Thursday, September 18, 2008

#829 Racism, UK Vs NZ Pronunciation, World's Oldest Man, Can Vs Able To


Show 829 Thursday 18 September
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

Today I recommend a short film called: Blood and Chips.

It’s about a pretty serious topic: racism.

And I think it shows a few different kinds of racism. One is … just hatred of people of a certain ethnicity. In this case a Caucasian guy thinks that Caucasian people are better than people with African ancestors. And he calls them “monkeys”.

He says: No decent white woman would willingly sleep with one of them monkeys.

And another kind of racism is thinking that only people of certain ethnicity should do certain things. He’s in a fish and chip shop which is run by an Asian-British guy. But he thinks that only Caucasian British people should run fish and chip shops.

And so he says: Fish and fucking chips, this should be a British business.

And I think that another kind of racism is assuming that people have certain opinions because they are a certain ethnicity. In this case, the Caucasian guy hates Africans and he assumes that the other guy also hates Africans because he’s Caucasian too. Which is ridiculous, of course, but, from my experience, it’s actually quite common … and stupid and annoying and uncomfortable.

Anyway, I think the film is really well done.

A couple of points about some of the language in the film.

The guy says: This neighbourhood is going to the dogs, mate.

Go to the dogs is an idiom which means: to get into a very bad state.
And the example here is: This firm’s gone to the dogs since the new management took over.

And an interesting thing about the pronunciation. One of the kids says “shu’up”. He doesn’t pronounce the t. Shut up.

I think this is quite common in England.

Some other examples from this video:

“Ba’ered” instead of battered.
“Bri’ish” instead of British.
“Ge’a” instead of get a.
Can we get a video?

In New Zealand, we don’t leave out the t sound like that. Instead we usually change it to a d sound. So I would usually say:

“shudup” (shut up)
“baddered” (battered)
“Bridish” (British)
“geda” (get a)

Can you hear the difference?
OK, I’m going to attempt to say this list of words three different ways:

shut up shu’up shudup
battered ba’ered baddered
British Bri’ish Bridish
Can we get a video? ge’a geda



The Acadia Report

I thought I’d show you some more signs from Acadia University today.
We did some tours of some of the residences when we were there and I saw lots of signs inside the residences.
There were posters for events like a pub crawl, open mic night, games night.
There were instructions like this: Don’t forget to turn the light off before you leave.
This was on a toilet door. Occupied means someone is using the toilet. Vacant means it’s safe to open the door.
And this sign was on a door. This is the kind of situation where you could get in trouble if you can’t understand the sign … or if you just didn’t bother to read it.
Emergency exit only. An alarm will sound when this door is used. Use for any reason other than an emergency will result in a minimum fine of 50 dollars to a maximum penalty of dismissal from residence.

The Acadia Report is thanks to the Acadia Centre for International Languages at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada.



STICK NEWS


Kia Ora, in Stick News today, the world’s oldest man is celebrating his 114th birthday.

Tanabe Tomoji (田鍋友時) was born on the 18th of September 1895. Today is his 114th birthday. He has eight children, 25 grandchildren and 54 great-grandchildren. He says total abstinence from alcohol is the secret to his longevity. The world's oldest person is Edna Parker from Indiana in the United States. She’s 115.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 18th of September.
Kia Ora.




Word of the Day


Today’s word is dismiss.

Dismiss has several meanings.
One meaning is: order or allow to leave.
If a teacher says to the class, "class dismissed", they are saying it’s OK for the students to leave. So they are allowing or permitting the students to go.
In this case it means that if you open the door, you might get kicked you out of the residence. They might order you to leave.



conversations with sarah
#511 But they mean the same thing?

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

Takeshi What’s the difference between can and be able to?

Sarah They usually mean the same thing. Can you give me an example?

Takeshi Should I say: Can you speak French? Or: Are you able to speak French?

Sarah They are both correct, but it’s more common to say “can”.

Takeshi In what situations would you use “able to”?

Sarah If I was asking someone to do something for me, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on them, then I might choose “able to”. Like, instead of saying: “Can you finish it by Friday?” I would say: “Are you able to finish it by Friday?”

Takeshi But they mean the same thing?

Sarah Yeah. Although it depends on the tone. Can, can be more like an order, whereas able to is usually a genuine question. So if I was your boss and I said “Can you finish this by Friday, please”. Then, what I mean is: “Do this by Friday”. Whereas if I said: “Are you able to finish it by Friday?” Then I probably what to know, is it possible or not, and maybe if you have too much work on this week, then I’ll get someone else to do it.



Blood and Chips

Director: Ryan Phillips

Customer 1: I’ll see you in a couple of minutes, Albert. You two behave yourselves.
Sorry, mate.
Customer 2: Chips and a battered sausage.
Kid: What are you doing, man? Move.
Kid: That is my spot.
Kid: No, it ain’t.
Kid: Shut up.
Customer 3: Shut the fuck up.
Customer 2: Nice one, brov.
Customer 3: Someone’s got to keep the animals in order.
Customer 2: Too right. This neighbourhood is going to the dogs, mate. Fish and fucking chips, this should be a British business.
Albert: Do you want your chips opened or wrapped? Opened or wrapped?
Customer 2: Wrapped.
Kid: You started it.
Kid: What.
Kid: You pushed me!
Kid: What?
Kid: What are you talking about?
Customer 2: Noisy fucking apes. They didn’t come out of the jungle that colour, did they? Their old man must be a rapist, right? No decent white woman would willingly sleep with one of them monkeys, right? Right?
Kid: Can we get a video? Go on, Dad.
Customer 3: Alright. But get something your mother can watch too. No blood. Go on, I’ll catch you up in a minute. Alright. Say goodbye to Albert.
Kids: Bye, Albert.
Albert: See you kids.
Customer 2: Sorry.
Albert: Don’t forget your chips, mate.



links

today's news: at CNN at Japan Today
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist 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: Ensono
album: Night Culture
track: Toralla Island
from: Vigo, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo

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