Friday, October 12, 2007

Show 527 Friday 12 October


Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Time for some more Canadian English today.

This is called a tuque in Canada.
In NZ I’d call it a beanie.

Another word I learnt recently is faculty.
Well I already knew that word, but not its North American meaning.

This is of those words that, the first time I heard it, I thought that the person must be just using it in a strange way, but then after I heard several people using it in the same way I started to think hmm hang on, maybe I’m the one who is using it incorrectly, or maybe it has a different meaning in Canada. And so I looked it up and yes, sure enough, it does.

Faculty. Chiefly British. A group of university departments concerned with a major division of knowledge.

And that’s how the word is used at New Zealand universities.
For example, the Faculty of Arts, which includes many departments like the Department of English Literature or French.

And the North American meaning is: the teaching or research staff of a university or college.

So there are different kinds of staff members here at Acadia, there are people who teach, and they are part of what is called faculty, and then there are other people who do administration or cleaning or whatever and they are not part of faculty.

The reason why I’ve heard that word a lot recently is because now there are negotiations happening between faculty and administration.

I’m not exactly sure what it’s about, but basically something about their working conditions and how much they get paid.

And there’s also a possibility that they could strike on Monday. But they haven’t decided that yet and they’ll probably keep negotiating and decide on Sunday night.



STICK NEWS

Kia Ora this is Stick News. A New Zealand man who has previously been jailed in three countries started a new jail term in his home country today. Over the last four years he has conned 3.4 million dollars out of the New Zealand government.

Wayne Thomas Patterson is a 47-year-old New Zealander. He has been in jail in Australia, New Zealand and America.
In Australia he conned $A500,000 in benefits using 43 false identities. In America he defrauding authorities of $US2 million.
He was last released from prison in 2003 and within a month, he was offending again.
Over the last four years he has used 123 false identities to con more than $3.4 million out of the Ministry of Social Development.
The New Zealand Press Association reported the fraud was New Zealand's largest benefit fraud. The previous biggest benefit fraud was for $250,912.
Police said when they raided Patterson's modest rented flat in west Auckland, they found nearly $700,000 in $50 notes buried in the garden, $184,333 cash in the flat and in his car, and gold bars worth $355,000, also hidden in the flat.
They also found 137 ATM cards and 102 forged birth certificates.
There was a sophisticated security camera, six computers, and a lavish garden with $50,000 worth of plants.
Patterson is now in jail again and will serve at least five years of an eight-year sentence.


And that was Stick News for Friday the 12th of October.
Kia Ora.




friday joke

Two ducks are staying in a hotel. They are about to make love and then they realize they don’t have any condoms. So one of the ducks rings room service to ask for some condoms.
The woman on the phone says, ''OK sir, would you like to put them on your bill?''
''No,'' he says, ''I'll suffocate!''

I found today's joke here. I changed it a little.



conversations with sarah
#327 What happens if there’s a strike?

Step 1: Repeat Tane’s lines.
Step 2: Read Tane’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Tane What happens if there’s a strike?

Sarah Not much, I don’t think, just most of the classes stop. But the English language classes continue.

Tane Why is that?

Sarah Because the English language instructors aren’t part of faculty.

Tane Why not?

Sarah I don’t know. I’m not quite sure how it works.

Tane How long will they strike for?

Sarah I don’t know. I doubt if it would be very long though. Probably just a couple of days.

Tane What’s the problem?

Sarah I think one of the problems is that the professors want to get paid more. Apparently they get less than people at other universities in Canada.



notes

Faculty of Arts
It depends on the university, what this is called.

For example, if you do a BA in English lit at Victoria, NZ, you would be studying with the School of English, Film, Theatre, & Media Studies, which is part of The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

If you do a BA in English lit at Auckland, NZ, you would be studying with the Department of English, which is part of the Faculty of Arts.

If you do a BA in English lit at Acadia, Canada, you would be studying with the Department of English, which is part of the Faculty of Arts.

links

today's news
more here
today's STICK NEWS pictures

About the strike - ASU
Acadia University Faculty Association
The last time they had a strike it was in winter, check it out, the place looks so much different in winter, eh.

music

show start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: La note en cage
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

friday joke start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: Sumbala
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: San Sebastian
track: Happy Sad
artist site

qa start
artist: Manu Cornet
album: Distance & Temps
track: Silk Road
from: Paris, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: Olga Scotland
album: Scotland Yard
track: L-Micro
from: Moscow, Russia
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

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