The English Blog

Cartoon: How To Play Like Germans

2013-05-21T08:39:30+02:00

BACKGROUND
For more than 40 years, England fans have wanted the national football team to be more like the Germans. Now, it seems, they’ve got their wish. For the England team’s latest kit bears a striking resemblance to the strip worn by West Germany in 1966. The kit, unveiled yesterday, was designed by Nike to mark the 150th anniversary of the Football Association. Full story >>

THE CARTOON
The cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun shows the England team in the dressing room before a match. Three players (Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole and Andy Carroll) are putting on lederhosen — leather breeches which are traditional Bavarian men's clothing. Cole tells the manager Roy Hodgson, "Boss — these aren't going to make us play like Germans." You can say that again!

VOCABULARY
1. Footballers traditionally address their manager/trainer/coach as boss. In fact, recently retired Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has told his players they can call him all the names under the sun - but never to refer to him as 'boss' again. Read more >>
2. Kit is special clothing and equipment that you use when you take part in a particular activity, especially a sport.

Reuters Video: Search and rescue begins in Oklahoma

2013-05-21T07:29:40+02:00

Search and rescue begins in an area near Oklahoma City Monday, after a tornado leaves widespread destruction. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: Search and rescue efforts are underway in parts of Oklahoma City after a massive tornado leveled homes and buildings. Two hospitals have received dozens of injured from the tornado. Several are in critical condition. The widespread debris has left many to fear the worst. A young man who worked in a stable survived.
SURVIVOR LANDO HITE SAYING: "When they started flying I just dove in a stall and that's about the last, I got covered up with some debris and it pushed me down the shed row. I was pretty lucky I suppose."
REPORTER: The grief has only just begun.
UNNAMED SURVIVOR: "Why couldn't this just have hit my house and left this place alone."
REPORTER: Witnesses say the tornado appeared more fierce than the giant twister that was among the dozens that tore up the region in 1999, killing more than 40 people.

Words in the News: Sneer

2013-05-21T07:23:51+02:00

David Cameron has assured Conservative members that neither he nor his inner circle would ever “sneer” at them. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If you sneer at someone or something, you express your contempt for them by the expression on your face or by what you say. • There is too great a readiness to sneer at anything the Opposition does.

Cartoon: Highest Office

2013-05-20T07:50:21+02:00

This cartoon by Morten Morland from The Times uses a play on words to comment on the unimpressive performance of the UK's coalition government on a whole range of issues: the economy, same-sex marriage, the EU referendum, etc. etc.

THE CARTOON
The scene is a meeting of the Cabinet. The ministers are sitting around the Cabinet table in leather-backed chairs. However, only the tops of their heads are visible (Prime Minister David Cameron, third from left, can be recognized by his hair). The title of the cartoon, 'Highest Office', refers to the office of Prime Minister, but the expression is used ironically to describe the lack of stature of the current Cabinet, who are visibly not 'up to the job'. The blank sheet of paper in front of each minister can be seen as symbolizing their lack of ideas. The message seems to be that we have a Cabinet of pygmies rather than giants.

VOCABULARY
1. In a room, the fireplace is the place where a fire can be lit and the area on the wall and floor surrounding this place.
2. A mantelpiece is a wood or stone shelf which is the top part of a border round a fireplace.
3. A candlestick is a narrow object with a hole at the top which holds a candle.

Reuters Video: Winning ticket sold in record multi-million dollar lottery

2013-05-20T07:02:46+02:00

One winning ticket for a record U.S. Powerball lottery jackpot worth 590.5 million dollars was sold in Florida, organizers say. Sarah Charlton reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: It's the moment millions of Americans have been waiting for. The numbers for the Powerball are drawn for a jackpot rivalling the largest lottery payout in U.S. history. A winning ticket was sold in Florida for Saturday's (May 18) record of more than 590 million dollars, officials say. It's the largest jackpot the Powerball lottery has ever seen. The chances of picking the lucky numbers were one in 175 million. But that didn't deter people from snatching up tickets at a staggering rate. California sold a million dollars worth every hour on Saturday. Here in Washington, hopefuls were keen whatever the odds.
STEPHEN ADEKOYA, LOTTERY BUYER : "You got to give it a try, you may succeed. It's like life, you go to sleep, you don't know if you are going to wake up the next day, that's how I feel about it."
REPORTER: The largest jackpot in the U.S. came last year in the Mega Millions lottery, where 656 million dollars were split between winners in three states.

VOCABULARY
A jackpot is the most valuable prize in a game or lottery, especially when the game involves increasing the value of the prize until someone wins it.

Words in the News: Plead

2013-05-20T06:54:01+02:00

The Daily Mail reports that David Cameron is facing a Commons defeat on gay marriage. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If you plead with someone to do something, you ask them in an intense, emotional way to do it. • The lady pleaded with her daughter to come back home.

Reuters Video: The Do's and Dont's of Google Glass

2013-05-19T07:15:08+02:00

Google Glass makes people antsy, so manners experts say etiquette rules are in order. Fred Katayama reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: It's cool and fashionable ... and it may be rude. It's Google Glass, the wearable computer. Users get stares, but those being seen get antsy. Since the Glass can record and share pictures, video and sound, some fear they'll be robbed of their privacy ... especially in private places. Thomas Farley is writing a book on high tech etiquette.
THOMAS P. FARLEY, MANNERS COLUMNIST, NEW YORK POST: "I think there's a lot of curiosity right now about Google Glass. Obviously, it's in its initial rollout so not many people have it. We don't see it out on the streets yet. But people know it's coming, so there's lots of curiosity about how to act as a wearer but also for the person who's in the presence of a wearer."
REPORTER: Here are some etiquette tips so you don't get banned as a visual voyeur. Take the bathroom, for example. Wearing it there or anywhere where cameras aren't welcome like locker rooms is a no-no as shown in this Mashable video.
MASHABLE VIDEO: "What's up? ... This isn't what we mean by livestreaming."
REPORTER: Google can put the world's library of data right in front of your eyes. But don't use that to be a know-it-all blowhard, advises Mashable's editor-in-chief, Lance Ulanoff, who has used these glasses.
LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, MASHABLE: "You can say, 'Google, what's the price of a hamburger in France?' Boom. It would give you that information, and so you could either seem like the smartest person at the party or the world's most annoying person."
REPORTER: Is there a word for those kind of people?
LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, MASHABLE: "We're calling them 'glassholes'."
REPORTER: And by all means, don't wear it on a date.
THOMAS P. FARLEY, MANNERS COLUMNIST, NEW YORK POST: "Where it get to be a little more of an intimate ... you're out on a date, I wouldn't be wearing them on a date, no way, no how. You're gonna scare that date away in about two seconds flat."
REPORTER: Wearers draw glances wherever they go. The best way to put people at ease: take them off and let them wear it for themselves. These are, after all, powerful instruments. As Spiderman's Peter Parker said: with great power comes great responsibility.

VOCABULARY
British English speakers may be wondering why they shouldn't wear the Glass in the 'bathroom'. It's a question of vocabulary: Americans use the word 'bathroom' for what we Brits call the 'toilet'.

Words in the News: Loon

2013-05-19T06:55:51+02:00

David Cameron has been told by Conservative activists that he must repair the broken relationship between the party leadership and the grassroots branded by one of his inner circle as “swivel-eyed loons”. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
A loon is a person who has strange ideas or who behaves in a strange way. • A top Tory has labelled Conservative grassroots "mad swivel-eyed loons" for pressuring Conservative MPs into supporting a eurosceptic amendment to the Queen's Speech.

Reuters Video: Rare Beatles guitar goes up for auction in New York City

2013-05-18T07:01:34+02:00

The VOX ax was custom-made for John Lennon and used during the British band's ''Magical Mystery Tour'' period. Sharon Reich reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: An electric guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison at the peak of Beatles' fame is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000 U.S. dollars at auction. The VOX custom-built guitar is the centerpiece of Julien's Auctions' annual "Music Icons" sale. Martin Nolan is overseeing the auction.
MARTIN NOLAN: "Vox is very well known for its amplifiers. And Beatles players always used Vox sound equipment but then Vox tried into get in making guitars. So it's sort of rare that there is a Vox guitar. And it's a beautiful guitar custom made for John Lennon - very futuristic in how it was designed and the technology that was attached to it."
REPORTER: Harrison used the guitar to practice the 1967 song "I Am the Walrus", while Lennon played the guitar the same year to record a video session for "Hello, Goodbye". The sale will take place on May 18th.

Words in the News: Suspect

2013-05-18T06:48:54+02:00

The Daily Mail features a story on Scotland Yard identifying new suspects in Madeleine McCann's disappearance in 2007. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
A suspect is a person who the police or authorities think may be guilty of a crime. • Police have arrested a suspect in a series of killings and sexual assaults in the city.

Cartoon: Cloned Babies Breakthrough

2013-05-17T07:47:04+02:00

BACKGROUND
This cartoon by Mac from The Daily Mail relates to news that scientists have extracted stem cells from human embryos created in a laboratory. The breakthrough could lead to customised cells to help treat and even cure a range of diseases, from Alzheimer’s to multiple sclerosis. However, it also raises the spectre of babies being cloned in laboratories. Full story >>

THE CARTOON
A man is lying on the sofa reading the newspaper, which has a front page story about the "Cloned Babies Breakthrough". We are meant to deduce that his wife, who is surrounded by dozens of little clones of herself, has just come back from the cloning clinic. She must have just told her husband about the procedure because he replies, without looking at her, "Go on. They took a sliver of your skin and put it in a test tube - then what?"

VOCABULARY
1. A sliver of something is a small thin piece or amount of it.
2. A breakthrough is an important development or achievement.
3. A clone is an animal or plant that has been produced artificially, for example in a laboratory, from the cells of another animal or plant. A clone is exactly the same as the original animal or plant.

Reuters Video: Tory MPs vote against Cameron

2013-05-17T07:22:08+02:00

British Prime Minister David Cameron suffers a blow in parliament as a third of his own party’s MPs vote against him in protest at his stance on the EU. Simon Hanna reports.

TRANSCRIPT
TELLER: The Ayes to the right, one hundred and thirty. The Noes to the left, two hundred and seventy-seven.
REPORTER: British Prime Minister David Cameron may have been glad he missed this particular parliamentary vote. The Conservative party leader - on a trip to the United States - was spared the embarrassment of having to witness on Wednesday a rebellion from his own party within the House of Commons. Tory rebels voted against Cameron in protest at his stance on the European Union - they want Cameron's promise of a 2017 referendum on British membership of the EU to be legally binding. Although the revolt was defeated, around a third of Conservative lawmakers voted against the prime minister, raising questions about Cameron's leadership. The centre right Tory party - in a ruling coalition with the Liberal Democrats - has 305 members of parliament. 116 of them voted against the government.

NOTE
For more on House of Commons voting procedure, see Wikipedia.

Words in the News: Nimby

2013-05-17T07:13:19+02:00

The Daily Telegraph's front page lead says Education Secretary Michael Gove has claimed campaigners against the Government's planning reforms are opposing social mobility, aspiration and the family. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If you call someone a nimby, you are criticizing them because they do not want something such as a new road, housing estate, or prison built near to where they live. Nimby is an abbreviation for "not in my backyard". • We cannot let a small minority of extreme environmentalists and NIMBY activists take away a special part of California's culture.

Cartoon: Americans take Prince Harry to their hearts

2013-05-16T07:50:20+02:00

This cartoon by Paul Thomas from The Daily Express relates to Prince Harry's seven-day tour of the United States. The Prince has attracted cheering crowds and huge media attention wherever he has gone, and the tour has been widely hailed as a success.

In the cartoon, Prince Harry is shown as the new face of the Statue of Liberty. Someone at the top of one of the many New York skyscrapers comments, "The Americans have really taken Prince Harry to their hearts."

IDIOM
If someone takes you to their heart, they welcome you like a friend or family member. See here for more "heart" idioms and expressions.

Reuters Video: Insects an alternative to meat

2013-05-16T07:21:13+02:00

Edible insects are being promoted by the United Nations as a low-fat and high-protein food for humans, a new U.N. report says. Sharon Reich reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: One bag of larvae please! In some parts of the world, these little critters, which come from the palm weevil beetle are the snack of choice.
INSECT CONSUMER, STEVE ABADA: "They nourish the body, they are not too fatty but have lots of good ingredients. if you eat these all the time, you will rarely get sick."
REPORTER: Now, a new report by the United Nations says eating insects like the beetle could be the answer to fighting world hunger. Insects contain the same amount of protein and minerals as other meats and healthy fats that doctors recommend as part of a balanced diet. They're also great for local economies. In the forests around the village of Dzeng, it's grasshopper season and women are busy collecting the jumpy insects, which they will sell at market. While they have been doing this for many years, population growth and forest fires have led to some species becoming virtually extinct. Afton Halloran works with the Edible Insects program run by the U.N. She says insect breeding and conservation is vital to boosting global food security.
AFTON HALLORAN, CONSULTANT FOR FAO EDIBLE INSECTS PROGRAM: "Insects have a huge potential for both feed and food. We are already seeing developments in terms of using insects as animal feed. and also being incorporated onto menus and processed foods. While we won't be seeing insects on the table for Sunday lunch any time within the next decade, we know that insects have a huge potential, and we hope that slowly but surely this can be realized."
REPORTER: Authors of the new report say barriers to enjoying insect dishes are psychological - in a blind test carried out by researchers, nine out of 10 people preferred meatballs made from meat and mealworms to those made entirely of meat.