Day 10: catchy titles
Well hello!
I found this little clip and the contrast between the title and the subject matter actually surprised me. Whoever wrote the title had a sense of humour. It's called "Alaskan money laundering".
The video gives a new meaning to "money laundering" all right! What is the contrast between metaphorical and literal use of "laundering" that makes this title funny? Understanding this kind of humour, based on metaphor, is to me one of the signs of reaching a C2 level.
So, for today's challenge:
- Answer my question about the title: What is the contrast between metaphorical and literal use of "laundering" that makes this title funny?
- Write a short summary of the video using these words: charred, denominations, distinguishable, rinse off, intact, stack, going the extra mile, salvage, tragic.
See you in the comments!
I found this little clip and the contrast between the title and the subject matter actually surprised me. Whoever wrote the title had a sense of humour. It's called "Alaskan money laundering".
The video gives a new meaning to "money laundering" all right! What is the contrast between metaphorical and literal use of "laundering" that makes this title funny? Understanding this kind of humour, based on metaphor, is to me one of the signs of reaching a C2 level.
So, for today's challenge:
- Answer my question about the title: What is the contrast between metaphorical and literal use of "laundering" that makes this title funny?
- Write a short summary of the video using these words: charred, denominations, distinguishable, rinse off, intact, stack, going the extra mile, salvage, tragic.
See you in the comments!
Hi, Bea,
ReplyDeleteHere come my answers:
The most usual use of "money laundering" is the metaphorical one, which refers to the act of making money that has been obtained illegally seem to have been obtained legally. However, in this case they refer to the literal meaning, since they wash and dry money literally as it were clothes to try to recover it from a disaster. This latter use is way unusual and that´s what make it funny.
Given that there is almost no bank on rural areas of Alaska, most people just store his savings in cash at home. That can be quite gruelling if any kind of disaster comes about such as a fire. In the video, the police are dealing with a house that was engulfed in flames. Despite some parts of the house being intact, most of the money is burnt, but some bills of different denominations are still distinguishable. At the police station, policemen rinse off a stack of charred bills and then dry them to try to salvage as much of cash as he can for the family. They profoundly believe that, no matter how much time it´s going to take them the task, going the extra mile to help the family in a tragic situation like that is worthwhile the price.
Thank you, Daniel! Your use of "engulfed in flames" got me squealing in happiness!
DeleteCareful with little things like "as much (of) cash", "how much time the task is going to take them" (I'd also use "may" here rather than "going to"), and "worth the price".
Thank you!!
Well, the title is funny, because it refers to the literal meaning of "money laundering" (not the methaphorical one, related to unlegitimate activities that we are accostumed to hear from news), which is what the policemen did in order to save the money from the fire. The tragedy that provokes this kind of money laundering is not fun at all. In fact, is really sad.
ReplyDeleteAs there are no banks in Alaska, people tend to save their money in their homes. This can be risky, especially when an accident like the one in the video occurs. Despite the house is okay, or at least, the structure seemed to resist the fire, the money has been burnt. Now is charred, and in most of the cases, notes' denominations are not distinguishable. The Alaska Police is trying to rinse off all the money they can, to give it back intact to the family of the person died on the fire. Large stacks of notes had been cleaned, and the offficers had gone the extra mile, because is worthwhile for the family to salvage their money after the tragic incident.
Thank you, Miguel! Careful with a couple of small things: "despite the house is..." should be "although the house is..."; "now IT is charred"; "the person WHO died IN the fire". Also, since all the text is in the present, I would use "have been cleaned" and "have gone the extra mile", to keep tense consistency.
DeleteThank you!
Hi mates! Thanks Bea for this new challenge!
ReplyDeleteLate as I am, I didn't want to miss the chance to have this challenge done!
What is funny about the title is that the metaphorical meaning of laundering is to make illegally-obtained money look like if it had been legally obtained through business or bank transfers and this is what we would all expect when seeing a title of a news clip. However, once you see the video you realize they meant the literal meaning (i.e, to wash, dry and iron, normally used for clothes).
The video tells us the story of an accident happening in Alaska which is still under investigation: a fire which turned what used to be a house into a stack of charred scrap. According to police officers in charge of the case, the only valuable items which could be salvaged from the disaster was a stack of dollars notes. The victim stored these savings in some bags in the house, which is apparently a common practice in Alaskan rural areas as banks are really scarce in these lands. Due to the fact that some of the notes denominations were not distinguishable at first sight, police officers underestimated the amount of money the victim had. Once back at the police station, police officers rinsed off charred residues on some of the money, and they could manage to make some of the notes look like being intact. They found out that there was much more money than they had thought. These policemen were happy to go the extra mile and work on the recovery of this money to be given to the family suffering the tragic accident.
Thank you so much, Evelia! There are just two tiny details in your text: instead of "look like being intact", I would simply say "look intact"; at the very end, "the family suffering the tragic accident" is awkward because it means "the family (who are) suffering the tragic accident", and the accident is over, not ongoing. I would say "the family who suffered...", in the past.
DeleteGreat job!
Hi mates!!
ReplyDeleteNow is my turn:
The metaphorical use of money laundering refers to the process in which the money that has been illegally obtained can be transformed into legal money and introduced in the financial system, hidding its real source. However, in the video they are, literally speaking, laundering money as it if were clothing, something that is really funny.
In most of the rural areas in Alaska there are no banks, so people have no choice but to store the cash at home. During the investigation of a house fire, the police found under the charred debris the money belonging to the victim. Although most of the money was burnt and their denominations weren't distinguishable, they found stacks of bank notes that were still intact, so they went back to the station to salvage as much money as they can. After spending the night cleaning and rinsing off the cash they managed to recover thousands of dollars, something that it's worth going the extra mile to help a family in such tragic situation.
Wow, what a great summary, Ángel! The only thing I'd say (but it's nitpicking at this stage) is the structure of your last sentence. We say that "it's worth going the extra mile", and if you want, "(in order) to help...". The problem is that in that structure, the relative clause "something that" doesn't quite fit. There is a jumble of subjects and objects there. I could suggest this:
Delete"...they managed to recover thousands of dollars, something that was worth the effort. The police thought is was worth going the extra mile to help a family in such a tragic situation."
As you can see, there's a bit of redundancy still, so you can still choose to rearrange the information for clarity.
Great job there!