Episode 0161

Hello everyone, welcome back to English Pod. My name is Marco.

And my name is Catherine and today, Marco, we're talking about something that I know you're a big fan of.

Um, so yeah, we're going to be looking at some vocabulary and phrases related to computer games and video games, and this is actually a request from one of our users.

Awesome. So before we get started, we do have the name of the game that we're going to look at. So let's listen to that in today's vocabulary preview.

Vocabulary preview.

All right, so the game that we're going to preview today is called Counter-Strike.

Okay, so first you have a strike or an attack.

Right. Then you have a counter-strike.

So that's an opposite attack or something like that, right?

So it's a reaction to the first thing that happens. So you hit me and my counter-strike is I hit you back.

Uh-huh. And this game is a is actually very, very popular all over the world because many players are able to compete at the same time.

So it's a shooting game. You shoot each other. You are the terrorists and then there the other team is like the police or the army or whatever.

Well, we're going to learn more about the specific vocab that goes with computer games and video games in a minute, but first let's take a listen to our dialogue.

Terrorists win.

I've been playing computer games.

My laptop is on my bed. If you think it's so easy, then get online and try to beat me.

Fine.

Go, go, go.

Taking the point.

I need assistance.

Counter-Terrorists win.

All right, we're back. So there was some really interesting vocab here, and so let's look at it now in language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

Okay, so what kind of a game was this, Marco?

All right, this game was a FPS or also in the dialogue we heard a first-person shooter game.

So our users might have heard this phrase first-person before because it's a grammar term in many ways. We talk about I, I do this, I can sing. That's the first-person. But when we're talking about games, first-person shooter means that what you do, you're doing as if you were the character in the game.

Right. So even the way that you're looking at the game.

It seems like you're looking through the eyes of the character.

Okay, so you don't see the body, you are the body of the person.

You are the body. Exactly.

So first-person shooter, so shooter obviously means that this is a shooting game. What you do is you pull the trigger and shoot people.

Exactly.

And as we mentioned, a lot of players are able to compete against each other, so it's called a multiplayer game.

Okay, so multi is a prefix because it goes at the beginning of a word. In English, that means many. So you could hear multicolored or multi-ethnic. Right. And the meaning of this is that there are many different colors, or many different ethnicities, or in this case, multiplayer, many different players at the same time.

Exactly. So in this in this game, you can many players can play whether it's an a local area network or online over the internet.

Cool. So you actually have to have the internet, right, when you're doing this because you're using many different computers, so they have to be connected to each other.

Right. So and that's our next word, you go online in order to play.

Okay, so online you've heard before, online means on the internet, but in this case, the action of using the internet is called going online. So uh, I want to go online to read my email.

Right. Or I can't go online. I don't have a connection.

All right. So this is the way that you use it. You go online. In order to use the internet, you go online.

Very interesting.

Well, the last word we've got here in language takeaway is a very important one when we talk about video games because many people are in this situation: they're hooked on video games.

Right. So if you are hooked on a video game, or you are hooked on anything, it means you're kind of addicted or you're very, very interested in something.

All right, so that's all the words we have for language takeaway. Why don't we listen to our dialogue again and we'll be back in a bit.

I've been playing computer games.

My laptop is on my bed. If you think it's so easy, then get online and try to beat me.

Fine.

All right, we're back and we have a couple of phrases that we want to look at, specifically two phrases. So let's look at those now in fluency builder.

Fluency builder.

All right, so blew me off. What what do you what do you mean when you say you blew me off yesterday?

Okay, so let's take a look at the uh the infinitive version of this phrase, so to blow someone off. And they all go together, it's a fixed phrase, and this means um to have an appointment with someone, but to not go.

So he did but did he tell you that he wasn't going to go?

I went. No. No, so it's it's a surprise. It's like uh you expect someone to come meet you or do something with you, but they don't plan they don't say anything and they don't go.

So there's another word very similar to this one and it's uh to stand someone up, right?

Exactly. So he stood me up. He didn't come. He blew me off.

Okay, very good.

All right. And uh what's our next phrase?

To waste your time.

All right, so the girlfriend in this case was like you're wasting your time on these video games.

That means you're not getting anything out of this. You're not benefiting, it means that you could spend your time doing other things.

Okay. So if you're wasting your time on video games, you're not being productive.

Exactly. So.

You're not learning anything.

Okay, or he wastes a lot of time watching TV.

Mm, that's a common problem.

All right. So uh let's listen to this dialogue again real fast and we'll be back in a bit.

Terrorists win.

I've been playing computer games.

My laptop is on my bed. If you think it's so easy, then get online and try to beat me.

Fine.

Go, go, go.

Taking the point.

I need assistance.

Counter-Terrorists win.

All right, so we talked about, you know, being hooked on TV shows and video games, um but this is actually a very big problem in some Asian countries specifically, right?

So the parents took their kids back.

Scary.

It is scary.

But I guess it's a very popular thing in Asian countries specifically, right? To play online, to go online. Um there's a lot of other factors that that influence this, but um but I think it is like everything in in excess is dangerous.

This is true. And actually, some people have been using this addiction to be a productive use of their time. So you have some people who play a game called World of Warcraft and they win money and they sell things to other players all over the world. And so you have these kids in America buying toys and like uh shields and gold from kids in, for example, Indonesia, and the kid in Indonesia is making money.

All right, uh that's all the time we have for today. Um we hope you enjoyed this lesson and of course, if you have any questions, comments, or doubts, please come to our website Englishpod.com and we'll see you guys there.

Until next time, everyone.

Bye.

The English audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

To ignore someone or not appear to an appointment.

Blow someone off.

Difficult in an enjoyable way.

Challenging.

Defeat.

Beat.

Addicted.

Hooked.

Use more than necessary.

Waste.

Let's try that faster.

To ignore someone or not appear to an appointment.

Blow someone off.

Defeat.

Beat.

Difficult in an enjoyable way.

Challenging.

Use more than necessary.

Waste.

Addicted.

Hooked.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Blow someone off.

I can't believe she blew me off again.

Blow someone off.

I swear, if you blow me off again, I won't talk to you again.

Blow someone off.

You can't let him blow me off like that.

Challenging.

I like games that are challenging.

Challenging.

I was expecting something a little bit more challenging.

Challenging.

Everyone says this career is so challenging, but it hasn't been for me so far.

Beat.

Two guys showed up out of nowhere and started beating me up.

Beat.

Try and beat me if you can.

Beat.

Hooked.

He got really hooked on that game.

Hooked.

She seems to be really hooked on you.

Hooked.

Some drugs are so strong that you can't avoid getting hooked on.

Waste.

Waste.

I don't want to waste my time doing something I don't enjoy.

Waste.