Show 258 Tuesday 16 January

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I’m going to introduce another NZ beer ad.

When I was a kid I was really into ballet – I studied that for 5 years. And then the next thing that I got really obsessed with was rugby league. Not playing, just watching. This was one of the ads that was always on during the league.

Cause we are ...
Red-blooded, blood brothers
Red blooded and we’ve all got different mothers.
Red blooded, blood brothers
And there’s only one beer we drink round here mate. And it’s not blue, black labeled, double colour, brown or green.
It’s red mate, like a fire engine and it comes in a bottle or can. And it’s got a little lion on it.
Aye? Ha ha ha.

So have a look at that – check the blog for the link and the words to that song.

There’s no deep meaning to that ad really – just we love drinking this beer, kind of thing.

Here’s a look at some of the vocab:

He says: And all those 15 bucks a throw champagne cocktails that can make my sister extremely, violently, horribly sick.

Bucks means dollars.
A throw means each.
So 15 bucks a throw means 15 dollars each.

Extremely, violently, horribly all mean very basically.

So what he means is: those expensive cocktails that can make my sister very, very, very sick.

A power lunch is: a lunch at which businesspeople or others of influence discuss work or issues in an informal setting

Red-blooded is an adj. which means: full of strength and energy, often sexual energy.

A blood brother is: a man who has promised to treat another man as his brother, usually in a ceremony in which their blood is mixed together.

But I don’t know if that’s what they mean by blood brothers in this ad. I don’t really know what they mean. Anyway...

The image of this beer is for sports people and for people who are proud of not being posh.
So that’s why he says he doesn’t want magaritas, or champaign cocktails because those things are supposed to be posh or perhaps feminine – and not suitable for a real man or a red-blooded man.

I think this ad is just a bit of fun ... but if you actually seriously had that attitude then ... that’s quite ridiculous.

I have come across those attitudes though – I’m a real man so I can only drink beer. Drinking another kind of drink would compromise my masculinity. And it makes me think ... perhaps they’ve been taking the marketing campaigns a little bit too seriously.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today the Kutchan Mayoral elections are this Sunday and the town is now suffering from chronic noise pollution.

In Japan a popular way of appealing for votes in an election is to drive around deafening the local residents with loud speakers.
Aspiring politicians also hire women to work during the campaign. Their job involves waving, smiling, bowing, shouting and shaking hands.
They also hire a woman to shout over the loud speaker. Her title is uguisu jyo. An uguisu (鶯) is a kind of bird which makes an annoying sound.
In the run up to the elections sleeping in is impossible and the ministry of health advices people to wear ear plugs at all times to avoid serious ear damage.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 16th of January.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

Snow has been building up on top of the car recently. Today it finally fell off when we braked for some lights on the way to the vege shop. It was like an avalanche.

conversations with sarah
#155 What’s that noise?

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

Carl What’s that noise?

Sarah It’s a local politician campaigning. The elections are coming up.

Carl It’s so loud!

Sarah Yeah, it’s crazy.

Carl What are they actually saying?

Sarah Not much. My name is ... Thank you. If you vote for me I’ll work very hard. That kind of thing.

Carl You’d think they’d actually get less votes by driving around annoying everyone with a loud speaker.

Sarah Yeah, but everyone does it ... so I guess people are just used to it.

Lion Red ad
Watch here.

Script:

C’mon Mick.
No.. All right! Hahaha.

You can keep your magaritas and your executive Irish stouts.
And your ??? Mexican beers with some fruit down the spout.

Your ??? and power lunches and and cheeries on a stick.
And all those 15 bucks a throw champagne cocktails that can make my sister extremely, violently, horribly sick.

Cause we are ...

Red-blooded, blood brothers
Red blooded and we’ve all got different mothers.
Red blooded, blood brothers

And there’s only one beer we drink round here mate. And it’s not blue, black labeled, double colour, brown or green.
It’s red mate, like a fire engine and it comes in a bottle or can. And it’s got a little lion on it.

Aye? Ha ha ha.

Red blooded, blood brothers.
Red blooded, and we’ve all got different mothers.
Well some of us have.

Wo ho ho Here’s the guitar. Ha ha ha.

Red blooded, blood brothers.
Red blooded, and we’ve all got different mothers.

Same song, wins every year.

Show 257 Monday 15 January

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
There is a radio station in Kutchan called FM Niseko.
And I went there today as a guest on the one of the shows, which was really fun. I haven’t talked on radio for a long time... so it really bought back memories.
So I’m planning to do a show about that on Saturday.

Today I want to talk to you about a great discovery I made. I found an ad on YouTube which I’ve been looking for ages. It is one of my all time favourite ads.

It’s for a NZ beer called Speights. Speights is a Dunedin beer – Dunedin’s at the bottom of the South Island.
And in its marketing they say it’s for real southern men.

What’s a Southern man?
This is from wikipedia: In New Zealand, the southern man is a stereotypical southern rugged male, well used to the loneliness and conditions of open mountain or hill country, and completely out of his depth in the city.

In this ad there are two southern men on a farm and the older one says to the younger one:
I hear you’ve been seeing a city girl.

And he doesn’t sound impressed – because southern men aren’t supposed to like the city.
To see means to date – in NZ people don’t really use the verb date.

Then the younger guy says: Yip. She wants me to go up to Auckland with her.

Yip is the same as yeah or yes. It’s really common in NZ. Like when I was at school and the teacher called the roll almost everybody said yip or yi’.

Then the older guy says: Oh yeah. What’s the attraction up there?

This means – why do you want to go there? Southern men don’t like cities – especially not Auckland. And Auckland is the biggest city in NZ so it’s popular to hate it.

And he replies: A place on the harbour, 500 SL Mercedes, 80 foot yacht and her old man’s got a box at Eden Park.

A place means a house. And a place on the harbour means a place near the water – which must be expensive.

Old man means father.
A box at Eden Park ... Eden Park is a sports stadium for rugby I think. And the boxes are the rooms at the top of the stadium where you can watch the game from.

Then the old guy says: Oh yeah.

And the young guy says: She doesn’t drink Speights, but.
This is interesting non-standard grammar - using but at the end of a sentence. I don’t know if this is a New Zealand thing but I used to use it quite a lot. For example, instead of saying “but it’s good”, I said, “it’s good, but”. I don’t know if people still talk like that or not.

Then the old guy says:
She’s a hard road finding the perfect woman, boy.
This means: It’s hard to find the perfect woman.

And the young guy replies:
Reckon. Still, no hurry aye.
Reckon means: I reckon ... which means I think so too. It’s really common in New Zealand to use reckon instead of think.

And then the final line is:
Good on you, mate.

So to sum it up: this guy found the perfect woman – except for the fact that she doesn’t drink the right kind of beer, so he’s not going to be with her.
I love it because it’s so ridiculous. And the acting’s great.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today the time on the Doomsday Clock may change on Wednesday, for the first time in 5 years.

Some people think the earth will be destroyed one day. This day is called doomsday.
In 1947, a magazine called the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists made a clock called the Doomsday Clock. When this clock hits midnight it will be the end of the world.
Its initial time was 7 minutes to midnight and it has been moved 17 times since then.
In 1953, when America and Russia both tested nuclear weapons the time was 2 minutes to midnight. And in 1991 when everyone seemed to be getting along, it was 17 minutes to midnight.
The current time is seven to twelve.
It’s expected to move closer to midnight on Wednesday thanks to the handful of countries who either have lots of nuclear weapons or who want to have them.

And that was Stick News for Monday 15th of January.
Kia Ora.

the snow report

On Saturday night we were talking away and all of a sudden we heard this big noise – it was the landlord clearing the snow for us using a digger.
Cool! Forget what I said on Saturday - this is how you clear snow.

conversations with sarah
#154 What’s the attraction up there?

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

Old Man I hear you’ve been seeing a city girl.

Young Man Yip. She wants me to go up to Auckland with her.

Old Man Oh yeah. What’s the attraction up there?

Young Man A place on the harbour, 500 SL Mercedes, 80 foot yacht and her old man’s got a box at Eden Park.

Old Man Oh yeah.

Young Man She doesn’t drink Speights, but.

Old Man She’s a hard road finding the perfect woman, boy.

Young Man Reckon. Still, no hurry aye.

Old Man Good on you, mate.

Links

Today's news

The Speights ad at YouTube
Speights
Eden Park
Southern Man