Episode 101 English Words You Can Use To Sound Smart (From 'Witches Abroad')

Today we're going to analyse the reading from last week (Ep100), Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad. I hope you've had time to listen to last week's episode a couple of times and feel at least a little bit confident about what you think is happening.  Additional Note: in this episode I talked about 'card sharks', in the book Terry calls them 'Card Sharpers', in fact the two terms mean the same thing: people who cheat at cards to get money, sorry for the confusion. Tomorrow we'll talk about the gambling terms used in Episode 100. See you tomorrow! Vocabulary (More Vocab in YouTube Description) a sight to touch all but the wickedest heart - 'a sight to touch the heart' is an idiom meaning something we're looking at makes us feel emotional or compassionate. In this case he's added 'all but the wickedest' meaning only very bad people wouldn't feel anything when looking at Granny hobbling in. imbecility - weak and feeble - imbecile means stupid, when we describe someone with imbecility, it might mean stupid but it's more likely to mean weak and not powerful. chilly flicker - several times Granny is described as having a 'flicker' pass over her face. This means a very brief expression passes over her face. card sharpers - a gambling term - someone who cheats at cards to win money, Granny's just sat down with three of them (also card shark) shaken down - a term often used when talking about gangs. It means someone is being bullied or made to feel scared. In this context it means someone is going to be cheated. beginners luck - idiom used when someone experiences success the first time they try something she'll have the coats off our backs - an idiom, often said as a kind of joke, sometimes sarcastically, it means this person is going to make you poor or take all of your money. sporting chance - means a good chance or a fair chance like a mousetrap carrying out its last rites - this is a typical Terry Pratchett simile (remember similes are when we compare two things). Terry makes his own similes and they are often very funny and quite silly. We give 'last rites' when someone dies. A mousetrap is usually metal, so the sound of metal springs cracking and squeaking as the mousetrap catches the mouse, is the same sound as the card sharp's cheating contraption makes as it breaks and falls out of his sleeve. merest fraction - merest means smallest, so 'merest fraction' means tiny edge or corner. and run a decent flush right into the maw of a five-card onion - 'maw' is a mouth, usually a very dangerous one, such as a crocodile. Here he is saying that normally he could have one on a flush, but a five-card onion is a surprisingly good hand so he lost money. as transparent as a lump of coal - another Terry simile, Of course coal isn't transparent. So here it's describing something that you can't see through at all. a hum like a fingernail down a blackboard - in the west the sound of a fingernail down a blackboard is considered one of the worst sounds possible, it makes us want to cover our ears and hide. you could hear the distant splash of the paddles and the cry of the leadman - this is describing the boat. They are going down the river on a paddle steamer, and the leadman is the crew member who checks where they are going and gives directions to avoid rocks etc. galloping headlong to victory - he's too close to winning to pay attention. His brain is moving so fast and is totally focused on what he thinks is certain victory. Additional Vocabulary to lull someone into a false sense of security - when we 'lull' someone we make them feel safe and comfortable (like a lullaby). And a 'false sense of security' means although we feel safe, we're not. So this phrase means we make someone feel safe and comfortable but that feeling is not real or true (or trustworthy). they believe she is playing into their hands - if you 'play into someone's hands' that means you so exactly what they want you to do.