Burning Man Vocabulary.pdf

Burning Man Vocabulary Lesson

Welcome back. This is the vocabulary lesson for the conversation “Burning Man.” In this conversation Joe is

speaking to one of his friends named Terence. They’re talking about this big festival that happens one time a

year called Burning Man. Terence has been to Burning Man many times.

Okay, let’s begin with the conversation.

* * * * *

Joe starts out by saying, “Hey, Terence, so how’d you spend your Labor Day weekend?”

How’d. This is just short for how did. You won’t see how’d in written English but you’ll definitely hear it in

conversational English. Labor Day. Labor Day is an American holiday. It’s the first Monday in September.

Labor Day. And when Joe says Labor Day weekend, he’s just talking about the Saturday and Sunday before

Labor Day, the holiday on Monday. So how’d you spend you Labor Day weekend... It just means what did

you do for Labor Day weekend.

And then Terence says, “Um, I spent my Labor Day weekend not doing anything except wishing I

was…”

Or he’s saying, thinking about how I wanted to be.

“at Burning Man.”

Burning Man. This is an American festival that takes place in the desert over Labor Day weekend. Burning

Man. That’s the name of the festival.

And then Terence goes on to say, “I had, uh, plans to go but they fell through.”

Fell through. Now what Terence is saying here is his plans did not happen. If something falls through it does

not happen. For example: I wanted to get a massage but my plans fell through because the massage

therapist was sick. Fell through.

And then Joe says, “Oh, man, that sucks...”

Now oh man... He’s just showing some emotion here like, oh I don’t believe that. That sucks. That sucks

means it’s unfortunate. That sucks. For example: It sucks that I got sick before the party because I really

wanted to go. That sucks, or in this example, it sucks.

And Joe goes on to say, “because I know that, uh, you’ve really enjoyed it in the past.”

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Burning Man Vocabulary Lesson

Or what Joe is saying is, you’ve really had a good time at Burning Man in the past.

And Terence says, “Yeah...”

Yeah being slang or casual or informal for yes.

And Terence goes on to say, “I’ve, I’ve, as you know, I’ve gone quite a few years…”

So he’s saying, I’ve gone many years.

“in a row.”

So what he’s saying is, quite a few years in a row. He’s gone to a lot of Burning Man festivals year after year

after year. That’s in a row.

And Terence goes on to say, “But this year I couldn’t make it.”

Or he’s saying, I couldn’t go.

“Um, y’know, but I guess that the, the saving grace about it…”

Now saving grace... This is something you like about something although you do not like anything else about

it. For example: The movie theatre is small and dirty but its saving grace is that it shows good movies. So

saving grace.

So Terence is saying, "the saving grace about it is that I’m not in the heat. And I really can’t stand the

dust.”

Dust meaning dirt. So he’s saying yeah, y’know, I really wanted to go but the saving grace, or the good thing

about me not going even though I wanted to go, is that I’m not out in the heat. It gets really hot at Burning

Man. And he says I’m not in the dirt. I’m not in the dust. When Terence says he really can’t stand the dust...

Can’t stand means… it means do not like. Or he doesn’t like the dust. For example: I can’t stand waking up

early. Can’t stand.

And then Joe says, “Oh yeah?”

Or he’s saying, oh really?

And Joe goes on to say, “I know. I hear that the heat and the dust can be overwhelming.”

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Burning Man Vocabulary Lesson

Or what Joe is saying is, it can be too much.

And then Joe says, “I’ve had some friends who have gone in the past years and they didn’t prepare

enough.”

Or they didn’t get ready enough.

And then Joe says, “And they said they were in over their heads.”

In over their heads. This means to be involved with something that is too difficult to do. In over their heads.

For example: I’m not good at math. So whenever I had to take a math test I was in over my head. In over

their heads, or in this example, in over my head.

And then Terence says, “Oh yeah, yeah, it’s definitely the kind of thing that, um, it helps to know what

you’re getting into…”

To know what you’re getting into. This means to know what to expect. To know what you’re getting into. For

example: When I went trekking in Nepal, I did not know what I was getting into. So I was not prepared for

the weather. To know what you’re getting into.

And Terence goes on to say, “with the conditions…”

What conditions means here is the weather. It gets really hot at Burning Man.. And because it’s in the desert,

there are dust storms.

And then Terence goes on to say, “and just what to expect. Because no amount of description can

really, really help with what you’re gonna experience.”

Now no amount of description means nothing anyone can tell you, or anything that you hear, is going to help

prepare you for what you are really gonna experience, Or gonna being short for going to experience.

And then Joe says, “Yeah. I was talking with a friend of mine who lives in Canada and I mentioned…”

Or I told him about.

“Burning Man and he’d never heard it. And he was like...”

Like is just a filler word here. It doesn’t really mean anything.

“he was like well, y’know...”

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Burning Man Vocabulary Lesson

Y’know is just short for you know.

“y’know, what’s it about?”

So Joe’s friend in Canada is asking what is it? What is Burning Man? What’s it about?

And Joe goes on to say, “And he wanted me to describe it.”

Or he wanted me to tell him about it.

And then Joe says, “And I realized that, y’know, I wasn’t really... I’m not really able to describe it to

him because I’ve never been.” And Terence says, “Yeah, um, it’s, it’s one of those things, it’s kind of

hard to describe.”

Or it’s a little difficult to describe.

And Terence says, “I mean…”

Or what I’m trying to say.

“the first time you go you really can’t... you really can’t believe your eyes.”

Now what he’s saying here... Can’t believe your eyes or could not believe my eyes… What you see does not

seem real. Can’t believe your eyes. For example: When I went to Nepal and saw the mountains I could not

believe my eyes. They were so beautiful they did not look real. Can’t believe your eyes. Or could not

believe my eyes in this Nepal example.

And then Terence says, “What you see, I mean just all the people and all the effort…”

Or everything.

“they put into it, all the creativity.”

Creativity is new and different ideas. Or new and different art or music, etc.

And Terence says, “It’s really something to behold.”

Something to behold. This means it’s amazing. Something to behold. For example: The mountains in

Nepal are something to behold.

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Burning Man Vocabulary Lesson

And Joe says, “So, um, how would you describe it though, like...” And Terence says, “I would

describe it just as a, just really large festival…”

Large meaning very big.

And Terence goes on to say, “where basically…”

Or he’s saying really.

“anything goes.”

Now anything goes…. This means you can do anything you wish to do or you can do anything you want to

do. Anything goes. For example: There are areas in Pakistan near the border of Afghanistan where there

are no police and anything goes.

And then Terence goes on to say, “Anything you wanna do...”

Wanna is short for want to.

He’s saying, “Anything you wanna do is accepted.”

Or it’s okay to do.

And Terence says, “Um, any way you wanna express yourself, it’s okay...”

Now express yourself. This means to show something about yourself. For example: Jane likes to express

herself by painting. Express yourself.

And then Terence goes on to say, “whether it’s how you dress, what you say, um, the kind of music

you wanna play, anything.” And Joe says, “Yeah, I’ve heard there’s some pretty wild outfits.”

Pretty wild. Pretty here means very. And wild just means very different, unusual, uncommon or not common.

And outfits... Outfits means clothes or a costume. A costume is something that you wear or a style of dress

for a party, festival, etc. So for example: The people at the party were wearing some funny outfits.

And then Joe goes on to say, “People just dress up as, uh, crazy as they possibly can.”

Now crazy here means as different or as unusual or uncommon as they possibly can.

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