Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today’s song is Auld Lang Syne, which I think is an appropriate song for the end of the year.
And I’m going to read you what Wikipedia has to say about it, because, I love Wikipedia.
"Auld Lang Syne" is a song by Robert Burns (1759–1796), although a similar poem by Robert Ayton (1570–1638), as well as older folk songs, use the same phrase, and may well have inspired Burns.
In any case, it is one of the better-known songs in English-speaking countries, and it is often sung at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day. Like many other frequently sung songs, the melody is better remembered than the words, which are often sung incorrectly, and seldom in full.
The song's (Scots) title may be translated into English literally as 'old long since', or more idiomatically 'long long ago', or 'days gone by'. In his retelling of fairy tales in the Scots language, Matthew Fitt uses the phrase “In the days of auld lang syne” as the equivalent of “Once upon a time”. In Scots Syne is pronounced like the English word sign — IPA: [sain] — not [zain] as many people pronounce it.
So I guess it should be Auld Lang Syne not Syne.
Anyway, I think one of the most interesting things about this song is how the melody is used in so many different ways around the world.
For example, it used to be used for the national anthem in South Korea.
In Italy it’s used by some football supporters singing songs about their team.
And in Japan the melody is used for a song called Hotaru no hikari – and it’s also used in department stores at closing time.
Thank you very much to those people who have already signed up to be members of The Daily English Show. If you don’t know anything about that, you should watch show number 585.
If you become a member before the end of December, you have a chance to get one of two things. One of those things is an Acadia T-shirt or sweatshirt.
This is the stuff that I got when I was there. I really like this red one. This one’s kind of boring, come to think of it, cause it’s just one little A ... and this one is probably my favourite– except that the first time I washed it the paint started flaking off, which is pretty dodgy. So I’m not sure if I’d recommend this one. Unless you like the paint coming off look. And I like this big A too, but it’s kind of cold in winter.
Anyway, you can choose one you like, they have a selection online.
The other thing is a copy of a magazine called SCEEN – which I don’t recommend for beginners.
More for native English speakers, or advanced learners. And especially if you’re interested in things like animation, game art, djing, vjing, demoscene ... stuff like that.
I did some work on the magazine, so if you get a copy you’ll get to see a picture of me.
I would hold it up and show you, but it’s only just been printed, so I haven’t got a copy yet – but I should hopefully be getting one soon. And if you become a TDES member you might get a copy too.
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora, in Stick News today, according to a university study, Saint John is the happiest city in Canada.
A university professor in Canada examined almost 100,000 survey responses and came to the conclusion that the happiest city in Canada was Saint John.
Saint John is a city in the province of New Brunswick with a population of 68,000 and a motto which is Latin for: O Fortunate Ones Whose Walls Are Now Rising.
The professor said it's no coincidence that smaller communities scored higher than bigger ones.
He said trusting others is important and those kind of connections are easier to make in smaller cities.
And that was Stick News for Friday 28th of December.
Kia Ora.
THE SNOW REPORT
at Loaf Lounge
with eight
How long have you been skating for?
スケートはどれぐらいやってる？
About ten years.
１０年ぐらい
Are you a local?
地元の人ですか？
No.
地元じゃないです
Where are you from?
どこからですか？
I’m from Muroran.
室蘭から
Do you also ski or snowboard?
スキーかスノボーやってる？
No.
いや、やらないです
How often do you skate here?
ここでどれぐらいスケートやってる？
About once every two months.
二ヶ月に一回ぐらい
How about in summer?
夏は？
I skate almost every day in Muroran in summer.
夏は地元でほぼ毎日
Do you have a park in Muroran?
地元にパークはある？
We made a skate park ourselves.
地元には手作りでみんなで作りました。
What’s that park called?
そのパークの名前は？
Rainbow Skate Park.
レインボー・スケートパーク
What do you think of the Loaf bowl?
ローフ・ボウルはどう？
It’s difficult, so it’s fun.
Loaf は難しくて楽しい
friday joke
I'd heard this joke before, but I came across it again here.
A boy is born with no body. No arms, no legs. He’s just a head.
On his 18th birthday his dad takes him down to the pub for his first pint and he takes a sip and suddenly, woosh, out pops his torso.
And everyone in the bar says, go on, take another sip, so he does and suddenly, woosh, out pop his two arms.
Then he takes his third sip and suddenly, woosh, out pop his two legs.
And he’s so excited that he runs out into the street, straight into the path of an oncoming truck and, bang, he’s killed instantly.
And the barman says to his dad, “That boy should have quit while he was a head.”
conversations with sarah
#362 Do you get it?
Step 1: Repeat Billy’s lines.
Step 2: Read Billy’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Sarah Do you get it?
Billy What?
Sarah The joke.
Billy Oh. No, not really.
Sarah Well it’s a play on words – a head and ahead. Do you know what ahead means?
Billy In advance?
Sarah Yeah. And quit while you're ahead is an expression, which means you should stop while things are going well. So in this joke you could take that expression two ways – either the boy should have stopped while things were going well, or he should have stopped while he had a head and no body.
Billy Oh, I get it. It’s not that funny though.
Sarah No, it isn’t. I came across it for some reason when I was looking for end of year jokes and it was on a British TV program and it was really funny, just the way they said it.
links
today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures
Auld Lang Syne - practice singing the song with this video
Auld Lang Syne - a collection of different versions of the song
music
show 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
sr/qa bgm
artist: Caminos del Sonido
album: Las flores del Mal
track: La metamorfosis del vampiro
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
credits bgm
artist: Die Dicken Puppen
track: Auld Lang Syne
artist site
Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.
Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.
EDIT: Thank you for pointing out the mistakes in this show's transcript, Joon!
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