Summary:
Homer is operating a rigged ring-toss game at a carnival. Chief Wiggum, having heard complaints that the game is "crooked," tries to get Homer to bribe him so that he'll turn a blind eye to the game. Unfortunately Homer is too dense to take the hint.
Transcript
Chief Wiggum: I hate to interrupt your fun, boys, but I got a few complaints that your game is crooked.
Homer: Heh-heh, and how!
Chief Wiggum: Gee, I'd hate to close you down, maybe we can reach a little, uh...understanding here.
Homer: [lifelessly] I understand.Bart:
Um, hey, Dad, I think he wants...
Homer: Not right now, son, Daddy is talking to the policeman.
Chief Wiggum: Lemme put it this way. I'm looking for my friend Bill. Have you seen any Bills around here?
Homer: [still not getting Chief Wiggum's point] No. He's Bart.
Chief Wiggum: Argh. Listen carefully and watch me wink as I speak, okay? The guy I'm really looking for, wink, is Mr. Bribe, wink wink.
Homer: [still not understanding anything] It's a ring toss game.
Chief Wiggum: Alright, that's it, I'm shutting this game down!
Idioms and vocab:
"Rigged/ Crooked" -- A game that involves cheating or is impossible to win
"Bribe" --To pay a policeman or government official money in order to get him to ignore corruption
Turn a blind eye to--Ignore a problem
Dense-- Stupid, unobservant
Wink--- To shut one eye, used to communicate a "double meaning"
Bill-- A dollar bill
Reach an understanding-- Come to an agreement
And how!-- Absolutely
Now you practice:
In this clip, Homer can't take the hint because he's too "dense" to understand Wiggum's indirect request. What other things do we often say "indirectly?" When do we use "hints" to ask for things?
Email your responnse to jpenna@udel.edu for this week's Simpson's practice.