Thursday, September 3, 2015

E-cubed 827: takes one to know one



Today's E-cubed:  It takes one to know one~!!

Chúng ta sử dụng expression này trong trường hợp khi ai đó nói xấu chúng ta, expression này mang ý nghĩa: từ bụng ta mà suy ra bụng người/hãy xem lại bản thân mình trước khi nói người khác thế này thế nọ. Ngụ ý chỉ những người đó cũng xấu giống như những gì họ nói về chúng ta.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to daily easy English expression. Today we have an useful expression. If somebody says something bad about you, especially if they call you a bad name likes you're stupid, or you're an idiot, or even worse. You know, they use the bad words. Whatever. In your languages. Whatever. I hope they never do. People shouldn't do that. But sometimes they do. So in America, we have this expression. If somebody calls me, "Hey, idiot!" They call me an idiot. Then I can say, "Takes one to know one." It takes one to know one. It takes one to know one. In this case, takes mean requires. So the idea of this expression is in order to know if I am an idiot then you too must be an idiot. It takes one to know one. That's the idea. It is ilogical. But anyway that's what we say. So you could say to me, "Coach Shane, you're so ugly." It takes one to know one. It requires an ugly person to know whether or not I'm ugly. So, if you think I'm ugly. That means you are also ugly. We're brothers. We are ugly brothers. Shane, you are such a terrible cook. You can't cook. It takes one to know one. In order to know if I am a bad cook, then you too must be a bad cook. You are a terrible cook. Therefore, you know that I am a terrible cook. Do you see how this expression works. Yeah, I like it. It always makes me feel good. Because if I'm an idiot, boom.. then you are an idiot, too. We're idiots. Ha ha ha... Yeah, let's check out a dialogue.

You cook all that food? You're such a liar~~
Pfft~ It takes one to know one.
Ha! I never lie. I always tell the truth.
Then why do you dye your hair?

Oooh, yeah. We have one of my DDM students. His name is David. He's from Brazil. And whenever he sees my cooking pictures, my food pictures on Facebook, he always says something likes "You didn't make that. You're lying. No way. You bought that. Your mom made it. He never believes that I actually do the cooking. He calls me a liar. Wow, David. It takes one to know one. If you think I'm a liar, you must be a liar. Because in order to know whether or not I'm lying, you must also be a liar. So David, you are a liar, too. Just like me.

Do you understand this situation? The guy says, I never lie. And then the other guy says, so why do you dye your hair? To dye your hair, to color your hair. Yeah I know lots of people. People who. I'm sorry. If... Now. There are some, I know some Asian guys whose hairs are turning gray, or white, actually gray very young. But in general, in general, you know the Asian, Korean, African, American that I know from the army, their hair stays dark for really long time. But white guys, and I can only speak for myself, my family, people that I know when we get like 30, the hair starts changing. OK. My hair, it's like silver. Silver. No gold. Just silver. OK. But, you know that I just cut my hair. And many people dye their hair. They dye their hair. They dye their mustache. They're liars. Should I dye my hair? You guys be honest. Be honest. Now look. You know I obviously have more energy than most 20 year old. But I look like a 60 year old. So maybe it's stressful for you guys. Should I dye my hair dark color so that I look younger. So that it matches my energy level. Or should I leave my hair silver. Silver hair, balding hair. Yeah. What can I do? No secret, gray, bald, wrinkles. What you see is what you get. No lies here. Now, don't worry. If you dye your hair, if you dye your mustache, that's your business. Go ahead. Feel free. Anyways, it's a great expression. It takes one to know one. It takes one to know one. If somebody says something bad about you. Buum. It takes one to know one. You can use that expression. Shane, you're so handsome. It takes one to know one. Shane, you're so smart. It takes one to know one. Shane, you're the greatest English teacher in the world. It takes one to know one. Now actually we don't use it in positive situations. But you could, you could do it. Sure. Why not? Yeah. So do you think I'm handsome? You think I'm pretty smart? It takes one to know one. You, too. We usually use this expression in a negative situation. But again, it's possible to use it in a positive situation. Let's check out the dialogue three more times. And by the way, if you're not a member of DDM or PIRF, what are you waiting for? Go to website www.letsmasterenglish.com, sign up today. Thanks a lot, guys. Have a great one. I'll see you again tomorrow. Bye bye.