895 : Wednesday Conversation Practice: The Suitcase That Never Arrived

Hey, this week we're going to be diving into another English conversation, a conversation between two native English speakers. This week we are focusing on a story, a dialogue, a conversation with the title, The Suitcase That Never Arrived. This is a conversation between two native speakers. We have Dana and Theo, and the conversation is all around these two friends who are meeting for coffee a few days after one of them got back from a trip with no luggage. So, we'll go through the conversation, we'll go through the dialogue between these two individuals so you can understand the flow of real English conversations. Then we'll look at a vocabulary word from the conversation, an expression, and also the five Ws, who, what, when, where, and why, the important aspects of a conversation. So, let's jump right into the dialogue, the conversation between Dana and Theo. Dana, so how was Lisbon? Theo, Lisbon was great. The airline, on the other hand, lost my suitcase. Dana, no, your big one? Theo, my only one. I checked it in Newark and it just never showed up on the belt in Lisbon. Dana, oh, that's the worst. Did you file a thing at the airport? Theo, yeah, I filled out a report. The guy gave me a reference number and said it'd probably turn up in a day or two. Dana, and did it? Theo, it did not. I was living out of a tiny backpack for the whole first half of the trip. Same two shirts. Dana, did you have to go buy stuff? Theo, I did, and the annoying part is they keep stonewalling me about the money. Every time I call, it's submit the receipts, someone will be in touch, no one's ever in touch. Dana, classic, so where's the bag now? Theo, honestly, they claim it's in Frankfurt. I have no idea how it got to Frankfurt. I never went anywhere near Frankfurt. Dana, it went on a better vacation than you did. Theo, it really did. So the bag's in Germany, I'm in Lisbon, and we're both confused. Dana, did it ever come back? Theo, it showed up at my apartment three days after I got home at 11 at night. The driver just left it on the step and rang the bell once. Dana, was everything still in it? Theo, everything's there, slightly crushed. There's a luggage tag on it from an airport I've genuinely never been to. Dana, so are you going to get the money back for the clothes? Theo, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm going to keep on them. I kept every single receipt. Dana, good, make them cough up. You're owed that money. Theo, oh, I intend to. I've got a folder, I've got a spreadsheet. They picked the wrong traveler to lose a bag on. Dana, there he is, the man with the spreadsheet. Theo, never travel without one. All right, so we see, as we listen to this conversation, we see how irritated Theo was because the airline lost his luggage. But as he was speaking to Dana, explaining his situation, we heard a new vocabulary word and a new expression. The vocabulary word that I want us to dive deeper into came earlier in the conversation, and it was stonewalling. Again, stonewalling. And in the conversation, this is what Theo said. He said, I did. And the annoying part is they keep stonewalling me about the money. Every time I call, it's submit the receipts, someone will be in touch, no one's ever in touch. So now the question is, what does stonewalling actually mean? So the term stonewall, again, stonewall. Last time, stonewall. One more time, stonewall. Excellent, all right. Now stonewall, this literally just means to deliberately delay, block, or refuse to give someone a clear answer, usually to avoid dealing with their problem. People use it when an organization keeps giving vague replies instead of actually helping. We say they are stonewalling me. Here's the first example sentence. I asked for a refund three times, but they just keep stonewalling me. Number two, the manager stonewalled every question about why the project was late. And finally, number three, stonewalling, or stop stonewalling and just tell me whether the room is available or not. So again, stonewall. Now going back to the conversation, let's read it one more time how Theo used it. Here we go. I did, and the annoying part is they keep stonewalling me about the money. Every time I call, it's submit the receipts, someone will be in touch. No one's ever in touch. So again, stonewalling. Makes sense, right? Excellent, all right. Then we had the expression cough up. Again, the expression cough up. And this was used by Dana. Dana said, good, make them cough up. You're owed that money. So the expression is cough up. Now let's look at this again, all right. Now cough up is the expression that we're focusing on. And I'll actually be teaching you two. So cough up is a bonus one. I'm gonna teach you another one that we have on the screen. So cough up, hey, make them cough up. Make them do something. Make them tell you the truth. What they're holding back, make them cough it up. Make them reveal what's actually going on. In English we say cough up. Now the expression I really want to focus on is right above what Dana said. Right above, you'll see it on the screen. I'm not holding my breath, all right. I'm not holding my breath. Theo said, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm going to keep on them. I kept every single receipt. Again, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm going to keep on them. I kept every single receipt. So you learned cough up as a bonus expression. Again, reveal everything, don't hold back. Now we're looking at I'm not holding my breath. So I want you to repeat after me for pronunciation practice. I'm not holding my breath. Good, again, I'm not holding my breath. Excellent, now I'm not holding my breath. This expression just is a way of saying you don't really expect something good to happen. Even though it's technically possible, native speakers use it when they've been let down before and want to sound realistic rather than hopeful, often with a touch of dry humor. Like, hey, I'm not holding my breath. I do want it to happen, but I've been let down before, so I'm not holding my breath. Now, here are the three example sentences using this expression. Number one, they said they'd fix the heater this week, but I'm not holding my breath. Number two, sure, he promised to pay me back. I'm not holding my breath, though. And number three, maybe the train will be on time today. I'm not holding my breath. Again, I'm not holding my breath. And once again, the way it was used in the conversation, in the dialogue, Theo said, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm going to keep on them. I kept every single receipt. So, you understand the new vocabulary word, the bonus expression, cough up, and also our other expression, I'm not holding my breath. Now, I want us to look at the five Ws, the who, what, when, where, and why, breaking down all of the information related to the dialogue. So, let's first look at the who. The who of this dialogue. We have two friends, Dana and Theo. For the what, we have, Theo's checked suitcase was lost by the airline on a trip to Lisbon. He filed a report, had to buy replacement clothes, and the bag finally turned up at his home days after he got back. But the airline keeps avoiding his request to be reimbursed. When? A few days after Theo returned from his trip. Where? At a coffee shop where the two friends are catching up. And why? Theo is venting about the frustrating experience and his ongoing fight to get his money back, while Dana listens and encourages him to keep pushing the airline. So, remember, when you're trying to sound more like a native English speaker and you're using English conversations between native English speakers as your guide, as your study material, you want to, after reading through the dialogue or listening to the conversation, go back and analyze. See if you can pick out the who, the what, the when, the where, and the why. This is how you start to organize your thoughts, how you start to think in English. So, listen to the summary now of the dialogue that we read. Here's the summary, the clear summary after we organized the five Ws. Over coffee, Theo tells Dana how the airline lost his suitcase on a Lisbon trip, forced him to buy replacement clothes, and is now dodging his reimbursement requests. And Dana cheers him on to keep pressing them until they pay up. So, we have a clear summary. We understand the dialogue, everything that was said. We understand the focus and the main idea. Now, before we read the dialogue one last time, I want to give you a tip, a fluency tip. So, listen very closely, all right? One thing you can do today. Notice how Dana keeps the conversation light even though Theo is annoyed. It went on a better vacation than you did. That's what she said. Theo's frustrated, but instead of piling on, she makes a small joke that lets him laugh at the situation. That gentle teasing between friends is a huge part of how English conversations stay warm under stress. Today, I want you to listen for this in something you watch or hear. A friend turning a small complaint into a joke. Find one line and say it out loud the way they said it. Don't worry about the exact words. Just feel how the humor takes the heaviness out of the moment. Being able to joke when something goes wrong is one of the most natural sounding things you can do in English. It makes a big difference. So, now let's go back and we are going to look at the dialogue. Listen to the dialogue one more time. Here we go. Dana, so how was Lisbon? Theo, Lisbon was great. The airline, on the other hand, lost my suitcase. Dana, no, your big one? Theo, my only one. I checked it in Newark and it just never showed up on the belt in Lisbon. Dana, oh, that's the worst. Did you file a thing at the airport? Theo, yeah, I filed or filled out a report. The guy gave me a reference number and said it'd probably turn up in a day or two. Dana, and did it? Theo, it did not. I was living out of a tiny backpack for the whole first half of the trip. Same two shirts. Dana, did you have to go buy stuff? Theo, I did, and the annoying part is they keep stonewalling me about the money. Every time I call, it's submit the receipts, someone will be in touch. No one's ever in touch. Dana, classic. So, where's the bag now? Theo, honestly, they claim it's in Frankfurt. I have no idea how it got to Frankfurt. I never went anywhere near Frankfurt. Dana, it went on a better vacation than you did. Theo, it really did. So, the bag's in Germany, I'm in Lisbon, and we're both confused. Dana, did it ever come back? Theo, it showed up at my apartment three days after I got home at 11 at night. The driver just left it on the step and rang the bell once. Dana, was everything still in it? Theo, everything's there, slightly crushed. There's a luggage tag on it from an airport I've genuinely never been to. Dana, so are you going to get the money back for the clothes? Theo, I'm not holding my breath, but I'm going to keep on them. I kept every single receipt. Dana, good, make them cough up. You're owed that money. Theo, oh, I intend to. I've got a folder, I've got a spreadsheet. They picked the wrong traveler to lose a bag on. Dana, there he is, the man with the spreadsheet. Theo, never travel without one. This is our dialogue for today. So, you can listen to this again or watch the lesson again. Remember, listening to English conversations between native English speakers will help you improve your fluency. I'll talk to you in the next lesson. Bye.