ENGLISH ADDICT - LESSON 6 - Success / Failure - AUTUMN - SUNDAY 17th November 2019

why do I always have to cut it so fine what does that mean I will explain in a

moment hello there welcome it is another English addict live

hmm if you cut it fine it means you do

something with very little time remaining today I was really cutting it

very fine because I was doing many things this morning some of the things I

might talk about later on and some of them I'm definitely not going to mention

so today I was really cutting it fine mr. Duncan why do you have to cut it

fine it means you do something in a hurry because time is running out you

might remember in the movie Back to the Future that was actually used that

phrase Oh doc why do you have to cut it so fine without any time to spare so I

hope that helps you here is a tip for everyone who one day wants to be a

presenter on their own live stream can I just give you some advice here one piece

of advice that is very useful you might want to have a tic tac before you go on

so I always find if you have a tic tac before you start your live stream it

makes your throat very relaxed so I always pop a tic tac into my mouth

before I start doing my live broadcast except today because unfortunately I was

in a bit of a rush so I hope I wasn't too late so is there anyone out there

well I hope you are relaxed I hope you are having a lovely comfortable time do

you know why because it's Sunday

mmm-hmm it is it's Sunday everyone I hope you are having a super-duper day it

is the weekend it has arrived and it is still with us I hope you have had a good

weekend yesterday I went out walking with mr. Steve we went into town and on

the way we saw lots of beautiful things would you like to have a look at what I

filmed yesterday so this is what I filmed yesterday as we walked around oh

look at that at the moment the weather is very autumnal very misty not too cold

however it is rather damp so there you can see one of the views from yesterday

as I was walking around you can see in the distance there is a man walking his

dog I hope it doesn't do a poo on the path because people don't like that I

don't like it I certainly don't like treading in dog poo

to be honest with you and also we have another view there looking the other way

oh yes you can see the leaves have definitely started falling now

everything looks very or terminal I don't know about you but I love autumn I

think autumn is one of my most favorite seasons of the year we will be talking a

little bit about autumn today because well it really just feel as if autumn is

in the air and as if you needed any more demonstration as to how or terminal

everything is at the moment look at that there I am walking through the leaves

yesterday with my big long legs can I tell you a story the other week when I

was climbing over one of the fences near my house I actually fell off the fence

so yes that wasn't very nice and one more shot from our lovely

autum walk yesterday there it is there is mr. Steve in the distance oh hello

Steve

and you can see lots of leaves on the ground it really does look like autumn

has definitely arrived we had a little bit of snow last week but we haven't had

any more snow at all at the moment so we've had no more snow fortunately even

though autumn is definitely in the air I think it's very safe to say mm-hmm

definitely so here we are English addict for you English addicts out there and

for those who've never watched before hello my name is mr. Duncan and I hope

you are having a good day I teach English on YouTube and I've been doing

that for a long time in fact I would imagine that some of my viewers were

actual babies or very young children when I started making my youtube lessons

just to make me feel really really old hello to the live chat oh hello live

chat I'm sorry I haven't forgotten about you don't worry hello - grace grace chin

congratulations to you you are first on today's live chat which as usual

deserves a super-duper round of applause

it always makes me so happy when I see all of my regular viewers and of course

some of my new viewers on the live chat if it is your first time today let me

know you can tell me mr. Duncan it's my first time on the live chat

hello also not one thing you were second today on the live chat not first like

last week also we have Jimmy hello Jimmy watching in Hong Kong

lots of dramatic things taking place at the moment in Hong Kong hello Jimmy

hello Duncan from Jimmy in Hong Kong hello also - ciao hi Joe and Olga

business new win is here as well in Vietnam

Hiroko can I say a big thank you to Hiroko and also can I say a big thank

you to all my lovely donators who have sent some kind donations can I say a big

thank you to Hiroko sujin massimo and also Petros for your

lovely donations that I've received over the last few days thank you very much

and of course we can't forget our lovely patreon supporters as well my patreon

supporters have been supporting me for it must be nearly three maybe four years

now so thank you to my patreon supporters Mika ding Andrew Julie

Michael Anna and also Oleg as well thank you very much for supporting me

it's lovely to have your support and also your company as well don't forget I

do all of this for free if you want to get in touch you are more than welcome

to do so you can even send a donation by yourself if you want

hmm I never know what's happening on Sundays anymore sometimes I have a large

audience and sometimes I don't have a very large audience I really don't know

why last week we had a huge audience so I'm hoping that we will repeat it again

today hello Eric hello Martha hello Maria

hello Maria and waving to you now Chris is here also Grande

hello Grande nice to see you greetings from Brazil and hello to you thanks for

joining me on Sunday we are now live across the internet across the world

wide wobble hello also to Marella Cory Caesar and also Umi Armour hello to you

as well one of the questions I'm asking today if you could be a character from

one of your favorite TV shows movies or maybe literature what character or which

character would you be so if you could be any character maybe a favorite

character from one of your TV shows that you enjoy watching or maybe a movie or

maybe a book that you've read in the past if there is a favorite character

that you would love to be somebody you would love to be like if you remember

last Sunday I mentioned that when I was at school I used to pretend to be c-3po

from Star Wars so that's what I did in my childhood which explains a lot when

you think about it so if you could be any character from fiction or nonfiction

so maybe something from a fantasy novel or a fantasy film or maybe something

romantic perhaps so please let me know also we have the mystery idiom coming

today well in fact I think we will do it now

can I just say first of all to Joey can I say to Joey that this is not a

repeated not Joey Jimmy hello Jimmy in Hong Kong so

today's mystery idiom is not a repeat from last year this is a brand new

mystery idiom and here it comes right now

so just say what you see today's mystery idiom is on your screen right now but

what is it what is the mystery idiom what is it if you think you know the

answer let me know you can say mr. Duncan I know what it is because I'm a

clever clogs so if you think you know what the mystery idiom is you can leave

your message on the Live Chat

I hope you're having a good day hello also to lots of people joining right now

hello Kevin Cheung watching in China the mainland of China so not Hong Kong but

actually on the mainland where we talk about mainland China we mean the big

chunk that is China itself so quite often we will talk about mainland China

where we mean the big chunk of China the thing that looks a little bit like a

cockerel some people say that China the shape of China looks a little bit like a

giant chicken or cockerel so that's why hello also to emmen hello also to Irene

Eman gives a little clue to what the mystery idiom might be hello also to

Cesar again great minds think alike oh that's an interesting one

I wonder why you've said that I'm not sure why bit trees is here oh if I could

be someone from a book film or TV show I would be Elizabeth Bennett from Pride

and Prejudice I love Jane Austen stories I would say I

know I'm taking a risk here because we are living in the 21st century when

everyone is very sensitive but I think Jane Austen is really for women I think

women enjoy reading Jane Austen books I don't know any men who read romantic

novels I don't know anyone who reads romantic novels men I know lots of

ladies and lots of women who like reading romantic stories Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice mr. Darcy no mr. Darcy my heart doth

later when you walk by mr. Darcy so what about you do you have a favorite

character so we've had Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and I think

romantic stories romantic movies are mainly watched by ladies if there are

any men watching the movie quite often they have been dragged there by their

girlfriend or wife I think so christina is here Louie Mendez Allah

Luis Mendez watching in France zhabin also Belarus ER nice to see you back as

well all of our lovely regular viewers if it is your first time let me know

hello - Winston Winston 1975 I've never seen you here before

is it your first time on the live stream if it is please say it's my first time

Oscar hello Oscar people are talking about you at the

moment well not you personally but they are talking about the Oscars because at

the start of next year they will be giving out those lovely statues to the

actor actress or director writer camera operator tea boy or tea girl of course

must remember that so the Oscars are in the news people talking about which

movie might get an Oscar next year hello Cory I would like to be the little

prince by saint-exupery Thank You Cory yes the little prince now I saw an

animation a few months ago on Netflix called the little prince and I have a

feeling it was the same story I think it was Irene come on Irene join in my show

and say hello thank you very much to you I mean yes

Pride and Prejudice I also enjoy romantic music says Eman yes I suppose

so now I think men and women can enjoy romantic songs I think you're right

there Thank You Kristina now this is something

I was watching the other night on the news very worrying scenes

hello mr. Duncan Venice is flooded one of the most beautiful cities in the

world not only the whole of Italy is hit by the pouring rain but also heavy

snowfall in northern Italy so Venice at the moment is suffering a lot I saw some

terrible pictures the other night where the water level has risen so high it's

now starting to go into some of the old buildings and they are now worried that

some of the old buildings might actually collapse because the water is washing

underneath the buildings and as you know Venice sits on a very precarious piece

of land so even though Venice appears to be very stable despite the fact there's

water flowing all around it normally at the moment the water level has gone very

high so many of the buildings are being damaged and in some cases there is a

fear that they might collapse so yes very sad sights very sad scenes coming

from Venice at the moment hello also - I see hello also - Mohamed thank you nice

to see you here saying hello from Sudan thank you very much yes we do have

people from all over the world watching at the moment thank you also to grande

again yes it is very sad what is happening in Venice some of the

buildings hundreds of years old Venice is one of those countries that

I've always sorry not countries one of those places I've always

wanted a visit I've never had a chance to go there Italy I've always wanted to

visit Italy especially southern Italy I don't know why I've always been

strangely attracted to Italy hello to satury no ciao mr. Duncan in the

background I can hear birds yes there are some birds in the background because

I have my window open now mr. Steve this morning decided to

put the heating on in the house and now in my studio because I have heating and

also lots of lights which generate tons of heat I am boiling at the moment so

yes it's very hot here in the studio very hot indeed

Frederico armed' hello to Dubai nice to see you here as well so many

people here today oh my goodness not as many as last week I don't know what

happened last week I think maybe the YouTube's algorithms had gone to sleep

and people were actually being informed about my livestream however it looks as

if the YouTube algorithms have taken their revenge today on me I've had a

busy week I am trying to design a website I didn't realize it was such a

hard thing to do and my eyes have been hurting so much this week they really

have mr. Duncan let me send my beloved greetings to hastings 1066 where i spent

a whole week last summer hastings yes the place where a very

famous battle took place in 1066 Irene Luis Mendez what is the weather like in

your country asks Irene we've had loads of rain yesterday I was walking with

Steve and there was a lot of water around and apparently there is going to

be more rain on the way as well Oh so I thought we would have a look at

something or terminal I don't know why I thought it would be nice today to have

an excerpt from one of my favorite lessons and this lesson is describing

and talking all about the particular season that we are going through at the

moment here in the UK autumn autumn is approaching time to roll down your

sleeves the first evening chill arrives with the falling of the leaves red and

gold become to worse the colour of change and decay for as the seasons are

concerned this has always been the way these changes have and always will

decide how things must be autumns fall and a winter's chill will choose the

fates of you and me

trees that lose their leaves in autumn are called

deciduous this word relates to the loss of the leaves which normally turn gold

or red before falling to the ground and surprisingly trees that never lose their

leaves are referred to as evergreen tropical trees are almost always

evergreen as they usually exist in countries where the temperature and

moisture level is high all year round

so what makes autumn so special well just like spring autumn is a period of

transition you could say that it is the opposite of spring in the sense of it

being the time when plants and trees and even many wild animals prepare for the

onset or arrival of winter it is the season when almost everything in nature

wind down the leaves on the trees turn gold and fall to the ground flowers will

wither away after shedding their seeds animals will begin to store food in

their nests and burrows the days will become shorter and the nighttime

temperature will begin to drop

everyone has their own favorite season for me I have to pick summer as my

favorite closely followed by spring autumn and winter I would love to live

in a place that has long hot summers a sunny climate really does cheer the soul

but then I would find myself missing the unique sensation of walking out on a

snowy winters day so living in England gives me the chance to experience both

with spring and autumn added is a pleasant bonus do you have many seasons

in your country which one is your favorite autumn serves as a reminder to

us all that everything has a pattern a beginning and an end the seasons come

and go even in places where those changes are very subtle but exist they

do even in our lives there are seasons a time to grow a time to blossom a time to

live and a time to die these changes have and

always will decide how things must be autumns fall and winters chill will

choose the fates of you and me

oh I hope you enjoyed that an excerpt from my autumn lesson one of my all-time

favorite lessons by the way it is live it is here it is happening right no

spontaneous English chat it is English addict live on a Sunday afternoon hello

to everyone watching at the moment hello to Guadalupe

hello also to Palmyra and also to ham Oh hallo hallo hallo a very interesting

name there hello also de Belarusian now it would

appear that Belarusian in her life has had things go wrong but also one of the

things that Belarusian says and I love the comment by the way is I never give

up I always persevere today we are talking

about success and failure here's a word by the way that a lot of people spell

incorrectly so many people get this wrong when they spell it so failure and

success words connected to those things sometimes I also like to bring up words

to do with business English and here's an interesting one middle man have you

ever heard of this phrase the middle man especially in business is a person who

you do business with when you are buying and selling so quite often the middle

man will be the person who is involved with buying or selling so they are in

the middle of the process of you earning money or making a profit in your

business so the middle man can also be described as the go-between a go-between

is the middle man for example if you are in a shop you need the supplier you need

the person who will give you goods so they are the middleman they are

in between you and the customer so the middleman is the person who supplies

your goods so you can sell them to your customer so we often refer to the person

involved in the middle as the middleman and once again here we are in the 21st

century and some people might say mr. Duncan that is very sexist that is very

prejudiced well this is a phrase that's been around for a long time and I don't

think it's going away to be honest I suppose these days you could say middle

person middle human perhaps so middleman a person who is involved in the process

of supplying or passing on something to another person who would then sell it to

their customers so the middleman the go-between the person who is in the

middle is literally the middleman however sometimes in business you want

to cut out the middleman so sometimes you like to find your own supplies by

yourself or maybe you create your own products so if you create your own

products the things you create are yours and you have made them we can say that

you cut out the middleman so there is no one involved in the middle of your

business because you cut out the middleman quite often if you are working

in retail if you are working for yourself sometimes you need to make sure

that all of those expenses stay low so now and again if you cut out the

middleman it can save you a lot of money and of course you can make more profit

hello also to Palmero who is here yes lots of people are talking about the

floods that are happening at the moment a spare

in Venice it would appear that Venice is normally under water but now it's really

under water hello mr. Duncan I like your autumn

lesson with my oh I did I did your autumn lesson with my English teacher

last year it is a great lesson Thank You Beatrice it is also one of my favorite

lessons as well it was fun to make and also it was nice to edit so as you know

I love looking out the window I love looking at nature in fact right now I am

looking out the window at the moment and there is the view right now so there is

a live view looking outside you can see it's very misty it really does look as

if autumn has arrived and looking the other way

look at that you can really see that everywhere is very misty there is lots

of cloud overhead it isn't bright it isn't sunny it isn't too cold however

normally in autumn things become very damp so outside the weather is damp so

it isn't good weather for drying your washing so during the autumn you will

never see people hanging there washing on the line

because it won't dry hello Emin I think besides perseverance humans should also

have discipline well I think so especially when it comes to having

success and that's something we are talking about today so if you want to

have success I think sometimes you need two things and I mean just mentioned

them perseverance and also a little bit of discipline as well so I always find

when I read stories about people who have had success in their life

quite often they've had periods of

failure so quite often a person who is successful or becomes successful

quite often has periods of failure as well you might find people who become

successful actors or singers may have spent years in years doing that same

thing with no success whatsoever so you might find that a famous actor maybe

they struggled for many years before someone noticed them they took notice of

that person and then suddenly their career takes off they become a success

so there are many lovely words connected to the word success of course you you

can have success when things go your way when you have a good period of time

maybe in business you have success you are successful you have success so to

have success is to succeed you succeed in the thing you are doing you have lots

of success I suppose another word you could use

victory so you might have a victory you win a battle maybe you are trying your

best to create your own business or maybe your own website oh dear I can't

even say the word if I tried to say website I hate it because I've been

trying to make my own website and it's not going very well so victory is when

you succeed when you have success maybe there is something you are trying to do

something you are trying to do well and eventually you get it right you have

your success you have victory quite often I think that word is underused I

like the word victory you are victorious for tuned here's another one normally if

you have success we quite often say that you have good fortune so we often think

of fortune as belonging to having money or connected to being wealthy so you

might have a lot of money you might be so successful that you earn lots of

money you have good fortune so fortune can also mean just to have things go

your way so you have success you have fortune things go well for you here's a

nice expression if you have success if something goes right you can say it all

came together so maybe you have a business plan maybe for many weeks you

design your website you put together your business plan and then everything

works perfectly you have success you can say it all came together

I had success everything worked out the way I planned so if it all came together

it means it worked and you have had success here's a good one

this describes a person who is good at their job maybe they are good at a

certain profession or maybe they are good at performing maybe they are a good

singer or actor we can say that they are top of the game so when we talk about

game here we are just talking about the area or the business or the type of

thing you are doing so to be top of the game means that you are successful you

are having a lot of success in the thing that you are doing you are top of the

game or they can be top of their game so maybe a footballer who is very

successful and scores lots of goals during the season we can say that they

are top of their game although in that case it is literally a game that they

are playing so you can be top of the game it means you are doing very well in

your chosen profession the thing you have decided to do you are now

successful you are top of the game quite like that one here's another one I like

this one as well to go from strength to strength if you go from strength to

strength it means things are still going well you are still having success so if

your business is going from strength to strength it means it is going very well

my business is going from strength to strength things are going really well at

the moment so if you go from strength to strength it means you

are having continued success your success is carrying on so sometimes you

might lose your success you might slowly fail however the opposite is to go from

strength to strength things are going well for me at the moment you might say

that things are going from strength to strength I like it

I like it a lot Rakesh what is the best way to write in English and keep clearly

I make more mistakes well writing is a very complicated skill

now one of the best ways to improve your writing and this is something I've

mentioned in the past is to copy something from a book so if you want to

learn grammar rules as you go along in a practical way so when we say practical

we mean you are actually doing the thing in question you are doing it so maybe

you can find one of your favorite books or maybe a book about a subject you are

interested in and then just sit down get a piece of paper not a computer don't do

it on the computer do it by hand it is a very good way of getting words and also

grammar rules into your brain because you are using your brain in a different

way right and as you write your brain is

registering those words and all of those grammar rules in a different way so

that's one of my my big ideas one of my tips so I hope that helps you chris says

yesterday I became a successful blood donor when I attended a Red Cross and

radio charity event after I donated blood I was interviewed by a well-known

local radio stay oh very nice so Chris Morales was giving

blood I must be honest with you I'm not a big fan of having needles stuck in my

arm or anywhere else for that matter so I don't really like needles

I've never donated blood there isn't any reason for it before anyone starts

thinking in their head or I wonder why why oh why doesn't he donate blood there

is no reason why I can't donate blood I can donate blood and I am protesting too

much there so but I'm not a fan I don't want to see my blood coming out of my

body to be honest I like my blood inside my body I always think the best place

for my blood is inside my body even if I get a paper cut III I hate it I hate

looking at the blood coming out of my body it's horrible so yes I'm not a big

fan of blood seeing it especially in real life maybe maybe in a horror movie

it's not too bad because it's not real but in real life I'm not very good at

looking at blood hello neo hello also to Lois again hello Anna nice to see you

back with us chatting away by the way tomorrow

can you guess what I'm doing tomorrow I'm doing something tomorrow I won't say

what I'm doing I will ask you to guess what I'm doing tomorrow but I'm doing

something tomorrow and also Tuesday and it has nothing to do with my new website

nothing to do with that by the way you can catch me Sunday Wednesday and Friday

from 2 p.m. UK time for those who are wondering when can we see you those are

the days and also the time as well the time is always the same hello - Rakesh

can you please tell me some advice I want to speak English in a few days

rakesh that isn't going to happen I'm afraid you can't learn English in a few

days unfortunately I always like to be honest

and sometimes maybe my answer will be a little blunt but you can't learn English

you can't learn to speak English in a few days

Cristina I love the poetry of your videos thank you Christina yes I do

sometimes sit down and I I feel inspired by something I think this is something

that happens to all people who are creative I would consider myself as

being a creative person and sometimes I have inspiration something just pops in

my head and I can't resist writing something down so quite often I will

write little pieces of poetry or maybe a little passage that has some deep

meaning so I do do that sometimes not always but if I get the muse if I get

the feeling I always act on it quite a loop mr. Duncan have you ever studied

something about art like photography or something like that your videos are

beautiful I have never studied photography I have never studied video

editing never so I didn't go to media school I didn't go to film school

everything I've done I've taught myself I've had to learn by myself so once

again proving that you can do these things so so all of my videos all of the

lessons that you see have been filmed created edited that the music has been

edited by me as well so everything you see and hear in some way has been

created or edited by me but I have no background in the film industry or

television industry I nothing to do with that I've taught

myself everything to do with design even studio layout so designing your own

studio using the lighting using the backgrounds using everything I've taught

myself so no I've never done that I've never taken a proper course in media

studies or anything like that hello Irene satury no what is your

country where is satury no asks Irene

Belarusian says my favorite television character was dr. Quinn oh yes dr. Quinn

Medicine Woman that was her name I can't remember the

name of the actress who played her I can't remember her name but yes I

remember dr. Quinn Medicine Woman I think it was around in I want to say the

early 1990s it was a long time ago but yes I suppose you could describe dr.

Quinn Medicine Woman as a heroine a person who is heroic a female who is

heroic is a heroine mr. Duncan you are a very sensitive and creative man we

really appreciate it Thank You Guadalupe I go through phases like all people who

create things I go through phases periods of time where I have a lot of

creative energy and then suddenly it all disappears so I have to wait until it

comes back so anyone who writes or paints or creates anything quite often

will have periods of creativity and then periods of no creativity so I think it's

it's something that affects everyone who is in the creative field

thank you too Frederika I think you are very creative I like your lessons

because they are always original I try to be original even this even my live

stream I always try to make it different from everyone else so everyone else has

their way of doing their English lessons some people like what they do and some

people like what I do sometimes Julie thank you very much Julie for saying

hello so we have talked about success I suppose now we should talk about failure

oh dear failure it is not a positive subject however sometimes failure can be

a good thing some people believe that failure is the mother of success so

sometimes when you fail it might push you to try harder do better next time

so sometimes failure can be the mother of success so when you fail if you have

failure or you have a failure it means something doesn't work out the way you

expect it something does not happen the way you wanted it to you have failure or

you have a failure maybe if you are designing a new type of engine maybe it

doesn't work properly it is a failure so you go back you try again you make some

changes but maybe next time it will work maybe next time you will have success so

the word failure is something we will hear quite often if something doesn't

happen so maybe you are waiting for something to occur but it doesn't happen

we might say that it is a failure it failed

here's a word that we're hearing quite a lot at the moment collapse here at the

moment even the here in the UK many businesses are on the verge or near

to collapse there are one or two businesses some of the businesses that

have been around for many years are on the verge they are about to collapse so

this is something that's happening in the UK and I'm sure in many places

around the world as well so collapse is another way of describing a thing that's

failed maybe a business so a business might collapse if it's not successful

maybe it builds too many debts so it has a lot of debts that it has to pay pay

back we often call those overheads so overheads are the things that you have

to pay for the things that cost you money in your business and sometimes the

overheads are more than your profits and quite often the business will collapse

collapse it will fail here's another one something that is a failure might be

described as a letdown something is a letdown so this in its sense here is a

noun you are describing something as a letdown or maybe an adjective even so if

something is a letdown or you feel let down by your failure so this can be used

in more than one way so you can feel let down or something can be a letdown I'm

sorry I was going along the other night to the opening of that new store but

when I got inside I wasn't very impressed it was a letdown

it was disappointing I think it will be a failure

oh dear drop the ball or dropped the ball if you want to use the past tense

so dropped the ball if you have dropped the ball

you have been careless maybe your failure was caused by not paying

attention to your business maybe you are being lazy with your business plan maybe

you weren't putting enough work or energy into the thing you were doing you

dropped the ball and because of that you had failure oh do you mean

hello Rakesh hello or so Mohammed again we always need phrasal verbs I think so

yes I think phrasal verbs are very useful in English but you have to choose

the right time to use them talking of phrases and idioms here is today's

mystery idiom there it is today's mystery idiom all you have to do

is tell me what it is it is a well-known phrase in English I think I think maybe

there have been maybe two correct answers to that I see very nice so I

think maybe there are two correct answers to that at the moment

I will give you the answer a little bit later on sir do you have any failure

moments that broke your heart me we don't have enough time to talk about the

things that I fail that I have had so many failures in my life in fact quite

often when I look back at the things that I failed at I realize that I I did

gain something from it so even though something fails even though sometimes I

wasn't successful sometimes you might find that there is some experience from

that failure that you can take with you so I don't think failure is always a bad

thing although if you have it too often it can be a little bit disappointing to

say the least but yes you can have a lot of failure in your life especially in

your young years when you are young you are still starting out on the road of

life so you can have a lot of failure a lot of things can not go the way you

planned or maybe they turn out to be a disappointment I think so

I think Guadeloupe has been a little bit distracted by my live stream I have to

do some work in my house and I have been dropping the ball why what have you been

doing I think you've been distracted by my live streams I think so Helen a

success is a dangerous situation you can fall very quickly when you don't have

the ability to continue to work at it day after day this is the thing that

I've experienced in the past doing this because it looks easy I'm going to be

honest with you it does look easy all I'm doing is standing here in front of a

camera talking into a microphone however it's probably one of the hardest

things you could ever do and you have to keep doing it

and you have to keep putting your energy into it and sometimes it is very hard to

do so to be successful sometimes you have to give a lot of your own your own

energy or your own time you have to devote a lot of your life to doing one

thing so I think so yes success is the road to failure or from failure

so from failure you can have success so doing this for 13 years has not been

easy and over the past few years I've had a lot of difficulties with YouTube

personally which I'm not going to go into but yes being on YouTube for 13

years sounds like a good thing it sounds like I've had a lot of success but not

always sometimes it can be very difficult some days some mornings when I

wake up I think what am I going to do how am I going to do this so it isn't

always easy it isn't sometimes this can be the most

difficult thing in the world to do it really can for those who want to get in

touch one or two people are interested in writing to me here are my details and

also if you want to send a donation feel free

oh I've just realized I'm sorry about that there was no sound I'm back don't

worry if you have failure you can say that it fell apart I just had failure

then because I forgot to activate my microphone failure unfortunately my

livestream fell apart because mr. Duncan forgot to turn his microphone up so I'm

back now don't worry sorry about that sometimes my finger slips on the

controls so if something fell apart we can say that it was a failure it did not

work and also we can say if something fails we can say that it did not take

off so quite often especially in this day and age where new businesses new

products new inventions come along all the time sometimes it doesn't take off

sometimes people don't want it sometimes people are not interested in buying that

particular thing don't worry I'm back now I'm back don't worry a lot of people

saying mr. Duncan we can't hear you I think you can hear me now it did not

take off it was unsuccessful it did not take off it did not succeed so maybe you

launched a new product or maybe a new magazine or maybe a new toy because

Christmas is on the way but maybe no one is interested in it no one buys it no

one is interested in the thing that you are trying to sell we can say that it

did not take off yes I tried to invent a pair of socks that you can also wear on

your hands but unfortunately it didn't take off

no one wanted them so that's it early I hope you've enjoyed today's livestream

by the way not as many people this week is last week I don't know why the sound

is back yes I know it's my fault you can blame this finger it is this

finger that caused the problem sometimes fingers can get you into all sorts of

difficulties quang yes the sound is better thank you very much

so we have the mystery idiom here is the answer to today's mystery idiom there it

is there is the question now normally when I have my mystery idiom I always

ask say what you see can you please say what you see so if you have a look there

you can see it is a man we are looking at the top of his head and we can see

there are some hairs coming out from his head the answer to today's mystery idiom

is OD bitte bitte bitte by splitting hairs splitting hairs we can also say

hair splitting so this is actually an idiom and the meaning is to find tiny

faults or to make trivial points during an argument to focus on tiny details can

be described as splitting hairs you make arguments that are so pointless you are

splitting hairs you are going into fine detail about something and you don't

have to because there is no need you are splitting hairs so there it is a

well-known expression in the English language and there it is today's mystery

idiom I hope you enjoyed that an the one coming I think will have another

one on Wednesday because I will be with you on Wednesday don't forget that is

when I'm back with you congratulations to those who got it right in your life

it can happen often that who you think is your soulmate will throw you away yes

you can have failure in your relationship so maybe a relationship can

also fail it can fall apart it cannot succeed so sometimes when you meet

someone for the first time everything is so excited you can't wait to get naked

together everything is really exciting but maybe after a long period of time

you might find out that that person isn't very nice maybe they are cheating

so we can say that your relationship was not successful for whatever reason it

may be whatever reason it is yes the phrase splitting hairs is negative it is

often used when we are criticizing someone for being too picky if you are

making a trivial point during an argument or if you focus on tiny details

and you are using those two to make your point or to succeed in an argument you

are just splitting hairs you are going into too much detail you are being too

fussy you are splitting hairs

Vladislav hello to you do you make your website on WordPress mr. Duncan I'm not

using WordPress I am using a third-party website creator but the problem is I've

never done this before so it's something I'm learning I always like to push

myself so this week and also last week I've been learning about website design

how to get your domain name so I've bought my domain name and now I'm

creating the website that the domain name is going to be connected to if you

split something it means you cut it in half you split something so maybe you

split a piece of wood or maybe you split a bar of chocolate so you can have half

each I I have 1/2 and you have ha I split maybe if you are in a restaurant

with your friend you might split the bill so you will pay half each towards

the cost of the meal my website's name not at the moment

not at the moment there is no website name at the moment because there is no

website it hasn't been finished so I won't be

giving the website because it doesn't exist at the moment it isn't even live

it hasn't even been published yet so we are a long way from that but it is

rather exciting I am excited about it and also it is giving me a chance to

learn something new so I'm learning all about building a website connecting

everything up so then people on the internet can look at it hopefully hello

also to Guadalupe in the literal way when people have lice we we have to

split the hair I'm not sure what you mean by that when you say lice do you

mean things crawling around on your head I remember as a child when I was at

primary school I would always come home I would always come home with bugs in my

hair because kids would go to school and because you're you're with lots of other

people there little bugs the little vice we

jump from one head to another so yes I think my mother got really sick and

tired of having to keep cleaning my hair because we would go to school and then a

few weeks later I would be scratching my head and my mum would ask why are you

scratching your head you haven't got lice again so that's

what would happen hello Eric mr. Duncan you have to buy the domain before

someone takes it yes I have bought the domain in fact I've bought more than one

doughnut domain because at the moment they're very cheap I don't know why many

years ago it used to be very very expensive to buy a domain name in the

early days of the internet when everything was dot-com domain names some

of them were worth thousands and thousands of crowns

some of them but nowadays you can buy lots of them for ten pounds thank you

very much for your company today Rakesh hear about political political has been

promises and after the election the politics I think you mean politicians so

people who carry out their political duties is a politician a politician so

quite often before an election people will make lots of promises it's actually

happening here in the UK right now because we have a general election

coming next month on the 12th of December so next month we have a general

election coming here in the UK so at the moment many of the leaders and the

politicians are making amazing promises one of them is free broadband for

everyone so everyone in the country will get free Internet I don't think that's

ever going to happen I don't think so it means you will have to dig lots of roads

and lots of paths and lots of gardens so people can

have the high-speed broadband so I don't think that's going to happen because not

only is it very expensive but it's also very difficult to do to be honest

hello also - hi Lee Kwang do you watch extras in your country

extras is that the show with Ricky Gervais I think so it must be very funny

of course Ricky Gervais is a British comedian so he's actually British so yes

I know him very well not personally we don't go to the pub together nothing

like that split can also mean divorce or maybe your relationship breaks down yes

maybe your parents will split so they will stop being together like my parents

so my parents split up many years ago and they got divorced so yes if you

split it means your relationship comes to an end and then you live separately

you split your relationship comes to an end thank you very much for your company

I am going in a few moments so if you want to say something say it now it's

actually dark outside have a look outside now it's actually gone dark look

at that just to show that winter is just around the corner look at that how dark

it's gone the night is coming already and it's

only quarter past three in the afternoon so that's what happens sometimes you see

sometimes

the day's become very short especially here in the UK

thank you for your lesson thank you very much as well and hopefully on Wednesday

when I'm back I won't cut it fine I won't cut it fine I hope on Wednesday I

will have plenty of time to spare before my livestream begins what am i doing

tomorrow and Tuesday shall I tell you now okay I'm going to tell you now over

the next two days I will be going up into my loft into the attic and I will

be looking for my Christmas lights yes it's that time of year again Christmas

is around the corner and it's time for me to get my Christmas lights and put

them up on the front of the house so that's what I'm going to be doing over

the next couple of days I will see you on Wednesday Wednesday so two days from

now you have to wait until Wednesday of course and with you on Sunday Wednesday

and Friday from 2:00 p.m. UK time Thank You Harley Kwang Thank You Irene thank

you also to Eric we hope your website will take off me too I hope it actually

happens because I'm still working on it it's so difficult I didn't realize I

thought nowadays it would be very easy to do but no you still have to put a lot

of work into it hello Christina Wow Christmas lights I

love it yes every year I always put my Christmas

lights on the front of their house I have lots of Christmas lights in the

Attic upstairs so that's what I'm doing over the next couple of days

Thank You Gabriel hello mr. Duncan how are you are you before you have one book

for students how can I receive that one mm I think you mean do you mean have I

got a book I have never published a book myself so no although sometimes I have

mentioned other books as well there is a good one called English for everyone

which is a very good book which you can buy through Amazon or on the Internet

hello Belarusian whether loop thank you very much thanks for your company lots

of people saying goodbye thanks a lot for your company

this is mr. Duncan saying thanks for joining me today I'm back on Wednesday

from 2 p.m. UK time and of course until the next time we meet you know what's coming next...

stay happy

stay good

and stay alive

ta ta for now 8-)