EC059_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 59

TOPICS

Police in the U.S., The Simpsons, It’s going down, QWERTY, can’t help but,

stolen glance, witchcraft

_____________

GLOSSARY

to arrest – to take someone who may have committed a crime to prison, usually

done by the police

* After running for three years, the bank robber was found and arrested by the

Belgium police.

police force – an organized group of police officers, usually belonging to a city

or a state

* The city of Los Angeles is offering high salaries to recruit people to join their

police force.

officer – an official person working for an organization or for the government; a

policeman or policewoman

* Excuse me, officer. This boy is lost and needs help to find his parents.

state trooper – a police officer working for one of the US states

* I heard that just outside of the city, there are a lot of state troopers trying to

catch people speeding along this freeway.

squad car – police car used for driving around the area that the officers are

watching and trying to keep safe

* The neighbors saw a squad car pull up outside the house where a loud party

had been going on for four hours.

precinct – a police station located in a neighborhood

* The police officer advised me to go to my local precinct to file a report about my

stolen car.

animated – a way to film drawings to make them look like they are moving; a

movie or TV show that is made with drawings instead of real people

* Some animated movies are now making more money than movies with famous

movie stars!

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 59

satire – using humor or jokes to make fun of other people’s beliefs or actions,

sometimes done to cause or to prevent change

* This comedian is famous for his political satire about the president and his

policies.

D’oh! – an exclamation made famous by Homer Simpson, a character on an

American animated TV show called The Simpsons to express surprise or

disappointment

* D’oh! I know I’m on a diet but do you have to take away my cookies, pizza, and

potato chips?

Don’t have a cow! – don’t overreact; don’t have such a big reaction to a small

thing

* Dr. McQuillan got upset when I borrowed his toothbrush to clean the floor, but I

told him, “Don’t have a cow!”

it’s going down – it is happening now; it is proceeding, often used for illegal

activities

* Did you hear about the car race? It’s going down right now in the center of

town!

qwerty – the standard arrangement of an English-language keyboard with the

letters q, w, e, r, t, and y as the first keys on the left side on the top row

* Until they come out with a cell phone with a qwerty keyboard that’s easier to

use, I don’t plan to get a new phone.

can’t help but – have no choice except to do something; cannot control oneself

to do anything differently than this

* I know that June is 18-years-old, but I can’t help but worry that she’ll get into

trouble traveling to Australia by herself.

stolen glance – a quick look at someone or something taken so that others will

not see it

* He didn’t want anyone to know that he was in love with Kerri, so during the

ceremony, he only took a few stolen glances in her direction.

witchcraft – magic

* This book is about a period in American history when people suspected of

using witchcraft were put in prison or killed.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 59

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Seinfeld: “Yada, yada, yada” and “Get out!”

One of the most popular TV shows in recent years was called Seinfeld . This

show was on U.S. television from 1989 to 1998, and it is still shown in most

American cities in “reruns,” when a show is shown again after it’s first broadcast.

This show was a “sitcom,” or situation comedy that was 30 minutes long and was

shown every week. The main character in the show, Jerry Seinfeld, was a

“standup comedian,” or a person whose job it is to tell jokes in front of an

audience, and the show was about him and his friends. The show was so

popular that many of the sayings or “catchphrases” from the show has become

part of the language that people use in everyday American life.

The phrase “Yada, yada, yada” was used on the show when the speaker wanted

to “skip” or pass over something they didn’t want to talk about because it is too

obvious or they don’t want to say aloud, sometimes for something that was

embarrassing. It means the same as “and so forth” and “blah, blah, blah.” For

example, you may use it when telling your friend about something that happened

to you: “I was walking out of the store when the clerk stopped me and accused

me of stealing. There were a lot of people around and they were all looking at

me. The clerk took me into his office and yada, yada, yada. I didn’t leave the

store for an hour!”

Another phrase used on the show Seinfeld that people still use today is, “Get

out!” Normally, we use this phrase to tell someone to leave a place. However, it

was used on the show to express surprise when someone heard some good

news. One of the characters on the show, Elaine, would give the person telling

her the good news a playful but powerful “shove” or push, and then yell, “Get

out!” So, if someone tells you that you’ve won a trip around the world, you might

say to them, “Get out!” You don’t want them to leave. You’re just expressing

your surprise.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 59

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café

number 59.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode number

59. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for

Educational Development in the beautiful City of Los Angeles, California.

On Today's Café, we're going to talk about the police in the United States, how

they are organized. We are also going to talk about one of the most popular

television shows of the last 15 years in the U.S., “The Simpsons.” And, as usual,

we'll answer some questions. Let's get started.

If you visit our website at eslpod.com, you will get a list of all of our previous

podcasts. We have more than 250 podcasts for you to listen to, so be sure to go

to our website. You can also get, on our website, a copy of the Learning Guide

for this episode, which contains all of the words that we use, sample sentences,

additional explanations and a complete transcript of this episode.

Our first topic today is going to be the police. The police, “police,” is a general

term that we give to people who work for the government and are involved in

what we would call law enforcement. To enforce, “enforce,” means to make

someone do something, to force someone to do something. So, when we say

law enforcement, we mean that these are people who get people to follow the

law, follow the legal restrictions, the legal rules of the state or of the country.

The U.S. has lots of different police structures, lots of different types of police. In

some countries, the police is all part of one big organization. But in the United

States, because we have a tradition of each state having some independence

from the other states, there are several different levels of police officers. There

are federal police, although we don't normally call them police. We would say

federal law enforcement, and these would include people like the Federal Bureau

of Investigation, or the FBI. The FBI is famous in the movies, if you watch

American movies. These are the government police officers, sometimes called

the G-men. The G, as in the letter G, men, which refers to government, the G of

government. So, these are the government police officers, they're the federal

government police officers. So, they are in charge of certain types of crimes that

are on a national level.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 59

There are many other types of law enforcement officers at the national level.

There are the people who guard the border, the Border Patrol they are called.

The people who enforce drug laws. There’s a special police force called the

Drug Enforcement Agency. And these are all groups that can arrest people, and

that's really what a police officers is - someone who can arrest you and put you in

jail. To arrest, “arrest,” means to put someone in jail, to say that they have done

something wrong. I've been using this term officer, “officer.” That's just a word

we use to describe a man or a woman who works, usually, for a police

organization.

Each state also has its own, what we would call, police force. A police force,

“force,” is a noun, which means the group of police officers, the group of law

enforcement people. Many states have their own police force. Sometimes these

are called state troopers, “troopers.” A state trooper is a police officer who works

for the state police force.

We also have county police officers in the United States. Every state is divided

into smaller areas, smaller regions, which we call counties in most states. In

Louisiana, the counties are called parishes, but in all of the other states, we call

them counties. And, the county has its own police force, and if there are cities

inside the county, many times the individual city will have its own police force.

So, you could have a state police officer, a county police officer and a city police

officer, and each of those different levels is responsible for different areas and for

different things.

There even more police forces in certain areas. In California, for example, the

airport has its own police force. The universities, the public universities, have

their own police force. The transportation system here in Los Angeles has its

own police force.

If you watch American television and movies, you will often see certain terms

used in describing the police. The most common informal term is cops, “cops.”

A cop is a police officer. It's an informal term. There's actually a popular

television show about police officers called, “Cops.” Another term that you will

hear is a squad car. A squad, “squad,” car, “car,” two words, is the car that the

police officer, the regular police officers in a city or in a county drive. These are

sometimes called black and whites, black and whites, because the additional

color for these cars is black and white. So, a squad car is a car that the police

use.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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