What is a “Lazy Susan” in English?
Tiny house tour with kitchen, bathroom and bedroom
A2 English listening practice · English · Picked for people who know a little
A Lazy Susan is a round tray that spins on a base. Americans put one in the middle of a dinner table to pass food without anyone reaching, or build one inside a kitchen cabinet to find spices and pots. The name first appeared in a 1917 Vanity Fair magazine ad, but nobody knows who Susan was. The “lazy” part refers to the tray, which “does the work” of passing food for you.
In this clip, a tiny-house tour shows a kitchen with a Lazy Susan built into the corner cabinet to save space. American homes use them often, especially in older kitchens with deep corner cabinets. Many Chinese-American restaurants put a giant Lazy Susan on every dinner table.
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How common are the words in this A2 English listening practice video?
How common in written English
How common in spoken English
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In American home-tour YouTube and HGTV shows (Property Brothers, Fixer Upper)
- ▸In American kitchen-design ads (IKEA, Lowe’s, The Home Depot)
- ▸In American Chinese restaurants with round dining tables
- ▸In American family Thanksgiving dinner setups
- ▸In American dollar-store and thrift-store kitchenware