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Word On the Street

Learn English meaning of 'word on the street'

Date: May 19 2015

Themes: Alternative, Soap Opera, Work

Grammar: Articles, Quantifiers, and Determiners

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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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Has anything embarrassing ever happened to you? The answer is probably yes. Nobody is perfect, and we all make mistakes. Unfortunately, people love it when we mess up, and they love to tell other people. Sometimes the gossip can get so bad that your mistake becomes the word on the street.

People learned the word on the street from neighbors long ago, and that information took time to reach friends and family. But it’s much harder to keep something secret with the existence of social media. The best way to get through it might be to laugh along with everyone else.

Jessica and Gary believe that a ghost lives in the building. Does Sara agree? Read on in today’s English lesson about gossip.

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Dialog

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

Jessica

Sara_R

Gary

Jessica: Hey, Sara. You’re working late.

Sara_R: I am done with work, actually. But none of the other bike messengers will deliver to this building. So, I said I would drop this off on my way home.

Gary: Wow, thanks. But why won’t they come to our office?

Sara_R: You can’t tell me you haven’t felt it.

Jessica: She must be talking about Oscar.

Sara_R: Oscar?

Gary: We are pretty sure there’s a ghost in our office. We named him Oscar.

Jessica: Oscar’s been causing trouble for a long time.

Sara_R: Have you talked with any of the other tenants in the building? Word on the street is they’re having some of the same problems with Oscar.

Gary: I thought we were the only ones.

Sara_R: Oh, no. A lot of people can corroborate Oscar’s existence. You have the makings of a real story here.

Jessica: Oh my gosh. Sara’s right. Why couldn’t we see that before?

Gary: See what?

Jessica: Gary, we’re a celebrity website. What could be better publicity than a ghost in our office?

Sara_R: I deliver to a lot of the local TV stations. I can put you in touch with some of the people I know there.

Gary: You’d do that? That’s really nice of you.

Sara_R: Why not? Maybe I’ll get on TV, too. Can you write a press release?

Jessica: I can do it right now. What should it say?

Gary: Who, what, where, when, why, and how. Everything about us and Oscar.

Sara_R: This is kind of exciting. What else needs to happen?

Gary: Could you write down the names of all the other tenants that you’ve spoken with?

Sara_R: You should put this on your website, too.

Jessica: Oh, that’s true. I’ll do it right after I finish this press release and email it to the local TV and radio stations.

Gary: Oh, and don’t forget social media.

Jessica: Yes.

Gary: Thank you.

Sara_R: You guys have a lot of work to do. So, I’ll go.

Jessica: Thank you so much, Sara. You’re the best.

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Discussion

Go Super to Listen

Sara brings a package to Gary and Jessica who are working late. She explains that even though she is finished with work for the day, she’s taking the package to them because no one else will. Jessica and Gary learn that the other bike messengers, as well as other tenants in the building, are scared of Oscar.

Sara has a great idea. She tells Jessica and Gary to write a press release to tell the world about Oscar. If Oscar can bring attention to StarScoop.com, it will be good for the business. Everyone gets to work, doing what they can to get publicity for the story.

Do you know the word on the street, or do you prefer not to listen to gossip?

Comments

kotlesya

Belarus

The huge company I work in, has got the favourable conditions to keep any kind of word on the street alive :) Nothing can be done against that. Probably it is a style of life of some of my coworkers.

I never create the word on the street. It always amazes me how quickly gossips spread along and across my company. :-))) Gossips fly at the speed of light and nobody knows where is true or false.

You know, sometimes word on the street can be useful :-D

asef

Afghanistan

A gossiper is a person who has privileged information about people and proceeds to reveal that information to those who have no business knowing it.

Sort out negative gossip from the rest. Not all gossip is bad, so you don’t need to completely eradicate it from your life. You should, however, learn to differentiate between harmless gossip and the kind of gossip that hurts people.

ScienceBoy

Turkey

I don’t listen to gossip, I don’t like it. I don’t pay attention, because I know if someone is gossiping about a friend when he is with me, he’ll gossip about me later with others.

S&W

China

I am tired of gossips,too much gossips means a lot of troubles.

StosKrewetek

Poland

I don’t like gossip because general every is a false. World on the street is comercial and boring.

ola33

Japan

Oscar again! :)) Oh, my God! And that’s after my just watching the trailer Crimson Peak, the movie that looks like, packed with ghosts and here, go to Englishbaby and ghosts again. I actually liked the trailer, looks like very intriguing. I got an idea! ;) Why don’t you guys, write a press release to a director of the movie or even Stephen King and they’ll get interested and make a it as Crimson peak 2;)

s11211s

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I don’t know the world on the street, they are not important to me, But sometimes when I am free I just listen to some interesting gossips!

NIJ321655

United States

the word on the street and like gasep I do not leassion to it.

Naveen Singh Shahi

India

Actually, it depends on your mood. If you feel free that time you can go with “word on the street” or you are in stress that time you avoid to listen to gossips.
People they don’t have any work they like word on the street and listen to gossip.