What makes you 'hangry'? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello. I'm Neil.

Dan: Hello. I'm Dan. Neil, aren't you going

to say the 'welcome to 6 Minute English' bit?

Neil: Hmmm maybe. How's your mood

today, Dan? Feeling happy?

Dan: Oh yes, very happy. I’ve just had

lunch. What about you?

Neil: Well, to be honest, I haven’t had the

chance to eat yet and it’s making me a bit

grumpy.

Dan: Why haven’t you eaten?

Neil: Well, I was doing some research for

today’s topic which is all about feeling

angry when you are hungry. You know

what I’m talking about?

Dan: Oh yes, we’re talking about being

‘hangry’. It’s quite a new word, isn’t it?

A combination

of hungry and angry.

Neil: Yes, hangry is our topic. But before

we learn more about it, here’s today’s

quiz. English has quite a few words which

are made by joining two

different words together

like ‘hangry’, for example: brunch, motel,

Brexit. What do we call these words? Are they…

a) Suitcase words

b) Portmanteau words, or

c) Backpack words

Dan: Well, I think I know this one, so I’ll

keep the answer to myself - don’t want to

give away any spoilers. What I do want to

know is if hanger is a real thing – or is

it just something that’s been made up by

grumpy people, like you?

Neil: Let’s hear from Sophie Medlin, who

is a lecturer in nutrition and dietetics at

King’s College London. Is hangar a real

thing and where does the word come from?

Sophie Medlin: We’ve long recognised

that hunger leads to irritability - in science.

But the wonderful world of social media

has merged the two words for us

and now we know

it as hanger.

Neil: So, is hangar a real thing and where

does she say the word comes from?

Dan: According to Medlin it is a real thing.

She says that science has recognised that

hunger leads to irritability. Irritability

is a noun which means being easily annoyed,

not in a good mood.

Neil: And she says that it was the

wonderful world of social media that

joined the two

words together. She used the verb merge.

Merge, meaning join together.

Dan: I know social media is responsible

for many things, but the word hangry actually

appeared in the 1990s – so a little before

the arrival of social media. But it’s certainly

true that social media has made it more prominent.

Neil: Me, right now, hashtag hangry!

Let’s listen to that clip again.

Sophie Medlin: We’ve long recognised

that hunger leads to irritability - in science.

But the wonderful world of social media

has merged the two words for us and

now we know it as hanger.

Neil: So now we know that hangar is a

real thing, let’s learn a bit more about it.

Why does it happen? Why do we get

angry when we are hungry?

Here’s Sophie Medlin again.

Sophie Medlin: As the blood sugars drop,

we increase our cortisol and adrenalin – so

our kind of fight or flight hormones – and

those have an impact on our brain and the

neuropeptides – the things that control

our brain, the chemicals in our brain, the

ones the trigger for hunger are the same

ones that trigger for anger and also for rage and

impulsive type behaviours. So that’s why

you get that sort of same response.

Neil: So it’s all to do with blood sugar,

isn’t it?

Dan: Yes, it seems so. When we are

hungry the level of sugar in our

blood is lower and

this causes an increase in particular

hormones. Hormones are the

chemicals we make in our

bodies that control certain biological

and psychological functions.

Neil: The hormones released when we are

hungry are the same as our

fight or flight hormones.

They are the hormones that the body

uses to prepare us to either

fight or run away from

a dangerous situation.

Dan: When these hormones are

increased, it can cause anger and rage.

Rage is another

word for being very angry.

Neil: And when we are angry we can

behave impulsively. Impulsive

behaviour is when we

do things without thinking, without

considering the consequences.

Dan: So when we are hungry, the same

emotions can run through us.

We can be angry and make

poor decisions. And that is hanger.

Neil: Which brings us nicely to our quiz

question. What do we call words, like

hanger, that are

made by joining two different words

together? Now you said you knew the

answer Dan?

Dan: I did!

Neil: What was it?

Dan: Portmanteau words.

Neil: And you are absolutely correct.

The answer is portmanteau words.

Congratulations if you knew that.

Dan: I did.

Neil: Alright then smarty pants. No need

to boast!

Dan: I can see that you're

still a bit hangry Neil.

Neil: Yes, I’m hungry and that is making

me angry! But I think I can hold on to get

through a review of the rest

of today’s vocabulary.

Dan: Well, we also had the noun irritability,

meaning getting annoyed very easily, just

like…

Neil: Don’t, just don’t. Or I might just

merge my fist with your face.

Dan: Ouch. Yes, merge meaning join

different things together. I can see your

fight or flight

hormones are kicking in. Those

chemicals in the body that prepare us

for aggression or escape.

Neil: I haven’t quite reached rage yet.

This was another of our words, rage,

and it means a state of being

very, very angry.

Dan: Our last word was impulsive.

This is an adjective to describe

when we do things

without really thinking about them.

We just do them without any control and

without thinking

about the consequences.

Neil: Now I’m off, I’m starving.

I’ve got to eat before I do

something impulsive.

That is it for this programme.

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Thank you for joining us and

goodbye.

Dan: Bye!