ENGLISH BUNGHOLE: mayo 2013

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

viernes, 17 de mayo de 2013

BUNGHOLE OF THE WEEK: HOBSON'S CHOICE

Two options: take it or leave it; that's 'Hobson's choice'. The expression is best known in the UK, but became used worldwide following the successful eponymous 1954 film starring Charles Laughton.

There is a story that this expression comes from a Mr. Hobson who hired out horses and gave his customers no choice as to which horse they could take. This has all the credentials of a 'folk etymology' myth but, in this case, the derivation is correct.
A search of Google returns several thousand hits for 'Hobbesian choice'. The mistaken uses of that phrase, in place of the correct 'Hobson's choice', originate from a confusion between the celebrated philosopher Thomas Hobbes (who, incidentally, was the originator of another commonplace phrase - 'nasty, brutish and short') and the less well-known carrier Thomas Hobson, to whom the phrase refers.

Thomas Hobson (1545–1631) ran a thriving carrier and horse rental business in Cambridge, England, around the turn of the 17th century. Hobson rented out horses, mainly to Cambridge University students, but refused to hire them out other than in the order he chose. The choice his customers were given was 'this or none'; quite literally, not their choice but Hobson's choice. The phrase was already being described as proverbial less than thirty years after Hobson's death. The Quaker scholar Samuel Fisher referred to the phrase in his religious text, The Rustick's Alarm to the Rabbies, 1660:

"If in this Case there be no other (as the Proverb is) then Hobson's choice ... which is, chuse whether you will have this or none."

The Spectator, No. 509, 1712, explained how Hobson did business, which shows clearly how the phrase came into being:

"He lived in Cambridge, and observing that the Scholars rid hard, his manner was to keep a large Stable of Horses, ... when a Man came for a Horse, he was led into the Stable, where there was great Choice, but he obliged him to take the Horse which stood next to the Stable-Door; so that every Customer was alike well served according."

After his death in 1631, Hobson was remembered in verse by no less a figure than John Milton, saying "He had bin an immortall Carrier". That seems rather a strange thing to say just after he had died. Eighty-six was a very good innings in the 17th century, but hardly immortality. The phrase was still well enough known in the 20th century for 'hobsons' to be adopted then as Cockney rhyming slang for 'voice'. It has no connection with the similar sounding 'Hobson-Jobson', which derived as a corruption by British soldiers in India of the Arabic street cry 'Yā Ḥasan! Yā Ḥusayn!' = 'O Hasan! O Husain!'' (Hasan and Husain were grandsons of Muhammad).
The most celebrated application of Hobson's choice in the 20th century was Henry Ford's offer of the Model-T Ford in 'any colour you like, so long as it's black'.

From: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hobsons-choice.html

THERE IS A WAR - LEONARD COHEN

There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the ones who say there is a war
and the ones who say there isn't.
Why don't you come on back to the war, that's right, get in it,
why don't you come on back to the war, it's just beginning.

Well I live here with a woman and a child,
the situation makes me kind of nervous.
Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says "I guess you call this love";
I call it service.

Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be a tourist,
why don't you come on back to the war, before it hurts us,
why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get nervous.

You cannot stand what I've become,
you much prefer the gentleman I was before.
I was so easy to defeat, I was so easy to control,
I didn't even know there was a war.

Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be embarrassed,
why don't you come on back to the war, you can still get married.

There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the left and right,
a war between the black and white,
a war between the odd and the even.

Why don't you come on back to the war, pick up your tiny burden,
why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get even,
why don't you come on back to the war, can't you hear me speaking?

jueves, 16 de mayo de 2013

LONDON IN 1927

London in 1927 from Tim Sparke on Vimeo.

CHANGING LIVES

COMPARATIVES & SUPERLATIVES

ADJECTIVES:

http://www.bluehill-esl.com/uploads/comparatives_and_superlatives.pdf

http://www.autoenglish.org/basic/gr.comp.pdf

http://clasejoseangel.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/comparative-and-superlative-grammar-guide.pdf

http://www.redevalorizar.azores.gov.pt/redevalorizar/Portals/0/Documentacao/Ingl%C3%AAs%203%C2%BACiclo%20e%20Secund%C3%A1rio%20-%20Grammar%20study%20-%20Comparative%20and%20Superlative%20Adjectives.pdf

http://www.k12reader.com/adverbs/Adverb20_Comparative_Superlative_Practice_II.pdf

http://ies1libertas.edu.gva.es/departamentos/ingles/PDFs/segundo/ecomsu2e1.pdf

http://www.grammarnet.com/ghtml/exercise12/_nov2012.pdf

http://www.edu.xunta.es/centros/iesblancoamorculleredo/system/files/comparison.pdf

http://centros4.pntic.mec.es/~deprac15/iglessandra/sexto/EXTRAS%20DE%20SEXTO/EXTRA2.pdf

http://www.english-zone.com/teach/pdf-files/comparatives.pdf

http://www.fundacionloyola.org/pc/Y83/descargas/Uno/Id/T16671/COMPARATIVE++AND+SUPERLATIVES.pdf

http://www.mysterycove.ch/game/files/resources/grammar/grammar_comparative_and_superlative.pdf

http://autoenglish.org/basic/gr.comp2.pdf

http://www.onestopenglish.com/esol/esol-lesson-plans/pdf-content/cambridge-esol-skills-for-life-comparatives-and-superlatives-lesson-plan/146924.article

http://www.almablasco.es/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/COMPARATIVES-AND-SUPERLATIVES-AND-EXERCISES.pdf

http://www.reformedmonasticism.net/uploads/3/4/0/1/3401675/comparatives_and_superlatives.pdf

http://www.pi-schools.gr/books/dimotiko/english_e/math/s_84_94.pdf

ADVERBS:

http://eoimanresa.xtec.cat/eoimanresa/moodle/ANGLES/3/ANGELS/Unit3/Grammar/Comparatives_superlatives/Comp_super_ADVERBS_and_KEY.pdf

http://www.k12reader.com/adverbs/Adverb19_Comparative_Superlative_Practice.pdf

http://flightline.highline.edu/writingcenter/handouts/comparative-superlative.pdf

https://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/strategiesforwriters/tests/pdf/lvl_e_l40.pdf

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/adverbs-comparative-superlative1.pdf

http://teacherweb.com/NJ/ValleyMiddleSchool-Oakland/MrBlanken/Comparative_Superlative_Adverbs.pdf

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/adverbs-comparative-superlative2.pdf

http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/speech/adverbs/ad6.pdf

Adjectives and adverbs from Elena De Freitas

JUMBLE:

http://eoimanresa.xtec.cat/eoimanresa/moodle/ANGLES/3/JUDIT/UNIT%203/GRAMMAR/Comp_super_adj_adv/Compa_super_adj_adv_with_KEY.pdf

http://universitycollege.illinoisstate.edu/downloads/WritingWorksheet-UsingAdj_Adverbs.pdf

http://elt.oup.com/elt/students/thinkenglishitaly3level/pdf/te3_int_entcheck_03.pdf

http://www.losmedanos.edu/core/documents/AdjectiveandAdverbs.pdf

http://www.samos.aegean.gr/english/EnglishLanguage/Group1_Grammar/PdfFiles/grammar_5.pdf

lunes, 13 de mayo de 2013

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD - ESPERANZA SPALDING

BUNGHOLE OF THE WEEK: TO CUT THE MUSTARD

This phrase is from a metaphor where the mustard is something that adds flavor or zest to life, something that is good. Something that cuts the mustard is very good.

The phrase dates at least 1898. From the Decator, Illinois Herald Despatch of 6 April of that year:

John J. Graves, tight but that he can’t cut the mustard.

Mustard has a long history of being used as a metaphor for something powerful or biting. First in a negative context, as in John Heywood’s A Dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue (1546):

Where her woordes seemd hony,...Now are they mustard.

And somewhat later in a positive sense. From James Howell’sLexicon Tetraglotton (1659):

As strong as Mustard.

The origin of the cut portion of the phrase is uncertain. It could be a reference to cutting a mustard seed, a very difficult task. Or it could be a conflation with a cut above, to cut the mustard is to be better than mustard.

The phrase is also rendered as to be the mustard and it’s very similar to keen as mustard.

Various explanations that it is a corruption of a military phrase to cut muster or that mustard is a difficult crop to harvest have no evidence to support them.

From: http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/cut_the_mustard/

viernes, 10 de mayo de 2013

CRUCIFY YOUR MIND

Was it a huntsman or a player
That made you pay the cost
That now assumes relaxed positions
And prostitutes your loss?
Were you tortured by your own thirst
In those pleasures that you seek
That made you Tom the curious
That makes you James the weak?

And you claim you got something going
Something you call unique
But I've seen your self-pity showing
As the tears rolled down your cheeks

Soon you know I'll leave you
And I'll never look behind
'Cos I was born for the purpose
That crucifies your mind
So con, convince your mirror
As you've always done before
Giving substance to shadows
Giving substance ever more

And you assume you got something to offer
Secrets shiny and new
But how much of you is repetition
That you didn't whisper to him too

SIXTO RODRIGUEZ

http://sugarman.org/coldretro.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDar07TEMuo

miércoles, 1 de mayo de 2013

THATCHER

BUNGHOLE OF THE WEEK: LAME DUCK

MEANING

A person or thing that isn't properly able to function, especially one that was previously proficient.

ORIGIN

The description of 'lame duck' is often applied to politicians who are known to be in their final term of office, when colleagues and electors look toward a successor. It is also sometimes used to describe office-holders who have lost an election but have not yet left office.

In recent years (as of 2006) both George W. Bush and Tony Blair, unable to see out further electoral victories, have been faced with such mutterings, for example:

In May 2006, The Washington Post ran an article titled 'Bush's Political Capital Spent', including the opinion:

"Such weakness has unleashed the first mutterings of those dreaded second-term words, 'lame duck'."

In April 2006, The [London] Times ran an article titled:

"Is Blair a 'lame-duck' Prime Minister?"

US presidents have long suffered this fate, partly due to the electoral rules in America, which limit the number of terms that a president may serve, and the USA is where the phrase originates when applied to politicians. The Congressional Globe entry for 14 January 1863 has:

In no event could it be justly obnoxious to the charge of being a receptacle of ‘lame ducks’ or broken down politicians.

Historians now describe various 19th century US presidents as 'lame ducks'. The first such description of a US president I can find which was written while he was still in office isn't until 1926 though, and relates to Calvin Coolidge. The Wisconsin newspaper, the Appleton Post-Crescent ran a piece titled, 'Making a lame duck of Coolidge', in May 1926:

"... the voting in other Republican states should hinge pretty largely on the issue whether Mr. Coolidge shall be permitted to become a lame duck president for the final two years of his term."

The actual origin of the term is nothing to do with politics though and is quite specific in meaning. It comes from the London Stock Market and referred to investors who were unable to pay their debts. In Horace Walpole'sLetters to Sir Horace Mann, 1761, we have:

"Do you know what a Bull, and a Bear, and a Lame Duck are?"

In 1771, David Garrick, in Prologue to Foote's Maid of Bath wrote:

"Change-Alley bankrupts waddle out lame ducks!"

In 1772, the Edinburgh Advertiser included:

"Yesterday being the settling day for India stock, the bulls had a balance to pay to the bears to the amount of 23 per cent. Only one lame duck waddled out of the alley, and that for no greater a sum than 20,000."

We are still familiar with the terms 'bull market' and 'bear market', referring to rising and falling markets respectively, but 'lame duck' in the specifically stock trading context is now little used.

Why should someone who has no assets be called a 'duck'? Could it be related to the cricketing term, 'out for a duck' - used when a batman is out without scoring any runs? It seems not. That term is much later and refers to the zero on the scoreboard being similar to a duck's egg. First used in 1867, in G. H. Selkirk's Guide to Cricket Grounds:

"If he makes one run he has 'broken his duck's egg'."

From: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/lame-duck.html

ENGLISH BUNGHOLE

Páginas

viernes, 24 de mayo de 2013

IMPROVE ENGLISH AND PREPARE FOR IELTS SPEAKING

jueves, 23 de mayo de 2013

AMONG GIANTS

martes, 21 de mayo de 2013

NUTS

lunes, 20 de mayo de 2013

ABSTRACT NOUNS

CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH - SAMPLE PAPERS

APPLE - THINK DIFFERENT