|
|
 Sun Aug 20, 2006 15:13 pm Stephen Colbert |
|
|
Hi Jamie, yes that interview is quite funny, I've seen Stephen Colbert in The Daily Show.
What do you think how much time and information he gives his interviewees to prepare for the interview? I mean, I can't imagine those interviews to be absolutely 'real' simple because most Americans probably Stephen Colbert and the way he is making fun of government officials.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
|
Torsten
Site Admin
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 6594
Location: EU
|
|
| Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:31 am Interview (Stephen Colbert and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes) |
|
|
I don't think that these politicians have much time at all to prepare for those interviews, and that if they accept the invitation they are usually either very smart and witty, or stupid. You should see some of the looks of dull-witted surprise he gets from some of the politicians when he twists their words around, while others throw it right back at him and can be funnier than he is.
Notice that the senator made a big point of insulting him by calling him French. Saying someone is, acts, thinks or dresses like a French person can sometimes be very insulting in the US. In fact, in one American cartoon show, the villain is a little girl who dresses in a beret and insists on speaking bad French a lot. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4159
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
 |
| Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:52 am Insulting to call an American French |
|
|
Hi Jamie,
Why is it insulting in the US to call a person French?
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
|
Torsten
Site Admin
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 6594
Location: EU
|
|
| Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:08 am Insulting to call an American French |
|
|
| Torsten wrote: | | Why is it insulting in the US to call a person French? |
There are hundreds of reasons. Some are associated with food and the fashion industry, and therefore with being gay, or men who act gay even if they're not. Sometimes the French are associated with phony intellectualism. They are a nation who twice did not defend their country, waited for the British and the Americans to get thousands of men killed in order to free them, and then behaved ungratefully and arrogantly. (A typical situation occurred when a Frenchman wrote to an American news commentary show accusing Bush of being a fascist. The commentator said, "You should know a lot about fascists, sir, because your country entertained them for a couple of years in the '40s.") The French are associated with betrayal, such as giving a genocidal dictator military intelligence and advice on how to fight their own ally, and even illegally selling him arms to do it. Their current president will sometimes bogusly condemn the leaders of democratic nations as fascists (or nearly so), while inviting pariahs like Robert Mugabe on state visits.
This doesn't exhaust the list. In addition, in every textbook on French history or the French language here, they show that famous picture of Louis XIV with his big wig and fancy clothes, displaying his legs like a pinup girl from the 1940s. What healthy boy can look at that picture and want anything to do with the French? |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4159
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
|
| How to speed up the reading while keeping the comprehension? | Is there a roadmap to learning English? |
