Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 470.
Avoiding show and movie spoilers.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 470.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download a learning guide for this episode.
The learning guide contains all of the vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, additional definitions, cultural notes, comprehension checks and a complete transcript of everything we say on this episode.
This episode is a dialogue between Lee and Kira, something called a spoiler, which is when you tell someone how a movie or a television show ends, what its conclusion is.
Let's get started.
I'm reading this article about the new season of our favorite show.
It's premiering next week.
Don't tell me anything about it, especially spoilers.
But don't you want to know which guest stars will be making appearances and the plot twists that are coming up?
No, I don't.
I don't watch movie trailers and I don't read reviews.
It spoils the fun when you already know what's going to happen.
Where's the suspense?
The blogs and reviews I read all have spoiler alerts and I avoid reading those sections.
Let me just tell you one thing I read.
Stop right there.
I'm covering my ears.
I want to stay in the dark, completely in the dark.
Got it?
Okay, I won't let the cat out of the bag, but we're in for a wild ride this season.
I'm not listening.
I'm not listening.
Lee begins our dialogue by saying I'm reading this article about the new season of our favorite show.
A season S-E-A-S-O-N Here means a period of time when a series of television programs are being shown.
There's usually in the United States a fall and spring television season when television programs begin.
The word season, however, has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Lee says that the television show that he and Kira like is premiering next week.
To premiere means to be shown for the very first time.
If the television show premieres tomorrow, that means that it is the first time you have seen that show or that series of shows on television.
It's the first time.
You can also have a movie that premieres.
We have lots of movies that premiere here in Los Angeles.
The noun is simply PREMIERE.
Kira says, don't tell me anything about it, especially the spoilers.
A spoiler is something that is said or written that lets other people know what happens at the end of a book, a movie or a television show.
Most of us don't want to know how the show ends or the movie ends.
And if you do that, it's called a spoiler.
Spoil has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at the learning guide for some additional explanations.
Lee says but don't you want to know which guest stars will be making appearances and the plot twists that are coming up?
A guest star is an actor who appears on just one or two, maybe three shows, but is someone who is not a regular part of the television program.
To make an appearance means to be present, to come to an event or to be on a show, and He made an appearance on the television show means he was on the TV show.
Probably not for a very long time, however.
A plot twist.
T-W-I-S-T is something unexpected that happens in the story, especially in a book or a movie.
A boy falls in love with a girl, and then, halfway through the book, the boy sees the girl's sister and falls in love with her sister.
That would be a plot twist.
That would also probably end his first relationship with the other sister, but that's too complicated to talk about here.
Plot is simply the story, so a plot twist is a change in the story.
When we use the expression coming up, we mean it will happen in the near future.
It will happen soon.
This is an expression you often see on television.
Coming up next, we'll learn if Rachel and Ross actually kiss.
That's the next thing that we will see on the program.
Often that happens right before a commercial or advertising break to get you to come back to stay with the program to see what happens.
Kira answers Lee's question.
No, I don't meaning.
I don't want to know which guest stars will be making appearances and the plot twists that are coming up.
She says, I don't watch movie trailers and I don't read reviews.
A movie trailer.
T-R-A-I-L-E-R is an advertisement for a movie, often shown in the movie theater before the movie you are going to see begins.
So you sit down to watch a movie, but first they show you advertisements for other movies.
These are called movie trailers.
You can also see movie trailers on the web now.
A review means in this case a written opinion about a movie, a book or a television show.
Really anything.
Someone's opinion about some product or some movie, something that is entertaining or interesting.
It could be in a newspaper.
It could be on a website.
Many newspapers have movie reviewers who every week give their opinion about a movie and whether you should go to see it.
Well, Kira doesn't read reviews.
She says that they spoil the fun when you already know what's going to happen.
To spoil as a verb means to ruin something, to make something less fun or less useful, or perhaps even less helpful.
I went out to dinner with my wife last night, but the evening was spoiled because there was a crying child in the table next to me.
My evening was spoiled.
It was ruined.
Kira says it spoils the fun when you already know what's going to happen.
Where's the suspense?
Suspense is this feeling of anticipation or excitement before something happens.
Alfred Hitchcock was a famous movie director who made a lot of movies with suspense.
You didn't know what was going to happen next or you were waiting for it with excitement.
Lee says the blogs and reviews I read all have spoiler alerts and I avoid reading those sections.
A spoiler alert is when someone tells you, usually on a website or in a newspaper article, that they are going to give you information about the movie and how it ends.
So if you don't want to know that, you can stop reading right now.
So if a review says spoiler alert, then don't read any more, because you'll find out more about the movie.
Unless, of course, you don't care about reading a spoiler.
So Lee says that he doesn't read after he sees a spoiler alert.
But he also wants to tell Kira something else.
He says, let me tell you one thing I read.
And Kira says, stop right there, meaning stop immediately.
I'm covering my ears so she can't hear.
I want to stay in the dark, completely in the dark.
To stay in the dark or be in the dark means not to know something, not to be told something, to be ignorant.
I was in the dark about why my girlfriend left me.
I didn't know why.
It was a mystery to me.
It's always a mystery to me.
Well, Kira wants to stay in the dark.
She doesn't want to know anything more about the television show.
And then she says to Lee, Got it?
Got it here is an informal expression asking if the person understands you.
Do you understand?
Am I clear?
Lee says, okay, I won't let the cat out of the bag.
To let the cat out of the bag means to accidentally tell someone a secret.
To tell someone something that they're not supposed to know.
He let the cat out of the bag when he told his son that he was going to get a new bicycle for his birthday.
He didn't mean to tell him, but he accidentally did.
He let the cat out of the bag.
I'm not sure why the cat was in the bag.
I would keep the cat in the bag if it were me, but that's the expression.
Lee says, we're in for a wild ride this season.
To be in for a wild ride means we're going to have a lot of fun or excitement or surprises for a certain amount of time.
Many unexpected things are going to happen.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm reading this article about the new season of our favorite show.
It's premiering next week.
Don't tell me anything about it, especially spoilers.
But don't you want to know which guest stars will be making appearances and the plot twists that are coming up?
No, I don't.
I don't watch movie trailers and I don't read reviews.
It spoils the fun when you already know what's going to happen.
Where's the suspense?
The blogs and reviews I read all have spoiler alerts and I avoid reading those sections.
Let me just tell you one thing I read.
Stop right there.
I'm covering my ears.
I want to stay in the dark, completely in the dark.
Got it?
Okay, I won't let the cat out of the bag, but we're in for a wild ride this season.
I'm not listening, I'm not listening...
Don't stay in the dark about who wrote today's script.
It was Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Say.
Hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
