BBC 6 minute English-The commute

Transcript of the podcast

NB: This is not a word-for-word transcript

Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil

Alice: … and I’m Alice. Now Neil, how do you get to work

Neil: I cycle

Alice: I didn’t know that! Somehow I hadn’t imagined you as a cyclist. And where’s all your bike gear

Neil: Well, I sneak in in the mornings, have a shower, and get changed. That’s my bike in the corner over there

Alice: Oh, you’ve got a foldaway bike – which means it folds up so it’s easy to carry or put away. Do you wear lycra, Neil

Neil: Yes, I do… it’s very comfortable. I wear lycra as often as I can. Lycra by the way is a stretchy fabric used in tight-fitting sports clothes

Alice: Well, I’ll have to see if I can catch you on your way into the building – I’m intrigued about this sporty Neil I didn’t know about

Neil: ‘Intrigued’ means to be very interested in something. Well, Alice, I’m flattered. And today’s show is about commuting – or travelling between your home and your work. So how did you commute this morning, Alice

Alice: I got the Tube – that’s the subway system here in London, also known as the underground – and it was a nightmare. We stopped in a tunnel for so long that people started talking to each other

Neil: And for those of you who aren’t Londoners, that’s unusual! Do you ever talk to people on the train

Alice: No. People think you’re crazy if you talk to strangers

Neil: Well, maybe now’s a good time to talk about today’s quiz question, Alice. What question do you have for me? Alice Alright then. I know you like my questions, Neil. So here we go: What did the word ‘commuter’ originally describe? Was it someone who

a) travelled with other people

b) paid a reduced fare to travel? Or

c) travelled by train to work

Neil: Oh, that’s easy. I’m going to go for c) travelled by train to work

Alice: Well, we’ll find out later whether you’re right or not. Now let’s listen to a commuter in Nairobi who takes a matatu to get to work. These are minibuses used as shared taxis in East Africa. Can you spot a word that means being quick to notice things going on around you

INSERT Commuter, Nairobi, Kenya

When I’m stuck in the matatu there is a lot of strange things happen around you, so you have to be alert in Nairobi. When you open… when you leave your window open somebody can run away with your belongings. You may be speaking… using the phone… somebody just snatch your phone… you may expect the unexpected

Neil: The word used by this commuter in Kenya is alert. And in these noisy, crowded buses you need to be alert in case someone runs away with your belongings – belongings are the things that you own

Alice: Right. Somebody might snatch your phone – snatch means to take something quickly

Neil: Public transport in Nairobi sounds stressful! If I was taking the bus I’d want to have a nap – or short sleep

Alice: Yes. Well, people have done research on commuting and stress levels – and interestingly women are more likely to experience stress during their journey than men

Neil: Why’s that

Alice: Well, they’re more likely to do something which is being called ‘trip chaining’ – where they make one or more stops on the way to work or going home – for example to drop off or pick up the kids from school – and this makes it more likely that something will go wrong with their journey

Neil: Even if you aren’t trip chaining it’s no fun being stuck in a traffic jam – that’s a large number of vehicles close together moving slowly – or being packed into a crowded train like sardines. Let’s face it – travelling by car or by public transport can be really miserable

Alice: Yes. Packed in like sardines describes people standing so close together that they can’t move – like fish in a can! So let’s hear how longer commutes can affect your health from US researcher Christine Hoehner

INSERT Christine Hoehner, researcher at Washington University School of Medicine

My study found that adults who commuted longer distances from home to work were less physically active, less physically fit, weighed more and had higher blood pressure than those people who had shorter commutes

Neil: The American researcher must be talking about commuters who aren’t engaged in active travel, mustn’t she? Because if you cycle a longer distance then you’re being more physically active

Alice: I think you’re right, for once, Neil

Neil: Yeah

Alice: And I’d better start going to the gym more. I don’t like the sound of high blood pressure

Neil: Why don’t you hop on your bike, Alice? Then we can both wear lycra to work

Alice: That’s a fantastic idea, Neil! Moving on! Here’s the answer to today’s quiz question. I asked: What did the word ‘commuter’ originally describe? Was it someone who

a) travelled with other people

b) paid a reduced fare to travel? Or

c) travelled by train to work

Neil: And I said c) travelled by train to work. It must be right

Alice: And you were wrong I’m afraid, Neil! It’s b) someone who paid a reduced fare to travel. The Oxford Dictionary says the word ‘commute’ comes from from Latin commutare, from com- ‘altogether’ + mutare ‘to change’. The word was used in the US in the 1840s, when people paid a reduced or commuted fare to travel by rail from the suburbs into the city

Neil: OK. Can you tell us the words we heard today again, Alice

Alice: Of course I can. Here they are

foldaway bike lycra intrigued commuting the Tube alert belongings snatch nap traffic jam packed in like sardines commuted

Neil: Well, that’s the end of today’s journey with 6 Minute English. Please do join us again soon

Both: Bye