Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Vera2007]

[Friends Season 1-10]

Joey: Set another place for Thanksgiving. My entire family thinks I have VD.[venereal disease]

Chandler: Tonight, on a very special Blossom.

1. What does "special Blossom" mean here?
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[Scene: Monica and Rachel's, Ross is entering.]

Ross: Guys? There's a somebody I'd like you to meet.

(A monkey jumps on to his shoulder.)

All: Oooh!

Monica: W-wait. What is that?

Ross: 'That' would be Marcel. You wanna say hi?

Monica: No, no, I don't.

Rachel: Oh, he is precious! Where did you get him?

Ross: My friend Bethel rescued him from some lab.

Phoebe: That is so cruel! Why? Why would a parent name their child Bethel?

2. Why a parent named their child "Bethel" is described as cruel by Phoebe?
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Ross: (Watching Marcel and talking to Rachel) I wanted this to work so much. I mean I'm still in there, changing his diapers, pickin' his fleas... but he's just phoning it in.

3.What does "phoning it in" mean ?

Thanks a lot!

[Dixie]

Interesting questions. I'm a big fan of Friends, too.

Unfortunately I can't help you with #1 and #3 because I have no idea, either. I hope somebody can clarify them for us.

In #2, what Phoebe means is simply that Bethel is a horrible name.

[bud]

1. Chandler is commenting on the funny situation (Joey's family thinking he has VD) by mimicking a TV announcer doing a promo (a promotional advertisement) for another sitcom called "Blossom." He's saying that the situation is fit for the plot of a sitcom episode.

On U.S. TV, they stop a program to show several commercials, usually ending with a short promo, before resuming the show. They want to keep you watching the same channel after the current program ends. A promo would be something like this: "Joey's family thinks he has VD [long pause] tonight [shorter pause] on a very special Blossom (on a very special episode of Blossom)."

2. That's part of the joke, Dixie. Bethel is a horrible name. But most people would not think it cruel to name someone a horrible name. Stupid, maybe, but not cruel. So it's funny that Phoebe thinks it's cruel... The bigger joke here is Phoebe's brain working differently than most everyone else's. Most people expect that she will say keeping a monkey in a lab (for experiments) is what she thinks is cruel.

3. "Phoning it in" means "making no effort at all." I don't know if this originates from sports, but it is a common to say that of an athlete or a team after a loss when it seemed they gave little or no effort to win. It's as if they didn't even show up to play, but phoned in instead... So I think Ross is saying that he works hard to take care of the monkey, but the monkey does nothing for himself... Another possibility is that he (Ross) is doing all he can to make this a good relationship, but the monkey is not keeping up his end of the relationship.

[Dixie]

[bud]

Well, that's my opinion only. I shouldn't have said that about everyone in general. But my middle name is very weird, and that's what I was called until I was old enough to choose to be called by my first name. But it wasn't cruel to name and call me that - it was my beloved grandfather's name. It was very old-fashioned by the time it was given to me, but it was also an honor to have it - a mixed blessing.

Yeah, Phoebe's cool!