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Speaker 1: Boom. Did I scare you? I hope not. Halloween is

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literally around the corner, and depending on where you live,

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that may or may not have any particular meaning for you.

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But in the usay, well, let's go trick or treating.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine seventeen. How

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Halloween is really celebrated in the USA. Thanks for tuning in,

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and hey, happy Halloween. If you're listening to this on

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October thirty first, or even a day or two later,

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I hope you're feeling the spooky season vibes. Two weeks ago,

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we kicked off our Halloween series with some scary vocabulary,

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and today we're keeping the Halloween spirit alive with something

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a little different, a look at how Halloween is really

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celebrated here in the USA. Maybe you've seen Halloween in

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movies or heard about things like trick or treating, but

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what's it actually like? How do people celebrate, what do

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adults do? What happens at schools, and of course, what

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are some fun phrases you can use to talk about it. Well,

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let's take a look. So first things first, where did

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Halloween even come from? Well, Halloween actually goes back more

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than two thousand years. It started as a Celtic holiday,

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which was a time when people believed the boundary between

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the living and the dead became well blurred creepy. Right

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when Christianity spread through Europe, that holiday got blended with

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All Saints' Day and over time it evolved into Halloween

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All hollows Eve. Immigrants brought Halloween traditions to America and

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here it turned into a fun, lighthearted community holiday with candy,

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costumes and jack o lanterns. So nowadays, what actually happens

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on Halloween in the USA? Let's start with the kids.

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On Halloween night, kids get dressed up in costumes and

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go trick or treating. That means they walk around their neighborhood,

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usually with their parents, and knock on doors. When the

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door opens, they shout trick or treat, and then the

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people inside give them candy. It's kind of a social contract.

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No one ever actually plays a trick. Everyone just wants

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the treat and yeah, costumes are a huge part of it.

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You'll see everything from cute animals to classic monsters like

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vampires and witches, to pop culture items like Spider Man

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or Barbie. Some kids wear scary costumes, but fathers just

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want to be silly or fun. Now, if you're a

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student in an American school, you're going to get a

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full dose of Halloween starting about mid October. Elementary schools

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usually have Halloween parades where kids walk around in costume,

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sometimes through the whole school or even outside for the

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parents to see. And of course there are Halloween class parties, music, games, candy,

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and of course Halloween decorations. It's one of the most

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fun days of the school year. Teachers sometimes dress up too.

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Good times for sure. Now what about the grown ups, Well,

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Halloween is not just for kids. Adults get into it

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too in a big way. You'll see costume parties, bar crawls,

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haunted houses, and yeah, a lot of people decorate their

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houses with fake cobwebs, skeletons, spiders, and big inflatable pumpkins.

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One of my neighbors in New York had a yard

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full of zombies, monsters, and even scary music in lights.

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That was so it's oh cool. There are Halloween themed

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pet parades where people dress up their dogs and cats.

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In fact, one of the biggest Halloween dog parades happens

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in New York City in Thompson Square Park. You'll see

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everything from hot dog costumes to vampire chiuhahuas. It's amazing.

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And of course, there are scary movies. October is prime

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time for watching horror films, classic ones like Halloween The

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Shining and newer ones like Get Out. Not everyone likes

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being scared, like me, but for a lot of people

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it's a tradition. Now, let's talk about a few common

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Halloween phrases and expressions. You might hear trick or treat

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that's what kids say to get candy, and boo that's

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a playful way to scare someone. Even signs and Halloween

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decorations say boo. And maybe you know someone who's a

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scaredy cat. A scaredy cat. A lot of children's words

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end in why, like doggie for dog, kitty for cat,

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and tummy for stomach. Well, scaredy cat is a fun,

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friendly way to call someone who's easily scared. You'll also

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hear the phrase the Witching hour that's a dramatic way

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to refer to midnight when spooky things might happen. And lastly,

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to dress up, which in this context means to wear

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a costume, like your friend might ask you are you

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dressing up this year when it's not Halloween. The phrase

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dress up means to wear something on the formal side,

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like suit and tie, like I used to dress up

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for work all the time. So, now that you know

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what Halloween is really like in the USA, here's your challenge.

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Try talking about Halloween in your own country. Do people

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celebrate it to kids wear costumes or is it more

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of a marketing thing. You can say phrases like we

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don't really celebrate Halloween, but some people blah blah blah

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kids in my country love dressing up for Halloween, or

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it's not popular here. And hey, if you want to

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practice this kind of English with me and a group

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of other awesome learners, come check out my podcast Learners

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study group. We meet once a week and practice the

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language from these podcasts lessons together. It's a great way

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to build confidence and improve your speaking. Just check the

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link where you're listening to this podcast right now, or

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visit Myhappy English Dot com and choose podcast episode nine

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seventeen for more info. Thanks for listening, and remember learning

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another language is not easy and a little spooky, but

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it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on

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your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

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Happy English.