📙 Part 2: Describe a time you had to wear a uniform

You should say: when you wear/wore it, who bought it for you, what it looked like, and how you felt about it.

This episode's vocabulary

Utter (adj.) - complete or extreme.

To fall to someone (phrasal verb) - to be or become the duty or job of someone.

Blasted (adj.) - used in phrases to express anger.

Blazer (noun) - a type of formal jacket that is a different colour from the trousers or skirt that are worn with it. In the UK a blazer often has the symbol of a school or organization sewn on the front pocket and is worn as part of a uniform.

Enamoured (adj.) - liking something a lot.

To enforce (verb) - to make people obey a law, or to make a particular situation happen or be accepted.

Uniformity (noun) - the quality or fact of being the same, or of not changing or being different in any way.

To call on/upon somebody (phrasal verb) - to ask formally for someone to do something.

Unfailingly (adverb) - in a way that shows itself at all times.

Presentable (adj.) - looking suitable or good enough, especially in the way you are dressed.

None the wiser (idiom) - to not be aware of something.

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready to give us your story?

R: I am. Let's get cracking.

M: Bring it on.

R: To be honest, I haven't worn a uniform in years, probably not since I left school. And even then I wasn't a huge fan of having it on properly. So I suppose we'll just have to talk about that. We had to wear it every day at school. So it was easy for us to be recognized as part of the student body by all of the staff. So it served a security purpose too. The teachers also said it would prepare us for the modern workplace. Though, that turned out to be utter nonsense. Since you can pretty much wear what you want these days regardless of where you work. Since I didn't have a job in school, and I wouldn't have spent my own money on it, even if I did it fell to my parents to buy the blasted thing. This was quite common for all students in my area since it was a pretty middle-class school that we all went to. Not that it stopped the uniform itself from being awful, of course. The main parts were a white shirt, a school tie, and black trousers for boys and girls. Although, the girls could wear skirts if they wanted. If you were really into the uniform, you could have this kind of black blazer, which is like a jumper but not nearly as comfortable. I tried one on once and I felt like I was wearing cardboard. The tie was in the school colours. So blue, silver, black and white. I think that was an emblem that would go on the blazer too, but can't remember what it looks like. And of course, you could get badges as well, but I never bothered with them either. As you might have guessed by now, I wasn't exactly enamoured with the thing. The whole purpose it seemed to serve was to enforce some kind of uniformity that never worked. If you pardon the pun. If people violate the rules all the time, but it was only certain students that were called on it. And it was almost unfailingly the ones that teachers liked. I suppose it was cheap. So poorer students were able to afford something presentable, which is a good thing. But aside from that slight silver lining, the whole thing failed miserably. I mentioned earlier about the security aspects, but anyone could borrow a tie and wander into another school. And teachers would be none the wiser. If I could have changed the rules, I think I'd have simplified the whole thing just to clean white shirts and trousers. That would have been enough I think. Instead, we had this ridiculous set of rules and regulations to follow.

M: And what about your friends? Did they like this uniform?

R: The ones I went to school with absolutely hated it as well. Nobody liked it.

Discussion

M: Hey! Yeah, oh my gosh, uniform, dear listener, what a horrible topic.

R: Did you wear a uniform at school?

M: You know what? I think the first grade or the first class. The first form. Yes. I had a uniform. Yeah. I had to wear it to school. Like a brown dress and a white thingy on top of it. But like for a very short period of time. And then just like the dress code at school. That's it.

R: Oh, you're very lucky.

M: So, dear listener, perhaps you have to lie. Okay? Yeah, or kind of like pretend you had to wear a uniform at school, for example. Rory started with I haven't worn a uniform in years.

R: And I haven't.

M: So I haven't worn a uniform for a long time. So wear a uniform. In the past, you wore a uniform, I wore a uniform. And Present Perfect, I haven't worn a uniform, or I've never worn a uniform. And like, you can say I haven't worn a uniform since I left school. Okay? So at school, I wore it. But then I haven't worn it ever. I wasn't a huge fan of uniforms. I wasn't or I'm not a fan of uniforms.

R: Yeah, I didn't like it at all. Nobody did.

M: Right. So if you talk about a time, you had to wear a uniform. For example, at school, you say, I had to wear a uniform at school. And usually, we use the verb have to. I have to wear a uniform at work. If you are, I don't know, a doctor, right? I have to wear it every day. Or I had to wear it every day at school. And like it was easy for us to be recognized. Because if you, I don't know, go to a certain school, they have a certain uniform. And when other people see you they recognize you, oh, yeah, this is a boy from this school.

R: Maybe.

M: The uniforms served a security purpose. So the security guards at school let everybody in if they were wearing a uniform. Yeah?

R: Well, not at our school. But if you didn't have the uniform on you would be stopped and asked why you were there. So that's the purpose for the teachers to be the security forces. You can see why I wasn't confident about this whole thing working, to be honest.

M: Also, this idea that teachers usually tell students that, oh, uniforms will prepare you for the modern workplace. But yeah, now, well, there is a dress code in certain places, but kind of casual smart. So you can wear pretty much anything you want. Well, as long as you're not wearing high heels, short skirts, crazy colours. And this and that. Yeah?

R: Yeah.

M: And you can say that wearing a uniform is utter nonsense.

R: It doesn't make any sense.

M: Yeah, it doesn't make sense. It's stupid.

R: Or it's completely wrong.

M: Yeah, wearing a uniform is completely wrong. Or wearing a uniform at school is wrong. Like who bought you this uniform? Well, I didn't spend my own money on it. Or my parents bought it.

R: And if I had my own money, I wouldn't have spent it.

M: Exactly. Why would you buy a freaking uniform, yeah? But again, if you are a doctor.

R: Maybe.

M: If you are... Who else has to wear a uniform? Doctors, doctors and doctors.

R: Just that group of people. No. Some school staff need to wear a uniform. Nurses have scrubs. That's kind of a uniform. And firefighters, and people in the military.

M: Oh, yeah, there we go. Yeah. And you can say that my parents bought it. So the responsibility of buying a uniform fell to my parents. So it fell to my parents to buy the thing. The thing - uniform.

R: Responsibility always falls to someone.

M: The responsibility fell to my parents. And the uniform was awful you can say. I hated the uniform. It was horrible, uncomfortable, stupid, ridiculous. Ridiculous? Well, like silly.

R: It was silly.

M: And then you can say things about the parts of a uniform. So I had to wear a dress, for example. And a kind of an apron on my dress. Rory told us about a white shirt. A school tie. Okay? A tie, like a special tie for schools. Black trousers for boys. Oh, and girls. Also, girls had to wear trousers.

R: They could. They had a choice, they could wear trousers or they could wear a skirt.

M: Okay, nice. Okay. Yeah. Or they could wear skirts if they wanted. Yeah. So I wasn't really into the uniform. I wasn't into it. I didn't like it. Yeah. Or I was into it. I really liked it. Also, I could have a black blazer. A blazer is a kind of jumper. So a jumper, a blazer or a jacket was part of the uniform.

R: I don't really understand why blazers are a thing because they're not particularly warm. And they don't particularly shield you from the rain or anything. It's just a sort of thing that says this is where I go to. It doesn't seem very practical.

M: Yeah, but it looks nice. You know, it looks professional and stylish. A blazer, like a jumper, like a jacket. Yeah? Like if you wear a suit, for example. It looks cool. And if you go to Oxford, and you wear this Oxford blazer, you stand out from the crowd. Everyone recognizes that, oh, you're from Oxford. Well, I don't know what they were in Oxford. What do they wear in Oxford?

R: What do they wear in Oxford?

M: Like Oxford hoodies?

R: No. Well, they must have Oxford... Yeah, I think most students that go to Oxford University have an Oxford hoodie.

M: You can say that, oh, when I put it on. When I put the uniform on, it felt like I was wearing cardboard.

R: It was very uncomfortable.

M: Cardboard is this kind of paper. So it felt like I was wearing like a frog. It felt like I was wearing something else.

R: Maybe some people had a nice uniform. It felt like I was wearing silk.

M: Yeah, maybe it was soft and comfortable. You can also speak about the colours. Like blue, silver, black and white. Or maybe red, or brown. The emblem. Maybe you had a school emblem on the uniform. On the jacket, on the blazer, on the shirt. Or maybe you had a badge. A badge is a thing you pin on a piece of clothing. A badge. I wasn't exactly enamoured with the thing. With the uniform. To be enamoured with something?

R: Well, the whole phrase is not exactly enamoured with, which means I didn't like it at all. But if you are enamoured with something that means you love it or you like it a lot.

M: Yeah. I'm not enamoured with something, right?

R: Yes, or I'm not exactly enamoured with it.

M: The only purpose of wearing a uniform is to enforce a kind of uniformity. Enforce? Like, make people do something. A kind of uniformity - when everyone is the same.

R: Or everyone gets treated the same. But I don't think that's actually what happens.

M: Some people violated the rules. So they didn't wear a uniform, or they added some accessories or some other stuff to their outfit. Yeah? Which was illegal. And certain students were cold on it. So if I didn't wear a uniform, some teachers like asked me like, oh, Maria you're not wearing a uniform, so I'm cold on it.

R: Yeah. But to be called on anything just means that someone points out you did something wrong usually.\

M: So some students didn't follow the rules or violated the rules, broke the uniform rule. And they were cold on it.

R: Some. But not all. That's important to point out.

M: But the uniform was cheap and poorer students. Like low-income students, students who didn't have much money were able, could, afford something presentable. Presentable? Clothes that look good. Presentable, professional. So if they could buy this uniform, they could afford something presentable, which is a good thing. Yeah? And this is a silver lining, dear listener. A silver lining in wearing a uniform. A good thing about wearing a uniform.

R: A small good thing. Yes. It's the only good thing I could think about. It's important that, well, if you have less money, then you should have something to wear to school.

M: Yeah. And could you give us a sentence like with this silver lining?

R: Yes. The one silver lining of having a school uniform is that I can't think of one because I hate them. But I said it before. The one silver lining of having a school uniform is that maybe poorer students have something to wear to school.

M: Yeah, you can say that I would simplify the uniform rule. Like, make it simple. But we had to follow a ridiculous set of rules. So I follow, I had to follow certain rules about uniforms, rules and regulations. I had to follow rules and regulations on wearing a uniform.

R: That's a fixed expression. Rules and regulations.

M: So, dear listener, make a decision about what you will talk about. Sometimes you went to school and you had to wear a uniform. If you didn't, you should lie about it. And say, oh, at school, I had to wear a uniform. Make it up now. All right? Use Rory's ideas about, oh, I had to wear trousers, a shirt. I had a badge, a school emblem.

R: Well, the chances are that you probably had to wear a uniform at some point.

M: Yeah.

R: If not at school, then probably for a workplace.

M: Yeah, if you're a doctor, then everything is going to be easy for you. But you should be able to explain what is it that you are wearing. That you wear every day. Yeah? What is it that your uniform consists of? Okay, dear listener? We'll get back to you in our next episode, where we are talking about uniforms in general.

R: Oh, great. I love this subject so much.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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