Learn English with Alice in Wonderland

"'In that direction,' the Cat said, waving its  right paw round, 'lives a Hatter: and in that  

direction,' waving the other paw, 'lives a March  Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.'

'But I don't want to go among  mad people,' Alice remarked.

'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat:  'we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.'

'How do you know I’m mad?' said Alice.

'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or  you wouldn’t have come here.'"

What a weird and wonderful book. Hey everyone,  I'm Alex, thanks for clicking, and welcome to  

this lesson on learning English with "Alice In  Wonderland" so this is a very popular fantasy book  

written by Lewis Carroll it has been popularized  in that very very famous Disney movie as well  

you've probably heard of it and even today it's  still a wonderful book with a lot of word play  

and playful language. It's just very very funny  and fun and interesting and it's very quick and  

a lot happens in it. So if you enjoy diving  into fantasy worlds it's an excellent book.  

So I'm going to put this down over here, and  what I have there is the physical book. However,  

if you would like to get a free copy of the book  from Audible.com, you can do that by clicking the  

link that is attached to the description of  this video. You don't have to get "Alice In  

Wonderland", you can get any audiobook that you  like, Audible has a very wide selection. But if  

you do get the "Alice in Wonderland" audiobook  - again, click the link, go through the process,  

your first audiobook is free - I recommend getting  the version that is narrated by Shelby Lewis. So,  

there are many versions of "Alice In Wonderland"  in audio format on Audible, and I found that  

the Shelby Lewis narration is the clearest and  it's at a good pace and it should be, you know,  

the most understandable version of the book for  English students. I really only recommend it,  

though, if you are an intermediate or upper  intermediate student. If you are a beginner  

this is probably not the book for you. Okay so  again check it out on Audible.com, and check out  

the link that is attached to this video to get one  free audiobook. Now on to the lesson. So today I'm  

gonna look at some phrases and sentences, five of  them specifically, that have come from and been  

popularized by "Alice In Wonderland". Some of the  discussion today will center around mental health  

and why some of the language in "Alice In  Wonderland", including what I just read,  

needs to be read with a certain type of  sensitivity as well as an understanding of  

the context from which it came. So just to start,  let's start a little light over here, I'll get  

off the board so you guys can see everything,  push "print screen", is that better? All right,  

first we have "curiouser and curiouser".  Now you see the word "curious" and "curious"  

and you say, "Wait, can you say curiouser?" Not  really. But, like I said, normally you're supposed  

to say like "more and more curious", but "Alice In  Wonderland" is playful. It doesn't care sometimes  

about word rules or grammar rules, so for that  reason, if you're a beginner, it's not a good book  

for you. Upper intermediate, advanced, if you want  to see some interesting word play, it's a really  

cool book. So, "curiouser and curiouser". This is  a phrase which means "stranger and stranger" or  

"hmm, more and more interesting." So let me give  you an example sentence so you can see what I mean  

and in what types of contexts you can use  it. So imagine you are watching a TV series  

and you finished an episode and you're really  curious about what's going to happen next,  

so you might say "hmm, curiouser and curiouser.  I wonder what's going to happen next," right  

so you're like ah that was really interesting.  While we're talking about the word "stranger",  

maybe you watched, you know, the  series "Stranger Things" on Netflix  

and a lot of stuff in that show and various parts  of, you know, the story, you know, you could say  

"curiouser and curiouser", like what's gonna  happen with Will now? and what's happening  

here? This isn't only to talk about movies  or series, of course. This can be about any  

situation where things are getting more and more  interesting or more and more, well, stranger, are  

getting stranger. So if you are going for a walk  with friends and you're like, okay this is kind  

of an interesting path, there are some flowers  i've never seen before, curiouser and curiouser.  

Okay so let's try that one more time curiouser  let's do it slow I know it's a hard word.  

Curiouser and curiouser.

Okay, next, so I put an asterisk next to this.  So the phrase is "mad as a hatter" so the Mad  

Hatter is a character in "Alice In Wonderland"  who is a little atypical, so they function in  

a different way than the majority of people  in that world function. Now the word "mad",  

this is similar to a word like "crazy" which  is not popularly used or is not looked upon  

favorably in today's world, because words like  "mad", words like "insane", words like "crazy"  

they can be said to stigmatize people who have  mental health issues or mental differences  

than others. So you can still use it instead of  using a word like "mad" or instead of using a  

word like "crazy" you can internalize it and use  words like "irrational" or "strange" or "atypical"  

or "erratic". Okay so again, "crazy", "insane",  they have very negative connotations in today's  

world. So you can still use "mad as a hatter" and  people can understand, depending on the context  

you use it in, whether you mean like it's like  strange or atypical - that means not typical,  

okay? - or erratic. All right. So did you see  his latest interview he was mad as a hatter?  

So if, you know, if you see someone  who's having an interview on television,  

a famous personality, and in the interview  they're answering questions in a strange way  

or they're behaving in a in an odd way like  they're running around or jumping, like,  

he was everywhere, he was mad as a hatter. Even in  sports, like if someone is playing in a way that's  

in a very impressive way, you could say it's  like, well, he played like he was mad as a hatter,  

he was all over the field, very fast, very  erratic, not typical of a soccer player or  

a hockey player or something like that. So just  be careful what context you use this in, okay?

Next, Tweedledee and Tweedledum .so these  are two characters in the book who are  

fools or clowns. Essentially they're very  playful. If you use the the phrase, you know,  

Tweedledee and Tweedledum these are two names this  refers to two foolish people. So this can often  

be used in a comedic way, if you are talking  about politics and to political candidates.  

So for example, "I watched the debate between  Tweedledee and Tweedledum yesterday." So if  

you are someone who is cynical about politics  and you have two candidates who you feel are,  

you know, a little foolish, who are, it's like,  he's a clown, she's a clown, whatever it is,  

you can say it's like, "yep, there's Tweedledee  and Tweedledum." Two fools, two clowns,  

two people who should not be in politics because  they don't have the necessary skills to do it.

Okay, the last two, so these are just common  sentences that came from "Alice In Wonderland"  

or that were popularized. So here at the  beginning of the book, the beginning of the movie,  

you have the rabbit who says "I'm late, I'm late  for a very important date", so if you're ever  

late for something like a dentist appointment, if  you're late for a meeting or anything like that,  

or a date with your friends or your wife  or girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, anyone,  

and you're talking to a friend who knows  "Alice In Wonderland", probably you can say,  

"I'm late I'm late for a very important date",  maybe you're a nerd if you say this like I am,  

so you know i've said this before, it depends,  I really like the book. So that's it. Finally,  

"we're all mad here", so again "mad" it can  have a negative connotation depending on how  

you're using it, what your understanding of the  word is but if your understanding of the word is  

atypical irrational or strange different  interesting, for example, "Welcome to the team,  

we're all mad here." So, "welcome to the team" -  someone just introduced you to your new workplace  

and if they want to make, you know, have a  little fun, they can say "we're all mad here".  

We're all a little off the wall, we're all a  little different, we're all a little strange.  

That guy wears a funny hat every day, you  know, she likes putting toys on her desk  

all the time, so a very colorful arrangement of  people work here, you can use it in that light  

in that way. All right, so hopefully I've given  you some language that you'll be able to identify  

if you hear it in any context, whether  you're watching a Youtube video  

or a movie or a television series or maybe even if  you read "Alice In Wonderland" you'll know where  

these phrases, where these sentences came  from. So once again, "curiouser and curiouser",  

"mad as a hatter", "Tweedledee and Tweedledum",  "I'm late I'm late for a very important date",  

and "we're all mad here". Okay, so if you want  to check out the audiobook, again, Shelby Lewis,  

look for the version that is narrated by Shelby  Lewis. Let me know what you think. Pick up that  

free audiobook. And if you want to test your  understanding of this material, as always,  

you can check out the quiz on engvid.com, and  if you enjoyed this video please subscribe to  

my channel on Youtube, like it, share it, comment  on it, and until next time thanks for clicking.