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 190th.
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 190th. 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:
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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 lessonsYes, 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!