This episode’s vocabulary
To stop in your tracks
phrase — to suddenly stop moving or doing something.
To browse
verb — to look at information on the internet.
Feed
noun — a web page, screen, etc. that updates (= changes) often to show the latest information.
Appealing
adj. — attractive or interesting.
Run-of-the-mill
adj. — ordinary and not special or exciting in any way.
Banter
noun — conversation that is funny and not serious.
To strike a chord
idiom — if something strikes a chord, it causes people to remember something else because it is similar to it.
Questions and answers
Rory is going to describe a time he saw something interesting on social media. He is gonna say when it was, where he saw it, what he saw, and explain why he thinks it was interesting. Rory, are you ready to rock and roll?
Yes.
Yes, go ahead, fire away.
Well, this is quite a few months ago now. But I remember when I saw it, it's sort of stopped me in my tracks because it was hilarious. And it was so unusual as well to hear it on any social media at all. I was browsing the Instagram feed of someone that I was following. My friend has sent me their profile before because, well, the humor was very appealing to us, and I decided to do a bit of digging, and I did it when I was bored on the metro one day. I mean, what else are you're going to do. So it was this American guy playing the part of a stereotypical and politically incorrect New York socialite. And so his character was replying to some fan mail. That sounds pretty run-of-the-mill. But what drew my attention to this video, in particular, was that the writer of the letter was from Scotland. So this had a particular relevance to me and my friends. And it was great. He spent a solid five minutes or so sort of tearing into Scotland and making fun of it. It wasn't hurtful or anything like that. It was just sort of gentle banter. And it definitely struck a chord with us about how ridiculous some things in a small country can seem to people in a giant country like America. I think one particular set of lines that stood out was when he compared a small village there to a place of the same name in Canada, saying that he didn't worry about confusing them, because both of them could be wiped out in a nuclear attack, and no one would even notice that that happened, because they're quite small. And that's true, I think. You know, people tend to worry about these things in smaller countries and people in bigger countries are just like, whatever. I doubt many people where I'm from even know about these places, to be honest. So God knows what people from outside the country think. It made me laugh a lot. And I had to stop watching it actually because I started laughing publicly, which is a big no-no on the metro. That's something you really want to avoid. But I'm glad I didn't avoid it entirely because it's what made it stick out in my head. And now I'm able to talk about it in my part two presentation.
What about your friends? Did they find it funny?
Oh, yeah. Well, I found it because of my friends.
Thank you, Rory, for your lovely answer. -