EC133_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 133

TOPICS

Dishonest political strategies; the Black Dahlia; treatment versus therapy; ending

intimate letters and emails; you’re entitled to your opinion

_____________

GLOSSARY

primaries – elections in each state where people vote for the candidate whom

they think should represent the political party that they are registered with

* If you are a registered Republican, then you have to vote for a Republican in

the primaries, but during the real elections on November 4, you can vote for

anyone from any party.

platform – the set of things that a candidate says that he or she believes in and

what he or she promises to do after being elected

* The senator ran on a platform that included providing more money for

education and healthcare.

push poll – a type of dishonest political strategy in which a survey or

questionnaire is used not to find out what people think about an issue, but

instead to make them begin thinking about an issue more often and/or in a

certain way

* The mayoral candidate used a push poll to try to make voters think that his plan

to improve public transportation was the most important issue facing the city.

misleading – making one more likely to believe something that is not true

* Evelyn pretends to be very poor, telling everyone that she earns only $20,000

each year, but this is misleading, because she has almost $1,000,000 in savings.

illegitimate – referring to a child who was born outside of a marriage; born to

unmarried parents

* Carl has always been sensitive about being an illegitimate child.

attack ad – an advertisement created to say negative things about another

political candidate and make voters dislike him or her

* Did you see the attack ad that accuses the presidential candidate of using

drugs when he was in college?

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 133

print – referring to things printed in newspapers and magazines and on posters

* The company wants to redesign its print ads so that they are more similar to its

television ads.

smear campaign – a combination of many negative and/or dishonest political

strategies that are designed to make another candidate look bad

* The presidential candidate was the victim of a horrible smear campaign that

made her lose hundreds of thousands of votes.

mud slinging – the practice of saying negative things about another person,

especially in an election campaign

* I am so tired of the political mud slinging that I don’t even want to vote in the

elections anymore!

dahlia – a large, brightly colored flower

* They are going to plant dahlias in front of their house this spring.

mutilated – cut, hurt, and/or damaged very badly so that something does not

look like what it actually is

* This film shows the horrors of war where soldiers mutilated the people they

fought against, cutting off their arms and legs.

treatment – something one does to improve one’s health or well-being; steps to

help someone stop being reliant on drugs or alcohol

* Selena takes medication and does exercises as part of her treatment to recover

from her injuries.

t herapy – something one does to improve one’s health or well-being, often used

to describe the healing process of mental or emotional illnesses

* After the war, Bill had nightmares every night, but his therapy is helping him.

XOXOXO – letters used in place of the words “hugs and kisses,” often at the end

of a letter or email

* Jason thought Alicia was flirting with him when she signed her email to him

“XOXOXO, Alicia,” but that’s how she signs all her emails.

you're entitled to your opinion – a phrase used to mean that you don’t agree

with someone, but understand that they have a right to have a different idea

about something

*I think Jorge was wrong when he said that Mary is too skinny, but he’s entitled to

his opinion.

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these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 133

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Los Angeles Noir Mystery Writer, Raymond Chandler

“Noir” is a French term used to refer to crime “dramas” (exciting, suspenseful

stories). A “noir mystery” is a mystery with tough characters and “bleak” (not

happy or nice) settings. Many writers in Los Angeles are famous for writing

about noir mysteries. One of these famous noir mystery writers was Raymond

Chandler.

Raymond was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1888 and “raised” (grew up) in Great

Britain. In 1912, he came back to the United States and then decided to live in

Los Angeles. He tried to work as a “bookkeeper” (accountants; someone who

keeps the financial accounts of a business), but was unsuccessful and was

“fired” (was told to leave the company).

At this point, Raymond began to try to write “to make a living” (to earn enough

money to live on). He started by writing for inexpensive fiction magazines known

as “pulp fiction.” His first story was published in 1933 and his first “novel”

(fictional book), The Big Sleep , was published in 1939. He wrote many stories

and novels, almost all of which were in the noir mystery “genre” (category of

writing or film). His books became very popular, and he is still considered the

most well known noir mystery writer.

In 1946, Raymond wrote a “screenplay” (written instructions and conversations

for making a movie) called The Blue Dahlia . It is also about a murder mystery.

The film was “playing” (in theaters) when the Black Dahlia murder described in

this English Café occurred. Therefore, Elizabeth Short’s nickname as the Black

Dahlia was probably created by people who liked watching The Blue Dahlia .

Raymond was sick for a long time at the end of his life. He died in 1954.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 133

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 133.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode one-

three-three (133). I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the

Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Go to our website at eslpod.com and download a Learning Guide for this episode

to help you improve your English even faster. You can also visit our ESL

Podcast Store, which has some additional courses in business and daily English

we think you’ll enjoy.

On this Café, we’re going to be talking about elections, and in particular, what we

sometimes call “dirty tricks” during elections. We’re also going to be talking

about the Black Dahlia, who she was, and why she is so famous here in Los

Angeles. As always, we’ll answer a few of your questions as well. Let’s get

started.

As you probably know, there is a lot of excitement in the United States every four

years about the presidential elections. So, on this Café, we’re going to talk about

some of the dishonest, or not honest, political strategies that are used in some

U.S. elections. Presidential elections have two parts in the United States: the

first part are the primaries. The word “primary” means first, in some instances;

the primaries are the first elections that help determine who the “candidates,” or

the representatives from each party will be for the presidency. We pick the

candidates that will “run against” each other – that will oppose each other in the

second election, which is sometimes called the “general” election.

Naturally, being “elected,” or chosen by a majority of votes, is difficult.

Candidates use many different strategies to get elected. Normally they try to talk

about their platform. A “platform” (platform) is a set of beliefs that a candidate

has about certain important political issues. A platform also includes what he or

she promises to do after being elected. Some candidates believe that talking

about the platform that they have is not enough, so candidates begin to use,

unfortunately, dishonest political strategies to attack or criticize their opponents.

An “opponent,” is someone who is running against you, or someone you are

fighting against, someone who “opposes” you. In the 2008 elections in the

United States there are two people who are fighting each other in the Democratic

Party, one of the two major political parties in the U.S.; they are Hillary Clinton

and Barak Obama. They are, in 2008, the two opponents for that “nomination,”

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 133

or that election to become the candidate for the second, or general election in

November of 2008.

One type of dishonest political strategy is known as a push poll. A “poll” (poll) is

a survey or a questionnaire where people are asked for their opinions about

something. With a normal poll, an organization usually spends a lot of time

“developing,” or writing, the survey questions and then identifying a group of

people whom they want to ask for their opinion. Then, after asking the questions,

they spend a lot of time “analyzing,” or looking at the results, what we would call

the “data” (or “data,” both pronunciations are correct), then they “publish,” or let

other people know about their results, often in the newspaper.

A push poll is different, however, because the people who organize a push poll

don’t actually collect or analyze the information, or at least not very much. In a

push poll, the “pollsters,” the people who give the poll, who ask the questions,

have a short list of questions they ask, but the real purpose of those questions is

to get people to start thinking about the issue, or topic, or subject in a certain

way. The push poll’s organizers are not really interested in people’s opinions or

their answers to the questions. Instead, they want to make sure that people

become aware of a certain issue and begin to talk about it with their friends,

family members, the people they work with so that it becomes something that is

important in the elections.

The problem with push polls is that they often have misleading questions.

Something is “misleading” if it makes one more likely to believe something that is

not true. If something is “misleading,” it is false or it is not completely true. For

example, in the 2000 elections, one push poll asked people in South Carolina,

“Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain (one of the

candidates) for president if you knew he had fathered (or was the father of) an

illegitimate black child?” The word “illegitimate” means not legitimate. That is,

it’s used to refer to a child who is born outside of a marriage, where the mother is

not married.

Now, John McCain never had an illegitimate child. He and his wife had adopted

a daughter from the country of Bangladesh. However, most voters did not know

this and when they heard the question, they began to think that it might be true

that McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child; that would have been a very

bad thing for him to have done, according to some voters, if it were true. The

problem is it wasn’t true; it was a lie. But because they asked that question,

people begin to think about it and believe it. This type of push poll can change

someone’s decision about whom they will want to vote for.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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