english across the pond — History

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English Across the Pond.

Hello, hello, hello everybody.

Welcome back.

This is English Across the Pond, the place on the internet where you come to improve your English.

We are here every week with a natural conversation which we hope

relaxing for you to listen to, a little bit funny maybe, but also full of the kind of English language you need.

The reason that we can give you this language is because we are native speakers, we're both language teachers and we've been teaching for many, many years, long before

podcasts were really a thing.

And we got together and we thought, hey, let's make some magic.

And here we are, four years later, still podcasting together.

My name is Dan.

Hi everybody.

Hello and welcome.

I'm from England.

I'm your British English teacher here at English Across the Pond.

Hello, that makes me the other half.

Jennifer from Great Britain.

Just kidding.

Jennifer from the US.

Hi.

How are you?

Your British accent is improving.

I know, it's getting better.

That's very good, better.

But you can't just jump between hello and then say better.

You've got to be either posh or working class.

You can't be both.

Better.

Good.

That's it.

Posh.

You're going posh, are you?

Hello.

I'm much better.

I'd like a cup of tea.

I like a cup of tea and a bit of lolly.

What does that mean?

That's lolly.

Lolly.

A cup of tea and a bit of lolly.

A lolly can either be, strangely, it can be an ice cream, an ice lolly, which is like, you know, like an ice cream that's not got milk in, you know, it's just like fruit based and ice.

That's an ice lolly.

yeah popsicle yeah and lolly can also be money as well it's a nickname for money loads of lolly it can be money too lolly so why is it like a known thing because you know like if you think about Australia it's like let's put another shrimp on the barbie yeah and like they don't really say that would you like a cup of tea and a bit of lolly that's like what I think of with with Great Britain I have never in my life heard that before honestly never

I'm going to Google it.

And a bit.

Well, you Google it.

I'll keep talking.

You Google it.

Yeah.

This week, we are talking about history.

Two weeks ago, we tried to talk about history and we ended up talking about jokes.

But this week, we are going to talk about history and I'm going to start by singing a song.

You ready?

Yes.

And your job... Let me finish the song.

We can join in if you like.

Your job is to identify the singer.

You ready?

Ooh, yes.

Two, three, four.

If you know your history...

then you will know where you're coming from coming from then you wouldn't have to ask me who the hell do i think i am i'm just a buffalo soldier okay yeah i was gonna say like i knew the song but i think you're way off key yeah you're not kidding i started too high

If you know your history, then you will know where I'm coming from.

And you wouldn't have to ask me.

Who the hell do I think I am?

I'm just a buffalo.

Who is it?

Bob Marley.

Good.

I am like a misread.

I love reggae.

Yeah, I know you do.

That's why I thought you'd get it.

Congratulations.

Go you.

One point America.

Woo!

Yeah.

So, Jennifer, tell me about history.

Did you like it when you were at school?

It is the worst subject for me in my entire existence of school.

I pride myself on my very academic success.

I didn't even have to try very hard and I got A's.

all the time in mostly everything.

History was the subject that I got a B in.

And one time I got a B minus in.

Ladies and gentlemen, it now becomes clear to us all why it's taken us a long time to get round to talking about history.

I know.

I'm like, gosh, we keep putting it off.

Yeah, Jan, we should talk about jokes today.

Oh, yeah, let's move that.

History is just, it's important.

It's necessary to know.

It makes up everything without history.

There's no presence.

Oh, look at that.

I'm like, Shakespeare.

It's just, I have, I've always had a really hard time with the information sticking in my mind.

Like,

dates of war, names of places, names of the generals and the soldiers and the people involved and what, like all that information, it just doesn't stay in my brain.

Don't get stressed about it though, okay?

I don't want you to get cross on this episode, all right?

Just relax.

Stop asking me questions.

You're going to say, oh, I don't know.

You're going to do that, aren't you?

Come off it.

Now, just before.

Did I use it right that time?

Not really.

Oh, okay.

Let's pause.

Just pause for a minute.

Just breathe.

You breathe, Jennifer.

Take a deep breath.

The good thing, not that deep, the good thing about this is...

We don't just talk about things that we love on this podcast.

And the great thing about Jennifer's language today, and maybe mine, is it's going to have different words and different expressions.

Because unfortunately, of course, dear listeners, we can't spend our whole life talking about the things that we like to talk about.

Life just doesn't work out like that.

Can we have another episode about plants, please?

In the future, yeah.

If you behave yourself in this one, yes.

Okay.

Okay.

So, Jennifer, you don't have to name any dates.

You don't have to remember Ulysses S. Grant's name.

But what kinds of things were you learning at school?

Like roughly, was it like a European history?

Did you do social history?

What kinds of things were going on in the class while you were staring out the window?

It wasn't that I was staring out the window.

Yeah.

I think he was.

I wasn't staring out the window.

I was trying to listen.

It just didn't stick.

So we had social studies.

Was it like where we learned history?

We learned American history.

World Wars.

and you know but we talked about this the other day i think in a private conversation maybe like we definitely didn't learn the truth like we would learn about for example the history of columbus sailed the ocean blue or in 1842 columbus sailed the ocean blue like we learned that song

And it's like, I think it wasn't even like that time.

Yeah.

1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Yeah.

Okay.

Like I said, dates don't stick.

Right.

1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and then he landed in America.

But like he didn't.

You know, someone else landed here first.

Didn't that come out like later on?

Anyways.

But and then it was like, oh, the pilgrims and the Indians, they were like just the best of friends.

And then they like had their feast and they celebrated Thanksgiving.

And now let's just celebrate and give thanks and be with family and the people we love on Thanksgiving because it's this beautiful holiday when it's like, wait a second.

That's not what happened.

You know.

That's not what happened at all.

Slavery.

I don't think slavery was, like, gone into detail as much and horrific as it was.

I definitely didn't.

You know, because in the wake of...

the massive civil rights movement that was happening that's still happening in the united states right with like george floyd i think that awakened a lot of stuff with a lot of people a lot of people were already doing it however um i think in the wake of all of that i was able to see with like a lot of what i didn't know because i was never taught yeah sure

Right.

And I think that's where like education has has failed our society in terms of what history they are teaching.

I think I also remember and just talking with like my husband about it in the U.S.

It was a big focus on U.S. history.

Like we didn't really learn other.

We didn't learn about other parts of the world.

And like.

again that's a child in school cannot change the curriculum all the way up through high school a child has no effect on what they learn or no say in what they learn sure and so it's like no wonder so many americans can be ignorant because you know like i don't think our history and education is very great no it's do you feel kind of like duped do you feel cheated or you know it's just one of those things or

I think it's just one of those things because it's all in the person.

Like, you know, we could have.

Yeah.

People can take it upon themselves to learn about what they want to learn with.

Yeah.

But then thinking about this, I actually was just thinking about in high school.

In high school, I took an A.

p history class and i think i did it for like college applications but i'll admit i i cheated i'm sorry mrs brainerd i'm sorry mrs brainerd me and ryan garcia and i can't remember who else was in the class i know we cheated on the on some of those tests how did you cheat

We shared the answers and wrote the answers down in past papers and things like that.

How bad.

We all do things that we're not proud of.

We surely do.

History.

Can I get out of the hot seat now?

Yeah, but I mean, the strange thing is about that is like, I mean, an example is last night, this is true, me and my daughter were just driving back along like the seafront.

And we arrived on the scene of an RTA, I believe you guys call it a road traffic accident.

And a motorcyclist was lying in the middle of the road.

His bike had like had oil pouring out of it and stuff.

And we'd arrived sort of like two minutes after it happened.

so there were people already there but i'm um first aid trained so like i pulled over ready to help but it was okay the guy was okay but the funny thing about that road traffic accident is if you asked 10 people who all saw exactly the same thing they'd all in both interpret it differently and remember it differently but they all swear that their version was the true version so i think

And anyway, the guy was okay in the end.

He said he wasn't bleeding.

He took his own helmet off, even though people were saying, like, don't take your helmet off.

He was like, I want to take my helmet off.

I can't breathe.

And, like, we left.

Everything was okay.

I mean, the guy was fine.

But I think, I mean, the way that, you know, historically history has been written by the winners.

You know, the winners get to write the history.

So there's always that slant of, you know, like...

We'll see it through the eyes of the victors.

But I think it's very hard to have an impartial kind of view of what went on in history.

I mean, partly because there were no video cameras and no text and no.

But even when we have all of those things, all those cameras, for example, like pointing at Trump, you know,

Trump will become history.

But even today, five minutes after he's finished, people disagree about the interpretation of what he said.

So I think it's really weird.

There's definitely kind of like airbrushing the civil rights movement and airbrushing slavery.

And there are certain countries in the world who refuse to teach certain things that happen in their country.

They don't want to talk about it.

I mean, that's different.

But even when we have all the facts and everyone's like, I'm going to be as honest as I can possibly be, you can still end up walking away from the table thinking, I'm not even sure I understand what happened.

Because everybody sees it.

It's weird, isn't it?

Don't you think?

That's very odd, I think.

Yeah.

So you go back to like...

So if you go back...

I say it's difficult to accurately...

discuss or review what happened five minutes ago never mind a thousand years ago when you know the stories are just passed down literally from family to family i think can be hard yeah history like i said history is a hard subject my friend

Yeah, I really like it, though.

Just doesn't stick.

You did you take initiative and study it outside of school?

Did you do extra studies on it?

No, I mean, where did you learn your history?

Yeah, good.

Thanks.

When I was at school, we did like the Tudors, Henry VIII and the Stuarts, like James I. Oh, it was so dull.

It was just a guy called the teacher just saying words and us just not being really interested.

It was presented.

Like the Peanuts movie?

Yeah.

Probably.

You know, like Charlie Brown, Peanuts, where the teacher's like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

Yeah.

It was just so dry.

But I would say that if there's one thing that's really, if there's one subject that's really benefited from technology, it is history, I would say.

Maybe I'm biased, but I became interested in it when TV documentaries got really good, you know, YouTube videos, timelines and things, interactive stuff.

So all the history I know,

is i didn't do it at school but it was harder than you know like mid 80s you'd have to go to the local public library and find an equally boring book so um in my maybe 20s or something like that i was lucky enough of course to travel to sort of like spend time in vietnam and china and thailand and started like you know scratching the surface and finding out about some of the things that have happened there so

And then suddenly online, it's like, wow, this is really interesting.

So I'll say I think history has really, really benefited from the Internet.

It's suddenly alive.

For example, recolouring Second World War and First World War footage, you know, painting it so that it looks like it's in colour.

It makes it breathtakingly real.

It's suddenly like, wow, that really, really happened.

There's an amazing movie by the guy who directed The Lord of the Rings.

um yeah he recolorized a load of first world war footage and i'll put a link to it in our show notes oh love notes and show notes um is there any this is a tricky question maybe but is there something in american history or world history that you would have liked to have been present at it doesn't have to be like a thousand years ago or like the signing of the declaration of independence or anything but maybe like a gig or something or some something from history you would have liked to have been there

Ooh, tricky question.

It is, it is.

Off the top of my head about a subject I have no interest in.

Um, uh,

You know what it would have been really cool to be a part of?

Like the feminism, burning the bras.

Yeah, yeah.

The suffragettes, the women just like making waves and getting rights.

That would have been really cool to be a part of.

70s kind of thing.

I would have been out there burning my bra too.

I'd have been out there burning my... Oh, no, hold on.

That doesn't work.

No.

No.

I know like this is not history, but like being at Woodstock, you know?

Why isn't that history?

That era.

Well, I guess when I think of history, I think of, like, you know, world history.

Ulysses.

You know, world wars and all that stuff.

But, like, I would have liked to have been in that era.

Yeah, sure.

Peace and love.

Yeah.

Three days of... Peace and love, baby.

yeah but um woodstock really 1969 it's the beginning of the end and then altamon is it altamon is that how you say it altamon the speedway track i have no idea the rolling stones played there like a free festival a couple of years later and people got stabbed and stuff someone died yeah i mean um woodstock was the beginning of the end why do you think that is

Because I think like the three-day festival where there was like 350,000 people and it all went okay and there were births there and everyone shared food.

I think that everyone thought they could replicate that.

But when people tried to reproduce it, you know, money reared its head and there was really bad drugs around at Altamon.

And I think that...

from 67 to 69 was like the year of free love but then after that it was on its way out you know 70 71 72 things moved on times change yeah yeah kids born at woodstock that'd be cool there's there was a story of someone i feel like it's my mom who works with someone who

And her name was something kind of hippie-ish and was like, oh, it was named after this because my parents took me to Woodstock and I got lost and they found me backstage with those something singer.

And so I got this nickname or I don't know, something along those times.

My Japanese friend Natsue, her parents met at a Beatles concert in Tokyo in 1966.

Say that again.

My friend, Natsue, she is Japanese.

If you are from Japan, I'm sorry that I'm saying that wrong.

Her parents met at the Budokan Hall where the Beatles played, I think, in 66.

Isn't that the sweetest story?

Oh, that's the sweetest.

I hope they locked eyes at all you need is love.

Yeah, beautiful.

So, yeah, I think if I could...

I mean, it'd be great to be...

The thing is, it's like, oh, it'd be great to be, like, you know, at the Coliseum or something, you know, watching the gladiators.

But you'd probably get killed or something.

You know, someone would probably, like, just stab you for no reason.

I think it was very dangerous to live a long time ago.

Life expectancy is about 30 or something.

So I'd just go and watch, like, early Beatles concert, maybe The Doors or something, you know, some sort of, like, concert from.

But, sorry, I'm rambling.

the funny thing is i mean nirvana you know kurt cobain and i saw them when they were really really small band but i didn't think like wow this is history it was just going to see a really small band yeah i think i mean i don't i think you don't know no always that you're a part of history while you're in it until later

Well, burning your bra in 1979 or whatever it is.

And at the time, you don't think, this is going to be a moment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Wow.

Wait, I was going to ask you one question and it slipped my mind.

Oh, there's a cute movie on Netflix.

It's not old.

I mean, it's not new.

It's maybe 2015 or 17 or 18.

I don't know something.

But it's called Mr. Peabody and Sherman or Sherman and Mr. Peabody.

Oh, yeah, I've heard of it.

What is it?

oh it's so cute it's this dog who like adopts this boy it's a cartoon and the the dog is like a genius scientist and he creates this um time machine but it's really interesting because they go back in time to these important parts of like history in the past and like they show up at one point like it's when um was it da vinci who painted mona lisa who painted mona lisa

yeah da vinci yeah so um like when da vinci was painting mona lisa and like they're there as it's happening but they're also interacting with the people so it's just kind of cute it's cute how they like retell some of the stories and they're like like da vinci's yelling at mona lisa like why don't you just smile be authentic be real or something oh yeah yeah

But there's also a film, we've got to finish soon, but there's also a movie where, I don't know the name of the film, but have you...

It's like a guy, somehow... Oh, I know what it is.

He knows all the Beatles songs, but nobody else in the world knows them.

Yes!

We watched that.

Paulo thought it was so cheesy.

It was so...

I've not watched it.

Is it bad?

Wait, maybe he did like it.

Now I can't remember what our deal was, if he liked it or didn't like it, but...

Yeah, it was really...

It was good.

It was interesting.

Because it was like the music.

I loved all the music.

Yeah, watch it.

Maybe a little schmaltzy.

What's schmaltzy?

That's an American word.

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

I only said it because you're American.

Oh, I've never heard schmaltzy.

I've never heard that.

I'm also... Oh, with a Z.

schmaltzy excessively sentimental hmm i never heard that sorry i was trying to i was trying to fit in i know no don't be afraid to be different dan i tell my son that every day it's like you trying to you saying come off it come off it come off it come off it means stop being stop being ridiculous

oh okay yeah i feel like i've used it in the correct way every time but it's not my cultural reference no anyway thanks for uh talking this episode flew by surprisingly enough jennifer i and everyone listening are very proud of the fact that you've got yourself through history well done give yourself a pat on the back there we go and join us next week

Love you lots.

Until the next time.

Bye-bye.

Hello and welcome back.

I just checked the name of the movie, the film that I was talking about that has been recoloured.

Originally, it was black and white footage and it's been recoloured.

The movie is called

They Shall Not Grow Old.

And the director, who I said directed Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson.

I couldn't remember his name.

So if you Google They Shall Not Grow Old trailer, T-R-A-I-L-E-R, you'll see some footage of the amazing movie that I was talking about.

But, this is The Language Focus.

Welcome back and we're going to look at some of the vocabulary from today's episode.

And to start with, we're going to look at the phrase, in the wake of.

A strange expression, in the wake of.

And...

Jennifer said this in the wake of the massive civil rights movement.

She was talking about George Floyd.

And of course with wake, we normally think of wake, woke, woken, wake up.

The verb to wake up and to wake up is to stop sleeping.

We do use the verb wake.

to wake up.

But I think more commonly maybe is the adjective awake, which goes with asleep to be awake and to be asleep.

They are opposites, kind of.

You know, you're either awake or you're asleep.

But wake somebody up is not the same as being awake.

If you're not awake, sorry, if you are awake, then you're not asleep.

But if you wake up, you open your eyes.

So maybe you'll be late for school.

Wake up.

You know, stop sleeping.

So to be awake...

To not be asleep, but to wake up, to stop sleeping.

There is, of course, woke, a fairly new word, to be woke, W-O-K-E.

And this means to be aware of what is happening, to understand the situation, particularly a social situation or political situation.

You have your eyes open.

The woke generation, they understand what government is trying to do.

Oh yeah!

But, in the wake of, has absolutely nothing to do with any of this.

This is a different kind of wake.

This wake is to do with water.

So, dear listeners, imagine a still lake, some water that's not moving.

Excuse me.

And a boat goes through that lake and it disturbs the water.

The water is moved by the boat.

And when the boat has gone, the water is still moving.

This is the wake.

And that is why you can have wakeboarding.

Snowboarding, surfboarding, skateboarding.

Wakeboarding is when you pull stunts and do tricks in the wake of a boat.

And what it actually means...

in the wake of is to follow directly from something so this happens and then this happens a happens and then b happens b happens in the wake of a following directly on from something else so there was a big explosion and in the wake of this explosion smoke spread across the city

B happened directly following on from A.

Does that make sense?

In the wake of.

And it comes from the idea of the boat goes through the water.

Or, you know, it's not necessarily a boat, but the water is disturbed.

The water is then moving.

This is a direct result of the water having been disturbed, having been moved in the wake of something.

It means B follows immediately after A. I think that makes sense.

Our second piece of vocab from this week's History Chat is to make waves.

It's also connected to water.

Genius.

And to make waves, Jennifer said this.

She was talking about how the suffragettes made waves.

So first of all, a wave in our traditional sense is...

This is from the dictionary.

A long body of water curling into an arched form and breaking on the shore.

Wow.

Of course, it's what happens when the lovely ocean, the lovely sea, meets the beach.

It's that bit in between where it goes over and over again.

Or, as the dictionary says...

A long body of water curling into an arched form and breaking on the shore.

As I say, I think mine is better.

So to make waves, maybe you can guess, maybe you say this in your own language, is to create a significant impression.

That's positive.

An artist, maybe, in your city...

starts to make waves.

People start to talk about this artist because they're making a significant impression.

But you can also cause trouble when you make waves.

That's another meaning.

Very similar.

But you make kind of a bad impression.

You cause trouble.

So, for example, you start a new job and somebody says, just be careful.

Don't make waves.

Don't cause any trouble.

um so to make waves maybe shocking people or upsetting people because you have new or different ideas um so things have been happening normally for a long time and you want to change those things disturb a situation and this is what jennifer was referring to with the suffragettes who were

creating a significant impression by what was considered to be causing trouble.

Now of course we think the suffragettes were great but at the time they were seen as causing trouble.

Two expressions this week.

In the wake of

and to make waves.

I hope that's helpful.

Let me know.

Get in touch.

Admin at Englishacrossthepond.com and say, Dan, I don't understand.

Or, Dan, it's crystal clear.

I will reply personally.

Oh yeah.

Until the next time.

Bye.

Here's golf legend John Daly.

Hell yeah, these wins are piling up faster than my divorces.

I only spent on Modo, America's social casino.

You know I've won a couple of majors.

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Modo Casino adds new games and awards players free coins every single day.

Grip it and spend it on Modo Casino.

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What were prohibited?

No purchase necessary.

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America's social casino.