The Circus

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages step right up. You're about to experience the most spectacular sensational show in the whole wide world. Three rings brimming with exciting entertainment, non-stop thrills, and fabulous feats. Feast your eyes on the fearless lion tamer, the amazing acrobats on the flying trapeze, and the death-defying daredevils, as they delight you and stimulate your senses. Join me as we circumnavigate the circus on this week's episode of FYI! 

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foreign[Music][Applause][Laughter][Music] ladies and gentlemen children of all ages step right up you're about to experience the most spectacular Sensational show in the whole wide world three rings brimming with exciting entertainment non-stop Thrills and fabulous feats Feast Your Eyes On The Fearless lion tamer the amazing acrobats on the flying trapeze and the death-defying Daredevils as they Delight you and stimulate your senses[Music] join me as we circumnavigate the circus on this week's episode of f why I I welcome to for your info English you got it you got it[Applause] foreign[Applause][Applause][Music] edition of FYI for your English this is the topic base show where you're going to learn about everything and anything and it's up to you all you have to do is send me your suggestions and I'll look into it the list keeps getting longer so keep them coming as we say in English now this was one I chose maybe somebody recommended it but I knew this was an episode that I wanted to do because the circus made such an impression on me at such a young age that I believe that my radio show and FYI has been affected by my early experiences at the circus so this is a really special episode for me even though I can't remember the last time I went to a circus one of my earliest memories is from a circus and I'll tell you a little bit about that later on let's kick off with today's intro I started by saying ladies and gentlemen children of all ages step right up and this is the classic ringleader or the ring Master at the circus this is the person who wears the top hat and the Tails and really runs the show the person who's telling you where to look where to direct your attention and if you were paying attention I have a radio show that streams live every day and at the beginning of the show you hear ladies and gentlemen children of all ages you know where I got it from now from the circus when I was three years old one of my earliest memories and I Incorporated that into my radio show several decades later then I said step right up and step right up is come closer come closer it's something that you'll hear said at a carnival step right up ladies and gentlemen step right up then I said you're about to experience the most spectacular Sensational show in the whole wide world in Spanish you say El mundito Mundial or something like this no El Mundo Mundial what we say in the whole wide world now it's not easy to say but we say it pretty often it's the most spectacular Sensational show in the whole wide world or at least that's what they'll have you believe but something I noticed is the circus is all about exaggeration it's all about things that are larger than life and taking you away from the doldrums of everyday life and bringing you to a place where all kinds of amazing feats can happen right before your very eyes see I told you I'm getting into it then I said there were three rings brimming with exciting entertainment and three rings the Rings are the three different areas of the circus is and if you look at them they are rings they're round like a ring you would wear on your finger and brimming with is full of I think you say exciting entertainment non-stop Thrills Thrills are things that cause adrenaline rushes and fabulous Feats and these are all words that we've looked at on FYI the word feet is athania then I said Feast Your Eyes On The Fearless lion tamer and to Feast your eyes is a very carnival-esque way of saying look over there I guess it would be more common these days to say check out the Fearless lion tamer but I wanted to stylize it I wanted to use circus speak and the lion tamer is the person who goes in the cage with the Lions who has a whip and tries to tame the Lions and the word tame is domesticado or manzado in Spanish but perhaps you prefer the amazing acrobats on the flying trapeze or the death-defying Daredevils and to defy death means to look death in the face and give it the middle finger and a daredevil is somebody who's not afraid of anything I always think of Evil Knievel he was one of the first or at least one of the most famous Daredevils ever and I wrapped up by saying they Delight you and stimulate your senses careful with that one it's not stimulate it's stimulate your senses the you sounds like you and then I said join me as we circumnavigate the circus on this week's episode of FYI so how about you yay or nay are you a person who sees yourself going to circuses from time to time or it's not your cup of tea as I said in my case I love circuses but not enough to attend them I love them because of the impact they've had on my life as an Entertainer as a teacher I realized the importance of keeping people entertained and that's why you get FYI and the show with no name in my books they're a form of edutainment oh and the icing on the cake as well as being one of my first memories ever the circus I remember clearly like it was yesterday I was with my dad and he took me to MSG yes MSG is a food additive but it's also Madison Square Garden and that was my first time at a circus that was my first time at a show period and it was my first time in New York City you can just imagine little Alberto's three-year-old brain going on overload I think I saw enough stuff that day to last me a lifetime and it was was also new and fresh and entertaining and I'm sure many of our circus Buffs out there recognize that Circus theme music Here's a trivia question I mean I know you all know that but what is the name of the song did you say entrance of the Gladiators if so give yourself a pat on the back it's entrance of the Gladiators and it came out in 1897. now let's take a look at the etymology of the word Circus the word circus dates back from Roman times when Arenas such as the circus Maximus well they would stage chariot races and they had Gladiator contests and they had these mock battles and to mock is like to parody something it's also another way of saying to make fun of and the word circus is a variation of the Roman word for Circle or ring and as we'll see many cultures had things that could be considered the predecessors of the modern day Circus the early day circuses many of them started as menageries and a menagerie is a collection of animals I think you call it Casa de fieras in Spanish and then they developed into what they are today and we're gonna talk about some of those firsts that changed the circus world but popular entertainment acts such as juggling they date back to ancient civilizations like the Greek Roman Egyptian Indian Aztec and even Polynesian civilizations and there's even a Chinese circus that dates back to the Quinn Dynasty which reigned from 225 to 200 007 BC BC stands for before Christ so there was always a need for entertainment but when was the modern circus invented the circus that's more or less as we know it today good question I thought you would never ask the modern circus was invented by a trick horse rider from London and a trick horse rider is somebody who rides a horse and does tricks the guy's name was Philip Astley and he opened up his own Amphitheater and it was called the amphitheater of equestrian arts in London and that was in 1768. so you could say the modern Circus the circus as we know it today started in 1768. now Philip Astley never called his show a circus it was his competition that first coined the term a writer and actor named Charles dibden and he founded a company that was called The Royal circus and as I said he formed that company that competing company with Ashley's direct rival a guy named Charles Hughes so the circus the idea came from Philip Astley the name came from Charles Hughes and Charles dibden the Charles's here's a fun fact the standard circus ring is still 42 feet in diameter for my friends in Europe that's 12.8 meters the cool thing about that is I said the word still because that is the original size that was established by Philip Astley and we're gonna learn tons of fun facts in the bonus episode just a quick reminder there's a bonus episode every week you can get two episodes of FYI for those those of you who are hungry for more today we'll look at PT Barnum you're probably familiar with this guy from the movie The Greatest showman with Hugh Jackman we'll also talk about tragedy in the circus and controversy you know I love a little bit of controversy we'll talk about unconventional circuses and as I said lots of idioms and fun facts if you want access to the bonus episode all you have to do is go over to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and you can find out more you can get bonus episodes every week PDF documents with all the vocabulary and expressions and if you're in our higher levels you can have a weekly review class with me and it's tons of fun we're always cracking up in class and if you're in our highest level our Interstellar level you get all that stuff and and a monthly private class with me as I've said it's a deal especially if you know you want classes with me or maybe you just want the extra material so that you can use it as a study Aid and you can follow along either way you've got tons of amazing options in my Curious Community you just gotta go over to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and I'd like to send a shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students Lena Javier Paco Roberto Jose Maria Mila and Alex and don't forget about my Interstellar students the ones who get a monthly private class with me Carmen Isa Paco David and Edgar if you want more information go to patreon.com Alberto Alonso now where were we oh oh right let's look at some Feats and firsts and Feats are athanas great things and first sir well the first time something's ever been done I think that one's pretty self-explanatory we already talked about the first circus being in London in 1768 well when was the first American circus founded that was founded on April 3rd 1793. it was founded by John Bill Ricketts an Englishman by the way he saw how well it was starting to work in England and brought it over to the United States and do you know who was in attendance do you know who was in the house GW baby what GW George Washington the Original Gangster the OG as we say if you're from the old school we say you're an OG an original gangster another first was by a guy named Joshua Purdy Brown and he staged the first circus in a tent or what we call a big top and that was in the year 1825. so more than 30 years had passed until they put it under a tent before that circuses were performed in buildings or in the open air and the name I said before PT Barnum you couldn't talk about circuses without talking about PT Barnum again if you've seen the movie The Greatest showman then you'll be familiar with his story although I have to say the movie really tried to clean up his image in the end I wonder if it was paid for by his estate well either way he was an important figure he was the first one to use special trains as a form of transportation from one town to another and this really really paved the way for traveling circuses and now I think most circuses are traveling circuses so he was the pioneer of we'll take the circus to you and he found a way to use the technology of that day and age of railroads to use it to his advantage and we'll talk more about this mysterious man in the bonus episode but uh he is a controversial character to say the least let's talk about the different parts of a circus and when I say parts I mean the performers because we've already talked about the big top you've got the ticket booth or the box office you say Takia in Spanish you've got my favorite part which is the sideshow and the sideshow is where you can go and see all the freaks the bearded woman the tiniest man alive the pretzel sister others I guess they were co-joined twins well if you want to see the only full-time permanent Sideshow left in the world you can do that still and you can do it at Coney Island in New York City we have an episode on Coney Island and as I said it is a quirky place just think it's the only place that still has a freak Show a sideshow just think of that character in The Simpsons Sideshow Bob is his name and the word freak here noise so you guys who are listening to this you are language Geeks freakis de idiomas these people in the sideshow were as they called them freaks of nature just another reason to go to Coney Island I don't mean it's good to stare at people and gawk at them or anything like that but it's a piece of history they're slowly disappearing because it's not a good idea to go put somebody a human on display and say hey take a look at the fattest woman in the world I think that entertainment is frowned upon these days and if something is frowned upon is so we haven't even gone inside we're still in the sideshow tent but before we get into the performers let's talk about how circuses have evolved they started out with acts like juggling and acrobatics and gradually they evolved into including tricks that were performed by animals including wild animals and now more recently there's been a trend to go back to circuses being driven by human acts and we'll talk about the animals and their treatment in the bonus episode let's just put it this way it's gonna turn your stomach yes you can't have a circus without jugglers and another fun fact legendary Screen Actor Carrie Grant started his performance career working as an acrobat and a juggler and if you think about it the predecessor to Hollywood was Vaudeville which was like songs and performances so again there were many predecessors many different elements that came together to make the circus as we know it today but I read that a lot of other famous actors got their start there so jugglers gotta give respect to the jugglers oh and to juggle is an expression I'm juggling a lot of things right now that means I've got a lot of things on my plate I think we're all juggling a lot of things in life don't forget about the acrobats they're amazing on the flying trapeze or whether they're on the tightrope which I always thought was funny you call it LA cuerda floja and we call it the tightrope estirada don't forget about the stilt Walkers and the stilt Walkers are people who walk on stilts and it makes them a lot taller perhaps some of the most controversial performers in a circus and I don't mean because they're bad people but it's more about the phobia I'm talking about clowns here and I'm not clowning around[Laughter] many many people suffer from chlorophobia this is the fear of clowns I don't think I suffer from this but I'm not a huge fan of clowns but also you can't have a circus without a clown can you or a car full of clowns well we'll look at some more Expressions that have to do with clowns and clowning around in the bonus episode but it's a highly physical job they don't use any words it's all miming and it has historical Roots cultural roots in the Italian Comedia Del Arte it was a form of pantomime it was this Italian theater with stock characters I would say modern sitcoms are based on Comedia Del Arte too you've got the confidante the bad guy the handsome one and every time I think of pantomime I think of Charlie Chaplin he was one of the most influential clowns and comedians ever and he had a sense of humor even when he wasn't on screen one time he entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest the irony he came in third place so I guess there was another two guys out there that looked more like Charlie Chaplin than he did is that even possible well either way I call that having a sense of humor and a good one at that and don't forget about about your contortionists these people who Bend in all these weird positions it's crazy I imagine some of these performers have to be double jointed and a joint is UN articulation but they have to be extremely limber and extremely flexible so I guess there's one thing we're seeing here being a circus performer can be a very physically demanding job it's not some cushy office job where you're sitting in the AC and if the circus still has animals well just think of the smell of the elephant poop in the background you can say poop or another way to say it is dung this is especially when we're talking about animals there's a famous animal called the dung beetle anyway I'm done talking about that okay all right moving on my favorite have always been the Daredevils the one who fear nothing they will stand In Harm's Way and do death defying acts I'll never forget the first time I saw a sword swallower it hurt me to look at him and I wasn't the one with a sword in my throat but my favorite Daredevils are the ones that go in that globe of death those are the motorcycles that go around in this small little Globe oh man I remember being Amazed by that it left such an impression on me and then there was a poor woman standing in the middle and I remember thinking to myself I was three years old but I remember thinking to myself okay those guys are daring but the woman is ten times more daring for standing in there you've also got unicyclists magicians don't forget about the human Cannonball and it's all led by the ring leader and we don't only use this word when we talk about circuses the ring leader is also the leader of an organization let me give you an example Pablo Escobar was the ringleader of the drug operation and another expression we use is a three-ring circus yeah you could say man this is a circus but if you want to add emphasis you would say this is a three-ring circus and the usage is exactly the same as in Spanish there the same way you would say it's a zoo just remember we don't say though we say zoo but whether you like circuses or not there's one thing that we can say circuses are a great form of entertainment for the whole family at some point during the show you will be left in awe sombrado and speaking of I hope you were left in awe in this week's episode of f why they are[Applause][Applause][Music][Music]