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You are absolutely fluent i… — English with Lucy shadowing | TryShadowing
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English with Lucy
You are absolutely fluent in English if you can understand these
You are absolutely fluent in English if you can understand these
English with Lucy
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9:08 · Jun 7, 2023
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Hello,
lovely
students
and
welcome
back
to
English
with
Lucy.
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/179
0:00
- Hello, lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy.
0:03
I've got a really fun lesson for you today
0:05
because we're going to delve
0:08
or dive into the world of jokes.
0:11
This is a really important part of British culture.
0:14
It's how we connect and follow social cues.
0:17
We're going to talk about play on words, puns, all that good stuff.
0:21
Now, I know that jokes tend to be silly, but trust me,
0:24
this is actually quite serious business
0:26
because understanding jokes and nuance is a really important aspect of the advanced levels
0:32
of fluency.
0:32
Familiarising yourself with multiple meanings of words is important at any level,
0:37
so practising with the flexibility of words
0:40
and sentences is a great way to put your brain to work
0:43
and increase your comprehension skills.
0:46
Something that might help you even further is
0:49
that I have created a free PDF for today's lesson.
0:52
It contains everything that we're going to cover today,
0:54
plus a quiz so you can test your understanding.
0:57
If you'd like to download that,
0:58
all you have to do is click on the link in the description box,
1:01
you enter your name and your email address.
1:03
You sign up to my mailing list
1:04
and the PDF will arrive directly in your inbox,
1:07
and after that, you'll automatically receive my free weekly lesson PDFs.
1:11
You'll also hear about my news, updates and course offers.
1:15
It's a free service and you can unsubscribe at any time.
1:17
Right, let's get started with the lesson.
1:20
So I think the most common form of wordplay is the pun
1:24
and there is so much pun-related content circulating around the internet.
1:29
Now, they're often referred to as dad jokes and I personally love them.
1:35
A pun uses the multiple meanings of a term
1:38
or similar sounding words for an intended humorous effect
1:42
and puns often rely on homophones,
1:45
homographs or homonyms.
1:48
"But what are homophones, homographs and homonyms?"
1:52
I hear you ask from your tiny little screen.
1:54
Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins or spellings.
2:01
They can cause confusion in spoken language because they sound identical.
2:06
So context is extremely important.
2:08
Here are some examples.
2:10
We have pair, a set of two, and pear, a type of fruit.
2:16
We have flour, the ingredient for baking cakes, and flower, a blooming plant.
2:23
Break, to separate into pieces and brake, a device for slowing a vehicle.
2:30
Now, homographs have the same spelling
2:33
but different meanings and they may have different pronunciations.
2:37
For example, bow, to bend at the waist, and bow, a decorative knot.
2:45
Tear, to rip something and tear, a drop of liquid from the eye.
2:50
We also have lead, a type of metal, and lead, to guide or direct.
2:57
So as you can see,
2:58
they can cause confusion in writing because of their identical spelling.
3:02
And finally, we have homonyms,
3:04
which are words that have the same spelling and pronunciation, but different meanings.
3:10
Homonyms can be considered a combination of homophones and homographs and thus,
3:15
cause confusion in both speaking and writing.
3:18
So much fun.
3:19
Here are some examples.
3:21
We have bark, the outer covering of a tree, and bark,
3:26
(dog barking) the sounded dog makes.
3:27
Bank, a financial institution and bank, the side of a river.
3:32
Bat, a flying mammal, and bat, a piece of sports equipment.
3:37
Okay, now that we have all of that background info out of the way,
3:41
let's see how you do with some of these play on words.
3:44
If you don't understand them, that's okay.
3:46
Let's just see how you do.
3:48
Okay, firstly, did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut
3:54
off?
3:55
He's all right now.
3:57
(Lucy chuckling) Do you get it?
3:58
Do you get why it's funny?
4:00
Okay, jokes are never
4:01
as funny when you have to explain them
4:03
but that's why we're here,
4:04
right?
4:04
And that was a total dad joke.
4:06
This absolutely hilarious pun plays on the homophones alright, and all right.
4:13
The joke is that the man who had his left side cut off would
4:17
be in a terrible state,
4:18
but the punchline reveals that he is alright, meaning he's doing well.
4:23
All right also means only the right side,
4:26
no left because he's had his left side removed.
4:30
He consists only of his right side, so he is all right.
4:33
Wow, that is so unfunny now that I've explained it.
4:35
Okay, another one.
4:36
Did you hear about the bicycle that couldn't stand on its own?
4:40
Yeah, it was too tired.
4:42
Okay, this is a certified dad joke right here.
4:45
Here we have the homophones too tired and two-tired.
4:49
We need to understand
4:50
that too tired means exhausted
4:53
while two-tired means having two wheels
4:57
or two tyres,
4:58
the rubber bit on the wheels.
5:00
The bike couldn't stand on its own
5:01
because something with two tyres will obviously fall over
5:04
and something that is very,
5:06
very tired will also fall over.
5:08
So doubly funny, hilarious.
5:10
Editors, please can you insert a laugh track. (people laughing) Thank you.
5:15
(Lucy chuckling) Okay, next.
5:17
Love this one.
5:19
Why are postmen so unhappy all the time?
5:24
Because they're given the sack every morning.
5:27
(Lucy chuckling) My husband's in the background and he actually laughed a little bit.
5:30
It was like a (Lucy snorting).
5:31
Do you ever do
5:32
that when you see a funny video on your phone
5:34
and you don't laugh,
5:35
you just go.
5:36
(Lucy snorting) (Lucy chuckling) Now we can see how homonyms can also be used
5:39
to make puns.
5:40
Here we're playing with the double meaning of the phrase give the sack
5:44
or given the sack.
5:45
In this context, to be given the sack means to be fired
5:49
or dismissed from a job,
5:50
but the joke is
5:51
that the postmen are given the sack every morning
5:54
because they are provided with a bag
5:57
or a big sack to carry the post in.
6:02
(Lucy clapping) Okay, next one.
6:03
I love this one.
6:04
My mum tried to make a joke about the TV
6:07
but it wasn't remotely funny.
6:11
(Lucy chuckling) Okay, I guess rather than being a dad joke,
6:13
this one's more of a mum joke,
6:14
but here we're using the double meaning of the word remote.
6:18
In this context, adding -ly or -ly to remote makes the adverb remotely,
6:24
which means not at all.
6:26
If something is not remotely funny, it's not at all funny.
6:29
However, remote is also a shortened informal way to say remote control.
6:34
This, the device used to change channels on a TV.
6:38
That is pure comedic gold if you ask me.
6:41
Not remotely funny.
6:44
(Lucy chuckling) She tried to make a joke about the TV,
6:45
but it wasn't remotely funny.
6:48
Maybe I should stop teaching and go into comedy.
6:50
Are you ready for our final and most difficult one?
6:54
Our most difficult dad joke, it's a big one.
6:57
There is a fine line between a numerator and a denominator.
7:01
It's okay if you didn't get that.
7:03
Only a fraction will understand.
7:09
(Lucy chuckling) Okay, this is actually a two for one, two pun alert,
7:12
double pun alert.
7:12
We have two puns in this joke.
7:14
First, in mathematics, a fraction is a numerical quantity
7:19
that represents a part of a whole expressed
7:22
as a numerator over a denominator.
7:25
Part of the joke is
7:26
that there is a fine line
7:28
which refers to the horizontal line
7:30
that separates them in a fraction
7:31
but a fine line also means a very small difference.
7:36
For example, there's a very fine line between confidence and arrogance.
7:41
Well, here we're saying there's a fine line between a numerator
7:44
and a denominator because they're part of a fraction.
7:46
The second part of the joke is
7:48
that the word fraction means a small number outside of its mathematical meaning.
7:54
Only a fraction will understand.
7:56
Only a small number of people will understand.
7:59
Okay, I know these are pretty challenging
8:01
but learning English should be enjoyable
8:04
so don't forget to download today's PDFs.
8:07
We have lots more examples in there
8:08
and we have a quiz to test your understanding.
8:12
The link is in the description box.
8:13
Also, you can connect with me on my social media.
8:16
I've got my Instagram and my Facebook.
8:18
I've also got my website where we've got lots more lessons
8:21
and an interactive pronunciation tool where you can click on phonemes
8:25
and hear me pronounce them,
8:26
and you can also check out all of my courses.
8:29
We have now released our B1 programme, our B2 programme and our C1 programme.
8:34
They're all available for enrollment now.
8:36
They are amazing if I do say so myself.
8:38
I'm incredibly proud of them
8:40
and incredibly excited for you to take them
8:43
and experience them.
8:44
I will see you soon in another lesson.
8:46
(Lucy kissing) (lively music)
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