Learn English from the News, part 2
Congratulations to Nafis and Chichi who had the courage to post their views on the ONN report from the Department of Transportation! I hope others at least tried to watch the video. Double congratulations to Chichi for correctly identifying the real meaning of the video. Yes, this is a joke. ONN stands for Onion News Network. “The Onion” is quite a famous newspaper in the U.S. (see http://www.theonion.com) in which 100% of the news is fake.
This news story (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxgkHQp8Pds if you missed it before) is, as Chichi pointed out, making fun of people who think they can drive faster by honking a lot in traffic. It is also making fun of many Americans who easily get angry at other drivers. Two of my sisters are like this! They often use “swearing and fist shaking” as a preferred method of getting through traffic. (I hate being in the car when they drive!) The word “fist”, by the way, is what you make with your hand when you want to punch somebody. The announcer did not say “fish shaking”, although that would be a pretty funny idea, wouldn’t it?
In my opinion, this video is also making fun of both CNN and some government workers. The graphics on this video are so simple. Do we really need to see a dummy pushing its hand against the car horn? Sometimes it seems TV stations think viewers are stupid and so use very simple stories with simple graphics. The Onion takes this attitude to an extreme. As for the government worker, the great line that Chichi mentioned - “Honk! Honk! Honk! It’s that simple”, is totally ridiculous! For me, the funny thing is looking at the people standing around him, with serious looks on their faces. I think politicians often DO make ridiculouse statements, but many people take them seriously.
Go back now and watch the video again. Even if you don’t think it is so funny, see if you can at least understand the intention of the video. And again, leave your comments here!
Nafis Said,
May 13, 2008 @ 2:36 am
To understand this, culture is really important. For me, it is really ordinary that a politician say something stupid and then we do not believe them. We just laugh at them and we will think how much a politician can be stupid. So, by this background , I thought they are also stupid. Because the news sounds real. The anchor and graphics are serious. In our country, politicians always say something more ridiculuos than this news. If i say, you will laugh a lot and you may thought this is joke, but these jokes are sometimes real.
teacherjoe Said,
May 13, 2008 @ 8:04 am
You are right, Nafis, culture does play a big part in this, in two ways. One is the actual experiences that we have had in the past. The other is the type of humor, in this case, pretending that something stupid might be serious. I wonder what kinds of things are funny in other cultures? Does this type of humor - a kind of “parody” of the news - exist in other countries?
Nafis Said,
May 13, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
In my country, polititians always say stupid things. In fact, they never talk rationally. They always too stupid and in contarary, people are really intellegent. In these countries, people are not allowed to make fun of the leaders. They always must respect them. But, they are not respectable.Then, people make fun of them in a different way. They can not make fun of them very clearly, for example, I have seen some comdey shows from Tv about Clinton , Obama and Mccain. Nobody say anything to the TV producers for these hilarious shows, but, in my country, if one say something and make fun of a leader, one will be arrested, jailed and even expect death. So, people make fun of leaders in a different way .For example, they are talking about another dictatorian leaders. They also use the symbols such as animals, some special words and etc. Our literature is full of these symbols and signs. For example, a lion can be a symbol of a brutal leader and this lion lives in a jungel. So, jungle is the symbol of the goverment property and authority and so on. Therefore, the real meaning is not clear. we should decode the symbols and signs to understand the real meaning. Because of this, our literature is mysterious.
Anyway, it was my fault. I had to think beyond my past experiences. I have to be more careful about what I see or hear or say in English.
That was a really good Listening practice. Thanks a lot.
teacherjoe Said,
May 13, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
Nafis,
Interesting comments, as usual! Of course you should not blame yourself for not understanding. I was a bit cruel to choose that video. In fact, I chose it because it seemed so real. But for students, getting past the words and understanding the MEANING behind the words, is very important.
Besides “fish shaking”, were there any other words or expressions that were confusing?
Nafis Said,
May 14, 2008 @ 12:31 am
Dear teacher Joe,
No, No, the video was really perfect, every subject that you chose is really GREAT! I love them and they motivate me to learn more and more about English. Everything is perfect here.
There is something that I could not understand. In the bottom of the video, I mean, the last sentence, the anchor says: ” that’s why celebrities are adopted writing children’s book”. There are two problems about this: 1- I could not hear “are adopted”. I do not know if I heard correctly. 2. I thought a lot about this sentence but I could not find a logical or funny relationship between this sentence and others. why the brodcaster says this? what is the relationship of writing children’ books with honking in traffic? Do celebrities write children’ books when they get stuck in traffic? or are they bad drivers?
I could not find any funny or hilarious realationships between these things at the end.
I think the rest of the video was ok for me. I can hear and understan it.
Regards,
teacherjoe Said,
May 14, 2008 @ 1:09 am
Nafis,
The announcer said, “Next up…”, which means the “Honking” story is finished and the next news story is about writing children’s books. He did not say “adopted” but “adept at” which means “be very good at”. In fact, there is no story about celebrities writing children’s books, it is left to our imagination to think of what funny story The Onion COULD make on that topic. Since I am out of the country now, I am not sure if some famous celebrities have recently written books for children. Maybe such a story could make fun of those celebrities. If you watch more ONN videos and get used to their style of humor, you might be able to imagine all kinds of crazy stories!
Nafis Said,
May 14, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
Dear teacher Joe,
Thank you so much for the explanations.That was exceedingly helpful.
Regards,
hanane Said,
June 4, 2008 @ 11:57 am
Hullo Dear Teacher,
In my opinion, this vidéo is meant to make fun of those who are responsible for finding solutions to traffic problems as well as making them notice that people are in need of finding a way to reduce traffic jam. Besides, it can be meant to show to the public that the leaders just don’t resolute things rationally, and here we can remembre the speaker yelling ‘hunk hunk’ which sounds the same as a donky’s voice,and excuse me for saying so, but it is that what comes to my mind when hearing it. and here we can notice the difference between the seriousness of the transportation problem and the irrationality of the given solution.
best regards