ahoy-hoy what a strange thing to say at the start of a new lesson well it might
seem strange now but did you know that after Alexander Graham Bell invented the
telephone he thought that saying hello when
answering a call would be confusing for the person at the other end of the line
so he suggested that people say ahoy-hoy instead that's a fact and you
can put that in your hat hi everyone and welcome to another full english lesson
yes we are all here together again to share our love of the English language
so without any more hanging on the line let's get over today's full English
lesson which will start around about...
now!
a man goes to the doctor he says doctor doctor I feel like a pair of curtains
and the doctor replies Oh pull yourself together
there is nothing I enjoy more than having a good laugh if I find something
funny then it is hard for me to hide my amusement
something funny amuses me the funny thing is amusing they say that laughter
is the best medicine when you are feeling sad and this might very well be
true however saying something you find funny can sometimes get you into trouble
sometimes making a joke about something can get you into hot water there are
many words relating to jokes and humor such as comedy which defines anything
done for the amusement of others a comedy act will perform something
funny then there is clowning or clowning around which describes the act of not
being serious you are playing for Laughs you are
clowning around a carnival performer who acts in a ludicrous way for the
amusement of an audience is a clown we might describe a person who always acts
the fool and never takes anything seriously as a clown
he always disrupts my lessons by acting the clown in class we wasted a whole day
clowning around with party balloons another word relating to humour is
comedian which is a person who tells amusing stories and jokes for a living
then there is a comedienne
which is the term used to describe a female comedian
although these days the word comedian is often used for both male and female
comedy performers a joke is a story with a humorous ending the funny part of a joke
is called the punchline or tagline it is the climax of a joke or story
another word that can be used to mean joke is gag you tell a gag you stand up and tell gags
a person who stands on a stage to tell jokes is called a stand-up comedian they perform stand-up comedy
their act is called a routine which is a carefully rehearsed comedy performance I saw one
I saw one of the funniest comedy routines ever last night I'm off to the comedy club
tonight to see some new routines
if a group of people are performing a short funny play with a humorous story then this is called a sketch if someone is
making a joke about a famous person or a well-known organisation such as the
government then this is called satire lampooning spoofing or sending up
a well-known celebrity or politician might be on the receiving end of a satirical sketch
the comedy performers are poking fun at the well-known person
to perform a humorous version of something serious can be described as a spoof
the movie 'This Is Spinal Tap' is a spoof of the rock music industry
then there is tongue-in-cheek humour which makes fun of something in an ironic or insincere way
the thing being watched seems to have a serious tone but it is not to be taken
seriously it is all done tongue-in-cheek it would be fair to say that a joke
which is funny to one person might not be funny to another it might even be
considered by some to be offensive each one of us has a slightly different
feeling when we hear the same joke being performed it all depends on what is being said and who is saying it
I can't believe you find Doug Stanhope funny he is so rude
I don't understand why you dislike Doug Stanhope so much he is hilarious
this is what we call our sense of humour some people will laugh at anything
whilst others will hardly ever laugh at all it is yet another
fascinating piece of the human emotion puzzle that makes us all the individuals we are
do you have a good sense of humour what makes you laugh do you know any good jokes?
here's an interesting English phrase that you might hear used from time to
time especially in a situation where authority and responsibility is being
discussed the phrase is pass the buck to pass the buck means to place
responsibility for a mistake or misjudgment on to someone other than you
you try to cover your own error by placing the blame on another person to
avoid doing something by passing the task on to someone else is to pass the buck
you avoid responsibility for your own bad judgement and laziness the action
can be described as shirking your responsibility to shirk is to evade something
you try to wriggle out of something by placing the blame on someone else
you can't wriggle out of this mess by passing the buck a person might be willing to accept responsibility by
stating that the buck stops here all responsibility is being accepted for
whatever happens be it now or in the future you are stating that you will not
shirk your responsibilities during my time as manager I promise that whatever
happens the buck stops here you are accepting responsibility for any
negative outcome the phrase pass the buck derives from a small object that
was placed on a table during a poker game to show who was dealing the cards
it was often a commonly carried object such as a knife with decorative antlers
antlers are horns that you see on a male deer which is called a buck the phrase
came into being during the late 19th century to accept responsibility is to
say the book stops here to avoid responsibility or to push an unwanted
task onto another person is to pass the buck
whilst we are on the subject of animal idioms here is another interesting
phrase that is often used in a situation where blame is being pushed on
to someone else the word is...
scapegoat
'scapegoat' is a noun that means to be blamed for the wrongdoing of another person the blame
is being put on that person unfairly they are being made a scapegoat in a
situation where time is limited a person might be blamed so as to save time it is
convenient to blame that person they are the scapegoat
the accident investigators need a scapegoat for the cause of the crash
I will not be your scapegoat
however convenient it might be
as a verb you can scapegoat someone by actively placing the blame on them
the person blamed has been scapegoated
the word scapegoat relates to the biblical fable of the sins of the people being cast
into a goat which was then forced away into the wilderness
the word itself comes from the archaic use of 'scape' which means 'escape' you might say that
you might say that passing the buck and being used as a scapegoat are similar in both action and meaning
it's time to look at another buzzword a buzzword is a word or phrase that is
popular during a certain period of time or is generally popular
today's buzzword is...
clickbait
the word clickbait is a noun that means a post on the internet
that uses sensational photos or stories as a way to encourage someone to click
on a website promotion or a news story the online posting of an intriguing
story or photograph that is designed to encourage a person to interact directly
with it by clicking on the attached link is clickbait a typical clickbait link
will often use false information or a misleading photograph to lure a person
into clicking on it with their mouse the item often involves a story about a
celebrity or an outrageous event or occurrence the person clicking cannot
resist finding out what the story is about more often than not the link will
take them to a page of advertisements or worse still a web page containing a
computer virus it would be fair to say that clickbait is very prevalent
nowadays on the internet
whatever you do don't click on that link it's just clickbait
nowadays clickbait appears on all corners of the web from news alerts
on major web sites such as Yahoo to the very videos appearing right here on
YouTube clickbait uses overblown statements and hyperbole to persuade web
users to click on their links however as time goes on it would appear that people
are becoming wiser to this online scourge and are able to spot the fake
links more easily have you ever encountered clickbait on the Internet
what was the consequence
one of the most frustrating parts of living in this modern age must be the
amount of information we are expected to read and absorb to make matters worse
sometimes this information is written in such a confusing way that it becomes
unintelligible the words used are incomprehensible and perplexing it is
hard to grasp what is being explained to you we call this type of information
jargon the word jargon means a specific type of terminology that relates to a
certain subject some of the words used in one area of a particular subject can
be described as jargon I don't understand this letter I received from
my lawyer it's full of legal jargon don't try to
blind me with your science jargon just give it to me straight to follow a list
of instructions that have been given to you might force you to learn some of the
jargon to master how to operate this device I will need to learn some
computer jargon the jargon being read isn't fully understood it is too
esoteric it relates to a specialist field
the thing being read is unintelligible it is all gobbledygook it makes no sense
as far as you can tell it's just a load of mumbo-jumbo a letter from your lawyer
or doctor might contain lots of jargon an advanced textbook on a particular
subject might contain lots of confusing jargon the operating instructions of a
piece of technology will almost certainly contain lots of lovely
technical jargon we will often ask for the information to be simplified and
explained in plain English that we can easily understand just give it to me
straight without all the jargon some might say that the one good thing about
jargon is that it forces us to learn new things and absorb new information this
might be true however in this fast-paced age of new information
appearing almost on a daily basis it might be time to lessen the technical
terms cut down on the gobbledygook lay off the confusing terminology and
ease off the use of jargon
please!
they say all good things must come to an end
this means we have come to the end of today's full English lesson but don't cry dry
that eye because I will be back very soon with another lesson don't forget to
hit that subscribe button and activate the notifications so you'll never miss
another one of my lessons be they live or recorded this is misterduncan in the
birthplace of English wishing you well and all that remains for me to say is
ta ta for now 8-)
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