📕 Part 1: Museums

This episode's vocabulary

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Philistine (noun) – a person who is uninterested in culture or the arts. → Some people think I’m a bit of a philistine because I rarely visit museums.

Collection (noun) – a group of objects of a similar type gathered in one place. → The museum has an impressive collection of ancient sculptures.

Social history (noun) – the study of how ordinary people lived in the past. → The exhibition focuses on the social history of the city’s working-class districts.

Artifact (noun) – an object made by humans, usually of historical or cultural interest. → We saw artefacts from different civilizations in the history museum.

Be dedicated to (verb phrase) – to be designed or intended for a particular purpose. → This small museum is dedicated to local artists and their work.

Linked to (verb phrase) – connected or related to something. → Many of the objects are linked to important events in the country’s history.

Free of charge (phrase) – costing no money; with no fee. → The gallery is free of charge, so everyone can visit it.

Repository (noun) – a place where a large number of things are stored safely. → Museums act as repositories of cultural and historical objects.

Sense of connection (phrase) – a feeling of being linked or related to something. → Visiting the museum gave me a stronger sense of connection to my ancestors.

By a country mile (idiom) – by a large amount; very clearly. → That museum is the most popular attraction in the city by a country mile.

Exhibition (noun) – a public display of artworks or objects in a museum or gallery. → The museum is hosting an exhibition on modern photography.

Curator (noun) – a person who is responsible for a museum’s collection. → The curator explained how they choose which pieces to display.

Interactive exhibit (noun) – a display that visitors can touch or actively use. → Children loved the interactive exhibits in the science museum.

Admission fee (noun) – the money you pay to enter a museum or gallery. → There’s a small admission fee, but students get a discount.

Guided tour (noun) – a visit to a museum led by someone who explains the exhibits. → We joined a guided tour to learn more about the paintings.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Do you often visit a museum?

Rory: Now? Oh, wow, only when I have to for work, really. I'm going to sound like a complete philistine now, but having gone to museums once, I don't often see the point in going back to them. Even if there's a new collection or something, I just have other things to do.

Maria: When was the last time you visited a museum?

Rory: Probably this summer. In fact, it was. I took my class to see the Museum of Oxford, which is like a place dedicated to the social history of the city, for lack of a better term. It's tiny, but there was a lot to do, which was quite nice.

Maria: Are there many museums in your hometown?

Rory: Quite a few, actually, yes. The best one, in my opinion, is the McManus Galleries, which sounds like an art gallery, but is actually a collection of artefacts from around the world, and they're linked to Dundee, my hometown, in some way. I think that's quite cool, and it's free of charge to get in as well.

Maria: Do you think museums are important?

Rory: Well, it's probably quite important to have these repositories of items connected to people, places, and things, yes. It can give people a chance to find out something new, and develop a sense of connection to whatever the focus is. But they're not the most important thing by a country mile.

Discussion

Maria: Rory was talking about galleries, and you can say that this McManus Galleries sounds like an art gallery.

Rory: You could say that about just about every museum, to be honest. It sounds like a… For example, maybe, we have… Well, I can say, for example, in my country we have Edinburgh Castle which sounds like it's just a castle, but it's also a museum as well, a collection of artefacts.

Maria: Yeah, or like the Louvre sounds like a museum, but it's much more than just one museum. It's this, I don't know, a cultural centre.

Rory: And a great place to pick up some free art if you're an art robber, an art thief.

Maria: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you heard the news, dear listener, that the Louvre was robbed? And the joke was like, oh, the Louvre was robbed and they found the jewels at the British Museum.

Rory: I love that. The British Museum sounds like it's a museum about Britain, but actually it's a collection of artefacts stolen from around the world.

Maria: Yeah, from Louvre, from Peru, from Machu Picchu.

Rory: From everywhere.

Maria: Oh, what a joke. If you haven't heard the news, go have a read to be in the know of the events, what's going on. So people are starting talking about, oh yeah, we need a new film, how the Louvre was robbed, and a new Sherlock Holmes series. The next phrase is, having gone to museums once, I don't see the point in going back to them. So we go back to different galleries, we go back to museums, we visit them again. So yeah, a nice phrasal verb to use.

Rory: The other thing is, it's having gone to museums. So it's like, oh my God, what would that be? Like, -ing form plus third form. Yeah, it's crazy.

Maria: Perfect participle. Because like, I've gone to this museum, so I've been there once, and I don't understand why I should go back there, you see? And we make it more complicated, so having gone to this museum once, I don't see the point in going back. The next one is quite nice. I describe myself as a bit of a philistine, dear listener.

Rory: Someone who is not culturally connected or aware, or has very simple opinions about things.

Maria: A philistine is a bit negative, a person who refuses to see the beauty or the value of art or culture. So I'm a bit of a philistine.

Rory: Usually you say you're a bit of a philistine.

Maria: But it's negative, it's disapproving. And I think museums can help people feel a sense of connection to the past, connection to culture, connection to art, a sense of connection. You're connected to the world.

What else can you have a sense of?

Maria: A sense of fashion.

Rory: A sense of fashion would be good. A sense of health or self-awareness.

Maria: Yeah, a sense of achievement, for example.

Rory: Oh, yes.

Maria: Yay, nice. And dear listener, we say that we visit a museum or we go to museums. And Rory, what's going on with articles? So do I say I go to a museum, I go to the museum, or just I go to museum? Or I say I go to museums?

Rory: Definitely not I go to museum. We need some kind of article or something to tell us about the number here. Museums would be many. I go to many museums. That would be like a regular thing. I go to the museum would be talking about a specific museum. So you already need to talk about it before you say that. And then I go to a museum. Well, that would be like when you start to talk about it, like I go to a museum. It's the Natural History Museum.

Maria: Yeah, so you can say just museums. I like museums. I don't like museums. I never go to any museums. Or the last time I visited a museum was last week or last year. So museums or maybe like a museum.

Rory: When was the last time you went to a museum?

Maria: Oh la la. That's a very good question. Perhaps in summer. I don't even remember.

Rory: Maria, you philistine.

Maria: No, no, no, no. I like museums. Like what about… does an art gallery count? Does a photo exhibition count?

Rory: No, sorry.

Maria: No, OK, OK. All right. Yeah, because I went to a photo exhibition to look at photos. Museum. Wow.

Rory: That's a hard one, isn't it?

Maria: It is a hard one because it should be a proper museum, dear listener. Yeah, OK. Maybe it was a year ago then. A proper museum. Something like history museum. Yeah, I remember nothing.

Rory: So there we go. We need to, if you're listening, this is a problem because if you haven't been to a museum recently, that might be a good time to go to the free museum.

Maria: And we say that museums have a collection of something. So there is a collection of clothes or a collection of artefacts, different exhibits. And we can also say that this museum is dedicated to the social history of the city. So my favourite museum is that which is dedicated, which is about the history of the city, about the culture, about, I don't know, war…

Rory: And then we talk about the things in the museum. We talk about the collection. For example, there might be an Egyptian collection, especially if it's the British Museum, because they steal things. Maybe one day they will give them back. Who knows?

Maria: No, no, no. Yeah, you have dinosaurs at the British Museum, right?

Rory: Do we? I thought we only had them at the Natural History Museum.

Maria: Hmm. No, I don't know. I might be mistaken. I think you have some dinosaurs at the British Museum, too.

Rory: Maybe. I don't know. I've not been in about 10 years.

Maria: Yeah, I've been there once. Yeah, amazing. It's massive, dear listener, the British Museum in London. It's just massive, huge. Yeah, and you can say like, OK, it has a collection of artefacts, different exhibits, different things from all over the world. And it's free of charge. Yeah, the museum is free. And I love it about London. You know, you go to the National Gallery, it's free. The British Museum is free. Yeah, the Louvre is far from free. But one day, I think a month, you can get there for free. And I did that.

Rory: And then you stole the paintings.

Maria: No, no. It was ages ago. Yeah, but it's funny. Jewels were stolen from the Louvre. Wow.

Rory: And Maria has just got a whole lot of new jewellery. What a coincidence.

Maria: Yeah, Rory, you said repositories.

Rory: Oh, a repository. Oh, a repository is really just a place where you store things, usually a repository of knowledge, but could be something else.

Maria: Yeah, like a repository or repository, a place where things are stored and can be found. So, for example, Rory is a repository of knowledge. So Rory stores knowledge. He keeps all this knowledge inside his head. And you can say that, no, this is a very nice museum, which is a repository of items connected to people, places, things. Rory, what did you mean when you said museums are not the most important thing by a country mile?

Rory: Oh, if something happens by a country mile, it's just like by a big distance. So museums are not the most important thing. Like, they're not even close to being the top of the list of most important things.

Maria: Is it an idiom?

Rory: It might be. Is it a C2 level idiom?

Maria: Well, the Cambridge edition doesn't say actually, but they say country mile, mainly humorous. It's a ha-ha.

Rory: If it doesn't say, then it must be C2.

Maria: And it means like, a large amount in this context. For example, the show was better than the last show by a country mile. Like it was much better. Or, for example, like I missed my goal by a country mile. And museums are not the most important thing by a country mile. So it's like it really is not the most important thing in our life. But it just does add I don't know, more colour. They, museums, they add knowledge. They add culture to our life. They add, they develop our sense of connection to the past, to the present and future. But you know what, like my favourite museum, I love the Museum of Van Gogh. But it's actually, it is a museum of Van Gogh in Amsterdam. But you can call it an art gallery because you see paintings. Van Gogh Museum. Love it. And there you can see his masterpieces. Yeah, just Google a couple of museums that you like or you would like to visit, for example, the Louvre and read about them. Write out maybe like three, five words about the museums. For example, my favourite is Van Gogh Museum, which contains his masterpieces. Masterpiece, you know, a nice word. Rory, are we ready for a joke? I have a museum joke.

Rory: We've had vocabulary. Now we need a joke.

Maria: So the joke dear listener, are you ready? I took my kids to the dinosaur museum today. I spent the whole day looking up at the giant sculptures of dinosaurs and I discovered a new species. My neck is sore. Oh, come on. It's funny. It's very funny. You see, so a dinosaur museum, and when you look at the dinosaurs, they're usually quite tall. And you kind of you look up, you know, and you spend a lot of time looking up. And then what happens, Rory, to your neck when you just look up?

Rory: It gets sore or painful. Like that joke.

Maria: You feel pain in your neck. And we say that my neck is sore. So meaning like pain. Or for example, I have a sore throat if you, you know, you have pain in your throat. So, like I was looking up at the giant sculptures of dinosaurs and I discovered I invented a new type of a dinosaur, which is called my neck is sore. And if you remember different names for dinosaurs, like what are they called? Like Tyrannosaurus,

Rory: Stegosaurus.

Maria: Yeah, like Dekasaurus or something like that.

Rory: But what did you say?

Maria: Dekasaurus.

Rory: Dekasaurus? Well, let's say there's a Dekasaurus.

Maria: No, I don't know. I don't know. Names of dinosaurs. But they're like funny names. Yeah, Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus. Oh, Velociraptor. Spinosaurus. So it's something like Saurus, you see? And the joke is like I invented a new type of dinosaur. My neck is sore. My neck is sore. My neck is Saurus. Oh, it's funny. Come on. It's really good. Thank you very much for listening. And we'll get back to you in our next episode. OK, bye.

Rory: Bye!

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