📕 Part 1: Shopping

This episode's vocabulary

Shop around (phrasal verb) – to compare the price and quality of the same or a similar item in different shops before you decide which one to buy. → Some people really get into the experience of shopping around for things, but I like it to be straightforward.

Pick up (phrasal verb) – to buy something or get it from a shop. → It's important to pick up the necessities so I can live.

In one fell swoop (idiom) – all at once, in a single action. → I can pick up everything in one fell swoop and don't have to worry about it for another week.

Cost next to nothing (idiom) – to be very cheap. → What I do buy costs next to nothing, so there's not much of a need to compare prices.

Get the best deal (collocation) – to obtain the most favorable price or terms for a purchase. → The only time I compare prices is when I shop online for bigger things, so I can get the best deal.

Creature of habit (idiom) – a person who likes to do the same thing at the same time on a regular basis. → I'm a creature of habit and always make the same select choices.

Deviate from (verb) – to do something that is different from the usual or common way of behaving. → It's not something I would deviate from easily.

Nutritional information (noun) – details about the nutrients (such as fat, protein, and carbohydrates) contained in food. → With some foods, I have to check the nutritional information to see what would be the healthiest choice.

A while back (phrase) – some time ago. → A while back I bought some shoes and they were the wrong color.

Get a refund (collocation) – to receive your money back for a product you have returned. → I had to take the shoes to the post office after organizing the refund.

Shopaholic (noun) – a person who is addicted to shopping. → Rory claims he is not a shopaholic because he buys things very rarely.

Make choices (collocation) – to decide between two or more possibilities. → It's not difficult for me to make choices when I shop because I always buy the same things.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Do you like shopping?

Rory: I don't mind doing it since it's, well, important to pick up the necessities so I can live, but if I don't have to do it, or if I didn't have to do it, then I wouldn't miss it. Some people really get into the experience of shopping around for things, but I like it to be as straightforward as possible, so I can focus on the other more important things in life.

Maria: How often do you go shopping?

Rory: I think I do the main shop once a week, usually on Sundays, because that's a lazy day and usually the use or the sell by dates last until the following Sunday. So I can pick up everything in one fell swoop and don't have to worry about it for another week.

Maria: Do you compare prices when you shop?

Rory: Very, very rarely. I buy so little and what I do buy costs next to nothing, so there's not much of a need to do things like compare prices or make price comparisons. The only time I ever do that is when I shop online for maybe bigger or more expensive things like books, so I can get the best deal.

Maria: Is it difficult for you to make choices when you shop?

Rory: Not usually, but then I'm a creature of habit and always make the same select choices, so it's not something I would deviate from easily. Sometimes with some foods, I have to check the nutritional information or something like that to see what would be the healthiest choice. And sometimes there's a really small difference between two things, but that's about it.

Maria: Have you ever returned anything you bought online?

Rory: Oh, yes. A while back I bought some shoes and when they were delivered, they were the wrong color, which was a bit annoying. I had to take them to the post office and get a return to sender label printed after organizing the refund.

Discussion

Maria: Do you enjoy shopping, dear listener? Are you a shopaholic? Do you like shop online every day and buy things you don't need? Rory does not do this.

Rory: I'm not a shopaholic.

Maria: No, he's not. Actually, when did you last buy something? Not food, not food.

Rory: This is a cheat because usually it would be a long time. But I actually went to Edinburgh, which is the capital city of Scotland, and I shopped at Uniqlo there. We don't have a Uniqlo store in Dundee, which is where I normally live. So I had to go on a bit of an adventure there. And I got some trousers. I say I got some trousers, I got like three pairs, which is so unusual for me.

Maria: So, Rory bought three pairs of trousers, which means that they will last for like 10 years.

Rory: I hope so. They were expensive. It was like 140 pounds. I mean, it was three pairs of trousers and one pair of shorts, but still, that's quite expensive.

Maria: Okay. Very nice. So, dear listener, we go shopping, okay? I go shopping every week. You shop around for different things. Shop around means to buy things, you shop in different stores, shops, places. Also, you can say I do the shopping. And here, Rory, do we use an article, right? So, do the shopping.

Rory: Or do the weekly shop or the big shop.

Maria: Yeah, and you can also say do the shopping or do the shop.

Rory: Although, it's got a very specific context to be used in. So we talk about shopping once a week. If you do a big amount of your shopping at one time, then you say the weekly shop.

Maria: or a big shop.

Rory: I do my weekly shop. Maybe you don't do your weekly shop, dear listener. Maybe you go shopping every day. For groceries.

Maria: If you do, then you're very lucky.

Rory: You pick up the necessities. So, pick up like buy, purchase, the necessities, things you need for your life, like food, water.

Maria: That's it.

Rory: I can't think of anything else which is a necessity. Food and water.

Maria: No, no, we need makeup. We need candles, and decorative stuff, clothes. And women do need a lot of things. Shampoo, conditioner, a huge bag of makeup. So, yeah. And lots of shoes and bags, and scarves, and t-shirts and dresses. Hats. Hats. We do need hats.

Rory: You absolutely do not, but never mind.

Maria: Once a week, twice a week, usually on Sundays, or every day, every week, every weekend, you go shopping. I can pick up everything in one swoop.

Rory: One fell swoop.

Maria: One fell swoop. Wow. A band nine vocabulary.

Rory: Which is an idiom that I was teaching in one of my classes the other day.

Maria: In one fell swoop or at one fell swoop means that you do something in one go. You do it at the same time. For example, many people do their shopping in one fell swoop. So they go on Friday and they buy everything for one week. Like I got my Christmas shopping done in one fell swoop. Rory, could you give us another sentence with this lovely idiom?

Rory: I tried to get all my lesson planning done in one fell swoop. And probably most people try to get their Christmas shopping or other big shops done in one fell swoop, just so you don't spend 100 years in a shop.

Maria: I actually enjoy spending 100 years in the shop, especially if it's a huge grocery store. I just enjoy walking through the stalls, looking at food and different items. Yeah, I can just spend hours there. Maybe you compare prices, dear listener. So, you shop around and you compare prices. But you can say I don't care how much things cost, if it's something little, right? So, little things like bread, milk. So, I compare prices, I don't compare prices. And a good synonym for a price is a cost. So, the cost of things, how much something costs. I shop online for bigger items. Right? So they're items, things, products, goods. Right? And I make choices when I shop. So, to make choices, not to do choices, okay? Make choices, make decisions.

Rory: Rory follows his habits, right? So he has a plan, so he says, I'm a creature of habit.

Maria: So I go shopping every Sunday, I'm a creature of habit. And I make the same select choices. So kind of you have everything ready. So, I make the same choices. I never deviate. So, that's a lovely word. Deviate.

Rory: I don't change them.

Maria: Deviate. Deviate from. To do something that's not normal. Yeah, do something that is different from the usual. So, deviate from something. For example, I go shopping every Sunday, but then, I went shopping on Tuesday. And then, I deviated from my usual behavior for some reason. He never deviates from his diet. So he's a vegetarian, so he sticks to veggies.

Rory: But when you do have a choice to make, you might consult the nutritional information on food. That just tells you things like how much fat or salt or protein or carbohydrates there are in the food or the drink.

Maria: When we buy things online, we sometimes return those things we didn't like. So you can say like a while back, sometime ago, a while back, I bought some shoes, I bought a phone, I bought a dinosaur, a teddy dinosaur, I don't know. And it was delivered to me, but it was the wrong color. This was a bit annoying, so I had to return it. I had to return the item.

Rory: More commonly, it could be the wrong size, if you want to talk about that, too. Maybe it was too big or too small.

Maria: I had to take them back to the post office or take them, shoes, or take the teddy dinosaur, a teddy panda, and I got a refund. So when you get a refund, you get your money back. Rory, what can our listener say if they dislike shopping?

Rory: Everything that I have said. I'm a creature of habit. I don't like to shop around. I prefer to just go shopping once a week and do it all in one fell swoop. There we go.

Maria: Exactly. Yeah, I prefer to do my shopping in one fell swoop. Yeah, so useful phrasal verbs like shop around.

Rory: That's it.

Maria: This is the key phrase for shop. Shop around. Oh, pick up, pick up things. Yeah, I prefer to pick up the necessities every Sunday, pick up the groceries. Yeah, but when we talk about shopping, we don't mean shopping for food, right? Like we usually...

Rory: No, it could be. Oh, it could be like grocery shopping.

Maria: Okay. Because I usually think do the shopping, ooh, so buy some clothes and shoes and hats and coats and jewelry, and all the cosmetics. Yeah, but it's a different story with men, I guess.

Rory: Or at the very least men that are not into buying makeup.

Maria: Yeah, I'm not into buying things. All right? There you go. I'm not into it. I'm not into shopping. I can't stand shopping. Now, we are ready for a joke.

Rory: So ready.

Maria: The joke is, I went to the music shop and I said, what have you got by The Doors? The shop assistant said, a bucket of sand and a fire blanket. Rory, could you explain the joke?

Rory: What was the joke?

Maria: Ha! You didn't get the joke?

Rory: No.

Maria: Oh. Wow, look at that. So, I went to the music shop and said, what have you got by the doors? The shop assistant answered, a bucket of sand and a fire blanket.

Rory: Oh, okay.

Maria: Do you mean? That is very niche.

Rory: So, The Doors is a band. So obviously the band creates music and you say, oh, what have you got from or by this band. But of course the doors is the thing that you walk through to get into the shop, so the shopkeeper misunderstood. Wow, that's got to be up there with one of the worst ones so far.

Maria: Yeah, you see The Doors, dear listener, you can type it on YouTube, The Doors, and listen to some of their songs. It's a music band. And the shop assistant replied literally like, I have a bucket of sand. I have some rubbish by the door, to the shop. Right. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our next episode. Okay? Bye.

Rory: Bye.