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I normally swim in the ocean. The water in the lake is warmer and there's no jellyfish and the water's not salty so even when I swallowed a bit, it wasn't too bad. So the conditions were good.
The last swimmer got cramp, so the reserve took over two minutes before his 30 minutes were up.
After about ten minutes, I got cramp. When I saw the sign for the last ten minutes I thought I would make it. But first I got cramp in my left leg, then in both legs. So I got Keisuke to take over. It was a bit of a bummer.
I only swam for a short time but the water was pretty warm and it felt good.
I only had to swim for two minutes so I swam as fast as I could.
After each swimmer had done a round of thirty minutes, they started from the first person again and did ten minutes each.
During the third ten-minute round, they reached the shore and all the swimmers jumped in and ran towards the finish line.
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music
show start artist: Kevin MacLeod track: Future Cha Cha from: Brooklyn, NY, United States artist site
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I thought we’d study a song by AC/DC today because they are playing in Auckland next week so I’ve been thinking about them recently.
Have you heard of AC/DC?
They’re from Australia and they’ve been around since 1973 and they’re pretty successful. It says in Wikipedia: As of 2008, AC/DC have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide.
Not bad.
The song we’re looking at today is called Thunderstruck.
This song is very popular – I think there are millions of people in the world who could recognize this song just by hearing the first few seconds.
I only remembered the part where they say thunder over and over again, so I was surprised when I looked it up and found that there are actually lyrics. And the song seems to tell a bit of a story:
I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track
I looked round
And I knew there was no turning back
My mind raced
And I thought what could I do
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you
So, what’s it about?
Well, I think it might have a double meaning – like the name of the band.
AC/DC is about power … it refers to “equipment that may be operated using either alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power. “
Sarah Yeah, the final was yesterday so we went out and watched it.
Mary How was it?
Sarah It was really good. I really enjoyed it. Except for the last part.
Mary What happened?
Sarah Well, the prize giving was supposed to start at 2. And so everyone was standing around on the concrete waiting for it to start and it was really hot. And then an hour later, someone came out and said it was going to start at 3:30.
Mary Really? Why?!
Sarah I don’t know. They just said that the drug tests were still happening.
Mary So there was a problem with the tests?
Sarah Yeah, maybe, I guess so. So, yeah, we decided to keep waiting cause we thought, “Oh, we’ve already waited an hour, we might as well wait another half hour.” And then, we waited until 3:30 and the guy came back and said, “Oh, sorry, it’s going to start at 4:30.”
Mary Did it ever start?
Sarah I don’t know. We gave up and went home … I was so exhausted.
cws start artist: Kevin MacLeod track: The Jazz Woman from: Brooklyn, NY, United States artist site qa start artist: ioeo album: triptracks track: triptrack2 from: Saint Raphael, France album at Jamendo artist at Jamendo artist site
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The other day a letter arrived from Japan. And on it, it said: AIR MALE.
Can you spot the mistake? Yes, it should be m-a-i-l.
If you’re male, you’re a man. And mail is what you find in the letterbox.
click here
This is an interesting site I came across the other day. It’s about protecting threatened languages.
They say they want to contribute towards “the preservation of as many languages as possible; because inaction will amount to the same thing as resigning to the cultural impoverishment of humanity.”
Apparently, sorosoro is a word from the Araki language in Vanuatu, which means “breath, speech, language”.
Part of what they do is film people speaking different languages. And I had a look at some of their videos on YouTube and I can tell you that ougogoua means yellow in a language called Benga.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora, this is Stick News. In gossip news today, some websites have reported that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are about to break up.
Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie are an American couple famous for making movies, being incredibly attractive and collecting children from all over the world.
And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 27th of January.
Kia ora.
Word of the Day
Today’s word is BS.
BS is American English slang for bullshit.
That guy’s full of BS.
Bullshit is vulgar slang for nonsense.
And you can also use it as a verb.
For example: She’s just bullshitting.
Don’t try to bullshit me!
But as I said, it’s vulgar slang, so some people find it offensive. But BS is more acceptable. So you can get away with quoting it in a newspaper for example.
And I read a quote somewhere saying that the reports that Brad and Angelina were going to break up or had broken up were: BS.
conversations withsarah
#728 let me see …
Step 1: Read Hannah's lines.
Step 2: Repeat Hannah's lines and talk to Sarah.
HannahDo you think they’ve broken up?
SarahUm, let me see … the last time I spoke to Brad and Angelina.
HannahNo, I mean from what you’ve read.
SarahWell, it’s impossible to know.
HannahYou mean if it’s true or not.
Sarah Yeah, because the gossip sites and papers just make stuff up.
HannahBut they quote people.
SarahYeah, they quote "sources". "According to a source close to the couple …" they’re just making it up.
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Today we’re studying a scene from The Blind Side which is a movie that came out last year and stars Sandra Bullock.
It’s about a guy who has a rough start in life, as it says in Wikipedia, he had an impoverished upbringing … and then a happy ending basically. He has a happy family, he goes to university and he plays football.
Not that I have seen the movie, but I feel like I have because I watched the trailer.
So a rich woman decides to look after the guy and she lets him stay at their house and he becomes part of the family. And when she shows him his room, she says: I found some time to figure out another bedroom for you.
Figure out is a phrasal verb which means: to think about something until you understand it or to calculate something.
In this situation she means she figured out, or solved the problem of where he was going to sleep. Maybe she had to move some furniture, or rearrange something.
And then he tells her he’s never had a bed before.
This is mine?
Yes, Sir.
Never had one before.
What? A room to yourself?
A bed.
That, Yes, Sir is interesting.
Yes, Sir is, of course, used in military situations, when you’re talking to someone who ranks above you. So you’ll hear it if you watch war movies.
It’s also used in some formal situations, like flight attendants often say it to male passengers.
But in this situation, it’s friendly. I think it’s kind of used for emphasis, like saying, yes, that’s right or yes, absolutely.
This film is set in the South or maybe it’s the South East of the United States, and apparently in Southern American English, people use Sir more often, so maybe that has something to do with why she says that.
In this situation it clearly means get up and I think it also means things like, let’s get moving, or get going. And I found this example: Up and at 'em - there's a lot of work to be done.
Have you heard this idiom before?
My mum never said that to me when I was a child. But I think she might have said rise and shine sometimes. Well, that was the first time. And if I still didn’t get up it was something like: Get up, you’re going to miss the bus again.
conversations withsarah
#727 That sounds exciting.
Step 1: Read Billy’s lines.
Step 2: Repeat Billy’s lines and talk to Sarah.
BillyAre there a lot of power cuts in Auckland?
Sarah Well, yeah, there’ve been two this month already, so yeah, quite a lot.
Billy Don’t they have a back-up system?
SarahHmm, that would be a good idea. Yeah, um, I’m not really sure how it works.
BillySo what did you do during the power cut?
Sarah I looked out the window at the traffic.
Billy That sounds exciting.
Sarah No, it’s actually quite interesting to see how the traffic flows through the intersection without traffic lights.
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I think producing something really helps you learn. It works for me anyway.
I could just listen to the podcasts and repeat the conversations out loud, but by making a video to put on the internet, it really made me focus on trying to remember the words and trying to say them right. And I’m much more likely to remember the dialogue because the process of making the video has caused it to get stuck in my head.
How about you? Have you tried making videos to help your English? If you have the equipment why don’t you give it a go? There are many things that you could do – for example you could take a conversation from The Daily English Show and make a video saying that conversation.
John Dillinger was an American bank robber who died in 1934.
According to Wikipedia he was considered to be a dangerous criminal who robbed at least two dozen banks and four police stations, escaped from jail twice and was idolized by some as a modern-day Robin Hood.
On Saturday, one of the getaway cars he used in 1934 was sold at an auction $165,000.
And that was Stick News for Monday 25th of January.
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You’re fighting against the waves, which takes a lot of energy.
Halfway through, I thought about giving up.
There are waves coming on an angle so it pushes you closer to the boat, but you try and keep away from the boat cause you don’t want to go under here and get caught in the propellers.
So, yeah, it’s hard work. Fun, though.
The sun’s out, the wind’s died down, it’s all good. Yeah.
I swam last year as well.
And last year it was really tough.
This time it felt really good.
Yeah, I really enjoyed the swim.
Part 1:
Part 2:
music
show start artist: Kevin MacLeod track: Future Cha Cha from: Brooklyn, NY, United States artist site
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This video was made five hours after the earthquake and it’s an update about what they know and the steps that have already taken and the steps that they’re likely to take.
What we’ve heard so far is damage to major infrastructure.
Infrastructure is: The basic physical and organizational structures (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.
And as she does on to say, that’s an important point because the more damage there is to roads and airports, the more difficult it is to get people and supplies in there to help those affected.
The language and presentation style for this kind of video is interesting. Because she’s talking about such a serious topic – a really tragic event, her tone needs to reflect that – and I think her delivery was really good.
And the language is very plain, very serious. You won’t find many of the things which make language more colourful or interesting, like metaphors, idioms, phrasal verbs, slang.
Right now we’re getting conflicting reports on the use of the airport.
It’s very likely though, because of the location, that it has been damaged.
And she uses the euphemismloss of life when talking about death.
There’s going to be significant loss of life.
That’s a less direct way of saying: a lot of people have probably already died and will die.
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The other day someone left a comment – Christopher, I think – Saying that it drives him mad when people use there’s, as in there is, and follow it with a plural. And he wanted me to talk about it. So thank you for the suggestion.
As you know, language is always changing and we don’t always like the way it changes. This seems like it’s one of his pet peeves, but it’s not actually one of mine.
I would say that the use of here or there is with a plural noun is very common and acceptable in informal situations.
And I use it myself. For example, I might say: There’s some peanuts in the cupboard if you need a snack.
… when officially it should be: there are.
And when I say acceptable, I mean that most people wouldn’t look at me strangely if I said that – although Christopher might be annoyed.
But they would look at me strangely if I said, for example: There are peanuts some the in cupboard if you need a snack.
… because the word order’s wrong, and it’s not acceptable in any situation.
As for formal situations, I’d recommend sticking with the classic style: there are with plurals.
For example, if you’re talking to a friend, you might say: There’s some things I want to talk to you about.
But if you’re emailing your boss, or a client, you might say: There are some things I’d like to talk to you about.
So, sorry Christopher, I can’t advocate super gluing people’s mouths shut … but I do feel your pain because there are other things which annoy me.
click here
Speaking of common mistakes and pet peeves, today I recommend you check out this page, which someone recommended to me.
It’s a chart showing some of the common misspellings that some native English speakers make, and others get infuriated by.
It’s pretty funny and it might actually be useful if need some help remembering how to spell words such as weird and definitely.
Sarah Yeah, I’m planning to go and have a look – for one day at least. And I went to the opening ceremony today.
Bob How was that?
Sarah It was good. There was a parade and a pōwhiri and the sand ceremony was really cool.
Bob What was that?
Sarah Each team bought some sand from a beach in their country and they poured it into a container together to represent coming together in peace … or something like that … it was really cool.
More footage from the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship:
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The Daily English Show is the world's first daily online English language show. Produced by studio tdes and presented by Sarah - a New Zealander currently based in Auckland, New Zealand.
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