Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today’s song is called Fairytale of New York.
Apparently it is a “popular Christmas song”. But I’d never heard of it until a couple of days ago when I read about it in the news.
It’s by an Irish group called The Pogues.
Wikipedia says part of the song: takes the form of a call and response between two Irish immigrants, lovers or ex-lovers, their youthful hopes crushed by alcoholism and drug addiction, reminiscing and bickering on Christmas Eve in New York City.
Anyway, for some reason it’s really popular – maybe just in the UK.
And this is why the song has been in the news:
On December 18, 2007, BBC Radio 1 made the decision to censor the words "faggot" and "slut" to 'avoid offence'.
You can read the whole story if you want, but basically a whole lot of people complained to the radio station, BBC Radio 1, and then they changed their mind.
So I thought that was quite interesting.
This is the verse that those words come from:
You’re a bum, you’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead
On a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it’s our last
Such uplifting lyrics, how dare the BBC try and kill the Christmas joy!
So, anyway, faggot and slut are both offensive words, so I wouldn’t recommend calling anyone those words. But faggot has other meanings too, like, a bundle of sticks bound together as fuel.
Which makes sense when you scroll down and look at the origin:
ME: from OFr. Fagot, from Ital. fagotto, based on Gk phakelos ‘bundle’
Kia Ora, this is Stick News. Yesterday two famous paintings were stolen from a museum in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Just after 5am yesterday thieves broke into the Sao Paulo Museum of Art and stole two paintings – one of a coffee picker and one by Picasso of a grumpy-looking woman.
The lead police investigator on the case said it was, “a highly professional job, done by people who knew exactly what they were doing."
He said, "Everything indicates they were sent to do it by some wealthy art lover for his own collection - someone who, although wealthy, was not rich enough to buy the paintings."
And that was Stick News for Friday 21st of December.
Kia Ora.
THE SNOW REPORT
at Loaf Lounge
Today we went to Loaf to ask some people about the snow but we ended up watching people skate instead. I don’t skate myself but it’s fun watching.
The bowl is finished now too so people can skate around and around.
friday joke
What goes red white red white red white?
Santa rolling down a hill.
I got the joke from here.
conversations with sarah
#359 What are you doing for Christmas?
Step 1: Repeat Tim’s lines.
Step 2: Read Tim’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Tim What are you doing for Christmas?
Sarah Nothing much. Probably work, I’m pretty busy.
Tim How sad.
Sarah Mmm. I might go out at night I guess.
Tim That’s good. You can’t work all day, it’s Christmas!
Sarah Yeah. Actually I think I might write some emails to my family and friends to say Merry Christmas. Yeah, I think I’ll do that ... I haven’t emailed some of them for years.
Tim That’s a good idea.
notes
junk - (informal) heroin
faggot - one of the meanings of faggot is "a bundle of sticks bound together as fuel", but it isn't commonly used that way. In New Zealand faggot is usually used to mean "a stupid or unpleasant person" (slang, offensive)
links
musicshow start
artist: Anawin
album: A glimpse inside the bubble
track: Little jazzy
from: Arles, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
the snow report start
artist: Olga Scotland
album: Scotland Yard
track: Absolute
from: Moscow, Russia
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
friday joke start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: Sumbala
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
cws start
artist: San Sebastian
track: Happy Sad
artist site
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: Groovetracks
tracks: groovetracks ending
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Jingle Bells
artist site
download the song here
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