📙Part 2: Describe a piece of clothing you often wear

This episode's vocabulary

To associate (verb) - to connect someone or something in your mind with someone or something else.

To throw on (phrasal verb) - to put on a piece of clothing quickly.

Baggy (adj.) - (of clothes) hanging loosely because of being too big or having been stretched.

Branded (adj.) - made by a particular company and sold under a particular name.

To stencil (verb) - to draw or paint something using a stencil (a piece of flat material in which shapes or letters have been cut out, so that when you paint or draw over it, images of the shapes or letters that have been cut out will be left on the surface below, or the patterns or letters made by this method)

Capitalised (adj.) - written in capital letters.

Drab (adj.) - boring, especially in appearance; having little colour and excitement.

Loft (noun) - a space at the top of a building under the roof used for storing things and usually entered by a ladder, or sometimes made into a room for living in.

Fabric (noun) - cloth or material for making clothes, covering furniture, etc.

To keep hold of something (phrase) - to not lose something, or to not let someone else get it.

To degrade (verb.) - to spoil or destroy the beauty or quality of something.

Signature (adj.) - used to refer to the special thing for which a person or place is particularly known.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, I think everyone who knows me has probably come to associate me with my big black hoodie, to be honest. I have it on almost every day since it's so comfortable and easy to throw on. In more detail about what it is and looks like, like I said, it's a large size as opposed to my usual medium, so it's pretty baggy. I got it about 12 years ago when I was working on a marine research project in Fiji. The place that ran the project had these shirts. I should say, the organisation that ran the project had these shirts and other items of clothing that were branded and I liked the big hoodie the best, so I picked it up. It actually came in very handy since the island we were on got pretty cold at night. I make it sound pretty basic, but it's not just black, it has the project logo stencilled on the left breast area and a huge Manta ray design on the back. It's actually quite beautiful, though, the capitalised dive team slogan, probably isn't so nice to look at. But at least it's all in a nice light blue colour. So that breaks it up in terms of the, like, having only black... It breaks up the black colour or black shade, I should say, quite a bit. Otherwise, it would be pretty drab to look at. To say more about how regularly I wear it, I think I have it on nearly every day now. That didn't use to be the case. I kept it in a loft storage area for years and stumbled across it when I was moving house a few years ago. It was still wearable and the fabric was soft, so I decided I would keep hold of it and I wound up wearing it a lot after I moved because it was winter and the heating didn't work properly sometimes. I even wore it to work a few times for comfort and of course. I always wear it whenever we shoot episodes of the podcast now. In greater depth about what it's like, I think I pretty much covered the basics of how it looks, so I need to think... It's rather high-quality cotton, so it's very soft. I think if it had degraded over time then I'd just have thrown it out. I'm surprised it's lasted this long, actually. It's been over a decade now. In terms of my reasons for wearing it. It goes with just about everything, really. Aside from when I have a night out, which isn't often these days. It's easy to wash and then pull on before work and it completes my signature look of the casually organised professional (if that can be said to constitute a look). If I didn't have it I doubtless have found something else, but it might not be as interesting.

M: And what about your friends? Do they like it?

R: They haven't really commented on it, to be honest with you.

Discussion

M: Hey, what a Rory-story, dear listener. Wow! Exciting. Rory talked about his black hoodie. Yeah, black hoodie, you can just watch our YouTube episode and there our Rory is wearing his favourite black hoodie in every single episode...

R: Every single episode...

M: Okay. I'm just wondering how this black hoodie hasn't fallen apart yet. Because we've got many episodes and Rory is just... You understand, yeah? So, dear listener, a piece of clothing you often wear. It should be something you can talk about easily and also use specific vocabulary because this topic does require you to use specific vocabulary about clothes, materials, maybe colour, right? So to describe this piece of clothing. So maybe shoes, maybe a dress, maybe trousers, okay? Maybe a hat, okay? So make... Or maybe like a pair of jeans, a hoodie.

R: Don't talk about your underwear.

M: Underwear? Lingerie. Can you imagine? Like, oh, yeah, I'm going to tell you things about my favourite lingerie. I wear it every day. Lingerie is expensive, beautiful underwear for ladies, dear listener. So you can actually talk about your black hoodie, even if you don't wear it, even if you don't have it. So just talk about a black hoodie you often wear. So there you go, yeah? And you can say that I have it almost every day because it's so comfortable, easy to throw on. To throw on yourself, you mean?

R: It just means to put something on without really putting in a lot of consideration as to how it works or how it looks.

M: Yeah, some clothes, you know, like you grab and go. So you kind of take it, you put it on and off you go. Yeah. And it's fine. So it's easy to throw on. To put it on. Yeah. So you don't need to iron it, you maybe don't need to wash it because it's black. So it could be dirty and nobody will see it. Yes, Rory?

R: No. I always wear clean clothes, thank you. The hoodie gets washed once a week. It doesn't need to be washed more than that.

M: Oh, that's nice. So in more detail about how it looks, because one of the bullet points in the task is: What it is like? So what's it like? It's not about why you like it. No. What's it like? What it looks like. And in more detail about what it is, what it looks like. It's a large size, right? It's pretty baggy because a hoodie is usually baggy. It you know, like, it gives you freedom. Freedom. Scotland.

R: Freedom in Scotland. Very important.

M: Yeah. It's... What? It's loose. It's not tight, right? It's baggy. Baggy. And it's about twelve... I got it about twelve years ago. I was working on this project in Fiji and I bought it. It came in very handy, since the island we were on got pretty cold.

R: It was absolutely freezing.

M: In Fiji? Really?

R: Yeah. At night.

M: Fiji Islands.

R: Well, they're very exposed.

M: Oh, wow. Oh, okay. So the winds and the oceans, yeah? So it came in very handy. It was very useful, since (because). Since means the same as because. Since it was cold. Because it was cold. So it's not just black. So we can talk about the colour, not just black. It has the project logo. What was it? Stencilled on it?

R: Stencilled. It just means that they've taken some sort of shaping tool and used that to colour in the letters or the shapes for the art on the back and the front.

M: You can say like it has the project's logo on it or where specifically, on the left breast area. Breast is, you know, the breasts.

R: The chest.

M: The chest.

R: You usually talk about your breasts in terms of clothes because it's the left breast pockets or the left breast area.

M: Oh, really? So the left breast pocket. It's not the left breast?

R: You don't say the left chest pocket. You say the left breast pocket. Only Maria could be thinking this sort of thing while we were talking about it. Very immature.

M: And it has a nice design on the back. It has a special logo on the back, up on the front. And then like it's all in a nice light blue colour. So it's all in black or it's all in a light blue colour, light red. I don't know, turquoise colour.

R: But I think the thing that most people notice about it when they first see it is, oh, it's black, and then they look at the details.

M: Yeah, something blue in there. To say more about how regularly I wear it. Because the task says like you often wear it. So a synonym would be, I wear it regularly, I often wear it, frequently. I frequently wear it. I have it on nearly every day. So to have it on, I wear it nearly every day. Before that, I kept it in the loft storage area for years. So the hoodie was sitting there for years and then Rory stumbled across it. So kind of like Rory opened his storage area and like, oh wow, I have this hoodie. So he stumbled across it. You kind of found it unexpectedly. So he was moving house and he stumbled across this hoodie. It was still wearable. So the hoodie was still wearable, which means that Rory could wear it and the fabric. So the fabric, the material, right? The fabric. The material was soft. So Rory decided to keep it and he wound up, he ended up wearing it a lot. Is it a typical thing for men to do? Like when they find something... Like one piece of clothing that they like, they just keep wearing it every day? Like, why bother? Why change it? Until it falls into pieces, into atoms.

R: Yes, I think that that's probably true for me, at the very least because as we all know, I wear the same things all the time. And just until they, you know, fall apart completely.

M: Yeah. So if you are the kind of person who wears something until this piece of clothing falls apart, feel free to tell the examiner this. Yeah, like, I ended up wearing it a lot. And I'm the kind of person who wears one thing until it falls apart. Literally falls apart. So I always wear it whenever I go out or whenever I want to take a walk in the forest. I even wore it. Past. I wore it at work. So last year or last week. I wore it to work a few times for comfort because hoodies are comfy, it's comfortable, right? So I wore it to work for comfort.

R: Yes.

M: Rory used to wear torn jeans to work.

R: Yes, but I haven't done that in quite some time now. Come on...

M: Oh, that was a moment. Yeah.

R: Rude.

M: Oh, I was very rude.

R: Yes, you were extremely rude.

M: Told Rory about his inappropriate clothes. Oh, it's so funny.

R: I'm glad you think so.

M: It's rather high-quality cotton. So you should mention the material it's made of. So if it's something natural, it's like... It's made of high-quality cotton or some other material. It's very soft, it's comfy. It degraded over time. So it's kind of like... It is becoming worn out. So it degraded over time, but it lasted long. So I've been wearing it for a long time. Yeah. Which is another nice phrase. I've been wearing it for a long time. It goes with everything I wear.

R: So it matches.

M: It matches. Yeah.

R: Or complements. That depends.

M: It complements everything, it could go well with everything else I wear, it matches my other clothes. It's easy to wash and then pull on before work. Again, pull on like, throw on, put on. They're all synonyms. And it completes my signature look of a casually organized professional. So it completes my look, it completes my signature look. Signature look, it's like my Rory look, my unique look, yeah?

R: But the look is how... What we see, not just for one outfit. But it's actually over a series of outfits. If something holds true... Like a corporate executive or the look of a corporate executive is to have suits. But they're not always the same suit. They have different ties, different styles or sorry, different ties, etc., but in the same style.

M: And then we finish off with conditional if I didn't have it... Like, imagine if I don't have it, if I didn't have it, right? Past. Because we're imagining something in the present. So if I didn't have it, I'd have found something else. I would have found something else. Actually, it's a mixed conditional. Wow. So if I didn't have it now, I would have found something else in the past. Or you can say if I didn't have it now, I'd buy something else. Rory, what helped you organise your answer?

R: Well, anyone who has been following us will see that I employ the same structure. A quick summary of all the points at the start and then moving on into more detail about each one. So I started off by saying I think anyone who knows me has come to associate me with my big black hoodie. So just saying what it is. I have it on almost every day. How often I wear it. What it's like. Well, I already said it's big and black. And explain why I enjoy it. And I said, since it's so comfortable and easy to throw on. So that's it in short. But then I can go back. In more detail about what it is and looks like. I make it sound pretty basic, but it's not just black. So going into a bit more detail there. To say more about how regularly I wear it, in greater depth about what it's like, in terms of my reasons for wearing it. And then rounding off with our good old conditional sentence at the end. So the structure is very standard. It's just showing you how you can apply these different phrases to different contexts, but it worked quite successfully for me.

M: Sweet. Thank you very much for being with us, dear listener. Hopefully, you've now chosen a piece of clothes you often wear. Or you can steal Rory's story completely, okay? And talk about a black hoodie. You just take a look at this black hoodie in our episodes on YouTube, all right? And off you go. You see, it's going to be safe and easy. Just read the script. Choose what you're going to be saying about this black hoodie and off you go, okay? Easy. And we'll get back to you in our next episode, okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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