78. Christmas – It’s all about Family (with James)

[15:00]
J: For me it’s about family.
L: Why are you saying it in that voice?
J: Because that was a sort of cliched east-end London voice. And Eastenders… there is also a TV program called “Eastenders”, which you can watch for a bit of east-end lingo.
L: “Eastenders”.
J: “Eastenders”. Put that down.
L: I think I’ve mentioned “Eastenders” before.

(in Cockney accent)
J: They all talk like this, because they’re proper Cockneys.
L: They’re all geezers, Cockney geezers. Do you know what I mean?
J: Geezers and geezesses and they’re like… and the main thing they are interested in is family, family, your family son, your family.
L: Go and look after your family, you know what I mean.
J: Which is lovely thing.
L: When it comes to Christmas time, yeah, you’ve got to get your family back together.

(back in normal accent)
J: And there’s a slight implication that the family is some kind of criminal organization as well. Usually…
L: This think we’re talking about “Eastenders”, it’s a soup opera, which is set in the east-end of London, which is traditionally the kind of working class area of London.
J: It’s a very old working class part and it’s changed a bit these days. It’s quite fashionable to live there now, but you still get enclaves. That is another French word.
(James pronounces a word enclave like /ˈɔːnkleɪv/ and Luke like /ˈenkleɪv/ )
L: Enclaves.
J: Is that a French word?
L: I don’t know. I think it’s just an English word.
J: It’s Latin anyway in it.
L: Is it?
J: Bound to be.
(James pronounces a word enclave like /ˈɔːnkleɪv/ and Luke like /ˈenkleɪv/ )
L: Enclaves we say.
J: I say enclaves.
L: Okay. You say it wrong.
J: Anyway. Enclaves are very old, working class families have lived there for years. Although obviously Britain being a sort of dynamic place, but it has changed, but… London rather. Anyway…
L: Wait a minute. Wait a… Just hold on a second. Just slow it right down, I know you’ve had two cups of tea, the caffeine is going to your head. Look, just chill out a little bit, okay? This is Luke’s English Podcast you’re listening to. Right? And I’m… as Luke, I’m the English teacher here just going to slow it down a little bit, alright?
J: Alright, alright.
L: Enclaves. These are like what? Little parts, little areas in the town, where…
J: You could say pockets… that’s an English way of saying… a pocket of something.
L: Basically it’s like an enclave is a community. It’s a small community in the city. It is…
J: It’s not necessarily. An enclave could be… okay I’ll go with your explanation. Yeah. It’s a small pocket of a community.
L: It’s a community.
J: I think you could say an enclave could mean… doesn’t have to relate to people. You could say enclaves of… you know, of greenery or I don’t know. Let’s move on.
L: I’m the English teacher. I’m going to call superiority on this one. I think you pronounce it “enclave” and I would describe it as a small community within a city for example. Like for example the area that I live in, this local area is like an enclave, because that’s like local cafes and supermarkets and things like that. So it’s an enclave.
J: It’s enclave.
L: We will check it out in the dictionary.
J: Okay.
L: I’ll check it out for sure and we’ll find out later on. So, anyway, we still haven’t started talking about Christmas. We’re nearly twenty minutes into the episode.
J: Ouch.
L: What do you mean “Ouch”?
J: That seems like a long time.
L: Doesn’t matter, the people want to listen to more rather than less, trust me.
J: Okay.
L: 10 minutes. They’ll be like: “Only 10 minutes”.
J: So let’s get back to where I started from. For me, forgetting about “Eastenders” which you should check out if you want to bit of social realism, because “Eastenders” is a bit less glossy, than some sitcoms. It’s a bit more down-to-earth and a bit grittier.
L: Down-to-earth, gritty, glossy. God, all these language, we should deal with it now. Down-to-earth just means like realistic.
J: Humble, not arrogant.
L: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Down-to-earth. We use down-to-earth to describe a person who sort of uses common sense, they don’t… they’re not very… What’s the word for it?
J: Pretentious.
L: Pretentious. So, they’re sort of normal…
J: …grounded.
L: Grounded, both feet on the ground. They’re just like sort of level headed, common sense kind of person. Down-to-earth.
J: They don’t get carried away with themselves and…
L: They’re not overly emotional or pretentious. Down-to-earth…
J: …solid.
L: Yeah, like my mate Dave. He’s pretty down-to-earth.
J: He’s a solid guy.
L: Did you say “Alright Dave” and Dave just speaks in common sense. He’s sensible, he’s under control. “Alright Dave.”, “Alright Luke, how’s it going?”, “I’m fine, thanks. What have you been up to Dave?”, “Oh, just this and that. I’ve been at work, I’ve been doing my job, I’ve been looking after the kids.” Do you know what I mean? Got look after the family. Right? So Dave is down-to-earth. Now, “Eastenders”, this soap opera is quite down-to-earth program, because it deals with just ordinary people’s lives, it’s not about sort of emotional or artistic concepts.
J: It’s not about oil barons living in Texas or Dallas. You know whatever…
L: It’s not set on a space station. It’s not “Doctor Who”, it’s not about sort of time travel.
J: It’s about ordinary working class people that live in a small square.