Hey, what's up? What's going on? Welcome to another episode of English with Dane, a podcast designed specifically to help Spanish speakers feel good about their English. Today's episode is all about vocabulary. We're going to read through some headlines, algunos titulares, some headlines, with the goal of running into words, phrases, or expressions that we didn't know before, que no conocíamos antes, that we didn't know before. We are hunting for vocabulary, essentially.
If you haven't noticed by now, this is the first episode on video of English with Dane, and I'm pretty excited, not gonna lie, it's been a long time coming. Buena expression, it's been a long time coming. Alright, let's just do this thing. Let's get into it. You are listening to episode 23 of season two of English with Dane. Hit it. Okay, we have officially started the show, so let's get into our first headline. Our first headline reads, I'd be so mad.
Influencer called out for making homemade pasta from scratch on a plane. Okay, right off the bat, the primeras, right off the bat, to get called out or to be called out is when someone publicly points out, señala, points out someone's mistake, bad behavior, or hypocrisy. So this influencer got called out, when phrasal verb. Let's keep reading.
An influencer has riled up thousands of people on TikTok after posting a video of herself making homemade pasta from scratch, the cero, from scratch, on a plane 30,000 feet in the air. To get riled up, riled up spelled R-I-L-E-D, means to become angry, agitated, or excited, usually over something small. So an influencer has riled up thousands of people after posting a video of herself making homemade pasta from scratch.
In the video, the foodie and pasta guru Katie Brooks, who goes by the name Buena Pasta Club, mixes flour and water together in a bowl while the plane is cruising through the clouds. She then rolls it into a dough, una masa, a dough, cuts it into small blocks using a knife, and shapes it using a tiny wooden pasta board. How she got the knife on the flight, I don't know.
POV, you hate airplane food so much you make it yourself, the influencer who has more than 225,000 followers on TikTok wrote in text on the screen. It was obviously meant to be a joke to get views to her pasta page, but the video has racked up, Alcomulado has racked up a whopping 11.5 million views, and people aren't happy in the comments. Unhygienic. Normalize remembering you're in public again, someone else commented. A fourth person added, Imagine sitting next to this person.
I'd be so mad they're getting flour everywhere. Some people are concerned that there could be celiacs in the surrounding seats who are allergic to gluten and the flour floating around could be a real threat for them. Others think it's just downright stupid because she can't even cook the pasta. So what's the actual point? TikTok views, that's the point. And it clearly worked. Downright, que buena palaura.
Downright is a word that usually comes before, que viene antes, that comes before an adjective in order to emphasize it. In this case, downright stupid. Downright is spelled like down and right, como derecha, downright, todo junto. So basically, downright means completely, absolutely, or to an extreme degree.
Some common collocations for downright, so words that appear with it the most are things like downright rude, downright dangerous, or downright ridiculous if we're talking about negatives, and downright hilarious, downright brilliant, or downright delicious if we're talking about positives. So from that story, we got a few new additions to our vocabulary arsenal to get called out, to get riled up, and downright. Nice. Let's read our second headline of the episode.
For this one, we go to Washington, DC, all the way to the White House. I love this headline, by the way. It says, White House insists Stephen Miller does not play with dolls. I can't believe this is real. What a great headline. For context, Stephen Miller is the current White House Deputy Chief of Staff, so he's basically the right hand, la mano derecha, the right hand of the chief of staff, el jefe de gabinete. Here's the rest of this glorious article.
It says, The White House would like the public to know that Stephen Miller definitely does not play with dolls. Miller, who has driven, who has driven some of President Donald Trump's most controversial policies from his perch or from his role as Deputy Chief of Staff or Policy was the focus of an unflattering Rolling Stone profile Sunday. If something is unflattering con doble T, it is something que no te hace quedar bien. So presenting someone in a way that is not attractive, not favorable.
So Rolling Stone put out an unflattering profile of him. It continues and says inside the West Wing, the hot-tempered advisor is apparently a fixture of backroom chatter. So the gossip that happens behind the scenes, with Trump officials and Republicans close to the president, quote, paranoid that Miller will one day hear them gossiping about him behind his back.
Even today, Miller, who is 40 years old, reportedly remains the target of nicknames among those in Trump world mocking burlandose de mocking his high strung demeanor and domineering presence in the White House. A longtime Trump advisor told the outlet, la publication the outlet, which noted that attempts by Miller's friends to, quote, make him sound gentler, kinder, or funnier often fall flat. To fall flat means to not work at all, to not have the desired effect.
So even Trump himself has insulted Miller behind his back, Rolling Stone reported, citing two sources when this with direct knowledge on the matter. First of all, I love that his friends have tried to make him sound gentler, kinder, or funnier, but haven't been able to. They haven't been able to. We got unflattering, high strung, backroom chatter, and hot tempered, we didn't mention, but you get what it means. You know I love those compound adjectives, esos adjetivos compuestos.
Okay, one more headline before we finish up. For this one, we go to Pennsylvania to see a man about an alligator. The headline reads Emotional Support Alligator is no longer welcome in Pennsylvania Walmart. But this recent trip earned them orders to stay away, the retail giant confirmed on Thursday.
Wesley Silva, 60 years old, and his five-foot-long 32-pound reptile named Jinnyoshi made the local news after a trip to a Walmart in West Brownsville where he pushed the alligator around in a shopping cart as she was wearing a dress. Real quick, this is an interesting use of the verb to make. In this case, it means to succeed in being included in something or to be a part of something. So if you make the news, it's como que logras salir.
If you make the team, logras formal parted un equipo, usually after some sort of test or tryouts. So yeah, this man and his alligator made the news. He said, We have been going to that Walmart for about three and a half years, and normally the reaction is that's pretty cool, or that is awesome that you have a pet alligator, man. A Walmart spokesperson, though, was far less effusive and said Jinsioshi and any other gators aren't welcome inside the stores.
The safety of our customers and associates is our highest priority, Walmart said. We welcome service animals in our stores, but it is unacceptable to expose members of the public to potential danger. Silva said that he got the alligator from a neighbor who couldn't care for it anymore and gave it to him, se lo dio. Now Jinsioshi spends much of her days in a pool outside and nights in a bathtub of water.
Before Jinseyoshi arrived, Silva already had a zoo's worth of reptiles in his animal family, including six snakes, a leopard gecko, a Komodo dragon, an oscillated skink, and a second alligator. I also didn't know what an oscillated skink was, by the way, in case you're definitely wondering. The reptile collection started three years ago when a daughter wanted a snake. I held it one night and I just kind of started really bonding with it and holding it, he said.
And finally she gave me an ultimatum. Dad, really, you need to get your own snake. Okay, I don't really know what to say after reading that. I think I do see how reptiles give off the sprindin, they give off a nice chill vibe, but that's too much. Well no, clearly not for our friend Wesley. A few interesting things in that article that I wanted to point out though. Just short of is one that I like.
To be just short of something means to almost reach a level, amount, or condition, but not quite make it. It's a nice way to say very close, but not fully there. We were just short of our targets. His behavior was just short of rude i kosasasi. To fall short is also something we say too. So it's really similar but in phrasal verb form. The movie fell short of expectations, his apology fell short. All valid things to say.
The way it was used in the article was Silva, a pastor at a Baptist church and a brethren church, stopped just short of calling his worship of reptiles a holy act. Ojo con la pronunciación de worship, by the way. Worship, not worship. A worship is unbuque de guerra, worship. To worship as in adorar or idolatrar. Should sound like when you say were de where were you? We were at home. You get it. Sometimes I feel like I over-explain. Tell me if that's the case.
I just don't want you having any doubts about the stuff I say sometimes, so I overdo it. If it's annoying, let me know. Leave a comment. So today we learned some new words and phrases. Let's do a quick recap before we finish to give you a better chance of retaining what you heard or watched if you are watching. First video episode ever, by the way. Tell me your thoughts. Is this a better experience than just audio? What do you want me to put up on screen while I'm talking? Please let me know.
I want to make this podcast as useful or as helpful as it can be, so don't be shy. Okay. From the first article about the influencer making pasta from scratch on a plane, we picked up to get called out or to be called out when someone publicly points out your mistake, your bad behavior, or hypocrisy. We had to get riled up, so to become agitated or angry, usually about something small, and downright, which is like saying completely or totally. Downright stupid, for example.
From the second article about the White House dude playing with dolls, we got unflattering, so presenting someone in a way that is not attractive or favorable. We also got high strung, someone who is very tense, nervous, or easily upset, hot-tempered, someone who loses their cool easily, backroom chatter, so that gossip that goes on behind the scenes, a term that is often used in politics or in business type situations.
And then from this last article about the alligator guy at Walmart, um, it gave us a chance to look at the verb to make, but in a different context, to be successfully included or participating in something like a team or the news. The story about the corruption scandal made the front page, for example. We also talked about the phrase just short of something, so to not fully get to an amount or level.
And then we also talked about to fall short as a phrasal verb, which has a very similar meaning. So you can use them in different ways. A friendly reminder, don't put pressure on yourself to learn all of the stuff we talk about on the show. Sometimes it's a lot to take in. Just keep an open mind, stay curious about the language, and always be picking and choosing the phrases, the words, the chunks that stand out to you or that you could see yourself using. That's what it's about.
It's about the long term and everything adds up. Dolosuma, everything adds up. Alright, that's it for this episode of English with Dane. Thanks for watching now. Thanks for listening every week. And shout out to the people that have been writing to me and just saying nice things about the show. I really appreciate it. If you like the show, share it with someone you think would also like it. And if you're not subscribed, then subscribe. Let's keep this thing going. Alright, see you soon. Later.