Talk about English - Politics, language and slang pt.1 | Текст песни

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• Talk about English
• Politics, language and slang pt.1

About this script
Please note that this is not a word for word transcript of the programme as broadcast.
In the recording process changes may have been made which will not be reflected
here.


Jackie: Hello, welcome to Talk About English, coming to you live from the
BBC World Service in London. I'm Jackie Dalton.

Callum: And I'm Callum Robertson.

Jackie: In today's programme: language and politics

Clip

Callum: And slang – when, if ever, is it appropriate?

Clip

Jackie: We'll also have a slang challenge for our guests here in the studio.

Callum: That's all coming in Talk About English.

Jackie: Over the next three weeks, we're focusing on the language of politics
and diplomacy. And today, more specifically, the importance of
choosing your words carefully. Later on in the programme, we'll
include a look at law and international law – a field where language
and word choice can be absolutely crucial. To help us with that is

Stephen Fox, an international law specialist. Welcome to the
programme.

Callum: And we're also joined this week by an English learner, Juliette Perreard,
who's from France. Hello.

Callum: On our website we've been asking you what your favourite English
slang expressions are – keep them coming. Write to us at
talkaboutenglish@bbc.co.uk

COMPETITION TIME!

Jackie: There is also a competition question for you this week.

Callum: Yes, it's: what are Callum and Jackie's favourite slang words? You'll
hear the answer in the programme – though you may also manage to
find the answer on the webcast page now if you look closely. And,
most importantly - otherwise there's no prize - we want you to write
sentences using these words.

Jackie: So send your sentences to talkaboutenglish@bbc.co.uk. What are
Callum's and my favourite slang words and put them in a sentence for
us. And for those who aren't quite sure what slang is – we've had a few
questions in about that - Callum, dude, what is slang?

Callum: The kind of language you hear in the streets, in bars – most often when
young people are talking to each other. It's considered to be informal,
in some cases rude.

Jackie: We've had this email in from Boris in China, who says he's rather
unclear about the whole thing. He has some very good questions
relating to slang.

Callum: Yes, Boris asks: How widely are slang words accepted? Is it that just a
handful of speakers - just a few speakers - know slang words? Is slang
similar to dialect?

Jackie: Well hopefully we'll be answering that question of how widely is slang
accepted as we get through the programme. But what about the issue of
slang as a kind of dialect, which only a certain group of people know?

All: (discuss)

Jackie: So anyway, we've established the slang is not what we might call 'the
Queen's English.' Having said all this, there have recently been a
number of cases of very high profile public figures and leaders using
expressions which certainly wouldn't be seen as the Queen's English.
This one for example:

President Bush
There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My
answer is 'bring 'em on'! We've got the necessary force to deal with the security
situation.

Jackie: That was President George W. Bush talking about Iraq in 2003. Did
you catch the slang expression? What was it? What does it mean? Let's
listen again:

President Bush
There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My
answer is 'bring 'em on'! We've got the necessary force to deal with the security
situation.

Jackie: 'Bring 'em on' – a phrase my twelve year old neighbour loves to use
when he's playing computer games and about to kill lots of evil
monsters. Used in quite a different context here though. First, Callum,
what does this phrase mean?

Callum: (explains)

Jackie: What George Bush meant by this was 'Let them attack us because we
have a strong enough army to cope.' But his use of this slang 'bring 'em
on' brought him a lot of criticism because for some people it sounded
like he didn't take the whole issue very seriously and saw it as a bit of a
game.

A more recent incident which attracted a lot of media attention was a
conversation between President Bush and the British Prime Minister,
Tony Blair. They were speaking privately, but their words were picked
up by a microphone that had not been switched off. Let's listen to part
of a report on that.

News Report
President Bush meanwhile, has been caught on microphone using an expletive as he
discussed Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Israel.

Jackie: President Bush caught using an 'expletive' – what's an expletive
Callum?

Callum: (explains)

Jackie: Let's listen to the rest of that report. Just a warning that it does contain
language that some people may find offensive.

News Report
President Bush meanwhile, has been caught on microphone using an expletive as he
discussed Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Israel. Mr Bush was recorded telling Tony
Blair privately that Syria should press Lebanese militants to 'stop doing this shit'.
(recording of part of conversation).

Jackie: The President of the United States swearing – privately, he didn't know
he was being recorded. Does it matter?

All: (discuss)

Jackie: The other thing that was recorded during that conversation was the
way President Bush greeted Mr Blair – he said 'Yo Blair!' Here in
Britain there was almost more fuss in the press about that than there
was about the expletive. And shortly after the incident Mr Blair stood
up to make a statement in the House of Commons, which is where
members of parliament – elected politicians - meet. As he did so
members of the opposition shouted out "Yo!"

Callum: Stephen – what about slang in international law courts – do you think
lawyers nowadays can get away with using slang?