Why Do We Say At The Doctor’s?
This episode is full of new vocabulary related to health. What does splitting headache mean? What does dehydrated mean? Why do we say Going To The Doctor’s? Listen to this episode to find out! Enjoy :)
Hola amigos, you are listening to English Made Simple, episode #79, numero setenta y nueve.
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of English Made Simple, my name is Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net. This is episode number 79, it is going to be short and sweet. Let’s do a recap of what we’ve done over the past few weeks. Let’s see if you can remember some words we learnt in the past few weeks.
Anyway, how have you been muchachos? I hope you had a relaxing week so far. Hope so!
Cool bananas!
Now, let me tell you a story…
Today in Melbourne, we had a hot day, 36 degrees, it feels like you are in a hot fan oven. I nearly fainted. And funnily enough, today I had hay fever all day together with a splitting headache, I am probably a bit dehydrated, hence the reason for the headache. Luckily I had some Panadol at home to relieve the pain. No need to go to the doctor’s, hay fever is not the same as having the flu so there is no need to go to the doctor’s, especially not Dr Jones! Like last week….hehe
Right. Let me stop right here.
So guys, this was actually a short story, a short and sweet story. I wanted to see if you were able to pick up any words in that Short Story. How many words have you understood in that story?
I mentioned something like hay fever – alergía in Spanish. We know this one from past episodes.
I also mentioned something like: I nearly fainted. To faint in Spanish it’s desmayarse. Or for non-Spanish speakers, it means to pass out or lose consciousness and collapse.
I also mentioned I had a splitting headache. Interesting term, this one, a splitting headache. You will hear native speakers often say, oooh I have a splitting headache.
What is a splitting headache? What the heck is this splitting headache?
Splitting headache is… according to weon inteligente, or the Online Dictionary – it is a very severe pain that you feel in your head. It’s a more severe pain, not mild pain. not a mild one.
In Spanish it is – un fuerte dolor de cabeza or juaqueca.
Let’s continue.
Then I took Panadol to relieve the pain or alleviate the pain, alleviate is another way to say to relieve, to soften the pain – in Spanish aliviar el dolor.
I also said “I was a bit dehydrated today” and I think that’s why I had the headache all day.
This is a useful term to be aware of, to know… dehydrated. Deshidratada. It means lack of water. I didn’t drink enough water today. It’s really a common sense – which I don’t have, on really hot days especially, you must drink twice as much water.
And most of the time when we get headaches it’s because we don’t drink enough water.
So, the term: Dehydrated is opposite of hydrated. You have to keep hydrated during the day. You have drink water during the day to keep your body hydrated.
I read somewhere that on average a person should be drinking 8 glasses a day, 8 glasses of water a day. How many glasses of water have you had today? Ha?
Think about it. Oki doki.
What else? What else is there?
Oh that’s right I mentioned the flu. Flu is short for influenza (inflooenza) or similar to cold (resfrio) which we learnt last week. As we all know, the flu is contagious, contagioso. So, no kissing or shaking hands when you have the flu. Because you’ll pass the germs.
Awesome, you are doing well so far amigos. Let’s continue, what else I mentioned in my short and sweet story.
A-ha and lastly, why do we say going to the doctor’s?
Doctor’s – is short for doctor’s office. Normally, English speakers do not say doctor’s office, they will just abbreviate it and instead say I am at the doctor’s. It’s a possessive noun, it’s spelt with an apostrophe, the word doctor then we have an apostrophe, which is that little comma at the end of the word doctor followed by the letter “s”. Doctor’s.
So doctor’s is short for Doctor’s office.
You can use this possessive nouns for locations or destinations. For example, Ana will meet you at Mcdonald’s. It’s short for McDonald’s restaurant. I go to my sister’s every weekend. This is short for I go to my sister’s place every weekend. We just don’t mention the word place. So it just becomes at my sister’s, and we assume we mean the place or home, or house, sister’s place,
So now you know why we say Going to the doctor’s. Great! One mystery solved. More to come.
Thank you for joining me today, until next time. Remember to share this episode with your friends, if you think they’d benefit from today’s episode. Until next time.
Hasta la proxima! Ciao!