Internet - Lessico - Trascrizione
Hello everybody! Welcome to the EnglishBlog. In this podcast, you’ll be learning some interesting English on the origins of the word “spam”.
Before starting, let me first explain that the lesson is divided into two parts:
PART ONE: you’ll be listening to some useful English expressions; you’ll then hear a short explanation of these words, followed by an example of how they are used.
PART TWO: you’ll be listening to information about the origins of the word “spam”.
So let’s start!
Woman: Unwanted e-mails.
Man: Unwanted is an adjective to say that something is not wanted.
Listen to this short conversation:
Man: I remember life before computers it was so simple. Nowadays I just get lots of unwanted e-mails.
Woman: Have you had a lot of spam again?
Man: No, I mean from colleagues also, instead of meeting or making a quick phone call, everybody puts any little thing on an e-mail. My inbox had over 100 e-mails after lunch today.
Woman: Wow! You’d better do something about that, or you’ll never get any work done.
Man: I know.
Woman: Repetition of words.
Man: Repetition is a noun, that means something is repeated again and again.
For example
Woman: La, Lah, lah....
Man: Will you stop with that repetition of words, it’s driving me mad.
Woman: I’m sorry I can’t get the song out of my head.
Man: How it became a top hit, I’ll never understand.
Woman: La, lah, lah.....
Woman: No Value
Man: Value means how much something is worth compared to its price. So no value means that something is worth very little.
For example:
Woman: Look at that necklace it’s lovely.
Man: Look at the price, it’s not worth it, it’s not even real gold.
Woman: What a shame, I guess it’s of no value.
Woman: Now let’s listen to some information about the origins of spam adapted from www.webopedia.com.
Man: SPAM
Unwanted e-mail messages are called spam, but where does the term actually come from? Webopedia.com gives two different explanations.
The word may come from a song by the Monty Python, a famous group of British comedians: “Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam…”. The song is a repetition of words with no value, just like junk mail.
Others think that junk mail has been called “spam” by a computer group lab at the University of Southern California. They maintain that unwanted mail has the same characteristics as SPAM™, a tinned meat product: nobody wants it, no one eats it, and only few people like it!
Woman: If you wish you can hear this lesson again. In the meantime we hope we have helped you to be more confident with your English. Watch out for the next topic. Thank you for using the EnglishBlog.
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