Thursday, April 05, 2007

Show 337 Thursday 5 April


Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

The video I recommend watching today is called: Tales Of Mere Existence "Subtext".
And it’s buy a guy called Lev.
I think it is a really interesting video to study.
In this sense the by subtext he means hidden meaning.

Similar to nuance – which is the subtle difference in meaning or expression.
Or connotation which is (the) idea or feeling which a word invokes in addition to it’s primary meaning.

So the words: hello, hi and hey all have the exact same meaning – but which one you choose depends on the feeling that your trying to convey.

In the video he’s writing an email to a girl he met at a party and he’s trying to decided what to write. And the reason why it’s important is because he wants her to have a good impression of him. He probably wouldn’t think about it so much if it was just an email to one of his friends or family.

For example: I met you at the bar Saturday.
He thinks that sounds like he was expecting her to forget him, so he changes it to:
It was nice meeting you.
Then he thinks that sounds too polite and he finally decides on:
It was cool meeting you Saturday.

A bit of vocabulary:
To hit on basically means to flirt.
To behave towards sb as if you find them sexually attractive.

One sentence he writes is:
Then some drunk girl told me her life story.

I think the some in this sentence is interesting.
A lot of English students think that some always means two or more.
But it doesn’t.

You can use some with uncountable nouns to mean one.
For example:
I bought some bread.
Can I borrow some scissors?
Would you like some coffee?

In this sentence some girl means a girl – but by using the word some instead of a, it sounds like he didn’t really like her.

Yesterday I was at the gym and a guy came over and started talking to me.
Yesterday I was at the gym and some guy came over and started talking to me.


Just one little word is different – but it makes it sound quite different.

You can read the transcript for that video on the blog.



STICK NEWS

Kia ora, this is Stick News. Last night in Japan it was raining money.

Last night in Kofu, Yamanashi, a driver was at an intersection when he noticed what appeared to be paper falling from the sky.
He stopped his car to investigate and found that it was 10,000 yen notes.
He then called the police.
Police said that the money appeared to have been thrown from a pedestrian overpass.
A total of 35 notes were collected.


And that was Stick News for Thursday 5 of April.
Kia Ora.



conversations with sarah
#208 What would you do?

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

Tom What kind of idiot calls the police when money starts raining from the sky?

Sarah Mmm ... what would you do?

Tom I’d pick up the money and drive away.

Sarah Really?

Tom Yeah. What would you do?

Sarah I’d call the police.

Tom Why?

Sarah Because I’d just feel guilty if I kept it.

Tom But someone threw it away! It’s like a present.

Sarah Mmm. Anyway, if you picked it up someone might see you and call the police anyway, so ...



Tales Of Mere Existence "Subtext"

OK what should I put here? I suppose I could just stay hello. Actually I should probably make that “Hello from Lev”.
OK. Dear Mimi. Actually that might be a little bit too formal to say dear because I don’t really know her. So maybe just “Hi, Mimi”
But there’s something about hi that sounds uptight so maybe I should make it “Hey Mimi”. Yeah, that’s it. Hey Mimi.
OK now here I should definitely remind her who I am.
(This is Lev, I met you at the bar Saturday).
But wait that sounds like I’m expecting her to forget me so I should change that too.
(It was nice meeting you).
Nah, that’s too polite make that:
(It was cool meeting you Saturday).
Yeah, yeah, that’s it, that’s it.
OK, here I can be nice and say I hope she had a good night.
(Hope you had fun at your party).
Then I should tell her that I had a fantastic night so she’ll start to think that she would have had more fun if she was with me instead of going to the party that she went to.
(The bar got really crazy after you left).
And then, I’ll throw in some little indication that somebody was hitting on me so that maybe she’ll get kind of jealous.
(Then some drunk girl told me her life story).
Now how should I do this part?
How should I do this? How should I do this?
(I think you’re cute and).
No, no, no, no, no that’s too forward.
(I’d like to ask you out).
No, that’s too traditional.
(Would you like to get together?)
No.
(Meet up?)
No.
(Get coffee?)
No.
(Hang out?)
Perfect.
But wait a second ... “would you like to” is a yes or no question so maybe I should try.
(I’d like to hang out sometime).
But there’s something about that that sounds a little bit too needy, so maybe I should try this.
(Let’s hang out sometime).
OK that’s straightforward enough, send it.


Show 336 Wednesday 4 April


Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
For the rest of this week, I’m going to introduce some videos which I think are interesting to study.
Today a video by watchman55 or The Watchman.
He has four videos on YouTube. Someone recommended them to me the other day – I can’t believe I didn’t come across them earlier actually.
I think they’re really brilliant. What he does is ... basically he just responds to comments on YouTube videos. But his voice and the style of his videos make it really funny.
The last video he made was 6 months ago and I’m really curious as to why he stopped making them.
Anyway, I’d like to talk about his first video: The Watchman: Case #001 "You Can't Help But Watch"
He starts like this: The Watchman is watching. Defender of the content creator. Defender against inane commentary and injustice on the YouTube comments.

Inane is an adjective which means: stupid or silly, with no meaning.
Injustice (noun) the fact of a situation being unfair and of people not being treated equally.

This is the first comment The Watchman defends: What the hell is wrong with YouTube? How the hell could they actually feature this? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against him. But you gotta admit, that was a slap in the face.

What the hell
... and why the hell ...
This is an interesting structure.
You can add the hell to questions to add emphasis and convey your anger or annoyance.

For example:
Where did she go?
Where the hell did she go?
Who was that?

Who the hell was that?
How did you do that?

How the hell did you do that?

So in that comment they could say:
What’s wrong with YouTube? How could they actually feature this?
But adding the hell gives it more feeling.

Another comment The Watchman writes is: Dude, look, seriously, you’re pissed. Why? It’s video blogging, not Hollywood.

Pissed is an interesting slang word.
In New Zealand, pissed means drunk. And pissed off means angry.
I was pissed means I was drunk.
I was pissed off
means I was angry.

But in America pissed means angry.

I have written a transcript of that video so you can check it out on the blog.



STICK NEWS

Kia ora, in Stick News today, a New Zealand politician said the F word in parliament.

Question Time is a section of proceedings in parliament in which ministers are asked questions which they have to answer.
In New Zealand, question time is broadcast live on TV.
Today an MP asked the Education Minister a question.
The minister was angry about the question and after he answered it he said “fuck you” as he was sitting down.
He then quickly corrected himself and "Sorry, I said I'm fed up with you, Jonathan."
Fuck is a swear word that many people find offensive that is used to express anger, disgust or surprise.
Some people were shocked that the Education Minister lost his cool and used this word in parliament.


And that was Stick News for Wednesday 4 of April.
Kia Ora.



the snow report

On Saturday the cave was destroyed. It was pretty sad.



conversations with sarah
#207 Do you think what he said is shocking?

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

Dave Do you think what he said is shocking?

Sarah Yeah, definitely. They should be able to control themselves.

Dave But everybody loses their cool sometimes ...

Sarah Yeah, but they are in parliament, so it’s more important than other situations.

Dave Don’t you think that it just shows that he is human, like all of us.

Sarah Not really. I think it is normal to get angry sometimes – but not to say “fuck you”.

Dave What would be OK?

Sarah Well ... for example rolling your eyes or sighing ... I mean that’s not cool either – but it’s not as bad as swearing.



The Watchman: Case #001 "You Can't Help But Watch"

The Watchman is watching.
Defender of the content creator. Defender against inane commentary. And injustice on the YouTube comments.
Case number 001. Video title: You Can’t Help But Watch.
Posted by mgill87. July 7 2006. 10:01am
Tags: Boring. Webcam. Man. Silly. Random. Rivited. Lincon. Mark.
Let’s go to the commentary and defend.
mysixstrings writes: What the hell is wrong with YouTube? How the hell could they actually feature this? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against him. But you gotta admit, that was a slap in the face.
The Watchman says: This was spoken like a guy who just started playing the guitar a month ago and thinks people should watch him sit learn songs. Dude, look, seriously, you’re pissed. Why? It’s video blogging, not Hollywood.
The Watchman has spoken.
Next targeted member: DudemanDrJ.
DudemanDrJ writes: watch my videos please.
Watchman replies: I did. Now what? Stop your inane commentary.
The Watchman has spoken.
Next targeted member: PessarKhoshkel07 writes: DOWNSYNDROME HAIRCUT?! LMAO!!
The Watchman replies: PessarKhoshkel07, those with, shall we say, compromised hairdos of their own should not throw hairbrushes at others.
The Watchman has spoken.
Next targeted member, jktvman writes: It’s interesting how these videos get on here, because they are crap. Wanna put a stop to the madness?
The Watchman stops reading here and replies: jktvman, the only madness I wish to stop, is that of your consistent overposting of this very same comment on every video featured on the YouTube homepage. As they say in America: get a life.
The Watchman has spoken.
Next targeted member, MysteriousStarburst: Damn it, you made me watch it all, fuck you.
The Watchman replies: MysteriousStarburst, no, fuck you.
The Watchman has spoken.
And remember users, The Watchman is watching ... you.