English Language FAQ

Maven comes from the Yiddish word meaning ‘expert’ or ‘someone knowledgeable in a particular subject’ . Modern usage tends to conflate expertise with influence - a maven is a person whose opinion or course of action is watched closely by others The word became widely known when it was used by  Malcolm Gladwell  in  The Tipping Point . Gladwell describes how a few key individuals can influence a large numbers of people.  Obvious examples include technology pioneers like Jobs and Zukerberg but maven can be said to be present in every sphere of activity. Despite his vociferous denials, Malcolm Gladwell himself is a maven in the area of pop psychology. In marketing, the word has a slightly different usage. The maven can be a person, group, network, company or association that already has a relationship with the people you’re trying to sell to.  Source A version of this post is included in  50 FAQ about English    ($1.75)

Learner autonomy is a much used term amongst contemporary educationalists. Henri Holec first used the term in 1981, broadly defining learner autonomy as 'the ability to take charge of one's learning'. Key characteristics include self awarneness, critical reflection and taking responsibility for learning. More here

The above video gives a very good description of the debt ceiling. But some might put more emphasis on the current scale of US debt - which has edged up towards $17 trillion at an alarming rate - see debt clock here .  What brought the debt ceiling back into political play has been growing consensus that the debt is now unsustainable in the long term. What Democrats and Republicans battle over is what to do about this. It is universally agreed debt default (see below) could have a potentially catastrophic impact on the world economy. This prospect will eventually lead to some sort of deal but the two parties will fight bitterly until the last moment. What is a debt default? A failure to meet a legally agreed payment. This usually means that the agreement - for example a mortgage - is no longer valid and the lender can take steps to recover the value of the loan Why would a US debt default be a disaster? Usually the national currency falls in value and this helps to make the

A 'haircut' is a loss in the value of an investment or security: see  here  for an example. 

A run on a bank is when a large number of customers withdraw their funds simultaneously. If a run on a bank gains momentum it can quickly 'fail' or go out of business, as  happened with Lehman Brothers in 2008. This is what George (James Stewart) is trying to prevent in the famous scene (above) from 'It's a Wonderful Life'. With institutions that are 'too big too fail' a government or international financial organisation may rescue the bank by either taking it over or injecting huge amounts of cash. This is the role the EU is currently playing in Cyprus. Unfortunately the proposed solution, which involved seizing ten per cent of depositor cash has created a crisis of confidence that threatens the banks, the role of Cyprus in the EU and ultimately the EU project itself. How do you stop a bank run? With great difficulty. The traditional remedies are: a) delay -  ....the bank is going to open again next week ... the key requirement is to 'buy tim

This cartoon refers to 'Rickrolling' meme (see below) The word meme was first introduced by Richard Dawkins in  The Selfish Gene . Dawkins was looking for "a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene'" to apply a biological concept to 'cultural evolution'. He wrote that evolution depended not on the particular  chemical basis  of  genetics , but only on the existence of a  self-replicating  unit of transmission – in the case of biological evolution, the  gene . For Dawkins, the meme exemplified another self-replicating unit with potential significance in explaining  human behavior  and cultural evolution. [1]   The form a meme can take is very fluid. Here BBC Radio 4's  Start the Week  discuss a 'cultural meme' listen to ‘English FAQ: What is a meme?’ on Audioboo The term  internet meme  is a further simplification of what some have argued is a pseudo-scientific term. It is defined on one tech blog as: a catchphrase or concept