English Addict - 322 🔴LIVE stream / Pinch Punch It's a new Month / Join the LIVE Chat Learn English

Ahh that’s better.

I love doing my live stream.

I love it so much.

It's rather like putting your feet into a comfortable pair of slippers that you've had for years and years and years.

Yes, they stink, but they are comfortable. Just like my live stream.

Here we go again.

We are back together.

And we are live from a sunny autumn.

Or is it winter?

Birthplace of the English language.

You know where it is.

I know where it is. We all know where it is now.

It is England. And?

Oh, yes.

Yes, indeed. Yes. We are back together.

Oh, how wonderful it is to be inside your computer device.

Hi, everybody. This is Mr. Duncan in England. How are you today?

Are you okay? I hope so. Are you happy?

Do you have one of these on your face right now?

Not one of these. I want to see one of these.

Do you have a smile right now?

On your face?

If you don't, do not worry, because I will try to put one on.

Today we are back together.

It is the big month as I like to call it.

December has arrived.

Pinch, pinch. It's a new month everyone.

I hope you are feeling good today.

My name is Mr. Duncan. That's me.

That's what it says there on the screen with my lovely happy face.

Do you like that picture?

That is one of my best photographs that have ever been taken ever in my life.

And I hope you like it.

I talk about the English language.

I love English very much.

I wish I could marry it, but at the moment it is illegal to marry any words or phrases from the English language.

But who knows, maybe one day someone will see sense.

Who knows?

I have to say now a lot of people doubt my manliness.

A lot of people say, Mr.

Duncan, you are not very manly.

Can I just say now I am very, very manly.

I am 100% man and I can prove it, because today I have shaved twice that

is how manly I am.

So please do not doubt my masculinity ever again.

Thank you very much.

Here we are then. It's so good to be with you today. It's nice to be back.

It is the 1st of December.

You may notice in the studio I have not started making anything look like Christmas at the moment.

I think it is still too early, but maybe next week, maybe even the week after we will start

making the studio look a little bit more like Christmas is coming.

Talking of festivals, of course you might be watching at the moment in the United States,

your stomach will be full of all that lovely turkey that you've been eating over Thanksgiving.

Can I say a big hello?

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving,

you are having a lovely public holiday in the United States and I hope you are having a good time. That

English is what it's all about the English language.

I really do love teaching English.

I've been doing this forever. Such a long time.

How long, Mr. Duncan?

18 years

is see 18.

Imagine that. Think of doing something from today.

So you start doing something today, something new, and then you do it for the next 18 years.

What do you think that feels like?

Maybe you might imagine it to be something stressful, maybe something that might make you prematurely age

or go a little bit crazy, or maybe all of those things.

Who knows? The live chat is also here today, and

I don't want to forget about this guy, because if I do, he will be angry for the rest of the day.

We have missed this Steve.

Coming up in around about 20 minutes from now, Mr.

Steve will be here with us.

Live in the studio.

I can hardly contain my excitement. I have him right here.

The real, genuine Mr.

Steve will be with us at the roundabout 2:30, and he is feeling much better.

He has been rather unwell over the past few days, but he's feeling much better.

Thank you very much for all of your lovely messages telling Mr.

Steve to get well soon.

Well, he's almost done that.

He is almost 100%

physically fit.

I'm not sure about the other things.

But at least he's, he's he's at the moment feeling fit as a fiddle as they say.

Hello. Live chat. Nice to see you. Here.

Look, I'm waving my hand at you right now.

Please wave back or else I will cry.

Hello. Live chat.

Who was first here today?

Oh, what a surprise.

What a lovely surprise. Vytas!

Well done.

Vytas, you are first on today's live chat.

What a surprise!

I have to say, I'm very shocked.

Well, not that shocked.

Hello. Also to Beatriz. You were second.

So I suppose I should say.

Congratulation, Beatriz, you were second also we have motion.

Hello Mohsin, nice to see you back as well.

And of course he is here also saying hello to us.

Luis Mendes is here today.

It is the sun shining in France because we have a lot of lovely sunshine at the moment.

It's not autumn anymore.

Today, the 1st of December is the beginning of meteorological winter,

so technically winter has started.

But I'm not sad.

I'm not worried because it is December, which is the month of Christmas,

so I am looking forward to that towards the end of the month.

It has been a busy year as well.

Normally at this time of year we will start thinking about the past.

Perhaps we will reflect on the past 12 months.

Was it a good year?

Maybe there were things that I wish I had done better.

Or maybe there are things I wish I had not done at all.

We all have them. We all have those little regrets.

Even me.

I think maybe I have more than most people, to be honest.

We also have Beatrice. Hello, Beatrice.

Oh, I said hello to Beatrice, didn't I? Well, guess what,

I'm saying it again.

We also have another annual cacao Bay, I hope.

I pronounced it right. Hello. And you. Nice to see you here as well.

I am a little bit tired today.

I had a very late night yesterday. We went to see some friends.

We had the most amazing night out.

We went to have a curry.

It is a long time since we've had a curry out and about, and we went a very long way to sample this particular curry.

It was very nice and we had some lovely company with our friends Brent and Sonia.

If you are watching at the moment. Hello, are you okay?

Have you recovered from your hangover I wonder?

And guess what?

Whilst I was there at their house, Sonia was writing a Christmas card just for me and Steve.

There it is.

Look, can you see it to Steve and Duncan?

I don't know why people always put Steve first.

Whenever they write to us, they always put Steve first.

I don't know why they do that, but it is very annoying.

Thank you very much.

Sonia.

A little bit later on, we are going to open this lovely card that Sonia has sent.

In fact, I was sitting next to her whilst she was writing this card and apparently there are some jokes inside as well.

I hope they are not rude jokes so we will see what happens later.

I actually haven't opened it yet. It's still.

It's still sealed so we will see what happens.

There it is.

Mr. Steve will be here.

We are talking about words, phrases that exist in the English language.

Also today we are going to look at an interesting subject as well, something

that we all do, something that happens to every one of us in life.

Sometimes this thing can be small or large, sometimes it can be insignificant or significant.

Something big, something serious.

So quite often we will have situations that go wrong.

When something goes wrong, we are looking at that later on.

Lots of words and phrases connected to that as well.

Hello Claudia,

it's nice to see you here, Claudia.

Also we have.

Oh, hello, Pedro Belmont is here today.

Hello, Pedro.

Nice to see you here as well.

Watching all those miles away in Brazil.

I hope you are having a good weekend. I am definitely.

I will say hello to Francisco or Francesco.

Should I say hello? Francesco?

In a very cloudy, gloomy Italy.

It is strange now.

I was in Italy earlier this year with the super duper English addict rendezvous and the weather was amazing.

It was so hot. Incredibly hot.

But I saw some photographs on Facebook because lots of people enjoy travelling

and there is nothing I enjoy more than looking at travel photographs.

And I saw some pictures taken in Italy, very close to the Colosseum and every thing was covered in snow

and it looks so strange.

I've never ever seen a photograph of the Colosseum in Rome covered in snow.

It's the first time I've ever seen a photograph of snow covering the streets of Rome.

It did look rather strange, to be honest.

And of course, you can get snow in many places

as a normal occurrence.

Something that normally happens when we talk about an occurrence.

Something happens.

Something thing occurs.

The state of that thing happening is

occurrence.

So yes, it can snow in lots of places.

I'm sure in the past it has snowed in the desert.

I wouldn't be surprised because it can get quite cold at night, even in the desert.

Who else is here today?

Hello to this square, these square Steadicam.

I like that because it rhymes.

Hello, Mr. Duncan, hello to you. Faded two, six, seven.

Hello, Mr. Duncan, what's up?

What's up?

I will tell you what's up.

I am troubled by something.

I know that I have a lot of people watching my live streams.

And also the recorded live stream in one certain place.

And that place is

here in the UK.

I've never done this before, so I'm going to say hello to everyone watching me

in secret in the UK.

Hello to the United Kingdom and I know I don't say hello

to to the place in which I live enough.

So hello United Kingdom, if you are secretly watching me at the moment in the UK, can you please say hello?

Mr. Duncan, I am watching you in the UK, but I don't normally say anything on the live stream so please don't be shy.

I know, especially English people, we can be very shy, we can be introverted,

we can be rather withdrawn sometimes, especially in situations where we might feel uncomfortable.

So if you are feeling a little shy at the moment, especially if you are watching in the UK, come on, say hello.

Say hello Mr. Duncan, I am watching in the UK.

You can even tell me where you are, where you are actually watching at the moment.

So please don't be shy.

Give it a try. You never know, you might enjoy it.

You might enjoy chatting on the live stream.

So hello again to the UK.

I know I don't say hello

to you often and here is a word.

Can I show you a word?

Do you mind if I show you a word? Here it is.

Here is an interesting word. It is one that I've heard used recently.

And it is a word that relates to something very serious.

Serious thing.

Something that you might do that can get you into a lot of trouble.

We all do it.

We all get ourselves into a difficult situation. So here is the word.

The word is oh, Mr.

Duncan, that's a very interesting word. Ooh, I'm going to look at it.

Oh, yes. Very nice.

The word is malign, malign to malign as a verb.

So this particular word can be a verb and also an adjective.

There are two ways of using this particular word.

First of all, malign as a verb to speak harmful untruths

of someone, to speak of someone in a way that is both harmful and hurtful

to malign someone.

So you are doing that thing.

You are saying something that might hurt or harm or

cause some sort of upset towards another person.

So this is an action we are talking about here.

We are talking about malign as an action.

And you might say something about your neighbour.

You might say something about your friend to another person.

You might say something harmful or untrue about a famous person.

Now that is where you have to be very careful, because these days

there are many laws that protect a person's dignity.

So if another person is saying something about you that is not true

or if it is harmful, we can say that person is maligning or they malign you as a verb

to speak harmful untruths of someone, to speak of someone in a way that is both harmful and hurtful.

So not only do you hurt them,

maybe emotionally,

you can also harm their reputation.

You take away all of their dignity.

So malign is a very serious action.

To be honest, you do have to be careful when you start saying things about other people, especially

those who are in the public eye.

A lot of people these days like to go on the internet, and they like to write all sorts of things.

Sometimes those things are true and sometimes they are not true.

They are completely false.

It can happen.

Also, you can malign

or something can malign or appear

wrong or evil.

Maybe the effect or the feeling of something that might cause harm.

As an adjective, we can say that evil in effect something is happening.

So when we talk about an adjective, it is the appearance or the feeling of something.

I don't like the feeling that that thing is giving me

the active presence of something wicked.

Talking of which,

a lot of people keep asking me,

Mr. Duncan, have you seen wicked yet?

Have you been to the cinema to see wicked?

Why do they keep asking me that question?

Why do people keep asking me if I've seen wicked?

Why? I don't know why.

It's so evil.

In effect, it is a sensation.

The feeling a place might have

a malign atmosphere.

Something that does not seem right.

Something doesn't feel right.

Also, as a verb,

we can use sentences.

So here are some examples of sentences as a verb.

All they ever do is malign me with their criticism because I'm not perfect.

All they ever do is malign me with criticism because I'm not perfect.

So you can be hurtful towards someone.

You say things about them, you might try to destroy their character

and you are doing it as a verb and an example sentence as an adjective.

As we stepped into the dark house and the lying presence greeted us,

the feeling something you sense, the atmosphere

in the place you are standing.

So there are sentences we can use and ways of expressing it.

And then of course, we have synonyms of malign used in certain ways.

For example, as a verb, synonyms include vilify,

revile, disparage and libel.

You can libel someone.

You malign that person, you say something about them that is not true.

You say something that might destroy their reputation.

As an adjective.

We have synonyms so pernicious.

That's a great word. Pernicious.

Something not very nice.

Hurtful, wicked, evil, something unfair or unkind.

Injurious.

Now, that might sound like a strange word, but it is a word that is used quite often, something that is causing harm or is harmful.

Something you say, something you do that is harmful also as a presence.

So when we say presence, we say something that appears to be with you, something that appears to be following you,

even if it is something you can't see, but you can sense that particular thing.

So as an adjective,

we can describe it as a presence,

something you feel, and that thing can be described as malevolent.

Something that is malevolent is

evil, possibly harmful.

It is the sensation or the appearance.

Malicious is another word.

There is a very powerful word, a person or something that is causing or will create harm to you.

We can describe it as malicious, something hurtful, something nasty, something horrible.

But Mr. Duncan, where does that word come from?

The word malign actually.

Derives from Latin and literally means.

What does it mean?

It means bad and harm.

So it is kind of undoing it.

It is undoing the word harm or unha harm and turning it around.

So something that might appear nice, something that is said can also be harmful.

So that thing is not not

harmful or it is harmful.

You malign someone you are causing harm, you malign that person.

Hello everyone.

Hello most SAT and how to learn English from your videos.

I love the English voice.

Thank you very much.

Well, you've almost answered your question.

One of the best ways to learn English is to listen to English being spoken.

And of course, if you follow

something that a person is saying by reading the captions.

So my live streams are very unusual because you can follow the live stream with captions,

and you can watch the live stream later with captions as well.

So there is always a chance for you to listen, to watch.

And also quite often you can read the captions on the screen as well.

So there are many, many things you can do to improve your English.

And of course, another thing

is practice.

Practice English every day.

Make it part of your everyday life.

These are things that I've said many times in the past.

Make English part of your life.

I hope that is helpful to you.

We are looking at things that go wrong, the occurrence,

the happening, the event of something going wrong.

We will be looking at that a little bit later on, but now we will have a quick break because you know what's coming next.

Mr. Steve is on his way.

He will be with us in a few moments from now.

So I hope you are looking forward to seeing Mr.

Steve right here on your screens on this Sunday afternoon.

This is English addict live.

I’m a big boy now.

I don't know why,

but my stomach is making some very strange noises at the moment.

English Addict is with you, and he is on his way.

For those who are wondering, where is Mr. Steve?

Well, you don't have to worry any longer because he is coming up right now.

I asked.

Hello.

Wonderful, beautiful viewers from across the globe.

Here we are again on a Sunday afternoon.

Mr. Duncan, we had a late night last night, so, you know, let's hope we can keep the energy up for the next hour and a half,

I think so, yes, yes, we had a nice night last night with our friends in Wales, in a town called Molde.

Yes, Molde.

Now, how do you spell that, Steve?

It's m o l d yeah.

It's so not like something that's gone smelly or rotten, but something that is completely different from that which is.

Well, I suppose it is.

I would imagine it is a Welsh name or a Welsh word that's being kind of converted.

Because we did go into Wales last night. We went abroad.

We went abroad. Yes.

We needed passports, visas, yeah.

Check points with men with guns. Yes.

We had to have our special inoculations.

Yes. Against the sheep. Just in case we get bitten by one of the sheep.

We did.

We're joking, of course, although they do have a few.

Anyone who's been to Wales will know.

Now they have lots of, 20 mile per hour, speed restrictions. Yes.

This is it.

This is weird, isn't it?

Because it's about 30km an hour, I think. Because something like that. Can I just explain, though?

Because we do have lots of different speed limits, don't we?

Here now in some countries they have no speed limit on certain roads, especially on the motorways.

But in this country.

So for example if you are driving on the motorway,

so that is the the express road that will get you from one place to another very quickly.

What is the maximum speed limit on the motorway, Steve.

That's 70 miles an hour, 70 miles an hour.

So I'm sure you can work this out for yourself using your calculator at home.

That's about 90km an hour, something like that.

Okay. And Steve, I just want to go through these very quickly because this is not this is not the point.

But people don't know what miles per hour is in most countries, I think.

Steve, Steve, I think I think people do know just that most people I've kilometres don't like.

Yes, but converting it is very easy anyway.

And then on a normal roads, on the average road we have lots of different or varying speed limits, don't we, Steve?

We do

so in the in the town it's usually 30mph.

You can do your own conversion there.

On on single carriageways, it is usually 60mph.

Outside a town,

sometimes it's 40.

But they have introduced a very low speed limit in Wales in certain most villages and towns of 20mph.

Yeah. If someone could do a conversion on that, we would like to know.

It's probably about 30km an hour maybe.

Yeah.

Someone convert which is very, very, very slow.

Yeah. Well, you can walk.

You can actually walk. I'm sure you can walk at 20 miles an hour.

I know you would have to do it very fast and you would look very, very odd doing it.

But I think you can walk at 20 miles an hour so you could find that there are people walking past you on the pavement.

They are going faster than you are. Whilst driving, I noticed a tortoise

was on the pavement, was actually keeping up with us.

It's very it's, it's very controversial.

The introduction in Wales of 20 mile per hour speed limits.

We do have them here in the UK around schools, at certain times of the day, when the children are going to school

and when they're coming back from school, you have to go 20mph past the school lights or flash to tell you.

But other than that, in England there are not 20 mile per hour limits.

So that is very low.

So just in certain places, like past schools, if you go by a school,

they have these safe zones where everyone has to slow down.

But in Wales they are everywhere.

And it feels really strange, doesn't it, Steve? It feels like you're not moving.

And I would imagine in Wales there must be a lot of funerals or funeral processions

that are fined for going too fast, because I would imagine that funerals or funeral processions, as everyone is moving along

in the very slow moving procession, I would imagine even even they might get speeding tickets.

Yes. It's quite

the problem is it's it's within probably, I would say every half a mile

or a mile.

The speed limit seems to constantly change.

And there are cameras to, to try and catch you out. And of course, if you don't know the area.

So one minute it's 20 miles, for one minute you're doing 60.

Then it's suddenly straight down to 20.

Then there's no reason that you can see it goes up to 30 and then it goes back down to 20 again,

then it goes up to 40, then it's suddenly 20 again, then it's 50, then it's it's so confusing.

I mean, I know why they've done it for safety, but really, it's just too much.

That is the reason why they've done it.

Because I would imagine there might be people who are driving too fast and causing accidents.

And of course, we know that.

Oh, we know where that can lead. But people who speed, they'll speed anyway.

Yeah.

You know, it could be even if you raise it from 30 to 50 miles an hour, people would go 70, through the towns.

The people at a speed will always speed.

And anyway, we were told by the locals that everyone ignores the 20 mile.

An hour limit.

Well, I suppose you do until the police stop you or you were caught on one of those hidden cameras.

Even the police don't like it.

And, And apparently they will, they'll let you off, up to 30, even if it's in a 20.

But what about speed cameras?

Well, this is it. You see, the locals, they know where the speed cameras are. Yeah.

So if you're going through a Welsh village and you think, good, great, 20 miles an hour, I've got to get down to 20.

The locals are so close to you in their horns of flashing their lights because they know there's no speed camera.

You don't know that.

But they know.

Yeah. So they're getting quite annoyed that you're out of the area sticking to the speed.

But that's the problem, isn't it? They do it because they know you will always go slowly.

Because just in case, because there is nothing worse than getting a speeding ticket.

So your letterbox I was getting those.

And these days Mr. Steve is always getting them and they and these days,

these days I hope you're enjoying Mr.

Steve's cough. By the way, he's been practising all day.

I've been practising for three weeks.

That's it.

You've almost got it to perfection now, Steve.

And these these things might seem strange or unusual, but I suppose they are there for a reason.

That is, for safety.

But we did have a lovely time, even though it took us six hours once we got into Wales,

because we were we were only driving at 20 miles an hour for most of the way.

It took quite a long time to get to where we were going, but we had a nice time, a nice meal, a lovely curry.

I had chicken tikka masala, it was very nice and we've never been to that particular restaurant.

It was small, wasn't it, Steve very small, a Bangladeshi restaurant, and

yeah, it was lovely food, very nice food, run by family, in mould.

And, there was the father there.

The mother was there, and they had four daughters who were all working there.

And it was a lovely atmosphere.

Yeah, we very much enjoyed it.

And the food was fab. What did you have, Steve?

I had a chicken Buna. Oh.

So, chicken buna bho and a I think it's pronounced, I think it's spelt And, I do like a buna.

It's always my favourite one. It's quite mild, but a lot of flavour. Haven't you just spelt boner?

You know B big, huge.

Oh and a I think the other is b h you might be, I can't remember.

Right. Let me spell it.

I think what you just spelt is something very. Anyway don't worry Steve.

Moving on.

We have the live chat. It's very busy.

We've been very busy ourselves. We have December.

December is here, Mr. Steve.

Oh, the last month of the year.

And of course, it is that wonderful month where we have the season of goodwill,

where people give gifts to each other to show

how much they love their partner or their friend or their family member.

So I'm really, really looking forward to Christmas.

You're not here next Sunday.

You know I won't be here next.

Well, I might be, as you know, I do all these Christmas concerts at this time of the year,

but my voice hasn't come back sufficiently yet. So

I shall find out

on this week whether I can, whether I can, because I haven't been to any of the choirs for three weeks.

So I'm going to try going back tomorrow.

And we've got a concert on Saturday.

And if I can't sing, I'm not going to be in it because there's no point in croaking away. No.

And straining your voice if you can't do it.

But there we go.

Christina says New Year resolutions. Yes. We've got to stop thinking about those.

We've got to stop thinking about New Year's resolutions that we can make and then instantly break by that February.

Yeah, this is normally the time of the year when people do things that might be damaging.

They might eat too much food, and they might be a little bit lazy

because the weather gets horrible outside, so people become less active.

And then of course, when the new year comes, everyone starts becoming all active again.

And they want to change their life and they year, they want everything to be new and lovely.

December is a busy month.

We are here during December.

I'm not sure about Christmas because I think Christmas is.

I want to say it's Friday, but I don't think it is.

So what day is Christmas this year?

I can't quite remember.

Off the top of my head I know the 18th is Friday night Jersey.

Yeah. Is it Saturday?

It might be Saturday.

Oh so we might have.

We might have. Box. What are you doing Steve I think it's Friday.

It's Friday. I'm counting it on my fingers like a child would do. Oh my goodness.

I'm glad it wasn't over ten because then you would have to take your shoes and socks off.

By the way, something I was going to mention earlier, but I didn't mention it.

Have you ever noticed, Mr.

Steve, how strange feet are?

Feet, feet aren't aren't feet weird?

Now, when you're young, you never think much about your feet, do you?

You never really think much about your feet and the fact that they serve a very important purpose in your life.

But it's only when they start going wrong later in life that you realise just how important they are there.

You see, feet are funny and I think they are of a of all the parts of the body that we have.

Steve, I think feet are the strangest because they're just

at the end of your legs and then they stick out at a very strange angle, especially my feet.

Now, I know what you're going to say, Steve.

My feet are very big.

I'm tall, but my feet are incredibly long.

And I have those very strange long toes as well that I, Steve.

Yes, you've got this ability.

Your, your your feet are like sort of that almost like sort of giant sort of, rackets, you know, like,

you know, when people go on to this snow in olden days, they used to strap, what looked like tennis rackets to their feet.

Yours are a bit like that.

You've got this ability to stand upright for large periods of time.

Because I think your feet distribute your weight very evenly over that large surface area.

And of course, yes.

Your toes, which are more like fingers, are able to sort of keep your balance, I think.

But I really do think that feet are very strange things.

You never really think much about them, but they they really do take a lot of punishment, don't they, when you think about it.

Because quite often we cover them with, with our socks and then we wear shoes or boots and women.

This is the worst part of everything.

Women have to put their shoes or put their feet into the most uncomfortable shoes.

Just just for style.

Well, yes, you

can get all sorts of problems, can't you, by trying to force your feet into, into stylish shoes.

I don't remember when in the 70s, there was a big fashion for platform shoes.

Oh, yes.

High heeled shoes, very high heels.

And lots of girls used to wear them to school.

And, used to, break their ankles.

Because they would, they would, they would, you know

for not fall over but they that their legs, you know, that their feet were so far off the ground that they would,

the foot would sort of go under them and they would break their ankles.

It's a case around when I was growing up, they twist their ankles, twist their ankles.

Christina says, what about stilettos? Yes.

Oh, yes.

Not only are they uncomfortable to wear, not that I know that, by the way, because I am 100% a man.

I have to shave twice a day. That's how manly I am.

But they also very good.

If you. If a man annoys you as well.

Stiletto, you can.

You can give him a little kick with your stiletto shoe.

Hello to can I say hello to as John.

Hello, Mr. Duncan, it is my first time on the live stream.

I found your YouTube channel recently and I am watching your videos, especially 31 days of October.

Oh, these lessons are helping me.

A lot of people don't even realise that I have playlists of videos

that I've made over the past 18 years, and there are playlists and you can watch them as many times as you want.

They are free.

They are completely free of charge.

They don't cost you anything to watch though. There, there it is.

So thank you very much for your lovely message there.

I found your channel recently and that is amazing.

John.

Now I'm not going to try and pronounce your second name because I know I will get it wrong.

Please tell us why.

Which country you're watching us from or in we would like to know.

I'd also like to say hello to hackathon who put a message on earlier hackathon from Poland.

Oh, are you still on? Are you still watching us?

I want to say hello to you as well.

Would like to say hello to new people as well as to all the very loyal viewers that come on week

after week, that that post questions and comments on the live stream.

So thank you very much for that, by the way.

I think I think I got the date wrong.

I think Christmas is on Wednesday.

Oh, I think the 18th is the 18th.

Yeah. There we go.

I like to use my fingers.

I think it is a Wednesday.

So so there we go. But yes.

Please tell us where you from.

We like to know where you from. Are you telling me that Christmas Day is Wednesday?

Apparently, that seems to be the consensus on the live chat. That's it.

You know what that means, Steve?

That means we are going to have to be here live on Wednesday, Christmas Day.

So there it is. How do you feel about that, Mr. Steve? Well, I'll be cooking.

We could do a live stream in the kitchen as Mr. Steve is trying to prepare the Christmas meal.

Uzbekistan

is where as is John is from.

And we also have medi medi from Iran watching us as well.

So it's lovely.

Will we love to know where you're from and where you're watching us from?

Don't be afraid to put comments on the live chat.

This is what the live streams are partly about that teach you English, but also to to.

Yeah, form the community.

Yeah.

To expand the community that Mr. Duncan has created here.

I always on his live stream. I always say this is like a big family.

It's like a big family.

Wherever you are in the world, you are welcome to.

To join us on the live chat on the live stream.

The door is always open for you.

Ray from Bangladesh. Hello, Ray.

Oh, everyone's coming out of the woodwork as we say.

Okay, if you come out of the woodwork, it means you make yourself known.

You were hiding away and suddenly you make yourself known as you are on the live stream, we've got Jeff.

Jeff. Sabine from Brazil.

Lots of new names on here. Alexander.

Vladimir of, Well, I'm not sure you really are from North Korea.

It says figuratively.

I think I know, I think I know what he's saying,

I think so, okay, if I if I'm correct.

Yes. We we understand what you mean by that.

I'm not sure either.

You can tell me later, but Mohsen Karim from Saudi Arabia.

Josep.

So le, where are you from?

Josep, please tell us.

I can I can turn in your show.

You can, you can appear. Yeah.

You can take part in the show. Yes.

You can tune in and tune in. Yeah.

Oh. Isn't it wonderful?

This lovely community that we have here on, English with Mr.

Duncan? English addict. I give it its correct name.

Do you do you know there is a strange anniversary taking place at the moment?

It is now one year since we started using the new set.

A year ago.

Can you believe it?

So we've we've we've been using this new setup with Mr.

Steve in his comfortable corner.

A lot of people ask, why is Mr. Steve not with you on the camera.

It's a it's it's a very simple reason Mr..

Steve gets very tired these days.

It's his age you see.

So I've given him what I like to call Mr.

Steve's Comfy Corner.

So we will admire your comfy corner there.

It is lovely and comfortable.

We've got a bliss. Bless you.

You've got a big, comfortable chair to sit in and and,

I think it looks very comfortable where you're sitting.

This chair is about 100 years old. It is.

It was my grandparents. I remember it being in their home.

Oh. It's probably not 100 years old.

I don't know how long it is. It's like. What?

You know what? For a moment there, I was really impressed. And then I stopped being impressed.

I remember being in their home in the 1970s. I don't know if we have. We had one. Yeah.

So it's probably so they say they had it in the 50s.

Well, it 70, 70 odd years old. Yeah.

Can I just give you a statistic that will blow your mind?

1974 is now 50 years ago.

That is incredible.

Half a century, 1974 is half a century ago.

And I can remember 1974.

I was only nine at the time, but I can remember it as if it was just yesterday, 50 years ago.

So I think you know what, Steve?

I think you might be right about that chair.

I think that chair might be 80 or even 90 years old.

I might take it to, put it on eBay or take it to an antiques dealer.

I don't think it's worth anything.

Oh, we've got loads of people on the live chat, but it. Cos here.

Vitus is here, Lewis is here. We've seen Beatrice.

Franco Ferrari is here.

A lot of people that we met up with in Italy last year are all saying hello to each other.

And I suppose we should also mention that next year we are doing it again.

We are having the English addict rendezvous.

We will be in Paris and as I said last week, we might even have an extra

rendezvous somewhere else because we are planning to have two trips.

So we will be in Paris for a short time, and then we might be going somewhere else.

So there might be two opportunities to meet up.

If you can't make it to France, there might be another chance for you to meet up with us.

So we are looking forward to announcing that.

And we are really looking forward to meeting up.

Let's do hello face putting face to face, face to face, mano a mano.

Yes, a tope.

Is watching from Thailand.

So hello to you too. Everyone's coming out of the woodwork. It's wonderful.

What are we talking about today, Mr. Duncan?

I always feel a little bit sad because quite often I forget about Thailand.

I don't know why, but sometimes I forget about it when I'm.

When I'm generating my my language translations.

And I know I do this, and and now I feel really guilty about it.

But sometimes I forget to add the Thailand or Thai captions.

So now I feel really bad about that.

But don't go Thailand.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you today. Mr. Steve.

We are looking at when things go wrong and let's face it, in life, quite often things do go wrong.

Things sometimes don't work out the way we expect them to work out.

Sometimes things don't go the way we planned and things can go wrong, so that is what we will be looking at a little bit later on.

Lots of things still to come.

Another thing I want to ask before then, as we approach 3:00, it is coming up to 3:00.

Everyone, if you want to put your watch right or your clock, it is now coming up to 3:00 here in the UK.

English addict on the 1st of December. It's now winter by the way. Mr. Steve

officially, officially

winter.

Well, it doesn't feel like it today. It's very warm here in the UK today.

It's wet, but it's warm.

Yes, it's quite, quite strange. But winter has arrived.

It is no longer autumn here in the UK.

Here is an interesting question, Mr. Steve.

Now you don't know that I'm going to ask this question.

You don't know that I'm going to ask this, but I'm going to ask this question now not only to Mr.

Steve.

There he is looking wonderful and radiant today.

Look at that. Does he look amazing?

I wish I felt wonderful and radiant is glowing. I'm obviously acting.

He's glowing,

but here's the question, Mr. Steve.

You have no idea what it's going to be. And there it is on the screen.

Here is your idol.

My idol?

That's a very, very easy question for me.

Yeah, but I'm also asking it to everyone out there.

Now, a lot of people have an idol.

Now, this is an interesting word because quite often, traditionally, certainly in its original form,

idol was something you worshipped.

Idol was a type of sculpture or an image, a thing, an icon is another word we use.

So we often use the word icon.

Nowadays, when we are generating a small image that we put next to our names.

Normally, if we are sending an email or something, we are putting next to our name to identify or to show how we appear.

Idol these days often mean someone.

I would say Mr.

Steve.

To be fair, an idol these days is often someone famous.

Would you say

yes, somebody that you respect, somebody that you admire?

Somebody that maybe does something you'd like to do?

Somebody that maybe teaches you something about life,

somebody that you respect for what they've achieved, for what they've done.

Maybe they've helped people.

It may not be that they, you know, a superstar actor or something.

Or actress, that you just say actor these days, don't you?

I think I don't think we say actress anymore.

But but yes, it could be.

It could be somebody that, you know, very could be your one of your parents.

Quite often you hear people say that their idol is their father or their mother or their mother

doesn't have to be somebody famous.

But quite often, as you say, it is,

because then people can relate to it.

When you mention this person's name that is your idol or somebody that you look up to, respect, admire

for what they've done in their lives. Yes.

I think it's also fair to say that quite often, or in its original form, it was always a religious thing,

a religious symbol or something that actually exists that you look up to.

Now there's another way of putting it.

Maybe a person you look up to, a person you admire, or a person

you feel is helpful to you in some way, or maybe just someone you you like quite a lot.

They can also be your idol. We often think of teenagers, don't we, Steve?

Teenagers will often have their their idol, normally a pop star or an actor or actress,

usually somebody that they, may be attracted to, in love with in some way.

Sometimes they might describe those as an idol and have pictures of them on their on their walls of their bedroom.

We've all done that as a when we were growing up.

I'm sure when your hormones are coursing through your body and you've got all these strange emotions that you didn't,

you didn't have before,

and, it's very easy to to, to have an idol as somebody who is maybe somebody that you think is very attractive.

Yeah.

As I said, we often think of idols these days as people who are famous or in the public eye, and certainly from a younger

perspective, a person who is maybe in the entertainment industry, a singer, a songwriter, a performer, an actor.

I would imagine nowadays I'm trying to think who would be described as an idol nowadays, I suppose.

I suppose we would say.

Now, I remember years ago we had people like Britney Spears, who remembers Britney Spears.

See, everybody probably does.

She was a huge idol. But nowadays of course we have Taylor Swift.

Everyone, everyone has gone Taylor Swift.

Crazy. Of course you're right.

If you're a religious person, which we obviously do have, many people on here

who, who, subscribed to different religions who were born into different religions, different cultures.

And it's not surprising that, you know, Jeff says that Jesus Christ is their idol.

And, obviously a Christian person there.

But if you, are from an Islamic country, then that Farzana says that the Prophet Muhammad is is their idol.

So, yeah, could be a religious leader.

Yeah. From history, could be a current religious leader. Yes. So.

So it doesn't have to be a pop star.

Yes. I think worship is a good is a good use of that word as well, because we often say that people worship.

There's a certain popular person or a celebrity.

They actually have friends who who worship them and they follow them everywhere.

But of course, again, in its traditional sense, we are talking about the religious aspect

from whatever that belief system actually is.

So there is always a central character or a central figure, an icon

is is what we often use that nowadays as well.

So you can be an icon of movies or an icon of music.

We often think of films, don't we, Steve?

Yeah, I, I think you can name I bet Steve can name maybe

three iconic movie stars straight away.

Go on. Steve, Marilyn Monroe, is obviously one.

Steve McQueen, would be another one.

And probably who's a really famous actress, Bette Davis.

Oh, I mean, I'm going back.

These are, you know, people from the when Stars were really stars, I suppose.

Also, you're showing your age. I'm showing my age as well.

Somebody recent.

So these these days you'd have Harrison Ford, Harrison Ford. Yes.

And that guy who played James Bond.

You know, the one who always looks in a bad mood, Daniel Craig.

So you might you might say that they are people, but but this is a very I would say this is a shallow use of the word idol.

So it's not it's in its original form.

But but we do often use this to describe a person who is very much admired.

And we have some examples as well. Let me just have a look back.

I don't have any idols, but when I was young, my idol was Mickey Mouse.

Interesting. Yeah. Yes, I suppose so.

If you are young, Alexander says, my idol.

Well, idols are prohibited in Christianity.

My heroes? Yes. Oh, heroes.

That's another good word we can use, isn't it, Steve?

Yes, heroes.

But of course, in in religious terms, an idol is.

It's slightly different meaning, isn't it?

Because,

certainly for the Christian religion as it was developing then, you weren't allowed to worship other gods or idols.

In that respect, the idol meant a god or some other god, because before

Christianity came along, people were worshipping all sorts of things.

And then we came to, to to just be worshipping one God.

So yeah.

So in that respect, yes, you're right, you can't,

in a religious sense, you don't want to be worshipping in that way in a religious way.

An idol. Meaning in that respect, it means maybe the

a physical manifestation of some other, its deity.

Steve. It's the central figure.

Yes. The central figure.

People would would worship idol, which would be, you know, physical forms carved out of bits of rock or stone that

to be some gods and of course, yes, but in this, in this respect, we're not talking about religious no idols.

We're just talking about somebody you admire.

Well, this, this, this is the current phrase that, that we use.

But of course, it is a it is a word that's been used for for centuries and centuries.

And maybe people would say way, way, way back into distant time.

Of course, it sounds very much like another word, doesn't it?

Say it says something, but what do you call it when two words, sprout differently but sound the same as something?

Phone, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Yes they are. They sound the same, but they are actually spelt differently. So. So homonyms

are homophones, rather homophones.

Homophones.

I know it sounds like idle. Idle e yeah.

Doesn't it sounds a bit like. Which of course means a lazy person.

But we're not talking about that here.

Some people, of course, say that they don't really have any idols. They respect people.

They don't have idols. Yes. You don't. Some people you don't.

Don't go to the point because you can get so you can't get so involved with a person

that you absolutely idolise them to the point of not being able to see their faults.

Because some people might have a particular talent.

So for example, if you were to ask me who my idol is I would say Shirley Bassey.

Okay. I've always admired her.

But of course, but not to the point of, you know, worshipping them,

because, you know,

we're all human.

We've all got our flaws, and, so I wouldn't take it that far.

I was just somebody I admire.

Yeah, it's the talent, the ability, the stage presence, all that sort of thing.

But but, yes,

you can have different layers of I of idolising somebody, can't you?

You can be. Absolutely.

You can have the, the screaming fan.

You can't stop crying like you remember those shots of the Beatles.

People would faint. The young girls would faint when the Beatles came on stage.

That's when idolising it, taking it to the extreme.

When they first arrived in the United States, the girls were throwing themselves

forward, trying to get near them as they as they came off the plane.

So I think that is a very good example of, of, a group of people.

So it doesn't have to be one person.

It might be a group of people who have a certain talent or ability.

So I was expecting I was expecting Mr.

Steve to say Shirley Bassey. Yes.

But we all have someone we admire. Maybe you go through

a phase

or a period of time where you like a certain person, you admire them a lot.

And again, I remember from my childhood I had certain people who I really admired very much.

And one, of course, was Adam, and I mentioned him a couple of weeks ago when he had his birthday.

So, I, I was always attracted.

I always liked musical artists, people with some sort of creative spark, as it were.

So I've always admired people who have some sort of creative ability, something that they can make from nothing.

They create something that did not exist previously, using their mind and their talent, they are able to create something.

So I've always I've always admired and maybe, maybe in a way they are people

I would class as idols for myself or people I admire from a distance.

Maybe people who are no longer around sculptures by famous artists, people with a certain ability.

And of course, we saw this week something really impressive, didn't we, Steve in Paris?

Yeah, not to a damn cathedral, I have to say,

because I remember when this happened and we were in Paris about four weeks later.

Were we after it happened?

So Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire, and a short time afterwards we were actually in Paris during that time.

And you could see the burnt out shell

of Notre Dame Cathedral in the distance.

And it really did look quite, quite haunting.

But this week it was unveiled. They've actually managed to do it.

A lot of people said said it wouldn't be able to happen. It would not be done.

But they did it. They managed to renovate the whole building.

They've rebuilt huge parts of the building that had collapsed, including that lovely, beautiful spire

that we all watched collapse into the flames.

Yes. Do we know when it's officially opening?

When will we be able to visit Notre Dame?

Lois, I wonder if Lois knows, when we will be able to visit Notre Dame.

Will we be able to, do that in June?

Louis, by the way, makes a good point because idols, of course, in terms

of the type of people that are idols, it can go in and out of fashion.

And at the moment, as Louis points out, quite often it's footballers are seen as idols.

Good, aren't they?

It's very in popular culture now, than a footballer, because of course they make lots of money.

They score a few goals. And it's whether you

think

that's appropriate, I don't know, but I mean, they're clearly talented people, but there's.

Yeah, but that is there is a fashion.

Yeah.

For men to particularly men to have footballers as their idols, somebody that they aspire to.

And that of course, let me just repeat, we do mean this in the, in the more sort of

we don't mean it in the, in the religious sense of an ideal way.

We mean in this in just somebody you admire.

But we are looking at the word right, looking at the word. Yes.

So the word has many, many meanings from the past to the present.

So we aren't we are not putting one particular meaning on it, but from the point of view of asking people who their idols are.

But, you know.

Yes. Well, I think I think most people will understand there is a there is a divide.

So I suppose we wouldn't class

Taylor Swift as someone who will be

praised

a praising God.

Oh, maybe there will be some sort of huge statue of Taylor Swift in a thousand years from now, or something like that.

I don't know, maybe.

Who knows?

In this rather strange world of ours in which we live.

Mr.. Steve, we had a nice surprise last night, didn't we?

Do you remember last night, Steve, a surprise? Yes.

Well, we went round to see our lovely friends Sonya and Brent.

And whilst we were there, Sonya was writing out some of her Christmas cards.

And I said to her, can you write one for me?

So she did.

And there it is.

Look at that, Mr..

Steve, we have a Christmas card.

This might be the first proper Christmas card we've received this year.

Look at that, Steve and Duncan.

Why do they always put Steve first? We never anyone writes to us.

They always put.

They always put Steve first, I think.

Yes, I think because I'm the eldest baby.

So this I don't know, maybe I don't know.

I don't know why they but it's for, you know,

I think I think I should feel I should feel a little offended by it, to be honest.

Sometimes I would like to see Duncan and Steve not just Stephen Duncan.

Anyway.

Anyway, I digress, Mr. Steve, because

Sonya has written some jokes in here, so I'm going to open this now.

I don't know what's inside, by the way,

while you're opening it, can I just say that, Alice Alexander has said, that pointed out that I still have a cough.

Yes, I do, it's three weeks now.

Alexander says that they've had it since the beginning of November.

Yeah.

These things can linger. Linger?

That means they stay around for longer than you expect.

Something lingers.

It stays around for longer than you expect, and you can have a lingering infection, a lingering cough.

And it looks like we've both got that.

There's a lot of it about as they say there is.

There's a lot of it about a lot of people with colds, flu like bugs

in infections, seasonal viruses, chest infections, you name it.

It's out there.

We need some really cold, hard, frosty weather to kill off these bugs.

There it is.

Happy Christmas, Stephen Duncan once again.

Once again.

Why? Why is Steve always first happy Christmas Stephen Duncan stay soup.

Have a super festive season.

Love from Sonia and Brent.

I think the other reason I think they always put my name first is because they know me first.

So all these people and most of the people that send us cards are my friends, so they know me first.

There we go.

So they put my name first. Yeah, there we go. Nice. Some nice reindeer there.

Yeah, actually, it's a joke, you see.

It's a joke.

Now, I've just realised there is actually a really naughty word on the front of the card

I just noticed, so I'm going to have to cover it with my finger.

There we go.

So if you look what's happened there, you can see there is Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer.

He has a very shiny nose, and the one behind, for some reason has a brown nose.

And it says there,

please, Rudolph, go easy on the brakes next time.

So I would say, right.

Maybe it's a that's that might be a little rude.

You see. You see.

So Rudolph has a red nose and the reindeer behind him

has a brown nose.

Well, yeah. So we'll leave that to your imaginations.

Sonja likes to make her own cards.

Christmas cards? She's quite artistic.

She does paintings. So, like Beatrice does.

And, Sandy likes to make her own Christmas cards, and they're always very.

I've kept them all for years. For decades.

And, because that always she was makes a special effort when she writes out her Christmas cards.

She doesn't put two Stephen Duncan from Sonja and Brent.

She put some little jokes in there, some some, little drawings and, something I think that, Sonja should have done

more of was to,

Dunmore with her talents as an artist, something which we know Beatrice has pursued very successfully.

I think you've got to have a dream, and you've got to, Yes, you've got to envisage that dream and, and make it reality.

Definitely. Steve, there are some jokes on the back.

Oh, jokes are these very corny jokes, I don't know, we will see what happens.

Corny joke is, is like a very sort of simple but bad joke. Okay,

I'm just going to try and find my laughter.

Where is my laughter?

There it is.

I just want to test my laughter.

Yes. It works.

Here we go then.

Are you ready for some jokes? Yes.

Here we go.

Steve, what type of photos do elves take?

What type of photos do elves take?

Now, when we talk about elves, we mean those little cute characters that help

Father Christmas to to wrap his presents.

This,

Father Christmas is helpers the elves.

Does anyone out there know the answer?

So what type of photos do elves take?

The the answer is

elf is.

Elf is alphas.

So that's like

self is.

But because it's an elf, it's an elf.

They get it. It's a it's a bad joke, but sort of,

you sort of laugh

these, corny jokes like this, you can sometimes guess them.

Here's another one, Steve.

What falls but never gets hurt?

What falls but never gets hurt?

It wouldn't be an elephant, would it?

I think if an elephant fell over, it would definitely hurt.

It's what falls or falls down or falls but never gets hurt.

It's a tough one. Yes.

So this is more like a riddle.

This is a riddle rather than a joke.

What falls but never gets hurt.

Oh, Alexander. 000.

So we get well.

Wow. Fancy pants.

Alexandra. Vladimir of. Yes.

What a clever person you are.

And Beatriz as well. Snow.

Oh, no falls, but it does not hurt itself.

But look at Valentin.

Darkness. Oh, that's a good one.

That could be another.

That could be another answer.

Darkness falls.

Yes. Or, we use that expression to say that, that night is coming on.

Sun has gone down. Nights coming on, darkness falls. Yes, across the land.

But of course, it doesn't get, It can't be hurt, can it?

So, yeah. Pretty good.

Why now I have to make sure that these are not rude.

I have to make sure that these have no swear words, so I don't have to say anything rude on the live stream.

Why do reindeers wear bells?

Why do reindeers wear bells?

Oh, any suggestions out there?

Why do reindeers wear bells?

Yeah, because quite often when Father Christmas is riding his sleigh through the sky,

the the the, reindeer will have little bells.

Sleigh bells.

Why do reindeer

wear bells?

Because.

Their horns don't work.

To be heard? Yes.

But they can't be heard because they are horns. That's.

You could say that to, Bell. No. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

I'm just thinking aloud that the horn.

A horn is something normally on a car or bull. Yes.

Do they have horns to do? Yes.

Well, yes. To how? The antlers?

Yes. It doesn't quite work.

It doesn't quite work. That one. Yes, but. But at least at least my,

my audience gave me a nice.

You could, you could use that for a cow, couldn't you. Wider cows wear bell.

Yes I think really that's the normal joke is of course cows in some countries where bells.

So that you can hear them. Yes. Around the neck. Because they're horns.

We need more calc.

We need more cowbell.

More cowbell. Definitely.

What do you get if you cross a snowman with a vampire, a snowman, a vampire?

Combine them together.

I think this if you cross something, it means in this respect, your combining the two things to make something.

To get something new is to combine something you cross something you combine a bit like sort of,

you know, crossing one cow with another species of cow, you get a new type of cow.

So in this case,

or one flower with another flower.

Yeah.

Okay. Steve.

Yeah, I was just explaining the.

I'm almost the ghost of the cross. What was the joke?

What do what do you get if you cross a snowman and a vampire stem and a vampire put them together.

What do you get?

The answer is.

Frostbite.

Frostbite. Right.

Okay. Yeah.

Because the snowman is cold,

the vampire bites you.

Put the two together.

Frostbite? Yeah, because you're cold.

We all know what frostbite two is a medical condition.

When you're exposing your your, fingers and toes to the cold,

they they free extremities is.

I haven't the foggiest idea.

So there's a good phrase, Francesco, that you've put on the live chat.

We, we, Duncan said, what's the joke?

The question and your response is, I have not the foggiest idea, is a phrase that means I don't know,

I don't know, but that is a phrase we use in in English quite a lot.

Haven't the foggy. Yes idea.

It means I re I just haven't got a clue.

I don't know, I don't know, I haven't got even a clue.

Not the slightest idea is what you're saying.

If you just say I don't know you just saying you don't know if you say I haven't the foggiest idea, it really means.

Oh, I really just don't know.

I just don't haven't got a clue. I haven't the foggiest idea.

Here's the last one, Steve.

It's like fog. Is it so, Misty? You can't tell what the. I'm just explaining that Mr. Dun. Good.

You did a good job of that, Steve. By the way, a wonderful.

Oh, is a good one from Vitus.

Well, of course, Vitus.

Let's not forget Steve Vitus is the resident comedian on the live chat and says pose

is what do you get when you cross a bunny and a Rottweiler?

Just the Rottweiler?

It's because, yeah, because the dog, Twila has eaten the bunny and it's

what do you call someone who is scared of Santa?

Shouldn't we be doing this on the 25th of December?

Well, I well, I'm sure there are lots of other Steve.

And we will have lots and lots of Christmas cards, I hope, this year sent to us as well.

We might receive lots for who knows.

What do you call someone who's scared of Santa?

Scared of Santa, scared of Santa?

Somebody who's scared of Santa. What do you call them?

Actually, actually, this is quite a good one.

I like this one.

I think this is quite a good joke.

This. This might be the best of all of them. This might be the best joke.

What's the last one? What do you call someone who is scared of Santa?

Is it something to do with Claus? No.

You might be right. You might be right, Steve.

Here we go. I'm going to give you the answer because we're running out of time.

Basically

claustrophobic. Oh,

does that work? Scared.

As sad as Christopher is, it means you don't like going into small spaces.

Well, no. No it does. No, it doesn't matter.

It's just a play on the word. Oh, right.

Okay.

It's not it's not taking the definition with it.

It's just taking the, the fear of something.

There's a joke in there somewhere. Yeah.

So if you are claustrophobic, Claus.

Of course, like like Santa Claus.

There it is. I've got it on the screen. There it is. You say you are.

You are claustrophobic.

That's actually quite good.

That's a good one. I like that one. That doesn't quite work for me. That's intelligent.

That's a clever one.

I like that one.

So can I say thank you very much?

That's more.

How many less which which you've sent reindeers has bad manners.

I think this one's quite easy.

Which of centres?

Reindeers has bad habits or

bad manners?

I haven't the foggiest idea.

It is.

Rudolph.

And rude.

Rude? Rude.

Really? Rudolph. Okay, right. Rudolph.

Moving on. Yes.

Swiftly. Swiftly.

As swiftly as a Taylor can be.

Swift.

Mr.. Steve.

Mr.. Can I ask you a question? Steve?

Have we gotten to the subject? Well, of course we have.

Now we're just going to sit here for half an hour. Steve staring out the window.

There's something coming up. Don't go away. No. Isn't subject an important subject? We're going to talk about

in a moment.

We are going to look at things that don't go as planned.

Things that sometimes might go wrong.

Words connected with. With that, you mean? Yes.

When things do not go right, when things don't go according to plan, what do we say?

How do we express those things?

Find out in a few moments from now.

Yes, we are here.

Yes we are here live, myself...

and of course, there he is, Mr Steve.

Mr. Steve, they call him Mr. Steve.

You would not believe some of the things that Mr. Steve...

...does.

Do you know we drove back yesterday.

It was probably we didn't get back here till nearly 1 a.m., 1 o’clock in the morning!

1 o’clock in the morning. I was surprised how many cars there were on the road.

There were a lot of cars on the road at that time of the night.

The mornings of the morning?

Yeah, the early hours of the morning.

We came back home and I was a little tired this morning, but. Okay, okay.

I managed to get everything done.

I was a very busy, busy all day, and I still am, in fact.

But you are right, Steve.

Yes, there were a lot of cars around, and there's nothing nicer.

There's nothing better than driving around, is there?

In the early hours of the morning, because there are very few cars on the road.

It makes everything much easier if you drive around in the middle of the night.

I think so, but well, I thought so.

But there were a surprising number of cars I have to wear glasses now

when I'm driving at night because, as you get older, your eyes will mine.

Anyway, when the light levels are low, everything goes slightly out of focus, which is a little dangerous.

If you're driving, it's fine if there's lots of light.

I've noticed that when I'm reading during the day, during the daylight, it's fine.

Lots of light.

But when it gets darker, I have trouble focusing on things.

It's something to do with. It's maybe I've got cataracts or something. I think it's normal though, isn't it?

As you get older, your eyes do change.

They become a little weaker and you know what's going to happen now, Steve?

Everyone is going to want to see you wearing your driving glasses.

Well, today in the car, I know, I know, they're in the car, but we're not today.

We can't do it today.

But we might do it next time. Mr. Steve is here, which will be in two weeks.

Because there is as far as we know, there is no Mr. Steve next week.

But don't worry, because the week after we are going to do it all Christmasy.

We are, we we are, we will be because we will.

We'll be getting in the Christmas mood there, he says.

I don't like driving at night.

Yes, a lot of people, as they get, up to a certain age.

I've got lots of friends around the same age as myself now that do not like to go and drive at night anymore.

And I've always been

fine driving at night.

I think if you don't do it for a long time.

Of course, if you live in a city or a town and you

maybe visit people during daylight hours, and if you don't drive very much at night,

you get, very quickly, it becomes quite can be quite stressful if you don't do it a lot.

But even if you do, yeah.

I mean, I found, as I said,

you need to wear glasses now because with the lower light and of course, now with the dazzling headlights.

But people have the LED lights. A lot of people complain about those.

But yes, it, it I think as you get older and I think most people I know

when they

get older find it difficult to drive, but particularly these days when the street lights everywhere light on the motorways,

and then if you suddenly go into a country road where there's no lights, it can be quite scary at times.

And as I say, with the very bright lights from LED headlamps and that's it makes it quite difficult.

But anyway, it will.

It was interesting, if nothing else. And Mr.

Steve will show you his glasses when he returns in a couple of weeks from now.

Now we have a subject, Mr. Steve, to, to talk about.

And we are we are looking at making, I suppose, making mistakes or getting things wrong.

And I will put something on the screen for us to look at. Oh, look at that.

There is a lot going on there.

In that

picture there is a very worried looking cat on the screen saying

it's gone wrong, it's gone wrong, which is something we might say when something does not go to plan,

when something does not go very well, we can say that it's gone wrong.

For example, these

these boats look like they've gone wrong as well.

They're they're lying on their sides.

They are not upright.

So things can go wrong in life. It is a fact of life.

As we are about to discover right now,

the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Do you know who said that? Steve?

That's, a famous, author.

I don't think it was Shakespeare.

Nope. Peeps. Samuel. Peeps. Try something. Try further north.

Further north in this country.

Bass bands. Was it rugby band?

Oh, a well done.

Yes. Really?

Robbie Burns concerns, I mean. Yes, well, Burns. Yeah, it's he wrote that.

I think it's 17. I want to say 1781.

It was the late 1700s that Robbie Burns wrote that.

He also wrote it in very broad Scottish.

So that is actually something that often is quoted.

But in fact, in the original poem, in the original.

Thing he wrote the the text is very different Scottish.

The Scots accent or the language used in Scotland is very hard to work through.

It really is quite complicated.

So most people these days will say the best laid plans of mice and men

often go awry, which means that things go wrong.

Even if you put a lot of care and a lot of attention into it, quite often things will go awry.

It's a great word, isn't it?

Yes. So that people often shorten it to just the best laid plans of mice and men, and then everybody knows the rest.

I paraphrase it quite often.

Yes, it means that no matter how much you might plan for something, it can still go wrong

due to something unforeseen

or something you hadn't planned for, or something just random that happens,

that you didn't know or didn't anticipate was going to happen, despite the fact that you really delved into this

and really planned for something like it could be a wedding, you planned for a wedding plan everything, and then you forgot.

Forget to think about the weather.

And everybody's sitting outside, in a field, and, everyone gets muddy

because the forecast was going to be good, but then it suddenly changed. Or something.

Something goes. Something goes wrong.

You're going out somewhere to an important appointment you've planned, for maybe an interview.

You've for a job, you've planned everything. And then your car breaks down on the way home,

and you could say I the best laid plans of mice and men.

There is another law, isn't there?

Is it Murphy's Law?

Oh, well, what I was going to say, Steve. There you can shorten it even more.

So a lot of people will say the best laid plans without saying anything else.

So most people will recognise this particular passage without even saying it completely.

So we might even say, you know what they say. The best laid plans.

Yeah.

So you using that phrase as, as, as an explanation as to why things go wrong.

You're saying that in, you know, a chaotic world you cannot predict

for everything now, and sometimes things just will go wrong

because you can't foresee every eventuality. Sorry.

Something that you're planning to do. Sorry, Steve. What what what were you going to say?

That.

Is there a law that called Murphy's Law now that's.

Yeah, that's a bit different.

It's a bit different, but it's similar in that, you know, something can go wrong. It will go wrong.

Is, is a sort of a, a folk law sort of,

I think is it called Murphy's Law?

Someone can look it up, know that you're right.

Murphy's law is if something could go wrong, it will go wrong.

And that that's kind of saying that it's in a situation where everything has to go well or has to be perfect.

You can almost guarantee

that there will be problems.

And we often say that's that's Murphy's Law.

Whatever could go wrong will go wrong.

It's a it's almost like you're saying that the, the, the gods are working against you.

And yes, you're almost sort of saying that somehow that things of that there's some kind of,

energy or spirits are working in the background to sort of deliberately make things go wrong.

I think can go wrong. It will. I think it's more about odds.

The odds, yes, of things happening anyway. Moving on

is a new word, says Beatrice. Yes.

If something goes awry, yes, it means it. Just something doesn't go according to plan.

Yes,

it goes off track and there's obviously a silent W in there awry.

Okay. You don't pronounce the w. We've got to move on Steve.

It is true that things don't always go to plan.

Things do not always go to plan.

So when something does go to plan it means it is successful.

But quite often it is true that things don't always go to plan, not as you planned them to go or to be.

However, however carefully you plan ahead, things can go wrong.

So I think it is fair to say, Steve, no matter how much work, how much preparation,

no matter how hard you concentrate on all of those things, there is always a chance

that something will go wrong.

Always.

Now, one of my favourites, of course, is something that you plan.

Maybe an event.

And as I'm sure you know what I'm going to say.

Maybe you plan some sort of event outdoors during the summer

because you always assume, don't you, that during the summer months the weather will be nice?

So you planned something for outside an outdoor event.

However, maybe you plan everything carefully, but there is one thing you can't plan, isn't there, Steve?

The weather.

The weather?

Well, you can to a certain extent, but then it could be wrong.

But you don't mean you don't plan the weather though.

You don't plan the weather, but you can plan for it.

Yeah, which is a different thing altogether. That's it.

So even if you have a wonderful event prepared during the August bank holiday, perhaps it might rain for the whole weekend.

But yes, you're right, Steve, that that is a good point.

By the way.

That is a good point.

You can have something in place or something ready to replace that thing.

So even if something goes wrong, sometimes it is best to have a second plan.

You are right a problem.

So we are looking at some ways of expressing this.

Now Steve, you can have a problem,

a difficulty.

I like this word snag.

You can have a snag a hold-up or you can have a glitch.

So those are some very interesting words.

I suppose we know the word problem.

You have a problem is something that you have to solve.

A problem is something that is presented to you that must be solved.

There must be a solution to the problem.

So a problem can be mathematical, it can be a question or of course it can be a situation that you have to put right.

And then we have a difficulty.

Difficulty once again difficulty.

It can be something not too hard or not too bad or something very, very bad.

So we often talk about difficulty when there is a situation we are in

where that there is a certain problem taking place, isn't there?

Yes. Yes. The difficulty. Yes.

Something it's not suggesting that, the plans have gone completely wrong and are insurmountable.

It's just it's saying that you've got a problem, that you need, a difficulty that needs sorting out.

A snag is a good one, a snag that might be a new word for a lot of people.

It is a good word, a snag.

So if you, it just means, maybe a minor little problem that needs to be overcome.

If you were to go out walking, for example, and you caught your jumper or your coat

in, in a twig or a bit of wire along a path, oh, yeah, it's a snag, isn't it?

It's a it's a minor little inconvenience that needs to be sorted out.

You could be preparing a report at work, and, you've got to you've got to print all these things out.

But there's something wrong with a printer.

It's a snag. It's. It's just a minor thing that needs sorting out.

Just an example there.

You might describe it as a hold-up or something that is just holding you back briefly.

So a task that. That's correct.

Very task snag a hold up. Again.

Very interesting.

Maybe you, you are on the way to a meeting or an interview.

You might have a hold-up something that is slowing you down, something that is stopping you from proceeding.

There is a hold-up.

So maybe you are driving somewhere, Steve, for an interview, or maybe you are waiting for something to be delivered.

There is a hold-up something is causing the delay.

Something is in the way it is stopping you from getting somewhere.

It is stopping something from arriving to you.

There's a Hold-Up you've ordered something of, an online site ordering site,

and you think it's going to come the next day, and then you get an email to say there's been a hold-up

because the item that you ordered

is either suddenly gone out of stock or, the, the there aren't enough vans to deliver it to you

or some reason a hold up, hold up in your order because something's gone wrong in the production process or

it being delivered to you or something like that.

It means, it's usually temporary.

Yeah.

A hold up suggests that you weren't going to get something when you thought you were.

Instead of coming in one day or two days, it's going to take 3 or 4 days.

Could be longer.

And of course we have glitch.

Glitch is interesting as well.

We often use glitch these days when something electronic goes wrong,

something mechanical, something we are using a certain tool or something.

So you can have a glitch or something that is not functioning as it should, something that is suddenly going wrong.

You have a slight fault in the system.

Yeah, maybe in a certain process that should be taking place, maybe nothing major, but it's something that isn't going

how you would like it to.

Like. For example, Mr.

Duncan sometimes does the live streams and there's a glitch in the system.

He can't.

Maybe there's a slight delay in the sound or something like that, or

something that needs correcting.

Could be the sound or the pictures not quite right,

because there's a setting that's not right somewhere or, or the internet might not be working properly.

A glitch as sort of a an annoying but relatively small but annoying problem

that, doesn't stop you doing what you're doing completely.

But, it's probably unexpected.

It's a bit like a snag, in a way,

but a glitch is is is, as Mr. Duncan said,

sort of specifically tends to be used for sort of electrical, electrical, electronic problems, something to do with technology.

These days.

You use the word glitch, something that should be working isn't, yes, something that should be working, that isn't

that that does happen to do with technology.

That does happen quite often.

He's here in my little studio.

The problem can occur at any moment before, during or after.

So that is interesting. It's an interesting point to make a problem.

Something can go wrong before,

during or even after.

So even after something that can be a problem, even after you've finished, even after that thing is over,

you could still have some sort of problem or difficulty.

Now that does sound strange, but it does happen.

You can have a problem after the thing has occurred.

So before, during and after.

And I think that's fairly easy to express.

Something planned might fall through.

Now there is an interesting phrase we often use is don't we, Steve?

When some sort of arrange payment or plan is in place, maybe people have to meet in a certain place at a certain time.

Maybe something has to occur at a certain place or a certain time, but something might fall through.

Yes. You could be, trying to

you could be a salesperson trying to get a deal sorted out with it, with a company to, for them to buy your products.

You you you think it's all going very well?

And but at the last minute, they decide not to sign on the dotted line.

You could say the deal has fallen through.

It means it's, something fairly catastrophic has happened.

Yes. For them to, to not go through with the deal.

So everything was planned, but sadly, it all fell through.

Maybe you are selling your house.

Maybe there is a deal that is going to take place.

But at the last moment it all falls.

Somebody pulls out, somebody decides that could be a question that they've asked.

And the answer that you give them isn't what they like. So they pull out.

They,

they they and the what they going to do with buying the house.

If you, if they pull out, it means that they, they decide not to do it anymore and the deal falls through.

But as you say, it could be, it could be meeting up with friends. It could be a Christmas party.

But it all falls through because the restaurant, too many people, for example, are cancelled because of illness.

Or the restaurant says that they can't do it on that date anymore or on that time.

And everybody says, well, I don't want to do it anymore.

So you can say, oh, the meeting's fallen through.

Yeah, here's another one, Steve. We will try to squeeze.

I will try to squeeze a couple of more in before we go and arrangement or a planned event will not go ahead.

Something you were planning to do will now not happen.

It will not go ahead. We can use words such as

cancelled, you cancel something.

So if you look in red we have the word cancel.

Something you were going to do is not happening anymore.

Or of course we can say it has been cancelled.

You can call off something.

Something you were going to do.

You have changed your mind now.

It will not happen a meeting. Let's call the meeting off. Let's call it off.

Because some problem something's gone wrong has been a problem.

The meeting was called off.

The race, the football match was called off due to bad weather or something.

And then we can abandon something.

You might abandon your plans.

You might abandon your intentions.

Something you are going to do. Here's an interesting one. Abort.

Now, that's an interesting one.

Because abort means to stop something whilst

it is happening.

So maybe you are starting something, you are doing something and you abort that thing.

For example, maybe you are launching a rocket

and as the rocket starts to lift off, maybe there is some sort of problem and so you will abort.

You will make sure the rocket goes somewhere safe, you will change the direction in which it's going.

But of course you can stop the launch before it happens.

That's it.

So maybe you are counting down to the launch and there is a problem.

So you can actually abort the launch of the rocket?

Yes, quite often it means to abort something means you've got all the plans in place, you're about to start

and then at the last minute something's gone wrong.

There's a problem and you have to abort. Abort.

Don't do what you're going to do because the if you do, the outcome will be catastrophic.

So yeah, if you use the word abort, it means you're stopping doing something

because if you were to carry on, it would be it would be a disaster.

A catastrophe in the last minute, the last second.

You've detected a problem that, it could be potentially catastrophic and it could be as you say, a launching a rocket.

It could be a meeting that you're planning to have. Let's abort that meeting.

You know, because somebody suddenly turned up that's going to cause problems.

And you don't want you don't want the meeting to go ahead, abort.

And, of course, we can withdraw from something

you can pull out of something if you are going to be involved and then you decide not to be involved.

You pull out, you decide at the last moment to change your mind and pull out.

And then, of course, something might fail.

Or as we mentioned a few moments ago, Steve, it can fall through.

Yeah.

Something that you had arranged, something that was going to happen is no longer

is no longer happening because something has happened.

The person has changed their mind, talking of things that have fallen through.

We have fallen through

the moment where we have to go.

We are now heading towards not being here with you in front of your in front of your face.

Talking of glitches, a few people are mentioning we don't have to deal with this now.

Is it okay? Well well yeah that's alright. I'm sorting that out Steve.

That's fine. Okay. So we've had a few glitches so we've got examples there. We've had a few glitches today.

Okay Steve. But that's fine. Lovely.

I shall go into the kitchen and, do the usual cup, make a cup of tea and some tea cake, toast for Mr.

Duncan.

I am ready, and I'll sit in front of the television, fall asleep and, and, then go to bed.

Right. Lovely to be here.

I hope you've learned something today. I have, I was learn from all of you on here.

And, it's always a wonderful experience, so.

See you. I won't be here next week, so see you in two weeks. But Mr. Duncan will be here on Wednesday.

He's got lots of other lessons planned during the week, so look out for those. And he'll.

He will, of course, be here next Sunday.

There is lots coming up in December.

Thank you Steve.

Bye bye.

There he goes. That is Mr. Steve.

He is with us every week giving his giving us an insight into his life.

Thank you very much for your company. I'm going now.

I hope you've enjoyed today's live stream.

It has been a busy one and of course you can watch it all over again with captions later on as well.

As soon as I prepare them, and as soon as YouTube allows me to do it, I.

I will have captions on

the live stream so you can watch it again and again as many times as you want.

It's slowly getting dark outside.

I'm just looking outside the window now and I can see it is slowly getting dark outside.

The days are so short right now as winter arrives.

Thank you very much for your company. Thank you, shy Rebel.

Mr. Duncan, you are awesome. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Shy rebel or sheer shy shearer blade. Sorry about that.

Shearer blade.

Thank you, Mr. Duncan. Thank you as well.

I hope you've enjoyed today's live stream.

I'm back with you on Wednesday from 2 p.m.

UK time.

And of course I will be with you as well next Sunday.

No Mr.

Steve next week.

He is busy with his Christmas concerts and I will see you soon.

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

Stay happy, stay safe.

Keep that smile upon your face as you walk amongst the human race.

And of course...

Ta ta for now.

See you on Wednesday.