Show 146 Tuesday 26 September

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Intro

Hi, I’m Sarah. This is the The Daily English Show.
And today I’d like to talk about the word smirk.

Yesterday I watched a video on the net taken from Fox TV. It was an interview with Bill Clinton.
And the interviewer asked: Why didn’t you do more to put Bin Laden and Al Qaeda out of business when you were president?
Then Bill Clinton seemed to be quite annoyed – and he talked for about 10 minutes and during part of it he said: “And you’ve got that little smirk on your face. And you think you’re so clever.”
Smirk means: to smile in a silly or unpleasant way that shows that you are pleased with yourself, know sth that other people do not know” etc.

So I think the Fox guy was definitely smirking.
Smirking is pretty nasty and rude ... I probably did it a lot when I was a teenager.
But no, smirking is probably something you should avoid if your aim is effective English communication.
Better things to do with your mouth: smile, grin or beam.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora. In Stick News today a religious group in New Zealand may lose their labor law exemptions after it was revealed they hired private investigators to dig dirt on politicians.

The exclusive brethrens are a Christian group found throughout Europe and in the English Speaking World. There are 10,000 exclusive brethrens in New Zealand. Their way of life is rather different than the rest of the population. According to their website, they “shun the conduits of evil communications: television, the radio, and the Internet.”
And “Their approach is non-political. They do not vote, but hold Government in the highest respect as God's ministers , used by Him to restrain evil and provide conditions for the promotion of the glad tidings.”
Thanks to this “non-political” approach, 649 employers currently enjoy an exemption from laws that say employers must allow union access to workplaces.
But it seems like the exclusive brethrens aren’t so non-political after all.
During the last election they spent 500,000 dollars on a campaign criticizing two political parties.
And it has now been revealed that they also hired two private investigators to dig dirt on politicians they don’t like.

Last week the leader of the opposition Don Brash admitted meeting Exclusive Brethren members and didn’t rule out meeting them again. But yesterday, he changed his mind. He said they crossed the line by hiring private investigators and his party wanted nothing to do with them. And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 26th of September. Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
# 96 How can you get food poisoning from a vegetable?

Mari and Sarah talk about Spinach.
Step 1: Repeat Mari’s lines.
Step 2: Read Mari’s lines on the screen and talk to Sarah.

Sarah Did you hear that in America people have been warned not to eat spinach because of food poisoning.

Mari Spinach?! How can you get food poisoning from a vegetable?

Sarah Yeah, that’s what I thought too. But apparently it’s from water contaminated with cattle feces.

Mari Cattle feces? What does that mean?

Sarah Cow shit.

Mari Gross! So now people can’t eat spinach?

Sarah Yeah. But apparently organic spinach is OK.

Mari Really? Why?

Sarah I don’t know. I guess they don’t grow their vegetables next to factory farms.

Notes

Music on the show used with permission from magnatune.com and jamendo.com

Today's questionanswer music:

Artist: NeXuS
Album: Trance Planet
Track: Night flyer
site
music at jamendo

Today's news
Exclusive Brethren
Exclusive Brethren site
Anti-greens leaflet

Dangerous spinach

Clinton interview short
Clinton interview long

From the Clinton interview:

Now I’ve never criticized President Bush and I don’t think this is useful. But you know we do have a government that thinks Afghanistan is only one seventh as important at Iraq.
And you ask me about terror and Al Qaeda with that sort of, sort dismissive thing, when all you have to do is read Richard Clark’s book to look at what we did in a comprehensive, systematic way to try to protect the country against terror.
And you’ve got that little smirk on your face. And you think you’re so clever.
But I had responsibility for trying to protect this country.
I tried and I failed to get Bin Laden. I regret it. But I did try.