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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
TOPICS
Panama Canal; Famous Songs – “Fever”; to squander versus to lavish versus to waste; self-conscious versus self-confident versus self-aware; as tough as they come ______
GLOSSARY canal – a narrow passage of water that connects two bodies of water * The Erie Canal connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario allowing ships to pass from New York to Chicago. man-made – built by humans and not created by nature; made or built by people * Sometimes, people building new housing developments will build man-made lakes to make the houses more attractive to buyers. explorer – a person who travels to a place to find out more about a new land * Christopher Columbus was an explorer who landed in North America. jungle – a forest where many trees and other plants grow close together, with a lot of rain and is very hot * Many animals live in the jungles of Brazil including monkeys, snakes, and birds. proposal – a detailed suggestion about how to do something; a formal plan about how something should be done * Submit a proposal by Friday with ideas for the new software design. survey – an analysis and detail plan of the land where a building or other structure is built * Engineers created a survey of the property where the Smiths are going to build. fraud – the crime of lying about something to gain something for one’s benefit, such as money * Bernie Madoff committed fraud when he stole people’s money but told them that he was keeping it safe for them. locks – sections in a canal with entrance and exit gates that lift the ships from sea level to higher land * The ship entered the section between the locks, which closed and allowed water to flow into the canal, making the ship rise up. 1
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
feat – a project that is very difficult that requires bravery and talent * Climbing Mount Everest is an incredible feat that only a few people have tried. pseudonym – a false name that a writer publishes his or her work under * The author Samuel Clemens wrote under the pseudonym Mark Twain.
to cover – to sing a version of a song that someone else has already recorded and made available to the public * The performers on TV singing shows cover songs by famous singers.
mad – passionate and intense * Ella and Jose were mad about each other and spent as much time together as they possibly could.
to squander – to waste money, resources, or time; to spend something in a reckless or unintelligent way * Jackie feels that she squandered her youth, not getting the education she should have to achieve her goals now.
to lavish – to spend in an extravagant way, buying expensive things and/or in very large quantities * Liang’s lavish wedding included 500 guests and a very expensive reception. to waste – to use or spend carelessly or recklessly without thinking of the consequences or risks, and not putting the money to good use * You’re wasting your singing talent singing in bars and nightclubs. self-conscious – caring a lot and thinking a lot about the way one looks and the way people view one * Julio is recovering well from the car accident, but he is very self-conscious about the large scar on his face. self-confident – having trust and confidence about one’s own worth or abilities * If you’re self-confident in your job interview, I’m sure you’ll be offered the job. self-aware – being aware or familiar with oneself, including one’s emotions, appearance, and character * Monica isn’t very self-aware, often getting angry at others when she’s really angry with herself.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
as tough as they come – the toughest; the most able to withstand or tolerate difficulties or hardships * Georgia is as tough as they come and you’ll have a hard time beating her in a game of chess.
______
WHAT INSIDERS KNOW
Dance Fever
Dance Fever was an American music and dance show that aired from January 1979 to September 1987. The show featured “disco” (a type of dance music popular in the U.S. in the 1970’s) dancers and disco singers and bands.
Dance Fever was “hosted by” (had as its main performer, welcoming guests on the show) Deney Terio. Terio was the dancer who trained the actor John Travolta to dance in the movie Saturday Night Fever. On the show, Terio would “open” (start) the show with a different performance each week. He hosted the show until 1985 and was replaced by Adrian Zmed, who hosted the show in its last two “seasons” (years).
Each week, some of the most popular pop music and disco artists would perform their latest “hit” (very popular song) on the show. The people in the audience would dance while they performed, creating a fun and lively atmosphere.
The show also had a dancing competition. Four dancing couples competed every week, to win $1,000. Each pair was given two minutes to perform their dance routines, with “celebrity” (famous) judges giving them points. The winner from each week competed for the larger prize of $5,000 in a later show, and then for the biggest prize of $25,000 and two new cars. In 1984, the grand prize was increased to $50,000 and other prizes. Every show ended with the winning couple, along with everybody else, dancing to the Dance Fever “theme” (music associated with a person or show), which became very “recognizable” (easy to remember and identify).
A remake of the show was “aired” (shown on TV) in 2003. Unfortunately, it was not as popular as the original Dance Fever from the 1970’s and was soon “cancelled” (with no new shows made).
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT
You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 439.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 439. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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In this Café, we’re going to talk about one of the greatest engineering projects in modern history – the Panama Canal. We’ll also talk a little bit about a famous song from the 1950s called “Fever.” And, as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.
We begin this Café talking about the Panama Canal. A “canal” (canal) is a narrow “passage,” we might call it, of water – sort of like a river that connects two larger bodies of water. For example, a canal might connect a lake and an ocean, or it might connect two different lakes. “Lakes” and “oceans” are bodies of water, large areas of water. The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It’s located in what is now the country of Panama in Central America.
The canal is man-made. When we say something is “man-made,” we mean it was built by human beings. It was not something that was found there “created by nature,” if you will. It’s something that people actually had to build. The Panama Canal was man-made, and allows ships to travel from one side to the other – from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, or the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic – traveling through the country of Panama.
The Panama Canal opened in 1914, but the idea for a canal is quite old. In fact, when the Spanish explorers first came to the “New World,” as it was called, they had the idea of starting a canal, of building a canal to connect the two oceans. That was back in the sixteenth century, in the 1500s. An “explorer” (explorer) is a person who goes and finds out about a new land, a place that no one has gone before. The Spanish explorers had the idea of connecting the two oceans with a canal, but there were a lot of problems that they were not able to solve, especially with the technology they had available.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
One of the problems is that the area where the canal is now located is full of large hills and mountains that you have to cut through. Another problem is that this area of Central America was, at the time, mostly jungle. “Jungle” (jungle) is when you have a forest or a lot of trees and plants growing very closely together. Typically, jungles are very hot and very rainy.
Jungles are also places where there are some diseases that can easily be contracted by humans. “To contract a disease” is to get a disease. In the jungles of Panama, malaria and yellow fever were both very common, and both of them were also very deadly. People who got one of these diseases – which causes a high fever, or a high temperature in the body – often died from the disease.
In the nineteenth century, in the 1800s, Panama was under the control of the country of Colombia. Colombia decided to give permission to a French company to build a canal through the area of Panama. The French company was run by a very famous man at that time, Ferdinand de Lesseps. He was a diplomat. He was not an engineer. He was a person that dealt really with political issues between countries.
However, de Lesseps had just finished helping organize the building of another great canal – the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. De Lesseps was one of the main people responsible for getting the Suez canal built, and logically, when he submitted a proposal – when his company submitted a proposal to Colombia – the Colombians thought, “Well, this guy already helped build one canal. He can build the canal here in Panama.”
Well, unfortunately, Panama and the Middle East, where the Suez Canal is located, have very different geographies. The land and environment is completely different. The proposal, or plan, by de Lesseps’s company was not a very good one. Nevertheless, a lot of people gave the company money to build this canal, and in 1881, de Lesseps’s company began to build the canal.
Over the next few years, however, it became clear that the canal was not going to be built. One problem was that they did not do a very good survey, or analysis of the land, where the canal was supposed to be built. The engineers and the workers didn’t have the proper equipment, the proper machines, in order to do the kind of work that was required to build a canal. Eventually, many of the workers and engineers got sick from the diseases we mentioned earlier, malaria and yellow fever, and many people died during the attempted construction.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
The project, basically, was a disaster. The French government, in fact, accused de Lesseps and his company of fraud. “Fraud” (fraud) is when you lie to other people, usually to gain something, usually to get their money. De Lesseps’s son actually was (briefly) sent to prison in 1892. In 1902, the U.S. government decided that it was interested in building a canal, and so the Congress of the United States passed something called the “Spooner Act.” This was a law that gave money to build a canal as long as the government could negotiate a treaty with Colombia, which of course owned the area which is now the country of Panama.
The U.S. government then tried to negotiate a treaty with Colombia to build the canal, but there were problems. The two countries could not come to an agreement. Fortunately for the United States – and I’m sure it wasn’t just by luck – the people living in the Panama region decided to declare their independence from the country of Colombia. The United States immediately recognized this new country and decided it would negotiate their treaty now with the new government of Panama.
The new government was eager to negotiate a treaty, and in 1904, the United States government, under the leadership of President Theodore Roosevelt, started construction of the Panama Canal.
Now, the new Panama Canal was not the same as the one the French started to build. They used a different plan, interestingly enough from another engineer from France who had a much better plan on how to build the canal. The interesting thing about the treaty that the U.S. government signed with Panama was that it gave the United States basically control not only of running the Panama Canal, but of the area around the canal. About a 10-mile area around the canal was basically U.S. government property, and the U.S. government had its own schools, its own governor, its own legal system established in this Panama Canal Zone. The Panamanians were not very happy about this agreement, many of them.
From 1904 until 1914, more than 40,000 workers were part of the building of the Panama Canal using a better-engineered system. The American construction workers were able to build this new canal and keep most of the workers from dying from malaria and yellow fever, which as I said was a problem with the previous French efforts. The canal was opened in 1914 and continued in operation as an American-run organization for the next 70 years or so.
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
In the mid-1970s, the American government and the Panamanian government came to a new agreement, which was signed by then President Jimmy Carter, to return the Panama Canal Zone to the Panamanians. In 1979, the U.S. government returned the property around the canal to Panama, although both countries ran the canal jointly – that is, together – for the next 20 years until 1999, and since 1999, Panama has had sole ownership and control of the canal.
However, as part of the negotiations over returning the canal to Panama in the late 1970s, there was an additional treaty that was signed, an additional agreement, that gave the U.S. government the right, if necessary, to use military force to keep the canal open. And in fact, in 1989 and 1990, that was in part the justification for intervening in Panama – using the U.S. military.
The canal itself is around 80 kilometers long, depending on how you measure it. It has more than 10,000 people working at the canal, which is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Thousands of ships go through the canal each year. Its main purpose is now as it has always been – is trade, the passing of ships through the canal that are bringing goods and supplies to different parts of the world. Although most ships can go through the canal, there are some now that are so big that they will not fit. They are too big.
Any ship more than 110 feet wide, for example – that would be about 33 meters – is too wide and will not be able to go through the canal. They would have to go down around the continent of South America, like ships used to do before the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is one of the great engineering feats, or accomplishments, of the twentieth century. It has allowed international trade to be much more efficient and allowed countries all over the world to send their goods, their products, to other parts of the world using a much faster route than was previously available.
Now let’s move on to our second topic, which is a famous song from the 1950s called “Fever.” We mentioned “fever” a few moments ago in talking about yellow fever, one of the diseases that one could contract in the Panama Canal zone. This, however, is not a song about getting sick – at least, not physically sick.
“Fever” was written by two songwriters, Otis Blackwell and Eddie Cooley. Blackwell, however, didn’t use his real name when he published the song. He used what we would call a “pseudonym” (pseudonym). A “pseudonym” is a false name that a writer or an artist adopts, or takes instead of their real name. Here in Hollywood, many actors change their names to something that they think sounds better. We would probably call those “stage names.” But the idea is the same. 7
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
Why did Blackwell use a pseudonym? Well, in part, he himself was black – he was an African American man. He thought the song would be more successful if people thought he was a white man. So he used the name of John Davenport, thinking apparently that it sounded more like a white person’s name. The song was first recorded by a singer named Little Willie John in 1956, and it became so popular, it was one of the 40 most popular songs in the country that year.
A couple of years later, in 1958, Peggy Lee, a jazz singer, covered the song. When we say an artist or a singer “covers” a song, we mean they sing a song that someone else has already released and has sold. Peggy Lee’s version also became famous, more famous than the original version by Little Willie John. When people think of this song, they usually think of the version by Peggy Lee.
“Fever” is a song about deep physical attraction to someone – romantic or sexual attraction to another person. The singer is singing to her lover in this song, singing to the man she loves. I will attempt to sing a little of that, but you really must go to YouTube and search for “Peggy (Peggy) Lee (Lee)” and “Fever” (fever). The song has a great beginning with the drum and what sounds like someone snapping their fingers. “To snap (snap) your finger” is to make a noise with your finger like this [snapping sound]:
Never know how much I love you Never know how much I care When you put your arms around me I get a fever that’s so hard to bear
You give me fever, when you kiss me Fever when you hold me tight Fever, in the morning Fever all through the night
As I said, you really have to listen to the original version to get the full effect of the song. The song begins by the singer saying, “Never know how much I love you.” This is another way of saying, “You never know.” You don’t hear – they don’t include – the word “you,” but that’s understood. “You never know how much I love you. You will never know how much I care.” It’s not possible for you to know because I love you so much, is the idea.
“When you put your arms around me, I get a fever” – my temperature goes up – “that’s so hard to bear (bear).” “To bear” here means to put up with, to tolerate. 8
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
The other part of the song, the chorus of the song, is fairly easy to understand. “You give me fever when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight (tight).” “To hold someone tight” is to put your arms around her and hold, in this case, her body close to yours, or his body close to yours.
The song continues on and compares the love that the singer has for her husband or boyfriend or whomever as being like Romeo and Juliet, the famous couple from the Shakespeare play, but also like a couple of figures from early American history: Captain John Smith and Pocahontas. Captain Smith was an Englishman who had arrived to the New World, what is now the United States, and met a beautiful young Native American, or American Indian, woman named Pocahontas. Pocahontas had a father who was the chief, or ruler, of one of the Indian tribes.
According to the story, Smith and Pocahontas fell in love, which of course was something that was considered somewhat forbidden – something considered rather unusual and perhaps not acceptable, especially to the father of Pocahontas, the chief of the Indian tribe. The song talks about how Captain Smith and Pocahontas had a “mad affair.” That word “mad” is very common in English; usually it means angry. However, mad can also mean very passionate, very intense, very deep, and that’s the meaning that the lyrics here are trying to convey. These two people loved each other very much, just the way the singer loves the person she’s singing to in the song.
There have been other singers that have recorded this song: Elvis, Madonna, Michael Bublé, and someone called “Beyoncé” – I’m not sure who that is. They’ve all sung this song as well, but the words of the song – and especially the original of the song, which I think if you hear, you will agree – have a very powerful effect on the listener. You really feel the intensity of this love that the singer has for her beloved.
Now let’s answer some of the questions that you have sent to us.
Our first question comes from Yasser (Yasser) in Iran. Yasser wants to know the meanings of the words “squander,” “lavish,” and “waste.” “To squander” (squander) means to use something or spend your money carelessly – or we might say “recklessly” – without thinking about the consequences of what you’re doing or without caring about whether you keep whatever it is you’re wasting or spending or not. “To squander” here means something very similar to the more general word, which is “to waste” (waste).
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
“To waste” also means to use or spend carelessly or recklessly whatever it is that you are using or spending. “Squander” is somewhat of a less common word. It’s a little more likely to be found in written English.
“To waste,” however, is a very common word and can be used in talking about money. We can talk about wasting time. We can talk about wasting our talents or wasting an opportunity. All of these are similar in meaning. They are giving you the idea that you’re not taking advantage of or you’re not using properly whatever it is that you are wasting.
“To lavish” (lavish), as a verb, means to spend a lot of money, especially in a way that is considered perhaps excessive. The word “lavish” is not as common as a verb as it is as an adjective. When used as an adjective, it definitely has the meaning of usually being very expensive and often very extravagant – too expensive. As a verb, it typically is followed by the preposition “on.” You “lavish praise on” someone; you give someone a lot of praise. You say very nice things about them. Or you “lavish gifts on your new girlfriend.” That’s a bad idea, by the way. Not in the beginning. Don’t give your girlfriend an expensive gift in the first week of your relationship. Generally speaking, not a good idea.
But, getting back to our definitions. “Waste” and “squander,” then, are similar in meaning, with “waste” being the more common and “squander” being the more literary or less often used. “Lavish” is most commonly found as an adjective which means too expensive or very extravagant. As a verb, it is usually used not necessarily in a negative way, but to talk about someone who is giving a lot of something to a person.
Norbert (Norbert) in Germany wants to know the meanings of the words “self- conscious,” “self-confident,” and “self-aware.” All three of these words have the word “self” (self) in them, but they mean fairly different things.
“To be self-conscious” (conscious) means to care a lot and to think a lot about the way you look, especially the way other people look at you. Normally, “self- conscious” is a negative way of describing someone. People who are self- conscious are worried about what other people will say about them. They’re worried about other people criticizing them, often. “Self-confident” is in some ways the opposite. “To be self-confident” (confident) means to trust in your abilities, to know that you are able to do what you are doing. Someone who is self-confident is someone who, we might say, “believes in himself.”
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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 439
“To be self-aware” (aware) means simply to be aware of your own emotions, your own character, your own appearance – to be aware of yourself. So, “to be self- aware” means that you understand yourself. That’s usually the use that you will most often encounter with “self-aware.” Someone who’s self-aware is said to understand himself. “To be self-aware,” like “to be self-confident,” are usually positive qualities in describing someone. “To be self-conscious” is usually a negative thing.
Finally, Oliver (Oliver), also in Germany, wants to know the meaning of an expression he heard on an American news show: “He is as tough as they come.” “He is as tough (tough) as they come.” The expression “as tough as they come” means someone who can be described as very strong.
The word “tough” means strong, both physically strong or mentally and psychologically strong. The word “come” here doesn’t mean to arrive at a place; it means available. We talk about products in the store “coming in certain colors.” If you go to the store and you want to buy a shirt and they only have blue ones, you might ask the person working there, “Does this shirt come in red?” Is it available? Can I get it?
The expression “as tough as they come” describes a person who is one of the strongest that you will ever find – someone who is very tough, perhaps physically as well as mentally. That’s the meaning of the expression “as tough as they come.” You can substitute other adjectives: “He is as dumb as they come.” That’s not quite as common, unless you’re talking about my neighbor.
If you have a question or comment, you can email us. Our email address is [email protected].
From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on the English Café.
ESL Podcast’s English Café was written and produced by Dr. Jeff McQuillan and Dr. Lucy Tse. Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
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