In today’s English Cafe, I talk about the legend of Bigfoot, a mysterious man-animal that is supposed to live in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. Be sure to read today’s Learning Guide, where in our What Insiders Know section you can learn about another mystery, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Do you know of any stories from other countries about some mystery animal that no one has every seen?
I also talk about a famous comedy routine by the great American comedians Abbot and Costello. Here’s a clip (a small section of a movie) with “Who’s on first?” The words for the most of the routine can be found here. They speak very fast, so you may want to look at the words while you watch it. The script starts about 45 seconds after the beginning of the clip. The man on the left (Costello) is selling peanuts at a baseball game, and the man on the right (Abbott) is the coach of the team. Costello asks Abbot to tell him the name of the players on the team. I suggest reading the script first, and then trying to watch the clip. It lasts about six minutes.
I can’t read the Who’s first script. Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage.
Ari
Hello Jeff,
I´ve read English Café 106… and I don´t understand one of the sentences which you wrote on page number eight.
The sentence is: “I, of course, never used Cliff Notes – and if you believe that, well, you
don’t know me very well!”
Could you explain me – why, if I believe that you never used Cliff Notes – so I don´t know you very well…?
I´d write: “I, of course, never used Cliff Notes – and if you don´t believe that, well, you
don’t know me very well!”…
But, it may be grammatically wrong… probably. Isn´t it the double negativ?
Thanks.
Mirek(Czech Republic)
Hi, Mirek,
Well, you are correct if you never used Cliff Notes. However, if you did use Cliff Notes, then Jeff is right. Does it make sense?
Best,
Pedro
Mirek,
It was a joke. He meant he really used Cliff Notes, and the words “I, of course, never used Cliff Notes” are not true. If you believed he never used it, you think he’s too good, you just don’t know him.
Anton, Pedro – thanks!
I was so naive about Jeff :o)))
Mirek
Do you know of any stories from other countries about some mystery animal that no one has every seen?
Of course, the most popular story of mistery animals here in Europe is the popular “Loch Ness Monster”, but a couple of years ago I’ve heard about a strange creature in South America called “Chupacabras”. I think it’s a kind of witched animal that kills farm animals, and then sucks the blood….. Is there anyone that know about it?
And… What about “the sirens”, other strange creature, half woman – half fish, that enchanted sailors with her beautiful songs
The pun you (Jeff) gave as an example (EC106) from “Who’s on first” interlude resembles more natural pun from Mikchail Zvanetskiy “Avas” (196X) (russian “? ????” – “and what about you?” is consonant to “????” – a Georgian man’s first name):
– ??? ???? ???????? (What is you second name?)
– ???????. (Goridze)
– ? ????? ??? ???? (And the first name?)
– ????. (Avas = and what about you?)
– ???? ??????? ??????????, ? ???? (I am Nikolay Stepanovitch, and what about you?)
– ????. (Avas = and what about you?)
– ???? ??????? ??????????, ? ???? (I am Nikolay Stepanovitch, and what about you?)
and so forth…
Hello Lucie & Jeff,
This routine reminds me the movie “Rainman” featuring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (1988). “who’s on first” in a reccurent sentence all along the movie. Impossible to sum up here, I just advise those who have’nt already seen this movie to find it if possible.
I really enjoyed watching this clip. I also believe it is a terrific tool to improve my listening skill. Thanks Jeff!