#1213 Quotation Marks, Easter Word Game, There's Nothing Like Australia, Nerd, Dork, Dweeb, Geek

Show 1213 Wednesday 31 March

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

I saw this sign outside a shop in Auckland the other day.

What’s wrong with this sign?

Yes, the quotation marks, also known as inverted commas or speech marks.

Quotation marks have many uses, but they are not used for emphasis, which is what the person who made this sign appears to be trying to use them for.

If you want to emphasize a word, you can underline it, or put it in italics, or bold – or all of the above … but do not use inverted commas.

click here

Today’s site is one for Easter.

It’s called Squigly’s Word Star.

It’s a variation on hangman. You try and guess a word before the stars run out.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today Australia has a new slogan to promote the country to international tourists.

The last time Tourism Australia tried to encourage people to come to Australia, they said: “Where the bloody hell are you?”

This time they’ve come up with a new line to promote the country: “There’s nothing like Australia.”

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 31st of March.

Kia ora.

My word, look at that language! Let's cancel those tickets... it seems like a MOST unsavoury country!


Hmm... does that mean it's good or bad?

Word of the Day

Today’s word is dweeb.

According to my dictionary, a dweeb is: a boring, studious, or socially inept person.

Recently I saw a diagram which tried to explain the difference between a nerd, a geek, a dweeb, and a dork.

Diagram thanks to: matthewwmason.wordpress.com

Those words all have similar meanings. And I think the difference in meaning between the words is really a matter of opinion and depends a lot on the user.

So it could be a good question to ask someone over a cup of coffee or a few beers: What’s the difference between a nerd, a geek, a dweeb, and a dork?

conversations with sarah

#773 Were you a geek?

Step 1: Read Leo’s lines.

Step 2: Repeat Leo’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Leo What’s the difference between a nerd, a dork, a geek, and a dweeb?

Sarah I think it just depends on who’s using the word and what they want it to mean.

Leo How do you use them?

Sarah Well … nerd, dork … yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever really used nerd, or dork, or dweeb. But when I was at high school we used to use the word geek quite a lot.

Leo What did it mean?

Sarah I would say I thought a person was a geek if I thought their clothes were unfashionable or uncool and they were … socially inept.

Leo Were you a geek?

Sarah Um, well I didn’t think of myself as a geek. But I guess other people might have … I don’t know. Hmmm.

Leo Were you socially inept?

Sarah Hmm … maybe sometimes. I was quite shy and very self-conscious in some situations. But … I don’t think I was a complete failure.

QuestionAnswer


links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

Nothing Like Australia - parody site

music

show start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Future Cha Cha
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site

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: 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

qa bgm

artist: DovEporTar
album: Test night n. 1
track: La sera
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo

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