EnBooo Podcast

Episode 80 • Eyesight

Blurry

Reading glasses

20/20 vision

Be as blind as a bat

Squint

Story

Daughter: Dad, did you read the news? Look at this, here, on my phone. I just can’t believe that they would-
Dad: Uuuhm-
Daughter: What?
Dad: There’s something wrong with your screen, honey. It’s a little blurry.
Daughter: What? Let me see. No, it’s fine.
Dad: What do you mean it’s fine. I’m telling you, I can’t read a single word.
Daughter: Oh… Dad… I think it might be time for some reading glasses.
Dad: What? No! What are you talking about? I have 20/20 vision! I don’t need glasses!
Daughter: Oh really? Okay. Mmmh… Let’s see. Here. Liberty’s Christmas card. What does it say?
Dad: Uhhh, I was. No, no, no, sorry… I went… No, wait…
Daughter: Dad, you’re as blind as a bat!
Dad: Oh stop it!
Daughter: I’m serious! I can see you’re squinting… It can’t be good for your eyes!
Dad: Fine, perhaps I can’t see very well, but I don’t need glasses yet! Please, don’t tell your mom, otherwise she’s going to make me –
Daughter: Mom…
Dad: I can’t believe it!

Questions

Ready to take a look at the expressions?

Blurry

'There’s something wrong with your screen, honey. It’s a little blurry.'

• If something is blurry (like an image or a word), will you be able to see its edges or not?

No, if something is blurry, that means you cannot see its edges. It looks like a spot. It's not very well defined. You can't see it very well.

• Was there ever a time when you couldn’t see very well and everything looked blurry to you? Why? What had happened before?

I can't see very well, so if I look in the distance, even now, things are going to look blurry to me. I remember back in the day when I was younger and I used to go to swimming classes, and I wouldn't wear goggles, so my eyes would be in the water for, literally, an hour. After coming out of the pool, I remember everything looked blurry for, I think, about an hour.

Reading glasses

'I think it might be time for some reading glasses.'

• Who usually needs reading glasses? Children, young adults or adults?

Reading glasses, there's different types of glasses. Obviously, children may need glasses as well, but reading glasses usually are specific for adults. I'm talking, like, people that are over 40, that's when they usually start needing reading glasses.

• Do you need to go to an eye doctor before buying a pair of reading glasses?

No, not necessarily. You can, if you want to, but that's the thing about reading glasses, is that you can go to a store or the pharmacy, and you are going to be able to buy your own pair. You don't need to have a prescription, you don't need to go to an eye doctor to buy a pair of reading glasses.

• Do you need to wear reading glasses from time to time or not?

No, I don't, not yet. My mom does, and she has, I don't know, like five or six pairs, because every week she loses a pair. She bought a few. I don't know if she's lost them all already, maybe. There's one pair that's really funny, because they're normal reading glasses, but then on each side, they have a little light that she can turn on. I remember this one night, I got up, went into the other room, and I was staying at my mom's, and I looked at her, and she turned around, and she looked like one of these fish that live in the abyss. The only thing that I could see, because it was all dark, it was these two little lights. It was hilarious.

20/20 vision

'I have 20/20 vision! I don’t need glasses!'

• If you have 20/20 vision, does that normally mean you can see very well or very poorly?

When people say they have 20/20 vision, usually, not always, but usually means that they can see very well. It's a lot more complicated than that, but I'm not going to get into the details of it because I'm not an expert.

• Do you have or do you know someone that has 20/20 vision?

I think my sister has 20/20 vision. I definitely don't, because she had very poor eyesight a few years ago, and then she got eye surgery. Now she has 20/20 vision and doesn't need glasses anymore. Good for her.

Be as blind as a bat

'Dad, you’re as blind as a bat!'

• If you say that someone is as blind as a bat, does that actually mean they are blind?

No, when you say that someone is as blind as a bat, it just means that they see very poorly, they don't see well at all. It doesn't mean that they're blind, and it's also something that you would say as a joke. You wouldn't say that to offend someone.

• Do you know someone who is as blind as a bat?

My boyfriend's blind as a bat. The poor thing. The other day, he took off his glasses, which he never does, but for some reason he did. Then he was looking for them. He had gotten up to do something, and then he was looking for them and he was patting the couch. He was literally trying to find them using only his hands because he couldn't see a thing. I thought it was really funny because that's usually something that you see in cartoons and stuff, where you would see the character that has lost their glasses and they can't find them. My eyesight is not that bad, so I don't know what that feels like. The poor thing, my poor boyfriend, Marcos, yes, he is as blind as a bat.

Squint

'I can see you ‘re squinting... It can’t be good for your eyes!'

• When squinting, do your eyes open even more or do you partly close them?

When you're squinting, try to do it now. You're closing both of your eyes just a little bit. You still need to be able to see.

• Why would someone squint?

One of the main reasons for someone to squint is because they want to try and see better, either something that's very close to them or something that's very far from them. For example, I have to squint when I'm looking in the distance, because if I'm not wearing my glasses, if I don't squint, I'm not going to be able to see clearly.

• If you have to see something that’s far away, do you need to squint to see it clearly? What about something that’s really close?

Yes. Like I said, every time that I- and that's actually most of the times, because I never wear my glasses, but if I'm walking around and I need to read something that's far away, or see something that's far away, I will have to squint. Sometimes it's embarrassing, because sometimes I want to take a good look at a person, and I'm not wearing my glasses, so I will squint. That's also really rude because then the other person might turn around, and it's happened to me. They might turn around, they might look at me and notice that I'm looking at them very intensely, and that's a little awkward. If something's really close, no. For now, I don't need to squint to see.

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EnBooo Podcast

Episode 80 • Eyesight

Blurry

Reading glasses

20/20 vision

Be as blind as a bat

Squint

Story

Questions

Ready to take a look at the expressions?

Blurry

'There’s something wrong with your screen, honey. It’s a little blurry.'

• If something is blurry (like an image or a word), will you be able to see its edges or not?

No, if something is blurry, that means you cannot see its edges. It looks like a spot. It's not very well defined. You can't see it very well.

• Was there ever a time when you couldn’t see very well and everything looked blurry to you? Why? What had happened before?

Reading glasses

'I think it might be time for some reading glasses.'

• Who usually needs reading glasses? Children, young adults or adults?

Reading glasses, there's different types of glasses. Obviously, children may need glasses as well, but reading glasses usually are specific for adults. I'm talking, like, people that are over 40, that's when they usually start needing reading glasses.

• Do you need to go to an eye doctor before buying a pair of reading glasses?

No, not necessarily. You can, if you want to, but that's the thing about reading glasses, is that you can go to a store or the pharmacy, and you are going to be able to buy your own pair. You don't need to have a prescription, you don't need to go to an eye doctor to buy a pair of reading glasses.

• Do you need to wear reading glasses from time to time or not?

20/20 vision

'I have 20/20 vision! I don’t need glasses!'

• If you have 20/20 vision, does that normally mean you can see very well or very poorly?

When people say they have 20/20 vision, usually, not always, but usually means that they can see very well. It's a lot more complicated than that, but I'm not going to get into the details of it because I'm not an expert.

• Do you have or do you know someone that has 20/20 vision?

I think my sister has 20/20 vision. I definitely don't, because she had very poor eyesight a few years ago, and then she got eye surgery. Now she has 20/20 vision and doesn't need glasses anymore. Good for her.

Be as blind as a bat

'Dad, you’re as blind as a bat!'

• If you say that someone is as blind as a bat, does that actually mean they are blind?

No, when you say that someone is as blind as a bat, it just means that they see very poorly, they don't see well at all. It doesn't mean that they're blind, and it's also something that you would say as a joke. You wouldn't say that to offend someone.

• Do you know someone who is as blind as a bat?

Squint

'I can see you ‘re squinting... It can’t be good for your eyes!'

• When squinting, do your eyes open even more or do you partly close them?

When you're squinting, try to do it now. You're closing both of your eyes just a little bit. You still need to be able to see.

• Why would someone squint?

• If you have to see something that’s far away, do you need to squint to see it clearly? What about something that’s really close?

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