M: Rory, do you like shopping?

R: If it's a simple case of going in, getting things I want, and then getting out again, then I'm a big fan. Otherwise, I'm really not thrilled about being dragged around a million stores to window-shop, to be honest. It seems like a massive waste of time.

M: Do you compare prices when you shop?

R: Well, sometimes I nip back and forth between some cosmetic shops when I'm looking at moisturizer. But other than that, I usually just pick the most convenient place to go, but I'm pretty low-maintenance, so most of what I buy is quite cheap anyway, and I don't have to search high and low for the best deals.

M: Is it difficult for you to make choices when you shop?

R: Not usually, but then I have pretty fixed requirements for clothes and things. Do they fit and are they inexpensive? I'm not about to spend hours traipsing around, trying to find the best shade to match my eyes or something like that.

M: Do you think expensive products are always better than cheaper ones?

R: Well, not always, but usually they are. Otherwise, what would be the point of buying them at a higher price?

M: Hey, shopping and Rory are two different universes, dear listener. Are you into shopping? Well, I like shopping. You know?

R: Have we talked about shopping before?

M: Yes, IELTS, people tend to repeat the same topics over and over again. So dear listener, you can just go ahead and listen to our older episode about shopping. So dear listener, Rory's shopping works like this. Rory goes in, he gets the things he wants, and he gets out. Go in, get the things I want, get out. So if this is your, I don't know, like, this is what you do usually. Well, you can say, I'm a big fan of shopping. Go in, get the things I want, get out. Yay. Shopping is done. But do we always do this?

R: I always do it. So then it's not a simple case, it's a case of, and then you describe what you're doing, or you could say it's a complicated case or a complicated process, but if it's a very simple process, then it's a simple case of, and then doing a few short actions, and you're done.

M: You can say I'm not really thrilled about shopping, or I am thrilled about shopping. I love it, like I do love it. I'm really thrilled about shopping. Yay! If you are negative about shopping, then you can say, I'm not thrilled about being dragged around a million stores. Stores? Like shops. And if you are dragged... So kind of, I like, I drag you. I, I don't know, I...

R: You take me there, whether I want to go or not. Have I ever been shopping with you?

M: No, never. That's the reason, Rory.

R: There is a reason for that.

M: Yeah, so kind of if, for example, Rory and I go shopping together...

R: Someone might die.

M: Rory doesn't want to go, and I drag Rory to all these shops in a shopping centre. And sometimes we just window shop. When you do window shopping, or I window shop or I enjoy window shopping, you just look at the, you know, windows of a shop. You don't buy anything, but you just, you know, like you check out the windows. You look what they have. But if I window shop, do I go inside and check out the clothes and the things that they have?

R: Well, the term comes from looking through the windows at the product. So really, no, but to be honest, just any process of looking at the product, but not buying it, but wondering about buying it, or what it would be like to have it, is window shopping. So you don't need a window-to-window shop, even though it seems like this.

M: We sometimes compare prices. So when I shop or when I go shopping, I usually compare prices, or I don't. And Rory, you said, like sometimes I nip back and forth. Nip back and forth?

R: Oh, it just means to move between places very quickly. Well, nip is a slang term or an idiom for moving quickly somewhere. Nip to the shops means just it's like pop to the shops. It just means to go somewhere very quickly in a short space of time. So if you nip back and forth, then you go between shops repeatedly to find the best prices or something else that requires going between places very quickly. It's very frustrating and tedious, and I don't like doing it.

M: Tedious, it's boring. So shopping is tedious for me. It's boring. And nip is a verb. Informal, and it's used in the UK, dear listener. To go somewhere quickly or be somewhere for only a short time. For example, can you nip out to the shop for me? Or nip round to the shop, like, or pop round to the shop, like, go there very quickly. Or just, like, let's nip into the cafe. Okay? Let's just go to a cafe real quick. Cosmetics, we usually buy cosmetics. So all, you know, shampoos and conditioners and all of this stuff. And Rory sometimes looks for a moisturizer. The moisturizer that Rory puts onto his face to make sure it's like, well moisturized. Yes, Rory? Do you put moisturizer on your face?

R: I do, yeah, but I wouldn't say it's a very complex process. I just buy the ones that like you put a little bit in your hand, you put it on your face, and you are done. I appreciate that moisturizing for many people is a much more complicated process, but for me, it's not.

M: Yeah, and careful, cosmetics doesn't mean like makeup, right? Cosmetics is like all the products we use for our hair, face, and body, but makeup is like makeup, okay? But cosmetics is like a general term, right?

R: Yes, for anything that improves the appearance, I think.

M: You choose cosmetics, or you pick. Pick. So I pick the most convenient place to go, I pick the most expensive moisturizer, okay? But Rory is low-maintenance. Okay? So he doesn't require much stuff, whereas I am high-maintenance. Okay? I have all the shampoos and lots of bottles and creams and everything, perfume. So it's like, like, wow, like a suitcase of cosmetics. So I'm high-maintenance. Just for the hair, Rory. Just my hair needs, oh, like 10 different bottles.

R: I feel like, though that women have a, well, it could be an advantage if you like it, but it could be a disadvantage if you don't like it. So you have one of these things over men here, because that sounds, to me, that sounds really complicated, and I would not want to have to deal with that. But do you enjoy that?

M: Well, I have to enjoy it, because I like to take care of my hair. You know?

R: I like that. I have to...

M: Really, I have to, like, usually men have one bottle. And this one bottle is like an all-inclusive, dear listener.

R: Yes, it's five in one. I have one. I love it.

M: It's shampoo, and conditioner, but I think it's like five in one. Five? Ten and one?

R: I have a five in one.

M: Oh, my God. Five and one. Dear listener, do you have this five-in-one bottle? Shampoo, cream, conditioner, and cream for your feet.

R: What?

M: All in one bottle. Oh, my God.

R: You can get cream for your feet?

M: We make choices. So when you shop, you pick different things, you choose, or you make choices. When you go shopping, or you shop, you pop into a shop. Rory has pretty fixed requirements for clothes. He knows exactly what he needs. He just gets in there.

R: Do the shopping and get out.

M: Yeah, which is boring, dear listener. So this kind of like, shopping is boring.

R: It's not boring. It's easy. It's very easy. Thank you.

M: It's like, there's no variety. It's like, oh... And Roy's clothes are inexpensive. Okay, dear listener? So they are quite cheap, and clothes are inexpensive. And what verb did you use about like, I don't want to spend hours traipsing something around.

R: Oh, traipsing. Traipsing around is the whole thing. But traipsing or traipsing around is just moving in a tired and reluctant manner. You don't want to do it. So I don't want to spend hours going around shops, looking for things constantly. I just want to get the thing, buy the thing, and then take the thing home.

M: So traips. Informal, dear listener. To walk from one place to another, often feeling tired or bored. You know? So when you, after like five hours of shopping, you haven't found your favourite dress, and you go, oh, my god. I'm tired. So I spent the day traipsing around the shops. Like this. Or like, you see lots of tourists traipsing around the museums, for example.

R: You don't see me doing it, though, because I'm very organized. And

M: I'm not very organized. Like sometimes I spend hours traipsing around different shops trying to find the best deal, the best bargain, for example, at a good price. And here, Rory gave us an example with like, makeup, and shade. Shade is something you put, like what? On your eyes? Not eyes.

R: I think that's eyeshadow you mean.

M: Eyeshadow. Yeah.

R: Shade is a form of colour.

M: Ah, oh, you mean shade like the colour of your clothes? Oh, okay, okay.

R: It's like comparative or, well, comparing the brightness or the darkness of the colour. So if you're looking for a shade of blue that matches your eyes, you're looking for a shade of blue or a piece of clothing that's the same as your eyes, and because they match, that's supposed to be a good thing.

M: Oh, dear listener...

R: How do I know that? Why do I know that?

M: I have no idea. So dear listener, you can say that I don't want to spend hours, traipsing around different shops trying to find the best shade, the best colour to match my eyes. Okay? Or I do love checking out millions of shops trying to find the best shade, the best colour to match my eyes. You see?

R: Who are these people that enjoy this? Where are they?

M: Yes, dear listener, I'm sure you do enjoy some shopping. Well, not every day, you know, but kind of like once in a while, maybe like once, twice a month. Okay? Some good shopping. And kind of like spontaneous shopping, dear listener.

R: Once or twice every five years.

M: Oh, Rory. We buy things at a higher price, or we buy things at a lower price. Or we buy cheap things. Okay, dear listener? And also, we shop for things. Shop for the best bargains, like good deals. Or you can say, like, you know what, dear examiner? I'm a shopaholic. Like, I have this addiction. I'm addicted to shopping.

R: Help me.

M: I have to rent two flats to keep all my stuff that I buy every day. And some people do this, you know, they rent certain spaces to keep all the stuff. And you know what, Rory? What's the trend now? What's like popular?

R: Why are you asking the person who hates shopping what the popular shopping trends are? I have no idea. Oh, it's gonna be something ridiculous, like buying something that has been printed with the same colour of hair that you have.

M: No, no, no, no. People are very busy these days. So what do they do? They hire a professional stylist to do the shopping for you. So you pay money to a professional. This person comes to your house. They analyze all your clothes. Then they shop for you, dear listener, okay? They go to the shops. They choose the clothes for you. They leave the clothes in a shop saved for you. And what do you do? You go in there, you try on the clothes which are there waiting for you. And then you say, okay, I'll take these ones, I won't take these ones. And then done, hey! It's this, you know, like expert-level shopping.

R: That is, I can't even begin to form an opinion related to that. That's crazy.

M: Why is it crazy? You save time. You save your money. A professional person tells you like, what's good for you, what's not. It's the same as learning English. You do it with a teacher, usually. So the same with style and clothes.

R: It's possible that I am maybe... This does not work for someone who is as direct and straightforward as I am, but I just, what? I just don't see the appeal.

M: You see, he doesn't see the appeal. Rory thinks it's not interesting, but I think it's great, and I'm gonna do it very soon, dear listener. And I'm gonna show you pictures before and after. Thank you very much for listening. I'll have to do some shopping now.

R: And for some shameless self-promotion, not for clothes, but for books. If you're in the market for a new book, my new book is out on Amazon. You can find it on my Instagram. Links are in the description below, or they will be somewhere.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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