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Showing posts with the label esol

Where does the word robot come from?

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Photo by  Franck V.  on  Unsplash  The word  Robot means to 'work slavishly'. It is a rare example of a Czech word ('robota') being incorporated into English.  From Start the Week 24/01/11 Robot  first came to public attention through Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920. This  opens in a factory that makes machines that replicate human form. These machines are closer to what today would be termed androids .  As in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,  the ethical issues explored by Čapek relate to individual autonomy. A shared preoccupation is the danger inherent in 'playing God'.  Dictionary dispute Čapek credited his brother Josef with coming up with the word robot. He also wrote to the Oxford English Dictionary to correct their etymology.  Karel had originally used another neologism labori based on the Latin word for work,  labor, but was dissatisfied. His brother then pointed to the Cze

Where does the word Halloween come from?

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Photo by  freestocks.org  on  Unsplash Halloween or All-Hallows-Eve takes place on the night of 31 October in anticipation of All-Hallows-Day (1st November) . It has emerged from a combination of Christian and pagan traditions. Etymology Hallow is the old English word for saint. Halloween is a Scottish variation dating back to the 1700s. The 'een' suffix is a contraction of 'evening'. 'Hallowed evening' or 'holy evening' was later understood to mean eve or 'night before' as with Christmas Eve  All Hallows Day is now called All-Saints-Day in the Catholic calendar. It commemorates Christian martyrs   All Souls Day follows on 2 November. On All Souls Day Catholics pray for the 'souls of the (faithful) departed'. Photo by  Tony J  on  Unsplash Halloween FAQ - brief history of Halloween customs - free 3 min read Halloween often features in Victorian ghost stories. Read and/or listen to E. Nesbit’s ‘Man-Made-in

Where does the word nerd come from? Difference between a geek and a nerd?

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nerd nəːd/ noun informal:  a foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious. Single minded, expert:  "I was a serious nerd until I discovered girls and cars" synonyms : bore, dull person;  "a computer nerd"

What is an octothorpe?

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In the 1960s engineers at Bell Labs were designing the first touch keyboard telephones.

What is a rookie? Where does the word come from?

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A rookie is someone new to a particular situation or recently promoted to a higher level of competition or responsibility.

Top 10 words with most OED entries? What do they have in common?

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What does it mean to 'move the needle'?

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The expression “ moving the needle ” first appeared in England during the industrial revolution.  The reference was to gauges on steam engines.    During World War II, it became a more common term in reference to aviation gauges.  In business today it’s synonymous with making progress.   Source In US politics to 'move the needle' is to significantly change the opinion polls in the direction of your candidate.  An alternative - more recent - origin to the one above comes from seismology. The movement of the Richter Scale indicates the strength of an earthquake.

The best way to teach English?

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Kaplan International College surveyed more than 500 ESL teachers from 40 countries to discover what tools they use to enhance their lessons. This infographic summarises their findings. Interesting that 86% use music in the classroom, with The Beatles (40%) being the most used source of material. The next three singers (Michael Jackson, Bob Marley & Elvis) are sadly departed, with only One Direction representing contemporary pop music. Also significant that newspapers still have an important role, despite the dramatic decline of printed sales. Key Concepts in ELT

What are phrasal verbs? Is there an easy way to learn them?

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phrasal verb noun   [ C ]   / ˌfreɪ.z ə lˈvɜːb /       / -ˈvɝːb / a phrase that consists of a verb with a preposition or adverb or both, the meaning of which is different from the meaning of its separate parts: 'Look after', 'work out' and 'make up for' are all phrasal verbs. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus  A phrasal verb is a verb with two parts; the verb and a preposition. The preposition changes the meaning of the verb - to turn on a light is different from to turn a corner. Is there an easy way to learn phrasal verbs? Not if 'easy' means without practice. Phrasal verbs are tricky for English language learners because there are no universal rules. They are the inner secrets of the language; available only to those with the curiosity and patience to discover them. There are, however, a few useful guidelines that can help - see here : Use offer code CQDWKF0 to download English FAQ Teach

Did The Beatles change the English language?

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The Beatles first flew into New York in February 1964. Part of their appeal was what to American ears was a charmingly fresh approach to the  English language.  Interestingly, this came across more in their spoken interviews than their song lyrics - the early ones followed the established 'American' style ('I want to hold your hand'). But success gave them the confidence to draw on cultural and linguistic references that were incomprehensible to American ears -  the  National Health Service  (from ‘Dr Robert’) or the  News of the World  (‘Polythene Pam’), and British English vocabulary like ‘ ring  my friend’ (‘Dr Robert’ again: Americans would say  call ), ‘time for  tea ’ (‘Good Morning, Good Morning’: see sense 3  here ), and  dressing gown  (‘She’s Leaving Home’ – it’s a  bathrobe  in American English). Not to mention those  plasticine  porters in ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ – the American equivalent  Play-Doh  doesn’t quite work here. ( source) The Beat

Best way to teach a language? Guide to ELT methods

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An interesting a overview of the different approaches here: With thanks to the excellent Slideshare   100 English Language FAQ    Teaching Pack - only£0.99/$1.50 Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching  How To Teach English (with DVD) How to Teach English Language Learners

Is there a book with all these questions and answers?

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Yes, there is! Who'd have thunk it? There's an enhanced e-book called 50 Fun FAQ About the English Language  and it only costs $1.75 - more details here

What is the most beautiful word in the English language?

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  What makes a word beautiful? The marriage of form, function and sound? The meaning? The etymology?   Anyway, here is my list. OK - Alan Metcalf makes a strong case for what he calls 'America's greatest word'. He argues that OK encapsulates the American spirit of tolerance, enterprise and practicality. Love - the word that features in the title of 12 The Beatles songs ( All You Need Is- /Can’t Buy Me -/And I - You ). And 113 US Number One singles ... Yes - Joyce describes this as the female word and has Molly Bloom end Ulysses with a resounding tribute to it: 'yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. "  Bewitched - beautiful sound, beautiful Rodgers & Hart song, magical idea. Would also enter ‘bothered’ and ‘bewildered but with only five  Twilight - vampire fans are banned from voting. Iridescent ( ir-i-DES-ent) - ‘brilliant, lustrous, colourful’ - what more could you ask from a word? Any of those make your list? O

Hardest languages for English speakers to learn?

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According to research done by foreign language department of US State Dept Cantonese - the form of Chinese spoken in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province (150 million+ speakers) - presents a particular challenge for English speakers.  There are 6 different tones in Cantonese. You must rise, maintain or lower the relative pitch of your voice to "sing" each word. For example, in English we naturally use a falling tone at the end of a statement ( You came. ) and a rising tone at the end of a question ( You came? ). To be understood in Cantonese, it is essential that you master the six tones. If you use the wrong tone, you are probably saying a completely different word.     In the written form all Chinese languages (Mandarin, Cantonese etc) share one system. But the spoken forms are as distinct as Spanish and Portuguese. A version of this post is included in  50 FAQ about English    ($1.75)

What is a debt default?

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To default on a debt is to stop repaying it. A sovereign debt default is when a country cannot make an agreed repayment on money it owes - as happened to Argentina in the early 1990s, for example. An early sign of a possible default is when the credit rating agencies downgrade the credit rating of the country concerned to 'junk bond status' - see here for a brief description (with audio) of what this means. What is a debt default? (mp3) What happens when a country defaults? Usually the national currency falls in value and this helps to make the goods of country concerned more affordable. International institutions like the IMF also arrange repayment plans or write offs/markdowns of debt. Why would a Greek default be such a big deal? It's a small country! 1. Because it owes massive amounts to some of the biggest European banks. They will lose money or 'have a hair cut' as financial traders put it. 2. Greece cannot devalue i

Which language has the most a) native speakers b) 2nd language speakers?

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The discussions on how to save the euro were, bizarrely conducted in English, though there were not a Briton in sight .   The Sunday Times 14/02/10 Listen! More on this & related topics below. (English language level: Upper Intermediate CEF (B2) According to David Graddol's extensive survey for the British Council, the number of non-native or second language speakers of English now outnumbers those of primary or native speakers. At the same time there is an ever increasing need for speakers of different languages to communicate with each other: international tourism is growing, but the proportion of encounters involving a native English speaker is declining (1.9). There were around 763 million international travellers in 2004, but nearly 75% of visits involved visitors from a non-English-speaking country travelling to a non-English-speaking destination. This demonstrates the ... growing role for global English. (free)  Interview with Robert McCrum: The rise of Gl

Is English an 'easy' language to learn?

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Not according to millions of student of English as a foreign language! But English does have some 'user friendly features as an OUP lexicographer explains in this short extract from a BBC interview Easy English (ESL)

Why do we say Iraq War but not Afghanistan War?

Not another debate over the rights and wrongs of those wars but a peculiar linguistic quirk pointed out by Jay Nordlinger My colleague and I were talking about this, too: We say “Iraq War”; but “Afghan War.” Those are unequal. We would never say “Iraqi War” or “Afghanistan War.” Strange. We refer to the “Korean War.” But we would never say “Vietnamese War.” We say “Vietnam War” — and not “Korea War.” It is curious. My theory is that we instinctively reach for the adjective but collectively abandon this rule for multi-syllable countries. So 'Korean' but not 'Vietnamese'. Not very scientific but when did that stop me ....