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VOCABULARY
1. in-laws (n)
2. pull out (phr v)
3. tamper with evidence (v phr)
4. forage (v)
5. tight-knit (adj)
Episode 5 transcript
Intro
One of Australia’s most famous murder cases ever began with a quiet family lunch and ended with three tragic deaths. In today’s episode, we explore the case of Erin Patterson, the woman who served her guests a fatal mushroom meal. Why did this lunch turn deadly? What evidence helped the jury decide? Let’s find out together.
Today, as a bonus extra, I’m going to give you a tip for one of the best ways to improve your pronunciation fast. Wait till the end for that.
First, let’s look at the vocabulary from today’s episode before we then see it in context in a minute.
Introducing the vocabulary
Vocabulary item one this week is what you call the parents of your husband or wife. What is that? It’s in-laws. You can say parents in-law, but more commonly and more informally in-laws. We’re going to look at pronunciation and usage in depth later.
Vocabulary item two. If you agree to attend an event and then later decide not to, there’s a phrasal verb to describe that. It’s pull out. Pull out. You agree to attend and later you decide not to. Pull out.
If you change, hide or destroy something that could be used in a police investigation or court case, usually to mislead or protect someone you… tamper with evidence, tamper with evidence. This is a verb phrase and it’s vocabulary item three today.
Vocabulary item four is when you search for food in nature, especially wild plants or mushrooms, as in the story today, the word is forage. Forage.
And I’m going to give you a crucial pronunciation tip for this word and similar words in the last section of this episode.
And the last one today, vocabulary item five, is an adjective to describe a group of people who are very close, supportive and connected like a family, but more usually a small community. We say it’s a… tight-knit community. Tight-knit.
Now on onto today’s story.
The news story
Erin Patterson, Australia’s Mushroom Murderer.
Erin Patterson, a 50-year-old woman from Victoria, Australia, has been found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
The case began with a family lunch at her home in July, 2023, where she served Beef Wellington, which is a dish of beef and mushrooms wrapped in pastry. She served this to her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and Heather’s husband, Ian.
All four became seriously ill. Don, Gail and Heather died. Ian survived, but only after weeks in hospital.
The prosecution argued that Patterson deliberately included death cap mushrooms, one of the world’s deadliest fungi in the meal. Her estranged husband – that means they were separated but not divorced – her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, had been invited but pulled out.
Although Patterson claimed the poisonings were a terrible accident, the jury was convinced she meant to kill those people. Several pieces of evidence led to her conviction.
Patterson’s own portion of the meal did not contain mushrooms, and she served her meal on a different-coloured plate. Come on, that’s suspicious, isn’t it?
Also, she later tampered with evidence by throwing away a food dehydrator believed to have been used to prepare the mushrooms, and also by wiping her phone.
She also gave conflicting stories about where the mushrooms came from, first saying they were bought at to market, then claiming they came from an Asian supermarket.
Although she wiped her phone, mobile tower data showed that Erin was near areas where death caps were known to grow, suggesting she may have foraged for them.
But there’s one thing we don’t know. What was her motive? Why did she do it? Nobody knows. But she had tried to kill her husband before.
The case shocked Australia and especially the tight-knit town of Leongatha, where the victims were well known.
Patterson now faces life in prison, with sentencing to follow.
The vocabulary in depth
The vocabulary in more depth.
Vocabulary item one was in-laws. This means your husband’s or wife’s parents. In the news story, you heard that Erin invited her in-laws for lunch.
A pronunciation tip here, which is very important: don’t pronounce the W. So in-laws is s spelled I-N dash L-A-W-S. But don’t pronounce that W.
Listen to the way I say it. Laws. Law. Law. In-laws. There’s no double sound in that. The stress is on the first syllable in-laws. My in-laws.
This word is interesting because, although officially it means any person that you are related to by marriage, – so for example, your brother-in-law, sister-in-law, etc – in everyday conversation, if you say “My in-laws,” native English speakers will assume that you’re talking about your parents in-law specifically.
So unless you want to confuse British people, then only use it to talk about parents in-law. unless you specify otherwise.
Vocabulary item two was a phrasal verb when you agree to attend an event and then later decide not to. Do you remember? Pull out. Pull out.
Don’t forget the dark L at the end of pull. So it’s not pull, it’s pull – /l/. It’s called a dark L and it comes often at the ends of words.
In the story, who pulled out of the lunch? Do you remember? Who pulled out? Erin’s husband. He pulled out and it was lucky for him.
I don’t know if he suspected something. Probably not because then he would’ve informed his parents, I guess. So maybe he just didn’t want to see Erin again.
When was the last time you pulled out of an event and why did you do it?
Vocabulary item three was tamper with evidence, which means to change, hide or destroy something that could be used in a police investigation or court case. And of course, this is against the law.
Erin in the story was accused of tampering with evidence by wiping her phone vocabulary.
Item four was searching for food, usually in the wild, and the verb is forage. Forage, F-O-R-A-G-E.
Why do people do this? Well, it’s a free way to get food, but you have to know what you are doing, especially with mushrooms – you can kill yourself… or others.
So in the story, of course, Erin went foraging for poisonous mushrooms.
Now, a very important pronunciation tip, for this and similar words, which you might meet more often: forage. How am I saying the last syllable there, the second syllable?
Forage.
It’s spelled A-G-E, but I’m definitely not saying -age. I’m saying /ɪdʒ/. It’s crazy, but it’s English spelling. We pronounce it more like it was an I, not an A. Forage. /ɪdʒ/.
If you don’t believe me, look in the Cambridge Dictionary online and you’ll see the phonetic transcription, but I can promise you it’s true. We pronounce it /ɪdʒ/.
And, and we also pronounce all similar words with the suffix A-G-E like this. Other examples? Can you think of any?
I’ll give you some: mortgage baggage, marriage, cabbage.
Vocabulary item five was tight-knit. So tight – T-I-G-H-T – then a dash and then knit – K-N-I-T. And it’s an adjective. It’s a nice high-level adjective.
It describes a group of people who are very close, supportive and connected, so a family or small community.
From the new story, we learnt that the murders shocked the tight-knit town where everyone knew each other.
Do you live in a tight-knit community? Tell me in the comments.
Shadowing
Right, I promised you a really crucial tip to improve your pronunciation fast this week, didn’t I? So here it is.
Have you ever heard of shadowing, shadowing? Shadowing means listening to a native speaker and repeating what they say immediately, almost like an echo. You copy not just the words but the intonation, the rhythm and stress of their speech.
It’s different from traditional listen-and-repeat because you speak at the same time, at the same time as the speaker or maybe just a split second behind.
Why does it work so well? It improves your pronunciation because it trains your mouth to move like, like a native speaker’s. You have to form your mouth completely differently and this can train you in that.
It also boosts fluency because you can learn to speak without stopping to translate or think.
It enhances listening because you notice natural speech patterns, linking sounds and contractions.
And it builds your confidence because you get used to speaking out loud so it doesn’t feel strange anymore.
So how do you practise this? Let’s talk about the practicalities, how to practise shadowing.
Choose a piece of audio, so this podcast, for example. But not the whole episode. Perhaps to start with just 30 to 60 seconds, whichever part you want.
It should have clear speech, and I would suggest you try to pick an accent. Of course, all accents are equally valid, but choose one that you like and that you want your speech to follow, because of course, if you’re constantly shadowing with a different accent, one day American, one day British standard, one day Yorkshire, you’re going to get a bit confused.
Listen first, without speaking – focus on tone and rhythm – and then listen again and speak along with the native speaker just slightly after, but more or less following them.
Use a transcript, which for my podcast is available on my website (see the description for the link) but aim to shadow by ear, so really be listening rather than just reading.
And repeat the same clip several times until your speech becomes smoother and you’re more confident.
And you can record yourself – I know it sounds horrifying! – to compare and improve.
Outro
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