BBC Learnings · Section 10

Is talking on the phone embarrassing

Sam, do you know Stephen Fry? Not personally, but I know of him.

Level: B1 · 112 sentences

Transcript

  1. Sam, do you know Stephen Fry?
  2. Not personally, but I know of him.
  3. Stephen Fry is an English writer
  4. and comedian and is well known for being extremely
  5. intelligent and very knowledgeable about many things – cultural, historical and linguistic.
  6. To be knowledgeable means to know a lot about something.
  7. I wish I was half as knowledgeable as he is.
  8. I wish I were coarser as knowledgeable.
  9. There is still time, Sam.
  10. And maybe this week's question will help
  11. you become just a little bit
  12. more knowledgeable on the topic of the telephone.
  13. The first long-distance telephone call was made in 1876.
  14. Approximately what was the distance of that call?
  15. Was it a 10 kilometres, b 15 kilometres or c 20 kilometres?
  16. What do you think, Sam?
  17. So when you say long distance...
  18. For the time, yes.
  19. Remember the telephone was only a baby in 1876.
  20. In that case, I'll say approximately 15 kilometres.
  21. But that's just a guess. A long distance guess.
  22. We'll find out if you're right at the end of the programme.
  23. Stephen Fry is also known as a technophile.
  24. The suffix file means a lover of that thing.
  25. So a technophile is someone who loves technology.
  26. Fry was a guest on the BBC podcast Word of Mouth
  27. and was talking about the technology of communication.
  28. It seems he's not a fan of the telephone.
  29. But why not?
  30. I think the telephone was a really annoying blip in our communications.
  31. And that's old technology. I mean, that's 1880s, 90s.
  32. When you're on the telephone to someone,
  33. especially if you're British, you know,
  34. that... Bernard Shaw thing, you know,
  35. the moment one Englishman opens his mouth, another Englishman despises him.
  36. When you're speaking to someone on the telephone,
  37. all the age, class, education, vocabulary all come into play
  38. because it's in real time and it's embarrassing.
  39. I hate being on the telephone to people,
  40. especially strangers in shops and things like
  41. that, because it's embarrassing and awkward.
  42. So why doesn't he like the telephone?
  43. Well he uses a quote from the writer George Bernard Shaw.
  44. It's not the exact quote but the meaning
  45. is that as soon as an English person speaks,
  46. another English person despises them.
  47. To despise someone is a very strong emotion
  48. and it means to really hate someone.
  49. So what is it about the English person's voice
  50. that leads others to despise them?
  51. Stephen Fry goes on to explain
  52. that there's a lot of information
  53. about someone that people get from their voice.
  54. You can make a judgement about someone's age,
  55. level of education and class from the way
  56. that they speak and the vocabulary they use.
  57. Class refers to your economic and social position in a society.
  58. In Britain we talk about three classes – upper class,
  59. middle class and working class – the family
  60. into which you are born dictates your class.
  61. These used to be a lot more important in British society,
  62. but there are still different prejudices
  63. and negative feelings related to the relationship between the classes.
  64. Exactly. So hearing someone's voice on the telephone
  65. might make you think something negative about someone based
  66. on very old-fashioned ideas of class.
  67. What makes it worse is that these conversations happen in real time.
  68. This means they're happening live, not recorded,
  69. so you have no time to really think about it.
  70. So he may be a technophile,
  71. but he's not a fan of the phone.
  72. Indeed. He called it a blip,
  73. which is a word for when something is not quite right,
  74. when there's a fault or a mistake, which is usually not long-lasting.
  75. So do you think he's right?
  76. Well, actually, I don't like to talk to strangers
  77. on the phone very much myself, but That's just me.
  78. But I do think that although
  79. the class divisions in British society
  80. are much less obvious and much less important than in the past,
  81. we still do make judgements about people based on how they speak
  82. and those judgements can often be completely false.
  83. Right, nearly time to review our vocabulary,
  84. but first let's have the answer to today's question.
  85. The first long-distance telephone call was made in 1876.
  86. Approximately what was the distance of that call?
  87. Was it a 10 kilometres, b 15 kilometres or c 20 kilometres?
  88. What do you think, Sam?
  89. I guessed 15 kilometres, but it was just a guess.
  90. Well, sadly, on this occasion it was not a correct guess.
  91. The correct answer is approximately 10 kilometres or 6 miles.
  92. Congratulations if you got that right.
  93. Now on with the vocabulary.
  94. We started with the adjective knowledgeable,
  95. which means knowing a lot about something.
  96. A technophile is someone who loves technology.
  97. To despise someone is to hate someone strongly.
  98. Class refers to a group in society
  99. you are said to belong to from your birth.
  100. Certain stereotypes are often attached to different classes
  101. to do with intelligence and education, for example.
  102. In real time is an expression that means happening
  103. live without any pauses or breaks.
  104. So, for example, you aren't listening
  105. to this programme in real time.
  106. Well, I am.
  107. Well, of course you are, Neil,
  108. because you are here with me as we are recording.
  109. But if you're listening to the podcast, it's no longer real time.
  110. It's been recorded and edited.
  111. And we had one other word, didn't we?
  112. Yes. A blip, which is a temporary fault or mistake.