Lets Talk About US Elections English Idiom Lesson

hello hello welcome to this live lesson

here on the speak English with Vanessa

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but this is the first live lesson on oh

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can hear me if you can hear me well let

me know in the comments I see Navya

Douglas Majeed welcome welcome Asim

Nataniel welcome from Brazil Catarina in

Ukraine I’m glad you’re here today we

have an important topic

it is the elections the elections are

today the presidential elections and

local elections are today in the US so

we have a lot to talk about but first I

want to say hello to all of you and

introduce myself because this is a new

platform that means that usually I’m on

Facebook but now I’m on YouTube live so

if you are joining me for the first time

live here on YouTube thank you I’m so

glad you’re learning English with me and

you will be improving some expressions

today learning some useful things that

you can use to talk about today the

elections and also other topics in your

life so if this is the first time that

you are here please introduce yourself

we’ve got those from Brazil Carla from

Brazil Miguel from Argentina Mario from

Colombia Irie from Ukraine welcome

welcome city from Indonesia say one from

Korea hello hello I’m so glad that

you’re here

today we’re going to be talking about

the elections and I have some papers

that I want to show you and talk to you

about but first of all if you’re new

here welcome my name is Vanessa and I

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coming thank you for coming today I am

at my dad’s house I’m not in my house

and that’s the wonderful thing about

English you’re probably in your house

I’m not even in my own house and we are

learning together so today I would like

to talk to you about several different

expressions and then we’re going to talk

about these papers these are papers that

were sent to me in the mail to talk

about who I should vote for so these

papers are trying to convince me to vote

for a candidate these are local election

papers

but first of all let’s talk about a

beautiful expression that you can use to

talk about the American presidential

election I want to tell you a little

story yesterday I was walking around my

neighborhood and two people maybe 45

years old a man and a woman they came up

to me I had headphones in I was

listening to music I was walking but

they stopped me and said excuse me ma’am

have you voted yet did you know that you

can vote early and guess what the next

sentence was that they said to me this

is a sentence that I want you to be able

to use they said even if you can’t

stomach the presidential candidates

please vote for local candidates let’s

talk about this sentence that they used

because this is really something that

you could use in any situation

they used the word stomach stomach this

is part of your body as your stomach

where you eat your stomach is an organ

in your body but they used this like a

verb they said if you can’t stomach the

presidential candidates so a lot of

people in the u.s. they hate both

candidates so because they hate both

candidates a lot of people say I can’t

stomach those people I want to know for

you what is something you hate what is

something you hate and this is the

perfect sentence to use so in the chat

box I want you to write I can’t stomach

seafood or I can’t stomach here’s some

leftover Halloween candy

I can’t stomach chocolate oh I’m very

sorry if that’s true for you I can’t

stomach when people lie it’s really

annoying to me so something that you

hate yes exactly it means something that

you can’t stand it means you can’t stand

something oh I hate it I can’t stand it

so we might say I can’t stomach I can’t

stomach the candidates and for me I

think this is very interesting because

they assumed assume means they guessed

they guessed they assumed that I

couldn’t stomach they assumed that I

hated both candidates exactly nob shot

has a great synonym he says you can’t

tolerate the candidates yes tolerate is

a great synonym for stomach as a verb oh

I teach this I can’t stomach ignorant oh

look it says I can’t stomach false

people Milan says I can’t stomach

arrogant people oh we’ve got lots of

great adjectives oh yes yes Giovanna

says I can’t stomach social differences

assume I agree I can’t stomach war mmm

Marcus is I can’t stomach having to work

having to work uh-huh Osama says I can’t

stomach chameleon people aha this is

interesting and this is another great

expression for politicians do you know

the animal a chameleon it’s like a

lizard kind of it has a long tail and

its eyes move and it can change colors

depending on its surroundings so this is

perfect for a politician I can’t stomach

politicians who are like chameleons and

probably

your country you know - this is 99% of

politicians are like a chameleon

changing colors changing their policies

depending on what they’re thinking that

day or what their money makers want them

to say that’s a hard thing oh we’ve got

lots of things about stomaching all

publicist I can’t I can’t stomach

conceited people yes yes there’s a lot

of great comments about bad people here

conceited arrogant ignorant certainly

another Pablo says I can’t stomach many

of our politicians Oh Kirstie says I

can’t stomach bugs very interesting I

can’t stomach bugs so for you insects

are not your friend Oh Marie says I

can’t stomach fake laughter that’s a

really interesting one to say because

you have to be perceptive to know if

somebody is laughing in a fake way but

it’s everywhere it’s everywhere I think

a lot of us seem to hate just

unrealistic people Oh

Masahiro says I can’t stomach loud

people hmm so when you’re on the train

if somebody is loud you could scream I

can’t stomach loud people I wonder what

they would do

oh I can’t stomach the weather here

hello from Morocco I can’t stomach drugs

oh I can’t stomach the person who breaks

in line that is really annoying you’re

trying to be patient and that person is

not being patient hi from Norway Norway

hello so let’s let’s go to let’s go to

the next step let’s talk about these two

papers that I received in the mail so in

the US I want to know in your country is

this common but in the US when there are

elections usually the people like me I’m

not a politician the people

the people means not politicians the

people will receive the voters will

receive like advertisements for the

politicians or in this situation against

the other politician so in the US right

now if you are living in the US you are

probably seeing a lot of advertisements

for Hillary Clinton or a lot of

advertisements for Donald Trump or a lot

of advertisements against Hillary a lot

of advertisements against Donald Trump

and this is exactly what that is so I

would like to I would like to look at

this and there is a special expression I

saw on this oh yes let’s talk about this

expression at the top of this this paper

so this is an advertisement against

against this guy Roy Cooper Roy Cooper

so this guy is a local politician and

can you read the expression that’s on

this on this pamphlet it says Roy Cooper

didn’t want to save for a rainy day

didn’t want to save for a rainy day this

is this is trying to show something

negative about Roy Cooper

can you guess what what is the negative

thing that the person who sent this the

person who sent this what are they

trying to say about this guy honestly I

don’t know anything about him but I

didn’t receive any Donald Trump papers I

didn’t receive any Hillary Clinton

papers so I wanted to show you this

instead what do you think they’re trying

to say about him oh knob Chuck says all

right bad days equal a rainy day

equals a bad day rainy day equals a bad

day Oh Douglas says I think Roy Cooper

will expend too much money will spend

too much money yes both of you we can

kind of combine these answers didn’t

want to save money for a rainy day and

exactly what you said

a rainy day means a bad economic time or

a bad a bad day typically it could just

mean a bad day but in this situation it

means for the future or for difficult

times coming up so the opposite

candidate is trying to say Roy Cooper

he’s not planning he’s not carrying for

your future he didn’t plan to save money

for the future he didn’t want to save

for a rainy day and this is specifically

talking about there was a big hurricane

in the US about one month ago and it

says I’ll read this to you here because

this is kind of small it says a month

before hurricane Matthew hurricane

Matthew is the name of the hurricane one

month ago it says a month before

hurricane Matthew Roy Cooper was against

the emergency savings fund built to keep

us safe and help us recover from

emergencies so before the emergency

before the hurricane it says that he was

against saving emergency money just in

case there was a disaster and there was

a disaster there was a hurricane and it

says he suggested draining the emergency

savings reserve does anyone know what

the word draining what does the word

drain me mean DRA I n I ng draining

yes Lewis Lois’s rainy-day is kind of an

idiomatic expression yes yes and Juliana

asks is it necessarily related to

finance rainy day we’re going to talk

about that in just a second

that’s a great question it says he

suggested draining the emergency savings

reserve so the emergency savings reserve

is the saving the money the bank account

that was saving money yes so saving

means money oh great Samir Samir says

wasting something yes

draining something is wasting something

so you might even say for yourself

I feel drained I feel drained it means

my energy is wasted my energy is gone I

used all my energy I’m so tired

but in this political situation he

suggested draining the emergency savings

reserve he suggested wasting getting rid

of the savings money for an emergency so

this is something that if you want to be

prepared for an emergency

you will continue to save money for that

emergency and here they are saying some

bad things about him that he suggested

getting rid of all the savings I’m

curious this is talking about a

hurricane a hurricane do you think it is

only a coincidence only a coincidence

that they used rainy day draining

draining is the stink literally the

drain is the hole in the bottom of the

sink do you think that they chose these

water words

rainy day draining do you think they

chose those words because ah they just

happen to think of them oh it’s a good

word or do you think they specifically

chose those words because they’re

talking about the hurricane the

hurricane with lots of water hurricanes

are just completely rain rain and wind

hmm I think they cleverly chose these

words because in your mind you’re

thinking about oh he didn’t want to save

for a rainy day like the question

earlier rainy day just means bad day it

doesn’t mean always money saving money

for a rainy day a rainy day is just a

bad day but in this situation it’s very

clever

yes nagas they are using it as a

metaphor that’s a beautiful word thank

you for bringing that yes it is very

relevant to this situation rainy day and

draining to talk about the hurricane I

think that’s pretty clever

in general this kind of thing is just a

little bit of information about him it

is exactly the kind of information that

his opponent wants you to know about him

so I want you to see the final statement

yes deaf out that is true these are

well-chosen words well-chosen words I

want you to see the final statement on

this paper here can you see this final

statement here it says vote against Roy

Cooper vote against Roy Cooper he just

isn’t prepared to lead vote against Roy

Cooper November 8th that’s today yes

Mulan you are correct they chose those

words because they remind people of a

hurricane and it’s very much related to

what he did

exactly you’ve got in Milan Oh Lucas you

are correct marketing is never an

accident they never write down words by

accident and amia has a great question

is it possible to vote against someone

and this is the next expression that I

want to talk about with you because here

they use that expression vote against

Roy Cooper

so who who do you think paid for this

advertisement who paid for this I’ll

show you I’m not sure if you can

actually read this or not but it says

paid for by Americans for Prosperity

everybody once prosperity prosperity is

more wealth and a better quality of life

paid for by Americans for Prosperity not

authorized by any candidate or

candidates committee not authorized by

any candidate or candidates committee

very interesting isn’t it so someone

someone who is not associated with Roy

Cooper someone who is not associated

with the opposite side they created this

hmm personally I don’t know this

organization so maybe they are really

for the other candidate the other side

but it’s kind of interesting isn’t it

this is supposed to be a neutral party a

neutral organization who is telling

people about the candidate I agree

Michael I don’t buy it I don’t buy it I

don’t agree with that I don’t believe it

I don’t think that someone is just

especially because I only received these

about him I didn’t receive them about

the other lady who’s running

so let’s talk about can you can you vote

against someone and this is where I want

to talk about the presidential election

vote against someone what do you think

that means voting against someone hmm

voting against someone so if they say

here vote against Roy Cooper vote

against Roy Cooper what does that mean

what do you think that means hmm

John Zach says Vanessa for president no

thanks

I’m gonna drink some water while you

think about what does it mean to vote

against someone it is certainly a weird

way to vote Nicholas I agree hmm that

you will vote against someone it means

you will vote for the opposite person so

let’s say for example that I am running

we use the expression running if you are

going to try to be the president let’s

say vanessa is running for president and

let’s say my husband Dan is running to

be President as well probably not very

good for our relationship if we are

running against each other it’s just an

example if I say vote against Dan well

your only other choice is me so it means

exactly

Pablo has it correct to vote for the

other candidate Juliana yes vote for his

opposition yes to vote against the other

person means maybe you don’t like the

other candidate maybe you just don’t

want one person to win so much that you

are willing to vote for someone else who

you don’t really like but you’re gonna

vote for them anyway

yes Nicholas has a great way of putting

it

sometimes we could be in a position

where we vote against someone for them

not to be elected to rule the country

yes so for example maybe somebody really

hates Donald Trump and they really hate

Hillary Clinton in fact I think this is

the majority of Americans majority of

Americans don’t like either candidate

but they need to vote against the worst

one who is the worst candidate and most

people who I’ve talked to they say oh I

hate this one but I I hate this one a

little bit more so I’m going to vote for

this one instead ah it’s such a hard

position to be in and personally I vote

every day I vote with my money I vote

with my time I vote with my

relationships my priorities I show every

day not just on November 8th and you two

at the moment you are spending time with

English so you are voting for English

with your time you are voting for this

specific thing because you are showing

it is a priority your time or maybe when

when you buy for example this is my

dad’s Kleenex box the brand is Kleenex

when he buys this Kleenex box he is

voting for this company to continue to

create this product because he bought it

so they will continue to make it so

every day we vote every day we vote with

our money with our time and we have many

more choices than just two candidates so

typically in the election time for

presidents Lewis has the quote the

expression that I want to use right now

Louise says the lesser of two evils

ah this is probably true for your

country too I want to know

Louise Louise do you do this in your

country in your country do people vote

for the lesser of two evils let me

explain this situation so evil evil

means really bad terrible awful we have

• evil - evil people

• bad people and we have to choose who

is the lesser just a little bit not good

just a little bit less bad so in the US

especially today a lot of people will

use this expression and really for the

last couple months people have been

using this expression oh I need to vote

for the lesser of two evils but I don’t

know who it is

so it’s a difficult situation I would

say Oh Nicolas has a good question can

you show us a voting ballot maybe if

there was a sample online ballot I could

show it to you but in the u.s. a ballot

this is the paper or the electronic

device where you vote this is on a

machine on a machine and you go into the

building and you go close to the Machine

and you electronically choose which

candidate you want but there’s probably

an online sample ballot in fact that

would be a really interesting thing to

see some of the sample candidates you

could see our friend here Roy Cooper not

really our friend oh we’ve got great

comments about politicians thank you

everyone for your participation I really

appreciate it

oh yes yes I think we’ve got a great

comment here about Francesca says I

think we can vote every day through our

choices but the president politician and

the man in power could limit our freedom

that is completely true yes that every

day we vote with our choices but we live

in a world where politics is still

important it’s still part of daily life

so even if I hate Trump and I hate

Hillary you have to choose because

someone will possibly like Francesca

said will possibly limit your freedom

and highly likely that’s their job so uh

Ann has a good question what time are

the election results what time are the

election results the elections finish at

7 p.m. at 7 p.m. in the u.s. so I think

7 p.m. eastern time actually I could be

wrong it might be California time I need

to check because in the u.s. we have

four time zones and typically the

elections try to allow some time when

people finish work around five o’clock

they want to allow some time for workers

to go and vote so if the elections close

at four o’clock a lot of people won’t

have the chance to vote so I would guess

seven o’clock Eastern Time but it might

be seven o’clock a California time or

it’s possible that they will start

showing the results from the east coast

and then the next time zone they’ll show

the results from the next time zone and

the next and the next so this is going

to be a long process tonight I’m very

curious and I don’t really know what

happen but in the end I’m glad that we

have a president instead of a dictator

or instead of a king still not a good

choice not good choices today but in any

case thank you for talking about the

elections with me I hope that you will

be able to use this expression I can’t

stomach and we almost always use it in

the negative way I hope that you can use

this expression I can’t stomach angry

people I can’t stomach politics I can’t

stomach I hope you can use this

expression can’t stomach I hope you can

also use rainy day rainy day um we often

use this together save for a rainy day

but you could say it for something else

so I hope that you are saving money for

a rainy day save for a rainy day maybe

you have to vote against someone and the

final expression we talked about was the

lesser of two evils in your country if

you have to vote for the lesser of two

evils well now you have an expression to

talk about it so thank you everyone

thank you for talking about this

controversial topic this is something

that usually on YouTube or social media

is highly controversial so I want to say

congratulations

we had a 3035 minute conversation

without terrible comments without lots

of controversy you are awesome this is

something that we all can talk about

because we all have it in common we all

we all have to deal with the lesser of

two evils so thank you for your

inclusion today thank you for really

participating and I hope you will come

back next Tuesday next Tuesday I will be

here again live on Facebook so please

join me again on Tuesday and if you

would like to join me on 3rd

today we will be on the speak English

with Vanessa Facebook page which is in

the description below in the description

there is a link to my facebook page so

Tuesday YouTube 9:00 a.m. Thursday

Facebook 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time and by

the time we have our next lesson we will

know the answer who is the next American

president and will it really make a

difference we will also probably know

that too so thank you everyone for being

encouraging and showing that we can talk

about politics exactly like Thiago said

without fighting over politics just just

learning together Oh Thank You Alyssa

Alyssa says I understand more in this

video than many years of school

wonderful wonderful Thank You Jellison

for joining me

Thank You Alyssa thank you everyone for

being here today and I’ll see you again

on Tuesday on Facebook Thursday on

YouTube and feel free to read my free

ebook right now in the comments below

this video five steps to becoming a

confident English speaker say good luck

good luck Roy Cooper see how it goes and

we’ll see you all later bye everyone I

need to figure out how to close this

because it’s one of my first times using

YouTube live thank you everyone

see you later bye