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Having Car Trouble

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 58 – Having Car Trouble.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 58. 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 having problems with your car. Let’s get started.

[start of story]

As I was driving home from work, my car started acting up. It was making a strange noise and the engine was running roughly. When I got home, I popped open the hood to see if there was anything wrong. After looking around for a few minutes and not seeing anything, I decided to take my car to the shop.

I took it down to street to Manny’s Car Repair. I’ve never had luck finding a really honest mechanic, but Manny was no worse than most. I explained to Manny the problem and he took a look at it right away. Finally, he narrowed it down to the fan belt. I asked him how much it would set me back, and he said $80 with parts and labor.

I usually feel like I’m getting ripped off when I go to a repair shop, but for once, I thought Manny was being straight with me. I asked how long he needed to keep the car, and he said at least until the end of the day tomorrow. He said he would order the part right away and he’d call me when it was ready.

Oh, well. I guess it could have been a lot worse. I better dust off my bike to take to work tomorrow. It’s about time I got some exercise!

[end of story]

In this podcast, I had more trouble with my car. I said that I was driving home from work and my car “started acting up.” “To act up” means here that something is going wrong. “My television is acting up” means it’s not working properly. I said it was “making a strange noise” and that “the engine was running roughly.” The “engine” is the motor – it’s a part of the car that makes it go. We talk about an engine or a motor “running smoothly,” meaning running well – working well, functioning well. Or it can be “running roughly,” meaning it’s not functioning; it’s not working correctly.

When I got home, I said I “popped open the hood.” The “hood” (hood) is the part of the car that lifts up, usually in the front of the car where the motor is. It’s like a door that you lift up. And we use the verb “pop open.” “To pop open” means that you push a button inside your car and that unlocks the hood so that you can open it.

I said I had to “take my car to the shop.” And, you probably know, “the shop” is somewhere where you get something fixed, something repaired. There can be a car shop, a camera shop, a computer shop. Anywhere where they fix or repair machines can be called a “shop” – (shop), as a noun. I said that I took my car to “Manny’s Car Repair.” I don’t have a lot of luck finding an “honest mechanic.” A “mechanic” is someone who fixes cars. But I said that Manny was “no worse than most.” When we say someone or something is “no worse than most,” we mean that he is not any worse than any other or most other mechanics. He’s about the same in terms of – here, in terms of honesty.

I explained to Manny my problem, and he “narrowed it down to the fan belt.” “To narrow something down” means to eliminate other possibilities, other options, and focus on a small group or one set of possibilities or choices. So, I want to go see a movie tonight, and I want to see a horror movie and my wife wants to see a romantic movie. We have to “narrow it down” to one or the other in order to make a decision. Of course, we go see the romantic movie because my wife is always right.

Now, the “fan belt” is the part of the car that connects the motor to a “fan.” You know what a “fan” is – that spins around to keep you cool. Well, there’s a fan in your motor – your engine – to keep your engine cool, I guess. It connects the fan to the motor so the fan will go around.

I asked Manny how much it would “set me back.” When you ask somebody how much it’s going to “set you back,” that’s an informal way of saying, “How much is it going to cost?” A “setback” as a noun is a disappointment or something that moves you backwards instead of forwards either in terms of your finances, your money, or something else. You can have a setback in your job, meaning you didn’t get a promotion or you didn’t get a raise. These could be considered setbacks. But when we say, “It set me back $20,” we mean it cost me $20.

Manny said that $80 was the cost for “parts and labor.” “Parts” are the physical objects, the things that have to go into your car. And “labor” (labor) is the work; it’s the time the mechanic charges you for to do the repair. So, “parts and labor” are the two parts of, or two things that go into, repairing your car.

I said I usually feel I’m getting “ripped off.” “To rip off,” two words, is a verb which means to steal – to have somebody steal something from you, often because they are cheating you. They are cheating you in some sort of business transaction or business situation. “I feel I am being ripped off by the grocery stores,” or “I’m being ripped off at the gas station because the price of gas is so expensive.” That’s what we mean when we say “to rip off.” It means someone is taking your money – and not taking your money honestly for what they give you.

I said that I thought in this case Manny “was being straight with me.” “To be straight with” someone means you’re being honest with them. You’re telling them the truth. If someone says, “He’s not being straight with me,” we mean he’s lying. He’s not telling the truth. Now, that’s different from “to be straight.” “To be straight” means that you are a heterosexual – that if you’re a man you like women, and if you’re a woman you like men. That’s being “straight.” It’s used as the opposite of “gay” or “homosexual” people.

The end of the story . . . at the end of the story, I said that I better “dust off my bike to take to work tomorrow.” “To dust off,” literally, also can mean to take a piece of cloth – a rag, a towel – and remove dust or little pieces of dirt on a table or on a chair, and so forth. Here, however, when we say, “I’m going to dust off my piano,” “I’m going to dust off my bike,” we don’t mean physically remove dirt. We mean I’m going to start using it again, but it has been a long time since I have used it. In fact, it’s been so long, there’s dust on it, there’s dirt on it. So, you can use that for lots of things. “I’m going to dust off my Spanish to talk to my friend in Mexico” means I haven’t used it for a long time.

Finally, I said that “it’s about time I got some exercise.” When we say “it’s about time,” the idea is that it’s been too long, and it’s often something of a complaint. When you say to someone who is supposed to come to your house at seven o’clock and they show up – they arrive – at seven thirty, you say, “Well, it’s about time,” meaning it’s taking too long for you to do whatever you were supposed to do.

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

[start of story]

As I was driving home from work, my car started acting up. It was making a strange noise and the engine was running roughly. When I got home, I popped open the hood to see if there was anything wrong. After looking around for a few minutes and not seeing anything, I decided to take my car to the shop.

I took it down to street to Manny’s Car Repair. I’ve never had luck finding a really honest mechanic, but Manny was no worse than most. I explained to Manny the problem and he took a look at it right away. Finally, he narrowed it down to the fan belt. I asked him how much it would set me back, and he said $80 with parts and labor.

I usually feel like I’m getting ripped off when I go to a repair shop, but for once, I thought Manny was being straight with me. I asked how long he needed to keep the car, and he said at least until the end of the day tomorrow. He said he would order the part right away and he’d call me when it was ready.

Oh, well. I guess it could have been a lot worse. I better dust off my bike to take to work tomorrow. It’s about time I got some exercise!

[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.