142.-Couch Surfing (profesor)

Feifei
Welcome to The English We Speak, I’m Feifei.

Rob
And I’m Rob!

Feifei
A very messy and scruffy Rob, if I may say so. Did you not have time to brush your hair today?

Rob
Feifei, things are a bit difficult at the moment. I’m having some work done on my house.

Feifei
And has your hairbrush gone missing?

Rob
No, no. I’m not living at home at the moment – I’m sleeping where anyone has a spare sofa. It was Neil’s house on Monday, Paul’s on Tuesday, Sam’s on Wednesday…

Feifei
I get it. You are couch surfing.

Rob
Yes – even though I don’t own a surfboard! But I am moving from one couch – or sofa – to another, which is a bit like surfing!

Feifei
Yes, when someone is couch surfing it means they temporarily stay in other people’s houses for free – often sleeping on the sofa or couch – because they don’t have their own home. But no surfboard needed!

Rob
No, not unless you want to use one as a bed! Let’s hear some more examples…

Examples
Since I left university, I haven’t been able to find a job so I’ve been couch surfing at my friends’ to try and save money.

I’ve been couch surfing around the world. It’s a great way to meet other people and it makes travelling affordable.

I’ve had an argument with my girlfriend, so I’m moving out. Do you mind if I couch surf with you guys for a few weeks? Please!

Feifei
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re talking about the phrase ‘couch surfing’. This describes temporarily staying at different people’s homes for free because you haven’t got your own home to stay in. It’s not great if you haven’t got your own place to live in but luckily for you, Rob, the work on your house is temporary, and you’ll be back living at home soon.

Rob
Well, maybe not.

Feifei
Oh! Why’s that?

Rob
Well, the builder has found a lot of the woodwork to be rotten and it needs replacing – and that could takes weeks. So I was wondering…

Feifei
You want to couch surf at my house? The answer is no! I don’t want you carrying out the other meaning of couch surfing.

Rob
And what’s that?

Feifei
Couch surfing can sometimes mean just lying on the sofa watching TV or browsing the internet on your laptop.

Rob
Yeah. But I’d do the washing up.

Feifei
The answer is still no! Bye, Rob.

Rob
Bye everyone.