M: Do you like to wear hats?

R: Sometimes. If it's freezing or maybe there's an event that has a particular theme or something, but they're not things that I would do or wear regularly.

M: What kind of hats do you like?

R: I have a few baseball caps, and I used to have a beanie that I bought a while back, but I've lost it, which is a real shame, since it had a lot of sentimental value.

M: Are hats popular in your country?

R: I suppose so. Especially in the winter, when it's really cold and you need to keep warm, and of course, you lose a lot of heat through having exposed head. So by covering your head, you prevent that from happening.

M: Why do people wear hats or caps?

R: Well, when it's a bit chilly, like I said, and sometimes it can be a fun fashion statement. Aside from that, I'm not really sure, though, I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons.

M: Where do you like to buy hats?

R: I've never gone out of my way to shop at a specific place truth be told, but I liked where I got my beanie in Paris. I think that was just because it was Paris, though. I've never been to a special hat shop or anything like that.

M: Yay! Thank you, Rory! So dear listener, hats. Okay, first of all, how do we say this? Yes. So this soft hat, and the sound is like, like, bad, like, rat, hat. Hats. Okay, dear listener? We wear hats. What else do we do with hats? We buy them. We keep them.

R: I'm trying to think of what else we display them, perhaps, if they're like, if they look good.

M: Yes, dear listener, and if you don't like hats, if you have only one cap, you should say that, yes, I like hats, and then lie and use all this lovely vocabulary. Because if you say like, well, I don't have any hats. I hate hats. Well, like, what will you talk about? The examiner needs vocabulary from you, and fluency and English. So here, imagine that you love hats. You're a hat maniac. Like hats, give me hats.

R: If you're not a hat maniac, then we'll talk about alternative things that you can do. But it would be good to be interested in hats, or at least look at what you might call some of your hats.

M: So Rory chose a boring approach. So when it's cold, I wear a hat.

R: I didn't say when it's cold, though. I said when it's freezing.

M: Ooh, freezing. It's very cold, freezing. But hats are for style. They're not for like, you know, to warm your head.

R: That's not true. You can use them for practical purposes as well.

M: There are two purposes, yes, practical and style. But I don't wear hats regularly, okay? Or also, the third reason is protection from the sun.

R: Oh, really? Oh, well, I suppose, yeah. People wear like, wide-brimmed hats for sun protection. So the brim of the hat is the part that sticks out from your head, as opposed to the part that covers your head.

M: Yeah, and sometimes we need to cover our face. So you need to have this like wide brims, brims. They surround the hat. So you can say that in summer I wear what hats? Hats with wide brims?

R: Yes, or a sun hat, you could just say.

M: No, no, no. Dear listener, you need this word brim. Okay? A hat with wide brims. And here you can Google, just go to Google Images and put down b, r, i, m, brims. So this is a part of a hat that sticks out. What kinds of hats? So there are different kinds of hats. And you should remember maybe two or three types of hats, not just a cap. I wear a cap. Well, it's boring and simple, like, okay, Rory told us I have a few baseball caps, like regular caps that boys usually wear, and a beanie. Rory, what's a beanie?

R: Well, if a baseball cap is something that's tight fitting and has something sticking out the front of it, like in one direction, then a beanie is just something that is a bit looser. It's a thicker material, and it sits over your head. It's usually used to keep your head warm, I think. Some people wear it as a fashion statement, though.

M: Yeah, a very popular kind of hat, a beanie or a beanie hat. Please google it, you need to see a picture. Okay? A beanie. A beanie hat or a beanie cap. A small hat. It fits closely to the head, and sometimes it's made from wool. It can be warm, or it could be just, you know, like a hat, and you wear it as a fashion statement, like, yeah, your super hat, you know, and then you go inside and you keep the hat on inside, like indoor glasses, your indoor hat, okay? And your hat could have a lot of sentimental value, Rory. Sentimental value meaning...

R: Just it brings up memories or reminds you of a particular time in your life. Maybe it's important for... Not the money that you can sell it for or the money that you paid for it, but it's important for how it fits into your life and what it reminds you of.

M: Right, dear listener, you should also go to Google and Google types of hats, and there you have some pictures of different hats types, and you should choose maybe, like, two, three words. For example, you can say that I usually wear a beret. Rory, what's a beret?

R: I think it's tighter around the sides of the head, but it's looser on top.

M: Yeah. It's kind of like you go to France. And this is like a stereotype, like, you wear beret.

R: A beret is not just a French thing, though. It's also something that you see people in the military wearing.

M: Oh, that's true, that's true. Beret but it's a French word, so we don't pronounce T at the end, so the pronunciation is wild and crazy. Beret, dear listener. Well, it's for men as well. Why not?

R: Is it? Oh, okay.

M: Yeah. Okay. Then we can say, like a floppy hat. I wear a floppy hat or a straw hat. This hat, which is made from straw. Maybe you have this derby hat. Even if you don't wear any hats, you just say, oh, yeah, I have a derby hat.

R: What's that?

M: It's a hat with a narrow brim.

R: Oh, okay, I didn't know that. I've never felt the need to wear one before.

M: You can also say that I wear beach hats, okay? With wide brims, which are made from straw, you see? So I sometimes wear berets, and I have a boater hat. A boater a hat, Rory? Have you ever...

R: I've never heard of that either, but then, like I say, I don't usually buy hats, like probably most people.

M: Kind of like a type of a summer hat, but you can wear it in autumn as well. Sometimes it's warm, sometimes it's not, for style. Really nice. Boater hat. Bucket hats, ladies, are quite popular. Bucket like a bucket of water. Bucket hat.

R: I assume that's because it's shaped like a bucket.

M: Yes. Hats are popular, especially in winter. People usually wear woolly hats. Beanie hats to keep warm. Because you lose a lot of heat through having an exposed head. So if I don't wear a hat, my head is exposed.

R: It's not covered.

M: So you should cover your head in winter, and you should cover your head in summer to protect your head from the sun, so your head should not be exposed. Another synonym for cold is chilly. So when it's like chilly, it's cold, or it's chilly, like a little bit cold. So I usually wear a hat when it's chilly. And I think that hats are a fun fashion statement.

R: Well, they could be.

M: But if it's a fashion statement, when you wear a hat, you kind of, you tell people, okay, look at me. I'm cool, I'm into fashion. So it's style, you know? Like sunglasses, like hats are a nice accessory. We buy hats at a special hat shop, right?

R: Yes, it's called a milliner. However, most people don't know what that is. So if you just say a special hat shop, then you will be fine.

M: Milliner?

R: A milliner, yeah.

M: What? How do you spell it?

R: Oh, God, good question. That's a hard one, isn't it? I'm pretty sure a milliner is the person, but a millinery is the name of a shop, is the name of the shop. Yeah.

M: Yeah, it's too difficult. So it's just like, hats.com, dear listener.

R: That's mental. Why would anyone say that?

M: No, it's crazy. Yeah.

R: I don't buy it from a special hat shop.

M: Yeah... Like...

R: I briefly thought about saying it, but I was just like, when is anyone gonna need that word really? You say, is there a hat shop nearby, or a place I can buy a hat.

M: Hat shop. Yeah. Or just like a hat store, or maybe you buy a hat at the market. Like every weekend you have a market, you go there and you buy a hat. Or, for example, at an exhibition, like a fashion exhibition, all right? Or just at a local shop, at a local store. Or online, dear listener. And Rory told us that I've never gone out of my way to shop for hats.

R: Which I'm pretty sure is an idiom, but either way, it's an expression that means to make a special effort to do something.

M: Because I do go out of my way to shop for hats. I search for interesting hat shops, I travel for a long time to get there. And I know some designers who design nice hats. I pay a lot of money for hats, you know? So I search for hats. I go out of my way. Truth be told. That's a nice one.

R: But that's just saying to be honest.

M: Yeah. If you want to say to be honest in a band nine way, you say like, well, truth be told, I'm not a fan of hats. Truth be told, truth be told, I don't wear hats every day. Or, for example, truth be told I am addicted to hats. Okay? Oh, hats, hats. So truth be told is an idiom, and we use it just like this. Truth be told. I've never been to a special hat shop. There you go, dear listener. Or I've been to a special hat shop 1000s of times. Or I go to a special hat shop every week.

R: I'd love to meet the person who is like this.

M: And now, dear listener, Rory's show.

R: Yes, I have a quiz for you. So let's go through my answers, and I'll ask you some questions about the grammar or the vocabulary. Starting off with question number one, what's the word I use to describe very cold temperatures?

M: It's freezing.

R: It is, yeah.

M: Then with question number two, what's the phrase I use to comment on something being important? Not because it costs a lot of money, but because it's got special personal or emotional connections.

M: It has a lot of sentimental value.

R: And then, when we were talking about if hats are popular, I used a special word to describe something which is uncovered and vulnerable.

M: To be exposed or to have an exposed head.

R: Yes. Then getting back to words to describe the cold. In the next question, I used another word to describe the cold, but it was not freezing. What was it?

M: It's chilling.

R: Perfect. And then the very last one was a special phrase that I used to say that I never make a special effort to do something, or I have never made a special effort to do something.

M: I've never gone out of my way to do something.

R: Perfect. Well done, Maria.

M: Hey!

R: 100%. Good for you. Congratulations.

M: Yay. And we should wrap it up with a joke. Well, come on, it's like a hat episode without a joke? What? No, no, no. And actually, I have two jokes, Rory. And I want you to grade the joke. So do you give it like band seven, band nine, zero, band one, according to IELTS, well, band scores. Okay? So maximum, is band nine. Minimum, it's zero. So if you don't go to the test, you just get zero. So the first joke. What a strange day. First, I found a hat full of money. Then I was followed around by some guy with a guitar.

R: Okay, that's quite good.

M: Oh, it's a good one. So dear listener, so you know when you see musicians playing in the street. So you see a guy with a guitar who is singing, who is playing, and then in front of him, usually there is a hat for money, or there is something where people put money in and usually it's a hat. Or like people go around and collect money using a hat. So I found a hat full of money. So some guy was walking and just took the hat, but it was the musician's hat where he was collecting money. Ha-ha-ha. So I was followed around by some guy with a guitar. So the musician was like, ah, wait, it's my hat. Just give it back. Put it down. So how would you assess this joke, Rory?

R: Well, I don't think that's like a band seven or a band eight joke, because I always think the funniest jokes are based in real life, whereas that's obviously just a funny story, but it's still funny. So that works.

M: Okay. Well, dear listener, now you can tell a joke about a hat. So you can say, like, oh, like, the examiner goes like, do you like to wear hats? You know, truth be told, I don't wear hats, but I know a joke, and you just crack a joke. The examiner loves his head off, and you, bam, band nine. You know? Because you're natural, you're funny, you made the examiner laugh, ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha. Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our next episode! Bye!

R: Bye!

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