Learn English Live - 23rd September 2018 - Uses of Cut / Watch / Listen/ Learn with Dunc & Steve

so here we go once again another Sunday

has arrived as we head towards the end

of September. October is just around the

corner coming up today we have lots of

things including words and phrases

connected to the word cut also if we

have time we will have a mystery idiom

mr. Steve will be here as well but the

big question is where in the world is he

also we'll have a look at some very

unusual and some might say queer words

that exist in the English language all

of that coming up today after all it's

just after 2 o'clock here in the UK it's

a Sunday afternoon and this is live

English

did you it's just after 2 o'clock as the

nice man just said and here we are now

live on YouTube coming to you live from

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock in england oh

my goodness

celebrate good times come on here we are

on a Sunday afternoon and everything is

SuperDuper I must admit

despite the bad weather because the

weather is pretty awful today however I

am in a very good humor I am in a very

good mood hi everybody this is mr.

Duncan in England how are you today are

you ok I hope so

are you happy well are you happy I

really really hope so here we go it's

Sunday and we are coming towards the end

of September just another week to go in

fact next Sunday is the final day of

September 2018 and then we are into

October and already on television lots

of people are talking about Christmas

already it's too early it's too soon can

everyone please stop talking about

Christmas I've had such a busy morning

today because I've been rushing around

doing my washing because I had a very

embarrassing moment this morning when I

discovered that I had no underpants I

couldn't put any Underpants on because

they were they were all dirty so I had

to do some some washing this morning or

else I would have had to go commando

have you heard of that expression have

you heard of it it's a very interesting

expression it means to go without your

underwear so you put your clothes on but

you don't wear any Underpants and that's

what I nearly had to do today fortunate

I had one pair of underpants left so

I've got them on now although I'm not

going to prove it to you but but I am

wearing underpants so don't worry but

I've been busy washing my underwear or

else I would have had to have gone

commando style which means to wear no

underpants

so here we go seven minutes past two

o'clock already

even this livestream is going by so

quickly I can't believe it how quickly

everything is going by terrible terrible

day today the weather is all over the

place so let's have a look outside shall

we so there it is that is a live view

outside very cloudy we have had some

sunshine this morning but it's very cool

very chilly and also we've had lots of

rain as you can see there is rain all

over the window and today is a special

day of course today is the beginning of

the big change as far as the seasons are

concerned because today is the autumn

equinox

have you heard of that the autumn

equinox let's put the word up on the

screen shall we so here it is it is the

autumn equinox today and that is a noun

that describes the equinox in autumn on

or around about the 22nd of September in

the northern hemisphere which is where I

am and also the 20th of March in the

southern hemisphere so now we are

heading into autumn you might say that

it is now officially the end of summer

and for those who are wondering what the

word equinox means the word equinox

means the time or date at which the Sun

crosses the celestial equator so when

the days and nights are of equal length

and this happens as I just mentioned

around the 22nd of September in the

North which is where I am and around the

20th of March if you are in the south of

the planet Earth so I hope that's

explained it so it's official that's it

there is nothing we can do about it

it is now definitely autumn there is no

doubt about it so I thought today it

would be nice to show some excerpts from

one of my autumn lessons I have talked

about also autumn many times in my

lessons but I did make a full length

lesson all about autumn so I thought is

a way of welcoming autumn I thought it

would be nice to have some excerpts from

my autumn lesson and here is the first

one right now

you

so what makes autumn so special well

just like spring autumn is a period of

transition you could say that it is the

opposite of spring in the sense of it

being the time when plants and trees and

even many wild animals prepare for the

onset or arrival of winter it is the

season when almost everything in nature

wind down the leaves on the trees turn

gold and fall to the ground flowers will

wither away after shedding their seeds

animals will begin to store food in

their nests and burrows the days will

become shorter and the nighttime

temperature will begin to drop

so there is no mistaking that autumn has

arrived we will have a look at another

excerpt from my big super-duper autumn

lesson a little bit later on but

meanwhile we have something even more

important to check out because we have

yes the live chat you are more than

welcome to join in today we have lots of

things coming your way including words

and phrases connected to the word cut

there are many uses of the word cut in

the English language and we will have a

look at those later on another big

question must be where in the world is

mr. Steve mr. Steve will be talking to

us from a famous place but where in the

world is that place all of that coming

later on meanwhile as I mentioned we

have the live chat coming up and there

it is on the screen now as if by magic

so who was first on the live chat shall

we have a look let's go back in time to

the start of today's live stream

oh look it's Olga hello Olga

congratulations you are first on the

live chat so

congratulations to you well done and if

you want to be first on the live chat

you have to be very quick with your

finger when you click you have to be

very very quick so congratulations to

Olga also Tomic is here hi Tomic nice to

see you

chris is here ekta hello Hector I don't

think I've seen your name before on the

screen is it your first time on the live

chat oh if it is please let me know and

I can give you some special applause and

also maybe some fireworks as well also

Francisco is here hello Francisco mr.

Steve will be with us shortly but where

is he where in the world is mr. Steve

Gretel is here as well

hello Gretel Gretel Luciano hello to you

blue thunder is here as well and also

Alamgir hello to you as well Pedro it

wouldn't be a live stream without Pedro

Belmont joining us so welcome Pedro nice

to see you here again

it's September we are coming towards the

end of the month I can't believe how

quickly this year is going by meeker is

here hello Mika nice to hear from you

again and I hope you are still

recovering from your super-duper trip to

Island I'm just wondering how long it

takes how long did it take to get from

island to Japan or should I say from

Japan to Island so how long does it take

how long did your journey take by plane

Mika if you could let me know please

tell me on the live chat because that's

why it's here Ilyas is here as well

hello to you also we have minal hello

man al where are you watching at the

moment I'm always interested to find out

where people are watching you

world aha hello sujin sujin in south

korea of course lots of people talking

about both South and North Korea this

week lots of things going on there some

some very positive news for a change in

the world isn't that lovely blue thunder

and also Belarusian hi mr. Duncan how

are you today

are you ok I hope so are you happy I

really really hope so

Thank You Bella rusia you know what that

would be a very good catchphrase I might

use that one week I might use it later

also we have Martha and also VIN vinamra

hello vinamra watching in India I know

that I do have lots of people now

watching in India so a big hello to you

also we have Kara deaths and tdn Irene

Gretel satury know is here oh hello set

arena here it should be autumn but now

it is sunny and hot 36 degrees ah I wish

it was 36 degrees where I am it's

freezing today it's very cold in fact

this morning I had to put the heating on

in the house so yes they we now have the

heating working in the house so that

gives you a good idea of how cold it is

getting here also we have Abdo hello

Abdo nice to see you here on the live

chat Andrew now I didn't think of that

Andrew that's a very good suggestion why

don't you borrow mr. Steve's Underpants

well to be honest can I just let you in

on a secret

mr. Steve's Underpants are not in very

good condition they're not they're all

falling to pieces they've they're full

of holes so know then that that's the

reason why I'm not

borrowing mr. mr. Steeves and the pence

because because they're they're full of

holes they're falling to pieces I can

see a lot of blue sky oh do you mean

from my window yes that the weather

keeps changing but we have had a lot of

rain today it's been very wet it really

does feel as if autumn has arrived which

it has it has arrived hon Dowell is here

hello hon Dowell also we have Nicole

hello Nicole nice to see you as well and

I think we are now up to date with the

live chat thank you very much for

joining me

so if you want to get involved you are

more than welcome to and don't forget I

am here every Sunday every Sunday from

2:00 p.m. UK time you can now see across

the bottom of the screen the time of my

livestream and if you wish to donate you

can make a small donation or if you have

just won the lottery you can make a big

donation if you are feeling very

generous on my PayPal account you are

more than welcome to make a donation and

thank you very much to all those who

have made donations over the past couple

of weeks thank you so much I do it do

appreciate it hello to Youssef as well

Youssef is here hello mr. Duncan and

everyone here isn't that nice so we have

lots of people on the live chat and

that's the reason why we are all here to

share our love of the English language

whatever your experience of English

whatever your level of English you are

more than welcome to join in and for

those lucky people out there you can

also watch this live stream with live

subtitles as well if you are lucky

enough to be able to do that

congratulations

we have the mystery idiom coming today I

think we have time to to show you the

mystery idiom also a sad moment we had

the last of the baby pigeons in the

garden so now there are no more baby

pigeons they have all flown away that is

it for this year so you can see there is

a baby pigeon

and this is the final pigeon the final

baby to leave the nest but it isn't

alone because there's another one there

as well in fact there were three but one

of them disappeared I have a strange

feeling that one of the baby pigeons was

actually eaten but there is one of them

and it's trying to have a bath I think

maybe this is the first time that it's

ever seen water perhaps this is the

first time that this pigeon has ever

gone into water it seems very intrigued

very interested and also a little afraid

at the same time but there isn't just

one pigeon here comes another one yes

can you see it it's just landed and

there are now two baby pigeons but these

are the last ones to hatch out and to

fly away so now the season has come to

an end for most birds they have now

stopped breeding and they will prepare

for the onset of autumn and also winter

as well the big question is what will

win to be like this year what will this

win to be like will it be as bad as last

winter and there you can see another

view of the baby pigeons and you can

always recognize baby pigeons because

they don't have any any markings on

their feathers so they have no markings

whatsoever

so that is how you can recognize baby

pigeons and I'm often asked how can you

how can you tell that they are baby

pigeons well that's how you can tell

there are no markings on their feathers

so that's how you know it is live

English and it's mr. Duncan that's me

coming up soon we have mr. Steve as well

he is here but he's not exactly in the

studio he is somewhere else but where in

the world is mr. Steve find out later on

we've had a lot of storms this week

maybe where you're living

you've had some terrible weather as well

but we've had all sorts of things

happening this week we had on Thursday

we had storm alley a very strong storm

lots of rain lots of wind and as you can

see from this video clip the storm was

very strong it was a very strong storm

so that was storm alley and that was on

Thursday but can you believe it

the following day we also had another

storm as well so storm alley was the

first one and then on Friday we had

another storm as well and this time it

was storm Brona that's a very unusual

word a very strange name in fact storm

Broner it's actually a girl's name so

there it was storm Brona

and you can see the trees blowing around

and I filmed this during my walk to the

dentist I went to the dentist on Friday

oh dear I don't like going to the

dentist so this particular footage was

filmed on Friday whilst walking to the

dentist and you can see the trees are

blowing all

over the place everything is very glowy

very windy and one more view you can see

the leaves on the trees are swaying

they are swaying from side to side mr.

Steve will be here soon for those who

are waiting for mr. Steve to arrive

don't worry don't worry he'll be here

soon calm down take a deep breath and do

what mr. Steve has been doing this week

mr. Steve has been getting back into

meditation he has found a little

application that he's installed on his

phone to help him to relax because

sometimes Steve does get a little bit

stressed from time to time he just get a

little bit stressed so let's have a look

one of my full english lessons we are

going to have a look at an excerpt from

full english 21 and in this video clip

you will see me playing around with a

certain garden implement

hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in

England how are you today are you ok I

hope so

are you happy I hope so

oh I haven't said that for such a long

time do you remember when I used to

introduce every video lesson like that

anyway welcome to another full English

lesson yes I have decided to make

another one just in case you were

thinking that the previous one was the

last ever of course the name of the game

is teaching English in England that is

where I am England also happens to be

the birthplace of Sherlock Holmes James

Bond

Harry Potter obi-wan Kenobi Oliver Twist

Mary Poppins Danger Mouse

come to think of it I don't think any of

those people are real I think they are

fictitious

they are made-up characters they don't

really exist except in our imagination

oh I seem to have strayed a little

off-topic here so before I get any

further off the rails let's get back on

can you see what I'm pushing here it's a

very useful piece of God and apparatus a

handy thing to have about when you have

large loads and heavy objects to move

around this is a wheelbarrow you will

often see builders and gardeners pushing

one of these around you can transport

heavy and cumbersome things safely in a

wheelbarrow

you can put garden debris such as dead

leaves and pulled up weeds into a

wheelbarrow so they can be taken away

and disposed of more conveniently on

building sites you will often see

wheelbarrows used for moving heavy

material such as cement or bricks from

wheelbarrow an essential tool for making

those heavy duty jobs much easier to

carry out but be careful not to overfill

it or it might tip over leaving you with

an even bigger mess to clear up

here's a word that seems to be

pronounced one way but is in fact

pronounced another the word is

cumulative the first syllable this word

sounds like the letter Q the word

cumulative is an adjective and means

increasing or increased in quantity

degree or force by successive editions

for example the addition of other things

over time creates a cumulative effect we

often talk about a cumulative effect

when discussing health issues the damage

caused to the human body by years of

poor diet and neglect can be described

as being cumulative we often talk about

the cumulative effect on the environment

caused by steady ecological neglect a

cumulative effect normally occurs over a

period of time sometimes over many years

the process of accumulation is

cumulative accumulating growing

progressive accruing snowballing

mounting poor health in middle-age is

seen as being caused by cumulative

neglect we can also use the word

accumulative in this way to whenever we

talk about something being subjective

what are we actually saying well the

word subjective is often used when

discussing opinions and points of view

we often refer to the subjective nature

of something the word subjective relates

to each individual's view or perception

of something that can be translated in

many ways a good example of this occurs

when talking about art a painting or

drawing of something might be

interpreted

in many ways when we look at a piece of

art we often try to work out what its

meaning is what is the artist trying to

convey what are they expressing of

course one person's interpretation might

differ from others there might be many

ways of looking at this particular piece

of artwork so in this case we can say

that the views are all subjective each

view expressed is a personal point of

view so any opinion expressed concerning

a topic or issue can be described as

being subjective it is an individual

point of view it is a personal opinion

it is open for debate it is subjective

thank you for watching me teaching you

and of course Tatar for now

doop doop doop do and of course you can

find all of my full English lessons on

my youtube channel

dip-dip did to do here we go we are live

from England on a Sunday afternoon and

for those who are not sure what this is

this is live English with mr. Duncan

that's me I've been teaching English on

YouTube for over 11 years and can I just

say next month it will be my 12th

anniversary it sounds unbelievable even

I can't believe that I've been doing

this for nearly 12 years on YouTube and

of course don't forget I am the

first-ever English English teacher it's

true on YouTube it's true I'm not what

would I lie to you about such a thing of

course not

so I mentioned mr. Steve but the big

question is the big question is where is

he so now we are going to go live to mr.

Steve I'm just trying to get a signal

here I'm going to press some buttons and

I'm going to see mr. Steve mr. Steve

calling mr. Steve are you there over

hello mr. Duncan are you there ah yes ah

I've got you hello hello mr. Duncan can

you hear me hello to everybody Wow how

are you

yes mr. save yes Here I am I'm in New

York New York so good tonight

so good they named it twice last week I

went east to Russia this week I've come

West to the US of A the United States of

America thanks for that so here I am

standing by the famous the iconic Statue

of Liberty huh you're a bit of an icon

aren't you mr. Duncan to the world of

English I'm not sure if I'm an icon ha

that icon something that stands out

something that everybody knows about I

heard I heard someone the other day say

that not that mr. Duncan he's a bit of a

cult at least at least I think that's

what they said

they got one of the letters wrong but

never mind oh it's I can't say the

weather's very nice here as you can see

it's all a little bit sort of cloudy yes

I'm expecting you know a rain shower i

toted it I'll tell you something Steve

the weather the weather outside I'm just

going to put the weather outside on the

screen look at that the weather here is

a bit miserable so it's so at least you

have blue sky Steve I'll do either it's

a bit cloudy I think there's a storm on

the way okay but never mind do you want

me to - I've been right up I've walked

all the way up to the the top of the

Statue of Liberty and I've had a little

tour guide and I've got some facts and

figures would you like to know some

facts and figures about to the Statue of

Liberty okay well tell us something

about it because there are lots of

things that even I don't know now some

people are already complaining Pedro

Pedro is already complaining about being

in New York now don't forget we're going

to do this every week so if you have a

suggestion that you would like to drop

in yes and maybe a place where we can

visit and talk about so you can actually

make your own suggestion so today we are

outside we are in front of the Statue of

Liberty but we can be anywhere early we

can be anywhere because of the amazing

technology yes please tell us where you

like me to go next week and we'll we'll

count up the votes and then I'll just

fly there before mr. Duncan's show and

tell you some facts and figures about

about some of the local architecture or

iconic pieces of statue or anything or

something about the country's if you

want me to go to your country let me

know and I'll go there next week and the

week after and the week after I'm

spending all your funds all the Hat for

rent production funds mr. Duncan having

spent or flying me around the world

you are jet-setting I'm jet-setting look

what I've got here in my hand oh okay

this is a facts and figures of the

Statue of Liberty of course I picked

that up from a friendly tour guide very

nice she was too but she gave me this

for free okay tell you was a long way at

the 354 steps to the top of Italy

down in the statute Statue of Liberty so

it's very good exercise you've got to be

very fit to be able to do that mr.

Duncan so what is the Statue of Liberty

or as it used to be called the Liberty

enlightening the world Liberty

enlightening the world it used to be

called and they shortened it to the

Statue of Liberty there's a bit of a

mouthful for the Liberty the Liberty

enlightening the world Liberty

enlightening the world that's what they

used to call it doesn't really roll off

the tongue no not so easy to say no so

they shortened it to the Statue of

Liberty and it's a colossal a

neoclassical sculpture so it's very

colossal it's large okay neoclassical so

it's sort of it's a the style is a sort

of Roman sort of ancients or a Greek

Roman sort of theme so yeah well when we

say well normally when we're saying neo

it means new yes or something that's

come along in place of something else so

you might say neo art or neo sculptures

or neo fashion not that you often use

those terms but it just means new yeah

so it's a it's a sort of a modern

depiction of a sort of Roman

architecture that's a modern

representation of something from the

past from the past exactly and it's on

Liberty Island which of course is New

York and it's over the Hudson River goes

through there and it's a it's in New

York Harbor so what was it it was a gift

from the people of France to the people

of the US as a symbol of a Liberty

honoring the American War of

Independence which was that the

independence was declared in 1776 I

think we've covered that in the past in

past lessons yes but that's what it's

because of course the French helped the

Americans kick us out really didn't they

they decided to really nears in the

groin you're my sending them a statue

yes Steve you might say that it was a

very chaotic period of

time because they wanted to get rid of

the British even though quite a lot of

people in the United States at that time

well before of course it became

independent that they they actually

quite liked the British being there but

there were that there was a large group

of people who wanted the British to be

to be gone one of them was a French so

they helped help the Americans out and

away we went

and then they sent them a lovely statue

to remind us in the rest of the world

basically that they helped them and so

yeah it's a representation of liberty

really it's a a conic statue opened in

1886 Wow

so quite some considerable time after

independence was declared in fact 110

years afterwards in fact it was designed

by Frederic Bartholdi

bartholdi Bartholdi a French person and

built a by Gustave Eiffel ah so the same

person that built the Eiffel Tower now

as I understand it as I understand it

Steve Gustave Eiffel was actually used

to to give advice on the structure that

would actually support the statue itself

so inside the statue it's it's hollow so

there is a framework of metal holding

all of that up of steel and apparently

Gustave Eiffel was was a bit of an

expert when it when it comes to building

structures like that so he actually

helped to design the support inside the

Statue of Liberty I thought I was

telling people about the Statue of

Liberty you know you mr. Duncan okay

carry on there I think it's gonna rain

any minute now yes so yes he also built

the the the Eiffel Tower it took 20

years to build and they built it in

France and then they dismantled it and

shipped it over to the US and rebuilt it

so I think that's quite amazing so 20

years it took to build it a 300 copper

sheets around a steel framework yes and

I've been up all three

hundred and fifty four steps Wow they go

right at the center all the way up to

the crown and there are all sorts of

windows in the crown so you can have a

panoramic view across New York and the

harbor I always I've just had a

wonderful time mr. Duncan all on all on

hat for rent expenses do you know what

Steve at the some thing I didn't realize

this this shows sometimes you can be

very naive I didn't realize you could

actually go up inside the Statue of

Liberty until a few years ago where in

fact it was after it was after 9/11 and

they closed the Statue of Liberty

indeed they closed it down for about two

years and then that's only when I

realized that you could actually go

inside now I have a couple of

interesting photographs Steve still yes

I have a couple of interesting

photographs I'm going to show now so

here are a couple of photographs here is

one of the actual face of the Statue of

Liberty close-up and there you can see

it before it was installed so so before

they actually built the Statue of

Liberty they had to put it together like

a giant jigsaw and there is the actual

statue face which is 8 foot tall

apparently oh okay

the face is 8 foot tall so it's quite a

big face there is something I've never

noticed before the Statue of Liberty

looks really unhappy well you know she's

standing there with all the wind blowing

all over her look probably of you know

she'd probably probably looked happy

when she was first put up but she's

hungry about that

she's probably taken on that sad

expression over the many years being

battered by the winds

she actually look old weather Steve she

actually looks a bit miserable well yes

you can

apparently when it was first built

because it was made of copper the lovely

coppery color sort of brown yes but of

course over the years its weathered and

and turned green as copper does yeah

they'd have cleaned it because they up

they they they did update it didn't they

bit of a restoration in at 1996 or 8

1986 yes it has had a couple of

restorations and to celebrate I think it

was when they celebrated its anniversary

they actually painted the torch at the

top they actually painted it with gold

so now the torch at the top actually has

gold leaf that must have been 1986 oh

okay I had to figure by the way the

figure if anyone wants to know what the

figure depicts it's it's the road it's a

road woman and it's the depicts the

goddess of Liberty Oh a Roman goddess I

didn't know that

yes well yeah I've got them all here my

facts and figures ah the goddess

libertas her name is the Roman goddess

of Liberty which is an icon of freedom

so the Romans had it even though they

were a very the Romans weren't exactly I

would never never thought of the Romans

as being released celebrating Liberty

the opposite really but they did have a

goddess you know the Liberty you know

that the Romans invented democracy their

own form of it yes it was a welcoming

sight to immigrants arriving from abroad

so that lovely sort of the right hand up

with the with with the torch

welcoming people into the country

because of course that's what the u.s.

is founded on immigrants coming into the

country

without having a free life being able to

build their lives for themselves and

then building the u.s. from there so

that's that's what it's all about and it

must have been you imagine that hundred

years ago you were sailing in you wanted

to come from your country and and and

emigrate to America the promised land

and the first thing that sees you as you

approach America and your big ship is

this Statue of Liberty welcoming you to

America that must have been quite a

wonderful sight I think so I would

imagine I think the torch used to be

licked as well

is also apart from there's a tablet

she's holding a tablet she's holding a

tablet yes so in one hand she's holding

the torch she's got the torch lighting

the way for for people to arrive she's

got a tablet which is basically that is

depicting the independence when you say

tablet you mean an iPad is she holding

an iPad but is it quite a big tablet you

know they should update it they should

update the Statue of Liberty and she

should be holding a big a big iPad in a

hand that the tablets just got a

statement about the American

independence on it okay and then there

is also an inscription with her famous

poem which people I'm going to read a

few lines from it and people may

recognize certain parts of this is this

is this something to do huddled masses

it's that that's the one welcoming

people welcoming freedom and liberty and

welcoming people to America give me your

tired your poor your huddled masses

yearning to breathe free the wretched

refuse of your teeming Shore send these

the homeless tempest-tost to me lift my

lamp beside the Golden Door Wow

so there we go that was welcoming people

to America so there we are mr. don't

come on I've got to get on a plane and

there's all sorts of people police men

and women and I think they're trying to

push me out because I think don't think

I should be standing here I must have it

you think I'm a bit of a bit of a bit of

a bit of a risk standing here mr. Duncan

I better get on the plane before I miss

it you do look a bit suspicious I don't

want to get arrested not really standing

here just talking to a camera they might

think I'm a complete lunatic there is

something quite interesting about the

fact that the Statue of Liberty exists

especially in this time because a lot of

people seem to feel at the moment

certain people feel that maybe the

Liberty in the United States isn't as

free and as generous as it used to be

for certain reasons so yes yes

it's I think it's quite an interesting

emblem it's it's a very iconic figure

but Steve don't do that it's very

distracting I'll tell you what was the

most iconic sight in a film

okay Statue of Liberty okay it was in

returned to the Forbidden Planet the

planet of the eighth it's just a

completely different movie and it's of

the 8th a completely different film

regional film Planet of the Apes with

Charlton Heston okay he's he's golf and

a spaceship hasn't he and then he gets

lost and it makes the entire film to for

him to realize that in fact when he's

woken up from his deep sleep in the

spaceship crashes he's in fact back on

earth but in the future okay and what

does he see on the shoreline that

confirms that he's back I don't know uh

ie on planet earth he walks along the

shoreline and sees the Statue of Liberty

half buried in sand okay so if anyone's

ever watched Planet of the Apes and

Nixon Oh

oh my god you did it you blew us all up

if anyone's ever seen plant of the apes

you'll remember that as the camera hands

round to the back and you see the

familiar crown and then he realizes that

all this time he was back on earth you

know what you know what Steve there are

there are probably people who haven't

seen the movie and and you've just given

the ending away see the movie and forget

what I've said but everyone seemed

planning to the I don't think they need

to know it's so far in the future that

the Apes have become intelligent they've

taken over from human oh he thinks he's

on another planet but in fact he's back

on earth but like thousands of years in

the future

anyway I'm looking forward to seeing you

back in the studio soon yes it won't

take me long it said I'm taking the the

new supersonic flight that's just been

launched

oh my in fact and I'm gonna get on it in

about five minutes time okay then and

we'll see you in the studio soon Road

ooh thank you very much mr. Steve mr.

Steve live from the United States in New

York it's incredible isn't it Wow I

can't believe it I can't believe it

I just hope Steve

realizes that his microphone is still

live okay because Steve has has a habit

of banging around so let's hope he

doesn't do it this time we are live on

YouTube we'll be going back to the live

chat in a moment but this is a special

day today because it's the first day of

autumn the autumn equinox has arrived

and as a way of celebrating and marking

that occasion we are going to take a

look at one of my English lessons where

I talk all about autumn here is an

excerpt

everyone has their own favorite season

for me I have to pick summer as my

favorite closely followed by spring

autumn and winter I would love to live

in a place that has long hot summers a

sunny climate really does cheer the soul

but then I would find myself missing the

unique sensation of walking out on a

snowy winters day so living in England

gives me the chance to experience both

with spring and autumn added is a

pleasant bonus do you have many seasons

in your country which one is your

favorite

you

doo-doo-doo-doo yes we are live live on

YouTube people often ask where are you

mr. Duncan well we are broadcasting live

from a lovely little town we are live

from Much Wenlock in England and here he

is here is the man who needs no

introduction so he's not going to get

one

it's mr. Steve everyone howdy howdy

partner

well I an introduction wouldn't be nice

mr. Duncan just something yes anyone

gonna take this office a bit hot in your

studio mr. Duncan it's very hot in here

and I've been on this plane I haven't

had time to have a shower even to change

I wonder what the smell was yes well

anyway it was a nice time thank you for

a pain for everything mr. Duncan I think

it only cost about a couple of thousand

pounds to send me there and back well

would have almost brought you a new

computer I believe this is what we call

taking taking something too far you do

realize there might be people out there

who think that you are really spending

our money on flying around the world but

we're not okay I've been to America

before no it's time ever well I've never

been there ever ever ever we had some

complaints on the live length complaints

from people saying ID

already don't anything yet it always

seems to happen when you appear whenever

mr. Steve appears on the live chat we

get complaints straight away so well so

we was it Tomic we can be anywhere in

the world so we don't have to be in the

United States we can be anywhere so if

you have a suggestion yes you would like

to suggest a place please let us know

the live chat is up and running and

we'll go there next week I'll be there

next week and I'll tell you something

about your country you didn't know yes

so there we go

apparently you you have intrigued a lot

of people by talking about Planet of the

Apes

oh well an ape is a generic word for an

animal that looks a little bit like a

monkey so there is

so there is a difference between monkey

and ape there is so an ape if I remember

rightly an ape doesn't have a tail I

don't know I'm not gonna even attempt to

try and pretend I know the difference

between monkey monkeys monkeys tend to

have tails

whereas apes tend not to write for

example chimpanzee mr. Lomax doesn't

have a tail I've looked have you looked

in the right place mr. Duncan I don't

know what that means

oh yes Belarus ear is missing mr. Lomax

oh yes if you haven't watched Planet of

the Apes it's an iconic film from the

1980s would you say no try the 1960s

really yes Planet of the Apes the

original one was the 1960s without with

Charlton Heston I'm sure it was the late

nineteen sixties yeah antastic film

brilliant film and with that fantastic

ending a lavarro

says I am browned off with the Statue of

Liberty talk I couldn't care less about

it well maybe you don't but maybe some

people do it because it's a very big

world we live in use however us tell us

where you are

and we'll go there next week well maybe

maybe and we'll bore everybody with

details of your country oh great

I didn't say that by the way I'm only

joking now I'm willing to go anywhere so

please tell me somebody the first person

to tell me where to go next week I will

go I can think of a place all right

nobody's said nobody suggested anything

yet I I can think of a place where you

can go Steve

of course I've always wanted to go to

Brazil as you well know so I'm maybe

going there next week well maybe we

could go to Rio de Janeiro yes maybe we

will Rio we can do a bit of dancing a

bit of seltzer and you can try some

guacamole

Antonia as Antonio said yes 1969

apparently yes so there we go would you

move down yes it starred Charlton Heston

he's the guy that was was very much into

guns and he said you will

ever ever take my gun from me the only

way you will get it is to take it from

my cold dead hand was that in a film or

in real life in real life that was his

actual stance because he was very into

guns right matrix's first next week I'm

off to Afghanistan I'm gonna write that

down okay I was yeah but we don't want

to tell people before we go that's the

whole we actually call it where in the

world

there's no point calling it where in the

world's one suggestion then okay we have

some suggestions so this isn't this

isn't official voting they were not

definitely going there so no no it's

just some ideas some suggestions so so

we might we might not it depends it

depends Danzig yeah says says Martha

that must be in Poland okay yes I could

go there eventually it's gonna become

too expensive we're going to need we're

going to need a funding for this I'm

thinking more I'm thinking more about

famous landmarks though yes then just

standing in the middle of a desert but

but maybe sort of a famous landmark that

exists in a certain place alum beer

there's another suggestion Rio de

Janeiro Rio in yes her name is Rio and

she likes to go naked on the beach well

that's a nice suggestions there we will

pick one of those okay or maybe

somewhere else altogether

it's up to you you you're the one you

just say here's the ticket

off you go find out something about this

area and and then when you're live on

Sunday you can tell everybody about it

Rita says if you come to Rio de Janiero

you will eat Phil de fer Giada was that

I hope I pronounced that right

also pedro agrees Thank You Pedro so we

might be somewhere near you next week

who knows that's it's so exciting and

also we have oh I think we have a person

to go to one landmark and send pictures

for mr. Steve after after that he

explains about his landmark

oh I know what you mean Pedro what

you're saying is maybe people can send

their photograph in and then you can

stand in front of the photograph and

then talk about that place so yes maybe

so these are these are just ideas so

nothing is planned at the moment so who

knows where mr. Steve will be next week

we will have to find out can I just

mention something very important I have

started posting some new lessons on my

YouTube channel some grammar lessons and

a new one will be posted every Wednesday

so there are some new lessons being

posted right now and thank you very much

for your lovely comments and on

Wednesday we will be taking a look at

imperatives on the next how's your

grammar so that coming on Wednesday back

to the live chat oh it's so busy Steve

now you have some things to show us

today don't you I do I have some some

words with it cut within them phrases

yes

with cut either at the beginning or the

end yes it seems like a very simple word

it seems like a word that maybe doesn't

have many meanings or uses but actually

the word cut has many uses you can use

it in many ways and also there are

expressions and phrases to do with this

particular word we'll have a look at

that in a moment something I noticed

yesterday now I always love springtime

Steve I love spring very much and during

the spring well one thing in particular

happens we get lots of lovely lambs

around where we live

wandering around in the fields but I

noticed yesterday when I was walking I

was actually knows Friday sorry Friday

when I was coming back from the dentist

yes I went to the dentist on Friday I

noticed that there were some you

in the field near where we live and I

noticed that these particular use seem

to look a little bit pregnant

ah so what do you think Steve oh that

one definitely does that let's they've

been eating too much grass so it so it

looks as if it looks as if these

particular sheep or should I say these

female sheep that are called use au is a

female sheep so are you pregnant do you

like that

Oh mr. Duncan are always getting a joke

very funny

so yes so it looks as if these

particular sheep are are already already

growing little babies inside them

they'll be born at Christmas time maybe

so maybe we will have some Christmas

lambs don't know what the gestation

period is for a sheep some Christmas

lambs so we can have lamb for Christmas

dinner no thanks I have turkey turkey no

of course will be having turkey

definitely how long what the gestation

period is for for a baby lamb a

gestation period that's an interesting

word yes the the the amount of time that

it has to spend in the womb the amount

of time it spends out nine months is the

gestation period for a human baby but

what is it for a baby lamb so how long

does it take for it from the little egg

to the full-grown lamb how long does it

take apparently I was talking to him

three months I don't think I was talking

to Tameka earlier on the live chat it's

nothing to do with pregnant sheep but I

did ask Myka how long it takes or how

long it took to get from Japan to Island

because Myka went there for a few days

to study English apparently is 12 hours

sounds about right

it's a long time to be on a plane I

remember our days when we used to go to

Malaysia all the time and thirteen and a

half hours it used to take thirteen and

a half hours on the plane Oh 10 hours

too long

I couldn't do that anymore so we have

the live chat I know Steve you get very

excited about the live chat so I will

let you have a look at the live chat for

a few moments yes we've been looking at

there's been all sorts of nice comments

any other ideas of that way you want me

to go for next week please let me know

yeah well Antonia has said there can you

explain what is a mooncake oh okay now

that's interesting I don't know if

that's come up from a previous question

that's been asked now a mooncake we had

plenty of mooncake in malaysia didn't we

in Malaysia and also when I was in China

when I lived in China we used to eat

moon cake during the Autumn Festival

they would have lots of moon cake

because the moon would come out and look

really big and fantastic so so people

would eat moon cake so there are there

are different types of moon cake but

traditionally it is eaten in China I I

want to also say now I might be wrong

here so this is off the top of my head I

also think in Japan as well they have

moon cake but I might be wrong there I'm

sure Mika will put me right what's it

celebrating mr. Duncan listen normally

the if I remember rightly it's the

Autumn Festival okay well I remember

going we had a Malaysian friend and he

said oh I'm going to buy you some I

bought you some moon cake and of course

we both thought all cake how delicious

we love cake you know what can what can

go wrong yes until we tasted it and

although it's called cake it's not cake

in the in the in the form that we would

know cake as yes I Eve Airy sweet with

with sort of settlers and currents or

jamming in fact the one I had had eggs

had an egg inside yeah just a just like

a boiled egg the problem is when we hear

the word or see the word cake

we always think it's something very

sweet tea cake so something's showing

okay something sweet and delicious but

certain types of cake isn't actually

cake it's more like a pie

or maybe something that's very solid so

normally we think of a cake as being

something very sweet and very creamy

very delicious but moon cake is is quite

different from from the cake that we

would think of yes it wasn't sweet at

all very different if you're not used to

it it's horrible Nicole yes oh sorry you

go on Steve I was gonna say Nicole has

given us the answer to the you gestation

period you about five four to five

months five minutes at four counts so

that's right then so so there might be

some early winter lambs so if it's now

September said oak Tober November

December January February

well that spring that's it so the Lambs

but they're already looking pregnant

they're probably quite far you know

there might only have a month to go oh I

see yes months to go yes it just depends

I suppose so five months five months yes

so so we will see we will see what

happens there according to Sri Sri sham

it is mid-autumn festival tomorrow oh I

see so I think now we know why people

were talking about moon cake so tomorrow

it is mid-autumn festival and I would

assume that's in China or maybe across

Asia as well Nicole asks what does

complacency me ah to be complacent means

to be overconfident or very sure of your

abilities but you become very careless

so sometimes if you are if you are

complacent

it means you forget to keep improving or

to to carry on being aware of your

abilities so you can be complacent you

can be overconfident yes you can be for

example if you're preparing these live

lessons and you put a lot of effort into

it and then one week you just decided or

for several weeks oh I'm just gonna go

on and just see what happens I do that

every week oh you don't mr. doke

so that would be complacent you're not

you you you you're not sort of living up

to the responsibility of what needs to

be done yes completely even it's

actually a very negative thing so we

never use complacent in a positive way

it is always used in a negative way so

if a person is complacent it means they

are maybe overconfident

maybe they are good at something and

they've become too comfortable with that

ability but of course when you become

complacent that is when you start making

mistakes so you can be too confident

overconfidence is complacency yes you

start you stop just you stop doing the

things it and it made you become

successful in the first place and then

it all starts to fall apart yes so

that's complacent so I think that's a

very good explanation can I just point

something out I had a lovely email from

Valentina a few days ago and I forgot to

mention this last week so I'm going to

mention it now Valentina now this is

something that is very useful for those

who want to use my live streams as a way

of improving their word power and can

you see can you see what is happening

there you can see that Valentina is

actually writing all of the notes from

my live stream down on on paper or into

a notebook so I think that's a brilliant

idea what a fantastic way of using my

live streams so Thank You Valentina for

letting me know and there you can see

some of the notes that Valentina has

actually written now and it's that

amazing I think that's fantastic so

thank you very much Valentina fir for

showing me that so that is a very good

example of how useful my live streams

can actually be yes I think that's

amazing yes if you you know taking notes

yes and that's the way to learn never be

afraid to write things down never never

be a

afraid to listen and repeat - what what

you hear so the things you hear the

things you read the things you see on my

lessons or you hear in my lessons never

be afraid to write these things down or

of course as I said before you can

repeat you can say what you hear so so

never be afraid to do that that is one

of the best ways to learn to be honest

so don't be afraid to write things down

and then you can go back later on and

have a look at the words and you can

improve your your word power and learn

some new things at the same time nicole

says is trump complacent well probably

wouldn't be the right way to use that

word okay I mean you could say he was

complacent if he's not taking proper

care of running the country yes and he's

just sort of letting other people do it

or he's not but yes you might you might

be able to say that but it's usually

after somebody's been successful for a

period of time and then they drop the

ball on things they stop doing the

things that made them successful and

then the success falls away hmm so I

wouldn't have said that he was

complacent no I want to avoid talking

about this too much because of course

this is a subject that divides opinion

very much but yes complacency is just

being overconfident if you get too too

sure of your abilities if you become too

arrogant that's a good word arrogant so

you might become arrogant too confident

and then you stop doing the things that

made you successful in the first place

and then faults and problems start to

occur because you don't your foundation

the things that you do that makes you

successful exactly stop you stop doing

them like as I said if you stopped

preparing for these lessons people would

notice that you didn't have video clips

ready or you didn't bother shaving or

things like that so you thought that

despite the fact that you're so success

that people watch you no matter what you

do yes you know you and you stop caring

about the process and about what you're

doing you become careless and sloppy

that's complacent yes and then people

stop watching you and and things you

know that that sort of that would start

to happen hmm

but as long as you keep on doing the

things that make you successful in the

first place then complacency won't set

in anyway it is having it is coming up

to quarter past three already water mr.

Duncan well here's my water I haven't

got my little my little glass of water

oh okay then well you can have some of

mine I'll wait till we have a little

break a war infection that's some of my

warts you know water I need to see the

results of blood tests before I ever

before I drink out of that bottle uh mr.

dink I don't know what that means

what are you saying are you saying that

I'm I'm disgusted away your mouth being

mr. doing this mouth has been well you

can see where it's been and you can

certainly see where it is anyway you

have a drink what's the topic the topic

today is anything you want it to be yes

but we're specifically words connected

with cut yes we will be talking about

words connected to the word cut in a few

moments but here is another word another

phrase which can be used in many ways as

well

do you recognize how to sell out so a

sell out can be used in many ways we can

describe something that is no longer in

supply so maybe if you sell out of

something it means you have nothing left

of that particular thing so you sell out

of bread you have sold out of bread

so you sell out you have no more of that

particular thing also a person who

decides to take money very easily or to

give up their their morals for money can

be described as a sellout so for example

maybe I present these English less

and maybe a big company comes along and

they want to give me a million dollars

to talk about take it take it mr. Duncan

to talk about their products but people

might describe me as a sellout if I do

it now you see so the word sellout can

be used in more than one way so you'd be

getting something but the people

watching you would lose something yes

in the long run so over time the thing I

did before stops happening so maybe all

of the quality changes or maybe the

things I did before stopped happening so

if you sellout it means you you give up

or you give over the things that you've

done for money and then after that the

things that you did in the past maybe it

may not be as good as they used to be

because you decided to sell out and

because you because you're now doing

something and someone's paying you yes

you have to you have to do what they

tell you to do exactly you can't do what

you necessarily want to do we would talk

all the people and fans and people that

watched you yes we'll see won't you

won't be doing what you used to used to

do you'll be doing so no different

people say oh he's sold out that's it

so if you sell out it means you give up

the the essence of the thing you used to

do because now money is more important

than the thing that you used to do and

we were talking about this this morning

where we we were but then if someone was

to offer you a million pounds mr. Duncan

I wouldn't stop you I don't hang out I

don't think anyone anyone is ever going

to offer a million pounds for this

really which would you watch money would

you sell out for mr. Duncan that's

interesting well how'd you sell out for

a thousand pounds no here is an

interesting thing I know we shouldn't be

talking about this because we are

running out of time but can I just say

every week I get offers from companies

and people and websites all wanting me

to promote their products in the lessons

and then they will send me a little bit

of money

or maybe a percentage of the sales so if

someone buys something because I

mentioned it I will get a percentage but

to be honest with you I don't want to

sell out I don't want to give that

freedom up and I think really it would

be annoying for you as well if I kept

mentioning products all the time during

my live streams I think you would soon

get annoyed so I do get offers all the

time it's just that I don't take them I

don't take the office because I'm always

worried about taking something away from

from what I do and what I love Victor

says that he would take the money oh

let's have a look oh yes Victor says I

would take the money yes well it depends

on how much I'm a sellout satury know

has said and sell in there isn't a

phrase selling there's no the phrase

sell out there isn't sell in there isn't

the opposite to that although having

said that there is buy in so you can buy

into something mitt which means to

actually accept a way of doing something

so you buy in buy-in I will write that

down very quickly because I think it's

important to express and explain that

properly so if you buy do you buy into

what mr. Duncan is doing on his live

stream yeah

so there it is I will put it on the full

screen so you can see it properly there

it is so you can buy into something so

if you buy in it means you accept it you

go along with it you're not not

necessarily purchasing something no it's

it's it's going along with something so

it's used as as a sort of phrase an

idiom so it means you accept or go along

with something you decide to get

involved or join something you take on a

certain way of thinking you buy in to it

and I got the buy-in talking of words

mr. Steve I don't leave

you have some uses of the word cut quite

a few actually mr. Duncan this seems of

you I'm always fascinated by small words

in English I love these small words

because sometimes they can have so many

meanings well I've got quite a few here

with cut in them okay first of all with

cut at the beginning cut down to size Oh

cut someone down to size so you cut a

person down to size it's not literally

so we're not literally chopping them and

cutting them up this means to deflate

somebody's self-importance so somebody

has sort of got ideas about their

station if they think they're more

important than they really are

then you might want to cut them down to

size or put them down to size so for

example if you've got somebody at work

who's doing an equivalent job to you but

they suddenly think that they can start

bossing you about or ordering you about

and they're not they're not the boss of

you they're just somebody on the same

pay the same job as you you might decide

that you want to cut them down to size

by saying something to them like you

know stop talking to me like that you're

not the boss of me yes so you want to

you want to cut somebody down to size so

somebody's got to overconfident and

arrogant and you want to you want to you

want to cut them down to size or put

them back down to where they should be

because they think there's something

more than they are yes because some

people do that though especially in in

maybe if you work in a company where

there are lots of positions so people

are at different positions and someone

might think that they are better than

someone else because they hold a certain

position so sometimes you have to cut

that person down to size you have to

make them realise that they are not as

important as they think they are exactly

you cut them down to size now mr. Duncan

do you ever cut corners when you're

preparing your live stream I do sand

I do sometimes not today though not

today

that means to cut corners means to take

a short cut I mean in a task or a goal

or to leave out important steps and a

process to reduce the effort of a task

if you want to get something done and

you might have a timeframe in which that

you need to get it done and you realize

you're running out of time to do

something and you might decide in order

to get that task completed on time you

will cut some corners

you may leave out some steps sometimes

some important steps in order to get

that done an example would be so you're

not literally cutting corners but it

well the idea is that instead of having

to make do it go with the difficult way

you're rounding it off you're cutting

the corners you're taking the easy path

to something the new building was

completed in time but they cut corners

with the safety so a new buildings

opened it's a it's ahead of schedule or

it's right on schedule but in fact then

it starts falling apart because they've

cut corners with the quality of the

building materials or something like

that so to cut corners on something if

you go any other examples with that this

thing that's pretty good now quite often

if you cut corners it can cause problems

so again it's a thing that is often said

in a negative way

yeah so maybe if you construct a

building I've just said that and oh I'm

just what you just said I'm just adding

something to it it's not all about

buildings but things normally to do with

safety so quite often we think of

cutting corners to make something easier

but if you cut corners you can also make

things earn safe as they might not be

obvious straight away but those those

shortcuts or the things that you've

missed out may become more obvious they

may be hidden yes they may be hidden but

they may come out later on so for

example you could you could spend a lot

of money on a nice new car

and you've only got so much money but

you buy a car and then you put rubbish

tires on it hmm or you put poor quality

fuel in huh yes good point so if you put

bad tires on your car that the car looks

alright but you have an accident because

you cut corners yes you didn't put the

proper tongue as on or maybe the

performance of the car will be

compromised yes a similar phrase would

be shortcut if you took shortcuts to

achieve something that you could use

that as well in a similar way but a

shortcut literally means a quick way to

somewhere so if you wanted to go across

the river the shortcut route would be

over the bridge but he might have to

drive all the way round so taking a

shortcut so you go instead of going

round all the bends you go you take it

an easy route that right mr. Duncan yes

so may take a sure so maybe instead of

going all the way around you go across

so you go across you take a shortcut so

you could walk all the way around there

so instead you find a shorter route so

if we wanted to walk into Much Wenlock

we could go up the road which is the

long way round or we could take a

shortcut and go across the field

hmm so the shortcut may be you may not

be allowed to go there but you you've

taken a quicker route to somewhere who's

a good example actually Gretel says

don't cut corners on this project it has

to be done thoroughly no matter what the

cost or no matter the cost so yes that's

it yes i think i think that something

Gretel has got off the internet so yes

that's it to cut corners and if you cut

corners quite often you will get into

some sort of difficult yes Carrodus we

can say that cutting corners may lead to

hidden defects that's right not be

obvious straight away but then maybe may

take years to come out but it might

eventually hmm to cut no ice okay to cut

no ice it's an interesting one yes that

means to have no impact or effect oh

especially on your opinion about

something or someone to cut no ice yes

you are not impressed you are not

influenced it comes from ice skating

actually well they're not quite sure

where the phrase comes from but in order

to to be able to ice skate effectively

this the skates have to cut into the ice

you see I'm I'm ice skating and it also

probably derived from cutting ice before

we had refrigerators which is obviously

something that's quite difficult to do

so I don't care Hugh who you are mr.

Duncan I don't care how important you

are as an English teacher I'm still not

going to make you tea and coffee all the

time it cuts no ice with me no it cuts

no ice I'm not impressed so the your

your importance cuts no ice so in other

words your importance doesn't influence

the way that you would behave towards

them just because they've got an

elevated position in some way I'm sorry

but that argument cuts no ice with me

hmm I won't change my mind so we can say

cut no ice or it cuts no ice that's it

so somebody might be trying to change

your mind over something and they come

up with an argument but you are going to

stand firm on your original opinion

you're not going to change your mind

what they're saying to you cut snow ice

and it doesn't influence or change your

opinion yeah since in in any way they

might be trying to influence you away

from doing the right thing for example

by trying to persuade you I mean you

could say for example going back to your

your example of selling out somebody

might offer you a lot of money to talk

about a products and then you say no

standing by my principles I'm not going

to do that and then they might come back

to you with an argument oh yes but mr.

Duncan

we'll pay you this much a month and that

will give you an opportunity to do blah

blah and you was used to go back to them

say I'm sorry that cuts no ice with me

no seeking to my original decision I'm

not going to do it yes but I suppose in

a slightly broader sense you can also

say that you were not impressed by

something yes so influence yes so it

doesn't influence me I'm not really

impressed by it I won't change my mind

it cuts no ice with me that's it you can

said of a people you can say do it over

things it's usually said in reference to

people it's coming up to half-past three

believe it where we are going to take a

break because we are talking also about

autumn today it is the autumn equinox

today kid did you know that Steve I do

now I didn't before you just said that

so today it is the autumn equinox it is

the time of the year when the days and

nights are in equal length

but of course from now on the days will

get much much shorter night time will

arrive early and for those who are

wondering what the word equinox means

because it's a very interesting word

slightly unusual a little queer that

word equinox the time or date at which

the Sun crosses the celestial equator

isn't it I love that word celestial it

sounds sort of like a like a little

fairy skipping around celestial when

when the days and nights are of equal

length so yes we are now entering the

autumn equinox and autumn is now here so

as a way of a wave on the equator yes it

doesn't make much everybody you don't

really see any any equinox because the

days and nights remain of equal length

yes of the year and that is something I

mention in my autumn lesson and we are

going to take a look at an excerpt from

one of

my lessons and this is all about the

season of autumn see you in a bit you

may notice that the trees behind me have

not yet begun to lose their leaves this

is because autumn affects the various

animals

tree and plant life at different times

some trees will shed their leaves at the

start of the season while others will

lose theirs towards the end

ah and of course you can find this

lesson on my youtube channel it is

available to watch now I was going to

have a mystery idiom today but as I said

at the beginning of today's lesson it

looks as if we won't have time to do it

cutting corners mr. Duncan I'm not

cutting you cutting corners I did warn

everyone I said at the beginning today

that we might not have time for a

mystery idiom but we will have one next

week don't forget we are here every

single week every week every Sunday from

2 p.m. UK time I'm often asked when are

you on and there you can see now right

underneath there it is going by now 2

p.m. UK time every single Sunday it's

gone and of course you can also make

donations to my paypal as well if you'd

like to make a small donation or if you

have recently won the lottery a big

donation that would be ever so nice then

I can be sent all around the world why'd

you keep saying that we won't be doing

that we we honestly won't be paying for

air tickets for mr. Steve please that's

that's the opposite there there is a

point where where the joke has to end or

else people might get the wrong idea

they might think we're really doing that

I don't I think people realize I'm

we I didn't really travel all the way to

Moscow last week and I didn't travel all

the way to to New York okay anyway I

hope we're all clear on that but I'd

like to so please donate right and we

could do live lessons in all these

countries couldn't wouldn't that be

amazing that would be amazing I would

love well again it all comes down to

money because flying around the world

costs money does we're not really asking

for that it's very expensive note just

to just to maintain the studio at the

lights and the cameras and the equipment

and the encoder and my lovely new

computer all of this needs taking care

of and there's there's lots of other

things that you you don't know about

that I have to pay for to do this it's

very expensive this hobby it's very

expensive hobby hobby it's a business

mr. Duncan right I've got another word

with cut in it okay cut off your nose to

spite your face cut off your nose to

spite your face which actually literally

that that does come apparently they

think that the derivation or the origin

of that word hmm

was when people were there was a I think

a particular city that was being invaded

yes and all the women cut off their

noses to make themselves unattractive to

the invaders but the expression cut off

your nose to spite your face means that

it's a self-destructive means to fix a

situation it's to punish somebody for

something to punish somebody but in

doing so you harm yourself more than the

person that you're trying to harm it's

to disadvantage yourself in the course

of trying to disadvantage somebody else

so for example the manager would like to

would would like to promote John to the

office manager's position he doesn't

want to promote him to the office

manager's position but if he doesn't

he'll be cutting off his nose to spite

his face so what you're saying is that

there

that maybe they managed it maybe some of

the boss doesn't like this particular

person at work they maybe had an

argument in the past but he is in fact

the best person to take up this position

as office manager

so really he'd like to punish him by not

giving in the promotion but if he does

that the whole business will suffer so

in fact he'll be punishing himself more

than he's punishing the other person so

to cut up your nose to spite your face

it means you do something so for example

you want to go to a party somewhere and

you say oh I'm not going I'm not going

you've been invited to somebody's party

what's the matter what's the matter it

should be never oh I've missed an eff

off nevermind and I've taken a shortcut

yeah mr. Duncan cut off Oh double F yes

it was really annoying 90 minute go on

they put it in the code just put another

F there there

it certainly if you'd be careful how you

how you how you denounced mr. Duncan

because know right there we go cut off

your nose to spite your face so you

might have been invented invited to a

party somebody's birthday party but you

don't like the person you've had an

argument with a person a few days before

for example and some and you say to

somebody or I'm not going to their party

because I don't like them anymore and

somebody might say well don't cut off

your nose to spite your face in other

words you'll be harming yourself more by

not going yeah because you'd have had a

lovely time there and but because

there's lots of other people at that

party they're not going to really miss

you that much they will miss you but not

as much as you will miss the experience

of going to the party you know sometimes

we do that don't we we want to punish

somebody for something and in fact we do

it we harming ourselves more in the

process and that's what that expression

means another another way of describing

that is is to be passive-aggressive so

you are you are kind of being aggressive

but in a non-violent way but quite often

when you do that you can actually be

harming yourself

you know by not talking to someone you

think oh yes I'm telling them I'm

showing them fishing them yes but really

you you have this wonderful friendship

that you are now destroying so you what

you are teaching that person a lesson

but at the same time you are also

destroying the friendship and now

val/val think I've had enough of them

they'll go off and find out signs and

then you'll be cut out of this social

circle that's it so yes it literally

means apparently there was this city

somewhere whether in hundreds of years

ago that we're going to be invaded and

the women all cut off their noses so

that they wouldn't be attractive to the

the invaders yes of course that was

harming them probably more because it's

very painful to cut of your nose I would

imagine yes and also also you'd have a

big hole in the front of your head I did

despite your face yes despite me spite

of course is to do something nasty or

horrible to someone to try and get

revenge from so so yeh trying to get

revenge on somebody that's what it means

revenge get them back for something but

in the process of doing that you harm

yourself more and you're harming them

that's it yes of course we often do

don't do that this is the point I was

going to make I think quite often we do

this I think it's it's it's one of these

human behavioral things that we actually

do quite often we like to teach people a

lesson now by that I mean we like to

show them that that that we are in

charge or maybe we like to assert our

dominance in some way so you like to to

show this and quite often we will be

arrogant or maybe rude or maybe we will

be bad-tempered or maybe we will just go

away and soak it's a pride yes your

pride

and you'll hurt over something and you

want to get back at somebody but quite

often you might do something that harms

you more than it harms them that's when

you can use that expression yes cut off

your nose to spite your face

that's what I'm cut up mr. Duncan you

want cut up you are cut up if you're cut

up over something it means you're very

upset sad but just just very upset over

something hmm she was cut up over her

boyfriend breaking up with her last

weekend so somebody is very upset you

break up with your boyfriend you're

upset you cut up really deeply affected

by something John was cut up over the

loss of his job or you can be if

somebody dies that you know very well

Excel God they were really cut up over

the death of that person so to be very

deeply affected distancing distraught

destroy shut up Oh mr. Duncan would be

cut up if he couldn't do his live

lessons every week got you use cut up on

the road yes you can yep if you're all

cut up

on the road it means somebody somebody

literally pulled right in front of you

cuts you off yes that is very true mr.

Duncan wondering how long it would take

you to come up with that alternative can

I just say can I just say it's one of

the things that really upset Steve when

people cut him up so so if someone goes

across in front of him whilst his

driving Steve gets very annoyed I do I

don't like people cutting me up it means

they're just pulling too quickly and you

have to break otherwise you crash into

them that means that and also it means

you're very upset over something yes

good cut up cut your teeth on if you cut

your teeth that means to gain experience

in a career in the early part of your

career when you're young news

means you're learning a trade the singer

cut his teeth in the small clubs and

bars before becoming famous so it's like

an apprenticeship in a way it's how you

learn the basics of your job your

profession hmm and you cut your teeth on

it actually does refer to your your baby

teeth coming through yes it come often

it's difficult it might be painful it it

might take a lot of effort but once

you've done all that you've set the

foundations for your career that's it so

in the term that you just mentioned when

when a baby starts to produce its teeth

in its mouth of course we can say that

the teeth are cutting so or maybe you

can say that the baby is cutting and

that means that their teeth are starting

to emerge in their mouth him of course

it can be quite painful for the baby yes

the the analogy is that when your teeth

are coming through it's painful and and

often in the early part of your career

you have to you have to do a lot of

effort a lot of work pain in order to

gain that experience that's it and the

first is owned by a mistake and the

first time the first time something

happens so that's good yes good I like

that one cut your teeth so mr. Duncan

you you cut your teeth in English when

you were teaching in China I'd say that

you could say that further for the whole

four years I was in China I cut my teeth

when it comes to teaching and being used

to standing in front of a big classroom

although although having said that this

is a pretty big classroom now it's the

whole world clear cut Oh something is

clear cut it's definite it's there's no

nothing vague about it it's obvious well

explain sharply-defined

the opposite would be it not clear cut

yes so that was a case of clear-cut

murder yes so it with a court case it's

obvious there is no

doubt whatsoever that was clear-cut

murder it could also mean clear-cut can

mean clearing an area of forest trees

okay a clear-cut it means you like a

hillside to clear all the trees away but

usually something's not clear-cut it

means it's not obvious what it is it's

not definite there is doubt hmm

doubt in what you're saying that's not

very clear-cut what you the way we could

explain a word and some of might say

that's not very clear-cut I don't really

understand so it's the difference so it

is clear-cut it is understandable and

obvious it isn't clear-cut means

something that isn't clear and might be

confusing a set of instructions on

something say for example you bought you

bought something new and there was a set

of instructions and then you know I

don't really understand they're not very

clear-cut I don't understand that at all

or some instruction from your boss at

work on on how to start a project or how

to do a project and you might think

that's not very clear cutter don't run

someone are supposed to be doing there

so that's clear-cut next one do you make

the cut do you make the cut mmm that

means that comes from a golfing term or

certainly a sporting term which means

that you need enough points to get

through to the next round do you make

the cut are you good enough and it's a

sporting term but then it's used in

everyday life too to about situations in

life do you reach certain standards or

requirements in order to do a job are

you good enough he didn't make the cut

for university as his English skills

weren't good enough so you might be very

good at some things for example you

might have a you might have a very good

CV or resume a as a very good CV but if

you haven't got into interview skills

you're not going to make the cut you

know I'm gonna get the job so if you say

to make the cut it means that you're

good enough to succeed in something so

you you tick all the boxes you Kamath

all all the requirements are met so you

meet all the requirements you make the

cut that's it one more I've read this

one no clean cut clean cut clean cut

means refers to a person's appearance

and that's somebody who is very smartly

dressed and their whole appearance is

very precise has been ver ver very

detailed so they've got a perfect

haircut the glass is a very very very

stylish maybe a very clear clean-shaven

shirt and collar very very very smart

clean-cut but but not not overly

fashionable oh I wouldn't say I would

say somebody he was just smartly dressed

well presented but nothing outlandish so

it would be fairly maybe traditional

sort of clothing I would say yes I think

a good clean-cut look neat a clean-cut

look is somebody who in a man would have

a very tidy haircut wouldn't have long

hair will be clean-shaven and it just

would look very smart yes clean so you

often describe somebody as if someone

was scruffy it would mean their hair is

all over the place the opposite would be

scruffy a scruffy look wearing old

clothes maybe the shirt wasn't I and but

the opposite of that the opposite that

would be clean-cut

they were very precise very smart the

opposite could be disheveled yes you see

you wouldn't describe mr. Duncan as

clean-cut that wouldn't isn't a

clean-cut look wearing a baseball cap

and a t-shirt isn't a clean-cut look

where is it I may be more

that way and if I had a shirt and a

collar a tie on and a suit then you

would describe me as a clean-cut fellow

you are definitely one of them that's it

that's all I've got is that all you got

we've got ten minutes still to go

what are we gonna do it early and I

could make make the tea cake early

mother I've got a good look at the live

chat I've got nothing else to do that's

it I'm out of amount of stuff can you

think of any other example you could go

back use of the word can you go back to

the Statue of Liberty do some fly all

the way back there again I know I'm just

joking of course

here is another strange word because

there are so many strange words in the

English language and here is another one

this is a very strange word finicky

finicky now this is such an unusual word

and it's so unusual here is mr. Steve in

the garden to explain it finicky finicky

is an english adjective the word finicky

is an english adjective that means to be

fussy or picky about things a fastidious

or hard-to-please person can be

described as being finicky for example

you are such a finicky eater I can't

stand your finicky behavior a finicky

person is often hard to please because

they will always find fault in

everything a finicky person can be

described as fussy choosy pernickety

picky selective and hard to please

finicky

Thank You mr. Steve

do-do-do-do it is sunday afternoon

coming up to seven minutes away from

four o'clock we will be gone in around

about seven minutes but don't worry

we will be back next week 2 p.m. UK time

for those who aren't sure your a bit of

a finicky eater aren't you mr. Duncan I

can be very finicky fussy finicky for

example yesterday we went for a meal in

too much Wenlock yesterday and ordered a

baked potato yes and it came with salad

now mr. Duncan was picking out all the

green and red peppers and the tomatoes

and you could describe that as a bit

finicky so I wasn't willing to eat all

of it he was picking out the bits he

didn't want it is true that sometimes I

can be a very finicky eater but it's

certain things like for example I don't

like to eat cucumber I don't like to eat

fresh or raw tomatoes because it upsets

my stomach and also a chili pepper chili

pepper can be too too strong and also

once again it upsets my stomach

stop talking of my stomach did you hear

my stomach earlier was was rumbling

because I'm hungry I haven't eaten

anything today

again I've eaten nothing I was so busy

preparing today's livestream that I

haven't had anything to eat I could have

cut corners cuz you and yelling and and

made some time to eat you could have cut

corners and left out some of all these

clips and we could have just talked

about the live stream yeah time I I

sacrificed my my morning meal so I could

bring you this mister don't could bring

you this live stream you read me sad

music a violin playing for example no I

haven't got any of that live chat or the

live chat is very busy by the way so

let's put it on the screen shall we here

it comes before we go here is the live

chat we

you've got John we've got somebody in

Dallas Texas Dallas Texas watching us

hello there

I can't John where is that third from

the top okay second from the top I'm

going to go back oh yes I see John Gero

becaise ah thank you very much that's

crazy

yes Oh worse that's fantastic Dallas

Texas well there was a famous soap opera

we used to enjoy watching back in the

1980s well you did literally what was it

called it was called Dallas it was

called Dallas that's it how could you

not remember love those say proper

estate Steve used to watch a TV show

called Dallas and of course we were in

the United States today mr. Steve was in

front of the Statue of Liberty talking

all about it

very interesting Tomic says curiosity

killed the cat I don't know what that

refers to

maybe it's something we said earlier

Louise Louise Vittorio says I am finicky

so if you if you are finicky you are

fussy you can be very choosy so yes I

could be about food it could be about

your friends it could be about you could

be finicky about choosing a partner in

fact I've got a lot of friends I've got

friends like that one particular friend

who's never got married because he's

very fussy about about the person that

he chooses to have as a partner

perfect okay what - there's like a

checklist of things that they've got to

meet and if they don't meet all those he

won't he won't go out with them well you

know you can be too finicky you can be

right you can be too choosy and if you

are too choosy if you are fussy about

everything then you might find your life

will be very unhappy Oh

run sack is here hello wrung sack now

wrung sack is someone who actually

follows me on my Twitter all right Oh

Chloe not a lot of people know that I

have a Twitter page but I also have a

Twitter

account and rank sac is one of my

regular commenters so wrung sac will

often favorite or like the posts that I

put on Twitter yes I do have a Twitter

account as well yes you can have a face

with clean-cut features very neat very

smart looking

yes I think so go up a bit

mohamad there are you going too far back

back again hello Jen promote just please

let me know what does it mean when below

or according to the lesson context it

mean cut out

oh sure you mean by that I'm let me just

have another hello gentlemen I have just

come in please let me know what does it

mean when wend below - according to the

lesson context I'm not I'm not sure I'm

not sure wend

below whether there is no word wend it

might be went went below cut out means

to me it means to delete it means to

literally cut something out yes so if

you cut out it means you remove or you

avoid it or you you even ignore

something so you cut something out you

ignore or you you leave out for example

maybe maybe when you die people will

read your will the thing that you've

left behind and maybe you will cut your

rent relations or your relatives out of

the will you remove them you leave

nothing to them you remove something so

to cut something that means you remove

literally it literally means lift it's a

literal meaning to literally cut

something out cut out yes it literally

explains itself John yes mm-hmm well I

don't think we've had it ever had anyone

in carrot from from Dallas before no we

Texas well we do have quite a few people

watching in the United States and this

is because I always like to watch and

keep an eye on who is watching and

where they are watching and I know I

have a lot a lot of people now watching

in places like Australia now you might

not imagine that to be to be a real

thing but yes Australia United States

Canada so these are places that tend to

use English as their first language of

course in Canada French is widely spoken

so maybe maybe that one is a slight gray

area but yes yes generally speaking we

do have a lot of people watching now in

the United States so just in case you

are watching in the USA can I say a big

hi hi howdy do they say howdy

I always remember getting into trouble I

got into trouble once for saying howdy

in one of my lessons the lesson where

I'm talking about saying hello and I

said howdy and I I had so many people

complaining they say mr. Duncan we don't

say howdy in the United States unless

you are a cowboy we stand corrected

that's a fair comment I think so

Stanislaw says I'm very finicky when it

comes to choosing a wife well I was just

describing a friend of mine yes it was

the same the problem is if you're too

finicky you will never find anybody

that's perfect you can be chill end up

being on your own in in life you can be

too choosy you have to sometimes you

have to settle for Less well I think you

have to you you can't go through a

checklist when you're coming to choose a

partner I think maybe maybe you have to

have a few important you know that you

don't want them to be mass murderers no

not really no or maybe never water that

is that is that is actually a very good

point Steve if you are going to date

someone can you make sure that they are

not a mass murderer because that might

cause problems in the relationship down

the road you not not for everybody you

know some people are married to mass

murderers and they go and visit them in

prison yes but it's a kind of attraction

to some people

yes but I I would imagine that they

become mass murderers later what do you

mean they start dating someone who's

already murdered people

but yes apparently if you are a murderer

in prison some some people are attracted

to you because you're a murderer I tell

you something if you're if you're if

your level of dating starts with people

who have committed mass murders you you

really your bar is very low I sort of

program about it there are men in prison

who have committed murder or mass murder

and they get lots of letters from women

who want to want to know them I don't

know why just one of those one of those

there's no answer to that I know there

was a program about it it's probably I

don't know it's probably I don't know I

have no idea but yes it's probably when

we're not giving out advice on dating

but you probably shouldn't be writing

down a list of criteria yes things that

you met before you would get when we say

criteria we mean a list of things that

you require so the things that must

exist for you to go ahead with with that

thing I think you need you need to be

you need to see so you need to be first

of all attracted to some yes and then

they need to there need to be a few

things in place yes I don't think they

should be a mass murderer I think that

suggests I always do no I wasn't I was

just about to say that they cross that

off a list but but sometimes you do have

to settle for less

so sometimes don't mean settle for those

I'm trying to make a point that sounds

like a negative but sometimes you do I

think most people settle for less so

they go over it is perfect they go out

into the world looking for that perfect

person but they will never find them

sometimes you have to settle for less

that's what I did I did that waiting for

that that's what I do is waiting for

that Mister Donut what I did I said

settle for a lot less wine you settle

for one last one last look at the live

chat and then we

are going Sergio says that women like

med like mr. Duncan I'm not sure what

that means they knew mr. Duncan had them

hey wouldn't like we meant like men like

mr. Duncan

okay Thank You Sergio that is very nice

Jeff isn't here today where is Jo Jeff's

in America isn't he yes he is and he's

not here is he in California Jeff Jeff

is in I want to say Florida Florida the

Orange County yes okay

is that what else can you tell us about

Florida nothing all I know is it's it's

a very hot and it's very good for

growing oranges that's it so that's it

is that everything that's it what I know

about Florida maybe I'll go there next

week so whilst mr. Steve goes upstairs

and goes to Wikipedia to find out some

more things about Florida we will go we

will thank you very much to Blue Thunder

Sergio

also hundl Maria Martha thank you very

much for joining us today a very busy

one a very busy one today it's a very

nice picture Maria it's a very nice

clear smiley picture of you I can can't

usually see the what have you call them

the ident on the on the lettuce idents

what do you call them mister they are

the icons but yours is very clear

earlier although I can see very Aikido

is very clear earlier although I can see

very I can see straight away that you're

a woman the name would give that whoever

but quite often you see because we don't

know we can't tell the sex of somebody

from the name but it's nice to see you

nice clear smiling pretty face by sex he

means he means gender gender yes that's

good then Tatar for now thank you very

much Martha Arora

nee mo thank you very much and mr. Steve

is going thanks Steve Thank You mr.

Duncan you may say your good-byes first

goodbye

au revoir adios Tata for now

any of this you didn't think of sayonara

sayonara a wiedersehen goodbye

look forward to seeing you all again

next week from whichever country I mr.

Duncan decides he's gonna send me to yes

who knows it could be anywhere somewhere

on planet Earth so maybe I won't marry

I'll be on the moon or on Mars well we

can it we could hope we can only hope I

and I will see you next Sunday as well

don't forget next Sunday 2 p.m. UK time

this is mr. Duncan saying thanks for

watching and I will see you later don't

forget there is a new lesson on

Wednesday we will be talking all about

imperatives of the English grammar so

all of that to come and of course we're

back next Sunday

this is mr. Duncan in the birthplace of

English saying thanks for watching

thanks for watching me teaching you live

and of course - mr. Steve thank you very

much and you know what's coming next yes

you do did do...ta ta for now