Olympics Vocabulary – Curling Glossary
In honor of our fabulous 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, I am posting some sports-related vocabulary and expressions, so that you may enjoy the games more and have a better chance of understanding the plays of the sports. Enjoy! Curling Glossary (from http://www.ecf-web.org/glossary.html ) BACK LINE The line behind the house. Once crossed a stone is […]
Textbooks are the Beginning, Not the End
I love books. I enjoy flipping through the pages and seeing if the style of the book matches my learning style. In that way I will know if I will read it and understand it, or if I will be bored and waste my time and money. I have taught ESL (English as a Second […]
Cop Talk – Learning the Idioms and Slang of the Police
Do you enjoy watching police TV shows like COPS, CSI, Law & Order etc. and police films in English? There are lots to choose from for sure. Or perhaps you want to apply to become a police officer? I have the pleasure of working directly with a local police service (YRP – York Regional Police) […]
Idioms from Snow
Well it is the season for this topic, at least here in Canada and the northern U.S. (I have modified these from http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/snow) To be (as) pure as the driven snow: Pure and chaste (Often used ironically.) E.g. Jill: Sue must have gone to bed with every man in town. Jane: And I always thought […]
Swimming Idioms Part 1
(from http://www.business-english.com/swimmingidioms/menu.php with some modifications) If you are ‘out of your depth’, you don’t have the necessary knowledge, experience or skill to deal with a particular situation or subject. In North America, a common replacement is ‘out of your league’, as in major league baseball. • When she started talking about quantum physics, I felt […]
Swimming Idioms Part 2
If you ‘make a splash’, you get a lot of public attention. • We need to make a splash by holding a cocktail party for journalists. • She made quite a splash when she wore such a small dress to the film premiere. If a noise is ‘drowned out’, you cannot hear it because of […]
What’s wrong with these sentences?
Bushisms: U.S. leader sets standard for mangled phrases during presidency By The Associated Press President George W. Bush will leave behind a legacy of Bushisms, the label stamped on the U.S. leaders original speaking style. Some of the president’s more notable malapropisms and mangled statements: -“I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” […]
The Complexity and Power of Words
The interesting thing about words is that they have different meanings to different people, even when using the same language, due to the way we process, filter and finally understand information. What does a word mean to you? Does it mean the exact same thing to every member of your family, community, country or language […]
English Idiom Ebook, If You Like
Hello my friends, Someone emailed me and asked where I got the “Dead Idioms” from (previous post). I sell a downloadable ebook called “Everyday English Idioms”, and that is where they came from. I would be happy if you wish to purchase this ebook. Click here to see it, preview a few pages, and then […]
Dead Idioms?
Hello all, Using idioms (expressions) that are up to date and appropriate will help you fit in better in conversations and allow you to understand more discussions in everyday situations. Using an old ‘dead’ idiom can make you sound a bit foolish, or out of touch. Here are a few idioms that use the word […]