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Freaks And Geeks – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English. Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson for the conversation Freaks and Geeks. So I have the text of the conversation here and I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of words that you might have had difficulty understanding. So these words or groups of words, or phrases as they’re called, they could have many meanings, but I’ll give you the meaning as they relate to this conversation.

But before we begin I would like to mention three words that you might hear a lot in American English conversations. So the first word is yeah. Yeah is just a slang word for yes. And another word, or actually it’s two words that you might hear a lot, is y’know…y’know. So y’know is actually you and know put together. So when, sometimes when we speak very fast instead of saying you know, we say y’know. We combine the two words very quickly.

And then the third word I’d like to mention is like. So as you probably know, like means to have positive feelings towards another person or towards something. But it also can be just a filler word. So you’ll hear it a lot or see it a lot in the conversation, but it doesn’t have any meaning. It’s just a filler word. So let’s begin with Freaks and Geeks.

So the title of this conversation, Freaks and Geeks, is actually the name of a TV series and it was on television from 1999 to 2000, so only one season. Now freaks, in this conversation, freaks are a group of high school students and they don’t like to study very much. They maybe smoke cigarettes. They maybe drink alcohol. They may be considered cool kids or cool high school students.

And then geeks, this is another group of high school students in this conversation. And geeks are…they like to study and they usually make very good grades and they probably don’t drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes or go to many parties. They’re the complete opposite of freaks in this conversation. Alright, so let’s begin.

In the very beginning I say, “So we just finished watching Freaks and Geeks upon your recommendation.” So recommendation is a suggestion. Recommendation means suggestion.

And then next I say, “When you kept recommending that we watch it, I was like, it would kind of go in one ear and out the other.” So when I say it would go in one ear and out the other, one ear…out the other, what I meant by that is I would hear AJ’s suggestion but then I would quickly forget about it.

Then I say, “It just didn’t sound very appealing.” Appealing means interesting.

And then I say, “I was looking for something light.” So light here means simple or fun or funny.

And then I say, “We ended up watching it pretty quickly.” So pretty here means very, very quickly. We ended up watching it pretty quickly or very quickly.

Then AJ says, “It was such an accurate portrayal of, like, my high school experience.” So accurate means correct. And portrayal means description.

And then I say, “Yeah, definitely with the little cliques.” So a clique: this is a small group of people with shared interests. For example, like the freaks or like the geeks, and the clique of people, they’re not so…they don’t allow others into their group very easily.

Then AJ says, “Because, by contrast, most movies I’ve seen about high school are really, really exaggerated.” So when he says because by contrast, what he means is because a difference is that most movies I’ve seen about high school are really, really exaggerated. So contrast means a difference, in this sentence, it’s a difference. And exaggerated means somewhat correct but not completely.

And then AJ says, “Y’know, often they’re set in someplace like Beverly Hills.” So Beverly Hills is an expensive area of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a city in the state of California. So it’s a really expensive area of Los Angeles and a lot of movie stars live in Beverly Hills.

And then AJ says, “That’s not typical at all.” So typical means usual.

And then AJ says, “The Freaks and Geeks show was far more of a typical kind of suburban high school experience.” So suburban: this is an area outside of the city where a lot of people usually live, people who don’t want to live in the city but maybe they work in the city. They’ll live in areas right outside and they’re called the suburbs or a suburban area.

And then Joe says, “A lot of the times it tends to focus on the rich kids.” So tends, it tends to focus means it mostly focuses on the rich kids.

And then Joe says, “They were focusing on two distinct groups that were completely different.” So distinct here means specific, two specific groups.

And then Joe says, “The freaks are generally the people that are, I don’t know, more the burnouts.” So burnouts is another name for the freaks, the group, y’know, talked about in this conversation and burnouts means they care more about partying than school. So like I mentioned in the very beginning, they don’t really like going to school or studying. They’d much rather be partying.

And then Joe says, “The people who generally don’t perform well on an academic level.” So perform means do, they don’t generally do well. And academic level, academic means school.

And then Joe says, “They’re not into like geeky topics like science.” So geeky here just means uncool or not cool, not popular, not…not well-liked.

And then Joe says, “So I think that that was one of the unique things.” Unique means one of a kind.

And then Joe says, “That show also showed the main character having difficulty switching from one group to another.” So switching means changing.

And then I say, “Yeah, one of the things I loved about it was just, it really spoke to me.” So when I say it really spoke to me, what I mean…what I meant was it was something I could relate to.

And then I say, “I really identified with the main character in many ways.” So identify here means it felt that we shared some similar characteristics.

And then I say, “I had my own group of friends, very small group, but we started hanging around the burnouts.” So hanging around means spending a lot of time with.

And then I say, “I was up against the burnouts.” So up against means I had some difficulties with.

And then I say, “Many of them, having had my mom as a teacher and not liking her and listening to their comments about what a bitch she was.” So bitch, this is not a nice word. It’s a negative word and it’s, if it’s used, it’s used to describe a female, so a woman or a girl.

Then AJ says, “I could identify with both sides but much more on the geeky, nerdy side.” So nerdy: nerd is a very similar term or similar word to geek. It just means not cool, not popular, not well-liked.

And then AJ says, “It wasn’t exaggerated like you see in most Hollywood movies where they gotta really make it extreme.” So Hollywood: this is another area of Los Angeles. Los Angeles, again, is a city in the state of California. So Hollywood, like Beverly Hills, is an area of Los Angeles and it’s where a lot of American movies are made. And gotta: when AJ says gotta, they gotta, they gotta really make it extreme, gotta is…is, when we speak fast sometimes, again, just like y’know, we combine two words so we put them together when we speak very fast. So gotta is actually, or they gotta, it’s actually they’ve got to.

And extreme: this means, here it means the greatest possible.

Then AJ says, “I guess to try to pump up the conflict and the drama, which is what Hollywood always does.” So when he says pump up the conflict and the drama, he’s saying make the situation to be more than it really is.

And then Joe says, “Y’know, another thing that the show portrayed was high school students really starting to gain more confidence.” So gain, to gain more confidence, to get. Gain here means get. To get more confidence. And confidence means being sure of oneself.

And then Joe says, “Or maybe I should say having a lack of confidence.” So a lack of confidence means less confidence.

And then Joe says, “They were really uneasy speaking to girls.” So uneasy means not comfortable.

And then Joe says, “And they just didn’t have the confidence to go up and speak to them.” So what he means when he says to go up, he means to walk over and speak to them or talk to them.

And then AJ says, “Yeah, and it is relevant, I think, to the culture as a whole.” So relevant means important. And as a whole, to the culture as a whole, what AJ means is to the culture in general.

And then AJ says, “I mean people still tend to segment themselves into little subcultures or little groups.” So tend, people still tend, tend means probably. People still probably. And segment: segment means to divide.

And then AJ says, “People tend to hang out with people who are similar to them and to avoid people who are not.” So avoid means stay away from.

And then AJ says, “I mean, I see it in San Francisco.” So San Francisco is another city in the state of California, same as Los Angeles, and it’s actually where Joe and I live and AJ lives here with his wife, Tomei, part of the year.

And then AJ says, “It’s really strong here.” So when he says it’s really strong here, what he means is it happens a lot.

And then I say, “Yeah, they’re so much more pronounced though in high school.” So pronounced means noticeable.

And then I say, “And I just cringed seeing the main character, Lindsay, go from this geeky group of friends trying to cross over to the freaks.” So cringed, I just cringed seeing the main character, Lindsay, it means I had feelings of discomfort. And then when I say trying to cross over to the freaks, cross over, what I meant by that is to change to being friends with the freaks.

And then I say, “They didn’t inspire her at all.” So inspire means to stimulate or to motivate.

And then I say, “It was just interesting to see her kind of in that, y’know, kind of between those two groups.” So when I say kind of between those two groups, what I mean is not really fitting in to either group.

And then AJ says, “It’s about this…this individual who doesn’t really fit with any of these groups, who wants to be kind of a, y’know, really a, more of a broader human being.” So broader human being, what he means by this is fitting in to more than one group.

And then AJ says, “That’s something I think everyone can identify with or has experienced at some point.” Point here means time.

And then AJ says, “It’s a tough situation to be different and to not really conform to any one group.” So tough, it’s a tough situation, tough here means difficult. And to not really conform to any one group, conform means adapt.

And then Joe says, “It’s a shame that the series only lasted for one season.” So when he says it’s a shame he means it’s unfortunate.

And then Joe says, “It can be remarkably different than what they were doing in high school.” So remarkably different, remarkably here means very different.

Alright, this completes the vocabulary lesson for the conversation Freaks and Geeks and I will be right back with the commentary.