Shopping: A Man Goes Shopping
| This entry is part of a series about shopping. More shopping all week!
This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3) |
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One of the things I’m most famous for in my classes is making jokes about the differences between men and women. I don’t think it’s possible to talk about shopping without talking about them just a tiny bit.
But, though you may think I’m going to make fun of women now. . . you’re wrong. I do think it’s crazy how much fun women have shopping, but today I want to talk about some mistakes I made while ’shopping like a man.’
What do you think I mean when I say I was shopping like a man? What mistakes do you think I made? I guess you’ll just have to listen to the recording to find out!
After You’ve Heard the Recording
Have you ever made mistakes like the ones that I talked about? In the recording, I used some stereotypes about men and women. Do you think they’re accurate, or do you think I exaggerated a bit too much? What does ’shopping like a man’ mean to you?
November 9th, 2009 at 11:53
Hi Toby,
Shopping for food and appliances, and shopping for clothes are two different things entirely.
When my husband goes grocery shopping, it’s an event, and what he brings home would feed an army, outlast a siege (eine Belagerung überstehen) and be there, in storage, the next time an emergency breaks out. When I go food shopping, it’s for dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast. I couldn’t carry any more than that.
When my husband goes clothes shopping, he knows exactly what he needs and he comes home with just that. It might be 5 pairs of pants or a pair of shoes, but he never gets anything he doesn’t know he needs. He doesn’t mind paying full price. When I get clothes, I simply don’t know what I need. I’ll find that out in the store. A lot will depend on whether the price has been marked down (reduziert). I’ll come home with a patchwork of things that match and make sense, somehow, but just as often I won’t find anything and come back to my good old jeans and well-worn business suit and decide to wait for a better opportunity.
November 9th, 2009 at 14:39
Hi Toby, I’m one of Karennes student and you put the nail on the head
)
November 9th, 2009 at 18:01
Thanks, Petra!!
I know the phrase as ‘you hit the nail on the head.’ I’m glad you liked it. . . I haven’t shown this one to my wife, yet.
November 9th, 2009 at 18:04
Anne: I guess I’m a lot like your husband. I think that buying more (for the week, not just for the next day) you do less spontaneous shopping. . . and save money. I like the saving money.
And as for the way you clothes shop. . . sorry, but if you don’t know you need clothes, you shouldn’t even be in the store!! You’re just burning money!
November 9th, 2009 at 18:14
Toby: Spoken like a man
Of course I need clothes (trousers, a top); I just don’t know which ones I need!