BetterAtEnglish.com - Skill or Luck? Rock, paper, scissors | Текст песни

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• Skill or Luck? Rock, paper, scissors

Hi! Lori here, welcoming you to another edition of Real English Conversations here at Better At English dot com. Before we get into the conversation, I want to thank everyone who has submitted book recommendations – I’ve started listing them on the website and will continue to list them throughout the week. And I’d also like to thank everyone who has let me know how you feel about mild swearing in these casts. The verdict has been overwhelming: swearing it OK with you. Only one person has said it’s not OK. In fact, many of you actually think that understanding the more vulgar or “colorful” side of English would actually be useful. But I don’t want to offend anyone, so here is what I’ll do: if any of my casts contain vulgar words or provocative, semi-naughty topics, I will alert you at the beginning. That way you can choose not to listen if you don’t want to. So here is my first alert: the following cast contains one very-mild-but-still-vulgar expression. So if that would be offensive to you, then I suggest you not listen any further.

OK, enough of my yakkin’ – here’s the conversation.
Real English Conversation Transcript

Lori: Have you ever played the game Rock, Paper, Scissors?

Rock, Paper, Scissors link to YouTube video

Michael: Yes, umm, but I’m not very good at it.

L: You’re not very good at it? Well, I was just reading that there was an actual competition, a world championship in Rock, Paper, Scissors, and that the UK, the UK kicked America’s ass in the rock paper s…

M: Well that makes me proud to be British! That we… Rock, Paper, Scissors!

L: I mean, it’s such a childish game — I can’t even imagine that that there would even be — I mean that’s like having the championship in thumb wrestling!

Thumb Wrestling link to YouTube video

M: Nnn.. actually, no, I disagree. Because I think that thumb wrestling, with thumb wrestling there is a lot of skill involved.

L: Oh yeah, definitely. It’s all in the technique
.
M: Abso- exactly. But with, with Rock, Paper, Scissors — I could be completely wrong — umm

L: Uh huh

M: But I think that it’s all down to luck.

L: Uh huh.

M: Umm, or maybe that’s just my excuse for being so bad at it. I always seem to lose and so I can put it down to bad luck, that I, I seem to pick the wrong one, but umm…

L: Yeah, well, in the, in the article that I was reading — it was also on the BBC –

M: OK

L: Umm, in the article they were talking about the tactics and saying that — they were comparing it to poker…

M: O-

L: …actually, saying that…

M: -K

L: …that they have to do a lot of hard work and spend a lot of time practicing and training, learning about tactics and body language, and that it’s act…that they bluff so much, just like you do in poker.

M: I’m trying to imagine how you bluff making a fist or, you know, holding your hand flat, or making the scissors shape.

L: Yeah, they’re actually that they have a special word for it; they called the bluffing they do priming, and that allows the players to sort of fake a move…

M: Oh, make it look like you…

L: And sort of trick their opponent into making the wrong, you know, making the move that they want them to make… with all the subtle body language and umm, you know, psychological tactics… so actually there might be more to it than meets the eye…

M: Mmm, well there, I suppose there must be…

L: …with this Rock, Paper, Scissors thing.

M: Umm, but to be honest Lori, I think that the reason, umm, when you…telling me about this, I, I compare it to something like, umm, world championship coin flipping.

L: Mmm hmm. Oh right yeah, that it’s…

M: Heads or tails.

L: Exactly.

M: I mean, OK, so there’s one extra, I mean, so there’s three sides that we’ve got to consider…

L: Well, I think…

M: ummm…but, no, that’s amazing.

L: I think were going to have to put it to empirical test…

M: OK

L: And I think — just to do right by my own country — that I’m gonna have to challenge you.

M: [laughs]

L: …to a Rock, Paper, Scissors contest…

M: Oh goodness me, I don’t know whether I can…

L: …fighting for the dignity of my own country.

M: …possibly…you’re only saying this ’cause I’ve already admitted I’m terrible!

L: Yeah, well, so am I. And you al-, you already kick my ass at thumb wrestling, we know that so…anyway

M: OK, we’ll have to, OK we’ll do that, we’ll do that.

L: OK
I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Real English Conversations. You can visit the website, Better at English dot com for the full transcript and for a link to the original BBC article that inspired this conversation. I’ve also added a couple of short videos that demonstrate Rock, Paper, Scissors AND Thumb Wrestling. As always, I welcome your feedback about the show. You can email me at info at better at English dot com, or call the voice mail line at +1 (for the USA), 206 350 2283. See you next time here at Better at English dot com! Bye for now…

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