Show 891 Wednesday 19 November
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
The other day I found a really interesting article on the New Zealand Herald website –actually it wasn’t an article, just a thread of comments. They asked the question: What phrase annoys you the most? And hundreds of people replied. I thought it was very interesting – you should go and have a read if you’re interested in what irritates people in New Zealand, or people who read that website.
People seem to be irritated by all kinds of things, like the usual mistakes, such as confusing you’re and your or bought and brought. And also just particular idioms or sayings that aren’t mistakes, but just annoying them for some reason.
One person said the most annoying phrase was to be honest. I’ve always thought this was a strange phrase too, although it doesn’t annoy me as such.
This is what they wrote: When I hear this, I cast my mind back to the preceding conversation and assume it was all lies. People use "to be honest" as a way of stressing a point, but the alternative meaning is amusing.
click here
The site I recommend today is called Project Gutenberg – if that’s how you pronounce it.
This is from their about page:
Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.
It’s a great site. They have thousands of books that you can read for free.
For example, one book that I recommend reading if you haven’t already read it is: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Word of the Day
Today’s word is gutted.
In the Concise Oxford Dictionary it says:
But some people in New Zealand use this word when they’re just a little bit disappointed or upset. For example: Ugh, I’ve run out of lead! Gutted!
And this is rather irritating to someone called Sheriff of Nothing from Auckland.
They wrote this: Gutted is probably the most overused word today. It implies that one feels like they have had their entrails ripped right out of them. Possibly appropriate for, say, a guy whose wife just ran away with his best friend, followed by the death of his dog. Not appropriate for mild disappointment!
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora in Stick News today a British woman is divorcing her husband after she caught him having an affair in Second Life.
Amy and David met in an online chat room in 2003 and got married in real life. They also had a wedding in a virtual world called Second Life. Then this year Amy caught David’s Second Life character in a compromising position with another virtual woman. Amy said that David confessed he’d been talking to a female player for a few weeks and said he didn’t love her anymore. She filed for divorce the next day.
And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 19th of November.
Kia Ora.
conversations with sarah
#555 Do you know what ingenuity means?
Step 1: Repeat Takeshi’s lines.
Step 2: Read Takeshi’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Takeshi What are some other phrases that annoy people?
Sarah A few people mentioned “Kiwi ingenuity”.
Takeshi What does that mean?
Sarah Well, do you know what ingenuity means?
Takeshi No.
Sarah It means: the ability to invent things or solve problems in clever new ways.
Takeshi And what about the “kiwi” part?
Sarah Kiwi means New Zealand and this is a common stereotype of New Zealanders – that we can solve any problem like MacGyver, just using a piece of Number 8 wire.
Takeshi But it’s not true?
Sarah Well, there might be some truth to it. But the way some people use it, it sounds pretty arrogant, like one person commented: as if no one else on the planet is capable of inventive, commonsense solutions.
notes
1. The question was actually which but I said what by accident.
2. I pronounced assume incorrectly.
4. They actually wrote possibly, but I accidentally said probably.
5. compromising adj. if sth is compromising, it shows or tells people sth that you want to keep secret, because it is wrong or embarrassing
6. Kiwi means:
n. a kind of bird
n. a New Zealander
adj. New Zealand (eg. I love New Zealand music.)
* Kiwi is also means “kiwifruit” in some countries outside of New Zealand.
links
today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures
show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace
click here start
artist: #NarNaoud#
album: Green Vision
track: Oriental Standing
from: Gironde, France
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
artist site
cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace
qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Tranquilizer Jam
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
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