Shadowing Practice: How Unpopular Are Our Food Opinions? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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1
What's the correct way to eat a chicken wing?
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Let's talk about that.
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Good Mythical Morning.
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When we're talking about the right way to eat certain foods, it's hard to imagine anything but my way being the right way.
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Well, my way of eating chicken wings is eating all the meat in one bite.
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My way of eating a chicken wing is like a little birdie so I can savor each little nibble.
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And when our ways collide, we cannot decide who comes out on top.
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But when we ask you for your food opinions, there's always a way that wins out, the right way.
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It's time for Incredible Edible Percentables.
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Hey guys.
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Hey.
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Hello, as you all know, we polled our mythical beasts on various food preferences.
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So you'll get those options and need to guess how the majority of the beasties answered to get a single point.
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Then you'll guess a percentage.
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If you are within 10% of the actual total, you get three additional points.
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This time around, we got over 37,800 responses.
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Dang y'all, responses.
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I know, they really got opinions.
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So for this first round, did you think the mythical beast would prefer the drums or the flats when it comes to the chicken wings?
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This right here, my friend.
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The drums or the flats?
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This is, I mean, this is, there's things about each one that I like, you know what I'm saying?
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Which one are you picking?
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Well, here, now.
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Pick from here.
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I don't wanna pick the one you touched.
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So here's the thing, now that I understand the way wings work, I'm a flat man.
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Well really, I don't pick, I eat all of them, but because I can do the thing where you can just go like this?
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Yeah.
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And we love to watch you do it.
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Now I understand it's actually easier to eat the flat.
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So you were more of a drumette guy?
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I've always been a flat guy just because of the ratio of skin crunchy sauciness and meat.
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I think the drumette compels more people on average because it looks like a little chicken wing, a little chicken leg.
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There's an implied handle.
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Mm-hmm.
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And if you don't like to see two bones together, a lot of people don't like to know that there's bones in their meat.
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Oh boy, that thing's slippery, I'm so nervous.
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A lot of people don't like to know that meat is meat.
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Yeah. But it tastes better.
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The flats always taste better.
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I don't know if I agree with that.
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I mean, I think there's good meat on both of them.
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But when it comes to the meat, you do think that the flats are better.
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I prefer a flat if I have to make a choice.
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Because of the ability to get all that meat in that one bite.
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Can't you do that with a...
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I don't wanna try, you wanna watch me try?
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No, I don't.
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Cause if you do that.
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I just wanna nibble over here.
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If you do that, Link, just, I mean, if I tried to do my technique with this, this is what would happen.
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I feel like I'm about to pull my teeth out.
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Here's the problem.
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If I had dentures, they'd be out on the floor.
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No, but apply, I think we might can admit some.
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And this one's nasty now.
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Take, start at the top, do your lollipop technique, but do it to a drumette.
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So that the part that you're holding right now is the first part that goes into your head.
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Via the mouth.
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So, separate it.
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The little end goes in your mouth.
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Try that.
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But this is hard right here.
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This stuff that I'm doing right here.
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It's next to where.
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And now, there you go.
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Ooh.
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You did it, see?
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And do you have gristle?
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I mean, I like it.
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If this were me, we'd be here.
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If this were Rhett, we'd be here.
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Yeah, you can do the lollipop technique to that.
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Invert it, I mean.
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But we're trying to predict what people think.
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I agree that drumettes are so approachable.
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So we're on this side.
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But not by much.
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Majority yellow.
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Not by much?
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Because I think there's a lot of people that like a flat, but maybe not that many.
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I don't know.
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We both like the flats.
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How often?
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Jenna, which one do you like?
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I usually get boneless wings, but I do prefer flats, yes.
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So you like nuggets.
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I used to always want drumettes, but now I prefer flats.
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See, it's the maturity thing.
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Yeah, and our audience has matured.
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They really have matured.
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Yes, you have, and we're proud of you.
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They've all grown up with us.
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So that's why I think we're at 42%.
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58% drums.
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58% drum heads.
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42% flat.
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Feels pretty nice to me.
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I don't wanna touch that.
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We're locked in.
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Okay, the Mythical Beasts in an overwhelming 87.7% voted for the drums.
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So you got a point for drums.
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You are so immature.
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87%?
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87. See, have you, what?
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Here's the thing that I was gonna say right before we did this.
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Cause I can't remember how this went last time.
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But what I almost said was just go back in time.
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And I was gonna say, I think we may be weighting our own opinion too highly.
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And we need to put ourselves.
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We always do that.
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We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the mythical beast.
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That's one of the biggest.
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In the little immature shoes.
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We've ever seen.
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87%.
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That's all.
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Y'all need to get on the flat bus.
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Haven't y'all seen me do that thing?
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But I made it worse now that I showed them I could do it with a drum.
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Maybe, all right, whatever.
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Let's move on.
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Next, we asked the Mythical Beasts if they preferred to dip their fries in ketchup or mayo slash aioli, or as Michaela said just a moment ago, mayoli.
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Mayoli.
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The white stuff or the red stuff?
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And we got mayo by itself and aioli.
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We kinda just put that in one category.
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Now, if we talk to ourselves long enough, we'll be like, I actually think the white one's better.
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It's better than ketchup.
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That's what we're gonna do.
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So you agree with me?
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Yeah, but here's the thing.
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What does every restaurant serve with French rice?
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Well, yeah, we're not in Holland.
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Ketchup, by a large majority.
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We went to Amsterdam and you wouldn't believe the things you can see there.
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Waters running through beautiful cities.
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And it's not good.
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Windmilled wooden people, wooden footed people.
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Noting that Amsterdam is not in Holland.
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What?
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Amsterdam is not in Holland.
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Netherlands.
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Netherlands is Holland.
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I've been there, I've been to Amsterdam.
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Netherlands is not Holland.
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Netherlands is a country.
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Holland is a country.
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Holland is also a country.
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They're the same country.
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No. Yeah.
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They are?
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Yes.
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They are the same country?
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Netherlands and Holland are the same country.
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I think I mean.
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Holland is a region in.
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I think I agree with Link on this one.
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Okay.
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But, and Amsterdam is a city in both of them.
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Okay.
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Amsterdam is in Holland, which is in the Netherlands, which is in Europe, which is in the world.
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And you wouldn't believe what you can see.
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Bikes, trains.
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But don't get on a bike if you don't know how to ride a bike.
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Because they will run your ass over.
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That happened to my kids and my wife.
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Your kids and your wife?
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Yeah.
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Remember?
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So, but what I was trying to get at before that geography lesson was.
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Yeah, it was quite a lesson.
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There were ads everywhere for mayo.
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They love their mayo.
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And we do have fans over there, but not the majority of our fans.
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And then I've never been the same because now I love it on my fries.
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But I gotta be honest with you, when you taste it next to each other, the ketchup is really good.
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Ketchup's too acidic.
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Too acidic? To whom?
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You?
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Yeah, I'm a windmill man.
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So let's just start, for starters, we are no less than 75% ketchup.
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Don't let us be crazy.
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Yeah.
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And maybe it's even more.
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Well, aioli's good.
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I mean, aioli's good, and people know about it now.
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But the ketchup is represented by a mustard color.
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People be knowing about aioli.
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Yeah.
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Mustard has nothing to do with this conversation.
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I wasn't gonna say that the ketchup wasn't red.
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And the ketchup color represents mayo.
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But now that's all I can think about.
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That's all I can think about.
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And of course I'm not confused.
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I don't think a full quarter of the Mythical Beasts surveyed are with us.
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I think it's less than that.
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Well, based on that drum and flat situation.
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I know.
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No place in America offers this.
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They don't imply it.
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That's not true.
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That's wildly false.
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They won't give you mayo for- That's like Holland and Netherlands being two different countries.
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Where have you been in America that they give you a viable option of mayo to dip your fries in?
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An aioli?
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I would say any sit-down restaurant.
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Any sit-down restaurant.
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Really?
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And I think at any fast food restaurant, the mayonnaise and the ketchup come in the same things,
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but if you go to a restaurant, like a diner, they're gonna have ketchup in a thing, they're probably not gonna have mayonnaise in a thing because they're not gonna let it sit out.
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I mean, I just don't think it should be a quarter.
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And I don't wanna sway you, but this poll was for the whole world.
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It's on the internet.
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That's true.
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We have international fans.
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Yeah, so that's why we can't, I think 75 is actually a pretty attractive place to be.
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All right, because we're trying to get on 10, I made it greasy.
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10% on either side, so, okay, all right.
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Well, no, yeah, 10% on either side, because it's within 10%, right, for the extra three points.
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Okay, we're feeling good about this.
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We need to shut up, Jenna, tell us.
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The Mythical Beasts voted for ketchup.
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You are correct.
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The percentage though is 94%.
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Carny, you jerk.
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I'm gonna kill you.
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I'm gonna kill you, Carny.
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All the way there?
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That's the highest it's ever been.
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Why didn't you listen to me?
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What?
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I'm joking.
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Jenna, how many points do we need to win?
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You need a total of 10 points.
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So if you get these next two rounds perfectly correct.
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Well, that's not gonna happen.
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You win.
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Yes, we can turn this around because I have no clue about this.
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The color of this indicates something that makes sense.
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You mean with pulp is yellow and without pulp is red?
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How does that make sense?
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Well, it's half right.
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I'm half right.
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First of all, well, you know what?
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I don't think I've ever surveyed you on this, but I would think you would like no pulp.
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But you are a pudding man, so I don't know.
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What's pudding gotta do with pulp?
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You think pudding is a form of pulp?
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You think under the pulp category is pudding?
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I think that pudding is a perfectly mixed pulp.
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I think pudding is what all pulp wants to become.
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Pulp wants to mix with the liquid that it's in and become one homogeneous thing.
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Yeah, but.
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Or homogeneous, if you pronounce it that way.
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But listen, I'm just trying to include the homos, okay?
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Homogeneous?
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Yeah.
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Yes, perfect pudding is homogenous.
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Perfect orange juice is also homogenous.
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You agree, you like that better.
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I used to hate this.
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I couldn't even put it in my mouth, and sometimes when I do now, even as an adult, it's like there's cobwebs in my OJ.
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I mean, pulp is unpredictable.
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I think the average person doesn't like the pulp.
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I like the pulp because I like to eat and it makes me feel like I'm eating.
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I just love how refreshing it is and it just slides down.
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Right, and you're making a decision to drink, not to eat when you go in for the drink.
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You know how when you're walking and you go through a cobweb?
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But it's only in your mouth?
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That just happens inside of me every time.
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So, I mean.
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We're no pulp, we're team no pulp.
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This is us over here.
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Well, that's not how I feel about it, personally.
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That's what I'm just, I need more people.
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This is me right here, and where are you?
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You can have it when you're hungry?
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More people- Don't like the pulp.
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Don't like the pulp.
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Why?
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We've had such big splits.
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You just think about the grocery store OJ section.
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This is where it's at.
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They're so- I see three non-pulps for every, no. No, no, I don't.
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That puts us here.
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I see two non-pulps for every pulp.
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I see a 66.6%.
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Well, that's what the, hold on, that's what this is.
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No, that would be three for every four.
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That's this.
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I think it's a 66% split based on just going into my brain for a moment.
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Going to your brain for a moment.
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I just don't know why people like pulp.
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It's just the texture.
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Because it feels closer to the source.
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It feels like orange, I want an orange.
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I want that orange, give me that pulp.
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It's from the orange.
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Where's this from?
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Sunny D doesn't have pulp.
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You know what I'm saying?
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Yeah.
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It's got electricity.
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I'm talking to myself with even more pulp.
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Do we consider Sunny D orange jeans?
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No. Also I'd like to take this moment to apologize to all of our Dutch viewers, I was incorrect.
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Amsterdam is in the region of Holland.
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Yep.
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In the Netherlands.
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Yep.
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I'm so sorry, everyone.
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I didn't know Holland was a region, so I did learn that.
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Yeah, I learned that today as well, even though we've been there.
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We gotta read more.
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I think it used to be the whole thing.
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All right, well someone from Holland.
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Let's not go back.
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Tell us.
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So I was at 66 is where my heart was telling me to go, but you need to let your heart influence a move of it.
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You're being too...
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Pulp friendly?
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Pulp friendly.
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You wanna stop at 71?
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Yes, I feel good about that.
328
You know what, maybe, hold on, I'm just, I feel, let me go back into my brain.
329
It's simple, man.
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Let me go back into my brain.
331
It's just simple.
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I think it might be three non-pulps to one pulp.
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Like I feel like there's a row of pulps and there's three rows of non-pulps.
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And I'm still going beyond that.
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And you're still going beyond that.
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79. Okay, that feels good. So good this way.
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85% Hey, okay.
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Of Mythical Beasts voted with pulp.
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How could this be?
340
How could this be?
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You like us and you like pulp.
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I mean, who in the room likes pulp?
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Well, I said I liked it more.
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Personally, I did like it more.
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I just thought I wasn't representative.
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Oh my God.
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But there's less pulp products in the grocery go-jay aisle.
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Maybe that's because more people are buying it.
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Right, it's sold out.
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That's what's happening.
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Man, this sucks.
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This day sucks.
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I just don't understand.
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I don't get it, can somebody?
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Well, try pulp.
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I did, and I told you everything.
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Try it again, knowing how many, 87%, what is it?
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My life's mission is gonna be to ruin pulp right now.
359
85%.
360
85, yeah, 85%.
361
I'm shocked too.
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Every night the spider's crawling to your mouth and just.
363
Okay, well, whatever.
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Link's been peeing in his side yard and he swore that I would not be able to smell it.
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Well, you find out whether or not I did over on the Mythical Society.
366
Since there's no way you all can win at this point, we're gonna give you one more chance.
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If you can guess this one correctly and be within 1%, you win.
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We can do it.
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And now you must decide, what did the beasties like?
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Did they like the blended or on the rocks margaritas?
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Here's the deal.
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There is a definitive correct answer to this one.
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And it's the ice.
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It's not the blended, I'm sorry.
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That's good though, I feel like I'm not in them.
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Jenna, you on team on the rocks?
377
Rocks every day.
378
Why is that, guys?
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I drink it every day.
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I mean, I will always, ah.
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Because I don't want to just eat the ice, I want to drink the alcohol.
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I mean, but again, if you get a margarita, you're already in a category, maybe.
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No, I get a margarita.
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Actually, I think it might be my favorite alcoholic beverage because I just don't like alcoholic beverages.
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If I'm out and in party mode, I like the party, But this is, this feels like resort mode.
386
I would think that you wouldn't like this because it's so cold.
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Yeah, it's too cold, but.
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And I don't even like it because it's, I don't wanna get a ice cream headache from margaritas.
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You know what I'm saying?
390
But it slows down your drinking, which is good, but that's probably not what some would want.
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Hmm.
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And then it all kind of pools at the bottom and the top is just ice.
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Now, on the rocks with a tahine rim.
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She's helping us out.
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But hold on, I don't know if that's representative of the Mythical Beasts.
396
I really don't.
397
So this is Jenna.
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This is you.
399
Yes.
400
This is me.
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I'm listening to y'all and I'm sympathetic, but I'm like somewhere in here.
402
Man, I feel like.
403
But the fun factor goes up so high with that shave ice vibe.
404
I feel like the Mythical Beasts may be on the blended side.
405
I know, I think they're in disagreement with us.
406
And I bet you.
407
They might be crazily disagreeing with us.
408
They might be like, yes, why not blend it?
409
30, right.
410
Yes, will it blend?
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Yes, it will.
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Because that's what I, that's what I was thinking.
413
It will as many times as it possibly can, all the time.
414
This is you.
415
So that puts me at 31.
416
Okay.
417
Hmm.
418
We didn't even ask, but they say they like pulping their margaritas.
419
Yeah, they volunteered that.
420
Kalen was trying to tell us that the default state of orange juice is pulped, which, yes, I understand that,
421
but in the store, the default orange juice is pulped, so to say no pulp is the exception?
422
Yeah, because you gotta do an extra process to it.
423
I didn't know that.
424
And then what do they do with the pulp?
425
What do you do with the extra pulp?
426
Make paper, apparently.
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Food waste.
428
31. 26.
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27. 27, we gotta be within 1% here.
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28. Okay, all right.
431
29. Ooh, I don't know about that.
432
28. 28.
433
28, we're locked in, we disagree with you.
434
Do we think 72% of people prefer blended?
435
88% of the mythical beasts voted for On the Rocks.
436
Well, you're right.
437
There's such a disparage, there's such a discrepancy between how well you know us and we know you.
438
I don't trust myself anymore.
439
That's what this format has done.
440
Yep, yep, yep.
441
I don't know why I thought so poorly.
442
What could we have won?
443
I mean, we're so dejected.
444
You could have won your percentage T-shirts.
445
Oh.
446
But you didn't, they're not yours.
447
88% coffee, 12% dry shampoo, just being, what?
448
Honest.
449
My brain is 80% song lyrics.
450
I think we would switch these two.
451
Okay, yeah, right.
452
Yeah, that makes more sense, kinda.
453
You use dry shampoo, don't you?
454
Not anymore.
455
Well, we don't get these!
456
Too bad.
457
as disappointing as we once were.
458
Thanks for being your mythical best.
459
You know what time it is.
460
I'm Collin from Nashville.
461
And I'm Michael from Nashville.
462
And it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
463
Those boys in Nashville, picking and grinning.
464
We have a very special group of people that we would like to recognize.
465
That is people who have been to every state except Arkansas.
466
Join us in Good Mythical More to see how many advanced words we know how to pronounce.
467
Unlock access to our new vlogs at mythicalsociety.com.
468
This is the spot.
469
I think you're inferring.
470
I am smelling.
471
Hold on, am I right?
472
Hey, hold on, is it over here?
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How Unpopular Are Our Food Opinions?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: pulp, mythical, flat, Holland. This video has 467 sentences and 3424 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:54. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding. 72 of its 467 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pulp noun | /pʊlp/ | A mixture of wood, cellulose and/or rags and water ground up to make paper. |
| mythical adjective | /ˈmɪθɪkəl/ | Existing in myth. |
| ketchup verb | /ˈkɛt͡ʃ.əp/ | To cover with ketchup. |
| beast noun | /biːst/ | Any four-footed land mammal. |
| drum noun | /ˈdɹʌm/ | A percussive musical instrument spanned with a thin covering on at least one end for striking, forming an acoustic chamber; a membranophone. |
| pudding noun | /ˈpʊdɪŋ/ | Any of various dishes, sweet or savoury, prepared by boiling or steaming or from batter. |
| blend verb | /blɛnd/ | To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other. |
| drumette noun | The first segment (meatier part) of a chicken wing, closest to the body. | |
| margarita noun | /ˌmɑɹ.ɡəˈɹi.tə/ | A cocktail made with tequila, an orange-flavoured liqueur, and lemon or lime juice, often served with salt encrusted on the rim of the glass. |
| aioli noun | /(ˌ)aɪˈoʊli/ | A type of sauce made from garlic and olive oil, often with egg and lemon juice and similar to mayonnaise. |
| homogeneous adjective | /ˌhoʊ.moʊˈd͡ʒi.ni.əs/ | Of the same kind; alike, similar. |
| fry verb | /fɹaɪ/ | To cook (something) in hot fat. |
| acidic adjective | /əˈsɪd.ɪk/ | Of or relating to acid; having the character of an acid. |
| beastie noun | /ˈbiːsti/ | Beast, animal. |
| cobweb noun | /ˈkɒbwɛb/ | A spiderweb, or the remains of one, especially an asymmetrical one that is woven with an irregular pattern of threads. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| get over verb | To overcome. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
| go in for verb | To enter a competition. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| go up verb | To move upwards. |
| run through verb | To summarise briefly. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I don't wanna try, you wanna watch me try?
- Haven't y'all seen me do that thing?
- Why didn't you listen to me?
- You can have it when you're hungry?
- You know what I'm saying?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If I had dentures, they'd be · If this were me, we'd be · If this were Rhett, we'd be |
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to always want · used to hate · used to be |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've always been · has matured · have matured |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is represented · is pulped |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 158 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: mythical /ˈmɪθɪkəl/, sympathetic /ˌsɪm.pəˈθɛt.ɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shampoo /ʃæmˈpuː/, shoe /ˈʃu/, refresh /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/, shave /ˈʃeɪ̯v/
- Long words — get the stress right: margarita /ˌmɑɹ.ɡəˈɹi.tə/, homogeneous /ˌhoʊ.moʊˈd͡ʒi.ni.əs/, homogenous /həˈmɑd͡ʒɪnəs/, alcoholic /ˌæl.kəˈhɔ.lɪk/, approachable /əˈpɹəʊ.t͡ʃə.bəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like pulp, mythical, ketchup.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.