6 words with meanings that will surprise you

1,535,854 views ・ 2012-08-25

Adam’s English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Adam: Hi. Welcome to www.engvid.com My name is Adam. And, today, I want to talk
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to you about English. Now, I know that you think English is a very confusing
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language, and you're right — it's a very confusing language. Many students have
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come to me and said: "But I check in the dictionary, and this is what it means."
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And I say: "Yes, but there are several meanings in the dictionary. Which one
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did you choose?" And everybody looks at me and going: "Well, the one it says in
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the dictionary." Little hint for all of you... all of you studying English: Many
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words in English have more than one meaning, and the dictionary doesn't list
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them in the order that you need them; it just gives you definitions. You need to
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look at the context. What is the sentence around this word you're not
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understanding? Okay? So, I chose a few examples, here, just to give you an idea
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of what I'm talking about. So, I think all of you know this word: "wear". You
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"wear" clothes, you "wear" a tie, you "wear" glasses. So, most of you think
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this is a verb about clothes. Okay? Did you know that this can also be a noun?
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Now, the noun "wear" and the verb "wear" have absolutely no relationship. The
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noun "wear", although it can also be used as a verb, basically means to make
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less; to make more weak. Okay? For example, if you put a lot of friction,
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if you rub something a long time — the material will become less and less. So,
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for example, look at my jeans. Okay? If I do this many times, eventually my knee
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area will "wear"; and then, when this area is "worn" — okay? — there will be a
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hole here. And then these jeans will have so much "wear" that I won't be able
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to wear them in public; people will laugh at me, and that's not good. Now,
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usually, we talk about: "wear and tear". Okay? This is the use of materials. Now,
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for example, if you have anything with moving parts — your car, for example:
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You drive, you drive, you drive, you drive — eventually things start to break
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and fall apart. Why? Because of the "wear" on the parts. Metal rubbing
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against metal — the metal becomes less; becomes weak. Okay? So, that's "wear".
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I think everybody knows this word: "meet". You're gonna "meet" your
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friends; you're gonna "meet" for drinks. Okay? Great. Did you know that this word
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can also be a noun? You're thinking: "'Meet', a noun? It can't be." But it
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Now, these two are funny ones, because they're used usually as slang. Oops,
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can. Okay? When? For example, recently, you've seen the Olympics. The Olympics
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is the biggest swim "meet" in the world; it's the biggest gymnastics "meet" in
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sorry. "Milk", of course, you've all drank... you've all drunk milk; you've
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the world; the biggest track-and-field "meet" in the world. A "meet" basically
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means an event, and usually we're talking about a sports event. But "meet"
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as a verb also has other meanings; besides "meet someone". You can "meet
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all drunk water. These are very delicious drinks, but that's not what
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expectations". Your boss wants you to be able to do this much work in a week,
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let's say. If you can "meet expectations" means you can finish all
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we're talking about here. Do you know that "milk" and "water" can both be
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that work that your boss wants you to do. Right? Nothing to do with other
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people; has to do with the work. You're "meeting expectations"; you're "meeting
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verbs? Now there's, of course, the literal meaning of "milk" — "to milk" is
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deadlines", etcetera. "Mean". Now, most of you, I think know this word — you
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think it means mean, like not nice as an adjective. This word can also be a noun.
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Now, I'm shocking you, I know. But what does "mean" mean as a noun? Well, for
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to milk a cow; to squeeze the milk out of a cow. "To water" means to pour water
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example, some of you are going to be taking the IELTS exam. You have a
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reading score, a listening score, a speaking score, and a writing score. The
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over something; over your garden or your lawn. But in slang, it has a completely
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universities, they want to see your "mean" score. What does that mean?
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"Mean" mean, right? It basically means your average. If you take all the four
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scores, the "mean" is where these come in the middle; in the average. So, you
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different meaning. "To milk something" or "to milk someone" is to get out of it
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have to be careful to use this as a adjective... as an adjective; sometimes
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as a noun. So, someone says: -"Have you taken the TOEFL exam?" -"Yes." -"What
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as much as possible. Okay? So, for example, your friend is very rich, and
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was the mean?" -"Oh, it was seven." -"Oh, congratulations — you're going to
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university." Next: "make". "Make". Everybody knows "make". This is one of
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the first verbs you learn in English, right? "To make" — to create; to build
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very generous, and he likes to give out money. So, you try to "milk him for
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something. Here's another little shocker: It's also a noun. Let's say
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you're calling tech support. Your computer is not working very well; you
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every penny he has". Maybe not a nice thing to do, but people do it anyway.
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call tech support. The first question the tech support guy is going to ask you
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is: "What's the make of your computer?" And you say: "I don't want to make a
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computer; I want to fix my computer." And he's saying: "Well, yes, but what's
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That's what "milk" means — "to milk someone". "To water" — we usually say:
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the make?" So, "make" basically means the maker or the manufacturer.
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Basically, who made it. So, "the make" of my computer, for example, is Acer;
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"to water down". "To water down" means to make less intense; a little similar
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maybe yours is Dell, or Apple, or Toshiba, etcetera. So, "the make" — who
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made it.
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to "wear", but different. "To water down" means to make it less intense; a
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little bit weaker. So, for example, if you're reading a business report, and
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Now, you're thinking: "Okay, wow. I know all these new words that I already knew,
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you have to explain to your customer the business situation, for example, if you
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but I didn't know." So, now you're thinking: "Well, how am I supposed to
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know other words by myself?" Without me here? "Without Adam here to explain
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give them all these technical words, they won't know what you mean. You need
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them?" Use context. And, of course, use your dictionary. If you look at your
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to "water it down for them"; you need to make it simpler. So, you put less
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dictionary, all of these meanings are there. The thing is: Don't take the
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technical words; you make the sentences a little bit easier to understand. You
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first meaning a dictionary gives you because it may be it's not the one you
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explain the situation in everyday words; you make it less intense, so they don't
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need. Look at the context — what is around the word, what is the situation
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the word is being used in? — and then look for something in the dictionary
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get scared. Good.
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that matches that context, and that's how you will improve your English. Okay?
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Now, you're still not too sure; you want a little bit of practice — go to
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www.engvid.com. There's a quiz there; you can practice these. And come back to
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www.engvid.com for other lessons; learn English, improve your abilities, and
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I'll see you next time. Thank you.
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