Slang Telephone Conversation

Background: This esl podcast is about a phone conversation between two friends. In this podcast they are making plans about what to do, and we learn excellent phrases for daily phone conversation. 
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A:  AB, what’s going on?
 
B:  Not much, just taking it easy today.  Work’s been killing me lately.
 
A:  What do you say we head downtown and grab a coffee at the Starbucks near plaza 66.

B:  I’ve had way too much caffeine lately.  I wouldn’t mind grabbing something to eat though.  Would you be up for that?

A:  It’s a nice day today, so we could get something at Element Fresh near the Portman.  They’ve got a patio so we could sit outside. 

B:  Sure, do you want to workout after?

A:  I’ve already gone.  Wasn’t great though.  6 out of 10 at best. 

B:  Just come with and do some cardio.  I think you could afford to shed a few more pounds. 

A:  We’ll see.  Let’s meet at Element at 2.

B:  K, later.
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Key vocabulary and phrases that are discussed in the podcast:
 
AB:  Friends sometimes call people by their initials just for fun.  My name is Andrew Best so friends of mine might call me AB.

What’s going on?  slang phrase meaning, “what are you doing now?  Or what are your plans for the next while?”

Taking it easy:  relaxing, not doing much.

Been killing me:  phrase meaning “causing you a lot of stress”.  You can say, my new job has been killing me.  Or you could say, “The summer has been so hot this year, it’s killing me.”

Grab a coffee:  In casual conversation, we sometimes use the verb “grab” for food or drinks.  “Let’s grab a coffee”, means, “let’s go somewhere and get a coffee”.

Way too much:  In casual conversation, we sometimes use “way” instead of “far”.  “Way too much”, means, “far too much”.

Caffeine:  The drug found in coffee that gives people energy and keeps them awake.

Would you be up for that?  casual phrase meaning, “Do you want to do that”, or “will you do that”.

Patio:  place to sit outside.  Sometimes restaurants and pubs have patios where people can sit outside and eat on a nice day.

6 out of 10:  Sometimes people rate things out of 10.  10 out of 10 is perfect.  0 out of 10 is the worst. 

At best: Ranking something is subjective, which means that its not always clear what the score out of 10 will be.  If you say, 6 out of 10 at best, it means, 6 out of 10 or even lower than 6 out of 10.

Come with:  slang phrase that means, “come with me” or “come with us”.

You could afford to shed a few more pounds:  Sometimes we say “shed a few pounds”, which means, “lose weight”.

We’ll see: It means, “I’m not sure yet”.

Element:  In the dialogue, I said the restaurant’s name is Element Fresh.  When both people know clearly what is being talked about, people sometimes use short forms.
 
K: Slang and short for “ok”.

Later:  When hanging up the phone we sometimes say “later”.  It’s slang and should be used only with friends. 

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