English, baby!

Lindsay Pulsipher - Cat Got Your Tongue

Date: Jun 20 2011

Themes: Celebrity

Grammar: First Conditional

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Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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In the HBO show True Blood, vampires and humans learn to live together in modern society. But vampires aren’t the only supernatural beings on the show. Some of the characters are shapeshifters and can turn into animals.

Lindsay Pulsipher plays Crystal, a woman who can turn into a panther. She also stars in a new indie film in which she doesn’t speak very much. We recently talked to her about being a cat, being silent and the phrase “cat got your tongue.” Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it sounds.

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Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Lindsay

Jason: Welcome to English, baby! We are here with Lindsay Pulsipher.

Lindsay: Hi.

Jason: Your new movie, The Oregonian, is pretty creepy. Which was creepier to film, it or True Blood?

Lindsay: I would have to say the set of The Oregonian because it was a very small set in the middle of the woods, not a lot of us, and it was a naturally creepy environment.

Jason: Yeah!

Lindsay: True Blood’s more fun, I would say, than creepy.

Jason: Got it. The fewer people around the creepier it is?

Lindsay: Yeah.

Jason: Right on. In True Blood, you play a shapeshifter.

Lindsay: I do. I play a werepanther. I play a human that turns into a werepanther, and she’s pretty crazy.

Jason: Can you tell me about that term? What is a shapeshifter?

Lindsay: Well, a shapeshifter is a human that can turn into any sort of animal. It’s in them. They’re born that way. You can turn into a dog or a bird or in my case, a panther.

Jason: Since your character’s animal of choice is a panther, we would love for you to share a cat idiom.

Lindsay: Sure.

Jason: What does it mean when you say, “cat got your tongue?”

Lindsay: When a cat’s got your tongue, you don’t necessarily have the right words to say and you don’t know how to explain something or you don’t have the right explanation for something.

Jason: When would someone use that phrase?

Lindsay: Maybe when they’re a little shy or a little bit intimidated or nervous or just plain stupid.

Jason: Ha! The Oregonian doesn’t have a lot of words in it. So was it hard to speak when you had to speak after being silent for so long? Did you ever feel like the cat got your tongue?

Lindsay: A little bit, but I have to be honest, it felt really good to speak. It was kind of a release after screaming and calling out to nobody for a while. It felt really good to talk to people.

Jason: Is there anything else you want to add about your new film?

Lindsay: It’s a very surreal, bizarre film and I think that if you’re weird, you’ll like it.

Jason: And you are in the next season of True Blood as well?

Lindsay: I am. I’m in season 4. We’re just about finished shooting it and the premiere here in the States is June 26th. English, baby!

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Discussion

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Next time someone is supposed to speak but can’t find the words, you can say, “Cat got your tongue?” As Lindsay explains, this expression is used when someone can’t speak or can’t say what they are trying to say.

Although Lindsay was quiet during much of the filming of her new movie, no cat got her tongue. She was happy to talk to people afterward.

Both True Blood and The Oregonian have lots of blood, but Lindsay says filming The Oregonian was scarier because there weren’t many people around. True Blood sounds like a friendly environment. Lindsay’s character may turn into a cat on True Blood, but since she’s surrounded by friends on the set, it’s unlikely a cat got her tongue while she was filming the new season.

Can you think of something to say about this lesson? What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?

For more with Lindsay, visit our blog.

Comments

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barsham

Sudan

its great

shaerwan

Syrian Arab Republic

i loved this lesson a lot

even she acts creepy movies but i loved the way she laughing

i loved her laugh it was funny and beautiful

whipiry

South Korea

halloween day is coming sooner or later. i have been to halloween robe store. it’s a little bit creepy. um..cat got my tongue to describe it. it seems to be surreal.

you can be shapeshifter in a robe.

Nakul

India

Certainly I have something to say because cat can’t get my tongue. It is nice lesson and of course I got so many new things to learn from this lesson that will help me speak in english with the people. Not only this lesson but also other lessons help me for english.