Unexpected English!

[EP83] Real American English to help w/ comprehension! We visit a shop in Encinitas, California, and learn about hats. Transcript below to help you! Unexpected English: real listening practice in under five minutes! [Intro, no transcript] Interview: So I was walking down the street I saw a shop that look kind of interesting called Brixton and I just thought I would go in and find out. Oh, well, I'll tell you why I thought it was interesting. I'm looking at a whole wall full of hats. So that's unusual right there. There, there are men's hats. Is that right? That is correct. So, what Brixton specializes in is our headwear and just a lot of outerwear apparel. Oh, hold up right there! I just learned a new word. I call them hats. He calls them “headwear” because you wear it on your head, pretty good! Ha! That is correct. But it's really mostly just a style of wear that you would continually dress up or dress down... (blah blah) So I guess what he said is you could wear these hats anytime, anyplace, any way you want to! That is correct. That is 100% correct there. Well, wait a minute. Now since you're a specialist, or a semi specialist Yeah, I would say specialist. I'm looking at these hats, and I'm thinking they must all have names... Is that true? They do they have quite a few names. We have the Valley Fedora. Okay, so that's a fedora. Soft brim, that's the thing that goes around the hat, gives you a little bit of shade. But do you call it a brim even on a baseball cap? If it's giving you the shade? You would, you would still. on like the normal baseball cap that I'm wearing, you would still call it a brim. As opposed to the full fedoras, which are going to have a full brim where it's going to the brim is going to circle the entirety of the crown of the hat itself. The crown is the top of the hat, is the top of the hat. So, you be a king when you’re wearing that crown! I mean, we can dress you up like a king that is for sure, or queen, either way. We got you! Well, so now I learned, I learned headwear. And I learned brim which is a thing going around, give you a little shade and the top is the crown. And one style is called a fedora, which is kind of soft, but we’ve got fedoras... now the next one, these would be... So these are gonna be Fiddler's or old school marine caps. This is actually a style I personally wear myself a lot of. Marine caps, for those of you who can't see it, it kind of looks like those Greek caps, right? Very similar, yeah, or sailor hats. That's why I meant more so by the marine, so a lot of old school sailors used to wear this kind of silhouette of head wear or hat. Yeah, we're saying hat hat hat. But I guess if it's a little smaller, it's a cap. It's a cap. You are correct, sir. Yeah, so another one that's going to be a cap (we can move on down) is these guys. Now you might recognize these: these are the older newsboy styles. Okay, so we’ve got the newsboys style, that's a flat cap. So we’ve got that, we’ve got that, and the last style I guess looks a little more formal. It's a very classic style of fedora. We call these ones the Messer with still like a nice soft crown that you can either reshape or really stylized to how you really choose to wear the hat itself. All right, well, I think we've got the total tour of the headwear. I love saying that! I learned a new word! Of the headwear available here in Brixton, in beautiful... Encinitas. We're here in Encinitas. Yeah, beautiful Encinitas, California. Okay, well, thanks very much for your time. Yeah, thank you, sir. It was a pleasure speaking with you. ******* That's it, thanks! And please follow on Spotify, Instagram etc, and tell your friends! More listeners = more motivation = more podcast episodes!

[EP 82] WARNING! This episode contains rude words and phrases in real American English! Don't listen if adult language offends you! This episode is longer than usual, so there is no transcription. You just have to listen! It contains some of the words, (words like POO) that were removed from the official Scrabble dictionary as not suitable for children. Don't worry, the F word is not used, but BOFF and BOINK are! Shocking! If you enjoyed this podcast, please share with friends, follow on Spotify, Apple podcast,  @UnexpectedEnglish on Instagram etc. Or this link if it works! Thanks and have fun!

[EP 81] In this episode, we visit a place that helps people who want to make beer... or where you can just visit and taste the beers that are available! As always, Unexpected English offers you practice listening to fun, and in less than five minutes. Use the complete transcription below to help you if you need it! Hi everybody, welcome back to another episode of Unexpected English. This is episode 81, and it's a very short episode because I know it's getting to be a very busy time with the holidays. We're in December now, everybody's busy, but I thought I would give you just one more podcast before the year ended. So let's go! [Interview] Alright, so here we are at Ballast Point Brewery. How, how long has this been here, this place? Well, this place has been here longer than Ballast Point brewing actually has existed. This was the very first Ballast Point. So we started originally as Home Brew Mart. Home brew means if you're making that beer at home, right? That's right! For people making their own beer at home. You can do the same thing with wine and all of that. So we started as a Home Brew Mart in '92. And do a lot of people make beer at home? More than you might think! It's a pretty popular business for sure. Ever since it became legal in the US in the 80s, it's become a burgeoning thing to do by, by yourself at home. Alright, so you can make beer at home, if you know how, and you buy your supplies here. That's right buy your supplies here, your ingredients chances are you have quite a bit of the equipment that you need already in your kitchen, nd all you would need to know is what goes into beer and what the ingredients need in order to become a good beer. So originally, this was the Home Brew Mart to help people brew their own beers, and then they expanded and got the brewery location here as well. Yes, so we started as Home Brew Mart as a way to get into the brewing industry. Our founder figured that was a good way to get started in the brewing industry. So four years after we opened in '96 is when Ballast Point officially became a brewery and started to sell to the public. And then from there, 10 years later, we opened a larger production facility and has since exploded in production. So, are there particular styles of beer that Ballast Point is known for? Yes, we're very well known for the sculpin IPA. It's a very dry, very clean drinking dry IPA. It's a kind of classic for the West Coast, but we're known for several other IPAs, as well as some flagship beers that we've been brewing for decades now, like the California Koelsch and the California Amber.  Alright, you know the only problem... every time I do this, it makes me thirsty... makes me thirsty. Okay, thanks for your time. And thank you for listening! P.S. Do you enjoy podcast? Then please tell your friends who may enjoy it as well. Word of mouth really helps!  Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 80] Enjoy a lovely song in this episode of Unexpected English. Listen to improve and practice your accent: Daughter! Water! You may even want to sing along - it's great practice!

Lyrics
Everything she sees She says she wants Everything he wants I see she gets That's my daughter in the water Everything she owns I bought her Everything she owns That's my daughter in the water Everything she knows I taught her Everything she knows Everything I say She takes to heart Everything she takes She takes apart That's my daughter in the water Every time she fell I caught her Every time she fell That's my daughter in the water I lost every time I fought her Yeah, I lost every time (music) Every time she blinks She strikes somebody blind Every time she thinks Blows her tiny mind That's my daughter in the water Who’d have ever thought her Who’d have ever thought That's my daughter in the water I lost every time I fought her Yeah, I lost every time 

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[EP 79] Five minutes is all you need to find out about pupusas, and to practice your American English listening skills too! It's easy and fun! Follow along with the transcription of the interview below! [INTRO - no transcription] [Interview] Okay, I was walking down the street, and I noticed a shop that looks like it's about ready to open, and I looked at the sign and it said ... PUPUSAS! And I love that word pupusas, so I thought I would stop in and talk to the owner. Right. My name is Juan Arrienga with Cuscatlan Salvadorean Cuisine. And we’re ready to open, very soon. All right, so if you understood that, it's Salvadorian cuisine, that is from El Salvador in Centromerica Right, right, correctamundo! And the specialty there are pupusas, right? Pupusas revueltas is the number one selling so it's very good. Tasty! Okay now, for all those of you who never heard of pupusas, or don't know what they are, we’re gonna find out right now. Okay, so pupusas is like a stuffed tortilla different stuffings... uh, revueltas, which is the mixed pupusa, it's a different... it can be, can be cheese, beans, chicharron, which is pork meat or ... chicken, you name it! But isn't it like, a little like... like an empanada or something.. is it ... is that, am I thinking that... I mean, it's not just a tortilla! Right, no it's a stuffed tortilla with the stuffing inside so it could be, like, compared to empanada, but it's cooked in the tortilla so it's it’s... Oh, okay so it is cooked, it’s baked... It’s baked in the tortilla so it's it's, it blends very well with the masa, and the stuffing. All right, so we're gonna have some... and, how soon are we going to be open? It's not open yet, but pretty soon. Not yet, we are looking, hopefully by the weekend. Oh, by the weekend, we're going to be open. Let me ask... this is not for the podcast, this is for me! A lot, a lot of restaurants, I know, they do pre-opening, you know, they have a little special deal to make sure... Right, we're trying to get one of those too. Hopefully, you know, you give me your information. Let me know, let me know right now! Invite me now, invite me now! I don't have the right date, for sure. So maybe the soft opening will be Friday but I'm not sure. Oh, that's what it’s called, it’s called a “soft opening” I've seen that. So a soft opening before the restaurant opens officially. Yes, hopefully, by Friday, so we can open Saturday. And of course, you know, I'm shameless I'm like, doing a podcast and I'm thinking, “Wait a minute soft opening! Pupusas! Let me in! There you go, that's it. We'll definitely invite you! Okay, thanks very much for your time and I hope, any of you out there who are listening and getting hungry, I hope you have a chance where you are to find some pupusas! That’s correct, hopefully, there is some around. Thank you. [OUTRO] It’s like, a little crispy, but then, like, la carne, that's inside just, like, melts in your mouth. It's so flavorful! The outside is kind of crunchy... to perfection. It’s not, like, super crunchy where you have to like bite really hard but it's not, like, super gooey where everything is just gonna fall apart and then inside is just juicy! When you're eating messy that means it’s good! .... I want another one. P.S. Do you enjoy podcast? Then please tell your friends who may enjoy it as well. Word of mouth really helps!  Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 78] In this episode of Unexpected English, we visit a surf shop in San Diego. Why not take five minutes to listen just for fun, and practice your listening skills at the same time? There is a TRANSCRIPTION below to help you!

[INTRO ... then music, then let's go!]

So was driving down the street and I saw sign that said surf... surf shop, and I thought: Surf! This is California, surf! Surfboards! Let's go in and see what's going on. So here we are, uh, what's going on?
We're taking boards and fixing them up and get them back out to people.
So you're saying this is a surfboard repair shop.
Yes, so when a board gets dinged or broken we fix it so it can go back in the water.
How do surfboards get broken?
Rocks, waves, people, surfboards -- all kinds of things.
OK, so there's like accidents out there in the ocean that can happen.
Exactly, accidents do happen all the time. OK, accidents happen.
And if uhh.. OK I brought in my board ... I guess it depends on the kind of damage... what kind of what kind of things can happen?
Fin boxes can break... Fin boxes? Is that the fin that sticks up? Yes, glass can crack, fins can get stuck in boards.. pretty much anything you can imagine.
Fins can get stuck in boards? That sounds like ... dangerous!
Yeah, so-so, as long as it's not you. [laughter]
OK, so just out of curiosity, what does... I know you don’t sell new... you sell used surfboards here?
Yes, boards that Joe repairs or people left behind.
All right, so I'm like, you know, thinking of taking it up. I just need like an entry-level surfboard, what's it gonna sent me back?
Anywhere from 100 to 300 bucks, depending.
OK a couple hundred dollars and I’ve got myself a surfboard to start learning to surf.
Yeah, pretty much. What are the high end, I mean, not super high-end, what is like a higher end board go for?
Anywhere from $800 to $5000.
Five thousand? Yeah, I’ve got one of those... OK let me think... what else was I missing here... what else...
Uhh, certain surf essentials.
Essentials, what are the essentials? Fins, leashes, wax... OK, hold on. You wax your board before you get in the water? Yes. And that's so it’s... So ypu don’t slip off.
Oh, you wax it for you, not for the water side? No, not the water side, the deck side.
OH, you wax it to make it sticky so you're like ... on the board! Exactly. All right. Well, what other tricks should I know to like, stay on the board. Take it one step at a time. Get the basics first.
Alright that sounds like good advice, that sounds like good advice. So there you go, people, people you’ve had your advice here on how to get started, you know what it's gonna cost, and I'm just saying anytime you're here in beautiful San Diego... oh, where are the good spots here in San Diego? Anywhere! Up and down the beach.
Up and down the beach! You can be surfing up and down the beach, anywhere in beautiful San Diego! That's it, thanks a lot, thanks for your time.
[Surfing outro]
P.S. Do you enjoy podcast? Then please tell your friends who may enjoy it as well. Word of mouth really helps!  Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! THANKS for listening and for your support!

[EP 77] Unexpected English brings you five minutes of real American English from California. Practice your English listening skills with short, fun topics. In this episode we talk to members of a car club. Use the transcription below to help you understand if you need it! . [INTRO: no transcription] . [Interview:] So I'm here talking with the members of the Unidos Car Club in San Diego about their cars and I was wondering if you could tell me why are... what is this car culture thing? The car culture is ... what ... we have a... lotta.. history and ... our people that grow up with old cars. Compadres, friends, brothers, cousins and all that, have old cars. So we start growing up with old cars. Old cars! And what do you do with these old cars? We repair ‘em, we do restorations. I have a custom shop that we do restorations for our members and more customers. OK, so tell me about some of the cars... what year... what model... We start... we start in the 30s. Like a Chevy 30s, 1938 ... 40s... 50s ...60s. So, classic cars. Classic cars, correct. And does it cost a lot of money to restore these vehicles? Yes it does. It also depends what kind of restoration you want to do, medium, all the way up ... or just some, some of the restoration. It costs between $10-$30,000 to do one – medium! Medium restoration on a vehicle costs you $10 - $30,000, and this is just... If you want to see you some of the vehicles that are here on the park they're $50 - $60,000 or more. That's a lot of money to put into... It’s a lot of money and the car still shows perfect. And do you, do you win prizes with these cars, or... You win prizes, you win, sometimes you win money on the contests, and most of the time you get, you win trophies. So basically, you're just putting the money in because you love it. Correct. That’s right, that’s our passion. It’s a passion. What's your, what's your vehicle? That’s a 1948 Chevy. 1948 Chevy. And how much have you put into that vehicle? Ah, more or less around $20,000. Twenty thousand dollars to restore that vehicle. Well, you know we're talking about it, but I don't think it's going to make any sense unless you see the vehicles, so I'm gonna go out and... (You should) see the 1951 Cadillac convertible, yellow, canary yellow that is there, and that car is $80,000. All right, so I have to look for... what year was that car? 1951 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. OK, a 1951 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible in yellow? Yellow, yes. That's beautiful. OK, I'm gonna go get a picture of that. Gentleman, thank you for your time. Thank you. . [OUTRO] Thanks for listening! Please share and follow on Spotify and Instagram and everywhere right here: https://linktr.ee/UnexpectedEnglish

[EP 76] In this episode, I visit a Vegan Food Truck, and YOU get to practice listening to something fun in real American English! Use the transcription below to help you!
[PODCAST INTRO, where I say the wrong episode number 😅 but no other transcription] ...
[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION:] So I was walking down the street and I spotted a food truck. So I thought I would go in and find out what that was about. First of all, what is a food truck?
Well we have a industry grade kitchen in the back of our truck. And we can park anywhere we want, and serve food to people. And what's the name of this food truck? We're Rollin' Roots, San Diego.
Rollin' Roots. Okay so I'm sure you've got some kind of specialty,  something you specialize in. Why don't you tell us what's really good here?
All right, first of all, we're a vegan spot. We specialize in vegan comfort food. We, we have four different styles of proteins, which are all 100% meatless and uhh plant based, so there's no soy or anything like that, and everything's gluten free, pretty much.
All right, so we're talking vegan, gluten free, and we'd better be talking tasty, right? Oh, I'll show you, man! I'll show you!
You can't, you can't, you can't show us because we're just talking. Why don't you, why don't you describe a couple of what, you said there's four styles, what's that?
Yeah four styles. So we can, you can do any of our proteins on your choice of a sandwich, loaded fries or our brown rice bowl. One of our, one of my favorite items to make is a Daikon Love which is pulled oats and mushrooms on a bed, on a bed of red cabbage with some chipotle aioli that we make here in house, and it's 100% vegan. Teriyaki sauce, sriracha, fresh mint, jalapeño. That's all in that one? Yeah, there's more stuff here, there's french fries in it and gives it kind of that Cali vibe, you know?
Uh right so that's because when I'm looking up there I see four things: I see Rich Gal, Texas in Cali, Daikon Love, and Spicy Boy, right, have I got it right? Yeah, and they're all basically different... Different proteins. So like our Spicy Boy is like a buffalo chicken, but we use fried oyster mushrooms instead of chicken. It's actually really amazing. I think the fried chicken is good on any of the styles of the sandwiches, you can substitute and play around with the different, different proteins and stuff: it's awesome.
Alright so just before we go, give me a list of, because you give me a list of the proteins that are available, because I don't think I got that.Okay, so for our po'boy. We have a heart of palm, deep fried. We have BBQ Jackfruit for Texas in Cali. We have pulled oats and mushrooms for our Bahn Mi and buffalo chicken for our Spicy Boy, fried oyster mushrooms.
All right, well, I don't know if you understood that, I got about half of it, but what I did understand is that it's probably really, really tasty! It's amazing, yeah. If you don't like vegan food, then you haven't tried Rollin Roots!
Oh there you go, and what do these things, sent you back?.What's up?What are the plates, about what do they cost? Oh, each sandwich is about $9 loaded fries for $10 but it's enough to feed two people, they're sharable!
Oh, Okay. All right, so they're that big, and that delicious! Whoa! There you go, we're right near the local little airport too so we've got extra sound effects. But that's it, next time you're in this part of the beautiful San Diego, be sure to stop by the Rollin Roots.
Yeah, thank you sir. Okay, thank you for your time. All right. Have a good one, buddy!
[OUTRO, no transcript]
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[EP 75] Thanks for listening to this special birthday episode of Unexpected English, where you can practice your English listening skills in a fun way  in less than five minutes. OK, it's too late to send a birthday present, but... it would be a kindness if you shared the podcast with a friend! Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! Thanks for listening and for your support!
[TRANSCRIPTION]
Hey everybody! You're listening to a special episode of Unexpected English! Yes, it is! Why? Well, it's because I realized it's summertime! And everybody's on holiday, you know? You're all on vacation and nobody is listening to podcasts. So why bother? And then I thought, I know! I know why bother! Here's a good reason: it's my birthday! Yes, that's right, so I thought, well, I'll play myself a birthday song. And maybe you'll like it, and if not, well, this is the end of season six, so we're going to start all over again pretty soon with season seven. But in the meantime, we've got this birthday song just for me. All right, here we go!

~~~ Music music music ~~~ do do do do doooo ~~~

You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're older still
Time!
Is marching on
And time....
Is still marching on
This day will soon be at an end
And now it's even sooner
And now it's even sooner
And now it's even sooner
This day will soon be at an end
And now it's even sooner
And now it's sooner still!!!

whaaaaa whaaa what whaaa

You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
And now you're even older
You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older
And now you're older still

***
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[EP 74] This is a special edition for the 4th of July, because of a new world record! Have fun practicing your English listening in just five minutes with your favorite English podcast, Unexpected English! [Transcription] Hey everybody, it's Louis, and this is a special Fourth of July edition of Unexpected English. I say it's a special edition because I had a new episode ready to go. And then I read this, and it was too good not to share. What is this? This is America! From TV: “What greater fortune have we, in an endless universe of infinite matter and energy, we have been given consciousnesses to gaze upon at it all, and understand. What greater fortune, have we? To live in America! To stand, side by side, on the Fourth of July, to behold this man! What greater fortune!” Specifically, specifically today on the Fourth of July, a new world record was set. Yes. A New World Record! For what? Eating hot dogs! I'm not kidding you. It's true, it's true. The top competitive eater in the world, Joey Chestnut, managed to eat 76 --yes 76 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. TV: “Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair. For he has surpassed the Kings of Egypt, with 76 Nathan’s hot dogs and buns! A NEW! WORLD! RECORD!” I had to tell you that, because otherwise you wouldn't believe it. The person who came in number two, ate fifty. Fifty hot dogs in 10 minutes. But Joey Chestnut... Joey Chestnut ate 76 hot dogs. That's right. That's right. And it's not just hot dogs. Joey Chestnut has more than 50 eating records, I guess you know, you don't know it, but there is such a thing as competitive eating. And just to mention a few... of his records. He ate: 55 glazed doughnuts in eight minutes. And let me tell you that one again: in eight minutes, 55 glazed doughnuts. He ate, in just eight minutes, hard boiled eggs. How many hard boiled eggs in eight minutes? 141 hard boiled eggs in just eight minutes! Unbelievable. It sounds unbelievable, but there you go. But that's not the point. The point is... the point is, this is America! This is the United States, and the greatest competitive eater of all time is Joey Chestnut, who set a world record today, of 76 hot dogs. All right. Happy Fourth of July, everybody! Bam, I’m a hot dog! P.S. Like this episode? Please spread the word ~ word of mouth really helps! I have no sponsors and no advertising - people only find the podcast when YOU tell them about it! Word of mouth really helps!  Follow on Spotify and Instagram, and tell your friends! Thanks for listening and for your support!