📕 Part 1: Strangers

This episode’s vocabulary

Rub along (phrasal verb) - If two people rub along, they work or live together in a satisfactory way: My flatmate and I rub along okay together.

Dating apps  (collocation) – are software applications designed to generate connections between people who are interested in romance, intimate relationship or friendship.

Random (adj.) - happening, done, or chosen by chance rather than according to a plan:

random checks/tests/attacks. Unknown and unexpected in a particular situation:

Some random guy walked in.

Get on with (phrasal verb) - to start or continue doing something, especially work:

Stop talking and get on with it. I like to be left to get on with the job.

Prematurely (adverb) - in a way that happens or is done too soon, especially before the natural or suitable time: Their baby was born prematurely and weighed only one kilogram. His stressful job made him go prematurely grey.

Bump into (phrasal verb) - to meet someone you know when you have not planned to meet them : I bumped into Rory when we were in town last week.

A language barrier (collocation) –is a figurative phrase used primarily to refer to linguistic barriers to communication, i.e. the difficulties in communication experienced by people.

Put a bit of a damper on - to make something less enjoyable:

The bad weather put a damper on this year's New Year celebrations. Rory's bad mood put a damper on the celebration. :)

Get a bit carried away - to be so excited about something that you cannot control what you say or do: There’s far too much food – I’m afraid I got carried away!

Fall out (phrasal verb) - to argue with someone and stop being friendly with them: He left home after falling out with his parents. She'd fallen out with her boyfriend over his ex-girlfriend.

Inconsequential (adj.) - not important; an inconsequential matter/remark; Most of what she said was pretty inconsequential.

Bunch (noun)- a group of people: Your friends are a nice bunch.

Cohesion (noun)- the situation when the members of a group or society are united: social/national cohesion. OR (of objects) the state of sticking together, or (of people) being in close agreement and working well together: The team just seems to lack cohesion.

Bold (adj.) - not frightened of danger: Maria is a bold and fearless climber.

Heavy drinkers (collocation) –people who has frequent episodes of heavy drinking (> 5 drinks at a time).

Questions and Answers

Maria: Rory, do you often talk to strangers?

Rory: Yeah, all the time, actually, and in my work, I meet new people all the time. So it's important that we can rub along well together, even though we don't know each other. And then I suppose on certain dating apps, I talk to different people, erm which it doesn't always turn out romantic, actually. But you can you can still make friends on these things, I should say. And so there's that. And then random people speak to me on Instagram all the time. They ask for advice with their IELTS exams, preparation, for example. And if you want to do that, then you're very welcome. It's a bit weird, though, just because, how best to explain, just because you don't expect to get these messages, do you?

Maria: Is it easy for you to start a conversation with a stranger?

Rory: Yeah, almost always. I'm not a very shy person, obviously, and I don't mind chatting for a bit, although it's ending the conversation that can be a bit problematic because I usually have work to do. So I need to ...well, I just need to get on with it, so it can sometimes end things a bit prematurely. But usually there's no reason why we can't keep speaking online later. So it's like I said, with people, they can find me on Instagram if they ever bump into me in public.

Maria: Do you have difficulty talking to strangers?

Rory: Erm only if there's a language barrier, so, for example, if we talk about Russian. A lot of Russian speakers are functional and not conversational. And so I can communicate basic ideas, but not very complex ones, which can put a bit of a damper on things at times. And that's a problem.

Maria: Is it difficult to tell a story to a stranger?

Rory: Uh, I suppose it depends on what the story is, doesn't it? Um, so usually I'm quite good at, well, just telling stories, but sometimes I get a bit carried away and leave out important details because I'm so excited to tell it. Um, usually it's nothing you can't recover from though. And once you realize that you've left something out, then you just quickly add it in.

Maria: Are you afraid of being judged by strangers?

Rory: Uh, I used to be, but no, I don't really care at all. The people who know me well and my friends have chosen to be my friends. So their opinions are the ones that I'm more interested in and I value more in general. Um, I suppose nobody wants to be disliked, but, um, not but but and it would be a shame if people were to fall out with me over something inconsequential, even if I don't know them very well. Although when it does happen, ultimately, I just ask myself, will I really care about this falling out in five years time when I have my dream life? Probably not. Um, and there's little to judge me about anyway, so it's not exactly a pressing concern.

Maria: Do people in your country often talk to strangers?

Rory: Oh, yeah, we're a very friendly bunch. Come to Scotland if you can. Yeah, we have freedom, freedom to talk to strangers. So, yeah, we're a friendly bunch. And I think Scottish people are generally more open and positive about new people than in a lot of other places. One reason could be that we have pretty good social cohesion and a lower population. So we could feel a lot bolder when we're amongst more of us, for example. And of course, it could also be because a lot of people in Scotland are quite heavy drinkers and don't know what we're doing half the time. So there's that as well. Maybe a lack of self awareness.