Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
The video I recommend watching today is called: Tales Of Mere Existence "Subtext".
And it’s buy a guy called Lev.
I think it is a really interesting video to study.
In this sense the by subtext he means hidden meaning.
Similar to nuance – which is the subtle difference in meaning or expression.
Or connotation – which is (the) idea or feeling which a word invokes in addition to it’s primary meaning.
So the words: hello, hi and hey all have the exact same meaning – but which one you choose depends on the feeling that your trying to convey.
In the video he’s writing an email to a girl he met at a party and he’s trying to decided what to write. And the reason why it’s important is because he wants her to have a good impression of him. He probably wouldn’t think about it so much if it was just an email to one of his friends or family.
For example: I met you at the bar Saturday.
He thinks that sounds like he was expecting her to forget him, so he changes it to:
It was nice meeting you.
Then he thinks that sounds too polite and he finally decides on:
It was cool meeting you Saturday.
A bit of vocabulary:
To hit on basically means to flirt.
To behave towards sb as if you find them sexually attractive.
One sentence he writes is:
Then some drunk girl told me her life story.
I think the some in this sentence is interesting.
A lot of English students think that some always means two or more.
But it doesn’t.
You can use some with uncountable nouns to mean one.
For example:
I bought some bread.
Can I borrow some scissors?
Would you like some coffee?
In this sentence some girl means a girl – but by using the word some instead of a, it sounds like he didn’t really like her.
Yesterday I was at the gym and a guy came over and started talking to me.
Yesterday I was at the gym and some guy came over and started talking to me.
Just one little word is different – but it makes it sound quite different.
You can read the transcript for that video on the blog.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora, this is Stick News. Last night in Japan it was raining money.
Last night in Kofu, Yamanashi, a driver was at an intersection when he noticed what appeared to be paper falling from the sky.
He stopped his car to investigate and found that it was 10,000 yen notes.
He then called the police.
Police said that the money appeared to have been thrown from a pedestrian overpass.
A total of 35 notes were collected.
And that was Stick News for Thursday 5 of April.
Kia Ora.
conversations with sarah
#208 What would you do?
Step 1: Repeat Tom’s lines.
Step 2: Read Tom’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Tom What kind of idiot calls the police when money starts raining from the sky?
Sarah Mmm ... what would you do?
Tom I’d pick up the money and drive away.
Sarah Really?
Tom Yeah. What would you do?
Sarah I’d call the police.
Tom Why?
Sarah Because I’d just feel guilty if I kept it.
Tom But someone threw it away! It’s like a present.
Sarah Mmm. Anyway, if you picked it up someone might see you and call the police anyway, so ...
Tales Of Mere Existence "Subtext"
OK what should I put here? I suppose I could just stay hello. Actually I should probably make that “Hello from Lev”.
OK. Dear Mimi. Actually that might be a little bit too formal to say dear because I don’t really know her. So maybe just “Hi, Mimi”
But there’s something about hi that sounds uptight so maybe I should make it “Hey Mimi”. Yeah, that’s it. Hey Mimi.
OK now here I should definitely remind her who I am.
(This is Lev, I met you at the bar Saturday).
But wait that sounds like I’m expecting her to forget me so I should change that too.
(It was nice meeting you).
Nah, that’s too polite make that:
(It was cool meeting you Saturday).
Yeah, yeah, that’s it, that’s it.
OK, here I can be nice and say I hope she had a good night.
(Hope you had fun at your party).
Then I should tell her that I had a fantastic night so she’ll start to think that she would have had more fun if she was with me instead of going to the party that she went to.
(The bar got really crazy after you left).
And then, I’ll throw in some little indication that somebody was hitting on me so that maybe she’ll get kind of jealous.
(Then some drunk girl told me her life story).
Now how should I do this part?
How should I do this? How should I do this?
(I think you’re cute and).
No, no, no, no, no that’s too forward.
(I’d like to ask you out).
No, that’s too traditional.
(Would you like to get together?)
No.
(Meet up?)
No.
(Get coffee?)
No.
(Hang out?)
Perfect.
But wait a second ... “would you like to” is a yes or no question so maybe I should try.
(I’d like to hang out sometime).
But there’s something about that that sounds a little bit too needy, so maybe I should try this.
(Let’s hang out sometime).
OK that’s straightforward enough, send it.
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