clearly noticeable; that certainly exists.

Sentimental (adj.) - clearly noticeable; that certainly exists.related to feelings rather than reason.

Gaudy (adj.) - clearly noticeable; that certainly exists.related to feelings rather than reason.

Pretentious (adj.) - trying to appear or sound more important or clever than you are, especially in matters of art and literature.

Convey (verb) - to express a thought, feeling, or idea so that it is understood by other people.

Marital (adj.) - connected with marriage.

Conversation piece - an unusual object that causes people to start talking.

Bangle (noun) - a ring of stiff plastic, metal, etc. worn around the wrist or arm as jewellery.

Obscure (adj.) - not known to many people.

Brooch (noun) - a small piece of jewellery with a pin at the back that is fastened to a woman's clothes.

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Questions and Answers

M: So, Rory, do you like jewellery?

R: I like it for myself when it serves some purpose or has a distinct meaning, for example. Like, for example, my ring is my grandmother's and she wanted me to have it. So I'm of the belief that it brings me luck and it has a lot of sentimental value as well. So much so that I actually had it tattooed on me. In terms of what other people prefer most jewellery is fine. Provided it's reasonably well maintained and not to gaudy or pretentious.

M: Do you wear any jewellery?

R: Well, I said, it's my ring. I often wear bracelets and wristbands to teach numbers and colors to kids and each one has a story behind it, so it's useful for those purposes as well. Other than that, I don't wear much these days. I used to have different piercings, but those days are long behind me.

M: Why do people like to wear jewellery?

R: Lots of reasons. I had a conversation with the lady from Iran recently and she said it helps convey social and financial status. Other people are like me we're for luck or some other symbolic meaning. I think the most obvious being to show marital status in the form of a ring. My parents had bracelets for that purpose, actually, as well. Some people think it's just beautiful and they like to show off things since they make for interesting conversation pieces if they draw attention, for example.

M: Do people in your country ever wear jewellery?

R: Oh, all the time. In everyday life, people wear earrings, and bracelets, and necklaces, and bangles. Then there are sort of numerous degrees of piercings going on. I don't think there's any occasion, specific jewellery. Maybe for some sort of religious people. In Hinduism, I think, for example, people wear studs on their faces for specific ceremonies, but I'm not sure if that counts as jewellery. So, um, I'm not so sure. But sometimes people have various things they'll save for weddings or birthdays because it's like their big event. Unless, of course, you're royalty. Then there's probably some obscure protocol for that that nobody is aware of. But that's for the royal family to deal with.

M: Have you ever given jewellery to someone as a gift?

R: About 20 years ago, I gave my grandmother brooch that I made at school. And I bought my mom or I have bought my mom a lot of bits and pieces from various places that I visited over the years. Like earrings made from seashells in Haiti, for example.

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Discussion

M: Cute. Thank you, Rory, for your answers. So jewellery. I have enough jewelry, said no one ever.

R: I have.

M: No. Nobody says that I have enough jewelry, maybe men sometimes, but ladies... We girls love some shiny things. And remember that chocolates eaten, flowers die, we go old, but jewelry is forever. OK. So speaking about jewellery, you should use some specific topical vocabulary, meaning, first of all, pieces of jewellery. And by the way, jewelry is uncomfortable, right?

R: Yes. So it's always ow much jewellery do you have or how many pieces of jewellery do your own?

M: Can I say I have many jewellery?

R: No. And if you do, you'll be executed.

M: By Rory in Scotland. You'll be required to drink whiskey to death. Yeah, and wear kilts, different kilts. So jewellery is pieces of jewellery or jewellery pieces. And also the jewellery is spelled with a double l in British English and in American English we just use one l. Jewelry. So what jewellery pieces can we talk about? Rory mentioned earrings and earrings, ladies, we can say hoop earrings. Rory, do you know what hoop earrings are?

R: I imagine they're earrings in the shape of hoops. They're bigger than rings. But I am not like well versed in how earrings work, to be honest with you. All I know is the difference between a stud, an earring and a hoop. Don't ask me to get more technical than that.

M: So hoop earrings like big circles, right. And you've just said studs. Like, for example, a diamond stud. Diamond studs in my ears. Or, for example, I'm wearing diamond studs. Studs are small pieces of metal, right? So, for example, we can have nose studs this little things like in your nose maybe or in somebody else's nose. So you can say like, oh, I own a pair of gold hoops. Gold hoops, not golden. Gold. They're made of gold. So gold hoop earrings or oversized hoop earrings, really specific vocab. You can also have a necklace. So Rory said that necklace. A chain necklace is in fashion, is in the trend. Bracelets.

R: Bracelets.

M: Bracelets, yeah. And bangles. What are bangles?

R: Ok, so I was thinking about this and my understanding is a bracelet is flexible or comes apart in order to be joined around your wrist. A bangle is not, it doesn't come apart and it's not flexible. It's just like a circle of metal.

M: You've mentioned wrist bands. So Rory is famous for his wrist bands.

R: I don't know if wrist bands are count as jewellery, though. Do they? It's just like a piece of plastic that you have around your wrist. It's not terribly... I don't know what the word would be. It's not terribly attractive, I suppose.

M: I brought you one from Elbrus.

R: Did you?

M: Oh, all right. So he doesn't remember, dear listener. So I bring him stuff. I think of him while on holiday and at work. I bring the gifts and he just doesn't remember.

R: You don't remember my birthday and I'll be getting revenge on you for that. So this is just part of the revenge, Maria.

M: Fine. Different piercings are also counted into being jewellery.

R: Are they? Because I was thinking about that. Like is a piercing a piece of jewellery?

M: Yes, absolutely. If you have some diamond rings in your bellybutton. Yeah. Piercing in your face, some diamond studs in your nostrils. Beautiful. Piercings, yeah. Ladies, we can have different stones. Like I mean gemstones, diamonds, rubies, emeralds. These are really specific words. So make sure that you you choose your favorite type of gemstone and show off your beautiful vocabulary. Diamond rings, rings with rubies. We can also say wedding ring or engagement ring. Right? And you put everything in your jewellery box. Also, ladies, we have pendants like Pandora style. Pendant. So whatever is hanging from your chain is called a pendant. Usually we have some Zodiac signs or hearts. Rory, do you own a pendant?

R: I don't actually.

M: So anything like you put on your chain is a pendant. And, Rory, you used the word broach.

R: A broach. A broach is just a piece of jewelry that you wear on your shirt, for example.

M: What about a brooch?

R: Broach.

M Brooch.

R: A brooch.

M: I'm googling.

R: You researching me?

M: Yes, I'm researching you. Brooch. Yes. OK. Brooch.

R: No, broach.

M: It could be different.

R: No, it couldn't.

M: Brooch. Both are fine.

R: Really? Well, you should spell it with an a, because that's the correct way. How dare they?

M: Hello, hello, I'm interrupting here. A small piece of jewellery with a pin at the back that is fastened to a woman's clothes is called a broach. OK, in American English, we can spell b r o a c h or you can spell it b r o o c h, a brooch. And we call them accessories, right? We can call all the jewellery accessories.

R: We can, yes.

M: All these things, I mean jewellery pieces, can have a lot of sentimental value.

R: Yeah. So that means that maybe it reminds you of something important or it symbolizes something important, but it doesn't have any money value, for example, or it doesn't have much money value. Monetary value, if you will.

M: Yeah, but if like a diamond ring can have some money value and also can have some sentimental value. Yeah, why not.

R: It can.

M: Oh, give me diamonds. I want more diamonds in my life.

R: Do you have any diamonds?

M: Yes, surely. My diamond earring. My diamond studs. Yeah. I bought diamond studs for my birthday so they're pretty cool.

R: Whatever you buy though you need to make sure it's not too gaudy or pretentious.

M: Yeah. Gaudy meaning like it's shouting at people.

R: Yeah. That just means it's like loud. It's like the thing that conquers the room basically even though it shouldn't. So it's a bit out of place and pretentious just means that someone is wearing it to, well, basically get attention. They have no idea of what the meaning behind it actually is.

M: So if we have this meeting on the twenty ninth of May offline in Moscow, we have our English meetup for our fans and I show up covered in diamonds, you know, everywhere on my face, I wear ten rings and diamond chains and everything. So that's a bit pretentious. And I want to show off my jewellery, my wealth, show it off. Jewellery sometimes conveys social and financial statues.

R:  It can. So your status is just the level of respect that you have, for example, and so it can show... Or how much of something that you have. So if you have a lot of money, then you might wear lots of diamond jewellery, for example, to demonstrate this to other people without actually saying this.

M: It can also show marital status. Like again, like a wedding ring or an engagement ring.

R: It can show your social status. For example, it can... Well, it's like the same with diamonds, for example. If you have a particularly valuable diamond and you're in control of it, then that can show how high up you are in society.

M: You are in control of your diamond. Nice. Jewellery can also have some symbolic meaning.

R: It can. Like it can have a religious meaning. For example, lots of Christians wear crucifixes.

M: Mm. Crucifixes is like crosses. Right?

R: Yeah.

M: Mhm. Okay. Yeah. So if you are into some jewellery trends, now people prefer recycled gold or sustainable jewellery pieces. Rory have you ever heard of that, sustainable jewelry pieces?

R: No, does it just mean like if you buy them then it's not as damaging as if it was like mined by some child labor for example.

M: Yeah. Yeah. So sustainable jewelry pieces are made of recycled gold. Yeah, yeah. And also, dear listener, a recent trend is that pearl jewelry became one of the hottest trends of 2020 for men. OK, pearls, you know, these pearls that you dive into the sea and you see these beautiful stones, like usually they're white, they can be also black. So pearl chains and it's always been for ladies. But now, man wear pearls and men can wear pearl rings. Men can wear pearl earrings or necklaces. And Harry Styles, this English singer and actor, started the trend. So pearls are the top trend in men's jewellery at the moment. A very hot item in men's accessories. The question for you is, would you wear pearls?

R: I personally wouldn't. But if you're interested in buying or seeing examples of male and female jewellery, then I would recommend an Instagram account called rabitstore.ru. And on there, they've got all kinds of different jewelry for men and women. So you could even, if you don't own any jewellery, for example, you could look at the pictures there and imagine that you do in preparation for your jewellery questions.

M: Rabbit store. The link is in the description.

R: rabbitstore.ru

M: Right? If you were a woman, what jewelry would you wear? Being a woman. Let's imagine you're a Scottish woman.

R: I think I'd still wear my ring, to be honest. And that's all. But, you know...

M: No, but choose something else.

R; Why? Why do I have to choose anything else? Why can't I be myself a woman?

M: Because for the purposes of this podcast, you have to choose something else. So, Rory, if you were a woman, which jewellery would you wear?

R: I would wear a crown.

M: Oh, yeah.

R: I don't care what other people think. I would be wearing a crown. However, hopefully this will give you some vocabulary as the jewel in your crown or the jewels in your crown. And we'll see for the next episode. Bye!

M: Bye!

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