#1 personal
Penny just got a role in a theatrical performance and wants to share the good news with Leonard and Sheldon.
Transcript:
Penny: You’ll never guess what just happened.
Leonard: Oh, I give up.
Sheldon: I don’t guess. As a scientist I reach conclusions based on observation and experimentation, although as I’m saying this it occurs to me you may have been employing a rhetorical device rendering my response moot.
Penny: What was that?
Leonard: Believe it or not, personal growth. What happened?
Penny: Alright, remember when I auditioned for that workshop production of Rent, but I didn’t get it and I couldn’t figure out why?
Sheldon: I have a conclusion based on an observation.
Leonard: No you don’t. No he doesn’t.
Penny: Well, the girl they picked to play Mimi, she dropped out and they asked me to replace her.
Leonard: Oh, congratulations, what a lucky break.
Penny: It’s not a big deal, just a one night showcase, but they invite a lot of casting people and agents so, you never know.
Sheldon: I think I know.
Leonard: No you don’t. He doesn’t.
Vocabulary:
to reach a conclusion / come to a conclusion = You decide that something is true after you have thought about it carefully and have considered all the relevant facts
observation = the action or process of carefully watching someone or something
rhetorical device = a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience
to render = to cause something or someone to be in a particular state (another example: His rudeness rendered me speechless.)
moot = not important or not relevant, therefore not worth discussing
to audition = to give a short performance in order to show that you are suitable for a part in a film, play, show, etc.
workshop production = a more modest form of theatrical performance
to drop out = to not do something that you were going to do, or to stop doing something before you have completely finished
break = an opportunity for improving a situation or for success, especially one that happens unexpectedly
showcase = a situation or setting in which something is displayed or presented to its best advantage
(definitions taken from the Cambridge Dictionary, the Collins Dictionary, and Wikipedia)
#2 pregnant
Raj was out with Penny, and now he thinks she is his new girlfriend. So, Raj introduces her to his parents.
Transcript:
Raj: Mummy, daddy, I want you to meet my new squeeze, Penny.
Penny: I am not your squeeze. There is no squeezing.
Dr Koothrappali: I can’t see her, center her in the frame.
Raj: Here you go, cute huh?
Mrs Koothrappali: She’s not Indian.
Dr Koothrappali: So, she’s not Indian, the boy’s just sowing some wild oats.
Penny: No, no, there’s no sowing, no squeezing, and no sucking face.
Mrs Koothrappali: What if he gets her pregnant. Is this little hotsy-totsy who you want as the mother of your grandchildren?
Raj: What right do you have to pick who I can have children with?
Dr Koothrappali: Look, Rajesh, I understand, you’re in America, you want to try the local cuisine. But trust me, you don’t want it for a steady diet.
Raj: Now you listen to me, I am no longer a child, and I will not be spoken to like one. Now if you’d excuse me, I have to go throw up.
Mrs Koothrappali: What’s wrong with him?
Penny: I don’t know, maybe it’s the local cuisine.
Vocabulary:
squeeze = Someone’s squeeze is their boyfriend or girlfriend.
squeezing = to give someone a tight hug
sowing wild oats = If a young person sows their wild oats, they behave in a rather uncontrolled way, especially by having a lot of sexual relationships.
to suck face = to kiss, especially deeply and for a prolonged time
hotsy-totsy = very sexually attractive
cuisine = a style of cooking
to throw up = to vomit
(definitions taken from the Cambridge and Collins Dictionary)
#3 Roman
In this scene, the boys are training for the physics bowl, i.e., a quiz about physics. Sheldon wants to prove he is smarter than everybody else by answering all the questions.
Transcript:
Penny: Okay, next question. What is the quantum mechanical effect used to encode data on hard disk drives? Howard.
Sheldon: And of course, the answer is giant magneto resistance.
Penny: Right.
Howard: Hey, I buzzed in.
Sheldon: And I answered, it’s called teamwork.
Howard: Don’t you think I should answer the engineering questions? I am an engineer.
Sheldon: By that logic I should answer all the anthropology questions because I’m a mammal.
Leonard: Just ask another one.
Penny: Okay. What artificial satellite has seen glimpses of Einstein’s predicted frame dragging? (Raj buzzes.)
Sheldon: And of course it’s Gravity Probe B.
Leonard: Sheldon, you have to let somebody else answer.
Sheldon: Why?
Penny: Because it’s polite.
Sheldon: What do manners have to do with it? This is war. Were the Romans polite when they salted the ground of Carthage to make sure nothing would ever grow again?
Penny: Leonard, you said I only had to ask questions.
Vocabulary:
quantum mechanics = a fundamental theory in physics that describes the behavior of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles
to encode = If you encode a message or some information, you put it into a code to send it secretly.
hard disk drive = a type of data storage device that is used in laptops and desktop computers
to buzz = to press a buzzer in order to get someone’s attention
anthropology = the study of the human race, its culture and society, and its physical development
mammals = animals such as humans, dogs, lions, and whales. Female mammals give birth to babies rather than laying eggs.
artificial = made by people and not occurring naturally
glimpse = an occasion when you see something or someone for a very short time
frame-dragging = an effect on space time, predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity
Gravity Probe B = a satellite-based experiment
Roman = referring to a person who lived in ancient Rome
to salt = to add salt to or put salt on something
Carthage = an ancient city state, on the North African coast near present-day Tunis
(definitions taken from the Cambridge Dictionary, the Collins Dictionary and Wikipedia)
PS: In case you came here via Google (or any other search engine): This post is part of my online course on typical mistakes people with German as their native language make in English. You can get to the course here: Englisch lernen: Hoffentlich machst du diese Fehler nicht!