Shadow English Podcast - A podcast where you listen to a 2 min to 5 min podcast about whatever is on my mind, and you will have a chance to shadow my English two times (once slow, once fast).

Episode 3 - A Play on Words

In today's episode, I talk a little about the concept of "a play on words".

Transcript:

Welcome to the Shadow English Podcast, where I say what is on my mind and you will have a chance to shadow what I say after the episode. This podcast is meant for non-native English learners who wish to improve their listening and speaking skills.In the last episode, I talking about the title being a sort of play on words…at least for Japanese speakers. I really love puns, which basically means a play-on-words. When a word or combination of words creates a new meaning, one not originally intended by the original utterance, it is like magic to me. For example, "Why was the math book sad? It had too many problems.""The baker stopped making doughnuts because he was fed up with the hole business." "When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds."Okay, so those are examples of play on words…So, I guess a quick explanation might be needed. Okay, so for the first one…"Why was the math book sad? It had too many problems.”, the play on words is on the word “problems”. Because problems can mean “a math problem” or it can mean having a problem in your personal life.And the second one, "The baker stopped making doughnuts because he was fed up with the hole business.”, the pun is “hole”, H - O - L - E , meaning a hole in the donut, and W - H - O - L - E, meaning the entire of something, so entire business, or “whole business”….And finally, um…"When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.”… the pun is on “four”, the number “four”, F - O - U - R , so “goes back four seconds”…or goes back “for”, F - O - R, for seconds…have another meal…okay, I think that’s enough explanation. As we've seen today, puns and wordplay add a touch of linguistic magic to our conversations, sparking laughter and creativity. Goodbye for now, see you all next week. Goodbye.

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