Posts

Showing posts with the label politics

US Election Vocabulary: Electoral college? Battleground states?

Image
US presidential elections are not decided by  the  popular vote  (counting the number of votes obtained nationally for each candidate).  Each voter  votes for a state representative to allocate a vote for the president and vice president in what is called an  electoral college . What is the electoral college? States send delegates to the electoral college according to the state vote - with 48 out of 50 using a 'winner takes all system'. Only in Maine and Nebraska are the delegates allocated proportionally. The number of delegates sent to the electoral college is decided by the population of the state. Thus the largest delegations come from the most populous states: New York, California and Texas. Most states are comfortably red (Republican) or blue (Democrat) - see here . This means that presidential elections are essentially fought over a small number of purple or battleground states which swing between parties in different election cycles. Ohio was the classic exam

What is FLOTUS? Who is the POTUS?

Image
There some dispute as to when FLOTUS entered the lexicon: 

What does stalwart mean? Where does the word come from?

Image
Atticus Finch:the stalwart hero of To Kill a Mockingbird  A stalwart person is reliable, dependable, resolute (or inflexible depending on your perspective.) The word is probably a  14th Century Scottish variant on a old English term: stælwierðe "good, serviceable," In the US the term acquired a political dimension with a section of the Republican Party  that refused to abandon its Civil War hostility to the south. They became known as the 'Stalwart Party', a label that stuck. A version of this post is included in the  English FAQ Teaching Pack   Download for only £1.99 with offer code CQDWKF0

12 Key Political Terms for English Language Learners?

Image
With thanks to MyEnglishTeacher.eu