Posts

What is a metanarrative?

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The definition of metanarrative is earnestly debated in faculty lounges and hipster coffee-bars. Here is one attempt: a narrative  about  narratives of historical meaning, experience or knowledge, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (as yet unrealised) master idea.    J. Childers/G. Hentzi eds.,  The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism  (1995) p. 186 What does this mean in comprehensible English?  I can make no sense of 'narratives of historic meaning' but the meta here seems to be defined as 'wider' or 'overarching'.  So for a Marxist the story of the Russian Revolution forms part of the wider metanarrative of the (supposed) history of class struggle. Terms like  metanarrative  have emerged from the influence of post-modernism on leading universities in the West.  Matt Labash  is one of many to question whether this influence has been entirely beneficial. What is a meme? What does m

What does 'meta' mean? What is meta-language?

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Thanks to Ms Langley's Year 11 English class for this Wordle The prefix meta - as in metalanguage, metanarrative etc - is very difficult to pin down. In broad terms meta means 'about itself' - so metalanguage is the language of language. For example a language teacher might use metalanguage like  lexicon or  past perfect in a lesson plan. This is reasonably comprehensible, though some might argue that a less fancy-pants alternative would be technical-terms or even jargon. It could also be argued that unlike other words with the meta prefix (see metatnarrative)  metalanguage has at least the advantage of precision e.g. teachers should avoid using complex metalanguage in the classroom. And it can be useful for teaching identifying the concepts that underpin language learning. What is a meme? What is a metanarrative? Mrs Langley's English Class Wiki

What are tweet seats?

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Anyone attending an afternoon showing of a family film will observe that the big screen is not the only one glowing in the cinema. Now it appears that an increasing number of US theatres are running up the white flag to those desperate for their phone fix: An American theatre is the latest to offer so-called 'Tweet seats' where audience members are encouraged to post comments about the performance on the social messaging site.   The Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has formalised a growing trend in theatre audiences to use their phones from within auditoria by giving obsessive tweeters a section of their own.   Its management have roped off a special balcony-level section of the theatre 'that will not be disruptive to other patrons.... Read more :

What is the Tube?

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The London Underground, the first urban rail transport system of its kind, opened 150 years ago today. It is known as the Tube because of the distinctive shape of the trains and tunnels. Many local train networks have copied the basic model of the Underground, but none takes either of its names. So we have the Paris Metro, New York Subway and the Hong Kong MTR. I took the original line (London Metropolitan) to my school every week day and then various lines to various jobs but still only know a fraction of the vast network. What I can say is that you should avoid the Northern Line (if you want to arrive on time) and the Central Line during the Sales. And my fave has always been the District - the beautiful green line which takes you out to Ealing or Richmond, depending where you branch off. Happy Birthday, Tube! 150 facts from 150 years of Underground

What is sans serif?

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In recent years the previously obscure field of typefaces has become increasingly fashionable. Seth Stevenson at Salon suggests that 'font fanatic' Steve Jobs was a crucial influence in the rise of the 'amateur typography expert'.  To join this groovy world of graphic design you first need to identify the difference between serifs (those with 'little feet') and sans serif (those without). sans-serif typefaces (with no little feet at the tops and bottoms of their letters) first appeared in the mid-1800s, they were labeled "grotesque" because they looked quite bizarre to unaccustomed eyes. Serif V Sans Serif Traditionally, sans serifs are used for headline rather than body text in print. The rationale is that the serifs help the eye to distinguish words. But increasingly this approach is challenged by some typographers - with the rules being deliberately subverted by the 'grunge typography' of David Carson, for example. 'Th

What is EDM? Who is it making rich?

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Only the squarest will not know that EDM (electronic dance music) is what hipsters are tuning in to. And crucially dance music, as it was originally called in the UK in the 90s, has finally taken off in the USA. The big breakthrough came when concerts/event/raves/parties moved out of night clubs - only open to those over twenty-one in most American states - to stadiums where the top EDM DJs command vast sums for individual appearances. So lucrative have these club/stadium nights become that some of the biggest names - like members of the Swedish House Mafia -  now appear in the Forbes Rich list. Oldsters & the defiantly uncool will puzzled as to why playing records - or mixing sounds if we are to get technical - can earn upwards of $100,000 for a 90 minute show. But across the world these new sultans of swing will be helicoptering between stadia, hoovering up fortunes as they do. Personally I'm going to give bossing the decks a miss this year. I've made my millions

What is a pangram?

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A pangram is a sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet. The best know example is The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

What are the most common letters used in English?

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Scott Bryce  uses statistical analysis to provide Cryptogram fans/Scrabble players with a list of the most used letters in the English language: 1. E      12.51% 2. T 9.25 3. A 8.04 4. O 7.60 5. I 7.26 6 N 7.09 7. S 6.54 8. R 6.12 9. H 5.49 10. L 4.14 Interesting to note that there are four vowels in the top five, but 'u' is a surprisingly low 13th. More fun facts about the English language  here  (short audio with worksheet)

Is the importance of English overstated?

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A recent article challenges the idea that English is the unstoppable homogenizing world language  ...  it would also be a big mistake to overestimate the reach of English. Though it is widely assumed that the planet is becoming more linguistically homogeneous, hard evidence suggests otherwise. Most of the approximately six thousand languages in use today are indeed spoken by relatively small communities, nearly half by populations of less than ten thousand. Although a great many of these idioms are in danger of dying, many new languages and dialects are coming into existence as well. More broadly, there are a number of major world languages other than English, used by large portions of the planet’s inhabitants, in the context of dynamic social, cultural, and economic activities. Fifteen idioms are spoken by at least one hundred million people—including Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Japanese, Portuguese, and French. At around one billion, there are more than twice as many speakers

How do we learn language?

12 Key Political Terms for English Language Learners?

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With thanks to MyEnglishTeacher.eu

What is the 'fiscal cliff'?

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Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.   Mr Micawber in Charles Dickens David Copperfield (1850) The ' fiscal cliff ' is the phrase used by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to describe the situation US economy will face in January 2013 if political agreement is not reached in Washington. At that time a series of tax rises (the expiration of the 'Bush tax cuts') and spending cuts (part of a previous agreement) will take effect. As things stand the Democrats - including the freshly re-elected President - are refusing to cut expenditure on programs like Medicare. They insist on tax rises for 'the super rich' or 'millionaires and billionaires' as it expressed in electoral rhetoric. Both sides are hemmed in by the 'debt ceiling' - a legal limit to the amount that can be borrowed - and the a previous agr

Word for admirer of American culture?

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There does not seem to be an agreed term as you can see from the number of Google references here: yankophile 945 americanophile 716 americophile 233 americaphile 150 usaphile 14 usphile 1 Contrast this with the situation for lovers of French, English, Chinese or Japanese culture anglophile 102,000, francophile 84,700, japanophile 20,400, sinophile 3450 Why is this? Snobbery, perhaps - a 'new' culture looked down on by traditional ones? Or pure prejudice? Casual anti-Americanism is often indulged where  where other forms of bigotry are socially unacceptable. Or is it just linguistically awkward - americaphile really isn't a pretty word. You might want to check out:  (audio) discussion about the relationship between British and American English  here . Time Magazine piece on  The Next American Century The New American Century Alistair Cooke's America