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Thanksgiving – 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 Thanksgiving. I have the text here of the conversation so I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of words that you may have had difficulty understanding. And I’ll be explaining those as they relate to this conversation.

So always in the beginning I talk about three different words that you hear a lot in our conversations. The first one is “y’know,” y’know, which is actually two words combined into one, you and know. So sometimes when we’re speaking fast, you know sounds like y’know.

The second word is “yeah.” Yeah is a slang word for yes. And the third word is “like.” Now you probably know that like, one of the main meanings of like is to have positive feelings for someone or something.

But sometimes when you hear like in a conversation it doesn’t really have a meaning so it’s just a filler word. So many times in our conversations, when you hear like, it’s just a filler word. Not always, but many times.

Alright, so let’s begin. Thanksgiving. This is the name of an American holiday that is in the month of November. And it’s, interestingly enough, it’s not always on the same day in November, but it is always on a Thursday.

Alright, in the very beginning, Joe says, “It really crept up on us this year.” So crept up on us, what he meant was it arrived sooner than he expected.

And then Joe says, “There was actually a real Thanksgiving that occurred right around that time history tells us Thanksgiving Day was.” So occurred, a real Thanksgiving that occurred, occurred means happened. It happened around the time that history tells us Thanksgiving Day was.

And then Joe says, “It was in Massachusetts.” So Massachusetts is a state in the northeastern part of the United States.

And then Joe says, “They try and make it seem like everything was great between the Indians and the Pilgrims.” So Indians, what he means here are the native people to America, the first people that were here. And Pilgrims, these are the first people from Europe, mostly I think from England, that came to America to live, to start living.

And then Joe says, “It really wasn’t as they painted it.” So what he means by as they painted it, he means as they described it. It wasn’t really as they described it.

And then I say, “I don’t even recall having those memories from maybe elementary school and older.” So recall means remember. And elementary school, what I meant by elementary school was 4th to 6th grade.

And then I say, “When we lived in Michigan.” So Michigan is a state in the northern part of the United States. It’s near Canada.

And then I say, “I was under eight years old.” So under eight years old means less than eight years old.

And then I say, “By the time we moved to Georgia.” So Georgia is a state in the southeastern part of the United States. It’s where I grew up.

And then I say, “We definitely were getting together with Linda and her family.” So Linda is the name of one of my cousins. Her father was my dad’s, one of my dad’s brothers. And I say was because he’s no longer alive. So her dad was my dad’s brother and so when I say her and her family, she was my cousin and she had two brothers, her two brothers, her mom and her dad, they would all come over for Thanksgiving.

And then I say, “They’d be in their pajamas cooking.” So I’m talking about my mom and my cousin Linda’s mom. They would be in their pajamas cooking. So pajamas, these are sleeping clothes.

And then I say, “We would just be playing.” So what I meant was, or who I’m talking about, we would just be playing, I’m speaking about me, my cousins, and my brothers.

And then Joe says, “Did they make pretty much the standard Thanksgiving meal?” So standard means usual, the usual, the traditional food dishes.

And then Joe says, “Obviously they made turkey, right?” So turkey is a type of bird.

And then I say, “They had turkey and definitely the typical Thanksgiving food, which I don’t really like.

Stuffing and cranberries.” So I’m listing a couple of different traditional Thanksgiving foods. Stuffing is one. It’s a mixture of food which is used to put inside, usually, the turkey and then it’s cooked in the oven, or baked. And cranberries is another traditional Thanksgiving food that I mention here. And cranberries are red sour berries and they’re prepared in different ways for Thanksgiving.

And then I say, “Pumpkin pie, I’m not a big fan of.” So pumpkin pie is a pie so it’s sweet and it’s made mostly with pumpkins. There’s other things in the pie as well. And when I say I’m not a big fan, I’m saying I don’t really like it.

And then I say, “Pecan pie, I’m not a big fan of.” So pecan pie, this is another type of pie with pecans.

And pecans are a type of nut.

And then Joe says, “You’re saying you didn’t like the gravy or the stuffing, right?” So gravy, this is a sauce that is made and then it’s usually put on potatoes at Thanksgiving.

And then I say, “Yeah, I wasn’t crazy about the gravy either.” So when I say I wasn’t crazy about it, I’m saying I didn’t really like the gravy.

And then I say, “I did like mashed potatoes.” So mashed potatoes, this is a way to prepare potatoes.

You cut them up, first you boil the potatoes, so you cook them on the stove in water and cook them for a long time until they get really soft, because, y’know, potatoes are hard. And they get soft and you cut them up and then you, you beat them, basically, until they’re really, really soft and a really soft consistency. And so those are called mashed potatoes. Mashed means like beat, they’re beaten potatoes and that’s what you would put the gravy on then.

And then Joe says, “I’m making it from scratch.” So what he means by making it from scratch is he’s making something by starting from the beginning with the basic ingredients. And ingredients are items, food items, food items that are used to make a food dish.

And then I say, “Everything was store-bought.” So store-bought means already prepared, not made from scratch. So basically you can buy it and maybe it comes in a can and you just have to take it out of the can and heat it up on the stove. It’s already prepared.

And then I say, “Green bean casserole, that’s a Thanksgiving food.” So a casserole is a mixture of food that is baked which means cooked in the oven. So it’s baked for a long time. You can have different casseroles, maybe a squash casserole, green bean casserole. So green bean casserole, the main ingredient or the main food item is green beans, but there’s other things in it also. And they’re all cooked together or they’re baked together.

And then Joe says, “When I was growing up, I should say, food is the primary thing.” So he’s saying at Thanksgiving, food was the primary thing. And primary means main, it was the main thing for he and his family.

And then Joe says, “It probably meant cranberry sauce in some way, shape or form, not necessarily from a can.” So in some way, shape or form, he’s saying cranberry sauce, what he means by that, as I said a little while ago, cranberry sauce can be prepared in different ways or cranberries can be made in different ways at Thanksgiving. So he’s saying that they would have it one way, one traditional way. They would always have a cranberry dish. Not necessarily from a can, so as I said a little while ago also, when you buy something in a store that’s already prepared, it might come in a can and you just take it out of the can, aluminum can, and put it on the stove and heat it up. So not necessarily from a can means already prepared, not made from scratch.

And then Joe says, “I loved having the leftovers.” So leftovers, this is food that is left over after the Thanksgiving meal. It’s the food that does not get eaten so it gets eaten later. And we use that word, leftovers, not just at Thanksgiving but anytime. Let’s saw we go, Joe and I go to a restaurant and we can’t finish all of the food that we order, we might take it with us home and eat it later, so those would be called the leftovers.

And then Joe says, “It’s non-denominational so everybody celebrates the holiday.” No nondenominational means it’s not religious.

And then Joe says, “It just sounds like a great concept.” So concept means idea.

And then Joe says, “The men got together and watched football.” So football here, this is American football. It’s not what most other people in the world call football, which is what we call soccer. It’s American football.

And then I say, “What about the parade?” So a parade, this is a show that takes place in streets that have been blocked to traffic, so no cars can use the streets. And people will come and stand on either side of the street and watch as the show moves down the street. So it starts in one location and it always finishes at another location. And so what’s involved in the show is people walking, people dancing, people singing. They might be wearing costumes. Costumes are special clothes. They might be playing instruments. And so the parade moves. So like I said, it starts in one location and it ends at another location. So there’s usually many people involved in a parade.

So then Joe says, “Oh, yes, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, I presume is what you’re talking about.” So Macy’s, this is the name of a department store and they organize the parade every year at Thanksgiving. And presume means suppose or assume.

And then Joe says, “I was always excited to see what floats went by.” Okay, so one thing that I didn’t mention is also in a parade is some kind of vehicle, like a car or a truck. And it’ll usually be decorated.

Like it might look like a big animal, that’s one example. And sometimes it’ll have people in it. Like let’s say it’s a truck, people might be in the back of the truck singing, dancing. So that would be considered a float. A vehicle, like a car or a truck that’s decorated to look like something else. It might have balloons on it. Or like I said, it could be made into something else like an animal, for example.

And then Joe says, “I guess that’s one of the cool things, right?” So cool means interesting.

And then Joe says, “You always knew that there was going to be a character from the Peanuts, y’know, Charlie Brown.” So Peanuts, this is the name of a famous cartoon and Charlie Brown is the name of a character in the Peanuts cartoon. He’s the main character.

And then Joe says, “I forget if it was Snoopy or Woodstock, but I always loved Charlie Brown.” So Snoopy is the name of another character in the Peanuts cartoon. He was a dog, or he is a dog, I should say. And Woodstock is also character in the Peanuts cartoon. He’s a bird.

And then I say, “It would kind of be in the background.” So I’m talking about the TV being on at Thanksgiving with the parade. And what I mean by it would kind of be in the background is it would be on, it would be showing the parade, but people weren’t always sitting there watching it. Y’know, we were out playing or talking or like cooking the meal. And occasionally then we might watch it but we’re not sitting there watching it intently. Intently meaning we weren’t focusing on the TV.

And then I say, “That’s still like a fond memory.” So fond means good, good memory.

And then Joe says, “It would always be on television and whether you’re watching it or not, it was always there and you’d kind of check in.” So what he means is you’d kind of check in, you’d occasionally look to see what float was showing on TV.

And then Joe says, “The floats just seemed really cheesy now.” So he’s talking about how we watched the parade recently and the floats seemed cheesy. What cheesy means here is silly.

Okay, and then Joe, in talking about his grandmother’s brother, he says, “He was a priest.” So he’s saying his grandmother’s brother was a priest. A priest is someone of high position in the Catholic church. Catholic church is one type of, it’s a type of Christianity.

And then Joe says, “We never saw him on Christmas or Easter because he was giving Mass then.” So Mass is when it’s the church service, so it’s when people would go to church to sit there and listen to the Catholic teachings.

And then Joe says, “He’d always be watching football and the guy smoked like a chimney.” So what he means is he smoked a lot of cigarettes.

And then I say, “I’m sure there was a Thanksgiving or two where maybe family from the north came down.” So what I mean when I say family from the north came down, we had relatives that lived in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and those states are all north of Georgia. So I’m saying that, y’know, I’m sure there was a Thanksgiving or two where some of those relatives probably came down, or came south, to Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with us.

Okay, that is the end of our vocabulary lesson for the conversation Thanksgiving. And I’ll be right back with the commentary.