This episode’s vocabulary
Can't hear yourself think
idiom — if you cannot hear yourself think, you cannot give your attention to anything because there is so much noise.
Acquaintance
noun — a person that you have met but do not know well.
To blast
verb — to make a very loud and unpleasant noise, or to make something do this.
Booming
adj. — making a deep and loud hollow sound.
Rumpus
noun — a lot of noise, especially a loud and confused argument or complaint.
Par for the course
idiom — what should be expected because of past experience.
Ruckus
noun — a noisy situation or argument.
To yell
verb — to shout something or make a loud noise, usually when you are angry, in pain, or excited.
To bellow
verb — to shout in a loud voice, or (of a cow or large animal) to make a loud, deep sound.
To decompress
verb — to relax.
To overwhelm
verb — to cause someone to feel sudden strong emotion.
Racket
noun — an unpleasant loud continuous noise.
Questions and answers
I don't actually like not being able to hear myself think, so coming up with a place to talk about for this is quite difficult. I suppose the most recent example would be from a few weeks ago, when I was at a massive music festival called Mighty Hoopla in London. When it comes to where it was in greater detail, I think it's in a place called Brockwell Park, which is in Brixton, a suburb of London. I stayed just down the road in Stratham, though, since it was reasonably nearby and relatively cheap. Despite the fact it's a music festival, I actually went there for social reasons. A load of my friends and acquaintances were going there, and a lot of them had encouraged me to go. Some of them I'd never met before, so it was a good opportunity to do that in a nice and festive atmosphere. I think it should be obvious why it was so noisy. I mean, it's a music festival, so blasting speakers booming music, and the general rumpus created by people is just par for the course really. There were a lot of artists who had hits in the naughties and the 90s. So it was a very loud nostalgia trip as well. You could hear the ruckus from quite far off, actually, now I think about it. I mean, I could definitely hear it from about a kilometre away when I was walking there from the apartment that I'd rented. Usually, that would be a problem, because I'm not a fan of loud places, and I quite often had to yell when I was... Well, when I wasn't in the VIP area. Quite often people were bellowing in my ear when we were caught in the crowd. But it wasn't as unpleasant as it would be under normal circumstances, since it really was the only way you could communicate. You couldn't exactly whisper in such a place. Like I said, though, I had VIP tickets, so I could just go to that quieter place when I needed to chill out and decompress. And they had nice champagne there, it was cool. I was actually expecting to feel a bit overwhelmed by it all since I usually prefer quieter places, like I said, but actually, I found myself really enjoying it despite the racket. If I hadn't gone I doubt I'd have had as much fun. I've actually already got tickets for next year.
And what did your friends say about this?
Oh, they loved it. They've got their tickets ready too now.