Episode 0360

Hello everyone and welcome to English Pod.

My name is Marco.

We're going to learn some words for uh stories or tales.

Uh but specifically, what kind of stories, Marco?

They're popular stories that you hear maybe through emails or um or maybe in your town, there's there's some particular story about maybe a ghost or or many different things that they're kind of hard to believe but that happened a long time ago and people still talk about today.

And they're scary.

Yeah, they're kind of scary.

So let's listen to today's dialogue, hear some interesting stories, and when we come back, we'll be talking more about what these words and phrases mean.

Have you read all these crazy things that are going on around the world?

What do you mean?

I was reading about how some people get tricked or drugged in their hotel rooms and have their organs removed. Then they're sold on the black market.

Don't tell me you actually believe all that.

Don't be so gullible, they are just urban legends.

They are just stories people make up to scare you.

Well, I was also reading about how some popular songs have subliminal or even satanic messages if you played them backwards. Can you believe that?

You really think an artist or songwriter is going to go through the trouble of putting subliminal or satanic messages in a song? Don't be so naive.

Well, maybe you are right, but how about the story about how KFC has rows of headless chickens which are super grown in order to get bigger chickens faster?

Sounds a bit too far-fetched to be true, don't you think?

All right, we're back. So let's take a look at language takeaway.

Language takeaway.

So here on Language Takeaway today, we have some words that'll help us understand the dialogue.

The first word is drugged. So I was reading about how some people get drugged in their hotel rooms.

That's right. So if you get drugged, it means that you, uh, someone gave you some drugs in order to make you sleepy or in order for you to not remember what happened.

All right, so he was drugged means someone gave him a drug, something that made him go to sleep.

Right. And it's not necessarily always a bad thing because obviously if you go to the hospital, the doctor may drug you in order to, you know, not so you don't feel so much pain or something.

Exactly, if you're in an accident, you're in a lot of pain, the doctor drugs you so you don't feel that pain.

All right, so he was this person is drugged and then what happens?

Well, his organs were removed.

All right, so organ, an organ is a noun, it's a thing. Um, those are actually the things that are inside our body.

Right, so your heart, liver, your pancreas, kidneys, etc.

These are all organs. And this is basically the category for the part of the body. It's anything really inside your body that has a function.

Okay, so this is uh supposedly this story is that people, you know, usually tourists, they get tricked or drugged and then they get their organs removed.

Now, what kind of a story is this, Marco, because it's not just a normal story.

Right. All of these uh stories that we saw in the dialogue are called urban legends.

Okay, urban has to do with cities, right? Legend is a story that may or may not be true. It comes from a long time ago.

Right. So an urban legend is actually a story that is probably not true that you hear from other people, like your friends.

That's right. So, um, usually most of these stories fall under this category, you know, they're urban legends. You don't really know if they're true, but people say it happened to a friend of theirs from a long time ago or stuff like that.

Exactly. So a friend of a friend of a friend of mine told me that in hotels, sometimes they take your organs.

Well, obviously, that's not true.

Right, right.

All right, so after that, we have two great adjectives for describing people who like to believe stories like this. What are those two adjectives?

Well, uh, we have the adjective to be gullible and to be naive.

All right, so they're a little bit different. To be gullible means to uh, believe everything that people tell you.

Right. So if you're gullible, you pretty much believe anything you see or you or you hear.

Right, and you believe it, then you're very, very gullible.

Very gullible. You believe what people tell you. But naive is similar.

It's similar, but I guess it has a little bit of a different meaning in the sense that, um, you're not, it's not that you're so gullible, but you whole-heartedly trust people, so you're naive, you're innocent.

You're innocent, maybe you don't have a lot of life experience.

Mm-hm.

So you trust people and uh, you can call a person naive, you say, well, he's very naive about these kinds of things.

I guess that that's the main key, right? That, uh, or the main point is that you don't really have too much life experience, so that's why you're naive.

That's right. And just be careful because gullible and naive are things that we say about people, but they're not nice things. They're not compliments.

Right, right. So you don't, you don't, you shouldn't really say it to someone directly like in the dialogue.

Exactly. Maybe as a joke, but not not seriously.

Okay.

So we have the great adjectives way to describe people. And lastly, we also have something else that how to describe this situation, maybe it's too far-fetched, it's too difficult to believe.

So far-fetched, this is a great word. It means basically that something is very difficult to believe, like you say.

Um, for example, the story about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is coming tomorrow. You say, oh, that's pretty far-fetched. Means I don't really think that could happen.

Right. So something that is far-fetched is difficult to happen or very, very unlikely to happen.

Very unlikely.

Okay.

So, very good. We've had, uh, we've we saw five keywords there. Let's take a break and listen to the dialogue again.

Have you read all these crazy things that are going on around the world?

What do you mean?

I was reading about how some people get tricked or drugged in their hotel rooms and have their organs removed. Then they're sold on the black market.

Don't tell me you actually believe all that.

Don't be so gullible, they are just urban legends. They are just stories people make up to scare you.

Well, I was also reading about how some popular songs have subliminal or even satanic messages if you played them backwards. Can you believe that?

You really think an artist or songwriter is going to go through the trouble of putting subliminal or satanic messages in a song? Don't be so naive.

Well, maybe you are right, but how about the story about how KFC has rows of headless chickens which are super grown in order to get bigger chickens faster?

Sounds a bit too far-fetched to be true, don't you think?

All right, let's take a look now at a couple of phrases on Fluency Builder.

Fluency Builder.

Now, on Fluency Builder today, we're going to start out with the the story about organs, this uh urban legend.

Now, what happens when the organ is taken, the story says that it's sold on the black market.

That's right. So you probably hear this in the news or um a lot of places, the black market.

Basically, uh it's not really a uh a physical place, but it's where things are sold illegally, so guns, organs, stuff like that.

Exactly. So the black market, like you say, it's not a place you can go to. It's an idea. And it's basically anything that's illegal that's being sold, like guns are often sold on the black market.

That's right.

Um sometimes stolen cars are sold on the black market. Also, organs can be sold on the black market, and this is a serious problem because obviously all of this is illegal.

That's right.

So the black market is where all this happens. Now, um moving on to the next uh urban legend that we actually didn't really talk about too much is how many people believe that popular songs have subliminal or satanic messages in them.

All right, so let's take a look at the word subliminal first. We all know what a message is, right? It's something that's told to us.

Uh but a subliminal message is something that is told to us without us knowing.

That's right. So it goes into your mind, but you don't even know it.

Mm-hm. Right? So it's something that a lot of people believe in because they think that marketing people or big businesses are trying to control our behavior.

That's right.

So I could say very quietly, Marco, buy me dinner.

And that's a subliminal.

And then that's that's basically a way to control your actions. And so whether or not this is possible,

That's another discussion.

That's another discussion.

But uh so yeah, that's basically what a lot of people say that uh some TV commercials or ads have these subliminal messages that are trying to convince you or persuade you into maybe consuming that product.

Exactly. But they're a little bit different from satanic messages.

That's right. So that's basically dealing with uh Satan or the devil.

That's right. So the idea that there are satanic messages means that there um they're messages about the devil, about um how maybe God does not exist or like, you know, that you should do evil, not good. Um so they're very dark and very kind of angry messages.

Yeah, they I think they talk about, for example, I'm not sure which song it is, but like by Ozzy Osbourne that if you play it backwards, supposedly there's this message that says, you know, uh, "Worship the devil" and stuff like that. So that's what where these urban legends come from, but obviously, it's uh it's either coincidence or not not not true, right?

That's right.

So, um, we've got these messages that are also an urban legend, but the final one is about KFC. So KFC would be Kentucky Fried Chicken. And what is the legend? The legend is about their their food.

That's right. They say that uh they don't really have real chickens that, well, they take chickens and they um they just, you know, super grow them. They they the chickens are super grown in order for them to get bigger and uh and and faster. Uh and that's basically that they don't really even really have heads. They just, you know, have some hoses that go into their bodies and feed them and in four weeks, you have a chicken.

That's disgusting. That's disgusting.

It's the idea is, yeah, super grown chickens and so they're basically, um, they're not real chickens.

Right, that that's what the legend says is that they're not, I mean, they really are, but they're not like naturally grown, you know, usually a chicken takes three months to grow or something.

Yeah. All right, that's disgusting. I don't even want to talk about that. But the idea of super growing is like using chemicals to do something that's not natural.

That's right. That's right. Chemicals or hormones and stuff. So that's they use it, for example, on plants. You can super grow a plant by adding fertilizer and vitamins and stuff to the soil that makes it grow faster.

Or maybe you have bigger carrots than normal, bigger potatoes because they're super grown.

That's right.

So, all right, that's a lot of great stuff. Let's take a listen to the dialogue one last time.

Have you read all these crazy things that are going on around the world?

What do you mean?

I was reading about how some people get tricked or drugged in their hotel rooms and have their organs removed. Then they're sold on the black market.

Don't tell me you actually believe all that.

Don't be so gullible, they are just urban legends. They are just stories people make up to scare you.

Well, I was also reading about how some popular songs have subliminal or even satanic messages if you played them backwards. Can you believe that?

You really think an artist or songwriter is going to go through the trouble of putting subliminal or satanic messages in a song? Don't be so naive.

Well, maybe you are right, but how about the story about how KFC has rows of headless chickens which are super grown in order to get bigger chickens faster?

Sounds a bit too far-fetched to be true, don't you think?

All right, so all these urban legends, they are obviously most of them if not all of them are untrue. But they're very popular. Why do you think that is?

I think people like to believe these stories. They're gossipy. You know, they're they're scary. You get to make your friends kind of, you know, nervous about stuff. But I think also we don't trust a lot of these things because we've heard for years and years and years and years about subliminal messages and marketing strategies or or about these kind of hidden messages in songs. So there's part of us that wants to believe them. But the other part is that you hear it enough, you start to believe it.

Right. Because um, you know, I was reading up on a couple of them and the most recent ones are about how uh, you know, they make the connection about how Nostradamus predicted the 9/11 incident or how Coca-Cola is actually the one that invented Santa Claus. Um, and even this KFC one where uh, you know, people just believe a lot of different things. I even found one, the urban legend about be careful when you go to the movie theater because there might be a a syringe or something on the seat that if you sit down, that infects you with uh AIDS or something like this. So there's so many of them out there that if you think about it, they don't even really make sense.

They don't. And I understand that sometimes there'll be one news story. Like about, yeah, a needle in a candy box. And all of a sudden, people say, whoa, don't eat candy because there's needles in candy boxes.

Right, exactly.

And obviously, you know, one time event turns into this massive kind of craze.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But uh it is interesting, um especially with this whole topic of subliminal messages. I I do remember that actually, um there was a marketing campaign that was banned in movie theaters when um there, you know, the previews before the uh the actual movie came on, they uh supposedly they had the sound or maybe on the screen, somebody opening up a Coke can. And uh the smell of Coke actually coming into the uh theater and that was kind of like subliminal marketing, making people want to go get a Coke.

Definitely. Well, we used to pump the the the um exhaust from the popcorn maker when I worked at a movie theater throughout the the lobby.

So yeah, that that is a way of like, I guess it's it is subliminal because you you're not directly telling them to buy it, but you are just giving them all the. You're suggesting it through audio or visual or oratory cues. Right. And then you have the opportunity to sell them the most expensive popcorn they'll ever buy.

Exactly. $12 for a bag of popcorn.

All right, so it's a very interesting topic. Let us know if you have any comments or questions about it.

Uh, you can find us at englishpod.com.

Bye.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Any system in which goods are sold and bought illegally.

Black market.

Easily believing something that is not true.

Gullible.

Stories that are exaggerated or not true.

Urban legend.

Invent.

Make up.

Something that persuades in a subconscious way.

Subliminal.

Relating to Satan or the devil.

Satanic.

Having or showing a lack of experience, judgment.

Naive.

Improbable, not naturally pertinent.

Far-fetched.

Let's try that faster.

Invent.

Make up.

Any system in which goods are sold and bought illegally.

Black market.

Something that persuades in a subconscious way.

Subliminal.

Improbable, not naturally pertinent.

Far-fetched.

Having or showing a lack of experience, judgment.

Naive.

Stories that are exaggerated or not true.

Urban legend.

Easily believing something that is not true.

Gullible.

Relating to Satan or the devil.

Satanic.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Black market.

Guns and drugs are sold on the black market.

Black market.

Currencies and stolen goods are also sold in the black market.

Black market.

Many stolen cars are sold in the black market.

Gullible.

You are one of the most gullible people I have ever met.

Gullible.

Steve is really gullible. He will believe anything.

Gullible.

You have to stop being so gullible, otherwise people will take advantage of you.

Make up.

Gossip magazines will make up stories about celebrities.

Make up.

Robert made up a story about why he was late for work.

Make up.

Susan is always making up stories. You can't really believe anything she says.

Naive.

You have to stop being so naive.

Naive.

Linda is very naive and trusts people too much.

Naive.

I used to be very naive, but the older I got, the more I learned.

Far-fetched.

That is a very far-fetched story.

Far-fetched.

It seems a little too far-fetched to believe that Carl was a woman before.

Far-fetched.

People used to think that going to the moon was very far-fetched.