Learn English Vocabulary: FAKE NEWS

Hello.

My name is Emma, and in today's video I am going to teach you some key expressions you

can use when somebody tells you something that's not true and you want to argue against

what they're saying.

So, in this video I'm going to teach you these great expressions, but before I do that, we're

going to talk about three words that are very common in English these days.

Those three words are: "Fake news", "conspiracy theories", and "hoaxes".

So in this video you will learn what these words mean, and you will also learn what to

say to somebody that tells you something that's not true.

All right, so let's get started.

So I have here three sentences.

The first sentence is: "Scientists say the earth is flat.

Not round."

Is this true or not true?

Okay, this sentence is not true.

Some people believe this, but it is not true.

My second sentence: "Michael Jackson is alive and living as Kim Kardashian."

True or not true?

Again, we have a sentence that is not true; I made this up.

And finally, my third sentence: "Listening to rock music causes cancer."

Is this true or untrue?

Again, this is untrue; I also made up this.

So my point here is that a lot of what you hear from people in conversation not true.

People say these types of things all the time, and you will know that this is something that's

not true, so what do you say when someone tells you that the earth is flat, or they

tell you that Michael Jackson is living as Kim Kardashian?

Okay?

So, I will teach you those great expressions you can use.

Before I do that, I wanted to just say that these three sentences can also be considered

fake news.

So, we will look at the meaning of fake news in a moment.

Okay, so the three main words I wanted to teach you today are words that you will see

a lot on the internet and in the media.

The first word is: "fake news".

So what is fake news?

Well, "fake" means not true.

"Fake news" is news stories that are not true, and they're created to damage a person, a

business, an agency, or a government, or they might also be created to get attention and

to get clicks on the internet.

So you'll see a lot of fake news on different social media, like Twitter, Facebook, and

a lot of other places, too, online.

So, this is a very common word these days, a lot of people are using it, so it's important

that you know what it means.

We also have the word here: "conspiracy theory".

So, "a conspiracy theory" is an explanation of an event or situation that is different

from the official account.

A lot of the times conspiracy theories are about a government or a business doing something

illegal or to harm someone.

Okay?

So let's think of some conspiracy theories.

Some people believe that the moon landing, so when...

When astronauts went to the moon in the 1960s, some people believe the moon landing was fake.

This is a popular conspiracy theory.

Another conspiracy theory I heard recently is some people believe that Paul McCartney

from the Beetles actually died in 1966, and there is a different man who replaced him

and who is actually the better musician.

So this is a different conspiracy theory.

So, you'll see a lot of conspiracy theories on the internet, and a lot of people will

tell you conspiracy theories during conversations.

The last word I wanted to teach you was the word: "hoax", "hoax".

So, "a hoax" is a type of practical joke that is meant to embarrass or hurt people.

So some examples of hoaxes are you'll have these death hoaxes, where they'll say a celebrity

is dead, but it's not true; it's a joke.

Or you might have a hoax, like, you know, some people might take a picture of an alien

or a monster and tell everyone: "Look, we have evidence of this monster alien."

But if it's not true, then it's a hoax.

It's a joke, a practical joke.

So, again, fake news, conspiracy theories, and hoaxes are very common on the internet,

and so for these things that are not true, what do you say to people when they tell you

this untrue information?

Well, let's find out in a moment.

Okay, so you've heard a fake news story or a conspiracy theory or a hoax, maybe your

aunt or your friend just told you it and you know it's not true, so what do you say to them?

Well, what you can do is you can challenge their argument.

So, for example, you can say: "So let me get this straight.

You're saying __________."

And you can repeat what they said.

"So let me get this straight.

You're saying Paul McCartney died in 1966."

Okay?

And then what you can say is, you can say: "That's not true.", "That's inaccurate.",

"I find that hard to believe.", "That doesn't make sense."

So these are all expressions we use when we're saying: "I don't believe you."

Now, if we wanted to say something that was a little bit more impolite, we can use the

word: "B.S." as in: "That's B.S." "B.S." stands for "bullshit", and sometimes we don't want

to swear, so we might just want to say to our friends: "That's total B.S." or "That's B.S."

You can also say to somebody: "That's ridiculous."

Meaning: "That's a stupid story.

That's ridiculous. It's not true."

So these are all examples of common things people say when someone tells them something

that they don't believe.

So now let's look at some other things we can say when somebody tells us a fake news story.

Okay, so another thing you can do when somebody tells you fake news or something that's not

true is you can ask them where their source is, or: Where did they get the information from?

So this is the big: "Where?" question.

When we talk about sources or news sources, we're talking about who said it, so for example,

maybe the news came from your Mom, so maybe that's not a great source.

Maybe it came from BBC News, or maybe it came from Wikipedia, or Facebook.

Or if you're in sciences, maybe it came from a peer-reviewed journal.

Maybe it came from Twitter, or your aunt, or your friends.

So it's good to ask somebody: "Where?

Where did they get the information from?" and then you can think about: "Okay, is that

a good source?" and a lot of the times it probably isn't.

And you can tell them this.

Okay?

So if somebody tells you, for example, that the moon landing didn't happen and there's

a big conspiracy, and aliens control the US and Canada and China, what you can say to

them is, you know: "Who told you that?

Where's your news source?" and if they say: "Oh, my friend Gary told me that", well, then

you can say: "That's not a good news source."

You can also ask them: "Why?" or "How?"

questions.

So, for example, you know: "Why would...?"

I don't know.

Let's start with: "How?"

"How would the government cover that up?" or: "How would...?", "How would rock and roll

music cause cancer?"

Okay?

So you can always ask these questions: "Why?" and "How?" and, you know, maybe they have

a good explanation, but it's good to ask these questions to find out more about why they

think what they think.

You can also counter what they're saying, meaning if they say something and you disagree,

you can say your opinion.

So, for example, if somebody told you that Kim Kardashian is really Michael Jackson,

you can say: "The fact of the matter is Michael Jackson passed away.

He is not Kim Kardashian.", "The truth is Michael Jackson and Kim Kardashian are not

the same person."

You can also say: "In reality...", "In reality Michael Jackson is not Kim Kardashian.

So these are great expressions you can use when you're trying to tell somebody that what

they're saying is incorrect and that what you're saying is the correct belief.

Okay, so we've gone over all these different things to say when somebody tells you something

that's not true, so let's practice it.

Okay?

This just in: Fake news story.

Did you hear?

Terrorists have melted Antarctica using a giant laser.

Okay?

So, terrorists have melted Antarctica using a gigantic laser.

So that's the news story which I just made up; it's fake news.

So your source is Emma, and this is not a good source for this news story.

So what can you say to me if I give you a fake news story like that?

Well, maybe you'll say: "That's not true."

You might say: "Where did you hear that, Emma?

Why would terrorists melt Antarctica with a gigantic laser?

How would terrorists get the laser?"

Okay?

So you might ask these questions.

And then you might tell me the truth.

"The fact of the matter is Antarctica has not been melted by terrorists.

Okay?

That is fake news."

So thank you for watching.

I hope you've learned something maybe about some of these words, like: "Fake news", "hoax",

or "conspiracy theory", also maybe some expressions you can use when you hear something that is

untrue.

I'd like to invite you to come check out our website at www.engvid.com.

There, you can actually do a quiz to practice what you learned in this video.

I would also like to invite you to subscribe to my channel.

You can find a lot of other resources on many different things about English, including

English conversation, expressions, vocabulary, work English, and a lot more.

So thank you for watching, and until next time, take care.