Fokus på udsagnsord i sammensatte tider samt datoer og tider

• Hop-on hop-off bus = en “klassisk” dobbeltdækker-agtig turistbus med guide og åben “top”. Kører også i København og i Aarhus Festuge.
• Tourist site = turist steder
• in advance = på forhånd
• I suppose = jeg formoder
• Eros = græsk gud for kærlighed, også kaldet amor på dansk. Har lagt navn til ordet “erotik”
• the royal family = kongefamilien, egentlig “den kongelige familie”
• tabloid press eller tabloids = sladderblade, tabloid-pressen. I Danmark f.eks. Billed-Bladet og Se & Hør
• unselfish = uselvisk
• not to mention = ikke at nævne
• honey = egentlig “honning” men bruges også mellem kærester
• row house (USA) eller terraced house (UK) = rækkehus
• towers = egentlig “tårne”, men bruges også som et udtryk for højhuse
• cucumber = agurk
• gambling = spil med penge, f.eks. kasinoer
• pathfinder = stifinder eller spejder

Part 1. The Hop-On Hop-Off Bus

Today Debbie and William are going to see the “classical” tourist sites of London. They decide to go on a hop-on hop-off bus just like many other tourists do. The Hop-on Hop-off buses are made just for tourists. There is a guide onboard, you can sit in the open on the top of the buses, they run different routes, and they stop at all the most popular touristic places. You buy one ticket and can jump on and off the buses as much as you like.

• William: “So, we are on a turist bus now ready to see London. I suppose you want to see the kings palace in Notthingham Palace or Fulham Palace or cheese and ham palace … You are very found of the royal family as far as I know.”
• Debbie (smiles): “True. I like the royal family much better than both Melanie Trump, Jill Biden and Michelle Obama. The palace is called Buckingham Palace my dear. They had a few scandals, so in the tabloid press it has been called ‘Fuckingham Palace’. Not a very nice name. But the English are still very found of the royal family”.
• William: “Are we going get inside the palace?”
• Debbie: “You can only get inside the palace at some parts of the year. You have to buy tickets well in advance if you want to get inside”.
• William: “I suppose that you have bought the tickets long ago. You have always wanted to see the palace”.
• Debbie: “Yes I have bought them well in advance. But let’s get an overview of London first from the top of this bus”.

The English Tabloid Press or “Tabloids” Den engelske sladderpresse er modsat den danskekendt for at være regulær nådesløs. De går til stålet, også når det drejer sig om kongefamilien, og de har ingen problemer med at kalde Buckingham Palace for Fuckingham Palace, når der (igen) er sexskandaler i den kongelige familie. Lige som i Danmark er det mere den ældre generation, der læser om kongefamilien. Red tops: Dette er en uformel betegnelse for de mest sensationsprægede aviser (f.eks. The Sun og Daily Mirror). De har fået navnet, fordi deres avisnavn (logo) på forsiden er trykt med rød skrift. Middle-market tabloids: Disse aviser (f.eks. Daily Mail og Daily Express) har samme fysiske størrelse, men fokuserer en smule mere på traditionelle nyheder, debat og livsstil, dog stadig med masser af kendis- og sensationsstof. Gossip magazines: Hvis der er tale om deciderede ugeblade, bruges det engelske ord “magazines” (f.eks. Heat eller Hello!).

The bus pass by Picadelly Circus

• Tour Guide: “On your right, you can see Piccadilly Circus. It is one of the most famous places in London”.
• Debbie: Wow! I have seen pictures of Piccadilly Circus many times, but I have never been here before.”.
• William: “Neither have I. It looks very busy.”
• Tour Guide: “In the middle of the square, you can see the statue that many people call Eros.
• Debbie: I have heard about Eros. Isn’t he the Greek god of love? He is naked”.
• Tour Guide: Yes, that’s right. He is the god of unselfish love. Many tourists have taken photos of the statue over the years. Not to mention all the selfies that are been taken every day”.
• Debbie: “Why does he has wings and a bow with an arrow?”
• Tour Guide: “It is said if you fall in love it is because that Eros flies around and has shot his arrow in your heart”.
• Debbie (kisses William). “How romantic! He did that to me a long time ago honey.”

The bus passes by Downing Street 10

• Tour Guide: “The small street to the left is called Downing Street. You see guards in front of number 10. Downing Street 10 has been the home for about 50 British prime ministers including Churchill and Margret Thatcher”.
• William: “What. Such a small house. It is even a row house. How can a prime minister live there?”.
• Tour Guide: “It’s a tradition for the prime minister to live in this terraced house. We have many traditions in England”.
• William: “That house is not big enough for our president for sure”.
• Tour Guide: “Donald Trump? (smiles) You are right, he doesn’t fit into that house not even as a guest. He owns towers in both New York and Las Vegas, right.”
• William (impressed). “Right how did you know this?”
• Tour Guide: “I went to America last year and I have seen both New York and Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a really crazy town. Everything is gambling”.
• William (smiles). “Well you are right and you are a bit wrong. Las Vegas has more than 50,000 hotel rooms and the town is able to house 300,000 people every night. No other city in the US can compete with that.
  
  On the main street “The Strip” there are almost only hotels and casinos. And the weather is mostly perfect since Las Vegas lies in a desert. So many big US events like the season final in “America Got Talent” and a lot of congresses are held in Las Vegas. So it is not just gambling. But gambling is a big part of Las Vegas, and I guess that you the first gambling machines already in the arrival hall of the airport where you picked up your suitcases”.

Debbie and William has now visited Buckingham palace

• William: “Well Debbie, did you like the palace then? I must admit that it was amazing. I am glad that you have taken me there.”
• Debbie: Yes, it really was. I have never seen such a large and beautiful palace before.
• William: And we have also watched the Changing of the Guard. he guards have marched so precisely, and the military music has been fantastic”.
• Debbie: (smiles) “You know that much better than me since you have been in the army for years.”
• William: “I have taken a lot of pictures. Have you taken any?”
• Debbie: “Yes, I have taken at least fifty pictures already!”
• William: “It has been a wonderful experience. I have learned a lot about the British royal family today”.
• Debbie: “So have I. And the weather has been nice, so we have been lucky”.
• William: “What have you liked the most?”
• Debbie: “I have liked the decoration of the rooms. We barely have a house older than 100 years in Texas”.
• William: “I think so too. We have now experienced one of London’s most famous attractions”.
• Debbie: “Yes, and I have become even more excited to see the rest of the city!”
• William: “Me too. And our next destination is London Tower”.
• Debbie (smiles): “I have already guessed that. London Tower has a long military history.”

Link to the top of the page.

Part 2. London Tower and London Eye

• William the Conquer = William Eroberen, Engelsk hersker
• explain = forklare
• centuries = århundreder
• guard = bevogte
• weapons = våben
• executed = henrettet
• ordinary = ordinær, almindelig
• memorized a few facts = lært nogle få fakta udenad
• carneval cloth = karnevalstøj
• impression = indtryk
• knowledgeable = vidende
• serve in the millitary = arbejde i millitæret
• prisoners = fanger
• apologize = undskylde
• crown juvels = kronjuveler
• dark = mørk
• tragic = tragisk
• the naked truth = den nøgne sandhed
• stuff = ting, ret så amerikansk udtryk for ting
• cucumber = agurk
• stock = etage
• pathfinder = egentlig “stifinder”, men her en spejder
• scout = den officielle betegnelse for en spejder i hæren i USA, det hedder tilsvarende en “recon” (ud af reconigze) i flåden.

Debbie and William have just come out of the Tower of London. They are eating Fish & Chips at a food stand.

• Debbie: “So the guide has told us that the Tower was founded in 1078 by William the Conqueror”.
• William: “Yes, and he has explained how the Tower has played an important military role for centuries. Soldiers have guarded the fortress and that weapons have been stored there”.
• Debbie: “And so many people have been in prison, tortured, and executed there. London Tower was feared among the people. They even executed a young man when his even younger girlfriend were watching.”
• William: “I have to admit that, at first, I thought he was just an ordinary guide who had memorized a few facts. And that his dress was kind of carnival cloth”.
• Debbie: “Really? I have had a different impression. He has seemed very knowledgeable about military history”.
• William: “I actually asked him if he had ever been outside the university and had hold a machine gun. He got a bit angry at me and told me that all guides at Tower must serve at least 22 years in the military and they must be decorated as well. Besides they must take tests in British History.”
• Debbie: “That was not very nice of you. I would be angry as well then”.
• William: “Yes and I apologized of course. Then we had a long and interesting talk about military services. He told me that they are called Beefathers (maybe from the word “to eat beef”) and that they have worn the same uniforms since their foundation in 1485. Earlier they were guarding the prisoners and today they are guarding the British Crown Jewels. They didn’t allow anyone to take photos of the jewels.”
• Debbie: “And they have taken care of animals too.”
• William: “Yes both the ravens and all the exotic animals, that the English kings and queens had received as gifts. I was very surprised to hear that London Tower have had a small zoo.”
• Debbie: “I have found that part of the tour fascinating, even though it has been quite dark and tragic”.
• William: “I like them telling the naked truth and not just the nice stuff.”

Debbie and William are now in London Eye holding hands. London Eye is a very large ferris wheel.

• Debbie: “London Eye is the perfect way of ending this day. Slow, romantic and with a good overview of London.”
• William: “Once again I agree. Look at that building, it looks like a cucumber”.
• Debbie: “There are not so many towers in London. I guess that there are more in Dallas. It seems like they don’t like towers here, most of the buildings in London are about 4 – 6 stocks high”.
• William: “By the way let’s take the Tube home.”
• Debbie (surprised): “I can’t believe my own ears. I thought that you didn’t like the Tube.”
• William: “I am getting used to it. It’s kind of fun. It is like path finding.”
• Debbie (smiles). “That makes sense. You have been a pathfinder in the military.”
• William: “In the US Army it is called a scout, but you are right.”

Link to the top of the page.

Part 3. Ethnic Dining

• Ethnic = etnisk
• dining = spise aftensmad, gå ud at spise
• feathers = fjer

Debbie and William are now leaving the hotel and they want to find an interesting place to eat.

• Debbie: “So what are we eating for tonight?”
• William: “It seems like the whole world has communities here. I would like to try some food that we ain’t got in Texas. Excuse me (he asks the receptionist), do you know areas with ethnic restaurants.”
• The receptionist: (smiles). “That was a hard question. The answer is that outside the tourist areas they are simply everywhere. What do you want to eat?”
• William: “I don’t know. Something that I haven’t tried before. By the way there are a lot of people from India here, right”.
• The receptionist: “Yes, a lot of them came long ago and was thrown out of Zanzibar when the state of Tanzania was formed. But we have millions from the former English colonies including Hong Kong”.
• William: “Do you have an idea of what we should do?”
• The receptionist: “I do. I will give you a list of communities. Then you choose and afterwards I will show you the nearest Tube station on the map. Do you know how to use the Tube”.
• William: “Yes of course. It’s easy, simple and fast. I really like it.”
• Debbie: “Honey, I guess that you have forgotten all about your first days here.”
• The receptionist: “Here’s the list. But you can find them all over. As soon as you get away from the main tourist places, you will find lot’s of good and cheap restaurants in those areas. Except for Chinatown all places are outside the main tourist areas.
  • Southhall, “Little India”, Indians, Southhall Station
  • Brick Lane / Banglatown, Bangladeshis, Aldgate East Station
  • Chinatown, Chinese of course, Lester Square Station.
  • New Malden, “Little Korea”, Koreans, New Malden Station
  • Vauxhall-Stockwell, Portuguese and Brazillians, Vauxhall Station
  • Brixton, people (NOT PIRATES) from the Carribian/Carribians, Brixton Station
  • Peckham, “Little Lagos”, Nigerias, Turnpike Lane Station
  • Palmers Green, “Little Cyprus”, Greeks and Cypriots, Palmers Green Station
  • Kilburn, Irish, Kilburn Station
  • Wembly, Indias, Wembly Central Station
  • East Ham, Tamils and Sri Lankans, East Ham Station
  • Edgware Road, “Little Arabia”, Arabs, Edgware Road Station
  • Clerkenwell, Italians, Farringdon Station
  • Woolwich, West Africans like Nigerians and Senegalese, Woolwich Station
• Debbie: “I have heard something about a Russian community”.
• The receptionist: “Oh you mean Londongrad. Before the Russia – Ukraine war a lot of very rich Russians bought very expencive homes here in London. That was called ‘Londongrad’. I guess that most of them are gone by now, they were not very popular here”.
• William. “Let’s choose … Vauxhall – Stockwell. Maybe we will se some samba parade there.”
• The Receptionist. “Right, they have a lot of samba and salsa in the Latin American communities.”
• Debbie. “I am getting curious to se the Bangladeshi area. And we can eat in peace without you looking after the ‘sambistas’ (= brazilian word for female samba people. Samba women are often dressed in feathers, high heels and not much else)”.
• William. (smiles) “Damm honey, you know me too well. Ok, then we can go to the Brazilian – Portuguese area another day.” (smiles for himselves) ” … and the sambistas also look better at daylight”.

Link to the top of the page.

Part 4. Visiting Friends

• terraced houses = rækkehuse
• narrow = smal
• landscape = landskab
• trace a lineage = spore slægten tilbage
• refugees = flygtninge
• Independence day = 4. juli, nationaldagen i USA, nærmest national skovturs dag
• grandchildren = børnebørn
• probally = sansyndligvis
• get pissed = slang for at blive fuld
• won’t = will not
• disturbed = forstyrret
• brilliant = brilliant. I England bruger de ofte “brilliant” mens man i USA mere hører “fantastic”

Tomorrow Debbie and William are going to visit a couple living in Birmingham. Birmingham is the second city in England and it’s a few hours away from London. Debbie has a friend from highschool, Karen, who married a English math teacher called Henry long ago and they moved to Birmingham.

• Debbie: “I can’t believe that you want to go by train instead of renting a car”.
• William: “This ain’t my first rodeo, Debbie. First of all the roads are narrow, traffic is slow, they drive in the wrong side of the road, and the cars are too small for me. Second the businessman from Kings Cross station told me that there were buffet cars on some of the trains. So we can sit and enjoy a snack and something to drink while passing through the landscape. And their train system is so easy”.
• Debbie. (smiles to herself) “All right. Let’s look at the internet for time tables.”
• William. “Oh my god. There are more than 200 trains a day. There are even different companies.”
• Debbie: “There is a train leaving 9:02 am from London Euston. It arrives in Birmingham at 11:35 am. Or maybe this one is better. It leaves 9:05 am and arrives at 11:20. But all trains leave from one of the main stations like Kings Cross and Paddington. We have to use the Tube to get to the main station and then change to a train.”
• William. “Look, this one is cheaper and has a buffet car. It leaves 8:45 and arrives at 11:45. No, that is too slow. Let’s take this one. It leaves at 10 o’clock am and arrives at 12:43 pm”.
• Debbie: “That’s too late. Here is one at 8:50 am arriving at 10:30 am. And it has a cafe car. We are invited to 12 o’clock but they will pick us up at the station.”
• William: “Ok, so let’s buy tickets”.
• Debbie: “Fine, it works. By the way do you think that they have old-fashioned trains with real restaurant cars? Let’s have a look. Oh yes, Great Western Railways have them. But they are not going to Birmingham”.
• William (smiles). “Now we have an excuse for going to Western England. I would like to see Plymouth where Mayflower on the 16th of September 1620 left England for the US with the first settlers. Or refugees, they left Europe because of their strong religious beliefs.”
• Debbie. “Yes. More than 30 million people including me can trace their lineage back to the 132 people arriving with Mayflower to the USA including me”.

Debbie and William are now in Birmingham at their friends’ home. Debbie and Karen are talking in the kitchen.

• Debbie: “It is so long time since we saw each other for the last time. I am really happy that we found each other again on Facebook.”
• Karen: “Yes, we both married and have children. I married on the 3rd of May 2010 just after my husband and I left Texas, what about you?”
• Debbie: “I married earlier. I became pregnant so we married when we were only about 20 years old on the 2nd of September in 1992. We had our first child on the 11th of December same year.”
• Karen: “We have 3 kids: Andrew was born on the 23rd of January 2012, Lisa on the 14th of April 2014, and finally Leyla came on the 4th of July 2015. Right on the Independence Day.”
• Debbie: “We had a second child on the 10th of August in 1995. We also have grandchildren now.”
• Karen: “Congratulations. I really hope to be a grandmother some day.”
• Debbie: “I tried to buy cowboy hats for my grandchildren, but there were none at the department stores.”
• Karen: “Please stay for a night or two. We have rooms for you. Then I’ll take you shopping in Birmingham. Then we’ll leave the men at a pub, or my husband Michael can take William for a long walk in the Peak District National Park. It is only one hour away by car.”
• Debbie: “William would love to do so, I know. If he can walk that long.”
• Karen: “Yes, and afterwards they will probably end up getting pissed in the local pub”.
• Debbie: “Going to the toilet together or what do you mean. I don’t understand”.
• Karen (smiles): “‘Getting pissed’ is British slang for ‘getting drunk’. We’ll have our day alone and we won’t be disturbed by our husbands. That would be brilliant don’t you think so”.
• Debbie: “Fantastic. A girls’ evening together. Almost like in the Barbie movie!”
• Karen: “‘Every night is girls’ night’. I enjoyed that movie too.”

A quick question: In English the word “Karen” is also an insult. Do you know what the insult is about?

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Exercises

4.1 Your day tour in London

What would you prefer to see in London? Plan your day here:

4.2 Slang

Here are some slang expressions. William and Michael are at the local pub. Write a dialog using as many slang expressions as possible.

London/cockney slang

• Alright? — standardhilsen (“hvordan går det?”)
  Ofte uden forventning om langt svar.
• Fancy — have lyst til
  “Fancy a pint?”
• Chuffed — glad/stolt
  “I’m well chuffed.”
• Skint — flad, ingen penge
  “Can’t go out, I’m skint.”
• Loo — toilet
  “Where’s the loo?”
• Pissed — fuld (i britisk engelsk)
  “He got pissed last night.”

Texas slang

• Hilsner og daglig tale
  • Howdy! — klassisk texansk “hej”.
  • Y’all — “I” / “jer allesammen”.
  • All y’all — ekstra mange mennesker.
  • How’s it going, y’all? / How are y’all doing?— meget sydstatsagtigt. Hvordan har I det? Hvis man svarer, at man har det skidt, så hjælper de gerne.
• Typiske texanske vendinger
  • Bless your heart
    Kan være venligt … eller en meget høflig måde at sige “du er ikke så kvik”.
  • Fixin’ to
    Betyder “er ved at skulle til”.“I’m fixin’ to leave.”
  • Bigger’n Texas
    Noget enormt stort.“That steak is bigger’n Texas.”
  • This ain’t my first rodeo
    “Jeg har prøvet det før.”
  • Git along, little dogie
    Gammel cowboy-vending til kvægdrift.