English is...? (UPs & DOWNs) - English Addict - 288 - Join the 🔴LIVE CHAT \ Sun 7th APRIL 2024

We have a

lot of wind today, and I'm not talking about Mr.

Stevens stomach.

It is a windy day here in the birthplace of the English language,

which I think you know where it is by now.

Yes, of course it is England now

we are back.

Everyone is.

I don't know why I feel really excited today.

I have no idea why I feel so excited.

But I do.

And that is all that matters when you think about it.

Hi, everybody. This is Mr.

Duncan in England. How are you today?

Are you okay?

I hope so.

Are you happy?

I hope you are feeling good today.

We have a new month, everyone.

April is here now.

Here in England, we often have bad weather during April.

We often refer to April showers at this time of year.

So normally the weather at this time of year

is a little unsettled and that is the reason

why at the moment we are having lots of unsettled weather.

We have lots of wind and lots of rain.

We have had so much rain this year.

Can I just say I hope we don't have too much rain in April

because we have a lot of water everywhere at the moment.

Today we are looking at some interesting subjects.

We are looking at dating.

going on a date,

pursuing a date, maybe a person

who you want to get to know better.

Maybe.

Perhaps there is someone in your life who you know and you would like to date them.

Maybe you are looking for someone who would be who you would like

to go on a date with.

And there are many ways.

Now, in the olden days I remember growing up,

people used to leave small messages in the newspapers.

We used to call it the Lonely Hearts column,

which sounds a bit sad when you think about it.

It is a little bit depressing, isn't it?

The Lonely Hearts Club and people would always

leave little messages at the back of the newspapers.

Young man mid-forties,

looking for attractive woman in mid twenties

for meaningful relationship.

Please apply to this box number.

And then of course, later we had the lonely Hearts Club,

which is where lots of people who were looking

for a relationship would all group together.

They would join together, but of course these days,

because we are so highly sophisticated with our wonderful technology,

we have dating apps, application

ads on our phones and on our computers

that we can use to find love.

And it reminds me because this week we have been talking about dating

apps here in England because, well,

there have been some scandals taking place this week.

But I was wondering if

in your country, maybe

you have a certain way of finding

a partner or a relationship.

So these days, especially here in the UK and I suppose in the United States,

but I'm just I'm just curious to find out what happens where you are.

Do you have some sort of method?

Is there a sort of group?

Is there some way of meeting other people

who might share your feelings

or maybe your opinions on things?

So quite often, if you are looking for a person to fall in love with,

I always say

it is a good idea to have similar

interests, have very similar outlooks on life.

Not too similar because if two people have the same character,

you might find that they will always fight and clash.

So sometimes it is good to try and find another person

who is slightly opposite to you.

So we have

applications, apps

on our phones, many different ways of finding

the love of your life. I suppose.

So we are looking at that a little bit later on.

Also, if you are thinking of making any plans for tomorrow,

then my advice is not to

because apparently tomorrow

again,

apparently

the end of the world is coming tomorrow.

Apparently it's Armageddon.

Have you read about it?

A lot of people on the Internet getting very excited about it,

about all sorts of things that may or may not be happening.

So there are many

ways of talking about the end of the world.

Some people describe it as Armageddon and apparently it's happening tomorrow

because there is a big eclipse occurring and some people seem to think

that it might signify

the end of the world or some big change.

Can you believe that?

So we might be talking about

that a little bit later on as well.

Also, what else are we doing today?

We are looking at words and phrases connected to up and down.

You might say that life is full of ups

and downs.

There are many ways of using the word up and many ways of using the word down.

We will also be looking at that.

A lot of things to talk about today.

Did you see the pictures talking of the end of the world?

Did you see the pictures yesterday from Mount Etna,

a volcano that is often

simmering but not erupting?

And yesterday it was sending those lovely

little smoke circles up into the sky.

Did you see that? Quite amazing.

Lots of people were gathering to watch

as these little smoke circles were coming out of the volcano.

And I thought that was quite lovely, actually,

to be honest with you.

Hello to the live chat.

we have the live chat here.

Hello, live chat. Nice to see you.

I wonder who was first on today's live

stream.

very interesting.

Today we have Beatrice

Guess what, Beatrice, you are first on today's

live chat.

Very interesting.

And then we have Vitesse.

Hello, Vitesse, You are second.

We also have.

sir, do you know who I'm talking about?

It would not be the live stream without Lewis

Mendez's is here today.

Hello, Louis. Nice to see you back as well.

We also have Alexandra.

Do you and Lee is here as well, who is asking how I am?

I have had a very strange few days

now, as you may know, last week I mentioned Mr.

Steve is actually off at the moment from work.

He's having a holiday and we decided to go out by the way, can I just say that Mr.

Steve will be coming up?

Here is your alert, your Mr.

Steve Alert, by the way, he will be with us in a roundabout

10 minutes from now.

So just to let you know that Steve is on his way.

He is coming soon.

And we decided to go for a lovely walk.

Well, we actually took two very interesting walks.

We had a nice, relaxing walk.

And then the following day we went for another walk,

but everything went wrong and I

had an accident.

Don't worry, I'm okay.

I didn't break anything.

But something very weird happened.

Something that you only see in movies or comedy shows.

But it happened to me.

And that's all I'm saying.

I will give you a clue.

I got a little bit wet.

Find out what that is all about as well.

I have been busy preparing my new English Channel.

A lot of people are asking for the name of the channel.

I will not reveal it yet because it is not public.

So even if I told you what it was, you wouldn't be able to see it

because it isn't public yet.

It would just come up with nothing, you see.

But there are some new English lessons, also a new English channel,

and I will be the person presenting on there.

Excuse me a moment.

I need some water.

I've been so busy today I can't tell you how busy

I've been.

You know what I should do?

I should actually put my water

into my lovely English addict mug.

Let me go.

Look, I have a lovely mug I can drink from this cup.

I always say that your drink will taste better

if you take it from your English addict mug,

which will be available soon on my YouTube channel.

By the way, for those wondering.

So lots of things happening this month.

It is a very busy month.

April is definitely going to be

a busy time, I think so with my new channel.

Also some merchandise.

You can have one of these if you want.

You can you can have one of these if you want.

You can even have.

Mr. Steve.

I'm thinking of selling Mr. Steve,

or at least hiring Mr.

Steve out.

So if you would like Mr.

Steve to be with you for maybe a week

or two weeks, I am thinking of actually putting Mr.

Steve on my YouTube channel

for sale as well.

So here we are then we are back together again.

And if you like this already, if you are liking this, you might say,

I like this.

Then please give me a lovely like as well.

We might talk later on about my new YouTube channel

because a lot of people are interested to find out about it

all will be revealed very soon.

Don't worry.

I will not hide it from you.

Hello, Claudia.

Claudia is here today.

It's nice to see you back with us.

Thank you, Claudia, for joining us.

Valentin is here as well.

We also have who else is here?

Inaki is here as well.

A big wave to you all.

So it is a busy one today.

We have a lot to talk about. A lot.

Very much.

Many, many things to talk about today.

We have the end of the world, apparently tomorrow.

Tomorrow something really bad is going to happen.

Lots of people on the Internet are talking about it.

Hello to Santa Reno. Hello, Santa Reno.

Nice to see you here as well.

Hello to Char ra z o cha z.

I pronounce that right.

Hello to you as well.

So many people joining.

Also we have Viet Nam.

Hello, Viet Nam.

It's nice to see you here as well.

By the way, my new lessons that will be coming on my new YouTube channel.

We'll also have a lots of translations available,

so not only will you be able to see me, you'll be able to hear me.

You will also have lovely big

English captions on the screen

and you will have the chance

on my new videos

to have your own language at the bottom of the screen.

So there will be many ways in which you can improve

and learn and expand your English knowledge.

So that is it. That is

my new

YouTube channel, which will be coming soon.

Mr. Steve will be here.

For those wondering, yes, Steve will be here in a few moments.

I will put it on the screen again.

Steve has had a wonderful time because he hasn't been working.

And I think between you and me, I don't think Steve

wants to go back to work.

I think he likes staying off from work.

Nit trim says Mr.

Duncan has come up with some merchandise.

I have maybe too much.

So you can or you will be able to get your own English addict mug

and of course, your English addict T-shirt as well.

All of that coming up very soon

as well, over the next couple of weeks. Mr.

Duncan, you have two accounts on Facebook.

No, I don't.

I only have one.

There is only one, Mr. Duncan, on Facebook.

I will put my address on the screen.

Now, for those who are wondering.

Now, sometimes people will pretend to be another person.

Now, I don't know why, but some people pretend to be me.

I have no idea why

anyone would want to pretend to be me.

But apparently some people are doing that.

I will put my

Facebook address on the screen now.

There it is.

So that is my real.

That is me. Genuine.

My Facebook page.

Facebook dot com.

And as you can see, you must put it in capital letters.

So you must type the address exactly like that.

So that is my Facebook address for those who are wondering.

And yes, I know that sometimes people

do pretend to be other people, but I still don't know

why anyone would want to pretend to be me.

It still confuses me at this very moment in time.

I still don't know why. So that is my

Facebook page.

And as I mentioned, there will be a new YouTube channel,

basic English, English for those

who want to improve or learn

or maybe progress with their English learning

and that will be announced very soon.

Hello.

Huong Pham, hello to you as well.

Thank you very much for joining today on this.

Very windy but also very sunny

Sunday.

Looking outside the window at the moment, there is the view right now.

You can see we've had some rain,

but it is also windy as well.

And we've had some sunshine.

It is a mixture of everything today.

If I was honest with you,

we've had all sorts of weather over the past 24 hours.

We also had a big storm as well.

A very big storm last night.

Fortunately, there was no damage at all.

NUTRIEN Will Mr.

Steve be on cameo?

Now, when you say cameo, do you mean that website

where celebrities give messages to other people?

So if you want to have I don't know, for example,

if you want to have Tom Cruise wishing you a happy birthday, you can go on

to a certain website and pay some money and then Tom Cruise will record a message.

Well, in fact, it isn't the real Tom Cruise.

There is a guy who is very famous on the Internet

and he's well-known for pretending to be Tom Cruise.

But I've never done it.

I've never done anything on cameo.

I've never sent personal messages.

Maybe I should.

Maybe there is a market out there for people

who can pay me to send their messages on Cameo or even Mr.

Steve.

I think that might work, especially Mr.

Steve, because he does have a very big fan club.

Hello to Col.

Hello, Col.

It's nice to see you here.

Hello.

Also to who else is here today?

I don't want to miss anyone out.

Hello to Idris.

Hello, Idris Watching in Morocco.

I started following you in 2012.

Thank you very much for staying with me.

12 years you've been watching me.

Thank you very much.

I. I learnt using your

like and dislike video.

I see.

So you learnt from that particular video.

So there was a video that I made all about liking things

and disliking things.

Thank you very much, Idris.

It's always nice to get some sort of feedback when we talk about feedback.

We are talking about the response to something, especially these days.

So a lot of people go onto the Internet these days to find

content, but

also to look at the replies as well.

So I always think these days the replies

to a post or a message or a video

can be just as entertaining

as anything else on the Internet as well.

Irene is here.

Come on, Irene, it's nice to see you.

Here We have Mr.

Steve coming in a moment.

Of course he will be with us.

Steve is here

in around about 3 minutes from now.

But first of all, we'll take a quick break.

Whilst Mr. Steve sits down

and makes himself comfortable and then we will be right back.

Please don't go away.

We have a lot to talk about today.

A lot of people love the cows.

They really, really do.

Talking of animals that aren't very bright.

Here he comes.

I just noticed that.

I don't know why Mr.

Steve looks very small today on the camera.

I don't know why I might.

I might have to make some adjustments.

So what happens during the week?

Sometimes I think sometimes I knock or touch the camera

and maybe things change ever so slightly.

So I didn't realise that Steve was looking so small.

Anyway, here he is.

He is back

by popular demand from his parole board.

It is the one they only miss.

Steve.

Hello.

Hello, everyone.

Hello, Mr. Duncan.

Do I look a bit shrunken today?

Looks like it looks like the camera's too far away, though.

I'm going to.

I don't normally do this, but I don't know why you seem so tiny.

It's like.

It's like you are far fetched.

Anyway, I'm going to say hello to our wonderful viewers from across the globe.

Across the universe, the known universe.

Mr. Duncan, here we are once again.

And you, of course, have been here on Wednesday.

I'm with you on Sunday to try and help

people learn a bit of English.

So that's what I am.

I'm your sidekick, your assistant,

your partner in crime, whatever you want to call me.

And I love to read the live chat, of course.

So I will be looking carefully at the live chat

for any questions that people want answered, any comments and so for people

that haven't been on this live stream before, they will know what to expect.

I think that looks better now.

You look better, do a bit bigger.

You look a bit larger now. good.

I don't know what was going on there.

I might have to I might have to do it again in a second. So.

So let's join together on the screen

right now.

It's so romantic.

Yes. You look small again.

Let me just see if I can work out why this is the case.

It's very strange.

maybe I've.

Maybe I've shrunk in the week. Mr. Doom? Yes.

Have you been washing your self again too often?

Maybe. I haven't been eating enough protein.

Hello, Idris.

L l a madeley a Sorry

if I pronounce your name incorrectly, but I noticed a comment earlier.

Who's in Morocco, which sounds very exotic to us

when we talk about Morocco In the UK, it sounds like a very exotic place

for British people to visit, and I'm sure it is.

But he made a comment earlier about having followed your live streams

for a long time and and particularly started

using the like and dislike video.

Yeah, I did a video all about that particular subject,

liking things and disliking things as well.

I think somebody I think the moderators need to act fast.

I don't know who that is.

They don't seem to like me if you notice that.

So yeah, I don't mind.

It doesn't bother me too much.

I, I've been doing this for 17 years and if there is one thing

I've learnt over the years, it's sometimes people might not like you very much.

That's true.

You can't please everybody, can you, Mr. Duncan?

And while we don't mind, you know, we don't mind

a bit of hate to the.

Steve, Steve, don't.

Don't ask people to hate us.

So I don't want to be loved by everybody.

No, but you know, you never encourage people to hate you

don't ever say, well, I don't mind being hated. TV.

You know what I like?

I like being punched in the face as well.

If you want to sit, don't encourage people to do that.

I, I wouldn't rather that happened if I was honest with you.

Anyway, he doesn't like me.

I get the feeling he might not like me.

I also have a feeling I know who it is.

The blue city of Morocco.

I won't even attempt to pronounce that, but it sounds very exotic.

And maybe one day we'll be able to visit him.

But there you go.

So what are we talking about today, Mr. Duncan?

God, I hate it when you say that,

but I've already told you about some of the things we're talking about.

But you weren't watching your say, so I'm going to tell you

I was in the garden working hard, Mr. Duncan.

Anyway, no one cares about that.

I was just telling viewers what we're doing today,

which is what I'm going to tell you now.

Here we go.

We're talking about big subjects.

Apparently the world

is going to end.

did you see that?

my goodness.

What was that? What was that? Mr. Duncan?

I think it may have been something heading towards the Earth.

Did you see that? No, No.

my God. There it is. dear.

Mr. Duncan.

What was that? Mr.

Duncan, I'm scared. I'm scared.

What's going to happen? Are you scared? Are you?

Don't be scared, Mr.

Steve. It's only on the Internet.

It's not real.

But apparently a lot of people believe

that tomorrow the world is going to come to an end.

So if you made any plans for tomorrow, I would.

I would just stay in bed because apparently the world

is coming to an end tomorrow.

There is an eclipse taking place.

I'm sure you've heard about it.

I have.

I don't think we can see it here, can we, Mr. Duncan?

No, not here.

It's over the United States.

And of course, as you know, everyone in the US is slightly crazy.

And a lot of people now think that tomorrow

something bad is going to happen because there is a a solar eclipse.

So the sun will vanish for a few moments and then come back.

And apparently during that time, something really horrible is going to happen.

According people on Twitter.

And yes, I do call it Twitter because that's what it's called.

You see, it's called Twitter, as far as I'm concerned, Twitter

is Twitter, not X, it's Twitter.

So I will still call it Twitter, even though it isn't anymore.

So there are some crazy people now on Twitter.

Let's face it, most people on Twitter off are completely crazy.

I nearly saw them.

I think they said something naughty, though.

Wouldn't that be amazing?

You wouldn't be the first today.

And apparently, apparently the world is coming to an end.

So do you have any plans for tomorrow, Mr. Steve?

As as the end of the world comes, I'm working tomorrow.

So yes, if if my

time comes, I shall be out on the road seeing customers.

But apparently it's going to be everyone's time.

That's what I mean. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.

Yes. The moon is coming between the earth and the sun.

Yeah.

And it's going to completely block out the sun in America.

And is it certain latitude? Latitude?

Or is it just in the back? Well, it always is.

So the eclipse is not always fully visible in every part of the world.

It just depends where you are at that certain time so that the path,

the path of the eclipse will go over the United States.

And of course, everyone at the moment is coming up with their own

conspiracy theories, as they often do on the Internet.

You know, my feelings about the Internet, it's a wonderful thing.

But also it's full of crazy people as well.

So a lot of people do believe that tomorrow the world is coming to an end.

It isn't, by the way, I think this time next week

we will still be here talking to you about the English language

and getting excited about all sorts of things.

Idris says the end of times.

Now, of course, I think in many religions, Steve,

we have we have this this premonition

or this this sort of looking forward in time

and saying that one day the Earth will come

to an end in some dramatic way.

But apparently it's happening tomorrow.

I don't know what time exactly.

It's just an eclipse.

There's an eclipse somewhere every week, somewhere around the world, isn't there?

Apparently.

But not a full eclipse.

To get a full eclipse is quite is quite rare.

Yes. In fact, I don't think we to be last.

We've never had one in the UK.

I don't remember ever having a full eclipse.

I filmed one once.

Did you?

When I filmed one, was that a partial eclipse?

I think it was a partial eclipse.

Not full, but it is weird when it happens because everything it all goes dark.

It's like.

It's like night time.

Orion is for a few moments.

And I always remember when it happened here

because all the streetlights came on outside.

It was very weird.

And then when the sun returned, of course, the streetlights went off.

But it was very strange indeed.

So tomorrow, the end of the world.

Even though over the years now I remember Steve growing up, they used to be

all people walking around with with signs saying that the end is near.

Like like that guy there on the screen, you see.

So he is telling us all that the end is near.

I don't think it is, though.

I think we'll be alright.

That's alright.

We'll be okay.

Don't worry about it. Alexandra.

Alison, Sandra asks, How do you pronounce that word?

It's Greenwich.

Greenwich?

Yeah, it looks like green.

Which.

It's a place near London, isn't it?

It is the place where.

Where the meridian crosses.

That's it from yesterday to today.

So that that transition from one day to the next.

The meridian line runs right through

Greenwich Zero Longitude.

Greenwich Mean Time.

Yes.

So, yeah, it's pronounced Greenwich. Yeah.

And you can say it as well, Mr. Duncan.

Well, at the moment we have British Summertime

and then there is Greenwich Mean Time.

But it's interesting how that particular part of the world that that little spot

in London is the place where today and tomorrow occur.

Isn't it weird?

Yes, it's strange because that word there,

you you don't pronounce the two E's.

You only

pronounce one day and you the W is silent.

What are you talking about? Greenwich.

I see.

So it's really the phonetic way would be g r e n

i c h Greenwich.

Yeah.

It's not green.

It looks like it's green. Which, Yeah, it's.

But of course it isn't.

It's just one of those funny things.

There's no rules there.

You just have to know it.

There's no, there's no English rule I don't think, is there Mr.

Duncan.

It's, it's like Lester

the town Lester

that, that is also spelt in a very strange way, but.

But you don't pronounce it, so at least, Sister, it looks like.

Or life sister But in fact it's Lester.

So there are many places in the UK

that that are pronounced differently

to how they're written and it can be very

confusing.

Suffolk is another one.

Suffolk, a District of London as well.

And quite often people

will say such walk, so walk

because that is how it's spelt,

but it's not pronounced like that Suffolk.

So yes, it can be confusing.

It can be very, very, very confusing.

We had a very interesting week, didn't we, Steve,

because we went for a lovely walk.

Yes, it was an eventful walk. Yes.

But we had a nice walk and then the following day

we had a walk somewhere else and I had a little accident.

I managed Don't ask me how because it's a long story,

but I managed to fall into a stream.

I fell.

And the reason why I fell is because when we went to this particular place,

it was very windy and there were lots of people there, weren't there?

Steve

Yes, there were lots of people there.

And of course, don't forget you've hurt your back.

It's still very painful and yes, I wasn't there.

I had Mr.

Duncan was filming at some point, not at that particular moment.

And I walked off ahead because I was bored

and I walked ahead to that.

And then I thought, Where is Mr. Duncan?

Where is Mr. Duncan?

He's been a long time.

He can't have been filming for this long.

So I looked back and there I could see this figure

staggering, literally staggering towards me.

About a hundred yards away, 100 metres away.

Well, you made it.

Well, you know, it's a hundred metres.

I was not. No, not 100 metres. Yeah.

Anyway.

Yes, yeah. About a hundred metres away and

looking very forlorn.

Forlorn.

There's a good word for you.

Is there a short version of this. A forlorn.

If somebody is forlorn, they look

upset visibly, physically they look upset.

And I ran towards Mr.

Duncan.

Ran. I know that you're right.

I walked at a fast pace.

You just walked towards me and asked me what was wrong.

And you said you that you just fallen over into a stream.

I fell into the stream because it was windy.

And as I was walking along, there was a woman with a baby and she was

she was carrying some of its clothes.

One item of clothing was a small coat.

So imagine a small coat for a baby and it was windy.

And the wind.

This is so strange how it happened.

The wind caught the coat

and it flew towards me.

It gave me a surprise.

I tried to catch it because it was coming towards me.

So it was just the reaction.

And I stepped back and I stumbled

and then I fell into the stream.

There was a very deep edge that went into the stream.

And when I talk about stream, I mean flowing river or a flowing,

flowing water.

So not not this stream that you're watching now, a very different story.

But I fell in and I hurt slightly.

Not too bad.

I was a bit worried though, because my back is still bad,

but I didn't injure my back.

If anything, I think I may have repaired it slightly.

And this woman came over and she was say, are you are you okay down there?

Are you all right? And she helped me out.

It was very windy. So when I found Mr.

Duncan, he'd injured his hand

and he was wet all on one side.

So, yes,

Thank you.

V tests.

Okay. Okay, Steve, stay with us.

So you were.

You were. Yes, you were.

But luckily no injuries.

No, you hadn't been injured.

You could have broken your hand.

You scratched your ring.

yes. I have to say, it was very painful.

you mean this ring? Yes.

I got a little scratch now on my ring where I caught it on the rocks as I fell.

So it wasn't very nice.

Anyway, I fell into the stream.

I got wet, one of my legs was wet, and I had to walk along.

Mr. Steve was.

Was He just walked off and left me.

So there I was, lying in the stream, getting wet,

slightly injured, and Steve was just.

Just walking off. He was just walking.

He he didn't even notice any of that happened.

So it was rather a strange situation, to say the least.

Anyway, I'm all right. You survived.

I know.

Bones broken, nothing bruised.

All I have is a scratched ring, so my ring is a little bit scratched.

Thank you again.

The tests.

We all know why.

And we all have.

We run out without going on.

But thank you very much, Steve. That's good.

Whatever you want to about.

I don't know what you're talking about, by the way.

Well, you can read it later and find out.

Okay, then. That's great.

This is good for this current moment.

Anyway, today, Steve, we are looking at up and down words,

phrases that can be used to describe up and down.

And there are many idioms, many phrases, many express ones

that can be used in English.

Now, we were talking earlier about celebrities

who give messages to people, send messages.

Have you seen these sites, Steve?

The one of them is called Cameo.

And apparently there are celebrities film stars and they will give

or they will record a message, especially for you.

But all you have to do is pay them.

And apparently some of these

messages are so expensive, maybe hundreds of dollars.

If the person is very famous, then you have to pay a lot of money.

And I was thinking maybe we could get in on that action somehow.

Maybe we could go into cameo and we could

we could give our own personal messages

to people if it's their birthday, for example.

So maybe you could do it for some people and maybe I could do it for others.

Of course mine would be more expensive.

Of course,

you know,

probably the same price as Jean-Claude

Van Damme or Steven Seagal, something like that.

That sort level of fame.

Maybe we can impersonate somebody famous

and then pretend that

we're somebody famous and then, you know, offer to give messages anyway.

Yes. No, I don't think we'll be on there.

Mr. Juncker, we're not famous enough.

Well, we might be.

That said, you said we might be.

We might not even realise it.

There might be a whole thing that we've not discovered yet

that we could be a part of who Who knows?

Who knows?

I mean, we have merchandise now.

Look at that.

Do you like that, Mr. Steve? Do you like my big mug?

That looks beautiful, Mr.

Duncan. It is.

I bet you wish you had one of those, Steve.

I do, actually.

Have you got anything interesting in that mug, Mr.

Duncan, I.

You drinking anything interesting?

Anything alcoholic?

No, it's water. It's just water.

Just water to keep my poor dry throat

going for as long as possible.

Thank you very much for joining us today.

By the way, I never say it's enough that you are giving some of your time

to listen to us chatting away,

Idris says We're famous in Morocco.

and talking of Morocco

guess who's going to Morocco in June?

I don't know.

well, yes, we have.

We have a fan who is off to,

to that country that I just mentioned

in June.

The country you just mentioned.

Which country is that?

The live stream is going a bit weird at the moment.

right.

Well, Francesca, he's visiting Romania

in June, as I said, Morocco there.

I'm getting all mixed up, Mr. Duncan.

I'm getting all mixed up.

Maybe my blood sugar has gone low.

Yes, that's it. Yes, exactly.

So forget everything I said.

Delete the last 30 seconds and start again.

I think I might delete delete the past half an hour,

but Francesca is going to Morocco.

So in June.

When are you going in June?

Because, you know, we've got plans in June.

Please let us know when you're going to June.

And Steve, we don't have any plans in June,

but maybe we should start thinking about having some plans in June or else

we won't be able to make any plans in June because everywhere will be full.

When are you going, Francesca?

Let us know because we might have to plan things around you.

Apparently there's somebody

on Facebook pretending to be me.

Well, you must be famous then.

If someone's pretending to be you.

Why, though?

Why anyone pretend to be me?

Catarina says, Can we find your mug on Amazon?

Not yet.

It isn't available on Amazon.

In fact, this mug is not available anywhere yet,

but it will soon be available on my YouTube channel.

There will be a little shop underneath

my videos and you will be able to get your own Mr.

Duncan mug.

And of course, Steve, not only that, but also you will be able

to have your own English addict t shirt and I am.

I'm hoping Mr.

Steve will buy one as well.

So we can we can both have You would hope I get a free run, wouldn't it?

Working. Working for you for free.

no, I don't get paid for this.

You have to pay for it like everyone else. Great.

Another interesting thing we're talking about

today, in a few moments is dating.

And I remember growing up, Steve, a lot of people used to.

I suppose if you're looking for a relation ship or if you're looking for love,

I suppose there are many ways of doing it, aren't there?

I suppose there are many ways of doing it.

You can maybe you meet someone by chance,

maybe in the office or the workplace.

You might meet someone and then fall in love.

But of course it's not easy to do.

It's not easy to to find a person to spend your whole life with,

because sometimes people can be a little bit

weird and strange or horrible.

Yeah. So lonely.

Are you looking for somebody special in your life?

And your parents aren't going to provide anybody for you.

You've got to do it yourself. Because.

Because in some cultures, parents will well, well, find somebody for you.

Maybe you'll love them, maybe you won't.

But if you are looking for somebody, Yes.

What do you do in your country?

What do we do in this country?

Yes. We're going to talk about that, Mr. Duncan.

But it is strange that these days, the ways

in which people find their partner

or look for love has changed from when we were younger

because people used to put advertisements in the newspapers, didn't they?

So, man mid-forties,

searching for love with younger woman,

for mutual

interests, something like that.

And sometimes they might put their interests underneath.

Maybe they like walking or movies or anything,

really anything that the other person might have in common.

So sometimes when two people have something in common,

it means they have things that they can share together.

But sometimes I think, Steve, sometimes it can be a bad thing

if two people are very similar.

I don't think relationships can actually survive.

If two people are very similar to each other.

What do you think?

Yes, they often say opposites

attract is a phrase that you hear, don't you?

Opposites attract because I think I wouldn't like to to

be in a relationship with somebody that was like me.

Maybe if I was the sort of person that was in love

with myself, which I'm not.

And I've known people that are like that

very narcissist think they're in love with themselves.

You can always tell these people because when you go and visit them

in their homes, they've got pictures of themselves everywhere

and it's a little unnerving and they're always looking at themselves

in the mirror.

Yes, Maybe those sort of people will find it hard to find anybody

because they basically want to marry themselves

because they're in love with themselves.

But for everybody else, then, yeah, I think I think in a relationship

you want somebody that compliments your abilities

you don't want somebody with because nobody has.

Or very few people

are good at everything and really good relationship.

The ones that really work well are ones that complement each other.

So one partner has certain abilities and the other partner

has abilities that the other one doesn't have and vice versa.

So they can work as a team and they can be very successful

in that relationship and in what they do in their lives.

I think that is

the ideal partnership where two people have

a lot of separate talents and abilities

and they come together and they use those and find a way

of using them to make the relationship and their lives successful. Yes.

So you're talking about two people who who complement each other.

They sort of go together.

They go together because, you know, if you go have a relationship with

somebody who has all the same abilities and attributes as you, well,

that might be difficult to

for that relationship to move forward

and to be successful.

Because you see, you always say you always hate this other phrase, don't you?

For every successful man there is a successful there is a

there is a wonderful or a successful wife, forgotten the exact phrase.

Now, okay, behind every successful man is a woman or something like that.

Yeah, they would say that. Yes, that's it.

I think the idea is if you have two people who are very similar,

they will always clash because they want exactly the same things.

And sometimes it is better if there is a slight variation

and then and then those two things will go together

easier.

They will get along or they will

they will enjoy each other's company.

They complement each other.

Yes, you can share interests,

but you can't be exactly the same.

I don't think it can actually work.

No, to be honest, I don't think there's a relationship.

It depends. Every relationship is different.

And we we've got

different abilities and different things that we can do.

I mean, with this life,

you know, it just I think that's what sustains a relationship.

I mean, quite often people will meet initially

based on maybe physical attraction, but if that relationship

is to last a long time, there's got to be more to it than that,

because otherwise,

I mean, I often say that the good relationships, the people are

friends, aren't they?

That they are best friends.

The wonderful word that I love or the phrase that I love

is, is soul mate.

Your soul mate.

So rather than the the physical attraction,

maybe, maybe what lies beneath

in the person's character

and I know it's a bit of a cliche and lots of people talk about this

all the time when they're looking for love.

So you were looking for your soul mate.

But I think that is a real thing.

I do believe that there is such a thing as a soul mate,

a person who you just

get along with.

So it might be a good friend.

So I would say that a good friend can also be your soul mate, just a person.

You get along with.

Yes, but I think eventually, if you fall in love,

that person will also be your soul mate

because you will share things together.

You will tell each other your secrets.

You know, the things that you feel, your inner

thoughts, your fears.

And I think that builds the relationship over time.

As long as you can stand each other

for the first four or five years,

then you might then grow to understand each other.

So it is relationships are quite, quite difficult

to find a good relationship or a loving

relationship might be hard to find.

And of course, as you said, Steve, sometimes they are arranged as well.

So in some cases in some cultures there are arranged relationships as well.

Yeah. Which which can work.

It just it's just different cultures, isn't it?

I mean, they can work very well sometimes because it depends.

You see in, in our sort of Western culture,

love is seen as the is the goal of a relationship.

It's you meet somebody and the idea is that you fall in love

and then everything else of that relationship then will fall out of that.

Yeah, but in other cultures, love isn't the main aim of the relationship.

It's just two people who will get on.

I mean, they may fall in love, but they might not have to.

You don't have to be in love with somebody to have a successful relationship.

And I think it depends on your culture for that.

I think so.

What I was going to say then as well

is, is that the ways in the past ways in the past that people

tried to find the love of their life or a person to have a relationship with.

And also talking of arranged relationships, I was surprised

to find out how common it is in China when I was living there.

So quite often families will arrange the relationship

or the marriage between two people

not forced, but certainly

the family will have a lot of or make a lot of decisions.

But when we are talking about two people having a relationship,

especially if you have a son who isn't dating anyone,

they will often try to find someone for the son.

They will try desperately to find someone

for him to date.

But there are many ways, I suppose in the past we often

think of the The Lonely Hearts column,

or maybe a group of people you could get together with,

and you can talk about your interests and maybe will happen, maybe not.

But of course these days we have the internet.

It is a place where people can can meet

and find love, can find that magic relationship.

And there are many, many apps now there.

Steve So there are we have we have them here, don't we?

Yes, we do.

There's there's lots of

yes, there's I mean, it's always been there's always been dating agencies.

We've watched a carry on film

the other the other week which is probably made in the 1960s.

I mean there were always there's always been organisations around

that will help people find love because that's essentially what

in most cultures, what people

don't know about most culture has been in a lot of cultures.

People are are looking for love

and although as I've said, it's

not necessarily a requirement for a successful relationship

at all, but it's that's generally in the western world

of a lot of countries, that's what we we look for.

I'm talking about nowadays what we do.

So here we have dating apps applications on your phone, you put your details in

and hopefully the other person or someone will find you and go,

well I quite like the look of of him.

He only Yeah.

who is not very old either.

Is not is not, is not 90.

That's good.

That's always a good a good sign.

But does he have a car.

he does. He has a car.

well there you go.

Quite often. Yes.

And that is

a I was asking about what is an arranged marriage.

What we mean by an arranged marriage is that

usually the parents

of the two people that come,

you know, the parents have got son or daughter and they might know

other parents and they arrange

for the two people to meet.

And if they get on, they may get married.

And that is common in a lot of cultures.

And it works

or has worked for hundreds or thousands of years.

I don't know all the details, but often that and quite often

a dowry is given, isn't it? Mr.

Duncan Yes.

So sums of money are exchanged.

Well, I think that between the families, yes, that

that's that's something that does definitely happen.

And in some cultures with

with some sort of arrangement, it's almost almost in some some cultures,

I think it's almost a business arrangement.

It's very similar to what used to happen with royalty as well.

With royalty, quite often the son or daughter would

it would be arranged for two

children, not not related, of course,

but but from different countries to actually get married later in life.

Even if there were children.

Sometimes it was arranged that those those children,

as they grew up, would eventually marry each other.

And it was a form of bonding or bringing countries together.

And it was it was a very strange time when that used to happen.

But it does happen.

And sometimes love can just arrive on your doorstep

as if by magic is if as if it's somehow faked as well.

Yes. And Christina says, I married the person I chose and it went wrong.

So arranged or not, you never know.

That's true.

You just it. Yeah. If.

Yeah, that said it depends.

Yeah.

You find somebody yourself and I mean the divorce

rate is, is very high in this country

as it is in a lot of countries where you are allowed to get divorced.

I think it's something like I can't remember how many marriages survived.

I don't think even half of them survive now.

Well, I don't know what the figures are. No.

So that's obvious.

But I think it's it might even be

more than half marriages don't survive.

Okay.

And of course, it's very expensive to get married.

So if you are expecting certain things from your partner

when you get married and those things don't happen,

that partner doesn't turn out to be that way, then,

you know,

you might get divorced because people get divorced for all sorts of reasons.

We're not really talking about divorce, but no.

Yeah, it's and you spoke about dating apps.

Yeah, people use dating apps quite commonly.

And but those apps, they're not necessarily always for just

a long term relationship.

Of course, a lot of those apps are typically designed well just for maybe

meeting for one night and having having a night of passion or something like that.

So so dating apps and that is really what I was trying

to get to the point of about 5 minutes ago.

These days, there are many ways of meeting people

very quickly and certain types of dating app.

We often think here in this country

I suppose the most popular one here in this country is one called Tinder,

and that is

where you can literally go through hundreds and hundreds of people.

So I've heard.

So I've heard.

I hope you've just heard Mr. Duncan.

People have told me this.

I don't know from experience, but apparently you can just go through

and I think you swipe

you swipe right if you like them.

And I think you swipe left.

If you don't, I'm not sure how it works because I've never used it.

You see, I don't need to know about a lot about swiping left and right,

but I don't know which you've which though I don't know if,

if swiping left is rejecting or swiping right, I'm

not going to even know anything about that. Mr.

Lane Well, I don't either, but you know about the swiping bit.

Well, everyone swipes.

Some people spend all day swiping on their computer.

Sometimes people swipe their partners don't like.

Yeah, Christina says makes a point.

Hey, the kings and queens would often marry by arrangement.

Yes, of course they would. Yes, they would.

Because

sometimes it's more about

just the individuals.

It's about the families.

Yes. The priority is is the family. Yes.

And in those situations with royalty, it was often the bloodline as well.

So the bloodline, you can go in a certain direction.

And I think it did happen in the past where people who were

I wouldn't say they were closely related,

but they were certainly related in certain ways,

would actually get married in royal circles or royal situation.

And that's the reason why some some members of the royal family,

maybe in this country, I'm not sure why they look a bit strange.

So, yeah, you see, left is rejection, I think according to Christina.

So left that way is rejection.

And if you go that way, it means, Ooh,

Well, we'd like to know more about your experiences.

Christina Yeah, because it's a very, it's a very

sort of new concept of involvement in you.

But I mean, I've got lots of friends.

And Nick Trump says, Well, of course you wouldn't know anything about Tinder.

What about the other one?

I think I know which one you're talking about.

I know what you're too. Are you talking about Grinder?

I think you probably are if you you know what?

I'm. I could get very offended by that.

I could get very offended and walk out of the studio

and go somewhere and have a cry.

But I'm not going to. But I know what you mean, though. Yes.

Yes, there are.

There are there are dating apps for everyone.

Yes, whatever.

But, you know, everybody seems to be going on these.

I mean, even MVP's.

I mean, you might have read in the news this week that

I think at least two MPs

have been Well, they were they were sort of okay.

You know, it's just one was just what is it?

Just one?

One MP was going on to a certain website and you know what happens?

You get very carried away.

Sometimes you get very excited because you think the other person likes you and.

Then you start doing things that you probably shouldn't,

like sending photographs of yourself.

So sometimes in, in certain positions

and, and then that person realises that you are well known,

or maybe you are a member of parliament and then they, they try to blackmail you.

So this one man decides to do that,

and then the other person decided to start blackmailing him with information

about other members of Parliament in this country.

So this has been a big scandal, hasn't it, this, this week?

Yes, it's been on the news

and MPs are getting themselves into trouble, one in particular.

But of course, we're all human.

At the end of the day.

And it was they were sort of what I mean, what people do in their private lives

is their own affair, really, isn't it, As long as it doesn't interfere

if that if people are public figures like MP is,

you know what people are doing that

as long as it's not affecting their job and their judgement.

Yes, but of course we love a sex scandal in this country. Yes.

And any sort of scandal, especially if it's it even involves

sort of something a little ooh, a little a little naughty maybe, But of course,

there is a serious side to that as well,

because it's about security.

And this is why I remember I remember watching a very interesting documentary

about the the Cold War and when spies were tempted.

But by maybe a beautiful woman

or a sexy lady and they would call that a honey trap,

which I always thought was was a great yes, a honey.

That's a good expression, a great expression.

So something that is attractive and it's almost like it's

almost like imagine flies or bees

as bees going around a pot of honey.

It's that same sort of thing, something attractive.

But of course, it can work both ways.

Maybe a man could be attracted to a woman

and she could then blackmail him.

Of course, a man could also be attracted to a man,

and he would would have even more power over that person.

Because not only is he having a secret relationship, he's having a relationship

with someone of the same gender, which is still

something that people like to talk about,

because it was interesting that

they were very keen to point out,

and there's this MP is gay

and he was honey

trapped, as we described on this

dating app called Grinder, but which, by the way.

No I haven't a Francesca, I haven't ever used a dating app.

I met Mr.

Duncan, the old fashioned way at sex face to face

in a sweaty room

in a nightclub.

But yeah, but what was I talking about?

Yes, but they are the press.

Instead of just saying it was a dating app,

they have to describe it as a gay dating app.

Well, that adds to the story.

So because that makes it makes it

seem more dirty somehow.

well, it's.

It's more.

It's more provocative. It's more provocative.

So in a way, it's it's actually a bit offensive

and a bit discriminatory because they wouldn't have said

if it would have been a straight man, heterosexual, anyone,

they wouldn't

have said that he'd been on a straight dating site.

They would have just said he'd been on a dating site.

Yeah, but because he's gay, they have to add this.

A gay dating site.

Yeah. And, yeah, there's no need to do that.

It's done deliberately to make people think that somehow

he's more,

you know, that somehow

that MP That must be because it's a gay dating app. Yes.

The implication is that he's somehow more immoral.

That's it then if if he was a straight person going on a date

and let's face it, that's the impression that gets Steve Let's face it,

everyone is interested in those sorts of stories.

Everyone even.

Yes, even even a little old lady sitting at home doing her knitting.

Even she will be interested in that sort of story.

Because it is it is it it's scandal.

People like scandals, They they love it very, very much.

I mean, our perception of Europe, this is our perception.

The reception we get and don't know how true it is

that if if it was a French

MP or an Italian MP,

somehow people don't seem to be so concerned.

The general population don't seem to be as concerned

or as interested as we are

if their politicians are involved or having affairs or getting ever.

I don't know how true that is. Please tell us. So.

You know, I think I think you'll find it's just as bad.

Yes, but yes, but I mean, over in

England, it literally it can end careers.

I mean, but I mean, it is having affairs.

We're kind of drifting away from all of the point of this

is the fact that it isn't it isn't him that's causing the scandal.

The scandal is other people

are being contacted anonymously because that one guy

gave them all of this information about other members of parliament.

So the real story is the fact that lots of people now are being

well it's it's a it's all about safety, isn't it?

In security, you have to be very careful these days

if you are a prominent politician

or a well-known person or a public figure,

then you have to be careful because there are a lot of

crazy people out there, a lot of crazy people,

particularly about events that are going on at the moment.

And safety, of course, even even for us,

even for the average person

who is a nobody like us.

I mean, you have to be very careful who you are meeting.

If you are meeting a person, you don't you don't tell them where you live

and invite them around you.

You meet somewhere else because because you have to make sure you're safe.

So this is the problem.

Dating apps are a great idea and.

I do believe they can work.

But also you have to be careful what you do when you are on them

because you might get into all sorts of trouble.

I think so,

yes. So, yes, I have.

We as I said, we don't really have any experience of dating apps.

We were very lucky.

I mean, I mean, they worked really well.

You didn't have mobile phones when we first met,

but as I said earlier, it was in the newspapers.

Yes, newspapers.

you would just meet somebody at work

or you would just, maybe

you had a hobby and you were in a club and you met somebody that way.

Yeah. Or you went, I'm talking to if you're looking.

No, but I'm on about if you're looking for love.

Not not fate or chance, I suppose.

I think if you are looking for love and there were many ways.

Lonely Hearts club.

So people would go along to a certain where lots of people were looking for love

and maybe they will find the right person there.

But it is interesting, isn't it?

And of course it all came us.

It all came after we met. Yes.

We weren't smartphone.

I mean, I you know, it would be interesting to know if people us today

use dating apps and and have found

the love of their life in a dating app.

I have we got any nice happy stories of people meeting meeting

the love of their life I would say dating app I would say that it's rare Steve

I think it might be rare because of the transient nature.

That's a good word, by the way.

Transient if something is transit end, it means it's fleeting.

It comes and it goes, as it were.

I probably could have

used a better phrase to describe that person that you carry.

It's out there now.

Yes. Patrick.

Hello, Patrick.

Yeah, there used to be computers

that would yes,

it would be dating agencies where they had computers

and they would you put all your details in and then there'd be all the audio.

You know what you liked doing,

what sort of person

you were looking for, and the computer would, would match people together.

And the agency would say, Well, we've gone through all our list of people

and this person has come up as somebody you might like to meet.

Yes, it was literally called computer dating, but

but you were not on the computer doing it.

It was just your details.

There were there were many ways.

But these days, I think maybe maybe it's

too easy to meet other people these days.

Steve.

Maybe all of the fun has gone out of dating or trying to find someone.

Maybe that's one of the bad sides.

But one of the bad things about, it is the fact that maybe it's

too easy to find another person, perhaps.

So it's it's certainly, I think, very, very

if you just want casual sex, it's very easy to meet somebody.

so I've heard I mean, I've got I've got friends

that, you know, do, do.

Okay.

One friend at the moment who's always on a

call is a dating app, but it's just a, you know.

Yes. Anyway, Steve,

this person is probably watching and they're probably going to come round.

I mean, I'm not saying who they are.

I think. I guess

because there are risks associated with that.

Of course you might end up at a genital urinary clinic fairly quickly.

Well, but the thing is, I mean dating apps

now are being used by people of all ages.

We imagine

that dating apps are just being used by young people, but they're not.

Now it's the opposite.

They're being used very much by maybe people who have been

in a relationship with a long time and now they've got divorced

and then they want to find somebody new.

So I think I would I would say that

most people that are using dating apps or those apps are over

a certain age, maybe over 30 or over 35 plus

because young people don't need to try and find someone on a dating app

because you're young, you're you're virile

or you're vibrant, you are attractive.

So I think there's less need

or less necessity to that.

But certainly as you get older and you start to look like this, you see,

if I was single now, Steve, no one would want this.

I would have to go on a dating app unless of course, you've got

lots of money, in which case people would be interested.

That's a whole different story.

A whole different story altogether.

But I think it's an interesting topic anyway.

Yes, Mr.

Steve, we are talking about something else in a moment.

So are we.

Yes, we have today's subject.

Well, I think I've told you already.

Well, it's connected to up and down.

There are many we will go through them very quickly in a few moments.

And there are many ways of describing up and down.

You might say also that in life, well,

maybe there are lots of ups and downs that we can experience as well.

So I suppose we can look at those things

and we will look at the ways in which

up and down can be used used

here.

There he was, Mr.

Steve doing his lovely low.

It is an interesting day today.

We've had a lot of wind over the past 24 hours and it has nothing to do with Mr.

Steve's stomach.

I can safely say.

By the way, Mr.

Steve is here for those who are worried.

Yes, he is still with us in the studio

as we talk about another subject connected to the English language,

because that is the reason why we are here.

When you think about it, Steve,

I hear to talk about the English language with myself, Mr.

Duncan, and also my lovely special

guest who is Mr.

Owns me

and he is

how lovely.

The live chat, by the way, was was quite busy today.

It was while we were talking about, you know, relationships. So.

Yeah, exactly. Yes.

A nick Trump says what a seamless transition from

from casual sex to ups and downs. Yes.

As it were they

Well, everything has its ups and downs

and sometimes it has its ups down, up, down, up, downs.

by the way, we are talking about that right now.

Look, there it is now on the screen, up, down

words, phrases, ways of looking

at those particular words and phrases as well.

We'll go through these quite quickly because we only have half an hour

before we go. It's incredible.

I can't believe how fast today's live stream has gone, but it has gone fast.

First of all, if we talk about up Mr.

Steve, talk about raise you raise something.

The direction of something is up.

So normally when we raise something.

It only goes in one direction, doesn't it?

It goes upwards.

You raise something, you heighten

something, you erect something.

Also, when we're talking about direction, Steve,

you might go up to someone,

you might go up the road.

So quite often we can use up in more than one way

when we are talking about direction or maybe the position of something

or when something is going upward, it is going up.

Also increase as well.

If something is increasing, it means the quantity

or the amount is going up as well.

Raise upward.

You go up, you increase, you progress.

Now, I think that last one, Steve, is very interesting, the word progress,

because how would that relates to up how how would you see that?

Steve Progress

yes.

If you're progressing in life, it means you, you're,

you're getting better. You might be getting a better job,

you might be going up the ladder of success,

but which is often a phrase that is used.

Yes.

If you are going up that if you're going up in the world.

you're going up in the world.

Might refer to somebody who's just got a shiny new car.

You might you might,

you know, come home in a nice new Mercedes

that is much better than your previous model.

And your neighbour might say, you're going up in the world.

So we often see, well, I'm trying to look at progress of all as a single word.

Progress is often seen as as positive, a positive word,

even though the word itself doesn't seem to be connected to anything positive.

So when we talk about progress or progress,

it means it is moving forward all up.

And of course, the opposite is regress.

If you regress, it means you go backwards, you drop, you fall.

So something that's going the opposite way.

So it is interesting to see that some words that might not appear

to be related to the direction of up are actually used.

I suppose.

Also we need to mention the prepositions of up

the position of something it can be up.

So when we talk about prepositions, we are looking

at the position of something where it actually is

so the word up can also be used as a preposition.

For example, it's up in the loft.

We are showing direction.

We are, we are showing where something is

as an adverb.

Mr. Steve We can say view or view the action.

You climb up, you stand up.

So we are showing that something is happening

and how it is happening visually,

also as an adjective to view something.

Maybe you seeing something, viewing something

as it occurs, maybe

the up elevator, maybe an elevator

that only goes in one direction, it goes up.

So that is what that thing is used for.

An adjective is the quality of something.

Or maybe the train train that goes up town.

Yes. Goes in one place.

That's interesting because up it doesn't necessarily to mean

going up in elevation.

It can it can mean a direction as well.

The direction of travel.

That's not necessarily doesn't mean that the train is going uphill

or the bus is going up the street.

Up the street.

It doesn't necessarily refer

doesn't always refer to the fact that it's literally going,

elevating or the street is on a hill.

It just means a particular direction.

Sometimes it can refer to north as well.

So up can be north because when when you

yes, it's a funny it's

concept sometimes it doesn't necessarily always mean

going upwards

if going up a street, it can mean

the street is going in a particular direction towards town.

For Example Yes.

So if you're going uptown,

it doesn't mean that you're going the town is on a hill.

It just means that you're going towards the town.

So up can sometimes give you an indication of a direction of travel.

Yes, it will.

It can also signify north and south as well.

So the town is north.

So you would go up to town or if you were travelling in a southern

direction, you would go down to the town or down

to a certain part of the country.

Here's another one. Yeah.

So if you live I mean, I have to move on.

Steve I was just going to say sometime we used to say that a lot, you know,

let's, let's go to town, let's go uptown.

Does it mean that the town is on a hill?

It just means you're going in the direction of the town. Yes.

So as an adjective, the view,

maybe an informed person,

a person who is knowledgeable about current events, we can say

that they are up with the trends or up with what is fashionable.

So you can be up as a person who is up to date.

You know what is happening around you.

You are a person who is knowledgeable about current things or current

developments, especially news items and things like that.

We also have some the phrases, Mr.

Steve and you might recognise of these

to be up on your look.

You can be up on your left.

You Yes, or you can be down on you look,

but yes, you could be up when you look.

Yes, yes.

Christina says up north. Yes.

Because if you think of the globe where you are on the globe,

North is is going like you're going up, isn't it.

I mean

it north,

the North Pole from where we are, seems like it is going up.

So that's why that expression is often used.

Obviously it isn't.

It isn't going up that because there's no such thing

really as up or down on a global planetary scale.

But if you if you were to look at a globe,

you've got a globe somewhere, you could see where England is north.

It looks like it looks like you're climbing up to the up to the North Pole.

But of course, in reality you're not.

But it seems like it is.

Well, north is up.

Yes, but it's not really, is it?

Because you're not having

to physically go uphill to get to the North Pole? No.

But the direction in relation to the other thing is, is upward

it's upwards, which of course I don't get was because that's how we

we look at the world.

We think the South Pole is going down to it.

But of course we're not ready because the gravity is holding us all equally own.

But it seems like that just from the point of view of looking at maps and globes.

But if you you know what is up and down in the universe, where is it?

Where is up, really?

I mean, just in relation to where we are, we we think north is up

because that's the only way we can get our bearings.

Yeah, but of course, if you were to think of the solar system

and the and the universe,

there is really no up or down.

A thing is up in the air.

Something that is undecided.

Maybe you haven't come to a decision yet or a conclusion about something.

An undecided thing.

So are you laughing, Mr. Duncan?

Since the kids are seeing something funny?

No, it really isn't.

It isn't anything I've seen.

So says something that's up in the air.

What might that be then?

Can you give me an example, Steve?

it has nothing to do with the globe or the universe.

It's up in the air.

yes.

A decision to, to.

I don't know.

Two companies

are deciding to merge together and somebody says, Is it going to happen?

And the reply might be, it's up in the air.

So it's undecided.

So it's a good expression to use.

It's up in the air.

It is

our, our is Bill and Joan.

Are they going to get married then I it's up in the air.

It's undecided.

Nobody knows. Only they know.

No one knows at the moment.

We're going to have to wait and see.

Is Mr.

Duncan going to get to 2 million subscribers by Christmas?

It's up in the air. No, I already know the answer.

We don't know.

Is Mr.

Duncan going to become a millionaire on YouTube?

and buy me an Audi A8?

No, no, the answer to that is no.

Definitely.

That may not be quite so much up in the air.

well, it is. It is decided.

Nah, we going to go to another country and meet some of our YouTube fans in June.

Yeah.

Which is why I was asking Francesca when she was going.

It's a little up in the air.

Yeah, I think it is.

And in fact, it's very up in the air because we've made no plans whatsoever.

So you might say that a thing that is undecided

is up in the air to look up to someone.

I'm sure in life we all have someone we look up to,

a person we admire and respect.

So maybe there is a person in your life, Steve, or even your life out there

who who you look up to.

Maybe a parent, maybe a relative

or friend or maybe a famous person.

You might look up to that person you admire,

you respect that person.

Who do you look up to? Do?

Look up to Mr.

Duncan as as a as an English teacher.

Hopefully you would

you certainly don't have to look up to me.

But yes, people that you admire, people that you respect, people

that you want to learn from, or maybe people that you want to aspire

to being yourself, you look up to them.

I mean,

typically you you know, you'd probably look up to a doctor, wouldn't you?

You would see a doctor as a very learned person or a professor,

and you would look up to them as somebody to respect somebody

that you wish to be like them. Maybe.

Or if the doctor is a gynaecologist, he might look up to you.

that sounds like a joke.

That that that test might tell

you might be on the up. Mr.

Steve, If You are on the up,

which I'm not, by the way.

I am definitely not on the You're on Mr.

Duncan you are on the up

people want be associated with people who are on the up.

So we have to say that you are because we want people to associate with you Mr.

Duncan even though not he's on the up, she's on the up.

You say that about somebody, it means their life is moving

forward, they're maybe getting promotions at work,

maybe getting a big pay rise, they're going to get a nice position

on the board as a director or something like that.

So one's fortune is growing.

So when we talk about fortune, we don't just mean money.

We mean their their outlook on life.

Maybe things are getting better in their life.

They are slowly improving their situation in life.

One's fortune is you're on the up.

Lots of people like you.

You've done a good job at work, you've got respect

and the bosses want to promote you

and or you people might say, Well, that person's going far as well.

It's similar sort of expression to be on your uppers now.

That's me.

That's definitely me.

If I had to use a phrase that that describes me, that's the one to be on.

Your appears to be in a situation

where are broke or penniless or you don't have much money,

but you are on your uppers.

So imagine someone lying on their back with, their their legs in the air,

or maybe an animal lying on its back with its legs

sticking up.

You are on your uppers, you are flat

broke, you are completely ruined.

You are on your uppers.

It doesn't mean it's necessarily the end.

No, it can mean that it could be temporary.

Yes. Tatiana saying, What's wrong, Mr.

Duncan saying you've got a naughty mind.

I don't know what that was referring to, but never mind to be on Europe is. Yes.

To be broke, penniless.

you're not on the up,

as in the previous expression.

Here's another one, Steve, if you want to maybe run a car.

So is right up your street.

Steve, you have to upkeep that particular thing, the upkeep.

So the upkeep can be how much it costs or how much money

you need to keep something in good repair

or to keep it in a good state or condition.

The cost, the expense, and also the maintenance.

So the upkeep is looking after a particular thing especially.

Well, I suppose cars are a very good example of that, aren't they.

Yes. Upkeep.

it just means just keeping something to date, maintaining it.

yes.

The upkeep of a car, the upkeep of a garden.

yes.

It just refers to, as you say, maintaining something or a house or a house.

upkeep of the house just means that you are keeping it clean,

keeping it tidy, maybe keeping it up to date.

Up to date would be another thing as well.

Yes, I Reverse the things that need regular maintenance. Yes.

And quite often there is some sort of cost involved as well.

So quite often when there is upkeep,

you quite often have to pay for it as well.

Put up with something. this is a good one.

I'm sure Steve has something to say about this particular phrase.

If you put up with something or someone

you tolerate

better or withstand

something, you put up with it.

For example, Mr.

Steve I put up with Mr. Duncan.

No, it's if you put up with someone, if you're referring just

to a person, you put up with them, it means that you, you tolerate them.

They might annoy you in some way,

but you decide to put up with them.

Maybe because you're married to them and you've got no choice.

Or maybe because sometimes they're not always

annoying.

I, I, but that's an expression

that you can use to say that, you know, I've put up with them for two.

You can put up with somebody for too long.

It means you put up with that.

They, you know, they've been badly behaved.

Yeah.

So they've treated you badly for a long time.

I've put up with that person for long enough and I'm leaving them divorced.

It can be something is irritating as well.

You have to put it with something like noise.

Maybe your neighbour has a noisy dog that keeps barking all the time.

Yes, have to. You have to put up with it.

But sometimes you don't want to.

You don't want to put up with it.

You feel if you want to say something. But.

But unfortunately in this world you have to sometimes

put up with things

that are very annoying. Yes.

By the way, Christine is giving you a lovely donation.

Christina, thank you very much for your lovely donation.

A lot of people don't realise that you can leave

a small donation right here on the on the live chat.

I think a lot of people don't even realise.

But you can.

So if you want to help me with this

and of course I will be working twice as hard over the next few weeks

because I have my second channel which will be launched soon.

By the way, for those who think that I will be making a lot of money

out of that second channel, I can tell you now I won't,

because it is not a part in the channel.

It is nothing.

So it has nothing connected to it.

So we will see what happens there.

But Francesca's used that phrase very well.

I put up with my colleagues.

Yes, because you are in a place of work

that you have to work with other colleagues to get your job done

unless you leave.

The only alternative is to leave if you don't like what they do,

the way they behave, the things they say

you have to put up with your colleagues because

they're there.

Yeah, they're there. You all have to work together.

so, yeah, thank you for that.

It's a good use of that word. No,

thank you.

Once again, Christina, for your lovely soup chat.

Thank you very much.

That's very kind.

Here's another one, Steve.

To be a pity.

A person who is a pity is a person who is snobbish,

fussy, fastidious.

that's a good word.

Fastidious Or maybe a stubborn person who won't change their ways

can also be referred to as uppity.

It's a great, great phrase that we all know someone who is like

that, don't we?

We all know a person who is a little bit uppity.

Yeah. Somebody that.

Somebody that thinks they're better than else snobbish person

who maybe they don't necessarily think they're better than everybody else,

but they don't like the way other people behave.

And they might comment about,

did you see the way that

Judy was dressed in that meeting?

what disgrace.

And a hair was a mess.

A lot of people who live around here, Steve, are a little bit uppity,

aren't they?

But yes, they're little snooty snobbish.

Yes, I think exactly.

It is another one to upend

something, to upend something.

This is quite an easy one to explain, to overturn

something has been toppled,

to topple or to tip over.

It has been upended to upend something.

So imagine something being pushed over or maybe something

that has capsized or turned over.

It has upended it.

So I think that's quite a good one.

Here's another one, Steve, and then will we look at some down

phrases to upload something?

we all do this, don't we?

Especially these days We all like to upload

our pictures to the Internet or maybe to our dating site,

but enough about that

to upload something to transfer something out

or send something.

So these days we often think of upload

as transferring something from

your self.

So upload you put something on to the internet

to you, upload something to YouTube for example.

And then of course we have down

to drop lower, reduce, decline,

sink and descend.

We often think of down as a negative word

and I suppose in most cases

it is true, but there are one or two phrases that don't necessarily

relate to negative things,

and then we have the downward direction.

And you mentioned this earlier, didn't you, Steve?

You talked about things going up.

You can have you can have up, but also things can also go down

as well as the opposite, a downward direction

to decrease to fall.

Can you think of any good examples of that?

Steve, of of direct of, of what?

Mr. Duncan Downward direction of falling or dropping as a direction,

something that's falling, going down,

water to fall Salary.

salary. Right. Okay.

Earnings, profit.

So maybe a company might, might see that their profit or their,

their earnings going down something, of course might have both.

Mr. Steve Something has its ups and downs.

If something has its ups and downs, like everything in life,

it can have its good moments and its bad moments.

So I'm sure we can think of both of those things going.

Yes, relationships have their ups and downs.

They have their good moments, their bad moments.

Hopefully life has its ups and downs.

Hopefully it all evens out

and at least is neutral, if not more positive.

Overall, you have to measure ups and downs over a long period of time.

It's like the stock markets the same thing.

The stock market goes up and down, up and down.

But you're hoping that the trend is generally upwards

over a long period of time, measured in probably three years.

And it's the same with a job,

a relationship, and that's when we tend to change things in life.

If there are more downs than ups,

then it's maybe time to change something

because otherwise you're going to get sad and depressed. Yes.

So life is full of and downs.

Learning English is very similar.

If you are learning English, there will be days when things are difficult.

Maybe something that you don't understand, and then other days suddenly

it becomes clear and you feel up again.

So anything in life, any expert orient you are having,

all these things have their ups and downs.

An unstable thing might be up one moment and then down the next.

And you just mention that Steve Stocks shares in a company

one day it's going up, the next day it's going down.

Or maybe it is just staying level.

So all of these things, especially unpredictable

things, can have their ups and downs.

And let's face it, when you think about life,

nothing is

more unpredictable than than that.

Here we go.

We have some phrases very quickly before we go

to be down on your luck

and I think this is one you mentioned earlier, Steve.

So if you can be up,

things can be going up, but of course things can be going down as well.

You can be down on your luck suffering

a streak of misfortune.

Have you noticed that that sometimes in life

things seem to go well and then suddenly things

just seem to go wrong for quite a long period of time.

You can have lots of misfortune.

So you might find yourself down on your luck. Yes.

The assumption is that

the inference from that phrase

is that you're getting through life on luck.

Of course,

most people get through life not unlucky, but on their own, on hard work.

And that, of course, you need a little bit of luck,

or the phrase is often said of what they used to say to me at work

when I first started in sales is as you make your own luck.

In other words, you make your own opportunities by working hard

and by constantly doing what you're supposed to do.

Yes, you will get lucky eventually.

But yes, if you're down on your luck, it means that

you're not doing so well at the moment.

But the implication is that things will get better if you keep going

because you got the other phrase people often use is two steps forward,

one step back, because you can't always be going up and successful all the time.

Everything you try can't always be successful.

Yeah, but you've got to try lots

of different things for to make progress.

If you never try anything, then nothing's ever going to work.

Here's another one to be down in the dumps to feel sad or depressed so.

Maybe if you are having a bad time in your life,

maybe something is going wrong.

You might also feel down in the dumps.

Yes, you might wake up in the morning.

I feel down in the dumps.

yeah.

You just feeling a bit sorry for yourself?

Maybe a bit sad a bit depressed.

Might be.

People use the word depressed a lot, but of course, that's a medical term,

which is very different to just

being in a low mood.

Yeah, there's another one we've got.

We've only got about 4 minutes to be down and out.

If you are down and out, it means you are homeless.

You have nowhere to live, nowhere to lie down at night to call your own.

You are homeless.

You are just astute, which is a great word.

It's not a great thing to be,

but it is an interesting word.

So if you are down and out, you are homeless,

destitute, like a tramp may be down and out.

You've lost a job, your relationship is broken up.

Lots of bad things have happened to you.

You've literally got nothing.

Your relationships

ended, you've lost your job, you've lost your home.

You're down and out.

Yes, out on the streets.

Lewis is off Lewis's.

He's got an up afternoon.

He's got some friends that have come round.

So have you.

Have a nice time with your friends, Lewis

Christian It's as I sometimes feel down in the dumps.

That's a good expression. Yeah, it is.

It's one that we, we tend to use quite a lot

if you're feeling kind of low mood.

Here's another one.

If your earnings are down,

it means you are making less money In business.

Quite often we will use up and down if you are making money

or having a profit, or if your profit or your earnings are dropping,

they are going down, you are making less money.

Here's another one.

So a lot of a lot of these particular sentences do seem to relate

to mood quite often negative moods.

So if you are on a downer,

it means your mood is in a negative phase.

You are feeling more and more gloomy, or maybe you are feeling

a sense of hopelessness.

Maybe, maybe you are becoming a little bit more gloomy,

a bit like being down in the dumps in a way.

Yeah, it's interesting how that's very similar.

I'm a downer.

It's just I mean, it can

of course refer to coming off drugs, but we don't mean that in that respect.

Hey, you do something on the down low

this, this has this.

I was surprised to find out that this can mean something very interesting,

which I'm not even going to mention because it might get us taken off.

Do something on the down low means a thing that is done in secret

without other people knowing and that's all I'm saying about that.

That's probably more an American phrase, isn't it?

We don't tend to use it in this country.

I don't think

so much.

But yes, to do something on the down low, it means something else.

But I can't say what it is.

If I did, then

I think it would be, well, not good it wouldn't

end well, let's put it that way to put someone down.

Human beings often do this in social situations, don't they, Steve?

Yeah, One person will put another person down.

Yes, don't put me down.

Somebody might say if if you have been criticising them over

something their work may be maybe their work isn't good enough and your,

your manager who's not a very nice person is, is telling you that

you didn't do that very well or nit picking or criticising,

you have a small insignificant things which really don't matter.

But this is, well, this is more generally yes.

So this is not specific, this is genuinely criticising someone

or you put someone down, especially when that person is not around.

We all do it.

We all talk behind another person's back.

When they're not around, you put them down.

You say critical things about that person or of course

you criticise them directly to their face.

It it can happen.

It is a good one from Valentine,

which is related that too to let someone down.

To let someone down.

If you let somebody down, it means you. You,

you don't, you don't support them.

You stop supporting them.

You just appoint someone. Pardon.

To feel disappointed.

You've disappointed somebody. You've let somebody down.

Maybe you, a friend, asked you to pick them up from the airport

or pick them up from a party and you didn't go and didn't do that.

And they were left there and they would phone up and say, Would you let me down?

You said you'd come and pick me up and you didn't.

Yeah, no, normally it's disappointment so if something is disappointing,

you feel like the parent might say that to their child

who has misbehaved at school or misbehaved in some way.

And the parent might say, You've let me down.

It's because they've done something

that, has put them in a bad light.

So this one here,

Steve, to put down an animal.

dear.

So this is not criticising your dog.

This is actually euthanizing or euthanizing or destroying an animal.

So maybe an animal that is or unwell

you, if you put it down to put down an animal

is to end the suffering of an animal's life.

You put the animal down, euthanize or destroy an animal.

Not a very nice thing, but spit happens quite often, doesn't it, Steve?

You know, if your dog, you've had your dog for many years

and it's not well, you don't want it to suffer anymore.

You might have your dog or your pet put down.

Yeah.

It is a sad fact of life to put them out of their misery.

They're suffering.

Yes. Well, I sometimes wish for that

to be down in the mouth.

Another negative one.

A nice, cheerful way to end today.

To be down in the mouth is to feel or appear unhappy.

And finally, because we

we love to end on a positive note,

to be in a downward spiral,

to decline, to slowly worsen.

So something is bad and it's slowly getting worse.

A person might be in a downward

spiral, maybe with their way of thinking,

or maybe their health might be in a downward spiral.

The health is is a good way of describing that.

Yes.

And a company might be in a downward spiral. Yes.

Because

of whatever reason, bad practice is

or hasn't come out with any new products for a while.

Nobody wants their products anymore.

Yes, it's in a downward spiral.

And the implication is it's going to be very difficult to reverse that.

Yeah, that's quite a quite a very negative if you're in a downward

spiral.

It's the energy and the effort required to bring things back up again.

The implication is that you will need a lot of energy

to bring it back up to where it was. Yes, that's it.

So a dying with downward spiral, a steady decline,

everything is going down with their health was on a downward spiral

and that that on that positive note,

I've had a few few questions which I haven't been able to answer so far.

Alessandra asks, What is the meaning of

hold up the line?

If you hold up the line, do you mean a telephone line?

Well, I think it means hold up as in if people are moving along in a car.

Yes.

And someone is talking or maybe they're not moving, you might hold up the line.

It means you are causing the line to stop moving a blockage.

So a queue of people waiting for something

and maybe you are at the front of the queue talking

for a long time.

We can say that you hold up the line

it means that that the line is not moving.

The rest of the people aren't moving

because somebody is or yes, they might be taking too long.

There might be a line of everyone's waiting to have some food

and you're all queuing up and somebody is taking ages at the front

to decide and somebody might shout out, Hurry up, you're holding up the line. Yes.

So that's what that means.

And somebody else asked me and other questions as well,

but I can't remember what that was now.

Okay. yes.

Christina says, I get confused with

into and onto the computer.

Yes.

There's some things.

Yeah.

Going into something means you're going inside something.

That's it.

Whereas onto means on the surface, on the top.

Yeah.

Well in that sense you see onto is being used as a phrasal verb.

You are going onto the internet. right.

What's going on the computer.

You are going onto the computer.

But if you go into your computer,

then you might be searching for for a particular file in the computer.

You go in to the computer,

not physically, but just browsing the memory of the computer.

So quite often those two things are different.

And of course, if you go into your computer, you might actually open

the box and have a look inside to try and fix something.

So generally speaking, you go onto the Internet,

you go on the Internet, you go on your computer,

and in quite often is

when you are searching for something in particular,

quite often in your memory

of the computer or a certain file, something like that.

It is a bit confusing.

Christine So I hope that's explained a bit more.

Anyway.

Guess what, Steve We have overrun by eight minute. Wow.

So it's been a busy one.

I hope people all enjoyed it.

It's been a busy one to tell you.

It's been nice to be here, but I'm now hungry and Mr.

Duncan wants a cup of tea, so I should go into the kitchen

and prepare that and look forward to seeing you all again next week.

Yes, I'll be here next week. Mr. Duncan.

I can confirm that as long as the Earth, as long as the world doesn't end tomorrow,

we will be back with you next Sunday.

Please let us know when you're going to Romania.

Francesca, because that might help us in our plans.

It sounds good to me.

I saw that.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Steele, for joining us. We'll see you next week.

Have a good one.

And of course, Mr.

Steve will be going back to work tomorrow.

You're back to work.

You've had a lovely time resting.

You've had you've had some downtime time, and that's what I mentioned earlier.

So the word down is not always negative.

So if you have downtime, it means you are resting.

Yes, you are relaxing.

So the word down can be used positively

if you are having downtime,

it means you are resting, you are taking it easy.

So I hope your week at work, Mr.

Steve, your your return to work will go well.

I might.

I might be on a bit of a downer tomorrow going back to work.

All right then. Lovely to see you all.

And see you all again next Sunday.

Thank you very much, Mr. Steve.

He's coming now

because that's it.

It's it's, it's. It's time for Mr.

Steve to say goodbye because he has to go into the kitchen

and make me a cup of tea, which is what he's doing now.

Thank you, Steve. That's lovely.

Very nice. I've enjoyed this.

I would say today it's around about eight out of ten

for today's live stream, about eight.

So this hasn't been the best live stream ever.

But it's yeah, I think it's about eight out of ten.

Definitely.

Thank you very much for your company.

I will be back with you on Wednesday.

Wednesday I'm here on my own

and I hope you will join me for that and we will do it again.

Shorter It's a short one on Wednesday.

I will tell you now.

It is always a little bit shorter on Wednesday.

So that is it.

Thank you for watching.

Thank you very much for your company today.

It's been good.

It's been a very busy 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Incredible.

Back on Wednesday.

And I will see you then, hopefully live from 2 p.m.

UK Time is when I'm back with you.

And of course until the next time we meet here, you know what's coming next.

Yes you do...

ta ta for now.