Episode 37: Quirky Real-Life Stories

From the surprising misadventures of a parrot to an unusual case of mistaken identity, Donielle and Khrystyna discuss quirky real-life stories with interesting or unexpected twists. 

Show Notes

Transcript

D           Welcome to Coffee and Conversation for ESL Listening. I'm Donielle.

K            And I'm Khrystyna. So grab a cup and join the conversation.

D           Hello. Hello. How are you?

K            I'm okay. How are you?

D           Uh, surviving, as always, right?

K            Yeah. That's right. As my 11-year-old said once he was walking up to his violin class, and when the teacher said, hey, how are you? And he goes, I'm alive. I'm like, you're 11, dude. You're 11. Enjoy the life while you can.

D           Your kid is hilarious, though.

K            Oh, my kid is something.

D           He must be just nonstop entertainment, just listening to the funny things that he comes up with.

K            It depends on the day.

D           I guess so.

K            He's kind of a Debbie Downer sometimes. I don't know why.

D           Ha, a Debbie Downer.

K            But you know, my husband says it's his old Ukrainian soul. I'm like, I am happy-go-lucky. Thank you very much.

D           Actually, you are. No, you are.

K            Thank you.

D           So, yeah. I'm not sure where that came from because your husband is happy, too.

K            He is. I think he's more positive than I am. Sometimes I have moments where I'm like, oh, man, the world is falling apart and we're all going to die. But he's like, no, it's going to be fine. Look at this.               Like, he's more positive. But I would say, like, you are more positive. Like, you're always upbeat and, you know, kind of moving around.

D           Are you kidding me?

K            Yeah. Yeah.

D           Okay.

K            I was going to say that about you.

D           You're more positive.

K            But between you and your husband, like, who is more kind of positive?

D           Oh, me. A hundred percent.

K            Nice.

D           He'll tell you something else, I'm sure, but… So, today we have a topic. A little bit different. We're going to see how it goes. So, one of the things that I like to do sometimes is to search the Internet for weird facts. I love weird facts.

K            Oh, yes, you do. 

D           Yeah. Because I'm weird. No.

K            Weird is good.

D           Weird is good, right. Okay. So, the other thing that I like is talking about movies, right?

K            Yeah, that's true. Yeah, you do.

D           And who doesn't love a movie with a good twist? A good twist, a surprise ending, something interesting, right?

K            Right.

D           Yeah. Have you ever watched a movie that really surprised you at the end? Can you think of any?

K            I'm trying to think. I feel like I just watched recently something. My husband and I were watching and… oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like, oh, it's kind of like a detective show, right? So, it's not a movie. It's like a weekly show, like a couple of seasons. And we were watching and we were like, oh, yeah, it's probably this guy. Like the whole episode we were thinking, no, it has to be this guy. And then something completely unexpected happens at the end. And it's a completely different person. And then there's like this whole twist. And I'm like, oh, I did not see that coming.

D           I kind of love it when that happens because, you know, the whole time you're watching and you're thinking, I'm so smart because it's obviously, oh, come on! And then at the end, you know, but of course, they're setting you up, you know, to think something and then it's something else. But, yeah, good movie with a twist. That's always fun. So, some of these facts are going to be like a movie with a twist.

K            Alright.

D           Something that you didn't expect. So, my first bit of weird news is a little bit opposite of what I just said right now. So, we say that we like a movie with a twist, but how about this? Have you ever watched a movie over and over and over again? Like, is there a movie that you just, you've seen a dozen times? You absolutely know the movie, but you like seeing it again and again?

K            Yeah, of course.

D           Yeah?

K            Yeah.

D           Like, what movie?

K            Oh, well, the other day we watched Titanic again.

D           Titanic? Really?

K            It's kind of been a while, but I like watching that. Well, I do like movies kind of like Bridget Jones, you know, like little rom-coms or a mindless something that, but you kind of enjoy watching it. I'm trying to think. Well, you know what? I think like Pride and Prejudice, I could probably watch that movie over and over and never get tired of it.

D           Okay. All right. Well, that's interesting. Yeah. So, actually, they say that if you like to watch the same movies over and over again, that that actually gives you some sort of comfort because you know what to expect already. And, you know…have you ever felt like maybe in a bad mood or a sad mood or something and you're like, oh, I just want to watch this movie that I’ve watched a dozen times already, right?

K            Yeah.

D           Yeah. That happens to me too. And I find that it's usually a comedy. And probably because, you know, it makes you feel good.

K            Right.

D           You know what's going to happen. But on the other hand, there's also a little bit of, I can catch something that I didn't see the last 10 times that I saw it. So, there's a little something new.

K            And that happened recently even - we were watching a movie that we've seen so many times and then both my husband and I were like well I don't remember this like I never paid attention to this little thing in the movie every time I watched, so yeah there's always something 

D           And that's kind of fun too - so it's comforting, but yet it's something new as well yeah so I thought that was interesting that there's actually some science to this that watching that same movie over and over again brings us comfort, brings us a little bit of calmness or something predictable in a crazy world where you know you can't -  you don't have control but you kind of have this     feeling of control when you're watching the same movie. 

K            So if you had a choice of you know like on any given day, like if you sit down to watch a movie, do you usually go for something you've already watched before or something new?

D           Yeah, you know, that's a good question because I’m always trying to find something - you know on Netflix there's like a million things and you flip flip flip flip and then all of a sudden you come up on something that you've seen a bunch of times and you're like oh I haven't seen this in a while, right, and then you're like no I’ve got to find something new. But there is that comfort you know. Science says so.

K            Yeah that's true, that's true.

D           So it's not just entertainment, it's therapy.

K            Oh well you know what? Funny you should say that because I remember during Covid times yeah a few years ago they said that during Christmas season the amount of viewers on Hallmark Channel like tripled because everybody wanted something comforting, right? So and like Hallmark movies, when you think of them, they're just kind of mindless little love stories about Christmas and stuff like that right and it's pretty much the same thing 

D           I was just gonna say that -  the same formula so it's that comfort in that too.

K            But they they noticed that um so many people needed that comfort that like I guess a lot more people watched Hallmark movies during Covid times.

D           Yeah, I can believe that. Alright, so before I go to my next piece of weird facts okay so I was talking about watching movies and things like that and I know you and I have talked about this in the past, that it's very difficult for a language learner to understand why we say “watch” a movie, sometimes we say “see” a movie. Why do we say “look” sometimes? Those three verbs are a little bit tricky if you're learning English, don't you think? 

K            Oh, absolutely. And I just had that question recently from one of my students. Well, what's the difference? I mean, they all         mean the same thing. They all have to do something with your eyes. So why can't I say I look the movie or I watch you? 

D           Yeah, it's true. And it's confusing because it's not like it's something so obvious, but I'm just going to quickly talk about a couple different rules on those and maybe we'll have a little bit more in the show notes. But just to get a little start on that, we say watch when it comes to movies because we use the word “watch” for things that you are looking at   that are motion, some kind of action that you're looking at, right? So a movie is something that's moving pictures, right? And you're watching it. You watch people doing something, right? You watch your kids. 

K            Because sometimes when you try to explain this, say like you watch TV, you watch a movie, you watch a play, like theater, but watching people do things. You don't necessarily want to say “I'm watching you” because that could be taken the wrong way.

D           I'm watching you. Yeah. You're looking at someone and you're watching someone. Those are two very different things. Watching is like I'm following your movements.              What are you doing? 

K            Yeah. Well, and it's funny because you could say I'm watching you, I am looking at you, or I see you. You could use all of those three words in regards to a person, but they have three different meanings. So it's a good explanation saying that you watch a person doing something, right? Not necessarily you're just watching a person, but that action that they're doing. Yeah. What they're actually doing.

K            Right. At the same time when you say I'm going to watch your kids. And in that regard, you could be technically watching the kids, right? You've got to make sure that they don't get in trouble, they don't get hurt, they don't run away. So in this case, it almost means like you're babysitting, you're taking care of them. 

D           Yeah. I'm thinking too like the word vigilance. Like when you are making sure that everything is okay. Think about like a watchman. Something like that on someone's watch because they're watching, they're paying attention and making… that's it, paying attention. Paying attention to the actions. 

K            Yeah. Paying attention. Yeah. Or like watchdog.

D           Watchdog. Yeah. All of those kinds of things. It has to do with paying attention to what someone        is doing. So yeah. But on the other hand, if you've ever noticed, if you're using the present perfect when it comes to movies, sometimes we say, see, have you ever seen Titanic? Or I've seen Titanic 10 times, right? 

K            Right. That's true.

D           Yeah. So because more, then it's more like just the experience rather than, you know, focusing.

K            Yeah. It's like acknowledgement, right? Yeah. I have seen it or-

D           Yeah, exactly. And then I would say, look, that's the other one, is when you are directing your eyes to something, your attention. So, oh, look at this. Or can you look at my homework? Look at the picture, right? That kind of thing. 

K            Yeah. To go back to see, when you try to maybe find somebody from the crowd or kind of have somebody stand out, you'll say, I see you or-

D           When you're just talking about sort of the visual noticing.

K            Right. Yes. Notice. That's a good one. I like that explanation. And then you're right. Look, it's more of-

D           Directing the attention.

K            Yeah. Yeah. Look, look here, look there. Look for something.

D           Oh, boy. Let's not get into phrasal verbs; then we'll never end. Okay. So, that's that. We'll put a little bit more in the show notes about that. So, hopefully that'll make it clear. But yeah, it's an interesting one because I think it's definitely something that is challenging. Okay. So, my next weird fact; actually, it's really the first weird fact, but can you imagine- Now, have you ever had a pet parrot or bird? You've had birds before, haven't you? 

K            No. I had a cat before, but never a bird. Although I love birds. 

D           You like birds? 

K            Yeah. I do like birds. 

D           Yeah. They're so cute. But parrots, well, what do you know about parrots? 

K            Well, they talk. Well, they could talk, right? Yes. And they like to repeat things sometimes. 

D           Yeah. Oh, there are so many funny stories that I have about parrots. So, I'll tell you a couple of them. 

K            I can imagine.

D           The one I have made a note about, and then another one I just remembered right now, so I don't have all the details. But the first story I'm going to tell you about is that there was this person who had a pet parrot, and his name was Nigel, and he spoke with a British accent. The bird did. Yes. And one day, poor Nigel, he got lost. And for four years, his owner was looking out for him. Where is my bird? Where is Nigel? Don't look so sad. It has a happy ending.

K            I feel bad for Nigel. 

D           Right? So, four years later, he returns. And it's the same bird, because how many of these gray parrots are flying around? Who knows? But also, I guess they had some kind of microchip or something. So, they confirmed it's the same bird. But Nigel, who liked to speak with a British accent, now speaks Spanish. So, they don't know where he was, but he speaks Spanish. And he apparently is calling for someone named Larry … nobody knows why. 

K            Larry speaks Spanish. Okay. Very interesting.

D           Yeah, I thought that was cute. Yes. So, that was a twist. Another parrot story that I have that I just remembered is so funny. I have a parrot that I just remembered. I have a parrot that I just I don't even remember where this is exactly, but I think it's a zoo. It must be some kind of a zoo or sanctuary. I don't know what it was. But there was a parrot that they ultimately had to move him out of that section, because this parrot started saying bad words. 

K            You know, I've heard of those stories before that some parrots somehow pick up these bad words. And they just…

D           They're like a kid, right? Like, you know, you can say a million things, but the minute you say a bad word, they're like, oh. Yep. 

K            Yeah, it's like they know. Oh, my gosh, that's too funny.

D           So, yeah, Nigel came back speaking Spanish. Hilarious.

K            You know, it would be so interesting to know what happened. Like, where did he go? But you know what's amazing? That he came back. Yeah. Four years, and he still knew the way to get back to that owner, or that, you know, person who had them originally.

D           Yeah, well, animals are amazing. You hear that all the time, where an animal will be lost, and somehow they make their way back. I mean, I can barely find my way if I make two unplanned turns. Like, wait, where am I? 

K            I've heard that a lot about cats. I think there's, I mean, at least I think in my culture, there's a saying that [a] cat will always find a way back home. Yeah. So, it's interesting how they have those navigation skills. 

D           Yeah, I could use some of that myself. Thank goodness for GPS, right? Oh, what would I do? Oh, my gosh.

K            Yes. Yeah. I don't know how people traveled in the past. What did they say? The people traveled in the past with maps like pirates? 

D           Like pirates! I know, right? Those big atlases they have in your glove compartment, or the things you have to unfold, and...

K            Oh, my gosh. I remember that.

D           Yeah, me too.

K            Like, I remember when I was a kid, and we would go on like family trips. And we wouldn't go like that far, you know, cross country, but like, you know, a different state or a different city. And I remember my dad had [an] Atlas in the back of the car, and then he had this big map. And we would try to trace those highways, and where you're supposed to turn. And like, somehow we always got where we needed to go. And nowadays, I feel like if I don't have my little GPS, I would be done. 

D           Yeah. I don't... Well, first of all, good luck trying to find a map,               somewhere - an actual paper map, you know? You're in trouble.

K            I'm sure some of those vintage bookstores have.

D           Yeah, probably so. Okay, so my next little weird twist is... So first of all, we want to say about this particular word to make sure everybody knows the word hipster. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So hipster is kind of a person who... You might help me out with the description because I didn't come up with one. But...they kind of have the long hair, sometimes a beard. They wear like certain kind of funky clothing. You know, they kind of want to be different.

K            I would say that's a good description, you know, like just to stand out, right? They want to look different.

D           Yeah, right?

K            And not blend in.

D           Exactly. So here's what happened. So there was a man who read an article, and this article was about hipsters. And the whole point of the article, was that actually, you know, these hipster guys, they think they're unique or whatever, but they all kind of look the same. And so this guy was reading the article, and he got really offended because they use this picture. You know how like there's stock photos and stuff like that, and they use this picture. And he's like, hey, that's my picture, and I never authorized this. So he wrote a letter to this magazine or whatever, and he threatened legal action because they, you know, they use this picture of him, and he did not authorize that at all. Well, they did a little investigating. And it turned out that the guy in the article was a completely different person. Thus proving the point of the article that all hipsters look the same. 

K            Oh my gosh, that is so funny. What are the chances?

D           Well, I mean, that's the other thing I think is really interesting coincidences like that like, you know, you couldn't have planned that better.

K            That's true. Oh, that is so funny. 

D           And that magazine must have had the best time responding to that letter. Well….

K            I'm sure. Can you imagine the snarkiness?

D           Oh, yeah. I would have wanted to call and tell him in person, you know?

K            Oh, gosh. That's so funny. Well, look at that. So much for wanting to stand out from the crowd.

D           That was a funny one. Ok, so my next twist and another term I think I'm gonna have to explain here is catfish. Yes so um if anybody is familiar with online dating at all, this is a big problem where people will steal a profile picture and post it on the dating site and they'll be a completely different person but they'll pick someone that's attractive and they try to get someone's attention get their interest sometimes to steal from them or sometimes just to have a, you know, internet relationship kind of thing. So in this case, it was a story of a woman who got duped by a catfish. And I think this romance went on for quite some time online. And she discovered that this was fake, that the person in the profile, it was not the person she was talking to. And of course, she got very upset. And where most people would probably just say, oh my gosh, this was awful,     and try to put that behind them. For whatever reason, she decided to investigate who the actual picture was. Or I don't know, maybe in the process of trying to find out if this person was real, I'm not quite sure. But she tracked down the real person in the photo. And they ended up getting together and having a relationship. 

K            I was wondering if that's what happened. Awww.

D           Can you imagine? How do you? Well, two questions. Yes. First, how did she figure out that this was a catfish? I wonder what made her figure that out? 

D           I don't know. 

K            And how do you track somebody down based on their picture?

K            Well, you know, there's a lot of those Google reverse image things. And so probably she found his Facebook profile or something like that. 

K            Oh, well, could be. Which is kind of creepy, too. Because can you imagine - can easily track down somebody? 

D           This is why my cat is my profile picture. 

K            That’s good. But I mean, it's a cool story in the end. 

D           It is. But for real, it's a problem, though. You know, there's a lot of fake people out there. 

K            Oh, there are. Yes. And, you know, there's always people who try to take advantage of somebody. But the thing is, online dating, online meetings have become extremely popular. And again, sound like a broken machine here. Covid had something to do with it. In fact, I know several people that recently met online, right? I mean, they're young people and they have social skills and all that. But what they told me is that it was easier because you knew exactly what that person was like based on their profile, which I feel like, well, I don't know if you necessarily know right away. Like, you definitely still have to meet and figure out. But several of people who met online recently that I knew have gotten married and have a pretty happy life.

D           Yeah. Well, you know, it's like anything else. I think you have to be careful. But in some way, you can do a quick, at least weed out people based on their profile that

D           would be an instant turnoff. So it's a little bit of a time saver, maybe, you know?

K            I mean, that's true. Yeah, it could be. But then also when you think people's lives are just so busy that there's just not enough time to go to all sorts of social events or something to try to meet people. So it makes sense to be a good alternative.

D           Yeah, it really does. Yeah. 

K            But again, of course, there's always danger.

D           There's danger everywhere. Okay. So, the last little fact that I have that I thought was kind of funny is you've probably noticed that in the United States, there are a lot of really weird names of towns. Like the one you and I used to live in was kind of a weird name. I'm not going to say it. To me, I thought it was a little bit weird. But yeah, there's a lot of weird names. And, you know, when you look back in the history of how the names came to be, sometimes they're really funny stories. And so I have one here. So, when you're trying to brainstorm things, you know, like say you get together, you're trying to find some ideas for something, right? And so you get together and you're like, oh… and there's some phrases that we use. So I thought I'd just throw those out. When you're brainstorming and you're trying to just throw out some ideas, you'll say things like, oh, how about if we do this? Or why don't we do that? Or what about this? Why not that? Right? 

K            Right.

D           Well, apparently that was happening at a meeting in North Carolina in some small town that they were trying to come up with a name for. And apparently, they're throwing out different ideas. And one person said, well, why not this? And another one said, well, why not that? And after a while, everybody got bored and said, hey, how about if we just call it Whynot and go home?

K            Oh, no.

D           So they said, that's not a bad idea. So we now have Whynot, North Carolina?

K            Whynot, North Carolina? Why would you? I mean, I'm sorry, but how did that get approved?

D           Bored people. They wanted to go home.

K            Well, funny thing. I have a little list in here to keep going with this.

D           Okay.

K            And the state you live in has a town named Lickskillet.

D           Yes.

K            There's also a town in Alaska that's called Dead Horse.

D           Yeah, I've heard of that one, actually.

K            I mean, there's a town in Arizona. Because you said, Whynot? Oh, this town is called Carefree.

D           That sounds good. It's positive, right? Carefree.

K            You know, there's a town in California that's called Rough and Ready.

D           Rough and Ready. Oh, my gosh.

K            There is also a town in Connecticut that's called Hazardville. I would not want to go there. It might be a very nice town.

D           There's some that are a lot worse than that. There's another one. I forgot what state it is, but it's called Mosquitoville.

K            Mosquitoville?

D           Mosquitoville. Yeah. And in Alabama here, I saw there's another one. It's probably in the same line of idea. It's called, oh, Ankle Scratch. Or what is it? Something like ankle. I think it's Ankle Scratch. Something like that.

K            Well, not too far from Alabama. There's a town in Georgia that's called...and it's one word: Hopeyoulikeit.

D           No! Yeah. I think there are a lot of bored people at meetings.

K            I think so. Because, like, I mean, there is a town in my state, in Illinois, that's called Goofy Ridge. 

D           Goofy Ridge?

K            Yes.

D           Oh, my gosh.

K            Well, we all know about Santa Claus, right? The town in Indiana.

D           Yeah.

K            There's Jamaica in Iowa. There's Canada in Kansas.

D           Well, you know, I noticed there are a lot like that. And it seems like it's confusing because it's like either another state or another country, like Paris, Texas. I know. Yeah. There's a lot of weird things like that.

K            That was one of them kind of like weird things when I first came to the United States and, you know, driving through towns. I was like, what? No, wait. That's not right. That's another city in another country. Oh, I remember I found the name of the same town in two different states that are not really that far from each other. So I thought that was kind of strange. But did you know in Kentucky, there is a town called Monkey's Eyebrow?

D           Monkey's Eyebrow. Oh, my goodness. I mean, now it feels like they're just pulling words out of the dictionary.

K            It's horrible. It's just horrible.

D           All right. Well. That's all the facts I have for today. I thought they were kind of fun. It's always interesting talking to you and hearing the news of the day.

K            Well, you know, we will always find something weird to talk about.

D           You know, that is true. We can always find something weird. Weirdness unites us.

K            Yes. But remember, weird is good.

D           Weird is good. Well, sometimes weird is good.

K            Yeah.

D           All right. Well, on that note, until next time, here's to good coffee, good vibes, and great conversations. Cheers.

K            Cheers.

D           Cheers.