Fashion and Shopping (2)
Does the trick, meaning achieves the result you wanted.
OK before Dan heads off to buy even more stuff he doesn't need, please remember to check out our
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Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
And hello, I'm Rob.
Now, then, Rob, what do you know about unicorns?
Ah, well, the unicorn is a fantasy creature from history. In our tradition,
it looks like a white horse with a single spiral horn coming out of its head. Why do you ask?
Well, funnily enough, unicorns are the topic of this programme. Before we learn more though,
a question. What do we call the study of legendary creatures like the Loch Ness Monster,
Big Foot and unicorns? Is it: a) Cryptozoology,
b) Protozoology, or c) Paleozoology?
Have you got any idea about that, Rob?
Ah, well, I know this because it was the topic of a 6 Minute English programme a while back,
in 2008, to be exact. So I think I'll keep the answer to myself.
OK, well for everyone else, we'll have the answer later in the programme.
Over the last few years unicorns have been popping up all over the place - on T-shirts, in movies,
as toys and even in political conversations. Why is this? Natalie Lawrence is a natural historian.
She appeared on the BBC's Woman's Hour programme to discuss the topic. Listen out
for the answer to this question: Why does she say people used to drink out of unicorn horns?
Those original stories were developed in a time when magic actually existed in the world. The
world was still very enchanted … the idea that the unicorn is a very strong animal and also that
could achieve magical feats, so unicorn horn used to be seen as a panacea for all sorts of
ills and a guard against poison. So people used to drink out of unicorn horn cups to
prevent themselves getting poisoned, and I think that idea of it being magical and
having magical powers has still come through today.
Why did they drink from unicorn horn cups?
Well, they were supposed to have magical powers
so people drank from them so they wouldn't get poisoned.
Yes, she said they could perform magical feats. A feat is something that is difficult to do
or achieve - like recording this programme without making a mistake, that's a real feat!
Well, we usually do it. It must just be unicorn magic.
No, just the magic of editing, Rob!
Now, she also said that unicorn horn was seen as a panacea. What does that mean?
A panacea is another word for a cure - something that can protect you from
illness or help you recover if you are sick. But is all this true, about the unicorn horn?
Well, seeing as how unicorns don't and never have existed,
it's unlikely to be true. She says these stories come from a time when the world was enchanted.
This means it was a time when people believed in magic and the possibility of mysterious creatures
from mysterious parts of the world. It seems as if these days people are looking for a bit of magic,
a bit of enchantment in their lives. The unicorn has also come to be a term commonly
used in politics to refer to unrealistic ideas and plans. Why is this? Here's Natalie Lawrence again.
Because it's such a potent cultural symbol at the moment
it's being deployed in one of the most pressing issues of our time,
as well, so… and the idea of the UK trying to be its own special unicorn potentially…
So Rob, what is she talking about here?
Well, we are in a very complicated time politically in the UK at the moment.
She says they are pressing times. A term which means something important but difficult has to be
done in a very short time. A pressing matter is an important one that has to be dealt with urgently.
Now, at the time of recording our parliament can't agree on the current pressing matter of Brexit and
each side says the other has unicorns. There's nothing special or magical about these unicorns -
it's a negative comment - a unicorn is a fantasy idea - a plan that has no chance of working,
She says unicorns are a potent symbol - which means they are
a very strong and recognisable symbol.
And this symbol is being used, or as she said being deployed. This is the same word that would
be used when you send a military force somewhere. You deploy the army in a military conflict, and in
the current political conflict they are deploying the word 'unicorn'! Here's Natalie Lawrence again.
Because it's such a potent cultural symbol at the moment
it's being deployed in one of the most pressing issues of our time,
as well, so… and the idea of the UK trying to be its own special unicorn potentially…
Right, our pressing matter now is the vocabulary review. Before that though, the answer to this
week's question: What do we call the study of legendary creatures like the Loch Ness Monster,
Big Foot and unicorns. Is it: a) Cryptozoology,
b) Protozoology, or c) Paleozoology?
Rob, you knew the answer to this, didn't you?
I did, yes. If you look back at our archive to September 2008
you will find an episode all about a) Cryptozoology.
Well done, if you got that right - particularly if you remember that programme! Now, vocabulary
from this programme. There was enchanted to talk about a time when magic was believed to be real.
A feat is something that is very difficult to achieve and a panacea is a cure.
Something that's potent is strong and powerful
and if you deploy something, you use it, you put it into operation.
And something pressing is urgent, it needs to be done soon.
Right, that's it from us for now. Hope you can join us again soon. If you can't wait,
you can find bbclearningenglish on social media, online and on our very own app. Bye for now.
Bye-bye!
Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil. And joining me it's Rob.
Hello.
Today, we'll be discussing whether wearing high-heeled shoes is a fashion statement or a
sign of oppression – and by that I mean something you have to wear because someone has told you to.
Now Neil, whatever style of shoe you choose to wear, it's good to polish them and keep them
looking shiny and new – but one man from India called Vickrant Mahajan, set the Guinness World
Record for polishing the most shoes. Do you know how many pairs he polished in eight hours? Was it…
a) 151 pairs
b) 251 pairs, or
c) 351 pairs?
Well, if it was me, it would be no more than one pair – but as it's a world record, I'm going to
go for 351 pairs. Hopefully you'll give me the answer later! But let's focus now on high heels.
Yes. It's a style of shoe worn by women around the world.
But why do millions of people choose to walk on strange, stilt-like shoes?
Studies have suggested wearing high heels can lead to damage to the muscles and skeleton.
But despite this, they are worn to look professional in the workplace or for
glamour – a word to describe the quality of looking fashionable and attractive.
And of course, they are associated with female glamour, which is something Tim Edwards,
Honorary Fellow in Sociology at the University of Leicester, has been talking about on the BBC
Radio 4 programme, Thinking Allowed. Here he is describing why he thinks that is…
Women's shoes in particular kind of have this kind of transformative or even magical quality - they
can do something for a woman, and it's quite difficult to kind of draw parallels quite
like that with men in a sense of which it almost becomes something slightly otherworldly. However
one views it, as something which is a kind of act of subordination or an act of empowerment etc,
there is a sense in which your experience is changed - you are suddenly raised 3-4-5-6
inches higher, your balance is altered, your experience is transformed.
So, he describes high heels as having a magical quality. He uses the word transformative – meaning
a great improvement or positive change – so they transform or improve how someone looks.
Well, they do make you taller and that can make you feel more powerful or important.
Tim even said it becomes otherworldly – an adjective to describe belonging
to an imaginary world rather than the real world.
Magical shoes do sound otherworldly but Tim also mentioned that wearing high heels could be seen
as an act of subordination – that's making someone do something to give them less authority or power.
Well, I guess that's only if you are forced to wear them. But there's another
interesting point here – men don't have a style of footwear that can define them.
Yes, it's just sandals for you and sports trainers for me.
In fact Tim Edwards says it's difficult to draw parallels with men's shoes. When you
draw parallels between two distinct things, it means you highlight the similarities – but here
he's saying it's difficult to find similarities. Men have nothing special to wear on their feet.
Of course, there is nothing to stop men wearing high heels – although personally
I don't think I'd be able to keep my balance – but Tim Edwards suggests it
would be viewed with suspicion. Let's hear what he has to say…
I think the issue with men and footwear is that if you think of more contemporary culture - I
mean the guy who kind of wears overly-flamboyant shoes or shoes which are not black, brown or flat
is viewed with a degree of suspicion - either in terms of his sexuality,
or in terms of his work ethic - or in terms of his kind of general moral, well,
you know, his moral standards in other kinds of ways.
He says that if you don't wear a regular, ordinary black, brown or flat style of shoe,
you might be viewed with suspicion. Men who wear shoes that are flamboyant – that's brightly
coloured and that attracts attention – have their sexuality or their attitude to work judged.
He mentions someone's work ethic – that's the belief that working hard is morally right.
A man who wears flamboyant shoes may have a different attitude to
work. It sounds like quite an old-fashioned view.
It does, and let's hope people don't judge you when you go out wearing your sandals and socks!
But now, how about giving us the answer to the question you set earlier.
Yes. I told you about Vickrant Mahajan, who set the Guinness World Record for
polishing the most shoes. I asked if you knew how many pairs he polished in eight hours.
And I guessed 351 pairs. Come on, was I right?
I'm afraid not, Neil. The answer was 251 pairs. It's still quite a lot – that's 502
individual shoes and I'm not sure if he actually got paid for doing it.
Right, let's polish up some of our English vocabulary
and remind ourselves of some of the words we've discussed today, starting with oppression.
Oppression is when you are forced to do something by someone more powerful.
We talked about glamour – a word to describe the quality of looking fashionable and attractive.
Our next word was transformative – meaning a great improvement or positive change.
Otherworldly is an adjective to describe belonging to an imaginary world
rather than the real world – it's magical or special.
We also discussed an act of subordination – that's making
someone do something to give them less authority or power.
To draw parallels is an idiom meaning to highlight the similarities between two distinct things.
And we mentioned flamboyant – that describes someone or
something brightly coloured and that attracts attention.
Finally, we talked about work ethic – that's the belief that working hard is morally right.
Something that both Neil and I have!
And that brings to the end of the programme.
