درسنامه واژه ها

DIY – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation DIY. DIY is an abbreviation or it’s short for do it yourself.

Okay, so I have the text of the conversation here and I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of words that you may have had difficulty understanding. So I’ll be explaining those as they relate to this conversation. They could have a different meaning in a different conversation but I’ll be explaining them as they relate in this conversation.

And I always like to start off by telling you about three different words that you hear quite often in our conversations. The first word is, it’s actually two words, y’know, so that is actually you and know combined together. So when we’re speaking sometimes, we’re speaking very fast and instead of saying you know, it sounds more like y’know.

The next word is yeah. You’ll hear yeah in a lot of our conversations and yeah is a slang word for yes.

And then, like is the third word that you hear and you hear this word quite often. As you probably know, like means to have positive feelings for someone or something but it can also be a filler word and many of the times that you hear it in our conversations, it’s just a filler word which means it really has no meaning at all.

Okay, so let’s begin DIY which means do it yourself.

Alright, in the very beginning of the conversation, Joe says, “Jason just called.” Jason is the name of a friend of mine and Joe’s.

And then Joe says, “He’s on his way over.” So on his way over, this means he’s coming to our apartment.

And then Joe says, “He said it only took him about 3-1/2 hours to drive in from Tahoe.” So Tahoe is a town, which is actually in two states. It’s very interesting. It’s in the state of Nevada and it’s also in the state of California. And it’s a tourist destination here in the United States because it has this big beautiful lake and I think it’s the deepest or one of the deepest lakes in the world. So people like to go there in the summertime and enjoy the lake. And it’s in the mountains so people like to go in the wintertime to ski, to snow ski. So our friend Jason lives in Tahoe and when Joe says he’s 3-1/2 hours to drive in from Tahoe, drive in meaning to drive into San Francisco from Tahoe. Tahoe is actually to the east of San Francisco.

So then I say, “Is he bringing any beer this time?” So he, Jason, our friend makes his own beer and sometimes he will bring us some when he comes to visit and that’s why I’m asking if he’s bringing beer.And then Joe says, “He’s got a few sour beers and he’s got a stout.” So a stout is a type of beer. It’s very dark, almost looks black, and it’s a little bit heavier than a lighter beer, say like an ale. That’s also a type of beer, which is a very light color.

And then Joe says, “At the time that we met, he and I were brewing with some regularity.” So brewing here means making beer.

And then Joe says, “But it’s a labor of love.” So labor of love, this means work that’s done for the love of doing it.

And then I say, “It was a really genius idea of this Korean man.” So genius idea, what I’m basically saying is it was a really good idea that this Korean man had.

And then I say, “There was no good beer for us.” So when I say us, I mean the Western ex-pats. And ex-pat is someone who is a citizen of one country but they’re living in a different country. So when I say Western ex-pats, I mean people who are citizens of countries in the west, United States, Canada, European countries, who, in this conversation I’m talking about, they were living in Korea at this time.

Okay, then I say, “This Korean guy had actually lived abroad.” So when I say he lived abroad, what I meant was he had lived in another country other than Korea. He’s a citizen of Korea but he had lived in another country. I think it was Canada actually.

And then I say, “It catered totally to ex-pats.” So what I mean by that, it catered totally to ex-pats, it satisfied a need for ex-pats; that need being good beer.

And then I say, “You could go in and just choose from a kit what kind of beer you wanted.” So kit, what I mean here is ingredients to make a particular type of beer, for example, a stout.

And then I say, “The only part that was a hassle was going and picking it up.” So hassle means inconvenience or it was difficult to do.

And then I say, “I probably couldn’t afford to even put it in a taxi.” So when I say put it in a taxi, what I mean is to actually put myself and the beer in a taxi, in other words to take the beer home in a taxi.And then I say, “I think I was hauling it on a bus.” So hauling it, what I meant here was literally dragging it because it was heavy, this box full of, I don’t know, 24 bottles of beer that I would then have to get home.

So if I was taking it on a bus, and I don’t honestly remember, this was so long ago, I would have been practically or almost dragging it onto the bus. In other words, using a lot of effort to get it onto the bus and get it home.

And then Joe says, “He thought the beer was terrible there and there was no variety.” So variety means no choices of different beers. There was no variety. There was no choices of different types of beer.

And then Joe says, “We’d wait for one batch to be ready before we’d go and start another one.” So batch means, here, certain amount of beer.

And then I say, “It was more of just an interest that’s now turned into a full-on hobby.” So when I say fullon, I mean it’s become a serious hobby. And a hobby is an activity done for enjoyment. So a lot of times hobbies can be done, y’know, you might…let’s say someone starts sewing clothes and they start it as a hobby, they might just do it a little bit. But to become a full-on hobby, what I mean is that it became a serious hobby, like he was doing it a lot, more and more.

And then Joe says, “Oh, yeah, yeah, totally.” So totally here means for sure. He’s agreeing with me.

And then Joe says, “He’s also into cooking like I am so he views it as something similar to making a recipe.” So a recipe is a set of instructions for preparing a food dish, it’s usually a food dish. It could be for making something else, but usually you hear it described as instructions for making a food dish.

And then I say, “Right.” So right here means yes. I’m agreeing with him, yes, yes, you’re right.

And then Joe says, “Bourbon, not wine, bourbon.” So bourbon is an alcoholic drink and it’s made from grains such as corn, malt and rye. Those are three grains. And wine is an alcoholic drink made from grapes. And beer, I didn’t explain earlier, it’s also an alcoholic drink made from fermented malt. So malt is a grain. And then, oh, I wanted to explain fermented really quickly. So when you make alcohol, whether it’s bourbon or wine or beer, you’re fermenting something, whether it’s grains like corn, malt, rye, or you’re fermenting grapes. Fermenting means when you have a substance like grapes and it breaks down into a smaller substance, making then wine. So it becomes a liquid then, something you can drink.

And then Joe says, “Oh, I’m not aware of that.” So when he says I’m not aware of that, he’s saying I don’t…I didn’t know about that.And then Joe says, “He’s even got a barrel.” So what he means by barrel, a barrel is a big wooden container and he has that because he keeps his bourbon in it for some time after it’s made. It just sits in the barrel and it starts to take on the flavor of the kind of wood that the barrel is made from which makes it very tasty.

And then Joe says, “I think they call it a crock.” So we’re talking about what Joe had bought me for one of my birthdays so that I could ferment cabbage. So it’s a crock, a big container, to be able to ferment cabbage in, for example. It’s a specific container for that.

And then I say, “Yeah, a crock, so I can make my own sauerkraut or kimchee.” So sauerkraut and kimchee, these are two different kinds of fermented cabbage dishes and kimchee is actually Korean. It’s a Korean dish.

And then I say, “You were thinking of making kombucha at one point.” So kombucha is fermented tea.

And then Joe says, “The person who turned us on to all this is Jake.” So when he says turned us on, or, yeah, turned us on to all this, what he means by that is got us interested in. And then Jake, that’s the name of a friend of mine and Joe’s.

And then Joe says, “He was the one who was first doing his own sauerkraut.” So doing here means making.

And then Joe says, “I think that things have really come a long way in terms of being able to be selfsufficient, like doing things on your own, in the advent of the internet…” So in the advent of the internet, this means in the development of the internet.

And then Joe says, “All the instructional videos.” So instructional videos, what he means is all the detailed information in videos about how something should be done. There’s all these instructional videos now so there’s all these videos where it will show you how something should be done.

And then Joe says, “There’s tons of cooking instructional videos online.” So tons means a lot.

And then I say, “Yep.” So yep is slang for yes.And then I say, “The nut cheeses are expensive.” Okay, so nut cheeses. Typically, cheese is made from cow’s milk or goat’s milk. Those are the two main ones, especially cow’s milk. With Joe and I being vegan, meaning we don’t eat or drink anything that comes from an animal, we would not eat regular cheese made from cow’s milk or goat’s milk. So we started making cheeses from nuts like almonds or cashews. And some nut cheeses we’ve had have been made from macadamia nuts. These are different types of nuts. So that’s what I mean by nut cheeses.

And then Joe says, “When I was a kid, he made my mother these miniature dollhouses.” So miniature means very small.

And then Joe says, “They’re just these really small like living rooms and they’re pretty intricate.” So intricate means very detailed.

And then Joe says, “No one’s ever played with them because they would break because the stuff is so dainty.” So dainty means fragile or easily broken.

And then Joe says, “My grandmothers and my aunts used to crochet blankets for us.” So crochet, this is a particular way to make blankets as well as other things, like clothes.

And then I say, “We definitely had some of those crocheted blankets that were straight out of the ’70s.” So when I say straight out of the ’70s, I mean they were made in the 1970s so the style and the colors looked very much like it was from that time period, like yellows and oranges and browns.

And then I say, “It had a stove but it also had an oven.” So a stove is, usually on a stove there’s four burners used for cooking and for like boiling water and cooking food. And then an oven is used for baking, like baking a cake or cookies.

And then Joe says, “Yeah, that’s cool.” So cool here is just slang for great.

And then I say, “I probably didn’t appreciate it at the time.” So appreciate here, what I mean is I probably didn’t realize it at the time, how special it was that my dad made these for me.

And then I say, “That’s what Hayden has probably.” So Hayden, this is the name of my niece. She is my youngest brother’s…or my younger brother’s daughter.And then Joe says, “There’s no sense in handing those things down because who cares?” So handing those things down, what he’s talking about is giving those children’s items to relatives or friend’s children when the original child outgrows them.

And then Joe says, “My grandmother isn’t with me anymore so I look at it as something that is still a part of her.” So when he says his grandmother isn’t with him anymore, he means his grandmother has passed away, she’s died.

And then I say, “My grandfather made a toy box for me and Corey.” So Corey is the name of my younger brother who I just spoke about. He’s got the daughter named Hayden.

And then I say, “I can’t remember if he made one for Kevin.” So Kevin is the name of my older brother. I have two brothers. One’s older and one is younger.

And then I say, “He made them from scratch.” So what I mean by that is he made them by starting from the very beginning. Nothing was already made. He didn’t buy anything in a store that had already started the project. It was…he bought the boards. He assembled it or he put it all together himself. He started from the very beginning. He made it from scratch.

And then I say, “He had a little plaque engraved for each of us.” So a little plaque, this is, it was actually a little piece of metal like a square little sign made out of metal and then he took it to a store that has a machine that can actually put writing into the metal, permanent writing, it’s called engraving. So my grandfather took, he got two of these little plaques, these little metal signs and took them to a store to have them engraved, to have messages written into them.

And then Joe says, “It’s too bad because something like that would be like a treasure to have at this point.” So when he says it’s too bad, he’s saying it’s unfortunate. And then when he says it would be like a treasure to have at this point, what he means by treasure is an admired and loved item.

Okay, so that is the end of the vocabulary lesson for the conversation DIY, do it yourself. And I will be right back with the commentary.