

Silvia	Diego

Views #1075 | Intermediate (B1)

Retail Therapy

Silvia talks about her love of shopping as Diego ponders if she need help.

Script
Vocab
Quiz

Diego: So, Silvia, I hear you have thirty handbags and thirty-five pairs of shoes.

Silvia: Yeah, I know. Actually, it's a little bit of a sad story if I tell you why I have a lot of bags and shoes.

Diego: It's OK, we have time.

Silvia: Actually, I love to shop. I don't know what girl doesn't love to shop, and I love shopping and so basically how I ended up with all these shoes is because I broke up and I was sad and it was like therapy for me to go shopping.

Diego: So it was retail therapy.

Silvia: Exactly. So yeah, I just went crazy shopping. For me I don't know, I just feel good shopping, and the other thing is I like to travel a lot, and when I'm traveling then I also buy a lot of stuff. Like the handbags I have, some are traditional looking bags from Vietnam or Cambodia, Thailand.

Diego: Different countries.

Silvia: And it's so cheap. That's the thing. Sometimes I go somewhere and I see everything so cheap that I go crazy shopping.

Diego: Wow! But do you really need thirty handbags?

Silvia: I'm a girl. Of course I need thirty handbags.

Diego: Do you really need thirty five pairs of shoes?

Silvia: Mmm?

Diego: No. That's quite interesting. Have you ever worn everything?

Silvia: No.

Diego: You haven't. OK.

Silvia: No, not yet. And actually last week, I went through ... I was walking and I saw this store had a sale and I went in and as an excuse, it was by birthday last week, so I thought, well, I'm far away from home, and no one gives me any gifts so maybe I should give myself some gifts and I almost used my credit parents credit card, and I thought oh, I will just call them and tell them like hey, happy birthday, but in the end, I ended up paying for the stuff.

Diego: OK, that's good, so you're a responsible shopoholic.

Silvia: I'm trying to control it. Actually, before last week, I spend a few months not buying anything, but I couldn't resist the sale.

Diego: But you do know that the sale sign is just cheap marketing, right?

Silvia: No, my God, it was a really good sale.

Diego: No, I think you're just ...

Silvia: No, it was a good sale.

Diego: ... a victim of good marketing.

Silvia: Maybe but still. I'm happy with what I bought so.

Diego: OK, so as long as you're happy, that's good.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

broke up

I broke up and I was sad.

When we break up with someone, it means we end a relationship. Notice the samples.

I saw my boyfriend holding hands with Linda at the mall. I broke up with him the next day .
Inside Hollywood reported that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had broken up. Is it true?

retail therapy

So it was retail therapy.

'Retail therapy' is a funny idiom that suggests shopping can help us feel better when we are sad. Notice the following.

My girlfriend broke up with me last night. I guess it’s off to Computer World for some retail therapy.
Retail therapy works for me, but it’s expensive!

That's the thing

And it's so cheap. That's the thing.

The phrase ‘That’s the thing’ talks about the reason for something. Note the sample sentences.

That’s the thing about retail therapy; it helps me to forget about my problems.
What I don’t like about relationships is that I lose my independence. That’s the thing.

in the end

But in the end, I ended up paying for the stuff.

The phrase ‘In the end’ is another way to say ‘finally’. We often use it when we are telling a story about something that happened to us. Notice the following.

I save a little money every month, but in the end, I just go shopping and spend it all.
My boyfriend and I were so different. We tried really hard to stay together, but in the end, we just broke up.

couldn't resist