"'In that direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, 'lives a Hatter: and in that
direction,' waving the other paw, 'lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.'
'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.'
'How do you know I’m mad?' said Alice.
'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn’t have come here.'"
What a weird and wonderful book. Hey everyone, I'm Alex, thanks for clicking, and welcome to
this lesson on learning English with "Alice In Wonderland" so this is a very popular fantasy book
written by Lewis Carroll it has been popularized in that very very famous Disney movie as well
you've probably heard of it and even today it's still a wonderful book with a lot of word play
and playful language. It's just very very funny and fun and interesting and it's very quick and
a lot happens in it. So if you enjoy diving into fantasy worlds it's an excellent book.
So I'm going to put this down over here, and what I have there is the physical book. However,
if you would like to get a free copy of the book from Audible.com, you can do that by clicking the
link that is attached to the description of this video. You don't have to get "Alice In
Wonderland", you can get any audiobook that you like, Audible has a very wide selection. But if
you do get the "Alice in Wonderland" audiobook - again, click the link, go through the process,
your first audiobook is free - I recommend getting the version that is narrated by Shelby Lewis. So,
there are many versions of "Alice In Wonderland" in audio format on Audible, and I found that
the Shelby Lewis narration is the clearest and it's at a good pace and it should be, you know,
the most understandable version of the book for English students. I really only recommend it,
though, if you are an intermediate or upper intermediate student. If you are a beginner
this is probably not the book for you. Okay so again check it out on Audible.com, and check out
the link that is attached to this video to get one free audiobook. Now on to the lesson. So today I'm
gonna look at some phrases and sentences, five of them specifically, that have come from and been
popularized by "Alice In Wonderland". Some of the discussion today will center around mental health
and why some of the language in "Alice In Wonderland", including what I just read,
needs to be read with a certain type of sensitivity as well as an understanding of
the context from which it came. So just to start, let's start a little light over here, I'll get
off the board so you guys can see everything, push "print screen", is that better? All right,
first we have "curiouser and curiouser". Now you see the word "curious" and "curious"
and you say, "Wait, can you say curiouser?" Not really. But, like I said, normally you're supposed
to say like "more and more curious", but "Alice In Wonderland" is playful. It doesn't care sometimes
about word rules or grammar rules, so for that reason, if you're a beginner, it's not a good book
for you. Upper intermediate, advanced, if you want to see some interesting word play, it's a really
cool book. So, "curiouser and curiouser". This is a phrase which means "stranger and stranger" or
"hmm, more and more interesting." So let me give you an example sentence so you can see what I mean
and in what types of contexts you can use it. So imagine you are watching a TV series
and you finished an episode and you're really curious about what's going to happen next,
so you might say "hmm, curiouser and curiouser. I wonder what's going to happen next," right
so you're like ah that was really interesting. While we're talking about the word "stranger",
maybe you watched, you know, the series "Stranger Things" on Netflix
and a lot of stuff in that show and various parts of, you know, the story, you know, you could say
"curiouser and curiouser", like what's gonna happen with Will now? and what's happening
here? This isn't only to talk about movies or series, of course. This can be about any
situation where things are getting more and more interesting or more and more, well, stranger, are
getting stranger. So if you are going for a walk with friends and you're like, okay this is kind
of an interesting path, there are some flowers i've never seen before, curiouser and curiouser.
Okay so let's try that one more time curiouser let's do it slow I know it's a hard word.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Okay, next, so I put an asterisk next to this. So the phrase is "mad as a hatter" so the Mad
Hatter is a character in "Alice In Wonderland" who is a little atypical, so they function in
a different way than the majority of people in that world function. Now the word "mad",
this is similar to a word like "crazy" which is not popularly used or is not looked upon
favorably in today's world, because words like "mad", words like "insane", words like "crazy"
they can be said to stigmatize people who have mental health issues or mental differences
than others. So you can still use it instead of using a word like "mad" or instead of using a
word like "crazy" you can internalize it and use words like "irrational" or "strange" or "atypical"
or "erratic". Okay so again, "crazy", "insane", they have very negative connotations in today's
world. So you can still use "mad as a hatter" and people can understand, depending on the context
you use it in, whether you mean like it's like strange or atypical - that means not typical,
okay? - or erratic. All right. So did you see his latest interview he was mad as a hatter?
So if, you know, if you see someone who's having an interview on television,
a famous personality, and in the interview they're answering questions in a strange way
or they're behaving in a in an odd way like they're running around or jumping, like,
he was everywhere, he was mad as a hatter. Even in sports, like if someone is playing in a way that's
in a very impressive way, you could say it's like, well, he played like he was mad as a hatter,
he was all over the field, very fast, very erratic, not typical of a soccer player or
a hockey player or something like that. So just be careful what context you use this in, okay?
Next, Tweedledee and Tweedledum .so these are two characters in the book who are
fools or clowns. Essentially they're very playful. If you use the the phrase, you know,
Tweedledee and Tweedledum these are two names this refers to two foolish people. So this can often
be used in a comedic way, if you are talking about politics and to political candidates.
So for example, "I watched the debate between Tweedledee and Tweedledum yesterday." So if
you are someone who is cynical about politics and you have two candidates who you feel are,
you know, a little foolish, who are, it's like, he's a clown, she's a clown, whatever it is,
you can say it's like, "yep, there's Tweedledee and Tweedledum." Two fools, two clowns,
two people who should not be in politics because they don't have the necessary skills to do it.
Okay, the last two, so these are just common sentences that came from "Alice In Wonderland"
or that were popularized. So here at the beginning of the book, the beginning of the movie,
you have the rabbit who says "I'm late, I'm late for a very important date", so if you're ever
late for something like a dentist appointment, if you're late for a meeting or anything like that,
or a date with your friends or your wife or girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, anyone,
and you're talking to a friend who knows "Alice In Wonderland", probably you can say,
"I'm late I'm late for a very important date", maybe you're a nerd if you say this like I am,
so you know i've said this before, it depends, I really like the book. So that's it. Finally,
"we're all mad here", so again "mad" it can have a negative connotation depending on how
you're using it, what your understanding of the word is but if your understanding of the word is
atypical irrational or strange different interesting, for example, "Welcome to the team,
we're all mad here." So, "welcome to the team" - someone just introduced you to your new workplace
and if they want to make, you know, have a little fun, they can say "we're all mad here".
We're all a little off the wall, we're all a little different, we're all a little strange.
That guy wears a funny hat every day, you know, she likes putting toys on her desk
all the time, so a very colorful arrangement of people work here, you can use it in that light
in that way. All right, so hopefully I've given you some language that you'll be able to identify
if you hear it in any context, whether you're watching a Youtube video
or a movie or a television series or maybe even if you read "Alice In Wonderland" you'll know where
these phrases, where these sentences came from. So once again, "curiouser and curiouser",
"mad as a hatter", "Tweedledee and Tweedledum", "I'm late I'm late for a very important date",
and "we're all mad here". Okay, so if you want to check out the audiobook, again, Shelby Lewis,
look for the version that is narrated by Shelby Lewis. Let me know what you think. Pick up that
free audiobook. And if you want to test your understanding of this material, as always,
you can check out the quiz on engvid.com, and if you enjoyed this video please subscribe to
my channel on Youtube, like it, share it, comment on it, and until next time thanks for clicking.