Sunglasses
Do you often wear sunglasses? When do you wear sunglasses? Do you spend a lot of money on sunglasses? Do you give sunglasses as a gift? When do you never wear sunglasses?
Vocabulary
  • Cloud cover (noun) - the state of the sky when it is covered with clouds.
  • Outfit (noun) - a set of clothes worn together, especially for a particular occasion or purpose.
  • Phenomenal (adj.) - remarkable or exceptional, especially exceptionally good.
  • Eyeglass frame (noun) - the structure that holds and surrounds the lenses, providing support and shaping the overall design of the eyewear.
  • Eyeglass lenses (noun) - optical elements designed to protect the eyes from sunlight by reducing glare, blocking harmful UV radiation, and enhancing visual comfort.
  • Polarized sunglasses (phrase) - polarized, or anti-glare, sunglass lenses reduce light glare and eyestrain.
  • Eyeglass bridge (noun) - the part of the frame that spans the nose, connecting the two lenses and providing support for the eyewear on the wearer's face.
  • To tailor (verb) - to make or adapt something for a particular purpose or person.
  • Fashion statement (phrase) - a deliberate and distinctive expression of personal style, reflecting individual preferences or societal trends through clothing, accessories, or overall appearance.
  • Unhinged (adj.) - affected with madness or insanity.
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Questions and Answers
M: Do you often wear sunglasses?

R: Well, there’s a lot of cloud cover in my country so it’s not necessary most of the time. When I’m on holiday in other countries, I do though, even if it’s cloudy, because my Ray Bans are like a part of my outfit for going on holiday.

M: When do you wear sunglasses?

R: When I'm outside? When the sun is out? Like I said, I usually only wear them in the daytime on holidays. And that's when the sun's out. It's not often out in my own country. Often enough to justify it really?

M: Do you spend a lot of money on sunglasses?

R: Oh, wow, I had a huge argument with someone about this once, because I said it was a phenomenal waste of money to spend hundreds of pounds on sunglasses when you could buy so many other different things. And then I started to make proper money. And one of the first things I bought was these RayBans. So, while I don't spend a lot of money on sunglasses now, I certainly did in the past.

M: Do you give sunglasses as a gift?

R: I mean people could, but so many things need to be considered... Like the style of the frame and the shape and colour of the lenses, whether they're polarized or not... I think even the shape of the bridge, to be honest, is something that has to be tailored to each person. I think it's better as a personal choice, but that's just my opinion.

M: When do you never wear sunglasses?

R: When I'm indoors or when it's cloudy, and there's no, sort of, fashion statement to be made by wearing them. It would look a bit unhinged if you wear sunglasses inside... Like I'm doing now.
Discussion
M: I wear my sunglasses at night... Do you know this song?

R: No...

M: So sunglasses, or you can call them glasses. Also, eyewear? How can I use this eyewear word? Like, eyewear.

R: I guess if you're paraphrasing the question. So what was one of the questions?

M: Do you often wear sunglasses?

R: Well, what? No, I don't really require eyewear because my vision is fine, and there's not enough sun in my country to justify it. There we go.

M: Exactly. Also, dear listener, you use different brands. Rory told us about Ray-Bans.

R: I did. And so Ray-Bans, pay me money for advertising, please. I like these ones. Although I think everybody has a pair that looks like this nowadays.

M: So you can say: I enjoy Ray-Bans eyewear, Ray-Bans sunglasses. So you say when I'm on holiday, I wear sunglasses or when it's cloudy. Or when what? When I'm in the sun?

R: Yeah, when the sun's out or when there's not so much cloud cover. For example. There are different ways to talk about clouds. Clouds or out, cloudy, cloud cover lots of cloud cover.

M: And you can say that Ray-Bans are a part of my outfit... Ok? Because sunglasses are a stylish accessory, dear listener. So they are a part of your outfit. Of your style and clothes.

R: Well, they are a part of some people's outfits. They're not necessarily part of mine. I feel very uncomfortable sitting indoors wearing these glasses, which I've done for the whole episode. I hope you're impressed.

M: So you can say that: Well if I want to add a touch of cool to my look, I wear sunglasses. You know, like, add a touch of cool to your look, to your outfit.

R: Why are sunglasses considered cool?

M: Because... I don't know. You hide your eyes and you kind of like, YEAH!

R: Like the mystery. You can only see my eyebrows now.

M: Yeah. Oh, and by the way, Rory, can you do this with sunglasses? Is it like okay to do this?

R: Oh yeah, you wear them on your head like that. You know, some cool people wear two sets of sunglasses at the same time.

M: No, this is bad manners. Don't do this. Okay? So this is not cool, right? Especially if you're a lady. If you want to be elegant and nice. Never do this. Okay? Sunglasses go straight to the special bag and into your bag. Okay, not on your head.

R: What do you call this special bag?

M: I have no idea...
R: It's a poach sunglasses pouch. Yeah. Well, it could be a pouch. Or it could be a case.

M: I wear glasses when I'm outside. Or I wear glasses in the sun. And also we say a pair of sunglasses. Okay? A pair like a pair of jeans, a pair of sunglasses. But actually, dear listener, you can wear your sunglasses everywhere. On the street, in the car, in a nightclub, in the office, you know... To add a touch of cool to your look. And also that cycling glasses, for example. Yeah. And if you go swimming, what do you call these glasses? So when they...

R: Oh, goggles!

M: Goggles, dear listener. So you can say that: Oh, I sometimes wear goggles - special glasses for swimming. Rory, do you ever wear sunglasses indoors? To look cool? Like in a nightclub?

R: No. I think that's insane. And actually, I think it's really frowned upon because it's already dark in the club. I don't know why you would wear sunglasses unless you were blind. In which case, I don't actually think they're sunglasses. I think there are different kinds of glasses.

M: We can spend a lot of money on eyewear. Eyewear - sunglasses, right? And Rory told us that he used to spend a lot of money on sunglasses.

R: Oh, well, I did once. One time in the past I spent a lot of money on sunglasses, and then I never needed to again because they were so high quality. They have lasted... I've had the sunglasses almost as long as we've had the podcast, actually.

M: Wow! So you can say that my sunglasses have lasted for a long time. So they have lasted for a long time. Or I've been wearing them for 10 years. Okay? But I still have them. If they broke...

R: If they broke, I would have a nervous breakdown because they were hundreds of patterns.

M: You can also say that I own a pricey pair of sunglasses pricey or very expensive. All right? So like, to stand out from the crowd I need to have expensive sunglasses. To stand out - to be different from everybody else. Rory, do you know how much the most expensive sunglasses cost?

R: Oh, I mean, they'll be 1000s I would imagine if not 10s of 1000s.

M: Okay, dear listener, are you ready? Dolce Gabbana. You know, Dolce Gabbana the brand? So the Dolce Gabbana glasses cost almost $400,000 Okay, dear listener? Also, Cartier glasses cost about $160,000, dear listener. And Bulgari sunglasses are as cheap as almost $60,000.

R: Oh, only... Okay... I don't really... Well, there are all kinds of reasons that people would spend money on that, but it's not the kind of thing I would spend money on if I had that kind of money.

M: And you can say that if I had money, I would buy designer glasses, like a Gucci pair of glasses with diamonds and emeralds and gold. You see? So you show off your super vocabulary, like glasses made of platinum with other precious gemstones.

R: If you're a normal person, though, perhaps you could talk about what the features of regular pairs of sunglasses are... It's probably easier to compare the two because I've got two different styles of sunglasses with me now. You can see they have a different shape for these metal bits here. These are the frames, they both have the black bits, and these glass things here are the lenses. And if they reflect the light, then they are...

M: Polarized!

R: Polarized.
M: Yeah, for example, my glasses- ultra polarized! So they reflect something...

R: Well, they reflect a lot of the light because they need to reduce the glare. The glare is the amount of light coming into your eyes. And so if there's a lot of that it can damage your eyes.

M: So you can see that I need to protect my eyes or my vision against which kind of rays? UV rays.

R: And if you live in a hot country, unlike me, then you might need to say: Because there's so much ultraviolet radiation, it's important to wear sunglasses all the time, or most of the time outside.

M: Ultraviolet?

R: Ultraviolet radiation. That's what it's called. Well ultraviolet light, I should say. Sorry.

M: Yeah. And also about the shape we can have... The most common shape of glasses is pilot-shaped glasses.

R: Do you mean aviators?

M: Aviators? Oh boy... No, I think "Aviators" is something else.

R: Beg my pardon. They are pilot-shaped. The term "aviator" is something that's unique to Ray-Ban. So again, Ray-Ban, pay me money for advertising.

M: Yeah, so you can say like pilot-shaped glasses or what other shapes do we have?

R: Whatever shapes RayBan will pay me to advertise... I honestly don't know. Aviators or pilot-shaped glasses, have very big lenses and they cover more of the eye space

M: Oh, there we go. Pilot-shaped, oval, round glasses... Rory has round glasses like John Lennon.

R: They are round...

M: Square-shaped glasses, rectangle glasses and geometrical... Usually, we say like pilot-shaped glasses. I think that these are pilot-shaped. Rory has round-shaped glasses. Also, dear listeners, you can say that my sunglasses feature a blue light filter. So they have a feature of protecting your eyes from some blue light. All right? So, it's a very fancy thing to say. My sunglasses feature blue light filters. For example, they are good for all outdoor conditions. Okay? Or my sunglasses are good for sensitive eyes. I have sensitive eyes. So I wear special sunglasses. Rory told us about lenses, right? They can be green... and grey lens colour. Okay? So lenses can be of different colors. And also frame, where your diamonds are... Like metal frame or... I don't know. With diamonds, emeralds and gold made of platinum.

R: Most people will have metal frames, I would imagine.

M: So I wear sunglasses as a status symbol. So they're expensive and I show off my status to other people.

R: So if you wear them in public, even on a cloudy day, that's supposed to be a status symbol. Supposed to be... you don't have to do this.

M: It would be unhinged if I wore them inside. Rory, what's unhinged?

R: It's just crazy... But not massively crazy, just a little bit crazy. But still, it's not really a great idea to wear sunglasses inside. I mean, just for safety alone, you could bump into things it's quite dark.

M: Yeah. And RayBans, Gucci, Prada... What other brands of sunglasses do we have? I think like Oakley is also quite common.

R: It is, only if they're paying us for the pleasure of advertising, though. Seriously. Oakley and RayBans get in touch

M: Right, dear listener, tell us what you think of sunglasses. What kind of sunglasses do you have? And if you had millions of pounds, of dollars, would you buy Dolce Gabbana or Prada glasses with diamonds and gold? Okay?

R: Or would you use that money for something more sensible?

M: And remember, sunglasses don't go on your head... Just like this. Okay? Thank you so much. Hugs and Kisses.

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

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