Wednesday, September 08, 2010

#1298 Typo Hunt, Something Stuck In Teeth, Chch Quake Rubble, Um, Apostrophes

Show 1298 Wednesday 8 September
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Yesterday I listened to an interview with a guy called Benjamin Herson who has just written a book called The Great Typo Hunt which sounds like an interesting book.

It’s about a couple of guys who went on a trip across America on a mission to correct mistakes on public signs.

And in the interview Benjamin said the number one mistake they saw was with apostrophes. And it made me think of a restaurant review I’d just read. It was for a restaurant in Auckland called Annabelles, and they spell it without an apostrophe.

And the reviewer wrote: When a restaurant is as good-looking as this is, you are prepared to overlook the fact that, unless there is such a thing as an annabelle, the name really ought to have an apostrophe in it.



click here

Today I’d like to tell you about a site called Phrase Mix.

This site helps you learn English with useful phrases.

They teach a phrase by explaining the situation when you can use the phrase – and then breaking it down and explaining why you say each word or group of words.

For example, on Monday the phrase was: Hey, um, you've got something stuck in your teeth.

And the situation when you can use this phrase is: You're eating lunch with a friend. After you finish eating, your friend has a piece of food that's showing on her teeth. You want to tell her that it's there. So you say: Hey, um, you've got something stuck in your teeth.

Of course, you could leave out the um and say: Hey, you’ve got something stuck in your teeth.
Or you could leave out the hey as well and just say: You’ve got something stuck in your teeth.

So what’s the purpose of saying hey and um?
Please follow the link and go and read the explanation:



STICK NEWS


On Saturday the 4th of September at 4:35am a 7.1 magnitude earthquake stuck the South Island of New Zealand.
The quake caused widespread damage.
Yesterday stuff.co.nz reported that people were trying to sell rubble from the earthquake on the internet.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 8th of September.
Kia ora.


oonst!
oonst!
Is it just me, or is the earth moving?
The earth moves every time I look at you, baby!


Oooh … I loved that building.


People will pay thousands for this slab of concrete!
Hmm …



Word of the Day

Today’s word is um.

um, exclamation, expressing hesitation or a pause in speech

So you can say um when you’re thinking about what to say next.

It can be good to avoid saying um in some situations, for example, if you’re making a speech, it doesn’t really sound as powerful if you keep saying um.
For example, if Martin Luther King had said: I have a, um, dream that, um, one day …

… it might not have been so memorable.

But I think sometimes using um can be useful. For example, you can use it to express respectful hesitation, like in the example from Phrase Mix: Hey, um, you've got something stuck in your teeth.

If you left out the um and just said, Hey, you've got something stuck in your teeth, it could sound rude. But if you add the um, it sounds softer and like you are thoughtful and thinking about the fact that your friend might be embarrassed.

But of course, you don’t have to say um and you can be polite and show respect in other ways, such as your body language and your tone of voice.



conversations with sarah
#832 What time was it?

Step 1: Repeat Jack’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jack’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jack How come no one died in the Christchurch earthquake?

Sarah I think it was luck, partly, because it was at night time.

Jack Oh, what time was it?

Sarah About half past 4 in the morning.

Jack Oh, right, so everyone was in bed.

Sarah Yeah, most people.




links


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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Tea Roots
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site


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