if u are a house of cards freak, u are definitely aware that season 4 of of the political thriller will be available tomorrow, march 4. even if u are not a fan of the series, there is some useful vocabulary u can take from last season (specifically episode 11) including examples of freak and freak out.
the episode focuses on the campaign leading up to (before, in anticipation of) the iowa caucus. in this video clip, we see the opening of a fictional debate between president frank underwood (kevin spacey) and two other democratic candidates. cnn’s michelle kosinski breaks it down (explains it)
there is a large crowd here in sioux city tonight. i would say potential voters, but of course, here in iowa, citizens caucus instead of vote, and many of the people here in this room will be doing just that on january 15th. a cnn/ orc poll has it as a tight race between the two front-runners: heather dunbar at 32 percent, president frank underwood at 30 percent. congresswoman jackie sharp trails in third at 14 percent. 22 percent remain undecided.
instead of means as an alternative to. front-runner refers to who’s winning. trail indicates that jackie sharp is behind, losing.
doug stamper advising frank underwood (netflix)
as the scene continues, doug (michael kelly) who previously worked for underwood says he doesn’t care about watching the debate and tells his brother gary (kelly aucoin) to watch whatever he wants. checking the schedule gary says
oh, shit. have you ever seen contagion?……..if you’re a clean freak, this’ll definitely make you a germ freak.
oh shit expresses emotion, in this case, a little excitement. freak is a weird or crazy person. it can be used as an insult but it is not always negative.
the film that freaked doug stamper out
the next day, doug admits
that movie freaked me out.
freak out means he had a strong negative reaction, it upset him; it can also mean to lose emotional control.
when bk said they weren’t going to sell the whopper anymore, customers freaked out (daym drops)
upsetting (disturbing) is used in this commercial at :13 as a reaction to burger king‘s decision to stop selling the whopper, their most popular sandwich. they didn’t really stop selling the whopper, it was only an experiment; but as the announcer says at the end of the spot, bk customers freaked (same idea as freaked out).
the first line of this disco classic is freak out! in this context, chic was telling folks to go crazy on the dance floor.
this famous song by rick james is a tribute to ladies who like to get crazy sexually.
and when ant-man explains the powers his suit has in this scene, he describes it as weird and freaky. then when he shrinks (is reduced) to the size of an ant, he lands on his friend’s shoulder and warns him not to freak out.
fun elt practice 
richyrocks english on youtube
do u know any other applications of freak, freak out or freaky? share your comments under leave a reply
