Cultural English 425 - Hello, Dolly!; National Rifle Association; Q&A

Complete Transcript

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Cafe number 425.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast’s English Café episode 425. I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this Café, we’re going to talk about one of the best-known musicals in the United States, Hello, Dolly! After that, we'll talk about one of the best-known organizations, both loved and hated: the National Rifle Association, or the “NRA.” And, as always, we’ll answer a few of your questions. Let’s get started.

Our first topic today is one of the best-known musicals in the United States, at least during the twentieth century, Hello, Dolly! A “musical” (musical) is a story where the actors sing and dance as well as talk. “Musicals” are most often associated with the New York theater district, particularly the street of Broadway. When people talk about a Broadway musical, they're referring to one of these “singing plays,” we could call them, that is being performed or has been performed in one of the big theaters in New York City.

A “Broadway musical” is not just performed on Broadway, however. You can see musicals in almost any city of any size in the United States. In fact, one of the most popular traditions in high schools – in secondary schools in the U.S. – is for the students to perform a musical every year. That was certainly the case in my high school. I – of course, because I am such a good singer – after I tried to be in my high school musical, they made me work on the lighting crew. I was responsible for turning the lights on and off. I never did get on the actual stage to sing. I wonder why.

Anyway, Hello Dolly! was a musical that was extremely popular in the 1960s. It was based on a play by one of the best twentieth-century American playwrights – a person who writes plays – named Thorton Wilder. Wilder wrote a play called The Matchmaker. A “matchmaker” (matchmaker) is a person who helps find a romantic partner for someone so they can get married. A matchmaker is someone who knows, perhaps, a beautiful woman and a handsome man, and the matchmaker tries to get them together. In many cultures, matchmakers are people who are well-respected in the community that people will go to to find a husband or a wife. Nowadays we just go to Facebook, I guess. I don't know.

Well, in the old days, people went to a matchmaker, and that's what the Thorton Wilder play was about. In the play The Matchmaker, there is a rich man by the name of Horace. Horace wants to marry a certain woman, and so, in order to help the process of getting this woman interested in him, he goes to the woman's best friend. The woman's best friend is someone named Dolly. Dolly is also interested in Horace, so Horace is going to Dolly so that Dolly can connect him up with this other woman, but Dolly wants to marry Horace herself, and so as you can imagine, there are a lot of funny things that happen because of this situation.

The musical Hello, Dolly!, then, was based on Thorton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker. In the musical, the story takes place in a town in the state of New York, just north of New York City, a place called Yonkers. Wilder’s play was turned into a musical in the early 1960s. It made its appearance on Broadway in 1964. Like many famous musicals, it was a collaborative effort, in this case between two people. When we say something is “collaborative,” we mean that two or more people work together in order to produce it.

The two people who wrote Hello, Dolly! were Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart. Jerry Herman was the composer. A “composer” (composer) is the person who writes the music. Herman was also the lyricist. A “lyricist” (lyricist) is a person who writes the words, or “lyrics,” to the song in the musical. Herman's partner, Michael Stewart, was the librettist. A “librettist” (librettist) is basically the person who writes and puts together the entire play, including the story and the words that are spoken, instead of sung, by the performers or actors.

The musical, as I said, “debuted” – or was first performed – on Broadway in January of 1964. The woman who played Dolly was a famous actress, Carol Channing, and Horace was played by another actor, David Burns. There were some other members of the cast – that is, people who are performers in the musical – who were also famous or later became famous, including Charles Nelson Reilly and Eileen Brennan. The musical was a huge success. Both the critics (the people whose job it is to give opinions about performances) as well as the audience (the people who pay money to watch the plays and musicals) loved Hello, Dolly!

The award given for the best musicals and plays in the United States is called the Tony Award. Well, Hello, Dolly! was nominated for 11 Tony awards in 1964. The Tony Awards are sort of like the Academy Awards for movies. Hello, Dolly! won ten of the eleven awards it was nominated for, including best musical, best actress in a musical, and best costume, or clothing worn in the play. Hello, Dolly! ran – or continued to be performed – on Broadway for almost seven years, so it made a lot of money. It closed, or ended, on December 27th, 1970, after more than 2,800 performances.

The show was revived, or brought back to the stage, three more times: first in 1975, then in 1978, and again in 1995. Most Americans haven't seen the musical, at least in a live theater, but I have seen the movie Hello, Dolly!, which was based on the musical. The movie Hello, Dolly! came out in 1969.

One of the best-known songs in the musical is called Hello, Dolly! It is sung at the beginning of Act II, or the second part of the musical. The characters in the play have all returned to New York City and are having dinner at a very expensive restaurant. The song is performed by Dolly herself, as well as the waiters in the restaurant. Of course, in musicals, things happen that would never really happen in real life, but this is a play – or in this case, a movie – and so almost anything can happen. In the song, Dolly tells all the waiters how wonderful they are, and the waiters in return tell Dolly how wonderful she looks and how happy they are to see her again after being away for a long time. The “refrain” (refrain), or the part of the song that is sung over and over again, goes like this:

“Hello, Dolly!
Well, hello, Dolly!
It’s so nice to have you back where you belong.”

Dolly, of course, is well loved by the waiters. The song has been made famous by several singers. The version that most people know would be that sung by the great American musician Louis Armstrong, but others have also sung it, including Marvin Gaye and the Beatles. Hello, Dolly! became a well-loved part of American culture thanks to the many performances over the years and to the popularity of the movie. You may be asking yourself, “Well, what happened? Did Dolly marry Horace?” I don't want to ruin or spoil the ending for you by telling you what happened. You'll just have to go and find the movie and watch it yourself. I think you'll enjoy it.

Our second topic is an organization that has been around for many years. Some people love it; some people hate it. But it certainly is an important part of American life and politics. The organization is called the “National Rifle Association.” A “rifle” (rifle) is a kind of gun that has a very long, what is called a “barrel,” or tube that the bullets are shot from. The National Rifle Association – or, as it is more commonly known as, the “NRA” – was founded, or began, in 1871, six years after the end of the American Civil War. So, it's been a around for very long time.

Two leaders of the Union or northern army, Colonel William Church and General George Wingate, were not very happy with the way that the Union soldiers shot their guns. They weren’t very happy with what we would call their “marksmanship.” “Marksmanship” (marksmanship) is how well you can shoot a gun, how accurately you can shoot a gun. Before the Civil War, there was very little training, very little education given to soldiers on how to shoot a gun. Church and Wingate hoped to change that by starting an organization that would help people learn how to shoot a gun accurately and correctly. And that's why they started the National Rifle Association.

The goal or mission of the NRA was to promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis. This being the nineteenth century, everyone wanted to talk about the scientific way of doing something, and the NRA was no different. They wanted to educate people on how to shoot guns properly and accurately. The NRA was officially created in the state of New York, although it is now, indeed, a national organization. The first thing the organization did was to build rifle shooting ranges. A “shooting range” (range) is a place where people go and practice shooting their guns.

After the NRA built its first shooting range, it began to hold contests every year to find the best, what we would call, “marksman.” The word “marksman,” of course, is related to “marksmanship.” So, these were people who could really shoot a gun and do so very accurately. Beginning in 1903, rifle education became a very important part of the NRA's mission. The organization developed programs for young people, to teach teenagers and college students about guns. Many of these programs were at universities and schools. The young people involved were taught how to shoot and were invited to participate in NRA's annual contests.

People from other countries often are puzzled. They don't really understand the popularity of gun culture in the United States, either historically or currently. It's a little difficult to explain. I can only say that it has a very long history in American culture. There are many people who associate gun culture, for example, originally with the American Revolution, but then continuing on to the expansion of the United States into the western territories – what we would call the “Wild West” – where knowing how to shoot a gun was very important.

That culture has sort of continued on in part, perhaps, as a symbol of American freedom – that the people have the ultimate right over their government and therefore the government shouldn't be the only ones who have guns. The people should have guns as well. That, at least I think, is the popular understanding or rationale that people might use. Going back to the NRA, the organization was also involved in the training of soldiers in World War II. It invited the government and the military to use their shooting ranges to help train soldiers, and the organization also developed materials to train soldiers who were going to fight in the war.

After World War II, the organization went back to focusing on civilians, or people who were not in the military. In the 1950s, the NRA developed training courses for hunters, many of which are still used today. Hunters are people who go out and shoot and kill animals, like cats, for example. No, just kidding. It is not legal to hunt cats in the United States. I just want to say that maybe it should be, but it's not. The NRA developed programs to teach young children also about gun safety. These programs began in the 1980s and are still, at least in some areas of the country, very popular.

When most people think of the NRA, however, nowadays they often think about the political influence of the organization. One of the things that the NRA tries to do is to get laws passed that protect people's right to own a gun. You have to understand that the United States Constitution has a clause – a provision, a section – which gives people the “right to bear arms.” “Arms” (arms) here refers to weapons – not the arms on your body, but things like guns. “To bear (bear)” means to carry or to have. Many Americans don't like the interpretation that has been given to this particular section of the constitution.

The NRA's interpretation is that the government can't make certain laws prohibiting people from having guns, because that right is given in the Constitution. We don't have time to argue back and forth who’s right, but those basically are the positions of the NRA. The NRA has a very powerful lobby organization. “Lobby” (lobby) describes a group that tries to influence the government, especially in the making of laws and regulations. The verb “to lobby” means to try to influence the government, and the NRA certainly lobbies many members of the government in order to protect what they see are the constitutional rights of people to bear arms.

Many people love the NRA; many people hate the NRA. It just depends on where you are in American politics. But there's no denying that the NRA is a powerful organization and one that has had a great influence not just on American politics, but on American gun culture.

Now let's answer some of the questions you have sent to us.

Our first question comes from Sergei in Russia. The question has to do with two expressions: “to take a stab at” something and “to take a chance.” Let’s start with “to take a stab (stab) at” something. “To take a stab at” something means to attempt or to try to do something. We often use that expression when we are attempting to do something that we have never done before. Maybe we just want to find out what it's like or whether we can do it or not. “To take a stab at” something may also imply that it doesn't matter if you're successful or not. You just want to try it.

“To take a chance” means something different. “To take a chance” means to take the risk, to gamble. “Taking a stab at” something means attempting something. “Taking a chance” means taking a risk. You’re attempting something, but you are definitely gambling. What you do might have good results, but it might also have very bad results. When you take a chance, you are hoping for a good result. When you “take a stab at” something, you're not worried too much about whether you succeed or not.

I should also mention that, because “at” is a preposition, if you are using a verb after this expression “to take a stab at,” you’d want to use the gerund form – the “-ing” form. So, if you are talking about going to swim in a pool, you would say, “I'm going to take a stab at swimming,” with the “-ing” at the end. Or, “I'm going to take a stab at boxing.” Actually, I would never take a stab at boxing. I should mention that the word “stab” can also be a verb meaning to take a knife or some sharp object and put it into someone else's body in order to hurt them or kill them. That's a very different meaning of stab.

Our second question comes from Tiny (Tiny) in China. Tiny wants to know when to say “walk my dog” and when to say “walk with my dog.” The expression you will almost always hear from a native speaker is “walk my dog” or “walk a dog.” “To walk your dog” means to take your dog outside, usually to give the dog exercise. You may also be allowing the dog to do what dogs do when they go outside. I think you know what I mean. “Walking your dog” is something that many people do around the neighborhood. We have a lot of people who walk their dogs here in my neighborhood where I live.

Walking your dog, then, is a way of giving your dog exercise, as well as giving you some exercise. “Walk with your dog” is not a very common expression. It is possible to say that; normally, however, when you “walk with” someone, you're walking with a person. You're walking with your friend or with your wife or with your wife's friend. That's probably not a good idea. You’re walking with a human being. You don't walk a human being, and you don't typically walk with an animal. It is possible, however, to say, “I am walking with my dog.” The idea would be that you are walking somewhere and your dog is also walking with you. You're not taking your dog with you to exercise it. You just happened to have your dog with you for whatever reason.

Again, it isn't very common at all. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone saying, “I'm going to walk with my dog,” but it would be possible to say it – but not very likely. We usually use that verb “walk with” dogs only. You won't hear that very often with other animals. I have never heard of anyone walking their cat. That's probably because the cat wouldn't agree to walk with the owner of the cat. I'm not sure.

There are a number of phrasal verbs with the word “walk.” We have, for example, “to walk in on” someone. “To walk in on” someone, or “to walk in on” some situation, means to enter into a room unexpectedly – to enter into a room where the people in the room weren't expecting you. Often, it's a situation that causes embarrassment, especially to the people you are walking in on. “To walk out” means to leave. We sometimes use this metaphorically to talk about leaving a situation or leaving a relationship. If you say, “My wife walked out on me,” you mean that she left you. Maybe because she had walked in on you earlier in a situation that she didn't like very much. I don't know. She's your wife. You'll have to handle that problem yourself.

Another phrasal verb with “walk” is “to walk over” someone. “To walk over” someone literally means to take your legs and lift them over a person so that you are walking over their body. However, it's used more commonly to mean to treat someone very badly, to control someone, to tell someone what to do. We might also say “to boss someone around.” You will hear people say, “Don't let him walk all over you.” That means don't let him intimidate you. Don't let him control you. Don't let him do whatever he wants to do to you.

Finally, in baseball, the world's greatest sport, there's a “walk off.” It's usually used as an adjective. A “walk-off homerun” or a “walk-off hit” is when you have a baseball game where the score is tied. Both teams have the same number of points. The game is in the final inning, or final section. In baseball, there are nine “innings” (innings). These are basically the sections of the game. Each inning is divided into two parts. The first half of the inning is when Team A is trying to score against Team B. In the bottom half of the inning, Team B is trying to score against Team A.

A “walk-off hit” or a “walk-off run” is when someone comes into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, at the very end of the game, and hits the ball to score a run – to score a point – and wins the game. It's one of the most exciting things that can happen in baseball, which is a game that many people outside of the United States don't think is very exciting at all.

From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us again right here on the English Café.

Glossary

musical – a play that has both speaking and singing are part of the performance

* Musicals are fun to watch because the characters talk for a bit and then sing a song about what is going on in the story.

matchmaker – a person who helps other people find a romantic partner and get married

* The matchmaker helped Doug meet his new wife, Louise.

composer – a person who writes music

* Beethoven and Mozart are famous classical music composers.

lyricist – a person who writes the words that are in a song

* A good lyricist will be able to turn this melody into a great pop song.

librettist – a person who writes the entire book for a musical that includes the story, the words spoken by the performers, instructions to the actors, and the words of the songs, connects all the parts of musical into a performance

* Without the librettist, this would just be a one song performed after another.

debut – first performance; start of a new show

* The show debuted on August 15th and was an immediate success with audiences.

refrain – the part of a song that is repeated several times; the chorus

* Often, the refrain is the only part of a popular song that anyone remembers.

rifle – a type of gun that has a long, specially cut barrel or tube that bullets are shot through, usually fired or shot while held at the shoulder

* The soldiers carried rifles that can shoot long distances.

marksmanship – how well a person holds and shoots a gun and how often they hit their target

* Juan showed his excellent marksmanship by hitting the center of the target all three times.

chartered – founded; official beginning of an organization

* Our organization was chartered in 1871 and has continued to operate since then.

shooting range – a special area for practicing shooting guns

* Many shooting ranges have different kinds of targets at different distances so that people can practice with all kinds of guns.

lobby – an organization which tries to influence lawmakers on issues important to its members

* The NRA is one of the most powerful lobbies in Congress and has worked to pass laws in favor of gun rights.

to take a stab at (something) – to attempt to do something; to try to do something; to take a guess

* Joel has never cooked fish before, but he’s going to take stab at it for dinner tonight.

to take a chance – to act in a way that leaves one in danger of or with the possibility of failing

* How will you ever find a boyfriend if you won’t take a chance and go out on dates?

if you will – if you will allow me to use this imprecise or incomplete term; if you will indulge me; so to speak

* It was so hot that it felt like the sun was a fireball, if you will.

to walk a / the / (one’s) dog – to take a dog to walk outdoors, usually for exercise and to allow the dog to go to the bathroom outside

* Karl walks the dog as soon as he gets home from work.

What Insiders Know

Bowling for Columbine

Bowling for Columbine is a “documentary” (film about true events, usually about a single subject) released in 2002 and directed and “narrated” (with the voice of someone telling the story) by Michael Moore. The film focuses on the Columbine High School “Massacre” (killing of many people) in 2009, as well as other “incidents” (events; occurrences) of violence involving guns. Moore shows the environment and the background of the town where the massacre happened and discusses the public opinion about gun violence across the country.

The title of the movie “refers to” (is related to) the fact that the two students responsible for the massacre took their “bowling” (game or sport where players throw a heavy ball down a long, narrow path to try to hit as many of the 10 pins or pieces as possible) lessons at school in the morning before the murders. However, the police said that the two students did not attend classes the entire day before the attacks happened.

Bowling for Columbine discusses several topics related to guns, such as the “link” (relationship) between the “presence” (being there; located there) of a company that manufactures “missiles” (flying bombs) and other defense equipment and the attitude of the students responsible for the murders. Moore also compares gun violence “statistics” (numbers representing facts) among countries like Japan, Germany, France, and Canada to the much higher gun-related crimes in the U.S.

The film was very popular and received a lot of attention. With a “relatively” (fairly) small budget of four million dollars, Bowling for Columbine “grossed” (earned before subtracting the expenses) over $58 million worldwide. It brought Michael Moore “numerous” (many) awards including the Academy Award for Best Documentary “Feature” (full-length film).