Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1235.
Joining a secret society.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1235.
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 Nathan and Mia about joining a secret group, a secret society.
Let's get started.
Can you keep a secret?
Sure, I've been initiated into a secret society at school.
I'm one of the chosen few.
Is it supposed to be a big deal?
Of course it is.
It's very exclusive.
Not many people are invited to join.
But what's the purpose of this secret society?
Well, we have a secret handshake.
And we have some really mysterious rites and rituals.
What kinds of rites and rituals?
I can't tell you.
I've been sworn to secrecy.
But what is the purpose of the society?
Do you have some goal to accomplish, some reason for existence?
The point is that the members are bound by an allegiance to each other and to the society.
You mean like you'd take a bullet for each other?
Well, no.
Or protect each other at all costs, even by lying and cheating?
No, at least I wouldn't.
Then what does it all amount to?
Not anymore.
Nathan begins our dialogue by asking Mia a question.
Can you keep a secret?
S-E-C-R-E-T.
A secret is information that you don't tell anyone else, that you keep private.
Mia says sure, I can keep a secret, meaning I can get information and then not tell anyone else about it.
Nathan says, I've been initiated into a secret society at school.
To initiate I-N-I-T-I-A-T-E means to formally or officially allow someone into an organization, usually with some sort of special ceremony, some sort of special set of actions.
Nathan says that he has been initiated into or made a member of a secret society.
A secret society is an organization whose members don't talk about what goes on inside of the organization.
Sometimes a secret society is isn't known to very many people, that is, not very many people know about it.
But in some cases a secret society can be well known, that is, lots of people know that it exists, but only the people inside of this group or society know what happens in the group.
There are some universities that have secret societies.
Most famously, Yale University has some secret societies.
Nathan has been made a member of a secret society at his school.
He says, I'm one of the chosen few.
That expression the chosen C-H-O-S-E-N few refers to a small group of people who are better than others, who are chosen, who are selected because they meet certain qualifications.
We might also use the word elite, E-L-I-T-E, to describe this concept.
Mia says, is it supposed to be a big deal?
Meaning, is this something important?
Nathan says, of course it is.
It's very exclusive.
Something that is exclusive, E-X-C-L-U-S-I-V-E, is limited to a small number of people.
There are only very few people who are allowed into this group.
Not many people are invited to join, Nathan adds.
Mia says, but what's the purpose of this secret society?
Nathan says, well, we have a secret handshake and we have some really mysterious rites and rituals.
A handshake, H-A-N-D-S-H-A-K-E, is what happens when you put your hand in someone else's hand.
A secret handshake is a special way of holding or touching someone else's hand when you meet them that only people in a secret society know.
Nathan says his secret society has a secret handshake.
So when two members of this group meet each other, instead of just shaking hands, as two people would normally, they do something special with their hands.
I don't know what, of course, because it's secret.
Nathan says his group also has some mysterious rites and rituals.
Something that is mysterious.
M-Y-S-T-E-R-I-O-U-S is something that many people wonder about, are interested in, but don't understand.
A rite.
R-I-T-E notice the different spelling, not R-I-G-H-T is one part of a larger ceremony, something that people do together as a group.
The word rite is normally associated with a religious ceremony, a religious event but, but here it's associated with what happens in this secret society.
A ritual.
R-I-T-U-A-L is something that is done in a ceremony or celebration repeatedly, every time the ceremony takes place.
A ritual however, could also describe anything that happens someone does repeatedly as part of a larger event or process.
The difference between rite and ritual is that a rite is usually something that involves several different rituals and words or speeches or other kinds of actions, and A ritual is part of a rite or could be part of a rite.
But the word rite is usually used to describe a whole set of rituals or a group of rituals and texts that are part of some ceremony, often a religious ceremony.
But not always religious, as is seen in this example, because this secret society has rites as well.
Mia is curious.
She says, what kinds of rites and rituals?
Nathan says correctly, I can't tell you.
Of course, if it's a secret society, you can't tell anyone what goes on in the secret society.
Nathan says, I've been sworn to secrecy.
To be sworn S-W-O-R-N to secrecy means to have made a promise to someone or some group of people not to talk about a certain topic, not to share secret information.
Mia says, but what is the purpose of the society?
Do you have some goal to accomplish?
Some reason for existence?
That is, is there some reason why you have this group?
Nathan responds, Nathan says the reason the society exists is that its members are bound, B-O-U-N-D, by an allegiance, A-L-L-E-G-I-A-N-C-E.
An allegiance is loyalty or commitment to another person.
If you are bound by something, you are obligated.
You have to do it.
So to be bound by an allegiance to each other means you are committed to loyalty, to helping other people, in this case, other people in your society.
Mia then asks, you mean like you'd take a bullet for each other?
The expression to take a bullet B-U-L-L-E-T means to die in order to protect another person by getting in the way of a bullet from a gun that might be aimed at that person or heading towards that person.
The most famous example of this would be the people who protect the president of the united states.
Group of people are called the secret service, and their job is, in fact, to take a bullet for the president.
That is, to protect the president, even if it means Getting in front of the president is someone is trying to shoot the president?
More generally, the expression means that you would die for another person in order to protect that person.
Mia is asking if this secret society is about having each other protect each other, even if it means death.
Nathan says, well, no.
Mia says, or protect each other at all costs, even by lying and cheating.
At all costs, C-O-S-T-S, means no matter what, in all circumstances or all situations.
Nathan says, no, the secret society doesn't mean that you would protect other members at all costs.
Nathan says he wouldn't do that.
Mia then asks, then what does it all amount to?
She's asking, what is the value or purpose of this society?
That's what the expression to amount to means.
What is its purpose?
What is its importance?
What is its significance?
Nathan responds if anyone asks us about it, meaning asks us about the secret society, we deny its existence.
To deny, D-E-N-Y, means to say that something does not exist.
To reject or refuse something.
Some people deny reality.
They decide that, even though something is real, obviously true, or something obviously exists, they say, oh no, it isn't true.
It doesn't exist.
That's what Nathan means when he says that the members of his secret society deny the society's existence.
They say, oh no, there is no such thing as a secret society.
He says we have a secret that no one else knows.
But of course Nathan has just told Mia about his secret society, which is why Mia says at the end of our dialogue not anymore.
Meaning, well...
It used to be secret, but because you told me about your secret society, it is no longer secret because I know about it.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Can you keep a secret?
Sure.
I've been initiated into a secret society at school.
I'm one of the chosen few.
Is it supposed to be a big deal?
Of course it is.
It's very exclusive.
Not many people are invited to join.
But what's the purpose of this secret society?
Well, we have a secret handshake, and we have some really mysterious rites and rituals.
What kinds of rites and rituals?
I can't tell you.
I've been sworn to secrecy.
But what is the purpose of the society?
Do you have some goal to accomplish?
Some reason for existence?
The point is that the members are bound by an allegiance to each other and to the society.
You mean like you'd take a bullet for each other?
Well, no.
Or protect each other at all costs, even by lying and cheating?
No, at least I wouldn't.
Then what does it all amount to?
Not anymore.
It's no secret that the best scriptwriter in the world, in my opinion, is Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
