According to recent statistics (http://www.theweddingreport.com/bz/index.php/one-1-in-six-6-couples-meet-online/) 1 in every 6 couples in the United States now meets on-line.  This is a lot of people meeting online! People are meeting and dating via the internet all over the world, so this information is probably not big news to you, but there is a lot of interesting information out there about on-line dating and some vocabulary related to on-line dating that I would like to teach you in this post.

One of the original on-line dating sites was called ElectronicMatchmaker, and started way back in 1992 (over 20 years ago!). This site later became Match.com and Match.com now has 17,000,000 people using their website per month. Match.com is only one of many English-language on-line dating sites, in fact there are many many others, like: eHarmony, PlentyofFish, and OkCupid, some of which are sites users pay for and others which are free.

To begin to look at some of the vocabulary related to on-line dating let’s first look at the names of some of these sites. PlentyofFish, gets its name from an expression “There are plenty of fish in the sea” which means ‘there are a lot of other possible options out there.’ This is an expression that is often used when talking about a relationship not working out, when someone is beginning to look for a new boyfriend or girlfriend.  For example:

A: My boyfriend broke up with me. I know I’ll never find anyone else I love as much as him.

B: Come on, there are plenty of fish in the sea, I’m sure you will find someone else amazing very soon.

The site OKCupid gets its name from the classic mythological god of desire, love, and attraction who was called Cupido in Latin and Eros in Greek, and Cupid in English. Match.com gets its name from the definition of ‘a match,’ and I’m not talking about the thing you use to light a fire.  ‘A match’ is also what it is called when you bring together two corresponding pieces. For example you may match one puzzle piece with another or match two cards that look the same in a card game.

So, what other of vocabulary related to on-line dating would be good to know? First of all you will need to know what a ‘profile’ is.  A profile is the summary of who you are, with information ranging from you age, height, weight, and occupation, to likes, dislikes, favorite activities, etc. It is the summary of who you are that you share with others. Your ‘profile picture’ is also an important term to know.  This is the picture of you attached to your written profile information. This is the first picture potential ‘matches’ will see of you. In the on-line dating world ‘a match’ is a person who you have been connected with by a computer program as someone who is potentially a good fit for you, based on your profile. If you are lucky, you might meet your ‘Mr. or Mrs. Right’ through on-line dating. The phrase Mr. or Mrs. Right is an English expression used to refer to a person who is perfect for you – your soul mate.

Even if you are not looking to get into on-line dating, a really great way to practice your English would be to write a ‘profile’ for yourself. Doing this will require you to think about and find the words to talk about yourself and your interests, which is just the type of information you will commonly share with new people.  So being able to talk about this personal information easily in English is great for you to be able to do whether you are interested in on-line dating or not.

Where are all the cicadas? First of all, what are cicadas? Cicadas are insects, so yes this post is about insects. They are a unique insect though, certainly worthy of a post of their own!

There are many different types of cicadas, but the most well-known type is one that hibernates for 17 years then comes out to “sing,” mate, and then die.  Yes, you read that right, cicadas spend 17 years sleeping away in the ground, until they pop out of the earth, then the males make a unique chirping noise, like a song, to attract the females in order to mate, then the cicadas die and the whole 17-year process begins again! The sound the cicadas make during this short time they live above ground is quite impressive especially when there are hundreds and thousands of them making this sound all at once, which often happens because they tend to all emerge from their 17-year hibernation all at once.

Here is YouTube video of a cicada starting to chip/sing:

So, the cicadas are due for their once in 17 year appearance, but unfortunately something seems to have gone wrong because the cicadas on the Eastern Coast of the United States have overslept!  They were supposed to be here in May (of 2013), but still have not arrived! In fact, people are so confused about what is going on with the cicadas that it has made the news.  Here is a recent radio news program about the missing cicadas.  This is a great piece to listen to because the language is clearly spoken and at a reasonable pace. Take a listen to learn a little more about our missing cicadas here on the East Coast of the United States.

http://cnnradio.cnn.com/2013/06/05/where-are-the-cicadas-already/

Here is some vocabulary to help you understand this news article:

gimmick – a trick to attract attention

bust – a disappointment or ‘let down’

chirp – a short, sharp, high-pitched sound usually made by birds or insects

nymph – a young cicada

emerge – to move out of something or come into view

noisy – making a lot of noise or sound

entomology – the scientific study of insects

brood(s) – a family or large group

modem – a device used to transmit data to or from a computer via telephone or other communication lines

swarm – a large group of insects flying together

So, what do you think, will the cicadas be swarming Washington, DC and New York City soon? What do you think has happened to them?

You, hear me! Give this fire to that old man. Pull the black worm off the bark and give it to the mother. And no spitting in the ashes!

Surprisingly, if you said these strange sentences to your ancient ancestors, say 15,000 years ago, they might understand you. Researchers in England recently identified 23 words (some of which are in bold above) as words that have stood the test of time, being passed down in various language families all over Europe and Asia for as many as 15,000 years. It is pretty amazing that this many words have survived so long. Even though they have changed somewhat overall, these 23 identified words have remained largely unchanged compared to most words. This is more impressive when you know most words (in any language) usually last no longer than 5,000 to 9,000 years, before they become unrecognizable when compared to the word origin. But not only have these special words survived in English, but these 23 words have cognates (words with a similar origin, sound, and meaning) in 7 families of languages including languages like Turkish, Mongolian, Finnish, Hungarian, Italian, French, and Sanskrit. The existence of these long-lived words suggests there was a “proto-Eurasiatic” language, a language once spoken by people who went on to live all over Eurasia (Europe and Asia). This long ago spoken language, from which these words originate is now connected to the native tongues of more than half the world’s current population!

The researchers at the University of Reading in England, who produced this study, found that very commonly used words (i.e. those used more than 1 in every 1,000 words in everyday speech) in Eurasiatic languages were much more likely to a show strong connection to this long ago “proto-Eurasiatic” language. I don’t know how the word “worm” made it into the group of 23 words based on that information, because I certainly don’t use the word worm very often and certainly not 1 in 1,000 words!  But I guess I have to just believe the researchers that this word stood the test of time. You and I will also have to believe these researchers about the similarities between these words in various languages, because if we look just at the written versions of these words some seem more similar than others, for example, “man” in Turkish is “adam,” in French it is “homme,” in Finnish it is “mies,” but in Hungarian it is “férfi.” The Hungarian word for ‘man’ doesn’t seem at all connected to the English word to me, but I am just  looking at the written and not the spoken version of this word.  Likely the linguists doing this study were looking at deeper phonetic connections than you or I know about. Either way, this is all pretty impressive. It highlights for me once again how interconnected we all are through language and how important it is to learn many many new words (in English) as just these 23 cognates (thou, I, not, that, we, to give, who, this, what, man/male, ye, old, mother, to hear, hand, fire ,to pull, black, to flow, bark, ashes, to spit, worm) aren’t going to get you very far in conversation!

To find out more about this interesting research check out this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/words-that-last/. At this link you can also listen to how some of these 23 long-lasting words sound (similarly) in various languages.