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BBC - 6 Minute English (YouTube), Snowflakes and taking offence: 6 Minute English - YouTube

Snowflakes and taking offence: 6 Minute English - YouTube

Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil.

I'm Neil.

Rob: And I'm Rob.

Neil: Rob, would you say that were a

snowflake?

Rob: Wow, I can't believe you said that,

that's so offensive. How could you be so rude?

Neil: So I guess that's a yes then? Sorry, I

only asked.

Rob: Don't worry, I wasn't really upset, I

just wanted to demonstrate the meaning

of the word. The word 'snowflake' has

taken on a new meaning in recent years.

These days it's used as an insult. It's used

to criticise people or groups

that are seen to be very easily offended or

upset by things that others say.

Neil: There is usually a political side to it

too, isn't there?

Rob: Yes, people who use the word

'snowflake' tend to be from the political

right and they usually use it about those

on the political left, particularly

millennials - young, socially aware adults.

Neil: Well we'll explore this topic in more

detail shortly, but first a quiz question. In

which year was 'snowflake' one of Collins

Dictionary's words of the year? Was it

a) 1996, b) 2006, or c) 2016. Rob: Well, we said it's quite a recent word

so I'm going for c) 2016.

Neil: Well, we'll find out if you're right later

on in the programme. The topic of

offence is a very complicated one. First

what do we mean by 'offence' Rob?

Rob: Thanks for that. That is a really

difficult question. Something that is

offensive is rude, insulting and makes

people feel hurt and upset.

What's difficult about it though is that we

don't all find the same things offensive.

Some people can be deliberately

offensive and some people may be

offensive without meaning to be.

Neil: Also, different people respond to

offence in different ways - some accept it

as the price of free speech and some try

to stop the people they think are offensive

from saying the things they do.

Rob: These terms come up quite a lot in

discussions about equality, race, religion

and of course, politics.

Neil: The topic was discussed in detail in

the BBC Radio programme Sweet Reason.

Evan Davis presented the programme and

here is the first part of his summary of the

discussion. What does he say is the

reason some people talk about offence?

Evan Davis: First, on occasion, people

probably do invoke offence when really

they just have a political disagreement

and on occasion groups that suffer

discrimination or exclusion perhaps find it

exhilarating or uniting to call out that

discrimination.

Neil: He says that some people take

offence when it's just a political

disagreement. He says they 'invoke' offence.

Rob: If you 'invoke' something it means

that you use it to support your point or

explain your action. So to 'invoke offence'

is to say that we are acting this way

because we are offended by what you

have said, although the offence

may only be a political difference rather

than something truly offensive.

Neil: Davis goes on to say that groups

that do suffer from discrimination may

get some feelings of unity when they

'call out' discrimination.

They feel more together when they

publicise and highlight the discrimination

they have experienced. Even though some

offence that is taken may not be genuine,

that doesn't mean people don't have a

right to be offended. Here's Evan Davis again.

Evan Davis: Where the so-called

snowflakes surely have a point is this,

societies are entitled to make certain

things taboo and the millennials

use of the word offensive is simply

designed to say some views are not just

wrong they are in a special category of

wrong.

Rob: His point here is that societies can

decide that certain things are taboo. In

this context something that is 'taboo' is

something that is regarded by society as

being shocking and offensive and that it

is OK for people to be offended by these

things.

Neil: And I think the point he makes is a

good one.

The word 'snowflake' is usually used as an

insult - but some people may feel proud to

be a snowflake because it means they are

standing up for a particular standard, they

have a level of decency and social

responsibility that is higher than that of

those who are calling them snowflakes.

Rob: Well I hope we haven't caused any

offence today. Before we review the

vocabulary, can we have the answer to

today's question Neil?

Neil: Of course, I asked in which year was

'snowflake' one of Collins Dictionary's

words of the year? Was it…

a) 1996, b) 2006 or, c) 2016

Rob: And I said c) 2016. It's got to be right!

Neil: Well, do you want to hear the story?

Interestingly the term was coined in 1996

in the book Fight Club, but it was in 2016

that it was one of the dictionary's words

of the year. Now let's review our words of

the day. First there is 'offence'.

Rob: People can 'take offence' and be

'offended' by something that is 'offensive'.

Something that is 'offensive' could be rude,

insulting and shocking. It might take the

form of humiliation or discrimination

against a person or group.

Neil: The term 'snowflake' is a word used

by some people to talk about other

people who they think get offended too

easily and unnecessarily.

They don't want to change their language

or ideas just because snowflakes get

upset. Then we had the word 'invoke'. If

you 'invoke' something you use it as a

reason to explain your actions

and feelings

Rob: To 'call something out' is to challenge

it, to highlight it and look for justification.

Neil: And finally we have 'taboo' -

something that society says is offensive

and shocking. So there we have it. What

do you think Rob of this topic?

Rob: Well it is a very difficult subject,

particularly when it comes to politics,

religion and society. Free speech is good

but at times, particularly on social media,

I think can be unnecessarily

unpleasant.

Neil: Well, try not to be offended but it is

time for us to leave you for this programme.

Do join us next time. Remember you can

find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube and of course our website

bbclearningenglish.com.

And of course, we have a new app which

you can find on our website. It's free and

it's brilliant isn't it Rob?

Rob: Absolutely!

Neil: See you soon, bye.

Rob: Bye!

Snowflakes and taking offence: 6 Minute English - YouTube Overly sensitive individuals|||offense||English language| Flocos de neve||tomando|ofensa||| 雪花效应|||||| |||||англійська м| sněhové vločky|||||| śnieżynki||branie|obrażać||| Sněhové vločky a urážení se: 6 minut angličtiny - YouTube Schneeflocken und Anstoß nehmen: 6 Minuten Englisch - YouTube Copos de nieve y ofenderse: 6 Minute English - YouTube Les flocons de neige et l'offense : L'anglais en 6 minutes - YouTube Fiocchi di neve e offese: 6 Minute English - YouTube 雪の結晶と不快感6分間英語 - YouTube 눈송이와 화를 내기: 6분 영어 - YouTube Płatki śniegu i obrażanie się: 6 Minute English - YouTube Flocos de neve e ofensa: 6 Minute English - YouTube Снежинки и обиды: 6 Minute English - YouTube Snöflingor och att ta illa upp: 6 Minute English - YouTube Kar taneleri ve alınganlık: 6 Minute English - YouTube Сніжинки та образи: 6 хвилин англійської - YouTube 雪花和进攻：6 分钟英语 - YouTube 雪花和進攻：6 分鐘英語 - YouTube

Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil. |||||尼尔：你好|| |Привіт||||||

I'm Neil.

Rob: And I'm Rob.

Neil: Rob, would you say that were a ||||verb||| ||czy|||||

snowflake? floco de neve płat śniegu sněhové vločky?

Rob: Wow, I can't believe you said that, ||I|||||

that's so offensive. How could you be so rude? 那真是||insulting||||||disrespectful ||||||||grosseiro ||冒犯|||||| ||образливий|||||| ||攻撃的|||||| ||obraźliwe||||||niegrzeczny to je tak urážlivé. Jak můžeš být tak hrubý?

Neil: So I guess that's a yes then? Sorry, I |In this context, "So" can be translated to "In that case."|||||Sure thing||| |||acho||||||

only asked.

Rob: Don't worry, I wasn't really upset, I ||||||not truly angry| ||||||üzgün| ||||||zmartwiony|

just wanted to demonstrate the meaning |||show||Significance

of the word. The word 'snowflake' has

taken on a new meaning in recent years.

These days it's used as an insult. It's used ||||||侮辱用语|| ||||||offensive term|| ||||||zniewaga|| Dnes se používá jako urážka. Používá se

to criticise people or groups |批评||| |Criticize||| |критикувати|||

that are seen to be very easily offended or |||||||容易被冒犯| |||||||obrażają się| |||||||ofendidos| které jsou považovány za velmi snadno urážlivé nebo

upset by things that others say. |przez|||| rozčilovat se nad tím, co říkají ostatní.

Neil: There is usually a political side to it |||||political aspect||| ||||||strona|| Neil: Obvykle to má i politickou stránku.

too, isn't there? také, že?

Rob: Yes, people who use the word

'snowflake' tend to be from the political snowflake|||||| |tend||||| “雪花”往往来自政治领域

right and they usually use it about those 对于那些右倾的政治左翼人士，他们通常会用它。

on the political left, particularly ||leftist|| 特别是千禧一代——年轻、社会意识强的成年人。

millennials - young, socially aware adults. Young adults||socially conscious|| ||społecznie|świadomi|dorośli mileniálové - mladí, sociálně uvědomělí dospělí. 关于年轻、社会意识强的成年人。

Neil: Well we'll explore this topic in more Neil: No, toto téma prozkoumáme více.

detail shortly, but first a quiz question. In |brevemente||||||

which year was 'snowflake' one of Collins |||sněhová vločka||| ||||||柯林斯词典 ||||||2016 Word

Dictionary's words of the year? Was it 词典的|||||| słownika||||||

a) 1996, b) 2006, or c) 2016. Rob: Well, we said it's quite a recent word |||||||niedawne|

so I'm going for c) 2016.

Neil: Well, we'll find out if you're right later

on in the programme. The topic of |||||the discussion| v programu. Téma

offence is a very complicated one. First "offence"||||complex|| przestępstwo||||skomplikowane|| je velmi komplikovaný. První

what do we mean by 'offence' Rob? |||||offence|

Rob: Thanks for that. That is a really

difficult question. Something that is

offensive is rude, insulting and makes |||侮辱的|| ||Offensive and insulting||| |||insultuoso|| obraźliwy||niegrzeczny|obraźliwy|| je hrubý, urážlivý a způsobuje.

people feel hurt and upset. ||Injured|| ||||chateados ||zraniony||zmartwieni

What's difficult about it though is that we ||||jednak||| 然而，困难之处在于我们

don't all find the same things offensive. ||||||令人反感 ||||||offensive ||||||obraźliwe nepovažují všichni za urážlivé stejné věci. 不是所有人都会觉得同样的事情令人反感。

Some people can be deliberately ||||intentionally ||||celowo 有些人可能是故意的反感，

offensive and some people may be 有些人可能是

offensive without meaning to be. offensive|||| ||znaczenia|| urážlivé, aniž by to tak bylo myšleno. 无意冒犯。

Neil: Also, different people respond to ||||react to| Neil: Různí lidé také reagují na Neil：此外，不同的人对冒犯有不同的反应

offence in different ways - some accept it přestupek|||||| offense|||||tolerate| 方式 - 有些人会接受它

as the price of free speech and some try 作为|||||||| |||||mowy||| 随着自由言论的代价和一些人的尝试

to stop the people they think are offensive zastavit lidi, které považují za urážlivé. 阻止他们认为有冒犯的人

from saying the things they do. 说他们说的话。

Rob: These terms come up quite a lot in ||terminy|||||| 罗布：这些术语经常出现在

discussions about equality, race, religion ||Equal treatment|| ||równość|| diskuse o rovnosti, rase, náboženství

and of course, politics. |||government affairs

Neil: The topic was discussed in detail in

the BBC Radio programme Sweet Reason. ||||Sweet Reason| |||||Причина

Evan Davis presented the programme and |戴维斯|||| Evan Davis|戴维斯||||

here is the first part of his summary of the |||||||摘要部分|| |||||||brief overview|| |||||||podsumowania|| |||||||резюме||

discussion. What does he say is the

reason some people talk about offence?

Evan Davis: First, on occasion, people |||在|| |||about|sometimes| ||||okazji| Evan Davis: Zaprvé, občas lidé Evan Davis: 首先，有时候人们

probably do invoke offence when really likely||cause||| ||provavelmente ofenderá||| ||引起冒犯||| |викликають|викликати||| ||おそらく侮辱する||| ||prawdopodobnie wywoła||| se pravděpodobně dovolávají urážky, i když ve skutečnosti ймовірно, посилаються на образу, коли насправді 可能会因政治分歧而引发冲突

they just have a political disagreement ||||political disagreement|political disagreement |||||rozbieżność mají jen politické neshody у них просто політичні розбіжності 而不是故意冒犯

and on occasion groups that suffer |||||遭受苦难 ||at times|||endure hardships |||||cierpią a příležitostně skupiny, které trpí і іноді групи, які страждають від цього

discrimination or exclusion perhaps find it ||排斥||| Bias||Discrimination or exclusion|perhaps|| ||exclusão||| dyskryminacja||wykluczenie||| diskriminaci nebo vyloučení, možná je

exhilarating or uniting to call out that Thrilling||uniting||call out|| exaltante|||||| 令人振奋|||||| захоплюю||об'єднуючи|||| 爽快な|||||| ekscytujące||zjednoczenie||wywołać|| vzrušující nebo sjednocující volání po tom. 令人振奋或团结地呼吁那个

discrimination. 歧视。

Neil: He says that some people take 尼尔：他说一些人会

offence when it's just a political

disagreement. He says they 'invoke' offence. ||||provoke|

Rob: If you 'invoke' something it means Rob|||||| Rob: Pokud něco "vyvoláte", znamená to.

that you use it to support your point or abyste ji použili na podporu svého názoru nebo

explain your action. So to 'invoke offence' |||||引起冒犯| |||||wywołać|

is to say that we are acting this way je říci, že se takto chováme

because we are offended by what you protože jsme uraženi tím, co jste

have said, although the offence řekli, že ačkoli se jedná o trestný čin

may only be a political difference rather ||||political||

than something truly offensive. |||冒犯的 než něco skutečně urážlivého.

Neil: Davis goes on to say that groups

that do suffer from discrimination may ||||discrimination| 那些遭受歧视的人可能

get some feelings of unity when they ||||团结感|| ||||sense of togetherness|| ||||jedności|| ||||sentem unidade||

'call out' discrimination. '呼吁' 歧视。

They feel more together when they 当他们感到更团结时

publicise and highlight the discrimination Promote|||| publicar||destacar|| 宣传歧视|||| поширити|||| 公表する|||| upublicznić|||| 公开和突出歧视

they have experienced. Even though some ||||although some| ||doświadczyli||| zažili. Přestože někteří

offence that is taken may not be genuine, |||||||sincere |||||||prawdziwe |||||||щира 所受的冒犯可能不是真正的。

that doesn't mean people don't have a

right to be offended. Here's Evan Davis again.

Evan Davis: Where the so-called

snowflakes surely have a point is this, sněhové vločky mají jistě pravdu, 雪花肯定有一点

societies are entitled to make certain groups||have the right||| społeczeństwa||uprawnione||| 社会有权让一些事情成为禁忌

things taboo and the millennials |禁忌事物||| |tabu||| |tabu||| 千禧一代

use of the word offensive is simply

designed to say some views are not just |||||||fair or reasonable zaprojektowane||||widoki|||

wrong they are in a special category of ||||||Special class|

wrong. zły

Rob: His point here is that societies can ||||||communities| Rob: Jde mu o to, že společnosti mohou

decide that certain things are taboo. In |||||табу| 决定某些事情是禁忌。在这种情况下，“禁忌”的东西指的是被社会视为

this context something that is 'taboo' is 无法触碰的事物

something that is regarded by society as |||视为||| |||uważane||społeczeństwo| |||considerado||| |||вважається||| něco, co je ve společnosti považováno za 无法触碰的事物

being shocking and offensive and that it |令人震惊||||| being|||||| je šokující a urážlivé a že

is OK for people to be offended by these

things.

Neil: And I think the point he makes is a Neil: A myslím, že to, co říká.

good one.

The word 'snowflake' is usually used as an

insult - but some people may feel proud to ||||||自豪| ||||||arrogant| urážka - ale někteří lidé se mohou cítit hrdí na to.

be a snowflake because it means they are

standing up for a particular standard, they stanie||||konkretnego|| hájí určitý standard, jsou

have a level of decency and social ||||Respectability|| ||||decência social|| ||||体面|| ||||порядність|| ||||礼儀正しさ|| ||||przyzwoitości||

responsibility that is higher than that of

those who are calling them snowflakes. |||||overly sensitive individuals |||||śnieżynki

Rob: Well I hope we haven't caused any

offence today. Before we review the přestupek dnes. Než se podíváme na

vocabulary, can we have the answer to

today's question Neil?

Neil: Of course, I asked in which year was

'snowflake' one of Collins Dictionary's sněhová vločka|||| |||Collins|

words of the year? Was it…

a) 1996, b) 2006 or, c) 2016

Rob: And I said c) 2016. It's got to be right!

Neil: Well, do you want to hear the story?

Interestingly the term was coined in 1996 有趣的是||||| Curiously enough||||first used| interesująco||||stworzony| curiosamente||||| Zajímavé je, že tento termín vznikl v roce 1996.

in the book Fight Club, but it was in 2016

that it was one of the dictionary's words že je to jedno ze slov ve slovníku.

of the year. Now let's review our words of roku. Nyní si zopakujme naše slova

the day. First there is 'offence'. |||||wykroczenie

Rob: People can 'take offence' and be |||brać|||

'offended' by something that is 'offensive'. obrażony|||||obraźliwy

Something that is 'offensive' could be rude, ||||||impolite

insulting and shocking. It might take the ||令人震惊|||| ||shocking|||| obraźliwy|||||| urážlivé a šokující. Mohlo by to trvat

form of humiliation or discrimination ||羞辱|| ||Public shaming|| ||upokorzenia||

against a person or group.

Neil: The term 'snowflake' is a word used |||płatki śniegu||||

by some people to talk about other

people who they think get offended too |||||urazí| ||||są|| lidi, o kterých si myslí, že se také urazí. 他们认为容易受到冒犯的人

easily and unnecessarily. ||轻而易举且不必要 ||without need ||niepotrzebnie ||без потреби 太过敏感且不必要。

They don't want to change their language 他们不想改变他们的语言

or ideas just because snowflakes get ||||snowflakes|

upset. Then we had the word 'invoke'. If upset||||||wywołać|

you 'invoke' something you use it as a |调用||||||

reason to explain your actions причина||||

and feelings

Rob: To 'call something out' is to challenge ||质疑||||| |||||||Call out ||呼ぶ||||| ||nazywać||||| Rob: "Vyzvat k něčemu" znamená zpochybnit.

it, to highlight it and look for justification. |||||||正当理由 |||||||Rationale |||||||обґрунту ||wyróżnić|||szukać||uzasadnienia

Neil: And finally we have 'taboo' -

something that society says is offensive ||public opinion|||

and shocking. So there we have it. What

do you think Rob of this topic?

Rob: Well it is a very difficult subject,

particularly when it comes to politics,

religion and society. Free speech is good ||||mowa||

but at times, particularly on social media,

I think can be unnecessarily I believe|||| ||||без потреби

unpleasant. nieprzyjemny

Neil: Well, try not to be offended but it is

time for us to leave you for this programme.

Do join us next time. Remember you can

find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube and of course our website Ютуб|||||

bbclearningenglish.com. BBC Learning English| bbclearningenglish|

And of course, we have a new app which And|||||||| І|||||||| Y, por supuesto, tenemos una nueva aplicación que

you can find on our website. It's free and you||||||||

it's brilliant isn't it Rob? |brilliant||| |świetny||| é|||| es brillante, ¿no es Rob?

Rob: Absolutely!

Neil: See you soon, bye.

Rob: Bye!