1The Bob and Rob Show Study GuideLesson 71: Marijuanadate: Feb 5, 2007file name: bobrob 02-05-07

Show notesTodays topic was marijuana. Rather controversial, but life is in the fast lane1 on the Bob and Rob Show. Findout more here:

http://www.marijuana-info.org/

Phrasal Verbs and Idioms"to light up"1) To start smoking something like a cigarette e.g: he lit up a cigarette after work.2) To become or make something bright with color e.g: the fireworks lit up the night sky.3) To make something start working e.g: as he flicked the switch, the screen lit up.4) A persons eyes or face becomes excited or happy e.g: her eyes lit up when she saw her new car.

Idioms: (to be) as high as a kiteTo be in an excited and hyperactive2 state usually due to drugs e.g:1) He was high even before the party started !.

Bonus Idiom: high and dryTo be in a problematic situation with very little money or help e.g:1) The collapse of Enron3 left many of its employees high and dry.

Extra Bonus Idiom: to take the high roadTo take the most positive and correct course of action1) Lets take the high road in this situation

Email Bag / Grammar BluesWe dealt with who and whom. Basically, who refers to the subject of a clause, and whom refers to theobject. Look at this site and then try their exercises to test your grammatical knowledge of this area:

http://www.uhv.edu/ac/student/writing/grammartip080204.htmland here too: http://www.infoplease.com/cig/grammar-style/versus-whom-should-just-shoot-myself-now.html

Both Sides of the PondWe looked at common words in both the US and the UK that came from Persia:

(US) felony (UK) (arrestable) offense(US) munchies (UK) peckish(US) scatterbrain (UK) scatty

SongThe Pot Song by Dan Costello. See more at http://www.podshow.com

2Quotes"Marijuana is self-punishing, it makes you acutely sensitive, and in this world, what worse punishment couldthere be"? P.J. ORourke

"They lie about marijuana, tell you pot smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie - when you're high you can doeverything you normally do, just as well. You just realize it's just not worth the !?#%&$# effort. There is adifference." Bill Hicks

"I tried marijuana once or twice in England, but I didn't like it. I didn't inhale4. Bill Clinton

Show transcript

BOBHi, this is the Bob and Rob Show. This is, Bob.

ROBAnd, this is, Rob.

BOBHow are you doing today, Rob?

ROBPretty good, thank you, and yourself, Bob?

BOBGood. Today, we're talking about marijuana. And depending on who you are, you might call it other nameslike, cannabis ...

ROBOr, pot5 ...

BOBbud ...

ROBherb ...

BOBor, grass ...

ROBor, reefer ...

BOBor, wacky tobacky6

ROBor, shake ...

BOBhash ...

ROBthe devil's weed,

BOBand the gateway drug, but here on the Bob and Rob Show, we call it an English lesson. I should mention - thegateway drug - it's often called that because it leads young people into harder drugs like heroin and cocaine.

ROBOh, is that why?

BOB

3Whether that's true or not, we don't know.

ROBIt remains to be seen, really. Pot is generally smoked in the form of a joint - which is also slang -

BOBYou roll it in paper - a joint .

ROBOr, a pipe, which is a bowl, or a bong.

BOB"Bowl," is a slang term for a pipe.

ROBAnd, a "bong," is a water pipe. I think, bong, is slang too.

BOBI think so. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug which comes from the chemical compound THC. Typicalreactions to smoking marijuana include; sleepiness, a feeling of relaxation and well-being, increased appetite.Of course on the negative side, its said that it can cause anxiety and paranoia. Stop looking at me, Rob!

ROBAt the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is estimated that cannabis is used regularly by four percent ofthe world's adult population, each year. In the West, there's estimates up to twenty percent or greater, and inAmerica - as having tried the plant - and estimates of ten to thirty percent, or greater, using the plant in manyEuropean countries. That's from The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. So, real, real statisticsthere, Bob.

BOBI think it would almost be higher in the Western countries. What else?

ROBAnd, due to similar leaf shape, hemp, is frequently confused with marijuana; however, the term "hemp" refersto the industrial use of the stock and seed.

BOBI see, so you can't really smoke it?

ROBRight. That contains virtually no THC. The high fiber content of hemp makes it a natural resource for buildingmaterials.

BOBClothing too.

ROBPaper making and even bio-degradable7 plastics, so hemp is presently a viable, and an environmentallysound energy source.

BOBUnfortunately, hemp is very, very hard to grow in the US because marijuana is illegal. It makes it very hard togrow hemp.

ROBThey consider it illegal?

BOBI think so.

ROBThat seems like a waste of industrial resources.

BOB

4Hemp was actually the primary8 crop grown by our first president George Washington at Mt. Vernon, andthere was also a secondary crop grown by Thomas Jefferson, another US president.

ROBThat's interesting.

BOBWhere I grew up in the 70's, in Southern Oregon, we had quite a few neighbors who lived around us whowere hippies, and well, they had some pretty big gardens, and they weren't just growing vegetables, if youknow what I mean.9

ROBI think, I do.

BOBMaybe, I should explain what a "hippie" is; H-I-P-P-I-E It's a person of the 1960's who rejected establishedinstitutions and values, and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expandedconsciousness. Often expressed externally, in the wearing of casual, folksy clothing and beads, headbands,and used garments. And smoking dope.

ROBA lot of it, I guess.

BOBOne famous hippie is the Country and Western Music star Willie Nelson10. Do you know him?

ROBI've heard of him.

BOBHere's what he has to say about marijuana use:

OTHERWILLIE NELSON: Hi, this is Willie Nelson. Alcohol prohibition didn't work in the 1920's and marijuanaprohibition isn't working today. It's time we stopped arresting responsible marijuana smokers. It's the fair thingto do. ANNOUNCER: For more information contact: NORMAL, The National Organization for the Reform ofMarijuana Laws. Call toll free: 888-67-NORML, or visit their website at norml.org.

BOBThat's Willie's take, on cannabis. I think, maybe, it should be de-criminalized11. If you're caught with a little bitof marijuana, I don't think that you should go to jail.

ROBI agree, I agree. Ultimately12, we have to remember that, tobacco and alcohol are also drugs.

BOBExactly, and in some ways, more addictive. Now it's important - here on the Bob and Rob Show - we don'tcondone13 the use of marijuana, do we?

ROBNo, of course not. As with all our shows, our only goal is to educate.

BOBYes, and in the interest of balance, please listen to the following:

OTHERThe story you're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Fatimacigarettes, best of all king-size cigarettes, brings you Dragnet. In police work the standard laws of cause andaffect, works like it does for everything else. When there's a crime committed, there's a cause behind it;there's a reason for it. And, when a group of normally well behaved kids' in an average residentialneighborhood start running wild, there's got to be a reason for that, too. Months before, a rash of auto thefts,petty stealing, and public disturbances had broken out suddenly in a particular neighborhood. All of theincidents were traced directly to the teenagers in the area. Why the kids' had suddenly decided to run wild wedidn't know, but the amount and the nature of violations14, kept getting more serious. Juveniles who

5previously had been picked up for petty thefts, and placed on probation15 were now committing burglaries.Auto thefts in the area had jumped twenty percent, misconduct and drunk charges against the teenagers,boys and girls alike, increased by the week. We had a fair idea what the root of all the trouble was, but so farwe hadn't been able to trace it. Ten-forty-five PM, we got to the neighborhood theater on West Freemont andwe went inside. The lobby was in shambles. Two large mirrors had been shattered, lamps and sofasoverturned and broken, the lobby candy counter had been wrecked completely, the glass showcases werecaved in, the popcorn machine was smashed, the soft drink cooler turned on its side. The last showing of thefeatured picture was still going on. We interviewed the theatre manager in the lobby, a mister Clyde Barton."They got real foul-mouthed, and a few of the girls too. Some of the language I wouldn't even use at a stagparty. I got so mad I grabbed two of the noisy ones by the neck and told them to get out. That's when theybroke loose." What exactly happened? "The whole crowd of 'em jumped out of their seats and piled16 at me. Ifell back down against the stairs and I started swinging. I'll tell you the truth, Sergeant, I was scared. I didn'tknow what to make of 'em, they seemed like a pack of animals, wild, they just don't seem to care." Well, haveyou any idea at all what's behind all of this trouble? I mean, any real indication? "Maybe I'm just thesuspicious kind, but I've got an idea, all right. Here's what I was talking about." What's this, sir? "In thatscramble in the lobby tonight, this little box fell out of one of the kids' pockets. One of the ushers picked it upand brought it into me. Have a look inside. I don't know too much about it, Sergeant, but I got a hunch17. Idon't think I made a mistake. What do you think"? No sir, no mistake, it's marijuana!

ROBThat's giving a fairly balanced outlook to the show. Thanks, Bob.

BOBI think it's time for a phrasal verb.

ROBSeeing as we're talking about marijuana, this weeks phrasal verb is, "to light up."

BOBYou can light up a cigarette- light up a joint.

ROBOr, you can make something brighter.

BOBYou can light something up, or light up something; for example, "the fireworks lit up the sky."

ROBThat's right, they made the night sky brighter. Also, you can make something start working; for example, acomputer system. For example, "when I switch my monitor on the screen lights up."

BOBI see. Okay. Also, someone's face can light up with excitement. "When the little girl saw her new dollhouse onChristmas morning, her eyes lit up," or "her face lit up with excitement."

ROBGood one, good one. It can also be to begin to smoke a cigarette, which we've already mentioned.

BOBSo, anyway, that's the phrasal verb today.

ROB"To light up," very useful.

BOBOur idiom today is, "the high road," which has nothing to do with smoking marijuana, but it means "to do theright thing." To take the high road. For example, "Even though you have a lot of enemies at work, youshouldn't talk bad about them. Take the high road and just ignore them. Do the morally right thing." Our bonusidiom is, "high and dry." And what's a good example? "After the Enron collapse - the company, Enron - after itcollapsed, it left a lot of the share holders high and dry, without any savings."

ROBVery true.

6BOBYou'll put that in the study guide, right?

ROBYea, sure. Please read about that in the study guide. "To be left high and dry."

BOBWell, it's time for some Grammar Blues. Grammar Blues making me feel bad, sad .. / Walking around feelingbad, sad ...

ROBAre you high today, Bob?

BOBNo. High on life.

BOBI think we have an email today.

ROBRight, excellent.

ROBYea, from Brian. Brian asks, "Does anybody have a quick and dirty rule when to use who, or whom, insentences"?

BOBThat's often confused, isn't it?

ROB"This is very confusing for me," he says - and he continues - "perhaps because the word whom is not used inspeech very often."

BOBThat's true.

ROBAnd so, a more detailed explanation is also welcomed.

BOBWith who and whom - as you know - "who," is when it's the subject, and "whom," is when it's the direct object.For example, "who kicked the ball?," or "whom was the ball kicked to?" "To whom was the ball kicked to?""Whom are you loved by"? When, who, is the direct object, that's when you change it to, whom. But, I think it'sfading out in English. I think in another ten or twenty years, whom, will disappear. It's being used less and lessfrequently, especially in speech, it's hardly used anymore.

ROBPerhaps in literary circles, it might still be used a lot.

BOBIt's used a lot in business on the phone, "whom are you calling for?"

ROBThanks, Bob, that's a good explanation.

BOBLet's dig further into the email bag.

ROBThere's something from, Ekkehard - sorry, if I mispronounced that.

BOBI think he's from Germany.

7ROBOh, right. He sent us some English pronunciation exercises, or tongue twisters, which were devised by theNATO headquarters, for the multi-national personnel learning English. After trying them a Frenchman said,"he'd prefer six months of hard labor to reading the lines aloud."

BOBProbably needed a joint after it.

ROBPretty tough, I think. Are you going to read one from Ekkehard?

BOBI'll try. Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word. That's tiring. How about you, Rob, why don't you read one.

ROBOkay, I'm going to read one. Sword and sward18, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it's written.) Now I surely will not plague you With such words as plaque and ague19. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven20, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.That's very interesting.

BOBI think I'd rather do six months of hard labor, too.

ROBIt just goes to show, that when there's words that have similar spelling, pronunciation is just crazy.

BOBIt is. It's a crazy language that we speak.

ROBTheyre all on reefers.

BOBOkay, some Both Sides of the Pond, Rob. What do we have today?

ROBBoth Sides of the Pond, okay. Let's see - "arrestable," or "an offense."

BOBAn arrestable offense, like if youre caught with a lot of marijuana? I think in the US we'd say, "a felony." F-E-L-O-N-Y

ROBWe call that an "arrestable offense," or "a criminal offense."

BOBSomeone that smokes a lot of marijuana, we would say, maybe, they could be a bit "scatterbrained." What

8would you say for scatterbrained in the UK?

ROBWell, we can call them "scatty."

BOBScatty? Absentminded, forgetful. Also, sometimes it's claimed that you get the "munchies" - which we did onan earlier show, this is a review - you get really hungry.

ROBIf you get the munchies you get "peckish" in the UK.

BOBWell, there's some Both Sides of the Pond.

ROBExcellent. Okay, just a few announcements. Thank you for all your donations, and remember that if you enjoythe show and are a regular listener, please think about making a donation. It doesn't have to be much, Bob.

BOBEvery little bit counts.

BOBWrite us if you have any questions or comments about the show. We're at the Bob and Rob Show,www.thebobandrobshow.com. You can send us an email or a voice message. Click on the Send Us a VoiceMessage button in the sidebar.

ROBAny support is greatly appreciated.

ROBRight, and if youre interested in receiving the detailed study notes with transcripts, then consider becoming aBob and Rob Show member.

BOBDefinitely, and tell people about it. Tell people about the show.

ROBLet them know about us.

BOBWhy don't we read some quotes today. This is an interesting one: "Marijuana is self-punishing, it makes youacutely sensitive, and in this world, what worse punishment could there be"? That's by, P. J. O'Rourke, anauthor.

ROBInteresting. "They lie about marijuana, tell you pot smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie - when you're highyou can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize it's just not worth the !?#%&$# effort.There is a difference." And that's from, Bill Hicks.

BOBProbably the greatest quote of all: "I tried marijuana once or twice in England, but I didn't like it. I didn'tinhale21." That's by, Bill Clinton, former US president. He tried it, but he didn't inhale.

ROBThat's quite difficult to do really, I imagine.

BOBSo, what song we got today, Rob?

ROBWe've got a song called, "The Pot Song."

BOB

9Isn't that fitting. Whos that by?

ROBBy, Dan Costello, and we got this from Podshow, and if you want to learn more about this artist then go towww.music.podshow.com

BOBHe says, "I don't want to dream in a cannabis fog / My lungs hate the smog / And so does the dog / I can'tthink straight under the curse / It's never been worse / I forgot all the words / Now I wish I'd rehearsed / Iforgot the next verse. It's kind of a funny song, so enjoy it all. Rob, you're looking a bit sleepy, and it looks likeyou got the munchies there. I think we'd better get out of here!

ROBYea, I'm feeling a bit peckish. I'm feeling a bit scatty today.

BOBOkay, we'll see you all back here next week.

ROBThank you, bye, bye.. This is the last time I smoke pot / I smoke too much / I won't touch the stuff / No I don't wanna (want to) puff / Iain't been doin enough / This is the last time I scrape my bowl It's outta control / I ain't feelin whole, Imisplaced my soul / Yeah ain't recovery tough / La La La Wa Wa Weed La La La Wa Wa Weed La La La WaWa Weed / It's all I really ever need / But I don't dream in a cannabis fog / My lungs hate the smog 22/ And sodoes the dog / Yeah I can't think straight under the curse / It's never been worse / I forget all the words / Now Iwish that I'd rehearsed / I forget the next verse........Well let's go back to the bridge23 / La La La Wa Wa WeedLa La La Wa Wa Weed La La La Wa Wa Weed / Its all I really ever need / But this is the last time I pack thepipe / You might hear me gripe / But that's all right I'll make it through evening and make it through morning /Here's plenty of warning / That I'll need you to sing this with me / Tomorrow night is the last time I smoke pot /I smoke too much / I won't touch the stuff / No I don't wanna puff / I ain't been doin enough / Dum de dumdum....ain't recovery tough?

Extension and Review Study*note: we encourage you to respond to the questions and readings by posting on the discussion board (Loginusing your Bob and Rob Show membership username and password)http://englishcaster.com/discussionboard/

1/ Have you ever been left high and dry? If yes, describe what happened. Use the idiom in your story too.

2/ Has your face or have your eyes ever lit up because of some great news? Describe how and why you feltthat way.

3/ Does your country have strict laws regarding marijuana?

Glossary 1 the fast lane = the full expression is live life in the fast lane, and it means to live dangerously.2 Hyperactive = over excited.3 Enron = a corrupt US energy corporation that went bankrupt. See more about the documentary about thiscompany here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413845/4 Inhale = in slang, we say take down.5 Pot = this and the proceeding terms mentioned are all slang for marijuana.6 tobacky = a playful way to say tobacco.7 bio-degradable = something that erodes naturally and is eco-friendly.8 Primary = main, chief.9 if you know what I mean = a great lexical chunk to remember. It can be used sarcastically as it is here.Another useful phrasal chunk is dyou know what I mean? And it is used to clarify that the listener is followingthe speaker.10 Willie Nelson = find out more about Willie here: http://www.willienelson.com/11 de-criminalized = made legal.12 Ultimately = this word is being replaced by another lexical chunk in both the UK and the US. It is this: at theend of the day

10

13 Condone = to regard bad behaviour as acceptable eg: people should never condone the use of violence.14 Violations = acts of illegality.15 (Be) on probation = legal term meaning to allow someone who has broken the law to go free if theypromise to behave well and report to their probation officer at designated times.16 Piled (into) = ran into someone to beat them up.17 Hunch = a suspicion, or an idea about something without proof or evidence. We also say gut feeling.18 Sward = this is a literary term, which means a piece of grassy land.19 Ague = this is an old word that means a fever that makes you feel cold or shake.20 Cloven = the past participle of to cleave, which means to cut something into separate parts.21 Inhale = in slang, we say take down.22 Smog = similar to fog, but smog refers to the problem London had when coal was still used, and the term isused today to refer to the environmentally unsound line that we can see around many cities.23 bridge = musical passage linking two parts of a song.