English at Home

They say there’s no place like it and it’s where the heart is. It can both a physical place and an obscure concept. In its walls we have everything we’ve ever owned and needed, yet we are always adding to it. We eat, sleep, play, bathe, and even move our bowels in our humble abodes. What would we do without our nest, or a roof over our heads to shelter us from the storm? Who is it? It's me. Welcome to my crib, make yourself at home! We’ll hone in on the home on this week’s episode of FYI!

Transcript

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they say there's no place like it and it's where the heart is it can be both a physical place and an obscure Concept in its walls we have everything we've ever owned and needed yet we are always adding to it we eat sleep play bathe and even move our bowels in our humble abodes what would we do without our Nest or a roof over our heads to shelter us from the storm who is it it's me Welcome to My Crib make yourself at home we'll hone in on the home on this week's episode of FY I welcome too for your info English you got it you got it hello hello hello and welcome to this another exciting edition of FYI for your English welcome back to the topic base show where we learn about about everything and anything under the sun and if you haven't heard a topic that you'd like to hear about yet it's because you haven't let me know just contact me on social media or you can go to my website Alberto Alonso doccom but the real place to find me is in my Curious Community we are learning and laughing every day over on patreon and we've been doing it for over three years now we have such an amazing community of English explorers and I'm proud of them and now it's even easier to stay in touch with my students because there's a new chat feature so if you want to join our curious community and get in on the fun go to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and you can get a bonus episode every week you can get PDF documents with all the vot vocabulary we look at in each episode and believe me we look at a lot of Expressions structures and vocabulary in every episode if you're in our higher levels you can get weekly review classes with me and if you're in our Interstellar level you get all that stuff and you get a monthly private class with me where we gauge your progress and we work specifically on the things that you you need to work on and if you sign up for a year which I highly recommend then you'll get two months off that's a pretty huge discount and if you do the math you'll see it's well worth it don't wait any longer go on over to our community on patreon and find out what you're missing out on I'd like to send a shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students Martha Lena Javier Paco Roberto Jose Maria and Mila and don't forget about my Interstellar students Carin Issa Paco David and Edgar keep up the great work and if you FYI that's listening right now is hungry for more then what are you waiting for join us on patreon.com SL Alberto Alonso membership has its privileges all right so are you guys in the house hey there's our first idiomatic expression presente so if I say Maria is in the house or Isa is in the house I mean that they're here we don't necessarily have to be indoors but we're going to take a look at a lot of idiomatic expressions later in the bonus episode let's start off with our intro I started off by saying there's no place like it did anybody recognize the reference there's no place like home there's no place like home it's from The Wizard of Oz darthy and Toto remember she clicks her heels together and she says that three times and then we have another expression that is home is where the heart is which is why I say in the next line it can be both a physical place and an obscure concept I said in its walls we have everything we've ever owned b said we say to possess as well but since own is shorter we usually opt for that one so everything we've ever owned and needed yet we are always adding to it yeah everybody wants more stuff it seems and careful with the pronunciation stuff staff stuff gas staff pla if you have a lot of stuff in your house then you might need a staff if you can afford it then I said we eat sleep play bathe and some other things I won't mention but you can use your imagination but we even move our bowels here and to move your bowels is a nice way of saying to go to the bathroom and if you notice I said in our humble abodes this is a very formal way to say my home a lot of times when people have come to my house in the states the normal EXP expression would be welcome to my humble abode so now we just learned another synonym for the word house and be careful with that word bathe that we looked at bathe is the verb and a bath is a noun I've seen students mix those words up a lot so you could say I'm going to bathe or I'm going to take a bath the British would say I'm going to have a bath and where do you have a bath in the bathtub but don't worry we're going to visit all the rooms of the house on today's show then I said what would we do without our nest and we call it the same thing as you guys a nest we are nestled in our nests it reminds me of us in the evening on the sofa when the day is done we are cuddling or snuggling in our Nest I love to cuddle I love to snuggle and especially if you have a nice toasty blanket toast is another way of saying warm by the way guys make yourself at home get cozy in this episode put on your slippers or go barefoot it's up to you but get cozy we're going to learn a lot of stuff as I take you around my home today then I also use the Expression a roof over our heads and that's another way of saying a house I remember my dad saying I put a roof over your head you must respect me that means I provide a home a shelter if you remember we just looked at the word shelter in the Rolling Stones episode Give Me Shelter what a great song but we all need shelter we all need that protection from the storm and when I say storm I'm talking about a figurative storm not just a literal storm I remember when I lived in New York City I mean that place is chaos it's hustle and bustle so your home is your Sanctuary it was your shelter away from the storm then you heard the doorbell ring and I said who is it remember we don't say who are you when we answer the phone or the door we say who is it and then the person who answered which was me by the way if you didn't figure that out didn't say I'm Alberto they said it's me or it's Alberto and I wrapped up saying welcome to my crib I think the Spanish equivalent would be mikeli my crib which is also kuna a baby sleeps in a crib that's located in the crib hey we're always playing with words Amigos so make yourself at home as we hone in on the home look at that tongue twister and to hone in on is to make it our objective so we are going to hone in on the home on this week's episode as always we start with a little emology and well we wouldn't have a home many of us because I don't know about you but I can't pay upfront I have to get a loan from A bank and that specific loan for a home is called a mortgage now I know it has a t in it but that t is silent it's mortgage it rhymes with bridge and if you haven't figured it out the word mortgage comes from the old French word which literally means dead pledge which obviously comes from Latin morus gaj pledge and a pledge is pra a vow or a promise so I used to joke about that and say mortgage starts with Mort isn't that ironic no it's done on purpose till death do us part and in many cases many people are paying off mortgages their entire life and if you notice the word I used is to pay off and that can mean to pay it completely or to pay it monthly so if you said it in context I'm paying off my mortgage in 30 years AOS but if you just say I just paid off my mortgage that means you paid it completely so I guess that's where context is very important but we'll talk about mortgages and interest rates a little bit later I don't know if I'm ready for that conversation yet let's take a look at history what about the oldest evidence of homes well if you think about it they were shelters at first and what can be a Shelter From The Storm a tree if you had a cave nearby well you could make that cave your home that's where we get our cavemen from and then some of the Native Americans they develop tents and tepees but the oldest archaeological evidence of house construction comes from oldupai Gorge this is a site in Tanzania and the structure is around 1.8 million years old but excavators found tools and houses on these grounds so I guess it's a basic human need isn't it on maso's hierarchy shelter so even if we didn't have you know a nice brick house or a nice stucco house we had a roof over our heads and something that seemed like walls think of homeless people as well what are they looking for before anything else shelter that's why a lot live under a bridge or an overpass this way if it's rainy or windy they're protected from the elements so we're going back to that basic need to be sheltered to be protected to be warm I think it even comes from being in our mother's womb it's innate so let's discuss the difference between a home and a house in a nutshell a house requires a physical structure a home does not but I looked up the definition of both of them a home is the place where one one lives permanently especially as a member of a family or household it's also an institution for people needing Professional Care or supervision so if I say my grandmother is in a home that means a nursing home where they take care of elderly people so that's another usage of the word home as well and a house is a building for human habitation especially one that consists of a ground floor and one or more upper stories and a story is the same as a floor una planta just remember sometimes it's used as an adjective so in New York I lived in a fivestory building not a five stories building and that's Based on a True Story by the way I'll continue here with the definition it is a single unit Residential Building it may range in complexity from a rudimentary Hut unito to a complex structure of wood masonry concrete and or other materials they are usually outfitted with pluming well before we had Plumbing people had ouses and an ouse was a bathroom which was located outside of your house I don't know about you guys but I wake up at least once in the middle of the night to go to the L as my British friends say and I don't like getting out from under my blanket and going to the bathroom which is three steps away just imagine getting up going outside and taking care of your business in the middle of a cold winter night yeah so sometimes I guess we take Plumbing for granted it also has electrical and heating ventilation and air conditioning systems again not all of them but these are things that you can find in a house and are part of the definition they also provide sheltered spaces for instance rooms which we'll take a look at where domestic activity can be performed such as sleeping getting down all right there it is I said it fine preparing food eating and of course hygiene as we said before bathing brushing our teeth our homes can also provide work spaces and spaces for leisure and the physical forms of homes can be static such as a house and we'll look at different kinds now or an apartment the British call it a flat or a mobile type such as a houseboat or a trailer also the idea of Home encompasses the ideas of Exile being sent away from your home like Napoleon you're earning this is to miss something belonging that you feel like you belong being homesick and being homesick is you miss your home I think you say Moria in Spanish and as we said something that continues to be a problem homelessness which we'll take a look at later in the bonus part when we look at the dark side but as one of my favorite comedians said it's not homelessness a home is a con concept it's houselessness and it's true so let's take a look at some of the different kinds of homes available out there and also depending on what country you live in there are different styles there are different materials all of that makes homes part of the cultural landscape as well so let's look at the difference between a condo and an apartment or a flat the word condo is short for condominium and a condo can be similar in structure to an apartment it's usually a unit within a larger residential building but normally when we say the word condo we're talking about a home that is owned instead of rented in general the property taxes of a condo are paid by the owner whereas if you're renting an apartment the property taxes are often paid by the landlords not the renters so a condo is if you own it an apartment or a flat is if you're renting it then you've got a ranch which these are really popular in the United States and it's weird because it has nothing to do with Cowboys and a farm that would be called a farmhouse and we're going to find out why most barns are red in the bonus part when we take a look at fun facts there's a very interesting reason why barns are red but a farmhouse is not what we're here to talk about we're here to talk about a ranch and a ranch is a onlevel home they're very popular in many places in the United States but of course you can have homes that have at least two three four stories we usually call these tow houses a townhouse is usually connected to other buildings so I think you might call it adosado but it's usually a tall narrow traditional Terrace house and it usually has about three or four floors then you've got your single family homes which those are on their own they're not next to another home or at least not on top of it or connected to it and these you can have many different styles we had stucco but you see Victorian which are lovely they have those porches and obviously in these single family homes you usually have a big yard a front yard and a backyard whereas with a townhouse you usually have a common area maybe a pool maybe some tennis courts but you don't have your own private yard usually obviously single family homes are the most popular they are also the most expensive because you're paying for the property as well and as we know the bigger it gets well the closer it gets to becoming a mansion which is the biggest home we can talk about and again there are as many styles as there are kinds of houses Art Deco Miami has an amazing art deco architecture then you've got co-ops which I think you have that too cooperativas where everybody chips in and all decisions are made together we mentioned Apartments before or flats but we forgot to mention the most sought after ones also the most costly ones the site or the penthouse or the high-rise apartment if you've got a lot of cash this is awesome cuz you get an amazing view but obviously the higher you get the higher the price tag is and we didn't talk about vacation home homes a lot of times people have a summer Cottage in their Village hey look those two words rhyme Cottage Village a summer home maybe down at the beach or maybe a winter home in the mountains some people have Bungalows but now we're going to take a look at different rooms that you'll find in almost any house and remember this guys your house is an amazing place to learn English you can learn how much how many just by opening your fridge and practicing your countable and uncountable nouns my daughter and I practice whose socks are these when we're folding the clothes we learn so many different verbs when we're cooking just doing household chores and we'll take a look at some chores in the bonus episode but as I always say if it's in your house you should know the noun and the verb associated with it so for example if your house is Dusty you need to dust it with a duster if you've got dust on the floor or crumbs then you need to sweep the floor with a broom you might want to mop it afterwards with a mop hey that one was easy we'll take a look at some more chores in the bonus episode right now we're going to enter the house through the front door and you'll find the foyer some people say the foyer if they want to sound French but we say foyer where I'm from and this is literally the entrance way there's us a little table maybe a mirror you have a key rack or a coat rack it's the first part of your house you see then you've got my favorite part of the house the living room or the den as we call it and this is usually the room where you spend a lot of time together playing board games watching a movie cuddling up on the sofa just remember the word is couch not coach that's a very common mistake in the living room you you also find a coffee table perhaps you have some end tables also if it's the holiday season it's where you put your Christmas tree up if you have guests over it's usually where you entertain them and some living rooms have a dining room attached to them and a dining room well that's where you have your dinners but usually not your everyday dinners usually they're reserved for holidays or when you have guests over if not you just use the little kitchenet table in the kitchen but the dining room is usually where you have your fine china porcelana we call China you have silverware and don't forget to put a tablecloth on it because we all know that little Junior doesn't like using coasters and a coaster isos is anybody getting hungry let's leave the dining room before my mouth starts to water I've got a turkey in the oven right now hey it's better than having a bun in the oven to have a bun in the oven means to be pregnant I'm roasting a turkey right now as we speak can you smell it m it smells delicious I've got it in the oven remember we don't say oven we say oven and I'm sautéing some wild mushrooms on the stove La vitro I've got pots and pans in the kitchen I've got appliances such as blenders coffee makers don't forget my Kettle the kettle is a very British thing it's a thing that heats up water for you guessed it tea you've also got your fridge how can I forget your fridge your freezer you've got your cabinets and your drawers which are full of utensils plates dishes bowls cups wow we've got a lot of clutter in the kitchen oh just wait till we get to the garage or as the British say the garage then we'll go to the bathroom if anybody has to do their business just make sure you wash your hands and if you can't find the TP there's some extra TP under the sink TP is toilet paper the British call it l roll it's a really important one to know then you've got your mat you've got the mat on the floor and some of you also have a bath mat so you don't slip I also have a bath robe and my daughter does too that word I believe is aloro it's made out of the same material as your towels then of course we've got soap shampoo conditioners moisturizing creams those are my wife's I promise we've got a hair dryer tampons oh those aren't mine either toothpaste toothbrushes mouthwash damn we've got a lot of stuff in the bathroom too oh and don't forget about Lara's toys for when it's bath time the then we've got our storage because we don't just have everything strewn all over the house so we've got to store things in closets we already talked about drawers and cabinets in the kitchen but in our rooms we have closets and that's where we can hang our clothes on hangers I love it when things make sense or you can fold them and put them in the drawer either way you don't want them to get wrinkled cuz then you're going to have to iron them and then that adds some extra chores and of course that's linked to your laundry room where you have your washing machine and your dryer if you have one oh and how can I forget the dishwasher in the kitchen it's my favorite Appliance it's a lifesaver so don't mix those up dishwasher washer and dryer and of course we use our washer and dryer to do our laundry to do a load of laundry unada some people also have a study room or an office I'm very lucky I have an office SL studio in my house it's also a bit of a man cave qua omes we call it it's where I keep all my stuff and where I hide when things get crazy I hope my wife's not listening to this consider it like my playroom and a playroom is where the kids keep their toys sometimes you can keep the toys in the closet as well but I hope you don't have any skeletons in your closet and this means any Dark Secrets which by the way we're going to take a look at some expressions in the bonus episode we'll also take a look at some fun facts we'll look at the basement the attic and the garage also the yard we'll look at homes and houses in pop culture the dark side household chores and tons of vocab and idioms all of that in the bonus episode so I hope this episode has felt homey to you there's the adjective we use and I hope you think I brought the house down and to bring the house down is to keep the audience entertained and lastly I hope you'll join us in the bonus episode of today's FYI