Archive for 'News'
English Songs to Sing While Washing Your Hands Posted by Gary Locke on Mar 12, 2020
Suddenly everybody is becoming very conscious of properly washing your hands. You’d think that, until very recently, handwashing was an afterthought. Did people think those signs in public washrooms that read, “Employees MUST wash hands before returning to work!” did not apply to the rest of us? Folks are also hoarding toilet paper like they’ve…
English Words in the News: Primary Posted by Gary Locke on Feb 6, 2020
I live in New Hampshire, which means that every four years, media from all over the world stumble over each other in an effort to learn what my neighbors are thinking about. This is not an exaggeration. I was once interviewed on Danish television! The reason for this quadrennial (meaning every four years) fascination with…
English Words in the News: Caucus Posted by Gary Locke on Jan 23, 2020
Every four years the United States begins its national presidential election with the Iowa caucuses. This is followed by the New Hampshire primary. Soon, in rapid succession, many more states conduct their voting. By May we usually know who the presidential candidates in the two major parties will be. What’s important is that there are…
2019 highlights Posted by carol on Dec 30, 2019
Good morning, dear readers! The time has come for our highlights of the year! The bustling 2019 came to an end and, with it, the second decade of the 2000s. We witnessed a year full of political antagonism, climate crises and new personalities that have been in the spotlight in worldwide media coverage. What can…
English Words in the News: Impeachment Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 21, 2019
If you’ve been following the news, and it’s been hard to miss it, the United States is currently dealing with the fourth presidential impeachment inquiry in its history. Remarkably few American citizens actually know exactly what impeachment means, and how it works. Putting aside the politics of the moment, let’s take a look at the…
The American Veteran Posted by Gary Locke on Nov 7, 2019
Americans celebrate Veterans Day every November 11 as a way of honoring every person who has ever served in the United States Armed Forces. Note that the word Veterans has no apostrophe. Memorial Day, which is celebrated on the last Monday of May, honors those service members who died in combat while serving in the…
The English Non-Binary They Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 3, 2019
We have a word in English which has always been trouble for grammarians. They and its related case form their and them, is a singular indefinite pronoun. We use it to refer to a group of people who might be male, female, or a combination. “They say it’s going to rain tomorrow.” It is also…