Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 625, Being Famous and Anonymous.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 625.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Visit our website at eslpod.com.
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This episode is called Being Famous and Anonymous.
Anonymous is the opposite of famous.
No one knows who you are.
Let's get started.
Why are you wearing that getup?
I'm trying to stay under the radar.
I don't want to create a mob by going outside without a disguise.
People are going to recognize me.
So are you trying to tell me that you think you're famous after being in one play?
Of course.
I've had my name in lights, and I have to expect people to know who I am.
Losing my privacy is the price of fame.
Everybody knows that.
I think you may be overestimating the size of your adoring public.
How many people went to see your play?
Enough.
By tomorrow, the newspapers will have my picture plastered across their pages and I'll have to say goodbye to my anonymity.
If the papers don't come out until tomorrow, why are you going around incognito?
I'm just getting ready to meet my fans.
Depending on whether the reviews are good or bad, you may be famous or infamous.
Eric begins our dialogue by asking Juliana, why are you wearing that getup?
Getup G-E-T-U-P.
One word is an informal way to say an unusual set of clothing, an unusual, what we might call outfit O-U-T-F-I-T.
Your outfit refers to the clothes that you are wearing.
I could talk about my shirt, my pants, and my shoes as being part of my outfit.
My dress could be part of my outfit.
Well, not my dress.
I mean, well, you know what I mean.
Well, a getup is a very unusual outfit, something strange that someone is wearing.
Juliana says to Eric, I'm trying to stay under the radar.
I'm wearing this getup to stay under the radar.
This expression means to not be noticed or to be unnoticed, not to draw attention to yourself.
He's trying to stay under the radar.
He doesn't want other people to pay attention to him.
Juliana, who apparently is normally famous and people know who she is, doesn't want people to recognize her.
She says A mob.
M-O-B is a large group of people, Often people who are angry or are very emotional about something, and they're together in one place and they are making noise or they are causing problems.
That's a mob.
Mob actually has a couple of different meanings in English.
None of them are explained in the learning guide, however.
But you will get an explanation of the word get up.
That does also have additional explanations that are in the learning guide.
So, Juliana doesn't want to create a mob by going outside without a disguise.
A disguise...
D-I-S-G-U-I-S-E is something that changes the way you look so that people don't know who you are.
People, Juliana says, are going to recognize me.
They're going to identify me if I don't wear this disguise.
Eric says, so, meaning, so what?
Why is that important?
Are you trying to tell me that you think you're famous after being in one play?
To be famous means that you are very well known.
People know who you are.
If you walk down the street, they'll say, hey, there's Lucy Say.
I saw her picture on the Internet.
Really?
Well, it's just an example.
So Juliana thinks that she's going to be famous because she was in a play which is a performance, a public performance at a theater.
Typically, you could be in one of Shakespeare's plays, for example.
Well, Juliana says that she is in fact famous because she was in a play.
She says, of course, I've had my name in lights and I have to expect people to know who I am.
The expression to have your name in lights is means literally that your name is being displayed, typically on a large board, a large area in front of a theater, so that people can see your name.
People know who is performing in that play or movie.
That's to have your name in lights, to be a famous actor or actress, or and for people to know who you are because you've had your name in lights.
She says, I have to expect people to know who I am.
Losing my privacy is the price of fame.
Everybody knows that.
Your privacy P-R-I-V-A-C-Y.
What in Britain they would pronounce as privacy refers to keeping information about yourself secret, not letting other people know about your personal information.
Fame, F-A-M-E, means being famous.
It's when people know who you are.
That's to have fame.
There was a popular television show many years ago called Fame, about young students who were trying to become famous in the world of dance and theater.
There was a song from that show that many people would recognize called Remember my name, fame.
I'm going to live forever.
I'm going to learn how to fly high.
Remember my name, meaning I am going to be famous.
Fame, I'm going to live forever.
The idea is that if you are famous, people will always know who you are, even after you die.
I'm going to live forever.
I'm going to learn how to fly high.
If you could learn how to fly by yourself, you would definitely be famous.
And I don't mean smoking marijuana, people.
Back to the dialogue.
Juliana thinks that she is now famous.
Eric says, I think you may be overestimating the size of your adoring public.
To overestimate means to think something is bigger or larger than it really is.
To adore A-D-O-R-E someone is to show them a lot of love.
So adoring public refers to people who would love you, your fans, people who think that you are a celebrity.
Eric says, how many people went to see your play?
Juliana says, enough, sufficient numbers to be famous.
She says, by tomorrow, before tomorrow.
When we say something is plastered P-L-A-S-T-E-R-E-D.
In this context we mean displayed in many places, easy for people to see, because it is everywhere.
Here in Los Angeles, when there is a new movie, many times the movie companies will put up big signs announcing the movies.
They plaster them everywhere.
They put them everywhere.
Plastered has a very different meaning, a couple of different meanings, and those can be found in the Learning Guide.
Well, Juliana thinks that she's going to be famous and therefore she will have to say goodbye to her anonymity.
Anonymity, A-N-O-N.
N-Y-M-I-T-Y, means that no one knows who you are.
To be anonymous, in other words.
She's saying that I will no longer be anonymous.
People will know me.
Eric says if the papers, meaning the newspapers, don't come out until tomorrow, meaning they won't be published, they won't be released until tomorrow.
Why are you going around incognito?
Incognito.
I-N-C-O-G-N-I-T-O is another way of saying in disguise, without letting people know who you really are.
Juliana says I'm just getting ready to meet my fans, the people who love me so much.
Eric says, depending on whether the reviews are good or bad, you may be famous or infamous.
Reviews here refers to an article in a newspaper or a magazine.
That Reviews are any descriptions of someone's opinion about a certain thing.
People often look at the reviews for books and movies before buying them.
They want to know what other people think.
Well, Eric says that depending on whether the reviews of the play are good or bad, you may be famous.
If they are good reviews or if they are bad reviews, you will be infamous.
I-N-F-A-M-O-U-S.
To be infamous means to be famous in the sense that you are well known, but for bad things that you have done.
Everyone knows who you are, but they know about the bad things you did.
So if you say someone is infamous, you mean that they are well-known, but they are well-known for having done something wrong or something bad.
A
N-O-T-O-R-I-O-U-S, which is the same thing to be famous for something that is bad or negative typically.
Although I've noticed in recent years many people using notorious to mean the same as famous instead of infamous.
So the meaning is changing in the language, but the dictionary definition would tell you that it is being famous for something bad.
We hope you're not famous for anything bad.
In either case, even if you are, let's listen now to the dialogue at a normal speed.
Why are you wearing that getup?
I'm trying to stay under the radar.
I don't want to create a mob by going outside without a disguise.
People are going to recognize me.
So, are you trying to tell me that you think you're famous after being in one play?
Of course.
I've had my name in lights, and I have to expect people to know who I am.
Losing my privacy is the price of fame.
Everybody knows that.
I think you may be overestimating the size of your adoring public.
How many people went to see your play?
Enough.
By tomorrow, the newspapers will have my picture plastered across their pages and I will have to say goodbye to my anonymity.
If the papers don't come out until tomorrow, why are you going around incognito?
I'm just getting ready to meet my fans.
Depending on whether the reviews are good or bad, you may be famous or infamous.
Our scriptwriter tries to stay under the radar for sure, but it's not possible.
We all know she is a wonderful writer, and her name is Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I am Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again, won't you, on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
