Colloquial English 3.7: Entertainment and Free Time Idioms

Katie sets Mark a simple task: she describes an expression, he guesses it. Her first clue is about the weekend after a long week at work, when you just don't want to do much. Mark's first guess is "Go to the pub?" Katie laughs and admits, "Well yes...", then narrows it down. That's the shape of the whole recording: ten colloquial expressions for free time, entertainment and relaxing, worked out loud rather than read off a page.

What you'll hear in this episode

The first half stays indoors. Mark gets to chill out and to put your feet up quickly, and explains them with a Sunday afternoon, rain outside, a footrest and "doing whatever you do in the living room when you don't want to expend any energy". When Katie hints at not caring what other people think, he guesses "Loose?" first — a good answer, and one of the ten, but not the one she wants. He corrects himself towards let your hair down, then adds, "I don't have enough hair to let down really."

The best moment is pottering around. Mark likes it "because it's very vague and unspecific", and describes it as a bit of cleaning here and there, maybe lunch, maybe the match on telly — "nothing worth telling the person who's asking you the question, what you actually did."

The second half covers the television: the telly, the box, and to channel surf, which Mark thinks sounds more American, and which he sums up neatly — "you essentially watch, about...twenty seconds of many things" and then "time has disappeared." There's a vegetable clue leading to a couch potato, and one last expression about actually going out: a gig. On clubbing, one of the speakers describes friends who go for dinner at ten or eleven, drinks at one or two, then a club until nine or ten the next morning, before concluding, "those days are long behind me." Katie agrees, and signs off with "I'm too much of a couch potato."

Quick facts

Episode	Zapp! English Colloquial 3.7 - Entertainment
Episode number	3.7
Pack	Colloquial 3
Level	3
Duration	15 minutes 17 seconds
Expressions taught	10 colloquial expressions on entertainment
Workbook	Included in the all-in-one pack (€39)

What you'll learn

The guessing format does something a straight vocabulary list can't: you hear each expression defined twice, once by Katie's clue and once by Mark's example. So to put your feet up arrives with a real footrest attached, and pottering about arrives with a whole vague Saturday.

You'll also pick up the grammar that goes with these phrases, which is where learners usually slip. It's on telly, not in telly. You go clubbing, not go in clubbing. Your hair gets let down, not got down. And potter takes about or around, not out.

There's useful register information too. Mark flags that to channel surf and a couch potato probably started in American English, and explains why channel surfing barely made sense when there were only four or five channels — a nice reminder that idioms date. He also offers flipping and flicking through the channels as alternatives.

After each conversation there's a Meaning and Pronunciation section: Katie asks a question, you answer, then repeat the expression and a model sentence after the beep. Question, answer, repeat — so you produce the phrase yourself rather than just recognising it.

The ten expressions

The workbook glossary rates each expression from 1 (fine in most situations) to 3 (use with care):

to potter about (1) – to do unplanned and random things, with no real aim
to go clubbing (1) – to go to a nightclub
to let your hair down (1) – to relax and do what you feel like without worrying about what people might think
to let loose (1) – to really relax and not care what other people think of you, perhaps to party and go a little crazy
to put your feet up (1) – to relax and rest
to chill out (1) – to relax
a gig (1) – a live concert
to channel surf (1) – to look through lots of channels without watching anything for a long time
the box (1) – the television
the telly (1) – the television
a couch potato (2) – a lazy person who spends most of their time watching TV

What's in the workbook

The workbook for this unit gives you the full transcript of both conversations with Katie and Mark, so you can check anything you missed, plus the scripts of both Meaning and Pronunciation sections with their model sentences.

After that come the Extra Materials. The glossary lists all eleven entries above with the 1–3 informality key, including the warning not to use level 3 language with your mother-in-law. Practice Exercise 1 gives you six sentences with mistakes to correct — "If I want to get my hair down, I go to the pub", "There's never anything good in the telly", "I'm just going to potter out at home" — which targets exactly the prepositions and verbs learners get wrong. Practice Exercise 2 is a gap-fill text about a tiring day, free tickets and a Saturday spent doing nothing, using eight of the expressions in context. Full answers are included.

This workbook comes with the complete Zapp! English pack: every episode's transcript, glossary and exercises for €39.

Get the complete courseAll workbooks and audio — €39

Common questions

Is the conversation scripted?

No. Katie and Mark are working it out as they go, which is why Mark guesses "the pub" and "loose" before landing on the right answers. The teaching sections that set up the tasks and give the answers are scripted, so the instructions stay clear.

Are these expressions British or American?

Both, and the recording says which is which. The box and the telly are flagged as very British English, while channel surf and couch potato are described as probably American in origin, now used in British English too.

Can I use these at work?

Ten of the eleven are rated 1 in the glossary, meaning informal but usable with most people. A couch potato is rated 2 — save it for people you know well, since you're calling someone lazy.

What level do I need?

This is a Level 3 unit from Colloquial 3. You'll need to follow two native speakers talking at natural speed, with hesitations and interruptions left in.

Is the audio free?

Yes. The English conversations are free to download. The workbook with the transcript, glossary and exercises is part of the paid pack.

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