English Vocabulary & Idioms - NOISE

Hi, James from EngVid.

Trying to film today.

Got a small problem.

Got a problem?

I feel like George Bush.

Can you hear that?

Can you hear that, boys and girls?

That's a ruckus.

What is a ruckus, you might ask?

It is the noise that you're hearing.

It is usually annoying, bothering you, feels like someone's drilling into your head.

That's a ruckus.

So, let's just say you're living, like me, upstairs, peacefully, and the people downstairs

are having a party.

You go knock on their door.

What's all the ruckus for?

Hopefully they're not drilling, like they are, okay?

A ruckus.

Okay, ruckus.

So, if you want to think of ruckus, think of like rock and roll.

What about rock and roll?

It's noisy.

It's loud.

It can drive you crazy, okay?

Too much.

Too much can drive you crazy.

So, not it is rock and roll, it's just loud like rock and roll, right?

Loud like.

Big beat.

Okay, so ruckus.

But, you know, here's another word.

Here's another word.

This is a word that, see, Ezekiel's upset about the ruckus, okay?

Now, I'm going to give you another word.

It's going to kind of, you're going to think of tennis.

Yeah, tennis?

Your parents will say this.

If you're Canadian parents, or if you come to a Canadian homestay, if you make too much

noise, they'll do this.

Quiet with the racket.

Stop the racket.

And they're not talking about tennis.

Or the mob, okay?

So, any mafia fans, we're not talking about you.

We're actually talking about this.

Racket.

Racket and ruckus are similar.

Noise.

But they're usually, the people who use racket or ruckus are like Ezekiel over here.

They are not happy with the level of the noise, okay?

Because that hard "ch" sound, like I want to kill you because you're making so much

noise.

So, that's racket and ruckus.

Now, let's use another word.

Something that's not so, let's say, playful, as if that's playful, but let's use a formal

word.

You're at the office.

You see people moving around.

And they're talking, yelling, screaming, perhaps.

And you want to say something.

You want to seem like you're intelligent.

You went to school.

You went to James DSL school.

Anyway, you walk up and you say, "Excuse me, what's all the commotion?"

Now, commotion is interesting because we've got C-O.

Oops.

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.

Commotion.

I'm sorry.

I'm human.

I make mistakes.

So, we've got commotion.

C-O and motion.

And you're going to say, "What do you mean by commotion?"

Well, C-O means "with" or "together."

Okay?

Whenever you have C-O, you think of computer, communicate, C-O, it's a prefix.

Motion means, of course, movement.

So, when you say what's all the commotion, you're actually saying something kind of interesting

in English.

You're saying, "What's all this common movement or motion, like what's happening?

Why are these people all together making this noise?"

So, what's all the commotion?

So, not only does it talk about noise, it talks about movement.

Why are you moving them so much?

While ruckus and racket could be just noise.

What's all the ruckus?

We think mostly noise.

This one actually has noise and movement.

You like that?

See?

That's good.

Two for one.

You can talk about, "Why are you guys moving?"

and "What are you guys all talking about so loudly?"

Now, Ezekiel actually didn't say this originally.

See, they're very quiet now, so we have to be quiet.

Maybe they think we're gone.

Okay?

Because if they think we're gone, they're not going to make the noise.

They should have been here before, five minutes ago.

Crazy.

Ezekiel actually said this, "Bru-ha-ha."

Sounds like a bad Bond villain, doesn't it?

"Bru-ha-ha."

But it's "Bru-ha-ha."

Okay?

"Bru-ha-ha."

"Bru-ha-ha."

And what's all the "bru-ha-ha" think?

Rackets.

Rackets.

I think I'm laughing now.

Rackets.

Or "rackets" or "rackets."

Okay?

Think "rackets" or "rackets."

"Bru-ha-ha."

Lots of noise.

Unwanted noise.

Yeah?

Now, here's my favorite one.

You can use this when people are arguing and you think they're arguing about something

silly and unimportant.

Okay?

So, let's just say you see two people.

One a beautiful girl.

Okay, not so beautiful.

And, well, another girl.

Okay?

And they're not happy with each other.

And you can say this.

Okay?

What are you squabbling about?

Think of a bird.

"Squawk.

Squawk.

Squawk."

Irritating, annoying noise that has no purpose whatsoever.

So, it's another word we use for noise, but this is usually used for argument and conversation.

And usually when we say "squabble," we mean fighting in a loud way about something not

important.

Okay?

Because if you're arguing, usually it's important.

It means something to you.

But when you're squabbling, it might be about the check.

Who's going to pay?

You see, that leads to a lot of squabbling.

"I don't want to.

It's my turn.

It's your turn.

Blah, blah, blah."

Voices get up.

They sound like little chickens.

"Squawk.

Squawk.

Squawk.

Squawk."

Okay?

Now, this also could be guys.

So, don't worry.

It could be men.

Ladies, if you're out there thinking only for women.

It could be men as well.

There you go.

There's the men picture.

Okay?

Still look like women.

That's besides the point.

So, anyway, we've given you five words.

Ruckus.

Remember ruckus?

Remember what I told you?

Racket.

Remember what I told you those ones?

When I said ruckus and racket?

I'll give you a little what we call a mnemonic device.

Do you know what a mnemonic device is, boys and girls?

A mnemonic device means memory to help you remember.

So, like we did before with this one, remember?

Ruckus.

And I'm putting them together because they sound similar.

They're not.

Exactly.

Ruckus and racket.

Remember what I told you?

Think this.

Loud, rock and roll.

Too noisy.

Not good.

That's why it's in the red.

Okay?

And then we did commotion.

Remember?

Commotion.

Right?

Commotion stands for movement together.

Okay?

Or with.

So, when we put this, we can say this, which would be movement and noise.

So, noise and movement together.

That's what a commotion is.

Just sound plus movement.

Okay?

Next one we did what?

Oh, you like this one.

Remember?

Squabble.

Remember to squabble?

Nothing important.

That's what this means.

Important.

Short for important.

Okay?

And finally, what was the last one?

Brouhaha.

Think of a bad Bond villain.

Brouhaha.

So, we've got ruckus and racket.

Think loud.

We should put too loud.

That's the important thing.

Rock and roll.

Okay?

Next one we have commotion.

That's usually noise with movement together.

And squabble.

Right?

Squabble.

Arguing about nothing important.

Right?

Usually noisy.

And finally, brouhaha.

See?

He's so happy.

He's so miserable.

And the noise has stopped.

So, anyway, what I'd like you to do is please come to, well, how about I write it on the

board because you know where you should go by now.

Now that the ruckus is down, please go to www.engvid.com.

We will have a quiz for you so you can work on that and a couple of other common idioms,

phrases, slang, grammar, helpful hints, cute girls, some beer, oh, that's my imagination

playing.

EngVid.

Go to www.engvid.com.