In this video, we’re going to go over a lot of vocabulary words for driving, and any alternate or idiomatic

meanings they may have. Even if you know some of these words, I’ll make sure you’re focusing on

the pronunciation of these words so that you’re understood and sound great when you say them.

So come road tripping with me and learn vocabulary.

He wants some, too.

One of the things that’s so important for pronunciation is stress. Not just sounds.

So before I have you imitate a word, I’m going to break it down into stress and unstressed syllables.

For example, the first word, accelerate. I’m going to move my hand like this for unstressed syllables,

and like this for stressed syllables. Ac-- cel-- Ac-- cel-- Accelerate.

So copy those components of stress and do practice the words out loud. Accelerate. Accelerate.

Unstressed syllables are shorter and flatter in pitch, and stressed syllables are longer and

the pitch goes up and down. Ik-sel. Accelerate.

I guarantee you focusing on stress will help your pronunciation. Accelerate means increasing speed.

The opposite in driving would be breaking, which is decreasing speed.

And the pedal for this is the accelerator. That’s the noun.

The pronunciation is: ac-cel-er-ate. Notice the first C makes a K sound and the second C makes an S sound.

Accelerate. I’m making that a Stop T. As the noun, accelerator, ra-ra-ra, accelerator.

The T becomes a flap T because it comes between two vowel/diphthong sounds. Accelerate, accelerator.

Say those with me. Accelerate. Accelerator.

Accident. I hope you never have one.

But they do happen frequently and can cause a major slowdown or delay.

I hope we don't hit many delays.

A delay or slowdown, of course, is when you’re not able to drive as quickly as you'd like, or

maybe you can’t drive at all. Maybe traffic is totally stopped. You could say, ‘traffic is at a stand still’.

A slow down. Slow down. Slow down. Say that with me. Slow down.

Delay. De-lay. Delay. Say that with me. Delay.

Let's go back and talk about 'accident'. Ac-ci-dent. Just like with 'accelerate', the first C makes a K sound,

and the second, an S sound. Accident. Ac-ci-dent. Say that with me. Accident.

A term you'll hear in the US for an accident that isn't serious is a fender-bender.

The fender is the part of the car around the wheel, and a fender bender is when this, or any other part of the car

has minor damage from a minor accident.

Someone drove into my car on the way to work.

Oh no, are you okay?

Yeah, it was just a fender bender.

Fender bender. Fen-der ben-der. Fender bender. Say that with me. Fender bender.

Don't tailgate that guy.

Well, all right. But don't be a backseat driver.

Two terms you heard there, tailgate, and backseat driver.

A tailgate is the back of a truck, the part that opens down. That's the noun.

But as a verb, there are two different meanings. One of them means to have a party beside your vehicle.

What? What's that? Why would you have a party beside your vehicle. It's common in the United States

at sporting events especially American football, or some concerts, to arrive early and

have a party in the parking lot. Is this common in your culture too, or is this a purely American thing?

It often involves grilling, it can get very elaborate, people bring tents, tables,

games, and there are even cookbooks dedicated to tailgating.

It's also really common for people to consume a lot of alcohol at a tailgate party.

But when driving, to tailgate means to follow the person ahead of you really closely - too closely.

When I'm driving, I hate being tailgated.

Here, I thought David was driving too closely to the car in front, so I told him not to tailgate that guy.

Don't tailgate that guy.

Compound word, first syllable stress. Tail-gate. Tailgate. Tailgate. Say that with me. Tailgate.

Don't tailgate that guy.

Well, all right. But don't be a backseat driver.

He then told me not to be a backseat driver. Fair enough.

A backseat driver is when someone who is not driving, you don't have to be in the backseat,

you can also be in the front, tells the driver what to do or what not to do. Pretty annoying if you're the driver.

This term can be used in other situations too, not just when you're driving, but anytime someone comments

on what you're doing, criticizes you, gives you unwanted advice. For example, if David was commenting

on decisions I was making about my YouTube channel, without me asking for his advice,

and I didn't want him to, I could say, "Hey, David, I feel like you're backseat driving my videos."

Or, "you're being a backseat driver when it comes to my videos."

Back up - a car in reverse. Notice how I connect those two words with the K. Back up. Back up.

My life has gotten a lot easier since we bought a car with a backup camera.

Both of these words will feel stressed: You're too far forward, you have to back up.

Back up. Back up. Say that with me. Back up. Back up.

>> You have somebody right in your blindspot. >> What is this person doing?

Yeah. I see that person, thank you.

Someone was driving in my blind spot.

That is the spot right next to you, just over your shoulder, where they won’t show up in your side mirror

or your rearview mirror. Notice I’m not saying the D there. Most people drop the D in this phrase,

so you can do it too to make it a little easier and to say and also to sound more natural.

Blind spot. Blind spot. More stress on the first word.

Blind spot. Blind spot. Say that with me.

Blind spot.

Babe, if you slam on the brakes, the camera might go flying.

Right.

Slam on the brakes.

To brake, the verb, is the opposite of accelerate, and the term ‘slam on the brakes’ means to break very suddenly.

Brake.

We have a BR cluster, you’ll want to be sure you go right from B into R, not buh-r, buh-r, but brr-- br--

brake, brake, say that with me. Brake.

Changing lanes really intimidated me when I learned how to drive.

Change lanes.

Both have the AY diphthong, both are stressed. That up-down shape. Change lanes. Change lanes.

Say that with me. Change lanes.

Now, would you call this a country road?

Yeah. // Yeah, I would call this a country road.

A country road is a rural road, off the main highway, that goes, well, through the country.

This one is paved, but they can be gravel roads or dirt roads as well.

Note we have a TR cluster here.

The thing about this is it’s very common to make that a CHR. Ch-- Country. Ch, ch, ch. Country. Country road.

Country road. Country road. Say that with me. Country road.

A crosswalk is something that is painted on the road that is meant to be a safe spot for pedestrians,

that is, people who are running or walking, to cross. You might see a sign like this, saying that you must yield.

Crosswalk, that’s a compound word with stress on the first word. Notice the L in ‘walk’ is silent.

Crosswalk. Crosswalk. Say that with me. Crosswalk.

We also mentioned the word yield.

I know this can be really tricky for my students because it has the Y consonant before the EE vowel,

and they sound similar.

In fact, the difference between ‘ear’ and ‘year’ can be impossible for some people to hear,

I have a video on that, and I’ll link to it at the end of this video.

To make the Y, the base of the tongue here in the front of the throat moves towards the back of the throat,

just a little bit, narrowing that space.

Yi-, yi- yield. Yield. Yield means you don’t have to stop, but you have to pay attention and look around you,

because if someone else is approaching, they get priority.

They get the right of way.

Make the Dark L with the back of the tongue, not the front.

Yiellll. Yield. Yield.

Say that with me. Yield.

Your speed's pretty steady there, babe. Are you using cruise control?

No. Just keeping it right at 73.

Cruise control.

This is when you set your car and it holds a steady speed without you needing to keep your foot

on the gas pedal.

The letter S here does make a light Z sound, cruise, cruise. So it’s not crusss, crusss. Cruise. Cruise control.

Control: first syllable, you don’t need to try to make a vowel there. Kn, kn. Control. Cruise control.

Say that with me. Cruise control.

Is this a one-way street, babe?

This is a one-way street, yeah. And, this is actually a detour.

One-way street and detour.

A one-way street is a street that you can only drive one direction on.

Most streets are two-way.

One-way, two-way.

Detour. This is a two-syllable word with first-syllable stress.

The second syllable isn’t really pronounced the way the dictionary says it is.

This is the symbol for the vowel in book, and I think the way we say it is a lot more like the OO vowel, detour.

Detour. Detour. Detour. Say that with me. Detour.

Something you might do on a long road trip is get food from a drive through,

where you pull right up to the restaurant, you don’t even have to get out of your car, you order from a window.

On the sign, you’ll often see this non-standard spelling. The word should actually be spelled THROUGH,

but using this shortened spelling has become popular with drive through’s.

Drive thru.

Drive thru. Say that with me.

Drive thru.

Exit. This is where you leave the highway, and this word has two different pronunciations.

The X can either be pronounced KS, exit, ks-ks, or GZ, exit, gz-gz. Both are acceptable.

You choose the one you like.

I think I usually use the GZ pronunciation.

Exit. Exit. Say that with me. Exit.

Flat tire. I hope you never get one! This is David changing our flat tire once in the airport parking lot.

To deal with a flat tire you’re going to need a spare, and a jack.

Flat tire, notice I’m saying that with just one T.

Flat tire. It’s not flat-tire.

One stop of air, one release into a true T. Flat tire. Say that with me. Flat tire.

Jack. Jack. Say that with me. Jack.

A spare tire is the extra tire that is usually stored under the trunk of your car.

But it’s also an idiom that means, a roll of fat around someone’s waist.

Why not have another beer? I’m working on my spare tire. Spare tire. Spare tire. Say that with me. Spare tire.

Gas station and service plaza.

A gas station is something you can find anywhere. Simply, a place to get gas.

But a service plaza is something particular to interstates, or highways.

You don’t have to take an exit, get on a different road, it’s just right there, right off the highway,

accessible only from the highway. Gas station. Notice there, just like with ‘flat tire’,

which connected with a single T sound, these words are connecting with a single S sound.

Gas station. Gas station. Gas station. Say that with me. Gas station.

Service plaza. A service plaza has not just gas, but bathrooms, and lots of options for food.

Service plaza. Service plaza. Say that with me. Service plaza.

Another thing you might find on the interstate is a rest area or rest stop –

these don’t have gas station or restaurants.

Rest area – the word after ‘rest’ begins with a vowel and I use the T to connect. Rest area. Rest area.

But in ‘rest stop’, the ST is followed by a consonant, and I drop the T in ‘rest’. Rest stop, Rest stop.

I just connect the two words with an S sound. It’s pretty common in spoken English to drop the T

between two other consonants. Rest area, rest stop. Rest area, rest stop. Say those with me.

Rest area, rest stop.

My husband and I debated.

He said he uses ‘rest area’ and ‘service plaza’ interchangeably, and I said: No. They are not the same.

You can't usually get gas at a rest area, can you? Isn't it generally just a rest area?

Oh, I use ‘rest area’ and ‘service plaza’ interchangeably.

Oh babe, those are different things.

Well, I tend to take a little bit of a rest at a service plaza so...

But you can't get service at a rest area.

Fair enough.

Interchangeably – that means no difference in meaning.

He said he uses ‘rest area’ and ‘service plaza’ to mean the same thing.

Fair enough – this is something you can say when you’re arguing or debating with someone,

and they make a good point. You can’t argue it. What they said makes sense.

Fair enough.

Now, let’s talk about a word i’ve already said several times, interstate.

Notice I don’t say the first T.

That's very common.

In fact, if you say that first T, it will likely sound unnatural and overpronounced.

It’s common in English to drop the T after N, for example, interstate, interview, internet.

And it’s not just in ‘inter’ words. Take the word ‘wanted’ for example, or the word ‘center’.

We had centercourt seats.

Did you say 'interstate' babe?

Yeah.

Steve, do you say 'interstate' or 'in-terstate'?

I rarely overpronounce the Ts in words.

So you, you would consider 'interstate' an over-pronunciation.

I would.

So, you say 'innerstate'?

Yeah.

I, I'm not sure you can differentiate between "i-n-n-e-r" and "i-n-t-e-r" in the way I pronounce words.