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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 Float.

I have the text of the conversation 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. Alright, so let’s begin.

And in the beginning, I always like to mention or tell you about three different words that you’ll hear quite often in our conversations. The first one is like.

So like, as you probably know, means to have positive feelings for someone or something. But it can also mean… actually, sometimes it doesn’t have a meaning. It’s just a filler word.

Okay, the next word is actually two words combined or put together. So it’s y’know, y’know. The two words are you and know. So sometimes when we’re speaking very quickly, you know actually sounds like y’know.

And the third word is yeah. Yeah is a slang word for yes.

Alright, so I thought I would first explain the title of this conversation, Float, and what float means. So float means to rest on the surface of a liquid. A liquid, for example, like water. So to rest on the surface of a liquid like water without sinking. So that means float.

Alright then, in the very beginning AJ says, “I actually found a float tank in Franklin, Indiana.” So a float tank is… there’s different kinds. The one that AJ was going to was like a big… something he would sit in.

He actually describes it later, talks about it later in the conversation. It wasn’t very deep and I think it was open on the top. And here in San Francisco we actually have some that you get inside, and again, the water’s not very deep, so the actual tank is more like… they call them pods.

It looks like a box that you would get into that would be shaped like your body and then you can close the top of it so you’re completely inside. It completely encloses you. It goes all around you, your body.

So that would be a float tank and there are different kinds like I just said. So then Franklin, Indiana… Indiana is a state in the middle part of the United States and Franklin is the name of a small town in the state of Indiana. And it’s where AJ’s… some of his family live.

Okay, then I say, “Yeah, that’s really shocking”. So shocking means surprising.

And then I say, “I know they have them here in San Francisco”. So San Francisco is the name of a city where Joe and I live actually, and it’s in the state of California. And California is on the western coast of the United States.

And then AJ says, “I know they’re becoming more popular in big cities”. So popular here means enjoyed by many people.

And then AJ says, “The Warriors… the Warriors players made them famous”. Okay, so Warriors, this is the name of the local basketball team. So it’s the name of the professional basketball team in this area of San Francisco and a couple of other towns that are close to San Francisco.

And famous means well-known.

Then I say, “Yep, yep, exactly”. So yep, this is another slang word for yes.

And then AJ says, “Steph Curry and, I don’t know who else on the team uses them”. So Steph Curry, this is the name of one of the basketball players for the team, the Warriors.

And then I say, “They’re very meditative, right?” So when I say meditative here, what I mean is they’re very calming for the mind. They help to calm the mind.

And then AJ says, “They used to be called sensory deprivation tanks”. So sensory means our senses and we have five senses: seeing, hearing, feeling or touching, smelling and tasting.

So sensory deprivation tanks… deprivation means withholding those senses or blocking those senses. You’re not… you don’t have those senses anymore.

So that’s what I was talking about like, for example, the pod ones I was describing that are here in San Francisco. You get inside, it’s like a big box, and then the top closes over you, so inside it’s completely dark and it’s made so that you cannot hear anything.

So you don’t hear and you cannot see. It’s completely dark. Oh, and then with the water, floating in the water, you don’t really feel anything either. So three of your senses are withheld or they’re blocked. So that’s why before, instead of being called float tanks, they were called sensory deprivation tanks.

And then I say, “Okay, yeah, I’ve heard that term before”. So term means word.

And then AJ says, “The idea is that it’s going to turn off or lower the input into your senses, primarily your eyes”. So when he says lower the input, what he means is lower the information that’s put into your senses.

And when he says primarily your eyes, primarily means mostly your eyes.

And then AJ says, “You get in this little pool, it’s pretty, quite shallow, I don’t know, like 1 or 1-1/2 feet deep”. So pretty here means really. It’s really quite shallow.

And then 1 feet or 1 foot is about 0/31 meters. And then 1-1/2 feet would be about 0/46 meters. So that’s how deep they are. They’re not very deep at all.

And then AJ says, “They fill it with concentrated Epsom salts”. So concentrated means a lot of, a lot of these Epsom salts. And Epsom salts are just a particular kind of salt. They’re also known as bitter salts.

And then AJ says, “They have the temperature at something like 90 degrees”. So when he says 90 degrees, he means 90 degrees Fahrenheit and that would be about 32 degrees Celsius.

And then AJ says, “The big one, I think that scares a lot of people, is it’s totally dark”. So totally here means completely.

And then AJ says, “Dark like you’re in a cave under the earth. Zero light”. So a cave is a large opening in the earth. And when he says zero light he means there is no light, zero meaning none, no.

And then I say, “And quiet, I imagine”. So when I say I imagine, I mean I would think. I don’t know but I’m guessing. I would think it would be quiet.

And then AJ says, “You put in little earplugs”. So earplugs are… they’re made from material that’s really soft and you put them inside your ear. Sometimes people will use them if they’re sleeping to block sound. So you put them inside your ears, both, and you don’t hear things as clearly.

And then AJ says, “Also the room is soundproofed so that the idea is that it’s silent”. So soundproofed means it keeps out noise. And silent means no sound.

And then AJ says, it was kind of pioneered by a guy named, was it John Lilly, I think John was his first name”. So pioneered means, here, founded or started. It was started by this man named John Lilly. And John Lilly was an American scientist. He’s no longer alive.

And then AJ says, “He did all kinds of crazy experiments”. So crazy here means not traditional experiments.

And then AJ says, “They would stay super, crazy long amounts of time”. So super and crazy here are just kind of slang words meaning for a very long time.

And then AJ says, “Crazy! Super intense”. So crazy here means unbelievable. And super means very, very intense.

And then AJ says, “If you go in there really long then really crazy stuff can happen”. So crazy here means interesting. Crazy in American English can have many different meanings.

Okay, and then I say, “When you say really crazy stuff, you mean like hallucinating?” So hallucinating means to see or to hear something that is not really there.

And then AJ says, “That was my image because I’d read about those experiments”. So image here means that was the picture that he had in his head or in his mind.

And then AJ says, “There’s actually nothing there but their mind was creating all that stuff”. So creating means making up all that stuff, creating, making up.

And then AJ says, “The woman who owned the place was encouraging me to go for three hours”. So encouraging means that the woman was trying to get AJ to go to do the floating, the float tank for three hours.

And then AJ says, “Just physically got a little tired of laying in the water”. So tired here means bored.

And then AJ says, “We’ve both done Vipassana courses”. So Vipassana, this is a type of meditation.

And then AJ says, “It felt a little tough just to be sitting still so much”. So tough here means difficult.

And then I say, “It’s very rigid”. So rigid means strict or not flexible.

And then I say, “A rigid posture that you’re sitting in for a long period of time. My legs would start aching”. So posture, this is a position of a person’s body when sitting or standing. So in this conversation, it’s sitting.

And then when I say my legs would start aching, aching means hurting.

And then AJ says, “Sometimes get numb, right?” So numb means to lose feeling. You no longer have feeling.

And then AJ says, “This is why some athletes use these tanks”. So athletes are people who play sports.

And then AJ says, “Let’s say I do a really hard sprinting workout one day”. Hard here means difficult. And sprinting means really fast running but short distances.

And then AJ says, “It’s a magnesium salt which is alkalizing for your body”. So alkalizing means neutralizing or basically balancing.

And then AJ says, “I noticed my creativity increased”. So increased means it became greater. So he had more creativity. He was able to create or to make things more.

And then AJ says, “Ideas would pop into my head”. So when he says they would pop, meaning they would suddenly come into his head.

And then AJ says, “It was kind of cool, actually”. So cool means interesting.

And then I say, “I can imagine it would help somebody who has issues with falling asleep at night”. So issues here means problems or difficulties.

And then AJ says, “If you get a chance, check it out”. So check it out means try it.

Alright, this is the end of our vocabulary lesson for the conversation Float. I’ll be right back with the commentary.