Real English Conversations: The pre-Google Dark Ages
Hi! Lori here, welcoming you to another episode of Real English Conversations from BetterAtEnglish.com. In today's conversation, my English friend Michael and I talk about how much we use and depend on the Internet in our daily lives, particularly Google. In our conversation, which was completely unplanned and spontaneous, we ended up using quite a few phrasal verbs. I have highlighted these phrasal verbs in the vocabulary notes, as well as some idiomatic expressions. As always, you can find the full transcript and vocabulary notes on our website, www.BetterAtEnglish.com.
Lori: Can you imagine what life would be like without the Internet?
Michael: Without the Internet?
Michael: Like in the good old days? Way back and…
Lori: Yeah, the Dark Ages! [Laughs]
Michael: Oh goodness! Yeah. It's…it's funny I mean, that…that's we joke about it but, umm… Thinking about that yeah, it would be like the dark ages because we're so…people are so reliant on the Internet.
Michael: Yeah, oh me too, for sure. Umm…
Michael: Ahh…Yeah, aside from obvious things like…email, umm…and, ahh, Skype and, aah, MSN and these sort of things, just for chatting with people, umm, it would just be…it would be crazy not having all that information at your fingertips.
Michael: Because for me, that's the main thing, with the Internet, is looking things up.
Lori: Oh yeah, can you imagine me going even one day without my precious Google?
Michael: Err…I think you'd crack up!
Lori: I'd be outside talking to lampposts.
[laughter]
Michael: Umm… No, I really hope that you don't get a power cut this winter because you'll go…err…going cold…errr…what is it?… cold turkey without—
Lori: Yeah I won't be able to google things! Oh my God!
Lori: No, I love Google so much, it's so useful; it's such an awesome tool.
Michael: Sure, I mean it's…it's funny I was just thinking recently umm…that apart from the usual websites that I would go to, to get news or perhaps some of the music websites where I'll just log on and have a look and see what's new in the world, umm, the vast majority of the time that I'm on the Internet is actually going to Google and then looking something up.
Michael: Because if there's some information I need to know about, then it's straight to Google.
Michael: Umm…You know, it's unlikely that I would go to some other site, I'd just let Google do the finding for me and then see where it takes me…
Michael: It…it's like having umm…just the biggest encyclopedia [laughs] at your fingertips you know, it's quite amazing…
Lori: Yeah, sometimes I would say I use Google hundreds of times a day.
Michael: I've seen you do it! [laughs] I'm sure…
Lori: Yeah, you know constantly googling things and checking things and it's…
Lori: I don't know what I would do without it; it puts you in touch – you know, the Internet in general and…and email and chat and the different social networks – it just puts you in touch with people all over the world.
Michael: Well, absolutely, I mean I know of at least one fantastic relationship that came about through the Internet!
[laughter]
Lori: Yeah, and no matter what your niche interest is, you can find other people all over the world who are interested in…in that same thing.
Lori: You know, it's underwater basket-weaving, or whatever it is, you'll be able to find forums and…
Michael: Rolling around…rolling around naked in dog food, whilst barking, umm…
Lori: Yeah, I guess! I'm sure! It wouldn't surprise me!
Michael: I'm sure there's a whole community out there.
Lori: Yeah, yeah, who are…who are into that.
Lori: Umm, and it's…that's really cool that you can connect with people all over the world and…
Lori: Share the things that you love, it's…I think it's really cool.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Real English Conversations at BetterAtEnglish.com. And to those who have donated since last time, thank you very much for your support. We really appreciate your generosity. These casts take a lot of time to produce, and your continued donations are an enormous help. But donations aren't the only thing that make us happy; we love when you email us or record messages for us, like this: Thanks so much Rocío, messages like yours make all our effort totally worthwhile! See you next time!