E, what you...? Hi. James from engVid. I've noticed my friend, E, is putting butter

all over his little wormy body, and standing in the sun. I think he wants to be tanned.

This is not the best way to get a tan, by the way. I'm just telling you. Don't put butter

on yourself and sit in the sun. But this is strange: "Butter me up, baby." Hmm. And then:

"Flattery will get you everywhere with Mr. E." What does that mean? That's today's lesson.

What we want to talk about is "criticism" and "praise", or "criticize" and "praise".

We have synonyms we're going to work with, and then some common popular expressions.

Right? To help you be able to use them in real life, so you can become like a native

speaker. And let's go to the board to start.

We have a little seesaw here. or heehaw, whatever. And you notice a balance, it's balancing down

for criticize, because criticism is usually considered negative. Okay? And praise is usually

considered good. So you can think of devil - dun-dun-dun-dun", or angel - aaah. Okay?

So, when we say somebody criticizes something it's they say something bad about something.

Okay? "The food is too salty, it's too hot. The room's too warm. The car's too big." They

criticize it. When they praise it, they might say: "It's very roomy", or: "The food is full

of flavour", or: "You did a good job." To praise. Opposites. Right?

So let's go start over here because I'm that kind of guy, and I'm going to look at "critic".

So the noun, a person who criticizes is a critic. Now, a critic doesn't necessarily

always have to be negative. It's considered negative, because when a critic speaks, they're

going to talk about the things that didn't go well or weren't as good as they thought.

Okay? Now, a critic is also a job, because they might go see a movie or a book, and they'll

tell you what they loved about the book. But no critic will keep their jobs if they just

say: "Everything was just great. I loved everything. I love all of the movies." They won't have

a job very long, because people say: "Not everything's good." So a critic's job is to

look at things, maybe say some things are good, but to tell you what was missing and

what could have been done better. So that's an official job, a critic. But a critic could

also be someone who finds faults, so we mean they look for things to be wrong, and then

mention it. They can't just be happy. You're eating dinner, it's a good restaurant, but

the lighting's not quite right and they're like: "Everything good, but the lighting wasn't

right and I don't like it." Why do you got to be such a critic? Why do you have to bring

something negative?

The second one is "cynic". Oh, sorry, I'm wrong. "Pessimist". A pessimist... Unlike

a critic, a critic as I said can be a job or someone who finds some fault. A pessimist

sees almost everything in a negative light. They see any situation, in a person - they

see the worst or something bad. You say: -"It's a beautiful sunny day. Like the birds are

out, children are smiling. I got a new car, a new job." -"It's going to rain soon." -"Why

you got to bring that up? The children are out, everything's good. Why do you have to

talk about it?" -"It will rain. It always does." -"Yes, but not today." Okay? So a pessimist

will say something will happen or you go: -"Look at my brand new car." -"It will break

down." -"Okay. Leave it alone. I just got it. Okay?" Pessimist.

So, cynic, we get it. Could be a job or someone finds some fault in something. Okay? A pessimist

sees everything is negative, there's always a negative something to everything. It's not

just looking at a book. Life's a bad situation. "You're born and you're going to die." This

is a pessimist. They can't see: but you are alive.

So what's a "cynic"? Or what's this "kynikos", kynikos, kynikos. K9, k-ni-, kyninikini. Well,

let's look. This is actually a Greek word, and this Greek word has to do with doglike.

So what does doglike and cynic have to do? Well, the pessimist is negative about everything.

Everything's bad. Sun: "Oh, the sun's out. You're going to get cancer." I'm drinking

water. "Yeah, you're going to have to pee." Nothing is good. A cynic is a special brand

of animal. A cynic, my friend, thinks that people only do things for themselves; it's

all about you. They're always about self-interest. They're not saying everything in the world

is bad. They don't think the sun is necessarily bad or water is bad, but they think... A cynic

is: -"Oh, he helped you move the couch. He wants a date." Everything someone does is

for a reason. They're looking for self-interest. That's what cynics think.

So, why this word here? Well, it's really a Greek word. You see, the Greeks use this

word, K9, if you know the word for dog is K9, kynikos, it means like a dog. This word

means like a dog. So a cynic sees people like a dog. A dog [pants like a dog] does everything

for self-interest. Right? It's man's best friend because it will... [Pants like a dog]

Wants a home and wants food. It loves you because you will take care of it, and they

think cynics are like that. They only look for interest for themselves. "What am I going

to get? That's why I did it." So anything humans do that are good, a cynic thinks you

did it for a reason because you benefit. And that's what makes it different from a pessimist.

So, hey, even if you speak English, you just got schooled, Bub. Okay? A pessimist sees

everything negatively, a critic picks certain things, while a cynic looks at the human animal.

Right? [Pants like a dog] Like a dog.

So what's a "backseat driver"? Got to put it up there. Ladies, gentlemen, you know you're

driving and you're driving 50 and the speed limit's 50, there's always some idiot in the

back, saying: "Just go 60. There's no one on the road. I don't know why you don't go

60. And you know, you could also..." That's called a backseat driver. They are a critic

of the worst kind. They tell you how to drive when they're sitting in the back and it's

all relax for them, got a drink in one hand, hamburger in the other one: "Hey, you know

what else you can do?" They got all the answers. Right? You know what I'm talking? You know

who I'm talking about. There's that one person. And it's worse, they don't sit in the backseat,

they actually sit beside you and tell you how you should drive, and you just want to

go: "Okay, take the wheel. Drive. I would like to relax." So a backseat driver always

has something to say about what you're doing. Usually it's involving a car. It doesn't have

to be backseat; it can be right beside you, and they've got criticism that they spew...

Spew, throw out like vomit, blah, at you as you drive. So you're like: "I would kill you

if I didn't have to drive this car right now. That's right." Okay? And it came from backseat

because usually it was the person in the back who didn't have a license who had all the

advice. Okay, we're done.

These are the nouns. Okay? You can even say that about a relationship, even. Like: "You

don't have a girlfriend. Why are you telling me what to do, you backseat driver? Get a

girlfriend, then talk to me." Okay, sorry. It just went there. I went there.

All right, "disparage", "lambaste", and "denounce." These are synonyms for the verb "criticize".

We talked about what criticize means, okay? So now we're going to talk about the action.

"Disparage", many of us native speakers talk about disparaging or lambasting and denounce,

and you go: "It's the same. You know, it's the same." Enh - wrong. When you disparage

someone or something, you give it little value or worth. When someone's disparaging you,

they're saying: "You have little value or worth. Maybe you shouldn't exist. You're valueless."

So disparage somebody's work is to say it has little value. It means it means nothing

to anyone; it's not important to anyone. Mm, interesting. Put that away. [Laughs]

"Lambaste". Okay, I like to do things to help me remember, and in this case, you know, if you think about Easter, those little lambs,

They are so cute, innocent and nice. Okay? So you've got the word "lamb". This will help you remember.

Trust me. And "baste", when we baste things in English, we cook it. You know, you cook

it on the oven, and slowly cook it. You totally cook it, so you burn that meat, you eat it,

you kill it. When you lambaste something... I'm sorry. To lambaste something is to attack

it violently. So you're attacking something. Now think of that [baas like a lamb], that

little innocent lamb being attacked violently over and over. So when you lambaste somebody,

you seriously and strongly and severely criticize them. You just go after them and you just

kill them. So when you think of lambaste, think of the lamb being cooked, that innocent

little lamb going around and around, going: "He-e-e-elp me", and somebody's barbequing

the hell right out of it. Okay? That's to lambaste. Severely criticize. It's one thing

if someone criticize you, lambaste is to literally destroy you, violently attack. Whew, got that

out of my system.

"Denounce". I love this one. A lot of religions do it and politicians. "We denounce you!"

It means to say publicly you think something is wrong or evil. Okay? See the little devil

thing? "It's evil. I denounce you." So if your parents denounce you, that's some serious

stuff. Almost better to be lambaste. I don't know. Tough stuff either way, if you ask me.

So when we're looking at the verb for "criticize", we can go from "disparage", say you have little

worth; "lambaste you", attack you violently; or "denounce" you and publically say: "I consider

you evil and wrong in all ways." Man, this negative stuff is not good. Okay. No wonder

they thought people were like dogs. Look at the things we come up with.

Okay, but you know what? Now to go on the side of the angels, aaah. Let's start praising

people. Funny enough, I couldn't find a lot of words about praise. And I think it has

to do with English does have a sort of a history with religion with our language, and it's

okay to criticize because criticizing is what we do for humans. Right? But praising is usually

something we do for the gods above us, so there's not many words for it. In fact, when

you come over here, you're going to see some of the words for praising aren't really that

good if you're a human talking about another human, but that's another story.

Let's go to the board. When you praise somebody or something, it's to say that that person

of goo-... Is good or institution is good. "McDonald's makes great hamburgers and they

make the best Chicken McNuggets." We're praising their service. We're saying they're good at

what they do. They're good, which is the opposite is to criticize.

So, what do you call a person who says nice words about the work somebody else does? Why,

boys and girls, I could only find one word that we actually use regularly, and it is

the word "flatterer". "To flatter", as a verb-I didn't put it here because I have to explain-is

to say nice things. The problem is "flatter" is it means to say things you don't really

mean. Like you're saying to somebody who is not necessarily or not really beautiful: "You're

beautiful, and your hair is like, like, like the finest straw, so dry and so, so falling

apart. And your legs are like broomsticks, they have no shape and it helps people who

have to", do you understand? You say nice things that aren't really... You don't believe

them, but you say them. Usually when you want to get a job or a date or you want somebody

to do something, you flatter them and say: "My, James, you look good today." I'm like:

-"Really? I do?" -"No, I don't think so. Yes you do!" -"Don't flatter me." Remember here?

Flattery will get you everywhere, because we're all suckers, which means we like to

be told nice things, we want to believe them,

and we'll do nice things to keep hearing nice things.

Here's the problem: "flatterer" is supposed to be a good word, but it can be negative

because it means insincere or not real praise. Huh? Sorry, kids, I did my research. There

are other words we can use that are similar to "flatterer" that the dictionaries threw

out for me. Want to see a couple of them? "Bootlicker", a boot looker-, licker. I'm

wearing some boots. Is a person who's like [licks boot] you do not lick somebody's boots.

If someone is from Saudi Arabia watching right now, they're like: "Oh my Lord!" because this

is such a bad thing I'm showing the boot. This is bad in many countries. Never show

your foot to someone. A bootlicker actually [licks] licks these boots. So to be a boot

licker is similar to being a flatterer. There's another word I'm not allowed to use, but maybe

I can. You can be a [makes noise] licker. See? I didn't say it, you two people, so you

can't get upset with me. I didn't say it. Okay?

Another one is a "brown noser". What do I mean by "brown noser"? Imagine this is somebody's

bum, imagine this is your nose. You put your nose inside their bum and go: "You're lovely.

I just love you. You're the best person in the whole world." That's a brown noser. Do

you know what comes out of people's nose? That's right, they're full of that stuff,

ladies and gentleman. So this is the closest word I can get to a person who praises someone.

There is no such word as a "praiser", or an "applauder", or a "complimenter". They don't

exist for some strange reason, but we've got all of these negative words. I love my language.

Next: so why don't we talk about the verbs? We do have some verbs you can use to talk

in a positive way about something. You can "applaud" somebody. Applause is like this,

clapping. You're like: "You did a great job. We applaud you." It's another way of saying

"approve". Not even "praise", we approve. We say: "What you did was okay." "Compliment",

we can compliment you. And we can "congratulate" you. -"Way to go, Johnny!" -"Thanks, Bob!"

We can do all of these verbs to praise you, but it's not the same as praise because praise

is like speaking up and saying: "Oh, you're wonderful and godlike." Okay?

We do have words that are similar to "praise", but what I found was most of these words are

religious. So to "glorify", "exalt", and "eulogize". You won't find people saying these at times

like: "We exalt Brad Pitt." No, but they will exalt God and they will glorify God, and eulogize