full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ruby Wax: What's so funny about mental illness?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


But I got a little bad news for you folks. I got some bad news. This isn't for the one in four. This is for the four in four. We are not equipped for the 21st century. Evolution did not prepare us for this. We just don't have the bandwidth, and for people who say, oh, they're having a nice day, they're perfectly fine, they're more insane than the rest of us. Because I'll show you where there might be a few gcltiehs in evolution. Okay, let me just explain this to you. When we were ancient man — (Laughter) — moiinlls of years ago, and we suddenly felt threatened by a predator, okay? — (Laughter) — we would — Thank you. I drew these myself. (Laughter) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause) Thank you. Anyway, we would fill up with our own adrenaline and our own cortisol, and then we'd kill or be klelid, we'd eat or we'd be eaten, and then suddenly we'd de-fuel, and we'd go back to normal. Okay. So the porblem is, nydaawos, with modern man— (Laughter) — when we feel in danger, we still fill up with our own chemical but because we can't kill trfifac wardens — (lhtaeugr) — or eat esatte agents, the fuel just stays in our body over and over, so we're in a constant state of alarm, a constant state. And here's another thing that happened. About 150,000 yares ago, when lnugaage came onilne, we started to put wdors to this constant emergency, so it wasn't just, "Oh my God, there's a saber-toothed tiger," which could be, it was suddenly, "Oh my God, I didn't send the email. Oh my God, my thighs are too fat. Oh my God, everybody can see I'm stupid. I didn't get invited to the Christmas party!" So you've got this nagging loop tape that goes over and over again that dveirs you insnae, so, you see what the problem is? What once made you safe now drives you insane. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but somebody has to be. Your pets are happier than you are. (Laughter) (aapupsle) So kitty cat, meow, happy hpapy happy, human beings, screwed. (Laughter) clelmpoety and utterly — so, screwed.

Open Cloze


But I got a little bad news for you folks. I got some bad news. This isn't for the one in four. This is for the four in four. We are not equipped for the 21st century. Evolution did not prepare us for this. We just don't have the bandwidth, and for people who say, oh, they're having a nice day, they're perfectly fine, they're more insane than the rest of us. Because I'll show you where there might be a few ________ in evolution. Okay, let me just explain this to you. When we were ancient man — (Laughter) — ________ of years ago, and we suddenly felt threatened by a predator, okay? — (Laughter) — we would — Thank you. I drew these myself. (Laughter) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause) Thank you. Anyway, we would fill up with our own adrenaline and our own cortisol, and then we'd kill or be ______, we'd eat or we'd be eaten, and then suddenly we'd de-fuel, and we'd go back to normal. Okay. So the _______ is, ________, with modern man— (Laughter) — when we feel in danger, we still fill up with our own chemical but because we can't kill _______ wardens — (________) — or eat ______ agents, the fuel just stays in our body over and over, so we're in a constant state of alarm, a constant state. And here's another thing that happened. About 150,000 _____ ago, when ________ came ______, we started to put _____ to this constant emergency, so it wasn't just, "Oh my God, there's a saber-toothed tiger," which could be, it was suddenly, "Oh my God, I didn't send the email. Oh my God, my thighs are too fat. Oh my God, everybody can see I'm stupid. I didn't get invited to the Christmas party!" So you've got this nagging loop tape that goes over and over again that ______ you ______, so, you see what the problem is? What once made you safe now drives you insane. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but somebody has to be. Your pets are happier than you are. (Laughter) (________) So kitty cat, meow, happy _____ happy, human beings, screwed. (Laughter) __________ and utterly — so, screwed.

Solution


  1. killed
  2. words
  3. drives
  4. problem
  5. estate
  6. online
  7. years
  8. glitches
  9. laughter
  10. language
  11. insane
  12. nowadays
  13. millions
  14. completely
  15. happy
  16. applause
  17. traffic

Original Text


But I got a little bad news for you folks. I got some bad news. This isn't for the one in four. This is for the four in four. We are not equipped for the 21st century. Evolution did not prepare us for this. We just don't have the bandwidth, and for people who say, oh, they're having a nice day, they're perfectly fine, they're more insane than the rest of us. Because I'll show you where there might be a few glitches in evolution. Okay, let me just explain this to you. When we were ancient man — (Laughter) — millions of years ago, and we suddenly felt threatened by a predator, okay? — (Laughter) — we would — Thank you. I drew these myself. (Laughter) Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause) Thank you. Anyway, we would fill up with our own adrenaline and our own cortisol, and then we'd kill or be killed, we'd eat or we'd be eaten, and then suddenly we'd de-fuel, and we'd go back to normal. Okay. So the problem is, nowadays, with modern man— (Laughter) — when we feel in danger, we still fill up with our own chemical but because we can't kill traffic wardens — (Laughter) — or eat estate agents, the fuel just stays in our body over and over, so we're in a constant state of alarm, a constant state. And here's another thing that happened. About 150,000 years ago, when language came online, we started to put words to this constant emergency, so it wasn't just, "Oh my God, there's a saber-toothed tiger," which could be, it was suddenly, "Oh my God, I didn't send the email. Oh my God, my thighs are too fat. Oh my God, everybody can see I'm stupid. I didn't get invited to the Christmas party!" So you've got this nagging loop tape that goes over and over again that drives you insane, so, you see what the problem is? What once made you safe now drives you insane. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but somebody has to be. Your pets are happier than you are. (Laughter) (Applause) So kitty cat, meow, happy happy happy, human beings, screwed. (Laughter) Completely and utterly — so, screwed.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
mental illness 2
good news 2
bad news 2
constant state 2


Important Words


  1. adrenaline
  2. agents
  3. alarm
  4. ancient
  5. applause
  6. bad
  7. bandwidth
  8. bearer
  9. beings
  10. body
  11. cat
  12. century
  13. chemical
  14. christmas
  15. completely
  16. constant
  17. cortisol
  18. danger
  19. day
  20. drew
  21. drives
  22. eat
  23. eaten
  24. email
  25. emergency
  26. equipped
  27. estate
  28. evolution
  29. explain
  30. fat
  31. feel
  32. felt
  33. fill
  34. fine
  35. folks
  36. fuel
  37. glitches
  38. god
  39. happened
  40. happier
  41. happy
  42. human
  43. insane
  44. invited
  45. kill
  46. killed
  47. kitty
  48. language
  49. laughter
  50. loop
  51. man
  52. meow
  53. millions
  54. modern
  55. nagging
  56. news
  57. nice
  58. normal
  59. nowadays
  60. online
  61. people
  62. perfectly
  63. pets
  64. predator
  65. prepare
  66. problem
  67. put
  68. rest
  69. safe
  70. screwed
  71. send
  72. show
  73. started
  74. state
  75. stays
  76. stupid
  77. suddenly
  78. tape
  79. thighs
  80. threatened
  81. tiger
  82. traffic
  83. utterly
  84. wardens
  85. words
  86. years