Hi, Alex here,
This is SpeakEasy, turning small talk into smart talk.
Today:
🪖 Yes-Men: No fighting in the War Room
🤿 Smile. Nod. DIVE: Interested beats interesting
🧲 Word Thief: Loan words
🦠 Tiny, But Murdery: The world’s smallest bot
…and more.
Words, wit & culture! 🧠
Conversation ammo inside.
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Turn headlines into talking points
🪖 No Fighting in the War Room!
China has just purged its top generals. Again.
This time… basically all of them.
(That one remaining guy must be an arse-kisser extraordinaire.)
President Xi Jinping removed senior military figures once thought untouchable (because he chose them…).
Combat veterans. Long-timers. Gone. Kaput. Ex-generals.
Official reason: “discipline violations.”
(The geopolitical equivalent of “It’s not you, it’s me.”)
History does not love this move.
When leaders promote loyalty over competence, the bad news dries up fast.
Everyone nods, “Yes, boss.”
Reality waits outside in the corridor, awkwardly shuffling its feet (or sent to a gulag).
See: Russia.
Vladimir Putin thought Ukraine would fold in days.
We have the tanks! The numbers! The fur hats!
(But not the “Err… hang on a minute.”)
Four years later?
Trench warfare, staggering losses, and cheap drones turning billion-dollar kit into scrap.
WWI, but with Wi-Fi.
Which brings us to the uncomfortable bit.
If Taiwan really is on the table, you’d want experienced generals pushing back, saying, “This is a bad idea.”
(Wouldn’t you also want generals with experience of, oh. I don’t know…fighting?)
But purges don’t create that room. They create silent ones.
And reality?
Still waiting outside in the corridor.
What do you think?
📊 Will China invade Taiwan this year?
FAMOUS WORDS
“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking”
(General George S. Patton, American General, 1885-1945)
🎬 Name the film
👇 Answer at the end.
TALK TOOLBOX
🤿 Strive to D.I.V.E.
“I’m not interested in that.”
Student. Day one.
An eight-hour environmental presentation course I taught.
What I wanted to say: “Tough! Conversation isn’t your personal Spotify playlist.”
What I actually said: something profound and inspiring that made everyone stand on their desks and applaud.
(Or was that a film?)
Most conversations skip like a stone on water.
Bounce, next topic, bounce, next topic.
Light. Fast. Finished.
But sometimes you can’t skip the stone.
Your client’s crypto portfolio.
Your father-in-law’s whisky obsession.
Your boss’s love of free jazz 😖
When you need a deeper connection, you D.I.V.E. instead.
D — Draw connections
“Is that like…?” Link it to anything you recognize.
I — Invite the story
“What got you into this?” Origin stories beat opinions.
V — Value their input
“Interesting. Can you tell me more?” Curiosity counts.
E — Exit cleanly
“Fascinating… that reminds me…” Pivot before it becomes a podcast.
Great conversations aren’t only about being interesting.
They’re about being interested, just long enough to find something meaningful.
Think of it as treasure hunting.
You’re Indiana Jones. With a scuba tank.
💡 PRO TIP: Run a mental 3-minute timer. Engage, connect, redirect.
⛔ DON’T SAY: “Wow, really?” on repeat. After three times, it sounds fake.
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WORD WISE
🧲 English: The Language Thief
Oxford just added 11 more Japanese words to the dictionary — senpai, yōkai, love hotel, washlet (the genius toilet seat), and more.
No surprise. English is a linguistic magpie.
Roughly 70–75% of its vocabulary is borrowed from other languages.
If it’s shiny and useful, we steal it.
My favourite Japanese word? Genki — energetic, healthy, spirited, fine.
It’s what you ask when checking on someone: “Genki?”
(Still waiting Oxford…)
🎯 Quick Quiz: Where did these words originally come from?
banana — a) Spanish b) West African c) Portuguese
ketchup — a) Chinese b) Indian c) Dutch
robot — a) Russian b) Czech c) German
cookie — a) Dutch b) French c) Italian
shampoo — a) Arabic b) Japanese c) Hindi
Answers: 1-b (West African languages), 2-a (Chinese kê-tsiap), 3-b (Czech robota = forced labour), 4-a (Dutch koekje), 5-c (Hindi chāmpo).
💬 FOLLOW-UP: Do you have any faves? Reply and let me know!
BECAUSE THE ROBOTS ARE COMING
🦠 Tiny, But Murdery.
Tinier than a grain of salt, this light-powered microbot can swim in your bloodstream for months.
Medical breakthrough or assassination upgrade?
Recently featured in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (yes, PNAS…).
Sounds reassuring… until you remember Bond villains read journals too.
💬 FOLLOW-UP: What do you think? Murdery or medical marvel?
ANSWER
🎬 Answer: The Death of Stalin (2017)
A pitch-black comedy about Soviet officials scrambling for power after Stalin suddenly dies.
🌎 Cultural Impact: Banned in Russia (always a good sign).
🧠 Deep Dive: The film's chaos mirrors real history — Stalin's inner circle were so terrified of him, they let him lie in his own urine for hours before calling a doctor.
💬 YOUR TURN: Ever had a boss you were afraid of? Reply and let me know!
LAST WEEK
📊 POLL: How do you feel about swearing in conversation?
A) 🤬 Love it — adds emphasis and honesty - 33%
B) 🤷 Strategic use only — context is king - 61%
C) 😬 Makes me uncomfortable — keep it clean - 6%
D) 🙊 Never — unprofessional and unnecessary - 0%
💬 Your Two Cents
B.A: “I say 'Love it' and a do enjoy a good curse, but I worry at times I'm a little too trigger happy. My daughter did suggest a swear jar actually. Clever girl.”
S.Y: “F**k off” 😳
Me too! Would have been lost in SE Asia without them.
THIS IS THE END
That's it for #55.
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