Let s Master English #25: What's in a name? Podcast #25 News Letter: May 5, 2014 Dictated by: Azin, Gulya, Alex, Joaquin and Maha Hello everybody. You're listening to Let's master English, and my name is Coach Shane. Hello everybody thank you very much for downloading our Let's Master English podcast 25. Today I've got some news for you, some facts from Country Shane, we got four great questions, and one of them is about American culture, it should be very interesting; I've got a letter from one of my DDM students, and itunes statistics. So, that's what's coming up, I hope that you enjoy the podcast. Enough chit-chat, let's begin. What's in a name? In America most people have three names: their given names, first and middle and their family names, last name or surname. Most Americans only go by their first or last name, but new research shows that people who use their middle name as an initial, are thought to be more intelligent. Michel J. Fox, George W. Bush. And multiple initials increase your intellectual image, George H. W. bush, J. D. Salinger. From now on call me Coach Shane M. Peterson, please! What? Lots of stuff about names! Let's listen again. Second reading. Well basically the story is if you use your middle name as an initial, people will think you are smarter, believe it or not! Well, let's go ahead and look at sentences. So, the first sentence: What's in a name? What's in a name? What's in a name? What is in a name? And that question means is there a deep or a special meaning attached to someone's name? Does your name have a special image? Does your name sound intelligent? Does your name sound fun? Does your name sound stupid? Hahaha, I'm sure your name does not sound stupid. In America most people have three names, their given names, first and middle, and their family names, last name or surname.
Okay so, I think you know that, in America most people have three names, so my name is Shane. My mother gave me that name, my middle name is Michel, which is actually my dad's first name, so Shane Michel and then I have my last name or my surname, S-U-R-N-A-M-E. That's my family name which is Peterson. So my full name is Shane Michel Peterson, my given names are Shane Michal, and my family name is Peterson. Most Americans only go by their first or last name. So when you meet an American they ll usually say: my name is Shane, or sometimes, if they don t introduce themselves you ll know their name and you should say Mr. Petersen, or in my case, Coach Petersen. But I introduce myself as Coach Shane. So, once again I use my first name, that s most common. I go by my first name and the title Coach. Now, my dad, his name is Michel Petersen and his friends call him Mike. So he goes by Mike, but when he worked, he s retired now, people would always call him Mr. Petersen. Now, when my dad signed a document he would always sign it Michel D. Petersen. So, he used his middle name as an initial, and it always sounded very formal very intellectual. So, when I was young I copied my dad and I always signed my name Shane M. Petersen and I think that sounds very intelligent. Well, listen to the next sentence: But new research shows that people who use their middle names as an initial are thought to be more intelligent. I was right as a little child. I was correct. Scientists have done research, I think they are social scientist, but they did research and they discovered that people who use their middle name, so my middle name is Michel, as an initial, so not as Michel but just as M, an initial is the first letter of a word or name; so Shane M. Petersen. If I use my name like that people think, or people believe that I am more intelligent. So the sentence again: New research shows that people who use their middle name as an initial are thought to be more intelligent, are considered to be more intelligent, are believed to be smarter. Yeah! And then I give you a couple examples: Michel J. Fox. He s a famous actor on television and in the movies. His big movie was "Back to the future". Yeah Michel J. Fox sounds kind of intelligent. And the other example: George W. Bush. Well, I know, many people do not think that George W. Bush is intelligent, but whether you like him or not by adding W. In his name it does give a feeling of more intelligence; hum George W. Bush, okay? The next sentence: And multiple initials increase your intellectual image. So instead of just using one initial, if you use two or more initials you sound even smarter! So George W. Bush,
his father was also president of The United States and his name was George H.W. Bush. Oooh, that sounds intelligent. And then there is the famous American author, J. D. Salinger. Oooh, J. D. Salinger that sounds intelligent. So, the last sentence: from now on call me Coach Shane M. Peterson, please. Maybe that makes me sound more intelligent. So this is actually an interesting article and I know many of you, especially for example Spanish background people, you guys have some long names, many names. So, perhaps you can use this method to make yourself sound very intelligent. So, you could use your first name and then your middle names, just use initials, and then use your last name. You would sound very intelligent to many Americans. Does that work in your country too? Now, as many of you know, I lived in Korea for a long time, and in Korea they also have what you would consider three names, they have their family name, and then their given names. Now, usually the given names work together. So, for example Kim would be a family name and Yong Chol would be the given name. So, maybe for a Korean person he could make his name Yong C. Kim, Yong C. Kim. Yeah! That does sound kind of intelligent, I like this. Why don t we all use this? Now, how do we use this? It s best to use when signing a letter or when writing a document. So remember, if you re ever writing a letter, a business letter maybe an application to a university or if you re making a report or writing an article, consider writing your name with your first name and then your middle name as an initial and then your family name. People might think you re more intelligent than you are; that s the idea. Ok, so what s in a name is the name of the article, and we do have some vocabulary words that I want you to know and understand. They re not too difficult. Once again, the tittle: what s in a name? Is there a deep or special meaning attached to someone s name? An initial, initial, I-N-I-T-I-A-L, an initial is the first letter of a word or name. So, how about FBI? FBI, three initials that everyone knows. Those initials stand for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Oh, how about this? LME, LME, these three initials stand for Let s Master English! Yay! Another expression: are thought to be, or we could say is thought to be. This means are considered to be or are believe to be. So, apples are thought to be good for your teeth, and carrots are thought to be good for your eyes. It s a very good expression.
And then the last expression I wanted to talk about: multiple initials. And that just means several initials. So, President George W. Bush uses one initial, but his dad, George H.W. Bush, uses multiple initials, okay? And if I talk about one more expression: intellectual image. The image that you have that shows how smart you are. Do you have an intellectual image? Do you have a fun image? What kind of image do you give other people? What kind of impression? Does your name sound intellectual? If you don t think your name sounds intellectual or smart maybe you can use your initials to help increase the intellectual image of your name and of yourself. Ok, I m gonna read the story two more times, once nice smooth, the second, normally. You ready? What's in a name? In America most people have three names: their given names, first and middle and their family names, last name or surname. Most Americans only go by their first or last name, but new research shows that people, who use their middle name as an initial, are thought to be more intelligent. Michel J. Fox, George W. Bush. And multiple initials increase your intellectual image, George H. W. bush, J. D. Salinger. From now on call me Coach Shane M. Peterson, please! Second reading. How are you doing everybody? This is Country Shane and I m here to bring you the facts. According to the U.S. government the most common names in America for men are: James, John, Robert, Michael and William. And for women: Marry, Patricia, Elisabeth, Jenifer and Linda. Shane is 190 th. This has been Country Shane bringing you the facts. Every year we have lists in America that tell you what the most popular names are for babies. But this list comes from the government and it covers the last 100 years. And over the past 100 years, James is the most common name for a man, and when we say James, we can also say Jim or Jimmy. John is number 2. Robert is number 3, and for Robert we can also say Rob or Bob and we can also say Roby and Bobby. And then there is Michael or just Mike, and finally William. And we can also say Will or Bill or Willy or Billy, it s all the same name. And for the ladies, Mary, Patricia or just Pat or Patty, Elisabeth or Liz or Beth. Jennifer or Jen and Linda. Those are the most common names in America. Do you have an English name or ah, a name that is related to one of these names? Let us know. If you are thinking about
choosing an English name, and American style name, these names are probably good ones to choose from. They ll be easy for Americans to remember. I don t recommend Shane, because Shane is way down on the list, according to Country Shane 190 th. Oh Well! It s time for some questions, and our first question comes from Jalil, and he asks: can you tell us about the word ain t? A-I-N- -T. Is it common in the U.S.? Okay, first of all, ain t is a negative contraction. And it s considered improper English. We shouldn t use this word in a formal setting or in any writing. It s not good English. Now what ain t means is usually is not or am not or are not. So, here are some examples: He ain t going. He ain t going. He ain t going. He is not going. It sounds rather country or not very intellectual. The next example: I ain t going. I ain t going. I ain t going. And we should say: I m not going. I am not going. Another example: They ain t going. They ain t going. They ain t going. They are not going. And one more are not : You ain t going. You ain t going. You are not going. You aren t going. So, those are the most common usages of ain t. Ain t is replacing isn t, am not or are not. We can also use it to replace hasn t and haven t, and do not have. So, here are three examples: He ain t sang yet. He ain t sang yet. He hasn t sang yet. He supposed to sing a song but so far he has not sung a song. So we could say he ain t sang yet. Here s another popular expression: You ain t heard nothing yet. You ain t heard nothing yet. You haven t heard nothing yet. And of course grammatically we should say: you haven t heard anything yet. But people who use the word ain t will also typically say nothing. So, you ain t heard nothing yet. And one more example: How would you use ain t in this sentence? I don t have time. I do not have time. I m too busy. How would you use ain t? You could say: I ain t got time. I ain t got time. I ain t got time is the same as I don t have time. So Jalil, my recommendation is to NEVER use ain t, but it is kind of common in America. It s not common in intellectual writings or you know, I don t think president Obama would use ain t very often. However, sometimes we do use the word ain t to emphasize not, or even to sound funny, or sometimes to get more attention. By using that improper word people hear it, and usually people will laugh. So, once again Jalil, my recommendation don t use it but if you hear somebody who s very smart like a professor or a famous politician or a business person and they use the word ain t they might be using it intentionally to sound funny. Okay? Thanks for the question jalil. Our next question is from Batuhan, and he asks: is there any connection between the words secret and secretary? That s a good question. And yes, there is a connection, they both come from Latin. And the idea of a secretary is a person who
keeps and knows secrets from the executive or from the general. So when we think of the word secretary we think of the president of a company and his secretary. Well, that secretary probably knows ALL the secrets of the president and of the company. And in politics in America we have the president of the United States, and we also have the Secretary of State. And the Secretary of State knows ALL the secrets of the president and the country. So, yes Batuhan these words are connected. Our next question comes from Marcio. He s from Brazil, and he asks: how can we use the expression: figured out? F-I-G-U-R-E-D out, Figured out. It s a great phrasal verb. And it means to understand. But let s look at the words individually. Figure, a figure as a noun can be a number. So, give me a figure, how about 7? 7 is a figure and give me another figure. How about 3? So, 7 + 3 = 10. So, thru calculation we can come up with the answer. We have two figures and we calculate out the answer. We take those two figures; put them together and what comes out? An answer, an answer of 10. So, to figure something out means to take in information and then come up with an answer to solve a situation. So to figure something out means to calculate all the information and come up with an answer. So a common usage would be: dad I can t figure out this math problem. You don't understand how to come up with the answer. But we can also use it about PEOPLE. I can't figure him out. And that just means: I don't understand him. I know him, I see what he does, I see what he says, but I just don't understand him. So, to figure something out means to understand something. Got it? I hope so. And we have another question from Bilal. Bilal says: Give me five or Gimme five. Is this a good expression? Is it mostly used by African- Americans when they meet? Alright, that's a great question. So, we say Give me five or Gimme five. We also say Hi, five. And you should imagine baseball players or basketball players. When they see each other or after they hit a home run or make a basket, they'll take their hands, one guy's hand and another guy's hand and (clap sound) they clap their hands together in the air. That's called a Hi-five. Now, we also use this expression when we say Hello to somebody. Or when we see somebody we know. We can be walking down the street, and I can see my friend John, and I can say: Hey John and I'll put my hand in the air, and he will put his hand in the air and (clap sound) we'll clap. So, it's a type of greeting. And it also means congratulations. Now, this expression probably has its roots in the 1970s. And believe it or not it was started by a black guy and it was kind of a secret symbol to show intimacy or friendship AMONG GAY MEN. Really! That's the origin that many people believe of the Hi-five. It was used in sports, but then the guy who started the Hi-five was using it to show fidelity or friendship to other gay men. Now, almost nobody thinks of a gay relationship when we Hi-five. But that is the origin of the expression. So, don't worry Bilal or anybody else. If you Hi-five somebody, you re just saying Hi or you re just saying Congratulations. It doesn't mean - you're gay.
And finally I have a letter from Kira. And Kira is a DDM student. And I thought this letter was really nice. So, please listen: A few DDM lessons ago, we studied Today in history. You asked about our opinion of itwell I find it very interesting. It's just a little bit of history, very brief, but there are always important or interesting things to learn or to review. So, for me a touch of history is more than OK. And don't stop giving us your personal opinions on the facts. I love to hear them. On the other hand, I m one of those who suffer when the dictation is about technology. I understand some people are happy with that topic, but in my case, if I don't know what they are talking about, even the context doesn't help me do the dictation. So, I have to listen many times, but I don't give up. Understanding the situation is the key to doing the dictation successfully. As it happens with Seinfeld, if I can't hear a word, I can still understand the situation and I can use my intuition to figure out what they are saying. Another good thing about Seinfeld is that not only do we get used to the way native English speakers speak in order to improve our listening, we also learn the usage of many daily expressions. I mean even the expressions I already know. I'm not always sure when the right time or what the appropriate situation is to use them. But after listening so often to everyday conversations, you start to become familiar with the natural way of putting things which is something you definitely don't learn from grammar books. And in all dictations when you give us the answers, the words I couldn't hear appear so clearly, it's like magic! How easy it is when one knows the answers! By the way, I always tell you how funny Seinfeld is, but your explanation lessons about it are even funnier, they supersede the original, I really laugh with them. Thank you so much for that letter Kira. That means a lot to me. It tells me that you're studying hard and that the lessons, the DDM lessons, are helping you. I do like to talk about history, but as you know Seinfeld has been a very common lesson in DDM. It's a situation comedy and it really is based on everyday English. Lots of common expressions. So in DDM, we study history, we study technology, we study news, and we study daily English. They re very different. If you understand the subject, dictation becomes much easier. But if it's a new subject like technology, it is difficult. But the key is, Kira, as you know, never give up. Keep working. And those answers lessons- Yes, it's like magic! Suddenly you can hear, what those people were saying! And the explanation videos are also very important. It makes the lesson feel natural. Now, that's a great letter. And if any of you are curious about DDM or if any of you really want to master your listening skills, your speaking skills, your pronunciation skills, your understanding of American culture- I highly, 100%, recommend DDM! And don't forget- You can sign-up for eight free DDM lessons by going to www.letsmasterenglish.com/tryddm DDM is a serious class. But it s a fantastic class! And students who joined DDM they stay for a long time, because there so much to learn and it s so much fun. So I hope that everybody joins DDM. Ok, let me go over to itunes and I m very happy. I ve got a couple of people to introduce. Thank you very much for your ratings and for your comments. The first
person I want to thank is Carlos Rivas from Chile. And he says: (Spanish words at 36:07) 5 stars. Now I think that means it actually improves your listening, is that right Carlos? I hope so! That s my translation, thanks to Google translate. Thank you very much Carlos. And then we have Madostapbender from Russia: Great! Thank you. I m gonna go to Sri Lanka, and your podcast help me improve my English. That s really great to hear Madostapbender. Is it Madostap Bender? Ah, I don t know how pronounce your name. Now, I will remind you in [sriːˈlɑːŋkəә] or [sriː ˈlæŋkəә] they do have a different style of pronunciation for American English, but if you speak like me, if you try to imitate my pronunciation, the people in Sri Lanka who speak English should have no problem understanding you. So good luck in Sri Lanka, and keep listening to the podcast. Then we have Ebrahim Torki Zadeh from The United States. That doesn t sound like an American name. Thank you excellent Shane, you are a 5-star English coach, you streamlined English. Wow, thank you so much Ebrahim. And then we have Ingrid Basher from The United States: Funny and beneficial, up to now podcast 23 is the greatest, lots of energy and humor, very interesting simple stories, a life performance. Just like you in the room with Coach Shane. Don t forget to download the newsletter from the website, it s very well written and illustrated. Thank you so much Ingrid. And yes, my web bear, Parmy, creates a newsletter for each podcast. And we do uploaded to Facebook and also to our community, Let s Master English on Goolge Plus. But if you sign-up on our website for the e-mail list, you will get it in the e-mail as soon as it's finished. And once again you can sign-up www.letsmasterenglish.com/tryddm. We have another one from Brazil, Tiago Pi Rodriguez : The best one! One word can describe everything about this podcast and Coach Shane, The best one! The best one. Oh, common Tiago, that's not one word. It is three words. He s making a joke. Yes, it was very funny. I think so. Thanks a lot Coach Shane. That's great I appreciated it Tiago. Obrigado. And then we have a message from Yamin1021. Also from the US: Super fun and addictive. Thank you Coach Shane for providing us with this useful and fun ESL podcast. I listen to the podcast everyday on my way to school. I hope one day I can speak English fluently like you. I am a Chinese student, studying in the U.S. So, count me as one from China when you do the statistics. Thanks. Ok, Yamin, you're from China. So, I should say Xie-Xie thank you very much. And keep listening, and keep practicing and English fluency will get closer and closer. And then finally from Japan, Domo Rigato to Pako Bono Papa. I hope my pronunciation is OK. I bet this is one of the most excellent podcasts in terms of English learning materials as a second language. I really appreciate Coach Shane's care and effort and dedication to this podcast. One vote from Japan. Once again, thank you so much Pako Bono Papa. Pako Bono Papa does that mean you're the farther of Pako Bono. Who s Pako Bono? Maybe it s your son or your daughter. Anyway, ah, sincerely, I appreciate everybody who leaves a comment. And on itunes if you leave a rating that helps people find our podcasts. And I do want to announce I have started a NEW podcast, that's right. The name of the new podcast is Daily Easy English Expressions. And if you re familiar with my channel on Youtube, I call it E-
cubed. It's that channel, all of the lessons in mp3 format. Now, I re-record every lesson. So, I went back to the beginning, and sometimes I changed the dialogs. I created a new audio file and it's very convenient. So, I hope that everybody starts listening to Daily Easy English Expressions. It will be on itunes. Hopefully it is by now. But sometimes itunes takes a few days. But once again, I hope that you enjoy that. It is daily, 7 days in a week. 365 days in a year. Now, trust me. This is a lot of work. I have to do everything. And it actually costs a lot of money to have a daily podcast. So, for that podcast I do have two sponsors that you will hear during the podcast: one is a Grammar checker- fantastic channel, and the other is DDM. So, if you want to support me, if you like this podcasts, if you want this podcasts and free lessons to continue, I do need your support. So, join DDM. Check out www.letsmasterenglish.com/grammar and master your writing skills, master your listening skills. That's why I am here for. Thank you so much. You guys have a fantastic week! And remember- Let s Master English!