full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Gillian Tett: An invitation to reexamine your familiar world

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now I used that framework to help me predict the great financial crisis in 2008. In particular, I spent much of the years before that going to inenmtsvet banking conferences, which are gigantic ceremonial rituals, which are rather similar to taijk weddings.

(Laughter)

It's true. They pull people together, the stecarted tribe, they reaffirm their social ties and they reaffirm a sherad worldview through rituals, not through dancing, but through hanging out by the bar and having PowerPoints. Same function.

(Laughter)

footnote

But I did that in the world of high finance. But what I want to make you think about today is that you don't have to be using these tools in Tajikistan or tkoyo or Wall Street. You can actually use them to look around your own world toady. Your everyday life. You can use them to look at something which is completely different from either Wall steret or tsitiakajn. The wrold of dogs. This is my dog, Charlie. aoarblde, smelly, out of ctornol. And when people ask me about my dog, I often say, "Charlie, she's part of my family." I bet many of you who have dogs will say exactly the same thing. But here's something to think about. If you are in America or Europe, you think it's kind of normal to say that your dog is part of your family. I can tell you, though, that if you’re sitting in Tajikistan or most other cultures which are non-Western, saying that a dog is part of your family makes you look really weird.

Open Cloze


Now I used that framework to help me predict the great financial crisis in 2008. In particular, I spent much of the years before that going to __________ banking conferences, which are gigantic ceremonial rituals, which are rather similar to _____ weddings.

(Laughter)

It's true. They pull people together, the _________ tribe, they reaffirm their social ties and they reaffirm a ______ worldview through rituals, not through dancing, but through hanging out by the bar and having PowerPoints. Same function.

(Laughter)

footnote

But I did that in the world of high finance. But what I want to make you think about today is that you don't have to be using these tools in Tajikistan or _____ or Wall Street. You can actually use them to look around your own world _____. Your everyday life. You can use them to look at something which is completely different from either Wall ______ or __________. The _____ of dogs. This is my dog, Charlie. ________, smelly, out of _______. And when people ask me about my dog, I often say, "Charlie, she's part of my family." I bet many of you who have dogs will say exactly the same thing. But here's something to think about. If you are in America or Europe, you think it's kind of normal to say that your dog is part of your family. I can tell you, though, that if you’re sitting in Tajikistan or most other cultures which are non-Western, saying that a dog is part of your family makes you look really weird.

Solution


  1. scattered
  2. tajik
  3. world
  4. control
  5. shared
  6. tokyo
  7. today
  8. street
  9. tajikistan
  10. adorable
  11. investment

Original Text


Now I used that framework to help me predict the great financial crisis in 2008. In particular, I spent much of the years before that going to investment banking conferences, which are gigantic ceremonial rituals, which are rather similar to Tajik weddings.

(Laughter)

It's true. They pull people together, the scattered tribe, they reaffirm their social ties and they reaffirm a shared worldview through rituals, not through dancing, but through hanging out by the bar and having PowerPoints. Same function.

(Laughter)

footnote

But I did that in the world of high finance. But what I want to make you think about today is that you don't have to be using these tools in Tajikistan or Tokyo or Wall Street. You can actually use them to look around your own world today. Your everyday life. You can use them to look at something which is completely different from either Wall Street or Tajikistan. The world of dogs. This is my dog, Charlie. Adorable, smelly, out of control. And when people ask me about my dog, I often say, "Charlie, she's part of my family." I bet many of you who have dogs will say exactly the same thing. But here's something to think about. If you are in America or Europe, you think it's kind of normal to say that your dog is part of your family. I can tell you, though, that if you’re sitting in Tajikistan or most other cultures which are non-Western, saying that a dog is part of your family makes you look really weird.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
cell phones 3
kit kats 3
everyday life 2
cultural anthropology 2
world today 2
wall street 2
parents watching 2
face mask 2
green tea 2
kit kat 2
culture shock 2


Important Words


  1. adorable
  2. america
  3. banking
  4. bar
  5. bet
  6. ceremonial
  7. charlie
  8. completely
  9. conferences
  10. control
  11. crisis
  12. cultures
  13. dancing
  14. dog
  15. dogs
  16. europe
  17. everyday
  18. family
  19. finance
  20. financial
  21. footnote
  22. framework
  23. function
  24. gigantic
  25. great
  26. hanging
  27. high
  28. investment
  29. kind
  30. laughter
  31. life
  32. normal
  33. part
  34. people
  35. powerpoints
  36. predict
  37. pull
  38. reaffirm
  39. rituals
  40. scattered
  41. shared
  42. similar
  43. sitting
  44. smelly
  45. social
  46. spent
  47. street
  48. tajik
  49. tajikistan
  50. ties
  51. today
  52. tokyo
  53. tools
  54. tribe
  55. true
  56. wall
  57. weddings
  58. weird
  59. world
  60. worldview
  61. years