Thursday, March 11, 2010

#1193 NZ Marmite Ad, Slang, Bottled Ghosts Sold Online, Jubilation, Reality TV


Show 1193 Thursday 11 March
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today we’re studying an ad for New Zealand Marmite.

Marmite, in case you didn’t know, is a kind of spread. You can spread it on bread or toast or on crackers like this.

In this ad, a guy who is studying in New Zealand is talking to his mum via webcam and she’s asking how everything’s going.

And he starts off talking with the same accent as his mother – which is presumably the way they speak in the country he’s from – and then he takes a bite of a piece of toast with Marmite on it and then he starts speaking with a Kiwi accent, with Kiwi slang – well, slang anyway, I’m not sure how much of it, if any, is unique to New Zealand.

And the point of it is, when you eat Marmite, you become like a real New Zealander. And the line at the end of the ad is: What makes Kiwis, Kiwis.

So, let’s have a look at what he says:

Just the other day, Muzzer swung by my pad in his HQ and we ripped out west for a wave before bailing back to his missus for a barbie, so yeah, nah.

Muzzer, I guess that’s his friend’s nickname. I don’t know if that’s how you spell it or not.

To swing by means to visit a place or person for a short time, it means the same thing as drop by.

A pad is a house or a flat or an apartment.

HQ, I think means Holden HQ. Holden is a local car company … well actually I think it might be an American company that used to be an Australian company. But anyway, whatever, I got bored after a few sentences of that Wikipedia article.


Ripped out west for a wave, that means: we drove out to the west coast to go surfing.

Before bailing back to his missus for a barbie that means before going back to his partner’s place for a BBQ.

Missus means wife or girlfriend. Incidentally, I can’t stand that word.

And barbie is slang for BBQ.

And finally, he says: So yeah, nah.

This is quite common in New Zealand. I know people say it in other countries too … and I’m not exactly sure what it means or why we say it. So I’m going to keep thinking about it and talk about it again another day. And in the meantime, feel free to tell me your theories about what it means.

Here’s an example: Some asks you: How’s work going?
And you reply: Oh, it was pretty busy this week, but we got a lot done, so yeah, nah, it’s going well.

Which means, it’s going well, so … what’s the point of saying yeah, nah or yes, no?




STICK NEWS


Last July a woman in Christchurch, New Zealand noticed strange things going on in her house.
So she called an exorcist and he captured two ghosts and put them in two small bottles with holy water.
Recently the woman decided to sell the bottled ghosts on an auction site.
Someone bought them for $2830.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 11th of March.
Kia ora.


BOO!
gasp!


I'll need your credit card details and a deposit...
OK.
WOOOOOOOO!
BANG!
THUD!


It's gluten-free holy water so there's an extra change...


Let us out!
TAP! TAP! TAP!


We'll get lots of clicks! It's all about the clicks!
Web 2.0! Twitter! SpaceBook!
Riiight. And we'll be the company that invests in bottled ghosts.



Word of the Day

Today’s word is jubilation.

jubilation n. a feeling of great happiness because of a success

This is a billboard near my apartment building. As you can see it’s a picture of an eye with a tear coming out of it and the words: Jubilation?Elimination? Onion?



It’s advertising a TV show called MasterChef. I’ve never seen it, but I know it’s a kind of reality show so it’s some kind of cooking competition where people get eliminated – they probably get voted off or something.

So the tear could be because of happiness because they were successful on the show or sadness because they got kicked off the show, or because they were cutting onions.



conversations with sarah
#759 Do you watch them?

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

Aaron Are reality shows popular in New Zealand?

Sarah Yeah, I think so. There seems to be quite a few of them.

Aaron What kind of shows do they have?

Sarah Um, I’m not exactly sure. I think they have some original ones and some copies of American shows – like New Zealand Idol or New Zealand Top Model

Aaron Do you watch them?

Sarah No, I haven’t seen those ones, but the other day I watched the first episode of New Zealand Apprentice or Apprentice New Zealand … or something about an apprentice.

Aaron What’s that one about?

Sarah It’s a business reality show.

Aaron How was it?

Sarah Ah … it was … terrible. Yeah, I definitely could have done with that hour of my life back.



QuestionAnswer



links


music

show start
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Future Cha Cha
from: Brooklyn, NY, United States
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



bgm
artist: sebteix
album: tout pour le groove
track: Sax to the beat
from: Paris, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
MySpace


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