Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

When I was listening to McCain’s concession speech, his delivery reminded me of a song called: The Sunscreen Song. Actually that’s not its official title, it’s officially called: Everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen).
The lyrics of the song were from a newspaper column which was published in 1997 in a Chicago newspaper. And then a film director decided he wanted to make a song with the column and he hired a voice actor to read it. The song first came out on an album in 1998 and then it was released as a single in 1999. I was working in commercial radio at the time and we played it all the time – which I enjoyed because it’s a great song. And it’s a great song to study too. It’s basically just a list of very good advice spoken over music.

Some of the advice is very short, like:
Floss. Stretch.

And some of it’s longer, like this:
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't. Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

That is so true. Very good advice.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is: inalienable. This is a formal word and I don’t think you really need to learn it or use it. But it’s one of those words that you can kind of guess what it means by looking at his parts.

In means not.
Alien means foreign or unfamiliar.

So you could guess that it means something like: not able to be unfamiliar. And that’s pretty much what it means. It means something that is not able to be taken away from you.

This is from the song:
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

friday joke

Where are you from?
The States.
Which part?
All of me.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today a stick has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in the United States of America.

The National Toy Hall of Fame was established in 1998. The first inductees were announced the following year. So far more than forty toys have been added. This year’s inductees were: the skateboard, the baby doll and the stick. The museum’s curator praised the stick for its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities. He said it’s very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price and there aren't any rules or instructions for its use.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 7th of November.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#547 He’s not a god!

Step 1: Repeat Jake’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jake’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jake So how has your image of the US changed?

Sarah Well America leads the world in many ways, like technology or entertainment, but I never thought of America as political leaders before.

Jake But they have such a lot of power.

Sarah Yeah, weapons and people willing to die ... but I just thought America was a world bully not a leader – like Bush invading Iraq and then trying to bully the world into helping.

Jake And now they’re leaders?

Sarah Yeah. The whole world has been inspired by Obama’s victory.

Jake So everyone will follow the US now?

Sarah No, not everyone, in all respects, but yeah, in some ways.

Jake I don’t know ...

Sarah I mean, they already are. Like on New Zealand’s national radio they other day they got an expert on and the question was something like: American’s election was so great, what we learn from it? And he was like, well, many things, their leader’s debates for a start. The NZ leader’s debates were a shambles ...

Jake Were they?

Sarah Yeah, I tried watching the first one, but it was a mess. They were talking all over each other and the moderator was just standing there doing nothing about it. It was so embarrassing I could only watch it for a few seconds.

Jake I read a column in a newspaper saying it was cool to be American again.

Sarah Yeah, I think that’s true. I mean people used to look at Bush think, "Oh my god, he’s such a moron, how could people vote for him, and least our leader is kind of intelligent and can string a few sentences together". But now people are looking at Obama and going, "Wow, why can’t our leader be as inspiring and eloquent and intelligent and charming as him".

Jake Calm down! He’s not a god!

Sarah I know. But I think he’s awesome and it’s great that he won so why can’t we celebrate for a while.