Question: What is a quirky habit you have? Answers from Doris, Mystery man Banksy and Gorana and me. Transcript: “Welcome to DebOnAir, everybody. This one's a special recording, so it's longer. It's a weekend edition.

And it's about a night with my friends at my house with pizza and podcasts. We decided to get together to do a few podcasts and then go out. And in the end, we just stayed in, did podcasts, made pizza.

So I hope you enjoy it. And it made us smile, but there were a real lot of outtakes. Enjoy.

And over to question of the day, which is what is a quirky habit or talent that you have that maybe we don't know about? And I'm going to start with, da, da, da, da, Doris. Welcome, Doris.

I have a quirky habit. I think I always have to check my door twice. After a few steps, I have to go back and check the door again.

Every time.

Almost every time, yeah. And I know it's very strange.

I'm 100% sure, almost, yeah, that I have closed the door, I have locked everything, yeah, but I have to check again.

Just in case.

Just in case, yeah. Because there are so many treasures in my apartment.

Not, not.

Tell us, Banksy. “It's hard to find a quirky habit.

No, nothing that springs to mind? or a talent, a strange talent that you have?

He believes that he is a very good singer.

The way that they're laughing, seems to suggest that you're maybe not, Banksy.

What's your favorite song?

At the moment, the Phantom of the Opera.

But not the Phantom, of Christine, yeah? Not the Phantom, the female part.

You like the female part? Feel free.

Yeah, I would like to do it a little bit later.

But I think I heard, I have a voice like an angel.

Gorana, what about you?You got a quirky habit?

I should ask my husband, he knows it.

And he’ll just get out the list, yeah.

The only thing is, when I drink my coffee at home, and I drink the coffee when I'm sitting on the table, it's not the same. I used to drink my coffee at the sofa. When I don't drink my coffee there, I have the feeling I missed something because I...

You must drink your coffee on the sofa. That is really a quirky habit.

So I have always the feeling I missed something, so I must sit there.

Just doesn't feel right.

Yes, to have this feeling. I'm sitting there, I have here my coffee, and that's the position.

I think that qualifies.

But more interesting is what's your quirkiness.

I think I'm fairly quirky in general. I mean, one quirky habit that we all know about is whenever anybody comes the next time to my house, everything is in a different position.

That's true.

That's gotta be a quirky habit that I just... Yeah, everything moves. It's the flow.

It's the flow. Every day, I'm a different person, and so is my apartment. Thank you very much, guys.

And that's all from us now. And we'll all say bye for now. Bye!

Choosing pizzas is not easy… Transcription: “Hi there everybody, DebOnAir here. Hope you're having a great day.

Remember that podcast we did about what's your favorite pizza topping? Well, here we have what happens when you get exactly the same people together for an evening, and we try to order pizza. I hope it's easier at your house.

How many points or stars?

It's got 4.5. And it takes delivery of 20 to 45 minutes. They have a special offer.

Pizza margarita, two for one.

Margarita is...

Boring.

I would like to choose a margarita with a little bit of salami, and corn. Pizza Hawaii!

Yeah, that's good.

I also really like it.

Yeah, I think I'll take one Hawaii.

You want one Hawaii?

I take the provinciale.

With ananas.

Let me look, let me look.

Oh, pizza rucola. I would like to have the pizza rucola.

We have to delete the other one. Männer pizza.

I would like to have it.

Oh, you are just going to be a nightmare, aren't you, making this order? Oh, actually, I quite like the sound of the Männer pizza.

“I'm sorry, can we also change the...

Look, you can add...

Don't tell him that, otherwise we will be here all night.

Do not tell him that. Don't tell him, just don't tell him. I take this one.

Yeah, no extras?

And we delete the...

Okay, we're going to have to have a look, because we've only got 50 euros worth of pizza. We've already got orders from you two. Something tells me we have already gone very wrong.

Sixteen minutes later, and we finally ordered our pizzas. If you're ordering pizza tonight, all I can say is good luck. Bye for now and take care.”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 35. Pizza night!, 29. May 2024

This material may be protected by copyright.

Deb buys 4 croissants for the price of 3. Transcription: “Hi there everybody. Deb on Air here. And today we look at bargains.

Everybody loves a bargain, but I'm not sure I'm the right person for these special offers. The other day, they had one for buy four laugen croissants, and I thought, oh, that's a good deal. So I bought four laugen croissants.

I thought, that'll be good. I can have one every day. Guess how many laugen croissants I ate on that day?

Four.

Maybe you have more self-control than I do. Hope so. Have a great day.

Bye for now.”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 34. Bargains!, 28. May 2024

This material may be protected by copyright.

The difference between the two phrases “in common” and “common” . Transcription: “Hi, guys, DebOnAir here. Hope your date is going really, really well. And if not, I hope I can make it better.

Okay, today, I thought I'd look at a piece of vocabulary that people sometimes have trouble with. And that is the phrase, in common. In common is not the same as the word common alone.

If I say, what do we have in common? It means, what do we have that we both share? What is the same for both of us?

So, for example, I have two cats, just like my friend Sophie, she also has two cats. So, we have this in common, that we both have two cats. The word common alone just means it's usual or normal.

For example, it is common for people to like cats and to like cat videos. Thank you, my two cats here, for being very good insiders. Thank you for your inspiration for this podcast.

So, that's the little learning bite for today. Common and in common are not the same thing. So, look out for that when you hear someone talking.

I hope that helps a little bit, and you keep on learning. And I will “talk to you again soon. Bye for now.”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 33.Vocabulary: In common vs. common, 27. May 2024

This material may be protected by copyright.

A nice phrase (ok, not THAT nice😆) for your vocabulary. Transcript: “Good morning, everybody, DebOnAir here. How are you doing today?

I thought I'd tell you a little story from yesterday. A bird flew into my kitchen yesterday, and Mika, my cat, well, let's put it this way, within three seconds, it was no longer flying, but in Mika's mouth. But in another two seconds, Mika was in my hands, and so we let the bird go to freedom.

And this made me think of a phrase in English, and that's, look what the cat dragged in. To drag means to pull something behind you, heavy on the floor normally, often against its will. And so the full phrase is, look what the cat dragged in.

And we use this when somebody walks through the door that we have not seen in a very long time, and we are surprised, maybe shocked to see them, because they've disappeared. And so then at that point, we say, look what the cat dragged in. But word of warning, only use this on friends with a sense of humour, because as you can maybe imagine, it's not completely complimentary, but it's a great piece of vocabulary, and maybe you get to try it sometime. “Look what the cat dragged in. Give it a go. OK, guys, have a great day, and talk to you soon.”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 32. Phrase: Look what the cat dragged in!, 24. May 2024

This material may be protected by copyright.

What is a pub quiz? “Hello and welcome everybody to DebOnAir. Tonight in honour of St. Patrick's Day, we're going to talk about the Pup Quiz.

So come along, everyone. Picture yourselves in a friendly pub where people gather together to play a game. We call it the pub quiz, and it's a lot of questions, trivia questions mostly, about all sorts of things.

And we get into teams to figure out the answers and win prizes. Well, so far, our team has only won the prize for best name, best quiz team name, but it was a very free round of drinks, so hey, that's pretty good. But you know, I want you to try and imagine it's the excitement as friends laugh and they cheer each other on.

There's a great atmosphere in the air, and it's just a good bit of fun. So if you're curious, maybe you should join us at a pub quiz sometime. It's a fabulous way to practice your English and learn and make new friends too.

And bye for now. Bye for now.”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 31. The Pub Quiz, 23. May 2024

Catastrophe at the Breakfast club and discussion about gaining / putting on weight. Transcription: “Welcome to DebOnAir Breakfast Club.

It's full of action today.

This has no connection to my cleaning the oven episode.

The potatoes are OK.

Yes.

English Breakfast Club.

So that was our breakfast club for today. We set fire to nearly half the kitchen, and we ate a great deal, and we also discussed spring and how much weight we had put on over winter to gain or put on weight. Great vocabulary.

I have put on, I think, about three or four kilos over Christmas.

No.

Yeah, seriously.

No, we put on five kilos.

Really? You put on five kilos?

I don't know how much, but the problem is I don't go, I don't stand at the...

You don't weigh yourself.

Yes, I don't weigh myself.

I've got some scales in the toilet.

If you want...

I have two at home.

I think Urana has the right idea. Just don't get on the scales. Don't weigh yourself.

Anyway, hope you're having a brilliant day, and it's as much fun as we have had. And take care till the next time. Bye.”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 30. Weight and the Breakfast Club, 22. May 2024

This material may be protected by copyright.

Back to work (and the gym) after a lazy holiday. Transcription: “Hi there, everybody, DebOnAir here. How was the long weekend for you? Did you enjoy the sunshine?

I certainly did. I spent most of my weekend in the garden. But now, it's Tuesday and it's back to work time.

How has your morning been so far? I have written a few emails. I have prepared the Johnny's Pub Quiz for Thursday, where we all meet to speak English.

Do come along if you're ever in the Vienna area. And now I am going to take a break from work and head to the gym, because I have not been for quite a few days. I had a very lazy long weekend.

So it is time once again to put my nose to the grindstone, as we say in English. There's a nice phrase to start the week of. Is it the start of the week?

Tuesday? Feels like it. Either way, I hope that you're enjoying the fact that there are only four days of work in this week.

So the weekend will be with us again before we know it.

Take care. Bye for now. And enjoy your day.”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 29. Time to put my nose to the grindstone, 21. May 2024

This material may be protected by copyright.

Did you know the name of this holiday in English? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Transcription: “Fascinating fact. Do you know what we call the long weekend holiday we've just had in English? We call this Whitsunday.

And it was Whitsunday, and yesterday was Whit Monday. It's a short form of White Sunday. White Monday.

Ah, there you go. Interesting nugget of information for today. Stay tuned now for today's episode.

Bye!”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: Bonus vocabulary: Whitsuntide, 21. May 2024

This material may be protected by copyright.

A typical mistake in English. Transcription: “Hi, guys, DebOnAir here. Yesterday, we talked about ways to express fun, interest, pleasure, enjoyment. I like dance-ing.

I like cook-ing. I like plus-ing.

OK, now then, hands up everybody who thinks you can also say, I like to dance. I like to cook. And it means the same thing.

It's wrong. Sorry. It doesn't mean the same thing.

Like to normally comes with a time. For example, I like to cook on Sundays. This has nothing to do with if I like it, if it's fun for me, if I enjoy it.

It just means that every Sunday, it is a habit of mine to cook. I have a tendency to cook on Sundays. I was trying to think of an example in my real life, which I can give you for both of these.

And then I realised that if it's not fun, I have a tendency to not do it, which is really not good. But I found one with I like to. I like to do the washing on Saturdays.

I don't like doing it, but I need clean clothes. So there you go. I have an example with I like to.

I have an example with I like to.

I like to do the washing on Saturdays. Yes, I found one. I'm so proud of myself.

So look out. I like plus -ing is more when you really enjoy something and it's fun for you. And I like to is more about the habit of doing something.

Now, did you know that before? Or is that news to you?

Either way, whatever you like doing, or even like to do, I hope you get chance in the next few days. Bye for now, and take care!”

From DebOnAir - Learn English with Deb!: 28. Like doING vs. Like to DO, 17. May 2024.

This material may be protected by copyright.