Archive for 'English Vocabulary'
Graveyards and Cemeteries Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 28, 2021
In English, we often use the words graveyard and cemetery interchangeably. The same is true of tombs, mausoleums, and crypts. But, there is a difference between them. It’s time that we buried the confusion and explore the proper use of terms for the resting places of the dead. Graveyards In the western world, burials were…
English Language Phrases with Straw Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 21, 2021
October always makes me think of scarecrows, those human-shaped figures usually made of straw placed on open fields to discourage birds from feeding on newly sown seeds. They make for popular Halloween costumes, and they often find their way into horror movies. Straw is really the dried remains of harvested crops, like wheat or oats…
Learning English pays off Posted by carol on Sep 30, 2021
What’s up, guys? As I was working on our previous post about money problems, it came to mind how the phrase to pay off has another possible use, not money-related, but which is also equally relevant. Then I was reading on Olympic mascots later this week and the article mentions how those lovely creatures pay…
When English Words Become Obsolete Posted by Gary Locke on Aug 25, 2021
An old friend used to say that social media was, “Just a lot of old twaddle.” From the context of his sentence, I knew that twaddle meant “useless gossip’. But it was years before I knew that twaddle was a real, though nearly obsolete, word. It still appears in some dictionaries, but you will almost…
Feeling Lucky in English Posted by Gary Locke on Aug 19, 2021
I often describe myself as a lucky person. In my personal and professional life, good things have happened to me because of chance and unplanned circumstances. I certainly work hard and take pride in my education and the abilities and skills that I have acquired and used over the years. But, the fact is, some…
Money talks Posted by carol on Jul 30, 2021
Good morning, everyone! Talking about money isn’t always easy. Over the past few years, global economy underwent a major blow as the pandemic hit and affected the market on a huge scale. A lot of people lost their jobs or couldn’t secure a stable stream of income, and so the money problems begin! As unpleasant…
The Great American Coupon Posted by Gary Locke on Jul 22, 2021
Few things are as American as the coupon. They are a marketing tool used to promote a product by offering discount savings, and they have existed for over 130 years. The first coupon offered a free Coca-Cola in 1888. By 1913, more than 8.5 million of those coupons had been honored. One hundred years later…