Episode 1 Vocabulary: Christmas Films

In this episode, we talked about our favourite Christmas movies. Here are some of the key words and grammar you will hear in this podcast, sorted by difficulty.

Level 1 - simple key words:

• Poll - a survey, where people are asked their opinion

• Genre - a type of something (books, movies, art, etc.)

• Plot - the story of a movie or book

• Festive (adj) - relating to a celebration or holiday, mostly used to refer to Christmas

• Neutral (adj) - lacking characteristics or strong feelings 

• Live-action (adj) - a TV show or film that uses real people (not animation)

• To be honest...

• Stop motion (adj) - a type of animation

• Slapstick (adj) - a type of comedy, usually involving characters who do embarrassing things

• Rom-com - romantic comedy

• Generation - a specific era in history that people belong to (e.g generation z = people born in1997-2010)

Level 2 - more general words:

• Feasible (adj) - possible, do-able

• Prime - someone or something which is at the stage in their existence when they are at their strongest, most active, or most successful

• Probable (adj) - likely to be true or likely to happen

• Primetime - the peak viewing time on television, when viewer count and advertising rates are the highest 

• Nostalgic (adj) - when something causes you to think affectionately and positively about the past

• Resonance - if something has resonance for someone, it means that it has a connection or specific meaning to that person and is important to them

• To resonate (with something) - to connect deeply and personally with an idea, experience or message

• Feel-good (adj)- something which evokes happiness, satisfaction or a sense of well-being 

• To pinpoint - to locate or describe exactly and precisely 

• To lean towards (in opinion) - to prefer something

• A fleet - a collection of things 

• Prominent (adj) - important, key 

• Wholesome (adj) - something that is cute, sweet, or is generally positive

• A pull (in terms of attraction) - when you are pulled to something, you prefer or are interested in it

• To lead into...  

• -oriented (suffix) - focused on or aimed at something, e.g family-oriented

• Subjective (adj) - something that depends on personal opinion (opposite of objective)

• Dated (adj) - old, not very common or popular anymore

• Hit or miss (adj) - something that is either good or bad

• To come to mind - to remember something

Level 3 - specific, advanced words:

• Incestuous (adj) - in this context, when a genre of film has similar plots, and the films copy ideas from each other

• Zeitgeist - a specific mood or spirit that is characteristic of a certain period in time, based on common beliefs

• -centric(suffix) - having a centre or being centered upon a specific object or idea, normally used to form adjectives 

• To lend itself to - to be suitable for, appropriate for, or adaptable to a particular use or purpose

• Resurgence - when something becomes popular again after a period of time

• To chime in - to join a conversation, to add something to the conversation

• Inherently (adj) - a permanent, intrinsic characteristic (an inherently bad idea - a flawed idea)

• Notoriety - when something is famous for a bad reason

• Renowned (adj) - famous, well-known and popular for something

Grammar

• Since I was…. 

• Colloquial connectors: you know, if that makes sense, like… etc 

• Years: To refer to decades in the 20th century, we only use the last two digits. For example, the 1960s = the sixties (60s). An unusual exception: the 2000s = the noughties (nought means 'zero').

• How to say dates/years/numbers: 2003, etc 

• Using good as an adjective in different contexts to add emphasis: e.g. a good few years, a good telling to