Culips Everyday English Podcast

What do you think is hiding on a 20-year-old iPod that someone forgot in a drawer? In this episode, Andrew and Indiana share three news stories and trends they came across recently. The first is about a woman who buys old iPods and shares the playlists she finds on them, like a small window into strangers’ lives. After that, they talk about a new idea for spending less time on your phone, and a surprising change in what makes food popular today.

To build your fluency, try listening to the episode more than once and saying the new expressions out loud until you feel comfortable using them yourself.

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here

Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.

Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Stories mentioned in this episode:

iPod archaeology (NPR):

The analog bag trend:

Texture is the new flavor:

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

To come across someone’s desk

Time capsule

To have dirt on someone

To hold something over someone

In vogue

To have hang-ups

Have you ever loved something your partner just won’t try? For years, Andrew’s wife said no to baseball. In this bonus episode, he finally gets her to the ballpark and finds out what she really thinks. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and to improve your listening fluency.

Study resources:

Become a Culips member:

Join the Culips Discord server:

Get the interactive transcript and vocabulary glossary here:

Glossary expressions:

To brush something off

To prod

To level with someone

To put yourself in someone’s shoes

To come around

To look the part

To pay through the nose

A who’s who

Nosebleed seats

To be priced out

What if there were a copy of you at work, answering emails and joining meetings while you slept? After Anna read a BBC article about people who are building AI versions of themselves, she brought the idea to Andrew, and the two of them talk about what these “digital twins” could mean for the rest of us. They look at the same question from three sides, the worker, the boss, and the business owner, and they keep coming back to one worry. If a company has a copy of you, do they still need you?

Read the original BBC article on digital twins here:

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here

Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.

Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

The bottom line

To not sit right with someone

Joe Blow

The cat’s out of the bag

M.O. (modus operandi)

Dog-eat-dog

Have you started seeing videos that celebrate Chinese culture all over your feed, like someone swapping coffee for green tea? Andrew and Indiana noticed this trend too, and in this episode they teach three pieces of China-related slang and ask why it is all happening now. Their answer touches on the Djo song that went viral on TikTok, the move from TikTok to RedNote, soft power, and Canada’s anti-tariff billboards in the US.

To build your fluency, listen for how the hosts define each expression, then try using one yourself.

The Best Way to Learn with This Episode:

Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here

Members can access the ad-free version: Click here.

Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join.

Links from this episode:

End of Beginning by Djo:

RedNote:

Canada’s anti-tariff billboards:

🔑 Key expressions

Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode:

Chinamaxxing

A baddie

You met me at a very Chinese time in my life

To age out (of something)

A false alarm

Soft power

In this bonus episode, Andrew shares some thoughts that have been on his mind lately about time and the way we experience it. He looks back a little, sits with the present moment, and wonders about what’s coming. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and to improve your listening fluency.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis: Click here

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: Click here

Introducing the Sackbut: Click here

Introducing the Anton Walter Fortepiano: Click here

Study resources:

The interactive transcript and vocabulary glossary for this episode are free for everyone. Get them here:

Take the comprehension quiz for this episode: 

Join our Discord community to participate in the June monthly challenge:

Glossary expressions

Crummy

To go to a dark place

Crafty

Shrewd

To clue in

To give someone goosebumps

To morph

Crude

A cool cat

In the blink of an eye