What The Duck – Narcissism – By Aaron Johnson
Transcript
- Box 1: Your photos are amazing!
- Box 1: I know. It’s my second greatest talent.
- Box 2: What’s your first?
- Box 3: Narcissism.
Vocabulary
- amazing /əˈmeɪzɪŋ/ (adj.) very surprising; usually used to say that something is good
- talent /ˈtælənt/ (n.) a natural ability to do something (Example: He has a great talent for taking pictures)
- narcissism /ˈnɑːsɪsɪzəm/ (Formal n.) great interest in and pleasure at your own appearance and qualities
Context
- Giving compliments: giving compliments and praising someone’s work is common in North America. However, people who receive the compliments are often expected to downplay them (that is to say, to say something that will make the compliment less strong) or to simply say “Thank you!” Here, when the purple duck praises the other duck’s photos, he does not follow the usual convention of down playing the compliment. Instead, he fully accepts it. This creates an unexpected situation. This is then reinforced when in the 3rd box the duck says that his first talent is to be narcissist (= having great admiration for himself).
- Narcissism: People are rarely proud to claim to be narcissist. This is usually perceived as a negative quality. Here, however, the duck turns around the situation around by proudly claiming it — reinforcing his claim of being quite narcissist indeed!
