English Addict Ep 349 -🔴LIVE stream / Wednesday 12th March 2025 / Join the LIVE Chat & Learn English

We have another lovely sunny day.

But it is also quite cold as well.

Only six Celsius today.

It does feel as if winter has decided to hang around for a little bit longer.

Welcome, everyone.

We are back together once again and I am feeling rather excited today.

Why though? Find out in a few moments for now.

This is English Addict coming to you live and direct from the birthplace of the English language, which is of course,

we all know where it is. Mr. Duncan.

It's England.

And? Yes, it is.

It is, of course, England.

That is where I am right now. Hi, everybody.

This is Mr. Duncan in England.

How are you today?

Are you okay?

I hope so. Are you feeling happy?

Are you feeling excited, I wonder?

I am feeling excited. I will tell you. I.

I'm sure this will be of no interest to anyone,

but I am excited today because I've noticed that.

British Telecom are at the moment doing some work here in the village where I live.

Which means perhaps, maybe we might finally be getting off superfast internet.

Oh, now I know what you are thinking, Mr. Duncan.

What does this mean for us as your viewers?

Well, guess what it will mean that first of all, my internet will be more reliable and it will be very fast as well.

Although at the moment we don't have it.

We have been waiting for nearly two years to have our superfast internet.

So at the moment I am using slow broadband.

It's still okay.

Don't get me wrong, the quality is still good, but but I would rather

this just shows how fussy I am as a human being.

I would rather be broadcasting in ten ATP

rather than 720p,

it just means the quality is better.

It also means that YouTube will like my lovely, lovely live streams more because the quality will be better.

So I'm hoping perhaps this year, maybe this year will be the year when we get, superfast internet.

We will have to wait and see.

But there is some work taking place

not far from my house.

They have been connecting things up, digging holes

and lots of other technical things as well.

I'm really looking forward to it.

I will keep my fingers crossed that this year might be the year when we get super fast internet.

What about you? Do you have fast internet? So at the moment I have to struggle.

When I'm doing my live streams, I have to turn everything off in the house.

So all the other things that use any type of connection to the internet, I have to switch them off.

So then I can put all of the internet speed into this.

It's true.

You have no idea how much trouble I go to to make sure that this live stream works to be honest.

Oh yes, we have a lovely day today. The sun is out.

It is sunny, but also it is cold as well.

But at least it feels as if spring is coming, even though it might not feel like it, to be honest.

So for those who don't know who I am, my name is Duncan.

I talk on the internet about English.

Sometimes I am recorded, sometimes I am live like this.

This at the moment is very, very live.

Hello to the live chat. Hello to you.

Thank you for joining me in first place.

With the very first finger we have Beatriz. Hello, Beatriz.

You very good to.

Very good.

Beatriz, you are first.

In second place, we have Duc an vu li.

Hello to you. You are second on today's live chat.

Then we have. Oh, he is here.

Yes. A big bonjour to the one.

The only Luis Mendez.

Some people ask Mr.

Duncan, why do you give the special echo

to Luis?

I have my reasons.

Maybe they are personal reasons.

Maybe I just feel like it.

So if you would like.

I'm feeling generous today because I'm in a good mood.

If you would like me to give you a wonderful

greeting with my echo echo, echo, echo, echo.

Ask me and I might do it.

I make no promises.

I might do it.

Oma is here.

I am a fairy also. Surrender.

Hello. Surrender or surrender? What should I say?

Hello to you.

Thank you for joining me today. Countryside Life blog is here.

I don't think I've ever seen your name on the live chat before.

Is it your first time? Oma is here as well.

Oma, Ferdy, who are you?

Who am I?

Maybe you mean how are you?

I'm okay.

And to answer the other question, my name is Mr. Duncan.

I talk about English. I've been doing this for a very long time.

Just up there.

If you look, you will know exactly how long I've been doing this.

For a very long time.

Some people say too long, Christine.

Hello, Christina. Nice to have you back as well.

It is also nice to say hello to Claudia.

Claudia.

What's cooking? Claudia.

Anything tasty in your pot today, I wonder? I'm.

And we also have Kevin.

Kevin.

The, city's the lucky, Mr. Duncan.

I hope so, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Sometimes we do this when we want to have good luck.

Or maybe we are hoping that something will be successful. So I've.

I've got my fingers crossed right now.

Hopefully

we will have high speed internet this year.

And then I can broadcast in super high definition,

not 4K.

Unfortunately.

I don't want my cables to melt.

Let's just say my route SEO is here as well.

Thank you very much for joining me.

Beatrice says.

Louis really does

deserve the echo, I think.

So hello, Alexander and Niemann of what's cracking.

Mr. Duncan, what is cracking?

Sometimes we will say what's cracking when we want to say what's going on, what's happening?

What's going on?

What is happening?

What's cracking?

There's always something going on around here. I will be honest with you.

Never be fooled. Never be misled

by the fact that I live in the countryside.

There is always something going on around here.

Dramatic things, exciting things, sad things.

For example, one of my neighbours passed away a couple of weeks ago and it was his funeral today in Much Wenlock.

Unfortunately, because I was doing this, I was preparing all of this.

I was not able to attend his funeral.

Unfortunately.

But Roger, Roger,

we are all thinking of you.

Dan, hi is here as well.

Hello to you.

Also on the live chat.

It's nice to have you here today.

Have you ever heard of any English sayings?

Things that people say to each other?

Maybe something that a person believes, or maybe a piece of advice,

or maybe something that people often say to each other as a way of making friendly conversation.

Here's something people often say.

They say that a change is as good as a rest.

That's what they say. They say a change is as good

as a rest.

Which means, of course, doing something different can be quite refreshing if you do something in a different way.

Maybe you change part of your life for a short period of time.

It can be as good as having a lovely rest.

Maybe you have a change of routine, perhaps you change your routine.

Perhaps you do it for just a short period of time, just to have some sort of change in your life.

So I think this is a this is actually a very good expression.

I like this.

So a lot of people say, yes,

a change is as good as a rest.

Sometimes

you might make some changes

to certain parts of your life, maybe a change of routine.

The routine is the thing that you do every day.

The things that you normally do on a normal average day, a change of routine.

Maybe you get up earlier in the morning instead of late.

Perhaps you have something different for breakfast.

Maybe you change the time when you have your breakfast.

You have a change of routine.

Perhaps you have a change of scenery.

A change of scenery can be going somewhere else, going on holiday, visiting a different place like I will be next week.

Oh, Mr. Duncan, what is that all about?

Yes, I will be away somewhere next week.

I'm going off somewhere.

Mr. Steve will also be joining me as well next week.

We are having a change of scenery.

Sometimes it is nice to go away.

You don't have to go very far.

You don't have to travel all the way around the world to have a change of scenery.

Sometimes it is nice to just go somewhere local, or

maybe just go to a different part of your own country, which is what we are doing next week.

So we are not going abroad next week, but we are going to a nice part of

the UK.

In fact, you might not believe this,

but the place we are going to.

Has been in the news over the past 24 hours.

I'm not kidding you. I'm not lying. It's true.

So the place we are visiting next week is actually near to where those two ships collided.

I can't believe it.

We can't believe it.

I said to Mr. Steve last night.

Should we still go there?

I'm sure you've heard the news.

So the place we are going to next week is very close to where that collision took place between the

fuel tanker and also the cargo ship, and they crashed into each other.

But the place where it happened is near to where we are going next week.

I can't believe that

has actually occurred, to be honest.

Anyway, a change of scenery, to go to a different place to visit somewhere

or stay somewhere with different surroundings.

And of course, maybe

a very common change that people make.

The change of habit.

Maybe your habit can change.

Maybe something that you feel that you should not do anymore.

Maybe a bad habit.

Maybe you bite your nails.

Like Mr. Steve, I can tell you now.

Mr. Steve often bites his nails.

Sometimes we are sitting watching television at night and Steve is next to me.

Biting his nails.

It's true.

The live chat is very busy.

Very interesting, very interesting conversations taking place today.

Giovani is not very well.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

Giovani, I'm sorry to hear that you are not feeling very well. So

a change can be as good as a rest,

a change of routine, a change of scenery and of course a change of habits.

Things that you want to change that you do.

Maybe you feel a little

ashamed of them.

I recently have tried to change some of my habits, my eating habits.

I do like having snacks.

I do like eating things between meals, which of course can be a bad thing.

Indeed.

So what about you?

Do you think it is good to have a change?

Sometimes we will be doing that next week.

We are going away somewhere next week.

I will tell you more about it next week when we are there.

It seems like a reasonable thing when you think about it.

Maybe Mr.

Steve is feeling nervous and that is the reason why he is biting his nails.

I can tell you now it is a little habit that he has that he can't stop doing.

I don't know why.

Maybe he is nervous.

Maybe he's he's worried about something. Perhaps you might be right.

But it is a habit that Steve has has had for a while now.

And sometimes he likes biting his nails.

I don't.

I have the opposite problem.

Sometimes I forget to cut my fingernails and they get very long.

I know, because sometimes I am criticised by you out there.

Sometimes I receive messages

asking, Mr.

Duncan, can you please cut your fingernails?

They are getting long, but at the moment they are not too long.

You see, my fingernails at the moment are nice and short.

They are not long at all. So that is good.

Don't ask

me about my toenails because I hate my toenails very much.

They are such a pain because I find it very difficult to bend and lift my foot up so I can cut my toenails.

I find it very hard to do these days.

But that, as they say, is a whole different story.

Here is something that I'm going to mention.

And if you ever get the chance to come to my house, if you ever come here, or perhaps you are maybe a delivery driver

who has to deliver something to my house, I'm going to tell you something now, something that I suppose might be a type of warning.

The outside of my house.

There is something dangerous outside my house.

My dangerous steps. We have some steps that go up

to the front door of the house

and they are incredibly steep.

So if something is steep, it means it goes up at a very sharp angle.

And they are made of concrete, just like these steps here.

If you look there, you can see those steps are made of concrete.

And the steps outside our house are also made of concrete.

And over the years.

Quite a few people have fallen down those steps.

One of our neighbours, many years ago, before we moved here,

she actually fell all the way down the steps and injured

her ankle.

And even to this very day, to this actual day, she still has problems with her ankle and she blames

our steps, the steps outside our house.

And of course, I have also seen the postman as well.

A couple of times the postman has fallen over as he goes up the steps.

My advice is not to rush.

Don't rush up the steps and don't rush down the steps because you might trip.

You might fall over and injure yourself.

So if you ever get the chance to come here, this is my official warning.

Please beware

of the steps outside the house.

I'm sure you have something or some place in your house that might also be a little dangerous.

This is the most dangerous part of my house. By the way.

The steps coming up outside,

I think at least eight or maybe nine people over the years

since we moved here have tripped up on these steps.

Be careful, is my advice.

Be very careful. We have lots of things to talk about.

By the way, today we are talking about opposites, opposite things,

things that are opposite to each other or different from each other.

So you can have something that is opposite.

It is the absolute opposite.

It reflects the thing, it reverses it, if you will,

something black and something white.

They are opposites in colour because they are different shades, maybe something big and something small together.

They are opposites because they are a different size.

So there are many things, many ways in fact, of describing

opposites, the things that are different, the things that are opposite from each other or to each other.

They are different from each other.

All of that coming up in a few moments from now.

But first we'll have a quick break so I can drink some water, and then we will be back with today's big subject,

we are talking all about opposites.

I'm a big boy now.

English addict is with you today.

I hope you are having a good day. Where you are.

Well, we have such a lovely day today here in England.

I hope the sun is shining brightly where you are as well.

I hope it is a nice, warm.

And we are together again.

As life as life can be.

Hello to the live chat.

Nice to see so many people here, Giovani or should I say Giovani?

Did you enjoy that?

Another exclusive echo on today's English addict.

I am feeling in a very good mood indeed.

By the way, don't forget to give me a like.

I know a lot of people say this on the internet. They always say, oh Mr.

Duncan, people are always asking for their viewers to give them a like,

but please, please give me a lovely like and also subscribe as well.

Please subscribe and give me a like and then maybe maybe YouTube Bob and myself

can become good friends.

Maybe. Who knows?

So today we are looking at an interesting subject opposite.

And the reason why I'm looking at this today is because quite often in life we do find

opposite things that are opposite to each other, things that are different in

maybe a certain way, or maybe they have a certain type of contrast.

When we talk about contrast, we are talking about a very obvious difference.

The two things that contrast with each other.

A good example, of course. My hat.

My hat is white. My shirt is black.

There is a very clear contrast between those two things, between my hat and my shirt.

You might say that they are opposites.

If we are talking about the colour of those things, they are opposites.

They have different

colours or shades.

Generally, the word opposite means to go against or reflect.

So two things can be opposite.

They are different in a certain way, or maybe they reflect in a different way.

Quite often we talk about opposites when we are talking about the the difference in a certain type

of aspect the colour, the shape, the size.

Gender, all sorts of things.

In fact, in action or meaning, or the way a thing is expressed or viewed.

So we can look at opposites in various types of behaviour, in action or meaning.

The way a thing is expressed or viewed.

All of those things can be opposites within each action.

You can have opposites.

We can have the opposite meaning of a word.

Of course we are learning English, and one of the things

we often have to learn when we are learning a language is the opposite.

The opposite. We often refer to it as

antonym.

An antonym is the opposite.

It is the opposite of a thing.

So one word defines the opposite of another.

One thing you see, one thing you say, one thing you think may be an opinion, a belief.

There is always an opposite to all those things.

Some basic opposites.

Now, I know that most of you will know these, but I always think it's interesting to have a look at opposite words,

because sometimes, sometimes not always, but sometimes,

yes, they are opposites.

Sometimes always, sometimes always.

You might say that they are opposites

in a certain way.

Up and down.

Something goes up. Something comes down.

Maybe two things are doing the same thing.

But in different directions.

So maybe a lift is going up

and another lift is going down.

They are going in opposite directions.

The direction in which they are travelling is opposite, in and out.

Something is in, something is out.

Maybe a person is at home, they are in.

Maybe they've gone somewhere and now they are out.

So it's interesting to note that some particular words, even opposite words, can have many different uses

to be in, to be at home, to be out, to be somewhere else.

You have gone somewhere.

So you are not in, you are out.

Something that is on

or off, a thing that is active or a thing that is not active.

It is all it is off.

Maybe something that is happening is on.

That means it will take place.

Something that is off

has been cancelled.

It is not happening.

Black and white.

Well, of course, as you can see from my lovely hat on my left t shirt,

black and white are opposites.

We often look at things, subjects, or if we are discussing a certain topic, we might look at things in black and white.

You might look at the differences, the contrast between certain things.

Give and take.

Hard and soft.

Something hard is firm.

Something soft

has no firmness.

These are opposites.

How do you like your egg?

Some people like their boiled egg hard.

Some people like their boiled egg soft and runny.

Of course we have good and bad a person, their character, their behaviour.

Are they a good person or a bad person?

Maybe you have a type of habit because we were talking about habits earlier.

A good habit.

Clean your teeth three times a day,

a bad habit eating chocolate three times a day.

Sad and happy to be sad to be gloomy.

Maybe your emotions are in a negative state.

You are feeling sad.

And of course you might be feeling happy because your internet

might be getting faster towards the end of the year.

So there are many ways of expressing these things.

They are all opposites.

They are all ways of expressing the opposite of the other thing,

to say something that is the opposite of what a person thinks.

You might have the opposite opinion.

And I think these days we do find that lots of people do enjoy expressing

their opinions.

But of course

everyone is different.

Not everyone has the same opinion about something.

Maybe your opinion

is different to mine.

If we talk about a person's opinion, it is what they believe.

But perhaps one person might have different opinions.

Their opinions might be the opposite.

Perhaps there is an issue or a certain thing that you feel strongly about,

maybe a certain thing that you have an opinion on,

whilst another person might have the opposite opinion,

their feeling is the opposite to yours.

So to have an opposite opinion, to have a different point of view,

it is the opposite view.

The opposite way can be direction of travel,

direction of travel, or the line of thinking.

When making a choice or decision.

So you might think in a certain way.

We often think of maybe a decision that a person has to make.

You have to make a decision. You have to decide something.

You might have to say yes or no to something.

That is a decision that has to be made.

Some people might say that you have to agree, whilst other people might believe that you have to disagree.

Those things are opposite views.

Opposite.

And now we can clearly see the difference

opposite direction to go in the opposite direction.

I might go that way and you might go this way.

We go in opposite directions.

As I mentioned a few moments ago, you can also have an opposite opinion.

Maybe there is a certain thing that you agree with

whilst another person might disagree, they have the opposite view.

And then of course we have the opposite action, an action that can be seen as opposite.

For example, here we have give,

give and the other one take.

They are opposites and in some cases not always.

But sometimes these things can also be the divide between something good and something bad.

Not always, I have to say, not always, but sometimes

opposite actions can be seen also as good and bad.

So a good action can be giving,

a bad action taking.

You are taking something away.

So besides them being types of action, they can also be opposites as well.

I always think it's very important to realise that

many opposite things can also be good and bad.

Opposite can describe the appearance of two things that contrast.

For example, a tall girl

and a short boy.

The girl is tall and the boy is short.

They are opposites.

In fact, you might also say

they are opposite in gender as well.

So one is a girl, one is a boy, one is tall and the other one is short.

So there is more than one opposite taking place. There.

You might have a big dog and a small cat.

They are both animals, but also they are opposites.

Visually.

One is big, the dog is big, a cat is small.

And of course they are different from each other because they are different animals.

They are animals, but they are different animals and they are opposite sizes.

The sizes of the animals are opposite.

So we can describe two things facing each other.

They face each other.

They are facing each other, and we can describe them as being opposite to things that face each other.

Opposite houses.

Perhaps you live

in a house

and opposite there is another house, so you are looking directly

at another house opposite something that is facing towards you.

So we often say facing something is facing towards you.

It is the opposite.

It is in the opposite direction.

Two points in the same space might be at opposite ends.

So you can see here we have a football pitch and

the goalkeepers are at opposite ends.

One is there and the other is over there.

They are at opposite ends.

Maybe if one person

is at the opposite end of the road, maybe they are

at the end of the road and you are at the beginning of the road.

You can say that you are at opposite ends.

Next we can have

opposite opposite as an adjective or a noun.

So the adjective shows that that person is the opposite.

Visually you can see from its appearance.

And of course the opposite can also be a noun.

The person who is against you can be described as the opposite.

And then we have opposition, which is another way of saying opponent.

The opponent is the person who is against you.

So maybe the opposition

is a person who might have a different political point of view. Oh.

They are described as the opposition.

You might have two different political parties with opposite views.

Maybe my party, the party that I support.

As the opposite view to the one you do.

So you might I might say that your party, the political party you support, is the opposition.

Perhaps in a fight as well.

The opposition is the person

you are going to be fighting against.

Two things that are opposing you might have an argument

or a conversation that is taking place between two people who disagree with each other.

They have opposing views.

Their views are opposite.

Maybe two political parties.

Might have

opposing views.

Then, of course, we have the verb form of opposite.

If you oppose something, it means you put forward your objection,

you oppose something.

You go against that thing, you oppose that thing.

And then finally, we have a possible two things that can be joined together.

They can meet, for example, your firm.

Isn't that the most amazing thing, by the way?

We often forget how amazing the firm actually is.

Look at that look. It can go all the way over. There is.

That is amazing. I love my firm.

I think the sums are brilliant.

And you might describe this as

a poseable a poseable.

So this can go the opposite way to everything else.

Look at that.

I love thumbs.

Thumbs are amazing.

Are they brilliant?

We often forget about our thumbs.

But you will miss your thumbs if you didn't have them really?

How would you like me?

How would you like my videos if you didn't have a thumb,

it would be virtually impossible to do a duck.

And woolly is going now.

See you later, duck and woolly.

Or should I say duck and woolly?

I hope you enjoyed that.

And moving on.

The opposite of opposite.

Oh, Mr. Duncan, what is the opposite of opposite?

There is the opposite of opposite, which is similar.

Something similar

is the same.

They appear in the same form.

They look the same.

They behave in the same way.

They are similar.

So the opposite of opposite is similar.

Opposite?

Similar.

We have opposite opinions.

Maybe you disagree with your friend on many, many different things.

We have similar opinions.

If you have similar opinions, it means your feelings are similar.

They are alike.

They are the same,

almost identical.

Then we have the phrase oh, here is an interesting phrase.

Now I started today's live stream talking about phrases, and here is an interesting phrase.

They often say that opposites attract.

Sometimes

people who meet,

who are opposites in a certain way.

You often find that they get along very well because they have opposite views, or maybe they have an opposite opinion.

So there is always something for them to talk about.

It doesn't always work, I have to say.

It doesn't always work, but sometimes opposites can attract.

The opposite.

They say that the opposite thing can be attractive.

So maybe a person who is young

might be looking for an older partner.

Now, not me.

Definitely not me.

Definitely.

So quite often when we talk about opposites being attractive,

sometimes with people in relationships, quite often if you talk to a couple who have been together for a long time, you might say that.

Or you that.

They might say that they have certain things that are not similar.

They have certain opposites from each other.

Opposite can show two things similar things, but with opposite attributes.

So opposite can show two similar things with opposite attributes.

So maybe two people who are together in a relationship that they're together.

They've been together for a long time, but they might have certain differences.

They have similarities

and they have differences.

But those differences are often described as being opposite.

And finally, there is an interesting phrase that we sometimes use in English.

You might describe two people

who seem different from each other.

They seem like opposites.

You might describe something that is opposite as being similar to chalk and cheese.

They are similar.

They are the same as chalk and cheese because they are so different from each other.

Sometimes you might meet another person and immediately

you know that you are not going to like them because they are too much the opposite.

They are two different from you.

So it can happen.

Sometimes it can happen.

Sometimes opposites can be attractive and sometimes they can be completely the opposite.

That is almost it for today.

And we are coming up to five minutes to 3:00 here in England.

Can I just say we are with you on Sunday?

We are doing a live stream on Sunday. It is a strange one.

So on Sunday,

Sunday's live stream, I want to say this now while I have the chance.

Sunday

is a strange day next Sunday because it will be the anniversary

of my mother passing away two years ago.

So on Sunday it will be the anniversary.

And if I seem a little down or a little unhappy on Sunday, then you will know why.

All I ask is that you join me on Sunday to cheer me up, so maybe that will make me feel better.

Thank you very much for your company.

Thank you. Hello, Zion.

Hello to you also, Kevin.

Thank you Kevin,

and thank you also to Christina.

Beatriz, Giovanni, I hope

you are feeling better soon.

I really do and I will be back on Sunday from 2 p.m. UK time.

The sun is out. Everything is looking so nice today. It's incredible.

I am back on Sunday from 2 p.m. UK time.

It is always the same time.

2 p.m.

UK time is when I'm back with you.

And of course until the next time we meet, which will be on Sunday.

Myself and Mr.

Steve will be here in the studio.

Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday and I will see you soon.

This is Mr.

Duncan in the birthplace of the English language, saying thanks for watching.

Catch you later. And of course, until the next time we meet.

Stay happy, stay safe.

Ta ta For now.