2009年ESL之旅行交通购物 07 Buying Men’s Shirts

07 Buying Men’s Shirts

GLOSSARY 1

fitting 2 room – a small room with a door where one can try on clothing in a storebefore deciding whether to buy it

* In this store, you can take only eight pieces of clothing into a fitting room at atime.

dress shirt – a nice men’s shirt, appropriate for work in an office, with buttonsdown the front that hold the two sides together

* He usually wears very casual clothes, so it was nice to see him wearing a dressshirt for a change.

to fit – to be the right size for one’s body; to appear appropriate on one’s body

* These pants don’t fit me. They’re too big in the thigh 3 and too short.

sleeve – the part of a shirt that covers one’s arm from one’s shoulder down tothe middle of one’s arm or one’s wrist

* He has really long arms so most shirtsleeves are too short for him.

form fitting – tight; cut to fit closely against one’s body, showing the shape ofone’s body.

* She is very uncomfortable with her weight, so she never wears form fittingclothes.

roomy – big; with a lot of extra space

* I like this jacket because it’s roomy and I can move around easily when I’mwearing it.

on the (something) side – a little bit too (something); with a tendency to be too(something)

* The car was a little bit on the expensive side, but they decided 4 to buy it anyway.

collar – the part of a shirt that lies against one’s neck, often closed with a buttonunder one’s chin

* He forgot to button his collar before he put on the tie.

loose – not held in place; able to move

* This shelf is loose. Can you please get a screwdriver 5 to fix it?

tight – held in place; not able to move

* Those jeans are so tight that he can’t even sit down while wearing them!

cuff 6 – the piece of fabric 7 at one’s wrist, usually with a button to close it over one’swrist

* It was too hot, so she unbuttoned her cuffs 8 and rolled up her sleeves.

to fall – to hang; to rest without support from below

* This necklace falls just above the top of her dress.

V-neck – with an opening in the shape of the letter “V” for one’s neck and headto go through

* She forgot to put sunscreen on her chest when she wore a V-neck shirt, so shegot sunburned.

crew neck – with a round opening that lies next to one’s neck for one’s neck andhead to go through

* He wears a crew neck T-shirt underneath 9 his dress shirts every day.

short-sleeve – a shirt with fabric that covers one’s arm and reaches from one’sshoulder to the point halfway 10 between one’s shoulder and elbow

* Why are you wearing a short-sleeve shirt in the winter? You must be cold!

long-sleeve – a shirt with fabric that covers one’s arm and reaches from one’sshoulder to one’s wrist

* If you’re cold, put on a long-sleeve shirt.

oversized – too big; bigger than necessary

* Many fast food restaurants sell oversized portions of French fries.

room – space; an area with nothing in it

* They were excited to move from their small apartment into a home with moreroom for their five children.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Which of these would you expect to see on a dress shirt?

a) A crew neck.

b) Short sleeves.

c) Cuffs.

2. What was wrong with the last shirt that Eddie tried on?

a) It was too form fitting.

b) It was too big.

c) It was too small.

______________

WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

fit

The verb “to fit,” in this podcast, means to be the right size for one’s body: “Aftershe had her baby, none of her clothes fit correctly.” As a noun, a “fit” can be amatch between two things, or the way that two things work well together: “His jobisn’t a good fit for him, so he has decided to leave the company.” A “fit” is also ashort period of time when one cannot control what one says or does, oftenbecause one is very angry: “She had a fit when she came home to such a messyhouse.” A “fit of laughter” is uncontrollable laughing that happens whensomething is very funny: “The girls had a fit of laughter and had to leave theclassroom.” Finally, the word “fit” can also mean to be in good physical health:

“He’s very fit since he runs at least five miles every day.”

to fall

In this podcast, the verb “to fall” means to hang or to rest without support frombelow: “The long skirt falls to her ankles.” The phrase “to fall under (something)”

means to be part of a group or category: “This project falls under theresponsibility of the marketing 11 department.” The phrase “to fall short of(something)” means to not meet expectations, or to be less than expected: “Thenumber of participants fell short of what they had planned for.” The phrase “Tofall by the wayside” means to stop being used or done: “Their plans to expandtheir business fell by the wayside when the economy started doing poorly.”

Finally, the phrase “to fall flat” means to not be received well, especially whentalking about a performance or speech: “The comedian’s show fell flat. Theaudience didn’t laugh even once!”

CULTURE NOTE

There are many types of men’s shirts “besides” (in addition to) the onesdescribed in today’s podcast. A “tank top,” for example, is a shirt that has nosleeves. Instead, there are thin “strips” (narrow pieces) of fabric that go over theman’s shoulder and hold the front and back of the shirt onto the man’s body.

When the tank top is white and has a very large opening for the neck and arms, itis sometimes called a “wife-beater shirt.” This is a very informal and “insulting”

(rude) expression. It is based on the “stereotype” (the unfair way that peoplethink about a group of people) of men who wear these shirts. In the U.S., thesewhite tank tops have traditionally been worn by certain types of “laborers 12” (peoplewho do work with their hands), and this insulting term is used to show negativeviews of how laborers may behave toward their wives.

A “muscle shirt” is like a form fitting T-shirt or tank top, but the strips that go overthe shoulders are wider than those on a regular tank top. The shirt is designed tolet the man “show off” (let other people see something that one is proud of) themuscles in his “torso” (upper body). Men who spend a lot of time lifting weightsat the gym often wear muscle shirts.

A “Hawaiian shirt” is a loose shirt with buttons down the front and short sleeves.

The fabric has bright colors and a large “print” (a repeated design on a piece offabric) of tropical flowers, “palm trees” (tropical trees), or sailboats.

A “polo” shirt is a short-sleeve shirt that has a collar and just a few buttons at theneck. The buttons don’t go all the way down the front of the shirt, but they doneed to be undone 13 so that the shirt can be pulled over the man’s head.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – b

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT 14

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 467: Buying Men’sShirts.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 15 467. I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inthe beautiful City of Los Angeles, California.

Go to our website at eslpod.com and download a Learning Guide for this episodeto help you improve your English even faster. We also have some additionalcourses in daily and business English including our new Introduction to theUnited States course, which we think you’ll be interested in.

This episode is called “Buying Men’s Shirts.” It’s a dialogue between Francescaand Eddie using a lot of vocabulary that you would need to know to buy a shirt fora man. Let’s get shopping!

[start of dialogue]

Francesca: Hurry up! Come out of that fitting room so I can see how the dressshirt fits.

Eddie: The first one didn’t fit at all. The sleeves were too short and it was tooform fitting. I like my shirts to be on the roomy side. I’m trying on the secondone.

Francesca: Come on, let me see. Okay, I think this one fits you pretty well. Thecollar is the right size, not too loose or tight. The cuffs on this one fall at just theright place, don’t you think?

Eddie: Yeah, it’s fine.

Francesca: Try on the T-shirts.

Eddie: Okay, but I’m not trying on the fancy ones with a V-neck. I like my Tshirtsthe old-fashioned way – with a crew neck.

Francesca: All right, but try on the short-sleeve and the long-sleeve ones, too.

Hurry up.

Eddie: Hold on, I’m changing as fast as I can. Oh, geez. I’ve heard of oversizedT-shirts, but this is ridiculous.

Francesca: Let me see. You’re right. You’ve got enough room in there for twopeople!

[end of dialogue]

Our dialogue begins with Francesca saying to Eddie, “Hurry up (meaning gofaster)! Come out of that fitting room so I can see how the dress shirt fits.” A“fitting room” is a small room with a door where you can try on clothing. You cantake off your clothing that you are wearing, in a store, and put on the newclothing – the clothing you are deciding whether you are going to buy or not.

Usually, the fitting room has a mirror so you can look at yourself. Most storesthat sell clothing have fitting rooms; sometimes they’re called “dressing rooms,”

but “fitting room” is the more common expression.

Francesca says that she wants Eddie to come out so she can see the dress shirtand how it fits. A “dress shirt” is a nice men’s shirt, something that you wouldwear for work in an office, something a little more formal, usually with buttonsdown the front. The verb “to fit,” when we’re talking about clothing, means to bethe right size for your body. So if someone says, “These pants don’t fit, they’retoo small,” what they are saying is the pants are not right for me, I can’t wearthem, they’re not the right size – because I’m so fat, you see! “Fit” has a coupleof different meanings in English; take a look at our Learning Guide for someadditional explanations.

Eddie says, “The first one didn’t fit at all.” It didn’t fit him; it wasn’t the right sizefor him. He says, “The sleeves were too short and it was too form fitting.” The“sleeve” is the part of the shirt that covers your arms, from your shoulder to,usually, your wrist, right above your hand. Sometimes, if it’s a “short-sleeveshirt,” the sleeve only goes down to right above your elbow. He says the shirt istoo form fitting. Something that is “too form fitting” means it’s too tight; it fitsagainst your body too closely, usually showing the shape of your body better.

But if you don’t have a body that is in good shape, well, you really don’t wantanyone to see it, so form fitting is a bad thing if you don’t have a good body, anda good thing if you do. Eddie says, “I like my shirts to be on the roomy side.”

“Roomy” means lots of extra space, big. The expression “to be on the(something) side,” in this case “on the roomy side,” means to be a little bit (thisparticular adjective), so a little bit roomy – a little bit on the roomy side. Youcould say, “That car is a little bit on the expensive side,” meaning it’s too expensive. Eddie says to Francesca, “I’m trying on the second one.” “To try on”

means to put, in this case, a piece of clothing on you to see if you like it or not.

Eddie is still inside the fitting room; he’s talking to Francesca over the door.

Francesca says, “Come on, let me see.” She wants to have him open the doorand come out so she can see him. Then she says, “Okay, I think this one fits youpretty well. The collar is the right size, not too loose or tight.” The “collar” is thepart of the shirt that is that is up against your neck, often closed with a button. Tobe “loose” means that you are able to move it back and forth 16; there’s a lot ofroom. To be “tight” means not to be able to move something back and forth, tobe too small. She’s saying that the collar is not too loose and not too tight. “Thecuffs,” she says, “on this one (on this shirt) fall at just the right place.” The “cuff”

(cuff) is at the very end of your sleeve on a formal or dress shirt. Usually there’sa button to close the sleeve, or on a very formal shirt you can wear what arecalled “cufflinks,” which are little pieces of metal that you put on and it serves thesame function as a button. Francesca says the cuff falls at just the right place.

To “fall,” here, means to hang, to rest without any support below. What she’sreally saying here is that the cuff goes down to the right length; it’s the rightlength for his arm. “Fall” has several different meanings in English; take a look atour Learning Guide for some more explanationsEddie says, “Yeah, it’s fine.” Then Francesca says, “Try on the T-shirts.” Eddiesays, “Okay, but I’m not trying on the fancy ones with a V-neck. I like my T-shirtsthe old-fashioned way – with a crew neck.” “T-shirts” are informal shirts, orshirts, usually white, that you wear underneath a formal shirt. They can be either“V-neck,” meaning that the collar, the part by the neck, goes down in the shapeof a “V” in front, or they can be “crew (crew) neck,” which means that they’reperfectly round. So we have V-neck T-shirts and crew neck T-shirts. Don’tconfuse “crew neck” with another expression, “crew cut.” A “crew cut” is whenyou have your hair cut very short, like is often common for men when they go intothe army. The government cuts their hair in a crew cut – very short hair. This isa “crew neck,” meaning a round collar on a shirt or on a T-shirt.

Francesca says, “All right, but try on the short-sleeve and long-sleeve ones, too.”

As we said earlier, a “short-sleeve shirt” is a shirt where the sleeve only goesdown beyond the shoulder, between the shoulder and the elbow. A “long-sleeveshirt” is a shirt where the sleeve goes all the way down to the wrist, down to thehand.

Eddie says, “Hold on, I’m changing as fast as I can.” Francesca wants him to gofaster. Then he says, “Oh, geez (oh, goodness – oh, dear). I’ve heard ofoversized T-shirts, but this is ridiculous.” Something that is “oversized” is something that is bigger than necessary, something that is too big. Eddie isusing another common expression in daily conversation: “I’ve heard of(something), but this is ridiculous.” “I’ve heard of it snowing outside, but this isridiculous. There is five feet of snow on the ground.” That form of an expressionis used to express how you think this is excessive – this is unusual, this situation.

Francesca says, “Let me see. You’re right. You’ve got enough room in there fortwo people!” Francesca agrees with Eddie that the shirt is too big; it’s oversized.

She says he has enough room – enough space in there for two people, that’show big the shirt is.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Francesca: Hurry up! Come out of that fitting room so I can see how the dressshirt fits.

Eddie: The first one didn’t fit at all. The sleeves were too short and it was tooform fitting. I like my shirts to be on the roomy side. I’m trying on the secondone.

Francesca: Come on, let me see. Okay, I think this one fits you pretty well. Thecollar is the right size, not too loose or tight. The cuffs on this one fall at just theright place, don’t you think?

Eddie: Yeah, it’s fine.

Francesca: Try on the T-shirts.

Eddie: Okay, but I’m not trying on the fancy ones with a V-neck. I like my Tshirtsthe old-fashioned way – with a crew neck.

Francesca: All right, but try on the short-sleeve and the long-sleeve ones, too.

Hurry up.

Eddie: Hold on, I’m changing as fast as I can. Oh, geez. I’ve heard of oversizedT-shirts, but this is ridiculous.

Francesca: Let me see. You’re right. You’ve got enough room in there for twopeople!

[end of dialogue]

We like our scripts on the interesting side, that’s why we have our scriptwriter, Dr.

Lucy Tse, writing for us. Thank you Lucy.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Comeback and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan, copyright 2009 by the Center for EducationalDevelopment.