Stressed vs. Unstressed syllables My New Bike
As some of you know, last week my beloved
bike Jenny was stolen from the front of my
apartment building here in New York City.
You may remember Jenny because she has been
in a video before.
This is my bicycle, Jenny. I didn’t name
her, she came named.
So, I had to replace Jenny and
I bought this Schwinn.
It’s called a “World Traveler”,
and that’s not a very
good name for a bike. So I asked all my fans
on Facebook to suggest different names, and
today I’m going to choose my favorite name
out of those suggestions to name this.
I got lots of really great suggestions, and
I loved doing this, so I may start doing it
when I have children, too. So start thinking
of names. But, some of my favorites. Priscilla
and many other suggested the name Magrela,
and this was the reason why. It’s like a nickname
to bike in Portuguese, meaning ‘little thin’
or ‘skinny’. Look at all the people that suggested
that name! My friend Egle was very persistent
about the name Joan. Sorry Egle, it is a pretty
name, but I didn’t choose it for my bike.
Ari suggested the name Floyd, which happens
to be the name of one of my favorite professors
from college, but I don’t think I’m going
to name my bike Floyd. Monica suggested
Alberta, and I really love the reason
why she suggested it. “Life is like riding
a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must
keep moving.” And Erick suggested Frida Khalo
after the painter. I did really consider that
one. It was in the front running, but I didn’t
choose it. There were also a lot of name suggestions
that had repeating syllables. For example,
Boo Boo, Ti Ti, Lulu, Cece, Cocoa, Jon-Jon,
and Juju. Now, I happen to love all of those,
but ultimately, didn’t choose any of those
either. But, it’s a great teaching moment,
so let’s take a minute to talk about these
repeating syllables.
First of all, cocoa. I find this very interesting
because it’s the same sounds, but it’s spelled
differently. In the first syllable, it’s just
the letter O, and in the second syllable it’s
OA. I admit this really confused me as a kid.
Any word that is two syllables has one stressed
and one unstressed syllable. So, even though
all of these words have the same sounds in
both syllables, they’ll actually not quite
sound the same, because a stressed syllable
won’t sound the same as an unstressed syllable.
So, for example, cocoa. I’m going to take
an audio look of that first syllable and then
an audio loop of the second syllable, and
you can hear how different they sound.
I hope you hear that the second syllable is
quieter, is lower in pitch, and sounds a little
bit like I’ve taken some of the energy and
a little bit of the voice out of it. Cocoa,
-coa, -coa. So this is the difference between
a stressed syllable and an unstressed syllable.
So you’re probably wondering: if I didn’t
choose all of these great names, then what
name did I choose? Well, the name I chose
is…
Lucy! Which was suggested by Paulo. Thank
you so much for that great name suggestion.
What do you guys think, does she look like
a Lucy?
Do you have a bike that you love? Tell me
about it in the comments. Or better yet, post
a picture of you with your bike to my Facebook
page. Tell me a story about it. Or, practice
your English. Make a video with your bike,
telling me about its name, or how you got
it, or a great trip you’ve taken with it.
Post it as a video response to this video
on YouTube. I can’t wait to hear all your
stories.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.