Olivia / USA 
What is something that is a sign of the times?
Hi, I'm Olivia. I'm originally from Washington DC and right now I live in London. And my question is, what is something that is a sign of the times?
For me, it's the video and the whole trend tube girl, I dunno if you guys have seen it, but basically it's this girl who's recording herself on the tube dancing and singing, and there's a bunch of wind blowing in her face, and the dance is quite brave. It's not something I would want to do in public. And everybody in the background's watching her. And of course it went viral because of how shocking it was. And then because of that, she got lots of work and now there's all these videos you see of her in public having a phone and all these different angles and it looks really, really, really cool on the video camera, but it looks really stupid when you watch it live in public.
And you see her doing this around a bunch of stars at really important events, at fashion shows and seeing how stupid she looked in real life. But how cool the videos looked on her phone made me think of, wow, it really shows, it's a sign of the times that how you look online is now so much more important than how you look on real life because people place so much weight on your online presence. And that's something that's changed. Only recently. It was never like this before, that people care more about their online image than their in-person image. So that's what I think is a sign of the times.
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sign of the times
Meaning: Something that reflects the current trends, behaviors, or culture of a particular era.
Examples:
- Social media obsession is a sign of the times in today’s world.
- Working remotely is definitely a sign of the times brought about by modern technology.
dunno
Meaning: Informal way of saying "I don’t know."
Examples:
- Dunno if I’ll go to the party; I haven’t decided yet.
- She asked me where the keys were, but I just said, dunno.
went viral
Meaning: Spread quickly and widely online, gaining a lot of attention.
Examples:
- The funny cat video went viral and was shared millions of times.
- Her dance clip went viral, making her an overnight internet star.
stupid
Meaning: Silly or not intelligent; lacking good judgment.
Examples:
- It’s stupid to drive without wearing a seatbelt.
- The prank seemed funny online but looked stupid in real life.
online image
Meaning: The way someone or something appears or is presented on the internet.
Examples:
- Influencers spend hours editing their online image to look perfect.
- Your online image can impact your job opportunities.
in-person image
Meaning: The way someone appears or is perceived in real life.
Examples:
- His in-person image is much different from his confident online persona.
- She’s working on improving her in-person image for networking events.
place weight on
Meaning: To put priority or importance on something
Examples:
- Schools place too much weight on grades to determine success.
- Hospitals place a lot of weight on survival rates of patients.
Vocabulary Quiz
stupid • image • in-person • weight
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