Podcast #13: Halloween Back in the Day

Okay, so it’s not Halloween anymore. And everyone was talking about it for the whole month of October.

But my podcasting schedule is every 2 weeks and I did record the Halloween episode on the day itself so I guess that counts. Right?

You may have noticed that I didn’t post a picture of myself on social media in a costume. I didn’t write a blog post about how to improve your listening skills with scary movies. That’s because I really don’t care about Halloween. I don’t get dressed up and I don’t do anything.

Well, that’s not entirely true. This Halloween, I did eat pumpkin on the day (I made a pumpkin risotto because I got a slice of pumpkin in my weekly vegetable basket) and watched John carpenter’s Halloween with my boyfriend (he insisted). Bear in mind I live in France where Halloween isn’t really a thing yet.

Although a couple of people buzzed on our intercom – we think they may have been trick or treaters!

So if I don’t like Halloween, why did I record a Halloween themed podcast on Halloween? Well, you know that I love talking about Scotland in this podcast and I want to continue telling you about my country and culture.

The American version of Halloween is dominant as it’s the Americans who’ve popularised and commercialised it. In the UK (including Scotland) we’ve also gone down that route. But, there are some differences in the way we celebrate Halloween in Scotland.

So, this in this episode, I’d like to invite you on a trip down memory lane as I reminisce about Halloween back in the day (20-25 years ago). That was the last time I can really say I celebrated Halloween for real: got dressed up, went guising (more on that in the podcast) and ate far too many monkey nuts.

Before You Listen

What do you think you’ll hear?

The theme is my Halloweens as a kid back in Scotland. What words or expressions do you expect to hear about this topic? Make a short list and tick the words of as you hear them. If you don’t hear them, make a note of any new words you catch about this theme as I speak.

Useful Vocabulary

Just a few words you may find difficult:

Monkey nuts = 

sew (v) =

when you take a needle and thread and make a piece of clothing for instance

a sheet =

a square piece of fabric you put on your mattress to sleep on

a pair of tights =

Apple bobbing or bobbing for apples =

Listen out for what happened to me the last time I went bobbing for apples at Halloween!

While Listening

As usual, I’ve picked out some sections for you to transcribe. Listen to them several times and write down what you hear. The answers are underneath. Good luck!

Dictation Answers

Here are the transcribed sections of each dictation. Which words or expressions did you find difficult to catch? Let me know in the comments.

Dictation 1: I thought I’d talk to you about the last time I can remember that I really celebrated Halloween which was as a kid

Dictation 2: Something else that’s not ideal about Halloween in Scotland is the weather

Dictation 3: Some people really get into all the dressing up and all the decorations and stuff

Over To You

Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I’d love to hear from you in the comments – did you celebrate Halloween? Do you think it’s just for kids or can adults enjoy it too?

Photo credits:

Blog post image photo: by Aaron Burden Available at: https://stocksnap.io/photo/UMXYG0B41F

Monkey nuts: By Texnik (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Apple bobbing: By Caleb Zahnd from USA (Bobbing for apples) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tights: By White tights (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sheets: by https://pixabay.com/en/pillows-linen-sheets-bed-white-820149/

Needle, thread and fabric: https://pixabay.com/en/fabric-needle-sew-yarn-denim-1567878/