Do you have many secrets to hide? Don’t worry, we won’t make you share any of them! But that’s what we’re talking here. What should be kept secret and what do you share with people in your lives? Everyone has a different answer, and in this episode Andrew and Maura give their opinions on secrets and privacy. Shh!

Maura:

So let’s start with keeping secrets. First I would like to know Andrew, do you think that you’re good at keeping secrets? If someone told you a secret, for example me, if I said, Andrew, I gotta tell someone something and then I said please don’t tell anybody, could you keep it?

Andrew:

This is a good question. I think I’m a good secret keeper, yeah. I think I’m good at keeping secrets. Absolutely.

Maura:

OK. So if someone told you something and they said don’t tell anyone you would really just keep it to yourself?

Andrew:

Yeah. I would lock it up. It would stay inside. I wouldn’t tell anyone for sure. But, to tell you the truth I don’t like it when people tell me secrets, you know. You have this special responsibility to hide something and it’s a lot of pressure.

Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:

Shh

I would lock it up

To tell you the truth

On the other hand

To air

Themselves

To unload on someone

Everybody and anybody

Dirty laundry

The thing is

To put someone on the spot

To be juicy

To be a good call

Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo Huffington Post

Whether you go to a show once a year or once a month, there’s some fun vocabulary related to going to one, and we’ve done an episode all about it! In this episode, Andrew and Harp also share their experiences of going to concerts and buying tickets. Listen to this episode to find out whether you’ve ever sat in the nosebleed section. Have you ever bought tickets from a scalper? And did you know that Harp was a fan of Puff Daddy?

Harp:

When I think about tickets and going to an event, I always think about the people who get the box seat tickets.

Andrew:

Yeah. The people in the box seats. Those guys are super lucky because the box seats are absolutely the best ticket you can get.

Harp:

Yeah. It’s usually a bit higher up, so you have a really good vantage point of whatever you’re watching, whether it’s a concert, or if you’re watching a hockey game or a football game. You have, like, pretty much the perfect view to be able to see the whole field or the complete concert stage. And usually you have a waitress in there so you’re getting drinks and food served to you. It just seems so luxurious.

Andrew:

Yeah. Absolutely. You have a little table where you can eat food, and, like you said, there’s the waitress bringing you your order, and it just seems like the best way to enjoy a concert or a sporting game is in the box seats.

Maura:

Yes. And I’m sure they probably even have their private bathrooms, so that you don’t have to line up with everyone else.

Andrew:

Yeah. I was actually doing a little research into the cost of a ticket for a box seat, and they are super expensive.

Harp:

I’m sure. ’Cause oftentimes, it’s companies that actually own the full box and they take their clients there. So they’re quite expensive.

Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:

My jaw dropped

The best seat(s) in the house

Nosebleed seats

Nuts

A free-for-all

Back in the day

Sketchy

A scalper

The last resort

On the side

A markup

Underground

A horror story

To miss out (on something)

Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo Money Sense

This episode we’re all here sharing our favourite stories from some of our journeys abroad. Andrew talks about an interesting place he visited outside Berlin, Harp tells us about her search for tigers, and Maura shares a story about being lost in Thailand. We take turns interviewing each other to bring the stories to life. We dare you not to get the travel bug after listening to this episode!

Maura:

And do you remember how you heard about this place?

Andrew:

It was just my friend that was living there. She recommended that we go, and it took us maybe an hour and a half to bike it there. It was a really beautiful day and we biked through the German forest, and it was nice.

Maura:

Ah nice. You know by the end of this episode, I’m sure I’m going to feel like booking a ticket and travelling somewhere again.

Andrew:

Yeah. Definitely. You’ll get the travel bug.

Maura:

Yeah. That’s right. All right. Good story.

Andrew:

Yeah. Thank you.

Maura:

So, Harp, are you ready?

Harp:

I am.

Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:

While you’re at it…

Little travel story

Teufelsberg

To get up to

Man-made

To listen in

A music guy

The travel bug

To backpack

Sundaraban forest

To hook up

WWOOF

To cross your fingers

In the middle of nowhere

Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo Culips

There are tons of negative words that are used as positive slang. We’re looking at a few of the more popular ones in this episode. Andrew and Maura give you their take on sick, mean, and wicked. If you look these words up in the dictionary, you might not find these definitions, but if you’re travelling around Canada or the U.S., you might just hear them being used.

Maura:

And the thing about these kinds of words is that they’re always changing. Every few years there’s like a new one of these that emerges and some of the other words we don’t use anymore and depending where you’re speaking English, different kinds of words are more popular.

Andrew:

Mmhmm. That’s the funny thing about slang. It’s always changing with each new generation.

Maura:

Yeah. When I was thinking about this episode, when I was preparing it, I thought about Michael Jackson. And you know in the 80s, he had that song “Bad”. And that’s really a prime example of this kind of slang.

Andrew:

Exactly. Because “Bad” didn’t really mean bad. It meant good in the context of that song.

Maura:

Yeah. Right. So he was singing about being bad, but he didn’t mean that he was negative or something was really bad. He meant that it was cool and awesome and, yeah, kind of maybe exciting.

Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:

Time flies (by)

A prime example

Sick – a sick guitar player – can be used on its own

To be meaning

Break dancing

To be mean – must be used with the object that is being described as mean

A lift

Where ya going?

Wicked – as in intensifer

Fresh powder

No doubt

To be sold

Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Photo Culips