The A to Z English Podcast Quick Chat 21: Bugs!!! The good, the bad, the ugly
In this episode, Kevin and Jack talk about creepy, crawly, disgusting bugs!
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Directions: Answer the discussion questions in the Whatsapp group chat.
1. Are there a lot of bugs where you live?
2. What annoys you the most about insects?
3. What do you do to get rid of insects in your house?
Full Transcript:
Jack
You are listening to the A-Z English podcast.
Kevin
Welcome to an A-Z English quick chat where today we're going to surprise each other with a topic and see where the conversation goes.
Kevin
Remember, you can check our website for study guides with vocabulary, notes, discussion, questions and more, as well as links to our WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media so you can join in our conversation with us.
Kevin
And Jack, it's getting towards the end of summer here, but even though it's the end of summer, there's still a lot of bugs out and.
Kevin
I've got 2.
Kevin
Or three new mosquito bites.
Kevin
Odd me right now.
Kevin
Mosquitoes, actually.
Kevin
I mean, I think bugs in Korea, bugs in every country are very different because I'm from Arizona and Arizona is dry.
Kevin
It's desert, right?
Kevin
There's no mosquitoes in in Arizona.
Jack
Yeah, but you have scorpions though.
Kevin
That's true.
Kevin
We we don't score PNG.
Jack
Those are scary, yeah.
Kevin
Although it depends on where Arizona.
Kevin
Is very big, but yeah, we.
Kevin
We do have some.
Kevin
Of those, but mosquitoes are something that I.
Kevin
I I hate.
Kevin
I mean, everyone hates mosquitoes.
Kevin
Everyone hates mosquitoes.
Kevin
It's it's one common, common thing I think all people on the planet can can agree.
Kevin
With and it took me a little while to get used to them here.
Kevin
I'm still not used to him, but it took me a while to get used to them.
Kevin
Here, let me let me tell you a story before I ask you about your bugs.
Kevin
When I first came to Korea, because Arizona doesn't have mosquitoes, I never thought about them.
Kevin
And so in the summer here, it's quite hot and in.
Kevin
Arizona in in Northern Arizona, it's quite hot as well, but not so bad and so we don't usually turn on the air conditioning in in the mountains.
Kevin
I just open up all the windows and just get a breeze coming through.
Kevin
So when I was when I was new to Korea, I had only been here, I don't know, less than a.
Kevin
And it was quite hot one night.
Kevin
And So what did I do?
Kevin
I just opened up.
Kevin
All the windows.
Kevin
Because of like, let's let's get some wind in here, let's cool down my house.
Kevin
So I opened up all the.
Kevin
Windows and just.
Kevin
And that night, I'll never forget this.
Kevin
Because that night, suddenly I heard that annoying, like, you know, noise in your ear.
Jack
And yeah.
Kevin
The terrible evil mosquito noise, and I heard it.
Kevin
In my ear.
Kevin
And I was like, oh, just go away.
Kevin
Just just bite me and go away.
Kevin
Let me sleep.
Kevin
I don't care, just just go away.
Kevin
And I heard it again and again.
Kevin
And again, and finally, well, OK, OK.
Kevin
I no, I have to kill you.
Kevin
So I stood up.
Kevin
I turned on the lights, and I then looked around my house and there was like 20 mosquitoes just covering the walls of of my apartment room.
Kevin
And it took me an hour and a half to just snack.
Kevin
Smack, smack and kill them all, yeah?
Kevin
And I learned very quickly now I never leave the windows open when I go in and out of my house in the summer, it's in not very fast, keep the door closed because.
Kevin
We want to keep those those damn mosquitoes away.
Jack
No, you just you opened the window and invited all the mosquitoes in your neighborhood to a blood party, basically.
Kevin
Yeah, come try some.
Kevin
Come try some American.
Kevin
Blood, it's really good.
Jack
Yeah, yeah, drink away.
Jack
So funny because I have the same story last night.
Kevin
Oh really?
Jack
Like last night a mosquito snuck into, you know, got into our house.
Jack
And I think listeners, probably those of you that live in like areas where where they have mosquitoes.
Jack
The the the land like on your ear and so you can hear the the kind of.
발표자 1
Ooh, yeah.
Jack
Sound in your ear and I don't know what it is.
Jack
It's the worst feeling, like I can't I?
Kevin
That's terrible.
Jack
So what I always do is even if there's just one mosquito, I turned on the light.
Jack
I wake up, my wife wakes up.
Jack
She's like, what are you doing?
Jack
I'm like, I don't care.
Jack
I don't care how long it takes me.
Jack
I'm going to.
Jack
Hunt that mosquito down and I'm going to smash.
발표자 1
To kill it.
Jack
Did, and sometimes it takes me 5 minutes, sometimes it takes me 25 minutes, but I'm like a crazy person because it's just like it makes me like.
Jack
Insane to to you know when it happens and then when I kill it, it feels so good.
Jack
I just smash it so hard and just watch it splat all over the wall.
Jack
And I'm so happy, but the.
Kevin
I'm kind of the same way when I hear them at night.
Kevin
Now if because you seem to enjoy killing mosquitoes like we have one of those tennis racket type things, which those are great because yeah, you can watch it like just like fry.
Jack
Has electricity on it and you use tap it, yeah?
Kevin
The best, most satisfying way to kill a mosquito, though you know sometimes you can catch it in your hand, right?
Kevin
Like it's flying through and you just you'd grab it out of the air.
Kevin
But the worst is then you, like, squeeze your hand, you open it and.
Kevin
Then it flies.
Kevin
Away again, right.
Jack
Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah.
Kevin
If you've had that happen, it's it's terrible.
Kevin
So the best thing to do.
Kevin
Well, I don't know what best.
Kevin
It's kind of evil, but but it feels good.
Kevin
If you catch a mosquito in your hand 'cause, you don't know if you actually crossed it.
Kevin
They're quite small, and maybe you did.
Kevin
Maybe you didn't so shake your hand a lot, right?
Kevin
Like just just like you've got, you know, you're you're shaking a some some juice or something.
Kevin
Just shake, shake, shake.
Kevin
Shake, shake, shake it in your hands because then it makes it basically makes the mosquito like super dizzy.
Kevin
And it's like, Oh my God.
Kevin
Then go up to one of the walls in your house and throw it at the wall.
Kevin
So I'm really close, because it doesn't.
Kevin
It it they're.
Kevin
Very light so they don't fly very far from vehicles.
Kevin
Just throw it at the wall.
Kevin
The mosquito will hit the wall.
Kevin
And then fall down to the.
Kevin
Round, but it's usually not quite dead.
Kevin
It usually just kind of twitches and it's like and then it dies.
Kevin
So you get to watch the little.
Kevin
Guy die and I know it's it's evil and I'm.
Jack
I thought you.
Kevin
Sorry for all the listeners out there.
Jack
Were going to pull its legs off 1 by 1 and just kind of pull up?
Jack
OK, you're not that.
Jack
You're not that sadistic, right?
Kevin
But hit, hit the wall with it and then it'll fall down and just.
Jack
You're not that.
Kevin
Like, uh and die.
Right.
Jack
So last night I couldn't find it.
Jack
I looked everywhere and I find it gave up.
Kevin
Oh, oh, sorry, I interrupted your story.
Jack
No, no, no.
Jack
But I have these big headphones that I listen to music with and I just put these big cans on my ears.
Jack
So it's and if you can't hear it, then I can just pretend that it's not there.
Jack
And so I fell asleep with my ear, my my headphones on, and I was able to fall asleep quite quickly without having killed a mosquito.
Jack
But yeah, it they really, really drives me crazy.
Jack
It drives me crazy.
Kevin
Honestly, I I.
Kevin
I even though a.
Kevin
Mosquito bite will last longer, you know, like I've got a couple of mosquito bites on me now, 'cause I.
Kevin
Was outside yesterday and.
Kevin
A mosquito bite will last two or three days before it goes away, and it's itchy for two or three days, but that itchy for two or three days for me is less annoying than that.
Kevin
The sound.
Kevin
When I'm sleeping.
Jack
Yeah, yeah.
Kevin
Like so for for me.
Jack
No side same, you know?
Kevin
Like, I understand.
Kevin
I would rather cover my ears.
Kevin
I'd rather it just come and bite.
Kevin
Me and go away.
Kevin
Like I don't care, I.
Kevin
Mean it's annoying, but bite me and go away.
Kevin
Don't wake me up.
Kevin
Don't come.
Kevin
Into my ear that is the worst the worst noise.
Jack
Now I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw this out to our listeners out there, because please share in the chat what your mosquito experiences are.
Jack
Because now they're, you know, obviously mosquitoes are not the only bugs that are, you know?
Jack
Have you had any experience like killing a cockroach or anything like that?
Jack
Because those really bother me a lot.
Kevin
I really hate cockroaches.
Kevin
Cockroaches and the other one here in Korea that really bothers me are the the really hairy centipedes that like, they look furry and they move really, really fast.
Kevin
You know, those are almost worse than cockroaches.
Kevin
For me.
Kevin
Those things are really fast.
Kevin
Cockroaches are terrible, of course, but in Korea, they're not so bad, because they're.
Kevin
Not so big.
Jack
Yeah, right.
Jack
Like they're only about like the.
Kevin
Biggest I've seen was like maybe if your small finger right, that's that's the biggest one that I've seen.
Kevin
My wife and I were traveling a few years ago and in we were staying in a small hotel, not even a hotel, more like a guest house type thing, kind of in the mountains.
Kevin
And there it was just.
Kevin
Yeah, lots of cockroaches outside.
Kevin
Inside the rooms were mostly clean, but outside in the forest it was just one cockroach central.
Kevin
And the worst there was, they were really big.
Kevin
Like, like really like your big finger and and a little bit more.
Kevin
And so we saw one that was quite big and it creeped in and then it started flying at us.
Jack
Oh yeah, I know those ones.
Jack
Yeah, they're it's called like a Palmetto bug or something.
Jack
They're maroon.
Jack
Kind of reddish.
발표자 1
It was a.
Kevin
Big flying cockroach.
Jack
The horrible, yeah.
Kevin
It was terrible.
Kevin
I I almost played baseball with it, with my sandal in the air.
Kevin
Yeah, those are are terrible.
Kevin
That's that's the way.
Jack
Yeah, we had a we had a cockroach problem in another apartment. And the problem with cockroaches is if you see one, that means there's like another 25 or 30 that you can't see.
Kevin
I don't know.
Jack
And so if I opened a drawer there, would I would see them kind of scurry away?
Jack
And if I if I?
Jack
Lifted up a desk or something, moved the desk, then they would run away.
Kevin
Oh no.
Jack
And so.
Jack
So we had to call the exterminator, and the exterminator came to kill the cockroaches, and the exterminator told us a really interesting story of how they kill the cockroaches.
Jack
So what they do is they poison the cockroaches, and so the cockroaches eat the poison.
Jack
And then they go back into their secret little house area where they all stay together and they die.
Kevin
OK.
Jack
Now, not all of them die, but if you know this about cockroaches, cockroaches will eat dead cockroaches.
Jack
So the ones that are still alive eat the dead ones that have poison in them, and then they die, and then whatever is leftover will eat those.
Kevin
The poison on him.
Jack
Dead ones.
Jack
And then they die.
Jack
And pretty soon all of the cockroaches are dead because of the first spray of poison.
Jack
And so if you thought cockroaches are cruel or whatever, they eat each other.
Kevin
Some good poisons.
Jack
They're cannibals.
Jack
They're disgusting.
Jack
They're horrible.
Jack
Pictures so don't ever feel sorry for a cockroach, OK?
Jack
Uh, yeah.
Kevin
I will not.
Kevin
Before we end with this 'cause, this is all I mean.
Kevin
Mosquitoes and cockroaches are our bugs.
Kevin
We generally don't like.
Kevin
What about some bugs that are OK?
Kevin
Are there any bugs that that are?
Kevin
OK, for.
Jack
So I like, I think you're going to say the same answer.
Jack
I'm probably going to steal your answer, but I have all.
Jack
I won't steal your answer.
Jack
I'll, I'll come up with a different one.
Jack
I saw yesterday.
Kevin
Well, go ahead, I've got a couple.
Jack
I saw a praying mantis, and it was huge.
Kevin
Oh, nice.
Jack
It was about the size of like a pencil.
Jack
Like, it was huge and I didn't want to kill it because they're so cool looking.
Jack
There's a very interesting bug.
Kevin
They are.
Jack
It's a mantis.
Jack
And in Korea they have.
Jack
We have quite a few of them and it was just sitting on the door.
Jack
It wasn't bothering anybody, it wasn't doing anything, so I didn't kill it.
Jack
And I just left it alone, and when I came back an hour later, it was gone so amantis I'll let them live because I.
Kevin
Right.
Jack
Don't know they just.
Jack
Look cool and I I don't have a problem.
Jack
With them so.
Kevin
And and they don't.
Kevin
Really bother people very much either.
Jack
With match it didn't fly at me.
Jack
It didn't do.
Jack
Anything was just hanging out.
Kevin
Right.
Kevin
The other I I think what you were thinking is spiders, right?
Jack
Yes, yeah.
Kevin
That's, yeah, spiders.
Kevin
If I see a spider in my house, it depends on the spider that I see.
Kevin
Most of the time, I'll just let them live and just be like you.
Kevin
Go, go, spider friends.
Kevin
Go, go, go eat those evil mosquitoes and other.
Kevin
Bugs sometimes for a little bit bigger spiders.
Kevin
I don't want them in my house because they're kind of, they're kind of creepy.
Kevin
I still don't like.
Kevin
Them in my house, but I don't kill them, I just capture them and take them outside and let them guys.
Jack
Ah, OK, OK.
Kevin
I I I never kill spiders actually.
Kevin
So spiders are always friendly.
Kevin
Actually one time one of my friends.
Kevin
Thought I was crazy because I found a spider in in our houses back in, you know?
Kevin
City and I caught the spider to take it outside and then he took a picture of it first and went to the Internet to look it up and it was actually a very poisonous, like deadly deadly spider.
발표자 1
Oh no.
Kevin
And he's like.
Kevin
That kind of spiders.
Kevin
OK.
Kevin
To kill Kevin, I was like.
Kevin
No, it's still.
Kevin
A spider spiders are friendly, so spiders I don't kill.
Kevin
And another bug that I think.
Kevin
Everyone should respect our.
Jack
Yeah, very important. Yeah. Yes.
Kevin
These are great either.
Kevin
Very important.
Kevin
Wasps are evil.
Kevin
These are great.
Kevin
They make honey, they pollinate flowers and other plants, and we need bees on our planets to to have a a safe, healthy planet so bizzare cools.
Jack
Save the bees, save the spiders and save the mantis.
Kevin
Yep, I can agree to all of those.
Jack
We will keep it there.
Jack
Right.
Kevin
All right.
Kevin
So everyone else, tell us, what about bugs?
Kevin
What are your favorite bugs?
Kevin
What bugs do you hate?
Kevin
Do you have any good stories about you know dealing with with any bugs as well?
Kevin
Come to join our WhatsApp group or a Facebook group and tell us any of your bug stories, good or bad love.
Kevin
To hear them all, and if you've got time, go to our leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and a comment would be very helpful for other people to come and tell us some adazie bug stories so we'll see everybody next time have again.
Jack
Fun. Bye bye.
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