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Retro English
Welcome to Retro English, the place
that's all about yesterday's phrases and crazes. Today, we'll be taking
a look at stress in the 1990's, we'll be booking ourselves in for
some therapy - and listening to some music.
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| The 90's: stress |
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Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a good example
of the "stressed decade's" music. |
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Stress-related...
language
For one reason or another, people found 1990's Britain a rather stressful
place to live. Among other social problems, our language expert Tony
Thorne mentions 'single mothers' and 'one-parent-families', which
is when one partner is left to bring up the children by himself or
herself. A new phenomenon was 'surrogacy', which is when a fertile
woman carries an embryo for a non-fertile woman.
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Listen
to Tony giving an overview of 90's stress:
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Check
the transcript - note the words in bold |
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Emotional
literacy
With all the economic pressures, the problems in the home and
the breakdown of families, people decided that they needed some help…
in the form of therapy. But, as Tony Thorne reminds us, when you are
British, saying how you feel isn't the easiest task in the world. |
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Listen
to Tony talking about the new language of expressing and sharing emotions:
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Check
the transcript - note the words in bold |
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The
Queen's "annus horribilis"
During the 90's, ordinary people weren't the only ones in the
UK wondering how to cope with stress at home. In 1996, the Prince
and Princess of Wales got divorced after four years of separation.
The problems experienced by what Tony calls the "icon family"
- meaning that people really looked up to the Royals and idealized
them - were only getting worse. |
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Listen
to Tony explaining what made 1996 the Royal Family's "annus horribilis":
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Check
the transcript - note the words in bold |
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See how much of a 90's language expert you are - check out today's
Retro English exercise!
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