Let's Learn English! Topic: Imaginary Creatures and Animals! 🐉🦄👻
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Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson about imaginary creatures. We might also say legendary creatures or mythical creatures. There are a lot of different names but this should be an interesting lesson. These are creatures or animals or in English sometimes we use the word beings and

that don't actually exist. Although, for some of them, you might argue that they do exist. Maybe you believe that some of these do exist. We'll see. But anyways, welcome to this English lesson about imaginary creatures. I think it will be a lot of fun. A unicorn. So, a unicorn, for lack of a better description, is a horse that has a horn.

Similar to a rhinoceros, a rhinoceros has a horn which is an actual animal. Uh a unicorn is a horse or a horse-like creature. Sometimes in English we use the word like attached to a word. A horse-like creature that has a horn is

protruding from the center of their forehead. When something protrudes, protrudes, it sticks out. Um and supposed to have some sort of magical abilities. I'm not 100% percent sure what those are but I think unicorn tears can cure illnesses. Um but yes, a unicorn, basically a horse with a horn or a horse-like creature. I mean, it looks a lot like a horse but

but it could simply be a distant relative of a horse. Um very common as a stuffed animal for children. So, as I talk about these legendary mythical imaginary creatures, I will mention how some of them are still around in popular culture but this would be common as a stuffed animal for children.

centaur. So, kind of a strange looking creature. A centaur is a cross between a horse and a man. So, the body of a centaur is the body of a horse and

then we're going to learn the word torso. So, the torso is the part of the human being from basically the belly button upwards or from your waist upwards. So, it's the torso of a human with the body of a horse and then I don't know if they're always archers but

This centaur has a bow and arrow. I thought that was pretty cool because I like shooting bow and arrow as well. Um but this um I'm not sure if they're always archers but you will meet these uh creatures in any kind of fantasy novel um

or movie, fantasy movie. And I should have introduced that, that these are all creatures you will read about or you'll see in a movie and the genre is called fantasy. Basically meaning a world that has been imagined by someone. This creature doesn't actually exist, but it's a centaur.

vampire. So, these became popular uh just in the last 20, 25 years. I guess vampires have always been popular. A vampire is a creature that is only awake at night and sleeps during the day and this is gonna sound kinda strange but they drink the blood of humans. Uh that's kind of gross. Uh and they live for a very very long time and sunlight uh

is not good for them. That sunlight will injure them or even kill them. So, a vampire, kind of an interesting creature. Um the Twilight novels, the recent Twilight novels from about 15 years ago, maybe a little, I'm not sure the exact date. Uh tell the story of vampires but there's many many different um movies and TV shows about vampires. A creature that looks human but

but is only awake at night and hunts humans and drinks their blood in order to live. They don't eat food or drink regular food. So again, kind of, kind of strange. A dragon. So this is probably one of the most popular mythical creatures, legendary creature, imaginary creature. A dragon is a giant, um, I guess we would probably say, um,

I'm trying to think what you would say. It's a giant animal that sometimes can fly. It doesn't always have to have wings, but normally it does. In the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings, the dragon likes gold. So the dragon smog sleeps on a pile of gold and dragons in some cases can breathe fire.

So we also met dragons if you uh if you watched the uh a dance with dragons or if you watched um a song of ice and fire um if you watched I'm trying to think of the actual name of the show uh for some reason you know with John Snow maybe someone in the chat can remind me of the name. I did prep for this lesson uh but now I'm oh uh uh

Sorry, it's a a game. It's Game of Thrones. That's the name. Uh you will meet dragons that breathe fire and it's very very dangerous but an effective uh animal to have on your side in uh any kind of battle. So, a dragon. There you go.

Cyclops. So a cyclops is a giant human like creature. Again I'm using the word like attached to a word. So similar to a human but much bigger and they only have one eye. So they have one eye in the middle of their forehead. Uh kind of an interesting and bizarre looking creature. It was kinda hard to find a picture of a cyclops that wasn't too scary. I didn't want this lesson to be filled with extremely scary pictures. I

But this is a cyclops, a giant animal. I'm not sure if they all have a horn. I don't think that's part of it. But with a single eye in the middle of their head. So yes, a cyclops. I would not want to meet a cyclops. They look very, very scary. And then the phoenix. So the phoenix is a bird. And the unique ability of the phoenix is to die, usually in a burst of flames or in fire.

and then to be born again or to rise up from the ashes. So the phoenix is often used as a symbol for persistence, a symbol for someone who is very good at coming back from after falling down. So I'm trying to think of a better example. But again, a phoenix is a bird.

It's a bird that at the end of its life or as it dies will burst into flames in some stories and then will rise up from the ashes. Ashes are what are left over after a fire. So the phoenix will rise again from the ashes and be reborn. Very cool. Um

Yeti or Abominable Snowman. It's hard to say Abominable Snowman. Now I have two versions of this. We have Bigfoot or Sasquatch and we have Yeti or the Abominable Snowman. Yeti or the Abominable Snowman is a giant ape-like creature that lives somewhere around the Himalayan Mountains or in the Himalayan Mountains. Um and people have never actually seen one but

but people have seen evidence or they think they've seen one. So whether Yeti exists or whether the abominable snowman exists is up to you to decide, but definitely a giant, like definitely taller than a human type creature who lives in the Himalayan mountains.

I don't know if anyone has climbed the Himalayan mountains, but maybe you've seen footprints in the snow and you thought maybe it was from Yeti or the abominable snowman. You want me to say that word again? Abominable, abominable snowman. Tricky word to say. And then of course in North America we have Bigfoot or Sasquatch seen usually around the Rocky Mountains. Again,

imaginary creature but maybe if you've gone hiking in the Rocky Mountains, you've seen evidence. Really big footprints and this is what Bigfoot would look like. We would say Bigfoot is a cousin of Yeti and we also use the word Sasquatch to describe this creature. I think this photo has been debunked. When something's been debunked, it's been proven to be false and

Um sometimes people think they see something and they take a photo and they say it's a UFO or Bigfoot but then later there's evidence that it's just a man in an ape suit. So but this uh Bigfoot again would be a giant ape like creature that roams I think mostly the Rocky Mountains is where you would uh possibly run into it. A hydra. So a hydra is a creature. I think a creature that lives in the ocean but that has that has multiple heads.

And I think the problem with a hydra is when someone battles a hydra, if they cut off one of the heads, it grows back. So, a very difficult creature to kill. Um but we do use this word sometimes in English to describe um you know, you could describe a company as well. They're like a hydra. Like when one department closes down, another department opens. Like they're multi-headed. Sometimes we describe government like this. Like the government's like a hydra.

which has so many departments and so many heads that when you close one department, another department opens. But anyways, a hydra, an animal, a fictional animal, an imaginary animal that has multiple heads. Nessie or the Loch Ness Monster. So, in Scotland,

In the highlands of Scotland, there is a lake, Loch Ness. Notice Loch and lake sound very similar. There's a reason for that. And in Loch Ness, there is maybe a monster. And that monster is called the Loch Ness monster. I think this is one of the only photos. I don't know if this photo is copyrighted. I hope I don't get in trouble for using it. But Nessie or the Loch Ness monster is...

possibly an ancient aquatic creature that lives in Loch Ness. Uh so I I don't know if this creature exists but there have been sightings. So when you talk about Bigfoot or Yeti or Nessie when you say there are sightings it means people think they saw it. There's no photo but there's been a sighting. So they think they've seen Nessie. So again,

possibly an animal that's still alive from the dinosaur age or some sort of mythical aquatic creature. Aquatic means it is in the water. Nessie. This is why I'm doing this lesson, by the way. There was an article about the Loch Ness monster. Maybe another sighting. So reindeer exist. So I'll be clear. Reindeer do exist. If you go to northern parts of the world, you will find reindeer and they do look like that, but they don't fly.

But we do have this story around Christmas about Santa Claus and that he has flying reindeer that pull his sled through the air. So, flying reindeer are imaginary. They do not exist. I have gone outside on Christmas Eve and I've never seen reindeer flying through the air but they the normal reindeer do exist. So, if you go to

somewhere at Christmas. You might see reindeer if you're in Northern Europe or something like that but um the flying kind are totally imaginary. So, Pegasus has a capital letter because this is an actual winged horse and this is the name of the winged horse. Now, if you're playing a video game where you can create different animals, maybe they have a Pegasus but a Pegasus is essentially a horse with wings. So, if you look here,

You can see a beautiful white horse, not a unicorn. There's no horn protruding from the forehead, but this horse-like creature or horse has wings and so it can fly. That would be very cool. I imagine if the world was filled with animals like this, like Pegasus, travel would be a lot easier. I could just jump on my Pegasus and fly somewhere very quickly. That'd be very handy. That'd be a nice way to go to work, wouldn't it?

Well, it'd be cold in the winter, but it certainly would be fast because you could fly straight there. You could go as the crow flies, we say in English. By the way, as the crow flies means to go from point A to point B in a straight line. So airplanes, they fly as the crow flies, like in a straight line. A mermaid. It took me a while to find a picture of a mermaid that was acceptable for this lesson. A mermaid is part female, human, and part fish.

Um, so in some stories, when you read about mermaids, they will be on the rocks on the shore as sailors are going by. Um, mermaids again are fictional creatures. They don't exist, but if they did exist, they would be partially fish. So their bottom is fish. Their torso is human. Remember the word torso is

from when we were talking about the centaur. So, the torso of a human. So, from the belly button up, a the torso and then the bottom part would be fish, rather large fish. So, and by the way, a mermaid is a female and a merman, a lesser known term would refer to a male of that species or whatever you would call it. So, mermaid. The minotaur. So, the minotaur, I wanna say it's like a

human with the head of a bull or the head of a cow. Um but it's really part man part bull. Like if you look at this picture the minotaur has hooves like a bull and it has the head of a bull but it has the body of a human. It's also very large. And if you know anything about the minotaur it's from a story where the minotaur lives in a maze and

Um I'm not going to give you all the details but every year the local people have to I think it's every year or every seven years they have to um give or sacrifice people for the Minotaur. It's kind of a strange story but uh I would not want to meet this creature ever. So part bull, part man, 100% scary. That's how I would describe the Minotaur. A werewolf. So when you watch stories that have vampires that

Often, there will also be werewolves in the story. Kind of a different sort of imaginary creature. A werewolf is a human looking creature but depending on the story, maybe when there's a full moon, it will turn into a large wolf or into just a normal wolf. So, a werewolf is a

I guess you could say part human, part wolf but they're only in one form at a time. So, when you meet a werewolf, if they did exist, they might look like a normal human being. They might be a little hairier than a normal human being. If you watch a story where they have werewolves, sometimes in their human form, they look like a human but a little hairier and then either they're

for some reason or because of a full moon. There's a lot of different reasons. They will transform from their human form into their werewolf form. So I'm using a few words there. I'm in human form right now.

So that means that I look like a human. When there's a full moon though, I transform, I change, and then I become a wolf. Did I just admit I was a werewolf? Sorry, these are imaginary creatures, not real. So again, we use the word form, human form or wolf form, and then they transform from one to the other depending on the situation.

A griffin. A griffin has the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. I think if you ever played a game like World of Warcraft, I think there are griffins that you can ride if you are in the human faction. So again, if you read fantasy novels or watch fantasy movies or play video games, you will sometimes see creatures like the griffin. So head talons are

the front paw talons, and wings of an eagle, eagle, eagle, that's not a word, eagle, and then the body of a lion. Very cool creature, but I would be quite afraid if I saw one. I don't know how friendly they are. I'm afraid of something with that big of a beak. That just looks a little bit scary to me.

um a fairy. So, there are a couple of different spellings of this. I've used the more traditional. I've used the more common spelling um but a fairy is a small creature that can fly. Not very big at all. That people sometimes think they see flying around their garden. Uh sometimes fairies will have like little they'll light up or they'll glow a little bit but it's obviously an imaginary creature um and I think most um

cultures have some form of word for fairy. Um just a small I think because if you go out in the morning when it's dark and becoming light and you see mist and fog and you might imagine that you see a small glowing creature flying around. So, a fairy. Um very interesting creature. Um we have some on our farm. No, we don't. I was just gonna say we have some on our farm but we don't.

gnome. So a gnome is a very tiny human-like creature. Often if you see them portrayed they have funny hats. This is actually the cover of a Dutch book about gnomes and when I was growing up my grandparents had this book in their house and I just found it hilarious. But gnomes are little magical creatures and

that often live out in your garden. If you have a garden, you might have garden gnomes. There's tree gnomes and garden gnomes and all different kinds. There may be about this tall. Small little creatures and you can, some people have, they're called figurines where you go and buy one and you put it in your garden. A sea monster. Sometimes we say sea serpent. Um a large creature that lives in the ocean. Um very very scary. Um um

If you were on a ship a long time ago, you would probably be afraid of sea monsters or sea serpents. They would be, they would be something that you would be afraid would wreck your ship. And then a really large sea monster would be called a kraken. A kraken might come up and try to sink your boat. This looks like a really large squid. I would be very afraid if I was a sailor hundreds of years ago that a kraken would

would come and attack my ship. And then of course a ghost. A ghost is of course someone who has died and then their spirit has come back. You can see how you can see through the ghost. Like a ghost is not a solid creature. And generally you will see a ghost. Not that they exist but you'll see them in a house that is maybe haunted. There might be people who have died and their ghost still lives in the house.

dwarf. A small human-like creature. You will see these in uh movies like the Lord of the Rings. Very very strong, very powerful um and they usually like to live underground and they mine different ores. So, this is a dwarf and then of course, we have an elf. This is Legolas. So, an elf has pointed ears. More of um a

Like as much as the dwarf is strong, the elf has a lot of finesse or dexterity. A troll. This is a troll doll. A troll is like a rock-like creature that is a little bit scary and when you see them in movies, they're not as cute as this. An orc is a very ugly large creature that um sorry, some of you probably like orcs but it's an ugly large creature featured in movies like the Lord of the Rings.

Ogre. An ogre is like Shrek from the movie Shrek. Actually, true ogres, I think, eat people. It's a little weird and scary. A giant is, of course, an enormous human-like creature. Very, very tall. A genie lives in a lamp. And if you rub the lamp, the genie comes out and gives you three wishes. And then hopefully you choose wisely. Sometimes genies can be tricky.

A leprechaun from Ireland. A leprechaun is a small creature. Usually likes to play tricks on people and has a pot of gold somewhere. And then of course, a zombie. A human that has died and for some reason is alive again and walking around. So very, very sad.

Hi, Bob the Canadian here. Thank you for listening to this English podcast lesson. If you would like to support me in the work that I do as an online English teacher, please visit patreon.com slash bobthecanadian.