The English We Speak – Ginormous

(Sounds of a busy Chinese city)

Finn: Hi, I’m Finn, and today in The English We Speak we’re in Feifei’s home country – China.

Feifei: Welcome, welcome… what do you think, Finn?

Finn: Well, Feifei, there are so many… skyscrapers.

Feifei: Lots of tall buildings. Impressive, aren’t they?

Finn: Absolutely. Look at that one. It’s gigantic!

Feifei: Oh the Jin Mao Tower, yes it’s pretty gigantic.

Finn: And this one is really… enormous!

Feifei: Yes, it is. The Oriental Pearl Tower is enormous.

Finn: And this one is absolutely… ginormous!

Feifei: Gi… what? Finn, you just made that word up.

Finn: No, seriously, ginormous is a word! It’s very informal, and means, well gigantic and enormous. Kind of a combination of both.

Feifei: Gigantic, enormous – ginormous. And you’re right – the World Financial Centre is ginormous!

Finn: Can we go to the top of the tower?

Feifei: Sure. While we take the lift up, listen to these examples.

• Look at that old mobile phone from the 80s – it’s ginormous!

• Those carrots are ginormous!

(Lift announcement: top floor)

Feifei: Here we are. Wow, what a view!

Finn: It’s incredible, isn’t it? Do you know how high up we are?

Feifei: Hmmm… I don’t know. Let me guesstimate.

Finn: Guesstimate?

Feifei: Oh, you don’t know that word – it’s a combination of ‘guess’ and ‘estimate’.

Finn: Aha – I see! So how tall do you think this ginormous tower is?

Feifei: About 500 metres?

Finn: Pretty tall! We’re high above all the ‘smog’.

Feifei: You mean a combination of smoke and…?

Finn: Fog, yes. Actually Feifei, I’m really scared of heights. Shall we go back down?

Feifei: Oh, you really are a ginormous coward Finn!

Finn: Hey, come on, Feifei! Right, let’s remind everyone to log on to bbclearningenglish.com for more phrases! Bye.

Feifei: Bye!

(Lift announcement: lift going down)