Bundle up
You heard this one when I was describing the facial recognition software on the new iPhone X. I said if you’re outside in the cold weather, you might want to bundle up in a scarf and a hat, but you’d still want your phone to recognize you. In this sense, bundle up means to dress warmly. Where I live in Chicago, temperatures often hit 0 degrees Fahrenheit, which is equal to about 18 degrees below zero Celsius. If you want to go outside in that weather, you need to bundle up. You need to put on a hat to cover your head and ears, gloves for your hands, you need a heavy winter coat, and even a scarf to cover your neck and part of your face. It can be kind of a hassle to walk around all bundled up, but it’s definitely worth it when there’s snow and ice blowing in your face. Commuting to work and school can be a hassle. You first have to get bundled up before you leave the house, then maybe you get in the car or on a bus or train and you take some of your layers off. And then when you get to your destination, you have to bundle back up just to get those last few steps to work. This is a constant preoccupation of parents, who always want their kids to bundle up before going outside. And it’s not just humans who have to bundle up in the cold—you often see dogs outside with sweaters and protective boots on their feet.
Comb through
The second phrase from today’s program that you should know is “comb through”. I said that rescue workers are still combing through the damage in Mexico. In this sense, it means that rescue workers are still doing a detailed search of the area, looking for people who may be trapped. When you use comb through, you refer to looking through lots and lots of things, hoping to find something small or important. One time when people typically comb through stuff is when they are moving to a new house. When I first moved here to Chicago, I combed through listings of rental apartments and condominiums for sale, searching through hundreds of listings trying to find the right place to live. I wanted to find the very best place for me and my circumstances, so it made sense to comb through all those web sites, looking for the right fit. Then, when it comes time to actually move, you don’t want to move stuff you don’t need in your new house, so maybe you comb through all of your belongings to see what you don’t need.
You probably have dozens of shirts, pants, belts, casual clothes—but if you’re like me, you don’t wear a lot of it. So although it might be hard, it makes sense to comb through all that stuff in order to separate the clothes you don’t want from the ones you do want. For the first few days in your new house—or, again if you’re like me, the first few weeks or even months—everything is in boxes or suitcases. But inevitably you need to find one document that’s filed away in a box somewhere, but you don’t remember where you packed it. Now you have to open all your paper files and comb through them just to find the one document you need. So now you can probably better understand the situation in Mexico, where there are thousands of buildings that are damaged, including many that have collapsed, and rescue workers want to comb through the damage, looking for survivors. They’re going house by house, building by building, looking for survivors; in most cases, there isn’t anyone trapped, but they need to do a detailed search, just in case someone needs help.
That’s all for this week’s program. I hope you can start using bundle up and comb through soon in your own conversations. Speaking of which, if you’d like to practice your new words or ask questions about the show, make sure to send me a message on Facebook or Twitter. The show’s name is PlainEnglishPod on both. And if you’re listening on your phone, you might find the transcripts on the web site helpful. Each episode is available online at PlainEnglish.com. See you next week.
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