full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Marc Abrahams: A science award that makes you laugh, then think

Unscramble the Blue Letters

I am going to tell you about just a very few of the other medical-related pirezs we've given. Keep in mind, we've given 230 prizes. There are lots of these people who walk among you. Maybe you have one. A paper was published about 30 years ago called "Injuries due to Falling Coconuts." It was written by Dr. Peter Barss, who is Canadian. Dr. brass came to the ceremony and explained that as a young doctor, he wanted to see the world. So he went to Papua New Guinea. When he got there, he went to work in a hospital, and he was curious what kinds of things haeppn to people that bring them to the hospital. He looked through the rodrces, and he discovered that a surprisingly large number of people in that hospital were there because of injuries due to falling coconuts. One typiacl thing that happens is people will come from the hanlihdgs, where there are not many coconut trees, down to vsiit their rilvaeets on the coast, where there are lots. And they'll think that a cconuot tree is a fine place to stand and maybe lie down. A coconut tree that is 90 feet tall, and has coconuts that wigeh two pounds that can drop off at any time.

Open Cloze

I am going to tell you about just a very few of the other medical-related ______ we've given. Keep in mind, we've given 230 prizes. There are lots of these people who walk among you. Maybe you have one. A paper was published about 30 years ago called "Injuries due to Falling Coconuts." It was written by Dr. Peter Barss, who is Canadian. Dr. _____ came to the ceremony and explained that as a young doctor, he wanted to see the world. So he went to Papua New Guinea. When he got there, he went to work in a hospital, and he was curious what kinds of things ______ to people that bring them to the hospital. He looked through the _______, and he discovered that a surprisingly large number of people in that hospital were there because of injuries due to falling coconuts. One _______ thing that happens is people will come from the _________, where there are not many coconut trees, down to _____ their _________ on the coast, where there are lots. And they'll think that a _______ tree is a fine place to stand and maybe lie down. A coconut tree that is 90 feet tall, and has coconuts that _____ two pounds that can drop off at any time.

Solution

  1. prizes
  2. barss
  3. relatives
  4. coconut
  5. weigh
  6. highlands
  7. visit
  8. happen
  9. typical
  10. records

Original Text

I am going to tell you about just a very few of the other medical-related prizes we've given. Keep in mind, we've given 230 prizes. There are lots of these people who walk among you. Maybe you have one. A paper was published about 30 years ago called "Injuries due to Falling Coconuts." It was written by Dr. Peter Barss, who is Canadian. Dr. Barss came to the ceremony and explained that as a young doctor, he wanted to see the world. So he went to Papua New Guinea. When he got there, he went to work in a hospital, and he was curious what kinds of things happen to people that bring them to the hospital. He looked through the records, and he discovered that a surprisingly large number of people in that hospital were there because of injuries due to falling coconuts. One typical thing that happens is people will come from the highlands, where there are not many coconut trees, down to visit their relatives on the coast, where there are lots. And they'll think that a coconut tree is a fine place to stand and maybe lie down. A coconut tree that is 90 feet tall, and has coconuts that weigh two pounds that can drop off at any time.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
ig nobel 11
nobel prize 7
smelled putrid 4
people laugh 2
prize winners 2
trillion dollars 2
coconut tree 2
elena bodnar 2
nobel laureate 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
ig nobel prize 6
nobel prize winners 2

Important Words

  1. barss
  2. bring
  3. called
  4. canadian
  5. ceremony
  6. coast
  7. coconut
  8. coconuts
  9. curious
  10. discovered
  11. doctor
  12. dr
  13. drop
  14. due
  15. explained
  16. falling
  17. feet
  18. fine
  19. guinea
  20. happen
  21. highlands
  22. hospital
  23. injuries
  24. kinds
  25. large
  26. lie
  27. looked
  28. lots
  29. mind
  30. number
  31. paper
  32. papua
  33. people
  34. peter
  35. place
  36. pounds
  37. prizes
  38. published
  39. records
  40. relatives
  41. stand
  42. surprisingly
  43. tall
  44. time
  45. tree
  46. trees
  47. typical
  48. visit
  49. walk
  50. wanted
  51. weigh
  52. work
  53. world
  54. written
  55. years
  56. young