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Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 100. The noun phrase today is the
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green-eyed monster. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone has or
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gives into or succumbs to the green-eyed monster he or she is very jealous. Yeah.
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It's almost like the jealousy is taking over. It's like , it's almost possessing
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you. That's what they mean by you give into it. It's maybe a feeling that you
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have in your body and you let it take control or you succumb to it. It kind of
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overwhelms you. And you know, maybe you show an ugly side of you. You show your
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jealousy. So that's what we say. So it's sometimes referred to as the green-eyed
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monster. Okay. Let's continue here. The origin of this term is believed to come
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directly from Shakespeare. There are two citings or at least two citings.
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there may even be more in the Merchant of Venice the character Portia ... I did
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read this one. It was very good... refers to the green-eyed jealousy so that's one
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way he uses it however the more obvious one you know, that directly goes to the
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idea of green-eyed monster. The more obvious one is from "Othello. " Here the, here
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is the quote from the character Lago, " Oh beware my lord. " Remember Lord that was a
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title for people for nobility people from nobility so that's why I said Lord
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here this doesn't mean God or anything this is a reference to someone from
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nobility. "Oh beware my lord jealousy. " You know, be careful of jealousy.
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"It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. " All right.
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Remember "doth" that's from Middle English. That actually means like does. So doth,
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doth does mock. Mock, if you make, if you mock someone you're making fun of them.
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You're saying things that's kind of unkind about them or you know or teasing
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them in this way. Mock the meat it feeds on. The meat that it actually eats. Okay.
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Let's continue here. This line is believed to refer to cats
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who often have green eyes and tease their prey. Yeah. If you've ever seen a
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movie or even sometimes a cartoon of a cat they caught a mouse and sometimes
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they'll play with it and they'll tease it and they'll move it all around. You
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know before they may actually kill it or eat it. That's what , that's what they say.
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So they, they ... the monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. So the cat
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might actually kill and eat the mouse and but first it kind of plays with it and
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makes fun of it. Something like that. That's what we mean. All right. Let's
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continue because there's more clues here too. In Shakespeare's time , green was
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often connected with illness because sometimes the skin of people took on a
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yellow green color. So when you're looking sick you might look a little
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yellow. We'd see that , but maybe a little green at the same time. Color when ill.
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Green was also associated with stomach pains from eating unripe fruit.
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Yeah. We've often heard of this, especially like a banana for example. If you ate a
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banana that was too green. It might make your stomach uncomfortable. It might cause
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you pain. So that's another connection there.
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All right. So let's, let's, let's look at some of the examples here. This is the
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way you might hear it used. Also remember with this green-eyed monster. We have
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another idiom in English which we use a lot too. We sometimes could say that
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somebody is green with envy. It also comes directly from this origin , from
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Shakespeare's use of green. You know, during the Middle Ages. So first it meant
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like almost like an illness or something that takes over your body. You know, like
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you got to control it. You got to control that jealousy. So let's look at example
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number one. Don't let the green-eyed monster get the best of you. Yeah. If it
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gets the best of you ...also you know, it takes control of you and shows your
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worst part or your worst qualities. It is not Sally's fault that Tom is attracted
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to her and not you. And this is the case where maybe some
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girl likes a guy and she's really jealous that , that guy really doesn't
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like her. He likes another girl. So we might use it that way. Or number two here. Don't
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give in to ... so again both times you're giving in to your letting something get
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the best of you. You're not controlling it. You know, because we probably deep
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down you know there are a lot of people might have some jealous feelings but you
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got to try to control them. Don't give in to the green-eyed monster. If your
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neighbor buys a big beautiful boat so what ? So what ?
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It's not your business. Plus maybe he's putting himself into debt just to get it.
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You never know. If he can afford it , and you can't well you know, that's the way it is.
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Don't, don't give in to the green-eyed monster. Don't have that jealousy. Just let
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it be. You know go on. Or number three here. Jane is letting the green-eyed
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monster appear. This is another way we might use it. You can see the jealousy
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all over her face. Okay. So now you got it. You know that we do sometimes
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hear the noun phrase the green-eyed monster. You also may hear the idiom
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that somebody is green with envy. Although green with envy I think is used
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in a little bit of a lighter or less serious sense. Green-eyed monster sounds
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a little bit more serious like somebody has lost control and let this jealousy
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kind of just take over them and not in a good way, in a bad way. Okay. Anyway I hope
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you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-
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bye.