Wednesday, July 01, 2009

#1077 Experiment Over – Thank You, Movie Clichés, Street View Busts Crims, Axe, Flower Festival


Show 1077 Wednesday 1 July
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today is the first of July which means my Japanese vlog experiment is now over, I did the last vlog yesterday. So, I’ll talk more about that later – but for now I just wanted to say thank you very much to everybody who took part. Thank you so much to everybody who left comments pointing out my mistakes and other comments too … people left really supportive and encouraging comments which was really nice. Thank you very much.

Now for today’s mistake.
I went to Sapporo on Monday – that’s a big city a couple of hours drive from where I live. And I saw a poster in a kind of department store or shopping mall or something …
And it said: Go to Summer Trip.

Now, this technically isn’t a mistake at all, because the writing doesn’t seem to be intended to convey any meaning (I meant to say information) and it’s not for an English-speaking audience anyway. The writing is just part of the design, so it doesn’t have to follow any language rules, it’s like poetry.

But, supposing that sentence was in another context - is there anything wrong with it?

Well, I think that depends what Summer Trip is.

If Summer Trip is the name of something, like an event or a restaurant or a bar, then that sentence is perfect.

For example:
We’re going out to dinner tonight. Really? Where are you going? We’re going to Summer Trip.

Or:
Hey, do you know any shops that sell really nice, formal dresses? Oh, yeah, you should go to Summer Trip, they have some really nice dresses there.

But if you’re meaning summer trip as in a holiday or a journey, then that’s a mistake because you don’t go to a trip, you go on a trip.

So, you wouldn’t say: I’m going to a summer trip.
You’d say: I’m going on a summer trip.



click here

When I was looking for some news clichés to use on Monday’s show I came across a site called moviecliches.com which I thought was pretty interesting. As the name might suggest, it’s a list of clichés that you often see in movies.

For example in the elevator section it says that when characters are chasing someone, they always reach the elevator just as it’s closing but they never stick their hand in the door so that it will automatically open back up again.

And under bombs it says that bombs always have big, blinking, timer displays. Evil geniuses who devise bombs to destroy things/people are always thoughtful enough to include a visible display of how much time remains before the bomb detonates, giving the hero accurate feedback on exactly how much time remains.



STICK NEWS


Kia ora in Stick News today some thieves in the Netherlands were busted thanks to Google Street View.

Last September a 14-year-old boy in the Netherlands told police two men dragged him off his bicycle and stole 165 Euros and his cell phone. Then in March the teenager called the police again after he saw a photo on Google Street View of himself and the two men who attacked him. Police then sent a formal request to Google for the original photo. And when they saw the original photo, an officer recognized one of the men, and they were arrested.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 1st of July.
Kia ora.



Word of the Day


Today’s word is axe.

This is an axe.

photo by: Jürgen Zahrl

And axe is also a verb.

end, cancel or dismiss suddenly and ruthlessly
Yesterday I saw this headline on a NZ news site:
Ministry to axe 590 jobs - create 360 new ones

They could have written cut, which means the same thing, but axe sounds more dramatic.



conversations with sarah
#682 How was the flower festival?

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

Trevor How was the flower festival?

Sarah Mmm … there were lots of senior citizens there who seemed to be really enjoying themselves and it made me think that it’s really great how the city organizes a variety of events so that there’s something for everyone.

Trevor Yeah, that is good.

Sarah The flowers were kinda ho-hum though.

Trevor Not pretty enough for you?

Sarah Well, they were pretty but … some of them were kind of wilted. It was a pretty hot day though. But I think I prefer just walking around my neighbourhood and looking at all the flowers in people’s gardens.

Trevor Are there some nice gardens in your neighbourhood?

Sarah Yeah, really nice, people seem to put a lot of effort into their gardens around here. I have this theory that it’s because everything is covered in snow for half the year that people appreciate colour more.

Trevor Don’t people do as much gardening in other parts of Japan?

Sarah Actually, I … have no idea. Obviously my theory isn’t very scientific …



links

today's STICK NEWS pictures


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

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: 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: Shades of Spring
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
artist site

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