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Michael
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Todd
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Big University
Michael talks about his university.
Todd: Now, Michael, I think you grew up California, right?
Mike: No, I didn't.
Todd: You didn't?
Mike: No.
Todd: I thought you were from Santa Barbara.
Mike: No, no. I was born in Cincinnati and I grew up, I grew up there and I lived from my teenage years in Michigan.
Todd: You're kidding!
Mike: So I'm a Midwesterner
Todd: Wow, I didn't know that. I thought you were a fellow Californian native like me.
Mike: No, I've been here about ten years, but not native to this state, no.
Todd: Well, so what, you lived in Ohio, Cincinnati Ohio?
Mike: Cincinnati Ohio.
Todd: And Michigan?
Mike: And in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Todd: Oh, you went to the University of Michigan?
Mike: Yeah, I graduated from the University of Michigan.
Todd: That's a good school.
Mike: It's a great school. Yeah, it's huge, though. I think, you know, that's one thing when you come out of high school, and you go into this huge university, it's such a different environment. Like I remember the first year, I was pretty lost in how big everything was.
Todd: Now, Michael, a lot of people don't know about American football, but at your university, the University of Michigan, football is huge. Can you describe a typical Saturday football game? Like what happens at the stadium? What do students do?
Mike: Well, yeah, the stadium at Ann Arbor, at the University of Michigan, I think it holds a 102,000 people. Something like that. It's one of the biggest in the country.
Todd: That's mammoth.
Mike: And every game is sold out. It is, it's an incredible event, so yeah, all Saturdays are abuzz with excitement for the home games, and it's just a very big deal. The whole Michigan football program just generates a lot of excitement, generates a lot of money, right, and you know, to tell the truth, though, back when I went to Michigan, I wasn't a big football fan.
Todd: Oh, you weren't.
Mike: I actually never went to a home game.
Todd: No, really.
Mike: People ask me that and they can't believe it because,
Todd: No way.
Mike: It's such a big deal.
Todd: Yeah.
Mike: But you know, I was more of like a, I don't know what you call it, kind of hippie at the time, and we kind of distinguished between the jocks and, you know people who were interested in sports and the people who were interested in, what, culture of something like that, so I, at that time I wasn't into the football. I think now if I went back, I would love to see a football game.
Todd: Yeah. That's interesting. Man.
Mike: But the Wolverines, the Michigan Wolverines, you know and a big source of pride for the University of Michigan.
Todd: Well, thanks for sharing that.
Mike: Sure
native
I've been here about ten years, but I'm not native to this state.
If you are a 'native' or 'native to' a place, then you were born there. You can only be native to one place. Notice the following:
- These trees are native to Australia, but they grow everywhere
- I am not native to this area. I moved here as a teen.
sold out
Every game is sold out.
If an event is 'sold out,' it means that every ticket is already sold. You cannot buy at ticket anymore. Notice the following:
- When he finally called to buy tickets, the game was sold
out.
- She won tickets to the sold-out concert.
mammoth
That's mammoth.
The word 'mammoth' means something is big in size or is very important, like a big deal. Notice the following:
- You got a promotion? That's mammoth.
- I can't believe you ate that whole hamburger. It
was mammoth.
abuzz
Saturdays are abuzz with excitement for the home games.
If a place is 'abuzz,' it is full of excitement and activity. Notice the following:
- The school was abuzz before the concert.
- The office was abuzz with good news.
big deal
Saturdays are abuzz with excitement for the home games. It's a very big deal.
If something is a 'big deal,' it is very important. Notice the following:
- It was a really big deal when he finally met his first
girlfriend.
- Calm down. This isn't a big deal.
distinguish
We kind of distinguished between the jocks and hippies.
To 'distinguish' between two things is to set them apart or separate them for being different. Notice the following:
- They looked so similar that I couldn't distinguish
between the two.
- Can you distinguish between a crocodile and an
alligator?
hippie
I was a hippie at the time.
A 'hippie' is a person who has a relaxed lifestyle and often has long hair and casual clothes. Notice the following:
- My uncle was a hippie when he was young.
- She dressed like a hippie in the 1970s.
jock
We distinguished between the jocks and hippies.
A 'jock' is a student who is very interested in sports. Notice the following:
- He was a jock in high school.
- The jocks practiced after school every day.
a big source of pride
The Michigan Wolverines are a big source of pride for the university.
A 'source of pride' is something that makes people feel proud. Notice the following:
- Her children are a big source of pride.
- The new library is a big source of pride for the town.
to tell the truth
To tell the truth, I wasn't a big football fan.
You say 'to tell the truth' before sharing the truth about something. Notice the following:
- To tell the truth, I don't like watching movies.
- I'm sorry I missed your birthday. To tell the truth, I just forgot it.
Vocabulary Quiz
big deal • distinguishable
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