Daily Dose of English 188
Shoes
Daily Dose of English 188
Intermediate
Hey everyone, my name is Ben and you're listening to A Daily Dose of English. This is a short, simple podcast that you can listen to every day to enjoy your English. What? To improve your English. Why did I say that? You can find the transcripts for all episodes and more on benslanguagelab.com. I'm really glad you could make it today. In this episode, we're going to be talking about shoes. Uh, sorry about that. Not amazing intro. I think I was a little distracted. Um, I don't really know what by I'm not, I don't feel that distracted, but I wasn't fully focused on what I was saying. Um, and I just said something wrong, um, happens to all of us, I guess. Anyways, today we're talking about shoes, which is a pretty, kind of a boring topic, I feel. But I mean, we all wear shoes, or most of us wear shoes all the time in some way or another. I already talked about slippers a couple of weeks ago, so I figured that it'd be a good thing to talk about their sibling, shoes. I wear my slippers way more often than my shoes, but I do also, have shoes that I enjoy. And I think that shoes are important to not only how you look and how you move around, but then also to your, wait, not only to your look, but also to how you move around. To like the way that you move through the world has a lot to do with your shoes because of they are the thing that is putting you connected to the ground. Right, they're what is between you and the ground. There we go, that's better said. I actually don't have very many pairs of shoes. I only have what I would call three pairs of shoes. I think technically I have like an old one that I never wear or whatever. But I have three pairs of shoes, two of which I use all the time and one of which is for special occasions. My most used pair of shoes is a pretty simple pair of just red tennis shoes. They are slip-ons. They're pretty easy to wear. They're quite comfortable, actually. And those are my everyday, like, moving around, walking shoes. They're comfortable enough. They're easy to put on. And actually, they were a gift for me, and I was sort of worried that they would be kind of cheap. Because they're not super expensive and they don't look super well-made or super comfortable, but they totally are. They're made of some recycled material or whatever, and I was a little bit hesitant. I was a little worried that they wouldn't be super comfortable, but I was totally wrong. They are very nice. They're very comfortable. They fit me very well and they're nice and easy. I like how they're easy to put on. Something that I don't like about a lot of shoes is that you have to untie them and tie them and get ready to go. And if you just want to step outside for a second or something, Like if I want to go up to the roof or I want to just go down, like just now, I went to go grab some packages that arrived downstairs and that was super easy. I just threw on my shoes and it was fast. But like if it's some shoes that I just sit down and tie or whatever, then it just becomes a whole annoyance, right? So I really like how convenient they are. I feel like they look pretty good. They feel pretty good. So super happy with those. And my other pair of shoes that I wear almost every day are for the gym. I have a pair of gym shoes. They're actually relatively old sneakers. They're not very nice, but they function and I use them for the gym. The only reason I have different gym shoes is because I like to make them tight. So I have laces on them, so I keep them tight. And I don't necessarily want to sweat a lot in my main shoes because I don't want those to smell bad. And I don't really care if my gym shoes don't smell great. Thankfully, I am not a person with very smelly feet. That is something that is, there's a lot of genetics with that. Like some people just have feet that smell more like feet, smell worse than other people. And so I don't have, there's not a ton of foot smell, which is really nice. But there's also making sure to wash your feet, especially around your nails. That's one of the places that can be the worst smelling on your body, really, is under your nails, on your toes, on your shoes. Oh my God. on your toenails can get really, really dirty, like in the corners and the edges, which is also not amazing for hygiene, right? It's relatively easy to... Actually, foot hygiene is not the easiest thing in the world, right? It's also pretty easy to get unwanted illnesses or diseases or whatever. But I'm relatively lucky in that I have very minor feet issues, you can say. Issues, maybe. I'm making a pun. Yeah, so I have that pair of shoes as well that I like. I used to have a pair of running shoes. I actually don't know where they went. I bought them a couple of years ago, then I moved and I left them behind because I didn't want to bring a ton of stuff. But I really wanted them for months and months and I went back to my parents' house where they were keeping them for me and none of us could find them. It's like, okay, those shoes are just gone. We have no idea where they went, which is sort of a bummer because they were kind of expensive. They weren't like the most expensive running shoes, but they were like pretty nice. And I did like them. They were very comfortable to run in, but I just, they're just gone. They're lost. A bit too bad. The other pair of shoes that I do have are not really shoes. They're more sandals, which aren't technically shoes, I guess. I don't really know. But those are flip-flops. I have a nice pair of flip-flops that I wear when I go on vacation or to the beach or something like that where it's good flip-flop weather. I almost always wear socks and shoes pretty much every single day, but if I'm at the beach, it's just too hot. You don't want to wear a lot of beaches. Like at the beach in Mexico or in California, you want to have sandals, so flip-flops are the optimal option for there. So I definitely like to have a nice pair of flip-flops. Because I also don't really like just bad flip-flops that just are not comfortable that Dig into your feet or whatever. So I have a Relatively nice pair that I got for myself. I think a couple of years ago for my birthday in like 2021 or something 2020 maybe and They're they're pretty good. I enjoy them. They're there. I think they are worth it I don't remember how much I spent but I think they're worth it without knowing that That's all the shoes that I actually own right now. I don't have any dress shoes. I don't have any, what are the shoes? Boots, I don't have boots, which can be a problem. But I'll talk about those different kinds of shoes. So boots are a really nice kind of shoe to have. They're very, very handy. If you would live somewhere where there's a lot of rain, mud, snow, anything like that, that isn't just like normal everyday wear. I don't currently live somewhere like that but if I did I definitely would get some some nice boots because it is such a pain to have wet socks or soggy socks or cold feet or whatever and I really don't like it. It is one of the things that I am most adverse to and like adventure is like having really just uncomfortable feet. I don't like it but Like last time I was in Oregon visiting my family, we wanted to go up to the mountain and I didn't have any boots. So like I had to borrow some from my, I actually don't remember who I borrowed them from, probably my dad, honestly. Our feet are relatively close in size, but it's really nice to have boots that fit you well as well because they are usually bigger and bulkier. And so if they're too big and too bulky, it's very obvious, right? If your street shoes don't perfectly fit, it's usually not a huge problem. Actually, it's still pretty annoying. Nevermind. You want shoes that fit. If your flip-flops don't fit, that's okay. That can probably be fine. You're probably not going to wear them that long. But if your boots don't fit, then you're probably in trouble. Having some hiking boots or hiking shoes is also great if you want to go hiking and stay comfortable and not get wet. That's a great one. That's probably the next kind of shoe that I would buy if I wanted to get another shoe for a different type of thing. And then the last one that I'm going to talk about is like dress shoes, which are also really good to have because they do look nicer, they look fancier. It does look strange to go to a place that is supposed to be fancy or nice, whether it's a party or a restaurant or whatever, or an event like somebody's wedding. Having shoes that stick out, like old tennis shoes, is just very obvious. Especially if you're wearing like black or gray, because everybody else around you is going to be wearing very similar things. And then when you look down, it's like, oh, that's obviously not a dress shoe. It's just, it's very like, whoa, okay. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely is, um, stands out and doesn't look as maybe elegant or nice. And the thing that's in like men's dress shoes are pretty comfortable. And like, I don't know, I just feel like it's an easy thing to do to look better on an at a fancy event of some kind. So like, it's not like we have to worry about wearing heels or anything like that, which is a a lot harder just physically. So get some, if you're going to go out, maybe rent some loafers or something. Plus, I think they look pretty, they look nice. They look sharp, you could say. So yeah. Anyways, that's my rambling on shoes for 10 whole minutes about shoes, I guess. I hope that you enjoyed and maybe learned a little a word here or there I'd be curious to know what kind of shoes you're wearing if you're wearing any right now Let me know down in the comments. But other than that, I will see you tomorrow for another episode. Have a good one. Bye
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