Show 174 Tuesday 24 October

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Intro

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
In Japan there’s a lot of English writing on products. And some of it’s perfect English and some of it’s a little strange or very strange.
Some people call this “Engrish”. The engrish.com site defines Engrish as: the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design.
I have a few examples to show you from products that I’ve bought.
This is from socks.
And this is from the cover of a free photo album.
There is a popular chain store in Japan called Tsutaya. And on the sign, underneath it, it says “Culture Convenience Club”. I thought that was a slogan but I was just looking on the net and I found out that actually Culture Convenience Club is the name of the parent company.
But anyway... it’s kind of strange English I think.
So I was wondering when you hear the name culture convenience club what kind of shop do you think it is?
Of course if you’re from Japan, you know, but if you’re not from Japan please leave a comment and tell me what kind of shop; you think it is.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today a 21-year-old man who punched an 81-year-old woman has been jailed for two years.

Last month this man was riding his bicycle in Tauranga, New Zealand. Witnesses said he was swerving and abusing motorists.
He crashed into the back of a car and fell of his bike. He wasn’t hurt, but he was so angry that he punched the driver of the car in the face.
She suffered a broken nose, two broken eye sockets and a fractured palate.
Newspapers labeled the attack road rage but the crown prosecutor said it was wrong to minimize the serious violence by calling it road rage. He said it was just simple street thuggery.
The man had 18 previous convictions.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 24th of October.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
# 116 So the meaning isn't important?

Lisa and Sarah talk about strange English.
Step 1: Repeat Lisa’s lines.
Step 2: Read Lisa’s lines on the screen and talk to Sarah.

Lisa Why is there so much strange English on things in Japan?

Sarah I think it’s just for design.

Lisa So the meaning isn’t important?

Sarah Yeah. Have you seen the site engrish.com?

Lisa No, what’s that?

Sarah They have lots of photos of examples of strange English.

Lisa From Japan?

Sarah Yeah, most of it's from Japan, but there’s stuff from other countries too.

Notes

Music on the show used with permission from jamendo.com

Today's questionanswer music:
Artist: fukufuku
Album: self-aaa
Track: chemosynthesis
site
music at jamendo

Today's news

Show 173 Monday 23 October

Watch today's show at YouTube

Intro

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show. On Thursday I was talking about long words in German and in English.
And then I did a bit more reading and I found out that the longest English place name in the world is in New Zealand. It’s the name of a hill and the name is:
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu
I remember memorizing that word when I was at University for a cool party trick. It’s 85 letters long. So that’s the longest officially recognized place name in an English-speaking country. But there are longer place names in other languages. And the longest place name in the world spelt in English is this:
Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit
That’s the full ceremonial name of the city of Bangkok in Thailand.
This is the name in Thai:
กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทราอยุธยามหาดิลก ภพนพรัตน์ ราชธานีบุรีรมย์ อุดมราชนิเวศน์ มหาสถาน อมรพิมาน อวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะ วิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์
And this is what it means:
"The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam."

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today a New Zealand man has been honored with a Darwin Award.

Charles Robert Darwin was an English man. He was born in 1809 and died in 1882. In 1859 he wrote a book called The Origin of Species.
He proposed the theory of natural selection.
Natural selection is the process by which individual organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with unfavorable traits.
Darwin Awards are named after Charles Darwin.
A Darwin Award is given to someone who improves the human gene pool by killing or sterilizing themselves in a stupid way.
Wendy Northcutt has written several books on Darwin Awards. Three New Zealanders feature in her latest book. One of them crashed his car after using dishwashing liquid instead of brake fluid.

And that was Stick News for Monday the 23rd of October.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
# 115 Is it the name of a town?

Miki and Sarah talk about the longest place name in New Zealand.
Step 1: Repeat Miki’s lines.
Step 2: Read Miki’s lines on the screen and talk to Sarah.

Miki Can you say the longest place name in New Zealand?

Sarah Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

Miki Wow. Is it the name of a town?

Sarah No, it’s the name of a hill.

Miki What does it mean?

Sarah Something about a man called Taumata who swallowed mountains.

Miki Do people always say the whole name?

Sarah No. They shorten it to Taumata.

Notes

Music on the show used with permission from jamendo.com

Today's questionanswer music:
Artist: fukufuku
Album: self-aaa
Track: solitude
site
music at jamendo

Darwin awards.
Today's news

#172 Mochi

Watch today's show at YouTube

sunday kitchen
#24 Mochi

This is the first book I bought in Japan.
It was when reading this book that I discovered something fascinating about the moon.
There are rabbits on the moon making mochi!
Wow.
I was pretty happy to learn that this delicacy was also available on earth.
In Japan Mochi is a traditional new year food.
It is made by pounding rice with a wooden hammer.
Mochi you buy at the supermarket is made with a machine.
Mochi is very sticky. Every year some people die eating it when it gets stuck in their throat.
There are many ways you can eat mochi.
I usually just heat it up in a fry pan and eat it with nori and soy sauce.
Before it’s heated up it’s hard.
As it heats up it becomes soft and expands.
It’s delicious.

Music on the show used with permission from jamendo.com
Artist: fukufuku
Album: self-aaa
Track: 1→2→1’→2'
site
music at jamendo