Stressed vs. Unstressed syllables: My New Bike!

As some of you know, last week my beloved bike Jenny was stolen from the front of my

apartment building here in New York City. You may remember Jenny because she has been

in a video before.

>> This is my bicycle, Jenny. I didn't name her, she came named.

So, I had to replace Jenny and I bought this Schwinn.

It's called a "World Traveler", and that's not a very

good name for a bike. So I asked all my fans on Facebook to suggest different names, and

today I'm going to choose my favorite name out of those suggestions to name this.

I got lots of really great suggestions, and I loved doing this, so I may start doing it

when I have children, too. So start thinking of names. But, some of my favorites. Priscilla

and many other suggested the name Magrela, and this was the reason why. It's like a nickname

to bike in Portuguese, meaning 'little thin' or 'skinny'. Look at all the people that suggested

that name! My friend Egle was very persistent about the name Joan. Sorry Egle, it is a pretty

name, but I didn't choose it for my bike. Ari suggested the name Floyd, which happens

to be the name of one of my favorite professors from college, but I don't think I'm going

to name my bike Floyd. Monica suggested Alberta, and I really love the reason

why she suggested it. "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must

keep moving." And Erick suggested Frida Khalo after the painter. I did really consider that

one. It was in the front running, but I didn't choose it. There were also a lot of name suggestions

that had repeating syllables. For example, Boo Boo, Ti Ti, Lulu, Cece, Cocoa, Jon-Jon,

and Juju. Now, I happen to love all of those, but ultimately, didn't choose any of those

either. But, it's a great teaching moment, so let's take a minute to talk about these

repeating syllables.

First of all, cocoa. I find this very interesting because it's the same sounds, but it's spelled

differently. In the first syllable, it's just the letter O, and in the second syllable it's

OA. I admit this really confused me as a kid. Any word that is two syllables has one stressed

and one unstressed syllable. So, even though all of these words have the same sounds in

both syllables, they'll actually not quite sound the same, because a stressed syllable

won't sound the same as an unstressed syllable. So, for example, cocoa. I'm going to take

an audio look of that first syllable and then an audio loop of the second syllable, and

you can hear how different they sound.

I hope you hear that the second syllable is quieter, is lower in pitch, and sounds a little

bit like I've taken some of the energy and a little bit of the voice out of it. Cocoa,

-coa, -coa. So this is the difference between a stressed syllable and an unstressed syllable.

So you're probably wondering: if I didn't choose all of these great names, then what

name did I choose? Well, the name I chose is...

Lucy! Which was suggested by Paulo. Thank you so much for that great name suggestion.

What do you guys think, does she look like a Lucy?

Do you have a bike that you love? Tell me about it in the comments. Or better yet, post

a picture of you with your bike to my Facebook page. Tell me a story about it. Or, practice

your English. Make a video with your bike, telling me about its name, or how you got

it, or a great trip you've taken with it. Post it as a video response to this video

on YouTube. I can't wait to hear all your stories.

That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.