📙 Part 2: Describe a new development (e.g., a shopping mall) in your town or city

This episode's vocabulary

To loathe (verb) - hate someone or something.

Monstrosity (noun) - something that is very ugly and usually large.

Waterfront (noun) - a part of a town that is next to an area of water such as a river or the sea.

To stand/stick out like a sore thumb (idiom) - if someone or something stands/sticks out like a sore thumb, everyone notices them because they are very different from the people or things around them.

To put up (phrasal verb) - to build something.

Order (noun) - the state of working correctly or of being suitable for use.

Dull (adj.) - not interesting or exciting in any way.

To defeat (verb) - to win against someone in a fight, war, or competition.

Localized (adj.) - happening in or limited to a particular area.

Post hoc (adj.) - made or happening only after an event, not planned or decided before it happens.

Justification (noun) - a good reason or explanation for something.

Bizarre (adj.) - very strange and unusual.

For the sake of someone/for someone's sake - because of, or for the purpose of something.

Be the bee's knees (idiom) - to be excellent or of an extremely high standard.

Forefront (noun) - the most noticeable or important position.

Vast (adj.) - extremely big.

Manifestation (noun) - the appearance.

Avant-garde (adj.) - avant-garde ideas, styles, and methods are very original or modern in comparison to the period in which they happen.

Needless to say (idiom) - as you would expect; added to, or used to introduce, a remark giving information that is expected and not surprising.

In line with something (idiom) - similar to, or at the same level as something.

Indepth (phrase) - in a serious and detailed way.

Questions and Answers

M: Rory, bring us your story.

R: Oh, I could go on for days about how much I loathe the Victoria and Albert Museum monstrosity they've built in Dundee. It's not hard to miss since it dominates the waterfront area of most of the city. And stands out from the local architecture like a sore thumb, almost as soon as you come into the city from the south by road or on the train coming over the water. I don't remember exactly how long it took to complete, but I think it was put up in rather short order. Which is the only good thing I could say about it, to be honest with you. It's a dull white building that looks like an alien spaceship. Although the architect apparently wanted it to look like the cliffs of a town further up the road from Dundee. Which sort of defeats the purpose of having it designed this way in Dundee. I mean, if we are going down the localised design road, then wouldn't it make more sense to make it look like something closer to home? Literally closer to home, I mean. I think it's just a post hoc justification of why it looks so bizarre. It's just been done for the sake of it, really. However, this is entirely in keeping with how my hometown sees itself at times. Which is to say, a lot of the people who live there think it's the bee's knees and at the forefront of everything. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case for the vast majority of things and people in Dundee for about 100 years. So this museum is more like a visual manifestation of this need to appear avant-garde. When the place is anything but that. You can see the way it's been built next to an exploration ship, which is almost 100 years old. It makes for quite the contrast because one is just a bizarre image and the other is quite interesting. It's got a clear connection to the past and the area. Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of this development. Though, I'm not at all surprised by it. If I had been in charge, it would be a lot more pleasing to look at and more in line with how the city actually is. Rather than how people would like it to be.

M: And what about your friends? What do they think about this new development?

R: I haven't really spoken in depth with them about it, but I don't think they're impressed either, to be honest with you.

Discussion

M: Thank you, Rory, for your story! So, dear listener, the task is to describe a new development in your town or city. So a new development could be a new building, for example, like a new shopping mall, a new museum, a new cathedral. A new something in your town or city, alright? Maybe a new transport system, a new road, metro station. What else? Rory, help me. A tower? I don't know, a new water park.

R: A new water park?

M: Yeah.

R: Where are you living that that's a new thing? It's usually something like a shopping mall that was suggested there or a shopping centre. Possibly, a new bridge has been built. Something like that. An infrastructure project.

M: Yeah. So that's about infrastructure. Rory started off with "Oh, I could go on for days about how much I loathe the new Victoria and Albert Museum".

R: Well, no, I didn't say museum, I said monstrosity. Loathe - meaning I hate. Monstrosity - meaning something big and not nice looking. It does not look good.

M: And this museum is in Dundee. Dundee, Rory, what is it? Is it a name of something?

R: It's the name of my hometown.

M: Oh, all right. So Rory was born and bred in Dundee.

R: Actually, I grew up in Broughty Ferry, which is just outside of Dundee, but has now been absorbed into it. Those are two very different places.

M: Now it has become even more complex. Oh, my God, I'm just looking at it now. Jesus. Woah.

R: Yeah. You're looking at the building?

M: Oh, yeah, what is that?

R: Yeah, it's horrible.

M: Oh, wow. It's like a massive brick.

R: Yeah.

M: It's very modern. So, dear listener, you should google, just open Google and put down Victoria and Albert Museum, Dundee. Because there is a Victorian and Albert Museum in London, which is actually pretty nice.

R: Yeah, it's classy.

M: But if you Google Victoria and Albert Museum Dundee. Have you been inside, Rory?

R: I have. I went inside and paid a visit just before the pandemic in 2019. And I'm never going back.

M: Yes, so you see, so this museum was built there and it's a development, a new development. And from the get-go, Rory tells us that I loathe this museum, I hate this museum they've built in Dundee or which was built in Dundee.

R: When we talk about they've, they have. They is just meaning the people in charge of the project. The people in charge of something.

M: Wow. My God.

R: It's a very general term.

M: And it's like a half of the Titanic, you know.

R: Yeah. The iceberg half.

M: Iceberg. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because next to it, you see a ship. So please go to Google and please watch the pictures with me. Now, now, dear listener, now. You can stop this episode and just go and watch.

R: Yeah, you can stop and then let your eyes bleed for a few minutes while you watch this... While you look at this thing. Oh, God, it's horrible.

M: And it's just like half of it is on water, kind of, it just goes into water.

R: Well, it hangs over the water.

M: Yeah, hangs over the water. There we go. Yeah. Wow. So modern and...

R: No.

M: And what about other people in your Dundee place? Do they like it? Or people started protesting like no, we don't like it...

R: I imagine that there are two groups of people. Where will be one group like me who are very traditional and do not like these things. And there will be people who think this is amazing because it shows like we are at the cutting edge. Because that's how they want to feel about where they live. But it's not like that. And I think they're extremely misguided, to say the least, in this way of thinking.

M: Rory here prefers traditional Scottish castles, okay?

R: Well, I prefer things that don't look horrific. That's not difficult to do.

M: Ooh, our extraordinary three-store building is itself a testament to great design. Okay. Rory?

R: Is it now?

M: Rory has used the word testament in the previous episodes.

R: It's not a testament to great design. It's a testament to how much you can faff around and pretend you know what you're doing and get paid millions of pounds of taxpayers' money for delivering something that is not worth millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

M: Yeah. So this building is hard to miss because it dominates the waterfront area of the city. So there's this waterfront area and the building is huge, so it dominates. Big, huge monster. It stands out from the local architecture.

R: Yes. Actually, the whole expression is it stands out like a sore thumb because it's something ugly. So if it's something that you don't like the look of, it stands out or it sticks out like a sore thumb. But if something stands out without the sore thumb, then it's something that just is noticeable. It could be positive, it usually is.

M: But a sore thumb is negative. So a thumb is kind of this one of your fingers, yeah? So, the first finger, thumb. A sore is...

R: When something is in pain.

M: In pain, yes. So it's like oh, I have a sore throat, I have a sore eye. So something is in pain and then a sore thumb like one of your fingers.

R: I have a sore eye when I look at this building. In fact, both of my eyes are sore because it is an eyesore. I can't believe I didn't use the word eyesore.

M: Yeah, yeah. It's kind of painful to look at. So it stands out like a sore thumb. I don't remember exactly how long it took to complete it, so that's fine to say. I don't know how much time they were building it. I think it was put up. It was put up. It was constructed. It was built there. It was put up in a rather short time.

R: Or a short order.

M: It was put up in rather short order. What do you mean by this?

R: It just means it was put up in a short time. It didn't take a very long, complicated process to put it up.

M: As Rory hates this building. He describes it as dull, white building. So it's dull, it's boring. It looks like an alien spaceship. So it looks like something. The architect is the person who designed this building. So the architecture of this building or the architect wanted it to look like the cliffs, but it looks like a spaceship, according to Rory.

R: Yes. But they wanted it to look like the cliffs of a town further up the road. Further up the road just means a small distance away, usually towards the north.

M: And Rory told us that, I think that's just a post hoc justification of why it looks bizarre. So post hoc.

R: Post hoc is Latin. It means after something happens. So they just did it. And then they said, oh, it looks like the cliffs, it'll be fine.

M: Oh, really? Okay.

R: Although, if they did do because of that, then it doesn't look like the cliffs at all. Because the cliffs are made of sandstone, which is a red material and the building is a dull white colour. So that is a terrible justification.

M: Yeah. Rory is really emotional about this topic. So post hoc is a formal adjective made or happening only after the events. So like post some event. It's not planned or decided before it happens. It happens after. For example, a post hoc analysis of the disease. So we have an illness and then after the illness, we have this analysis. And usually a post hoc justification. So people do something and then they justify it. It's not just they have reasons to do it, they justify it and then they do it. No, they do it first and then it's just a post hoc justification of why it looks bizarre. It's the bee's knees. Oh, another idiom. Rory, what did you mean here?

R: Just that they think it's the best thing ever, but it's not.

M: To be the bee's knees. So bees like bee, you know, like a bee. Actually, according to Cambridge online Dictionary, Rory, are you ready?

R: Oh, heck. Okay.

M: Being the bee's knees, idiom, old fashioned, informal. So Cambridge thinks it's an old-fashioned idiom.

R: Well, I'm an old-fashioned kind of guy when it comes to architecture, so that suits me down to the ground. Is that another idiom?

M: Yes, it suits me down to the ground. It suits me well, like 100%. So to be the bee's knees, to be excellent or of an extremely high standard. For example, it's the bee's knees. So it's like excellent, it's high standard. But you should be very careful with this because according to Cambridge Online Dictionary, this is an old-fashioned idiom. What idioms to use, Rory, what? So for Rory, it's okay, but some other people would not use it. So it depends on the person.

R: Yes. You just have to say it with the appropriate amount of conviction. And if you find something that you hate badly enough, then you can use it to talk about that.

M: Yeah, this museum is like a visual manifestation of what? So manifestation?

R: Manifestation is just something that you can see that represents something. Well, the visual manifestation is what that is.

M: Yeah. For example, you can say this building is a visual manifestation of art. So this is a representation of art. If we talk about something positive. It has been built. You can use the passive voice. Present perfect. So it has been built. It has been recently built next to an exploration ship. Needless to say is a nice linking phrase, which means like undoubtedly. I'm not a big fan of this development. Or you can say I'm a big fan of his development. I really enjoy it. I am not at all surprised by it. So Rory is hard to surprise. And then our favourite strategy, we used the third conditional. Actually a mixed conditional. Sorry, here. If I had been in charge. So if we imagine that in the past Rory had been in charge. So if Rory, our Scottish Rory, our traditional Rory, with all this Scottish legacy and the Highlanders and kilts and whisky and his cornflakes. If Rory had been in charge of this construction, of this building, of this development, it would be much more pleasing to look at now. A mixed conditional, dear listener... Advanced. So if I had been in charge, but I wasn't, in the past, yeah? Now, this building would be much more pleasing to look at. So this building would be much nicer now, but it's not, okay? So a mixed conditional. Wow. Rory, would you like to add anything? Any more emotions?

R: No, but we should talk about things that could be used positively as alternatives. Because, you know, what if you find something that you like. So perhaps you would want to say something like, it's a large building. You can still say it dominates an area of the city and stands out. You don't have to say like a sore thumb, if you really like it. And then you could, instead of saying it's the only good thing about it, you could say it's just one of the good things I have to say about it. And then to describe it in more detail, it's a gleaming white building. So gleaming, a positive word, it shines. And then if we talk about, you can still say it's a visual manifestation of something, but a visual manifestation of modern architecture or the need to have modern architecture or feeling like you live in a modern city. Instead of unfortunately, you could say, fortunately, that's been the case for the majority of things in our town. They've been very modern and at the forefront of things. They don't appear avant-garde. They are avant-garde. And instead of saying, needless to say, I'm not a big fan, needless to say, I'm a huge fan of this development. So there you have it. If you want to talk about something positively, you've got your language. But if you don't and you're a curmudgeonly old man like I am, then this is your perfect answer.

M: Thank you very much for listening and we'll come back to you in our next episode about facilities and transportation! Bye!

R: Bye!

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