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A Trip to the Jewelry Store

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 54 – A Trip to the Jewelry Store.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 54. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss shopping for jewelry at a jewelry store. Let’s get started.

[start of story]

My wife’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to get her a special present. She always tells me not to splurge on gifts for her, but for once, I decided to pull out all the stops.

I went to the jewelry store and began looking at all of the display cases. I started by looking at the bracelets. The sales clerk asked me if I was looking for a bangle or a chain bracelet. I told her that I wasn’t sure, and she showed me some in yellow gold, white gold, and platinum. None of them seemed like my wife’s style, so I moved on to the rings. [] The clerk asked me if my wife liked diamonds, and I told her that she did but that she also liked other stones, like emeralds, rubies, or sapphires. I looked at a lot of anniversary bands, but none really fit the bill.

Finally, I walked over to the display case with the necklaces. There was a pearl necklace with a really beautiful clasp. I had never seen anything like it before and I was sure my wife was going to like it. I told the clerk that I would take it.

The clerk placed the necklace in its box and gift wrapped it. I have to say that when I left the store, I felt pretty proud of myself. I knew my wife would like the present, and I picked it out all by myself. Now, I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she opens it!

[end of story]

Today we are talking about why I am such a good husband, because I went to the jewelry store to buy my wife a gift. I said that my wife’s birthday was “coming up.” When we say an event or a date “is coming up,” we mean that it will be here soon. Sometimes you hear that on the television when a person reading the news announces a story that they are going to talk about in a few minutes. They’ll say, “Coming up: a story about birds,” or whatever the story is.

Anyway, my wife’s birthday was coming up and so I wanted to give her a special “gift,” or “present.” “Gift” and “present” mean the same thing. My wife always tells me not to “splurge.” “To splurge” (splurge) means to spend a lot of money on something. “I’m going to splurge on dinner tonight and order the filet mignon or the New York steak.” You can splurge on anything: a television, a computer, even an iPad.

I said that “for once” I decided to “pull out all the stops.” “For once” here means “for this one time.” “For once, I want to see a good movie” means this one time, I want to see a good movie. Usually we use this expression when we don’t normally expect to do a certain thing. For example, “Normally I go jogging every morning, but for once, I’m going to try swimming.” That would be an example of using “for once.” “To pull out all the stops” means to do the maximum possible, to do as much as possible. If you throw a party for a friend, and you hire an orchestra with dancers and order wine and food, this would be “pulling out all the stops” – doing the maximum or most that you could do. It would also be very expensive. Now, the expression “to pull out all the stops” actually comes from music. On an organ, like an organ in a church, the “stops” are things that help control the volume of the organ, and pulling them out makes the organ louder. So, “to pull out all the stops” means to do the most you can do.

I said I went to the “jewelry store,” and the “jewelry store,” you probably know, is where you buy “jewelry” – things like rings and necklaces and bracelets and so forth. I started by looking at the “display cases.” When you walk into a jewelry store, usually there is a counter or a glass case where they have all of the jewelry. A “case” is like a box where they keep the jewelry so you can see it but you can’t touch it. A “display case,” then, is a case in a store that displays or shows something.

“I started by looking at the bracelets.” “Bracelets,” you probably know, are things that go around your wrist. Both men and women can wear bracelets. The sales clerk asked me if I was looking for a “bangle” or a “chain bracelet.” There are two kinds of bracelets, basically. A “chain bracelet” is made up of little pieces. We call those little pieces of a chain “links” (links). So, a “chain bracelet” is flexible and it has little pieces that go all around your wrist. A “bangle bracelet” is solid. It’s one piece. You can put it on and it isn’t flexible like a chain bracelet is.

The clerk showed me some bracelets “in yellow gold, white gold, and platinum.” “Yellow gold” is, you could say, normal gold. It’s a gold color. “White gold” is also gold, but it is a silver or a silver-white color. And “platinum” is one of the most expensive types of metal. It is also silver-white in color. Gold, silver, platinum, white gold, yellow gold – these are all “precious metals.” “Precious” here means somewhat rare, and because they are rare, they are expensive: precious metals.

I decided none of the bracelets were my wife’s “style,” or the kind of look that she would like. So, “I moved on,” or I went to look at, the display case with the rings. “Rings,” of course, are things that you put on your finger or your toes. We call a ring on your toe a “toe ring.” But if we just say “ring,” we usually mean for your fingers. When you get married, you put a ring on. Rings have different types of “stones.” Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires – these are all stones that you can put on a ring.

A “diamond” is one of the hardest stones and is very expensive. “Emeralds” are green stones, usually. “Rubies” are sort of a red or purple-red stone. “Sapphires” are usually blue. These are all expensive stones that you can put on your ring or somewhere else. You also call these “gems” (gems). A “gem” is an expensive stone that’s used usually for jewelry. A “precious gem” or a “precious stone” is like a precious metal – a rare and, therefore, usually expensive type of stone.

I said I looked at a lot of “anniversary bands.” A “band” here is another word for a ring, and an “anniversary band” is often just a plain ring with no stones on it. Usually, in the United States anyway, when a man gets married, he gets a “wedding band.” It’s a ring that usually doesn’t have any stones in it, but it can. Mine doesn’t.

I said that none of these really “fit the bill.” When we say something “fits the bill,” we mean it is appropriate, it is correct, it is right for this situation. “To fit the bill” can be used for lots of different things. “I interviewed three people today, but none of them had sufficient experience – none of them fit the bill.” None of them was what I was looking for.

I finally went over and looked at the “necklaces.” A “necklace” is a chain that goes around your neck. There was a “pearl necklace.” “Pearls” are not stones, but they are a very hard substance that you find in an oyster. If you have an oyster and you open it up, it will often have a pearl inside. The “pearl necklace” – the necklace made of pearls – that I was looking at had a “very beautiful clasp.” A “clasp” (clasp) is what you use to connect a necklace or sometimes a chain bracelet. It’s usually in the back and usually very difficult to do, at least for me.

So, that’s the “clasp.” It holds the necklace together so you can put it on and take it off easily.

I told the clerk that I “would take” the pearl necklace. “I would take it.” This is an expression we can use when we buy something. The salesperson says, “How do you like this television?” and you say, “That’s a nice television. I’ll take it,” meaning I want to buy it. The clerk puts the necklace in a box and then “gift wrapped it.” “To gift wrap,” as a verb, means to put wrapping paper, usually colored paper, on the box to make it look nice. We call that “gift wrapping.” I said that I was feeling “pretty proud of myself,” which means I thought I did a good job, because I picked out the gift “all by myself,” meaning with no one else helping me. I ended by saying, “I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she opens it.” When we say “the look on your face,” usually it’s because you are surprised or you’re scared. For example, “I threw a surprise birthday party for my friend. You should’ve seen the look on his face when he came in the door and everyone yelled, ‘Surprise!’” That would be an example of using this expression.

Now let’s listen to our story, this time at a normal speed.

[start of story]

My wife’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to get her a special present. She always tells me not to splurge on gifts for her, but for once, I decided to pull out all the stops.

I went to the jewelry store and began looking at all of the display cases. I started by looking at the bracelets. The sales clerk asked me if I was looking for a bangle or a chain bracelet. I told her that I wasn’t sure, and she showed me some in yellow gold, white gold, and platinum. None of them seemed like my wife’s style, so I moved on to the rings.

The clerk asked [me] if my wife liked diamonds, and I told her that she did but that she also liked other stones, like emeralds, rubies, or sapphires. I looked at a lot of anniversary bands, but none really fit the bill.

Finally, I walked over to the display case with the necklaces. There was a pearl necklace with a really beautiful clasp. I had never seen anything like it before and I was sure my wife was going to like it. I told the clerk that I would take it.

The clerk placed the necklace in its box and gift wrapped it. I have to say that when I left the store, I felt pretty proud of myself. I knew my wife would like the present, and I picked it out all by myself. Now, I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she opens it!

[end of story]

Thanks to our great scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Tse, for all of her hard work. And thanks to you for listening.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.

ESL Podcast is produced by the Center for Educational Development in Los Angeles, California. This podcast is copyright 2006.