This mini episode teaches you the interesting and useful word “underdog.”
Episode 242 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful and interesting word “underdog.” What does it mean? And why? Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hi, everyone! This is Gamze, from Izmir, Turkey. And you are listening to Everybody ESL podcast.”
Welcome to episode 242 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
I want to teach you an interesting word in this episode. And that word is underdog. Underdog. That is spelled u-n-d-e-r-d-o-g. Underdog.
What is an underdog? An underdog is a person or maybe a team who is not expected to win or succeed. An underdog is somebody who is fighting a much stronger opponent or somebody who is facing a very difficult challenge or an unfair world.
Many movies and TV shows are stories about underdogs—people who seem like regular people who are facing extremely difficult situations. And we assume that they will not be able to win, or we know it will be very difficult for them to win.
You will often hear the word underdog when the subject is some kind of contest or competition or sport. That means you will hear people use underdog when they are talking about sports or politics. If there’s going to be some kind of election, maybe one of the candidates is the underdog, the candidate who nobody thinks can win. And in sports, the underdogs might be the team who nobody thinks can win. Everybody thinks they are just not good enough or not strong enough to beat their opponents.
That’s what underdog means, but why does it mean that? Where does this word come from? I think I know the answer.
When we think about the way wild dogs or wolves live, we often think of them living in large groups called packs. A large group of wild dogs or wolves is called a pack. That is spelled p-a-c-k.
And when we imagine these packs, we often think that there is one wild dog or wolf at the top. And maybe there are other wild dogs or wolves that are at the bottom. They have no power. They are under or below all of the others. I don’t know if this is an accurate way to describe wild dogs and wolves and the way they live. But I think that is where the word underdog comes from. And I think underdog is a very useful word that you should know.
Outro
We have reached the end of episode 242 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Gamze recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.