Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I’m going to talk about a song by an American singer and songwriter called Suzanne Vega. (I think that’s how you say it ...)
The song is called Tom’s Diner and it was written in 1981 – but apparently it didn’t actually become popular until it was remixed in 1990.
I think it’s a great one to study because it’s cool song and it’s also a story with some useful language that you can pick up.
It’s also brilliant for beginners, because a lot of the song is in the present simple and the present continuous.
I’ll read you the start of the song:
I am sitting
In the morning
At the diner
On the corner
I am waiting
At the counter
For the man
To pour the coffee
And he fills it
Only halfway
And before
I even argue
He is looking
Out the window
At somebody
Coming in
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora, in Stick News today, a woman in the UK is suing six newspapers after they ran stories based on her daughter's exaggerated claims about a party.
A 15-year-old English girl had a party at her parent’s holiday house in Spain.
She wrote about the party on her Bebo page, embellishing the story to make the party sound a lot wilder than it was.
Newspapers then picked up the story and now her mother is suing the newspapers.
The Independent said newspaper reports made the party sound like a riot of sex and wanton damage fuelled by under-age drinking that only ended when the police arrived.
In actual fact, the mother says, no alcohol was served or permitted; none of the guests took part in sexual acts; the police were not called; and only minor damage was caused to one of the doors.
Her lawyer said the case raised important issues of libel, privacy and copyright in relation to the unauthorized use of material taken from social networking sites.
And that was Stick News for Friday 11th of July.
Kia Ora.
Word of the Day
Today’s word is pretend.
This is a line from Tom’s Diner:
I'm pretending
Not to see them
pretend
v.
act so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not
I did a search for pretend and I found a blog post called: Four Ways To Pretend You’re Working
This was one of the suggestions: hunch over your keyboard, look intently at the screen, and put on a few facial expressions like worry and stress.
friday joke
What do you get if you cross an elephant and a rhino?
elephino
#488 What’s a diner?
Step 1: Repeat Michiru’s lines.
Step 2: Read Michiru’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Michiru What’s a diner?
Sarah Good question. I don’t really know. It’s an American word. I think it’s just another word for a restaurant. Hang on, I’ll look it up.
Diner, noun, especially AmE: a small, usually cheap restaurant
Michiru What do you call cheap restaurants in New Zealand?
Sarah Um. Well, when I grew up, in most small towns in New Zealand there were tearooms, fish and chip shops and Chinese takeaways.
Michiru How about now?
Sarah Now I think there are a lot of cafes.
Michiru What’s the difference between a café and a restaurant?
Sarah Well, I think it depends on the country, but in New Zealand a restaurant is usually ... more expensive and you can usually only go there if you’re having a meal – you can’t just go for a drink. But a café, you can go there just to have a drink, like a coffee, or you can have a meal as well. And it’s usually cheaper and more casual.
Michiru What are tearooms?
Sarah Well, my image of a tearoom in New Zealand, is like ... like, a really old fashioned café. Like, you can just buy a drink or you can also have a meal as well. But the food’s probably pretty bad, and they probably have drip coffee and lace tablecloths and fake flowers. They might not be like that, but that’s my image.
links
today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures
Tom's Diner - original a cappella version (with explanation in the beginning)
Tom's Diner
Tom's Diner lyrics
music
show start
artist: BrunoXe
album: aprendiendo desde 2004
track: Mandrake
from: Jerez, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
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: Briareus
album: Occidental
track: Beirut Love Songs
from: Michigan, United States
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
MySpace
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Improject
album: Beta Release
track: Mambo
from: Barcelona, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
video
cws start
by: Hiro.Y
CC 2.1
end
by: Shiji Kawamura
CC 2.1
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.
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