Show 253 Thursday 11 January

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HI, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

Someone called me a moron yesterday on YouTube or it might have been this morning. I can’t remember. Anyway ... it wasn’t on one of my videos it was on another video because obviously they didn’t like the comment that I wrote. I thought that was a bit harsh. If you don’t like someone’s comment I think it’s better to explain why. But anyway, each to their own.

It thought it was kind of funny at first, so I told my boyfriend. But he was like “what’s a moron”. So he didn’t know that word. Because it’s not the kind of word that you usually learn when you’re studying English. It’s not very useful for a start.

But I thought I would teach you it – because does help to understand if you want to read comments on YouTube.

moron noun (informal) an offensive way of referring to sb that you think is very stupid.
Examples: They’re a bunch of morons. You moron! Now look what you’ve done.

And the adjective is moronic. So, for example: a moronic stare, a moronic TV programme.
So this is one of those words where the stress changes depending on if it’s a noun or adjective.

So, yeah, it’s an offensive word so I don’t recommend using it.

Another word that you often come across when you read YouTube comments is retard.
That word is used so often ... I swear it must be one of the most common words after a and the. And before I started using You Tube I hadn’t heard it for a long time ... not since primary school I think. Because it’s another offensive word and it’s not a word that most adults wouldn’t use.

retard noun (slang) an offensive way of describing somebody who is not intelligent or who has not developed normally.

And the adjective is pronounced retarded. So, again, the stress changes.

The word is also a verb which has a different pronunciation and a different meaning too.
It’s a formal verb which means delay or hold back in terms of development or progress.

For example: The progression of the disease can be retarded by early surgery.

So the noun and the adjective are offensive and the verb is formal. So you’ll probably never use any of them. Wow, today’s lesson was useful.

But I guarantee you’ll come across those informal, offensive words when you’re reading YouTube comments.

So your homework today is - go and find a popular video – say off the featured page or most viewed or most discussed and count how many times you see the words moron, moronic, retard and retarded.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today a man who killed four people while driving drunk last year has been sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Last year in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, a 27-year-old man, Ken Kuwayama, drove after drinking. He drove through a red light and crashed into a taxi.
The taxi driver and three passengers died.
The Nagoya District Court sentenced him to six years in prison.

That was Stick News for Thursday the 11th of January.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

There’s a big mountain of snow outside my window. Wow.

conversations with sarah
#152 What happened to the truck driver?

Step 1: Repeat Toby’s lines.
Step 2: Read Toby’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Toby Do you know someone that was killed by a drunk driver?

Sarah Not any of my close friends or family… but some people in the town where I’m from.

Toby From your school?

Sarah Yeah, three sisters died together. I remember a guy was driving a truck when he was drunk and he crashed into a car with a whole family inside.

Toby And they all died?

Sarah All of them except the father.

Toby Really? So his wife and all his kids died?

Sarah Yeah.

Toby What happened to the truck driver?

Sarah He survived. I remember he got money from the government because he was sick or he couldn’t work or something and some people weren’t very happy about that.

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