Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1139, Major Historical Periods.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1139.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Livy and Nicholas about the vocabulary we use in English to describe important periods or times in history.
Let's get started.
Tell me again why we're here on a Saturday afternoon.
Hmm, fascinating.
It is, isn't it?
We follow the timeline of human history from one room to the next.
See?
This room is devoted to ancient history and ancient civilizations.
Is there a gift shop?
Sure, there's one on the way out.
But let me show you a few things in this room.
It's all about the Middle Ages.
Check this out.
Doesn't it blow your mind?
Yeah, wow, great.
Actually, it's all kind of dull.
Isn't there something more exciting to see?
You want excitement?
Then let's skip ahead to the rooms on the Renaissance.
Look at this.
We're rushing past the best exhibits.
But if you want to keep going, I guess we can do that.
These next rooms are devoted to more recent history the Industrial Revolution and pre- and post-World War years.
Is there anything else?
You mean you're done looking at over 3,000 years of historical exhibits?
This is one of the best museums in the world.
I could spend all weekend here.
That's because you're a history buff.
Hey, that room is about the Information Age.
Do you think I could check my email in there?
My dialogue begins with Livy. asking Nicholas a question.
Actually, it's what we would call a command.
Livy says, tell me again why we're here on a Saturday afternoon.
I should point out here that Livy is sometimes used as a short form of the girl's name Olivia, although it would normally not be spelled this way.
For those of you who know about Roman history, you'll know that there was a Roman historian by the name of Livy.
But our Livy is a woman and she asks Nicholas to explain why, on a Saturday afternoon, they are at a museum.
Livy, it appears, would rather be somewhere else.
Nicholas says, you're going to love this museum.
A museum is a building that teaches about art or historical objects, things of importance.
Nicholas says it has artifacts and exhibits from all the major periods in history, from prehistoric days to the present.
An artifact.
A-R-T-I-F-A-C-T is an object that has been made or used by a human being a person usually many years ago.
An exhibit, ex-h-i-b-i-t, is a display of related objects in a museum.
Art museums, for example, will often have exhibits of one artist, where they will bring paintings or sculptures from that artist from different museums all together.
You could have a Picasso exhibit or a Turner exhibit or a Jackson Pollock exhibit.
The museum that Livy and Nicholas are at appears to be a museum of history.
It has exhibits from all the major periods or times in history, from prehistoric days to the present.
Prehistoric.
P-R-E-H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C means relating to periods of time before humans knew how to write or before a given civilization developed a writing system.
The prefix pre- means before.
So prehistory is before human beings were writing things down in effect.
Livy doesn't seem too interested.
She says, hmm, fascinating.
Notice even though she says fascinating, it's clear that she doesn't find it fascinating or interesting at all.
But Nicholas doesn't seem to realize that Livy isn't too excited.
He says, it is, isn't it?
He continues, A timeline, T-I-M-E-L-I-N-E, one word, is the order in which events occurred.
Usually, a timeline is...
Literally a line on a piece of paper, or perhaps on a wall, that shows different years and the events that happened during those years, or whatever the period of time is.
Nicholas says, this room is devoted to ancient history and ancient civilizations.
To say something is devoted D-E-V-O-T-E-D to something means it is intended for a particular topic.
It is about a certain thing.
Now we can use devoted to also in the sense of someone who is in love with or is very loyal to a single person or group of people.
You may remember the movie Grease from the 1970s where Olivia Newton-John sang the song Hopelessly Devoted to You.
I'm hopelessly devoted to you.
Of course, she was hopelessly devoted to the character played by John Travolta.
But we're not talking about...
Olivia Newton John or John Travolta.
We're talking about a museum where there is a room devoted to ancient history.
In this sentence, it means that the entire room is all about this one topic.
The topic is ancient, A-N-C-I-E-N-T, history.
Ancient history, at least in the Western world and Western civilization, means the period of time usually from the very earliest times recorded history up to about say, 300 or 400 AD.
AD refers to the years roughly after the birth of Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian religion.
Years before that time are referred to in English as BC, meaning before Christ, before Jesus Christ was born.
Now, more recently, historians have changed that terminology a little.
They refer to what we used to call AD as CE, meaning Common Era.
And BC has become BCE, before the Common Era.
You will see that, however, mostly in history books, in recent history books.
In most places, people will still use the AD-BC designations.
The word civilization refers to an organized society in a certain place during a certain period.
We could talk about Mayan civilization, the people who lived on the Yucatan Peninsula and in Central America during a certain period of time.
Libby isn't interested in any of this.
She says, is there a gift shop?
Many museums have a little store where you can buy things, often photographs or other little pieces of artwork related to the museum.
Nicholas says, sure, meaning yes.
There's one on the way out, meaning as we exit the museum.
But, he says, let me show you a few things in this room.
It's all about the Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages is a period in European history from approximately 1100 to 1450 AD, although traditionally the Middle Ages refers to a much longer period.
I think
When I was going to school, we would speak of the time between the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 400s AD up through the fall of Constantinople in the 1450s.
It depends on which book you read in terms of the definition of Middle Ages.
Nicholas says, check this out, meaning look at this, pay attention to this.
Doesn't it blow your mind?
The expression to blow B-L-O-W your mind M-I-N-D is one that we use to mean very interesting, very exciting, very impressive.
It's an informal expression, to blow your mind.
Perhaps a little dated.
I'm not sure if people use it as much anymore, but you will still hear it.
Livy says, yeah, wow, great.
Again, she's not really interested.
She says, actually, it's all kind of dull, D-U-L-L.
Dull means boring, uninteresting.
Isn't there something more exciting to see, she asks.
Nicholas says, you want excitement?
Then let's skip ahead, let's move ahead, to the rooms on the Renaissance.
Look at this.
The Renaissance R-E-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E, and the word is capitalized, just as are the words.
Middle, and Ages is a period of time in European history and culture where That usually is dated between the 1300s and the 1600s AD.
Nicholas thinks it's exciting but Livy doesn't.
She says, this is all great but I've seen enough.
Let's keep going.
Nicholas objects.
He says, we're rushing past the best exhibits.
To rush past means to move quickly by something without taking time to look at it closely.
But Nicholas understands that his wife or girlfriend, we're not sure what Livy is, is kind of bored.
So he says, I guess we can do that.
I guess we can rush past these things.
These next rooms are devoted to more recent history the Industrial Revolution and pre- and post-World War years.
The Industrial Revolution again capitalized is a period of time when science and technology improved very quickly, usually dated from the late 1700s to say the middle of the 19th century.
Nicholas also refers to pre- and post-World War years, although he doesn't say if he means World War I or World War II.
But in either case, pre- means before, and post-P-O-S-T means after.
Livy says, is there anything else?
Nicholas responds, you mean you're done looking at over 3,000 years of historical exhibits?
This is one of the best museums in the world.
I could spend all weekend here.
Livy says, that's because you're a history buff.
A buff.
B-U-F-F is a fan of some hobby or some topic, someone who really enjoys a certain topic and learning all about it.
Livy describes Nicholas as a history buff, someone who is interested and likes to learn about history.
Then Livy says, hey, Nicholas, That room is about the information age.
Do you think I can check my email in there?
The information age is a term that would describe our current period of history, when there has been a rapid growth and change in the economy, based on computers and easy access to information.
We live, in other words, in the information age.
Livy however, interprets this to mean a place where she can check her email on a computer, something that is probably not possible in the museum's exhibit on the information age.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Tell me again why we're here on a Saturday afternoon.
You're going to love this museum.
It has artifacts and exhibits from all the major periods in history, from prehistoric days to the present.
Fascinating.
It is, isn't it?
We follow the timeline of human history from one room to the next.
See?
This room is devoted to ancient history and ancient civilizations.
Is there a gift shop?
Sure, there's one on the way out.
But let me show you a few things in this room.
It's all about the Middle Ages.
Check this out.
Doesn't it blow your mind?
Yeah, wow, great.
Actually, it's all kind of dull.
Isn't there something more exciting to see?
You want excitement?
Then let's skip ahead to the rooms on the Renaissance.
Look at this.
This is all great, but I've seen enough.
Let's keep going.
We're rushing past the best exhibits, but if you want to keep going, I guess we can do that.
These next rooms are devoted to more recent history the Industrial Revolution and pre- and post-World War years.
Is there anything else?
You mean you're done looking at over 3,000 years of historical exhibits?
This is one of the best museums in the world.
I could spend all weekend here.
That's because you're a history buff.
Hey, that room is about the Information Age.
Do you think I can check my email in there?
Ugh.
If in the future there's ever a museum of podcasting, I'm sure that there will be an exhibit about our very own scriptwriter, the wonderful Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
