It's raining cats and dogs

Yes. it is. But in May it's nothing extraordinary. If you haven't heard this expression yet, maybe you start to wonder: "raining cats and dogs"? Yup, it means it's raining very heavily. There are lots of other idioms that use animals. Take for instance, the expression: paper tiger. It is used quite often and it refers to something or someone that seems more powerful or dangerous than it actually is. Or when you hear a story that is suspicious you may smell a rat. Here is a quiz I made last week for my students. It is about animals used in idiomatic expressions. Check how many of them you can get right. (When you have finished the quiz all your answers will be highlighted and you can read or click on the 'Explanation' after some of the difficult questions.)

English idioms with animals » make online tests

Moon Day - words and idioms about the Moon

The "giant leap" for mankind (from here)


This Tuesday was an important anniversary and a very special day for everybody who is interested in science and space exploration. 40 years ago, on 20 July 1969, American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the surface of the Moon for the first time in history. Here is a short extract from the BBC's commentary of the event:

"American Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon.

The astronaut stepped onto the Moon's surface, in the Sea of Tranquility, at 0256 GMT, nearly 20 minutes after first opening the hatch on the Eagle landing craft.

Armstrong had earlier reported the lunar module's safe landing at 2017 GMT with the words: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

As he put his left foot down first Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

He described the surface as being like powdered charcoal and the landing craft left a crater about a foot deep." (you can read on here )

To commemorate the anniversary of the first Moon landing the BBC made a great audio slideshow with the use of archive photos, US and UK number one records of that week and a very clear commentary by the BBC's aerospace correspondent at the time.

The first Moon landing was later followed by five other successful landings between 1969 and 1972. All together, twelve astronauts stepped on the Moon. The missions were then stopped, mainly because of the immense costs.



Now, let's get back to the virtual classroom. There are several words and idioms in English that are connected to the Moon. Here is a short list of some of the most commonly used ones:

Words:

lunar - adj; relating to the moon
The astronauts took some pictures of the footprints they had left on the lunar surface. They had boots on because the lunar atmosphere doesn't allow you to take off your boots.

lunatic - noun; somebody who is mad
Jack likes driving opposite the traffic. He is a very dangerous lunatic. And he thinks that the other drivers are the ones who are crazy.

honeymoon - noun; a holiday or trip taken by a newly married couple
After the wedding they traveled to Rome for a honeymoon in their Fiat500. It wasn't easy to pack all their luggage in it.

moonlight - noun; light reflected from the surface of the moon
The old lady with the nightcap on her head looked very scary in the moonlight. I didn't take a room in her inn and decided to sleep in my car instead.

moonbeam - noun; a ray of moonlight
A moonbeam cut through the clouds and we could see the top of the castle glimmering with a dim silver light.

moon - verb (slang); show the bare buttocks to express protest or disrespect
Jimmy turned around, and mooned the angry teachers after breaking the window of the school.



















Ocean in moonlight (from here)



Idioms:

be over the moon - be very happy, absolutely thrilled
She was over the moon when she saw the birthday present: a huge boa.

ask for the moon - ask for something (nearly) impossible
How could I get up at 7 am on my honeymoon? You're asking for the moon, honey.

once in a blue moon - extremely rarely
How often does Jack shave? Well, once in a blue moon. Usually when he trips on his beard.

promise somebody the moon - promise everything
They promised me the moon just to stay with the company but I already knew them too well.






















This happy cow is over the moon (from here)


Click here if you would like to do some vocabulary exercises about these words and idioms.

Learning English with comics

(Words in purple are explained in the language notes if you click on them.)

When I was a child I used to spend long hours reading comics (Asterix, Lucky Luke, Superman and the like) Later, when I grew a bit older, I thought that reading such things was too childish and I started to read more "serious" stuff instead. Then somehow all the comic books disappeared. I must have lost them when we moved to a new flat or may have given them to somebody.

Old habits die hard, sometimes they linger on even when you think you have nothing to do with them any more. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine lent me an old Asterix comics in Portuguese (one of the best of the series, 'Asterix and Cleopatra') to help me with my Portuguese studies. (Thanks Eszter once more :-) These picture stories are not only great fun to read but they can help you with your language studies as well. When you are not confident enough to read a whole book you can still try to read a comic book - especially, if you read it as a child in your native language and you can still remember most of the plot and even some of the conversations.

Of all the Asterix comics there is one that stands out as a must-read for everyone who learns English: 'Asterix in Britain'. The plot is fairly simple: Asterix and Obelix set off on a journey to help their British friends to fight the Romans. They take some magic potion with them, which can make the warriors incredibly strong.














During the journey, they learn about all the strange habits of the Britons. All the well known characteristically British things, such as famous landmarks (London Bridge, The Tower...),the language, the weather, the nice grass, rugby, bitter ale, tea and even double-deckers are featured and parodied in the story.

The picture I have chosen for this post makes fun of the traditional British turf. A turf is a thick layer of grass. Apparently, you have to work for a very long time to achieve the proper even surface and the perfect density. That is exactly what the gentleman in the picture is working on. The caption says: "Another 2000 years of loving care and I think it'll make quite a decent bit of turf."

(Click on the picture to see it better.)






As you can see, he is working very hard on perfecting the 'turf' in his garden. It must take ages to get rid of all the unnecessary grass blades with that small scythe. But I'm sure it is very sharp, otherwise it wouldn't make a 'click' sound like that, would it? I also like the thatched roof of the house. It is very typically British and it is one of the things in the picture that surely existed already when the story is set. However, there are some things here that were certainly not yet present around 100 A.D. Take the watering can, for instance. This 'sophisticated' watering device was invented much later. I am not sure about the pine trees. They are natural on mountains but were probably brought to lower lands only later. Anyway, it is funny and is there anything else that really matters?

Now, you can guess what happens to the gentleman's nice grass in the next pictures.

a, A UFO lands on it and burns a 'magic circle' right in the middle.
b, A horse carriage goes across it at a high speed.
c, Nothing.
d, A giant walks across leaving huge footprints behind.


You can see what actually happens next here.

Paper

Everybody knows paper but there are some fascinating things about it which are less known. It was invented in China in about 100 A.D. and it has been used for almost two thousand years. There are so many different ways to use it, it is simply unbelievable. Just to take a few examples: you can write on it, pay with it, dress in it, make boxes from it and use it for different works of art. What's more, paper is not only made by humans, it is also made by animals! Paper wasps make fine paper for their nests by chewing up wood. Actually, the idea of making paper from wood pulp was stolen from wasps. For hundreds of years, paper had been made from linen rags and old clothes, which hadn't always been available. A French scientist, René Réaumur, came up with the idea (Do you know the meaning of this phrase?) of imitating wasps in the early part of the eighteenth century. At that time, this technology was not feasible and it took more than a hundred years to produce good quality paper from wood.



















paper wasp and nest



Most people think of paper as an incredibly weak and fragile material. That is not true. Paper can be very strong. It is possible to build heavier structures, even houses from it. Renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban can be called a leader in the paper architecture movement. His paper and cardboard structures are known and loved all over the world. His structures provide real solutions in terms of cost, eco-friendliness, and portability. Ban’s buildings can be erected by amateurs with no heavy machinery, sometimes within just a few hours. His incredible ideas were put to use after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan to provide temporary homes and churches to displaced residents.
Shigeru Ban is not the only person who uses this material for building. UK artist Sumer Erek was disgusted at the amount of wasted paper he saw on the streets of London, so he decided to make an art piece to illustrate just how wasteful we are. The result was a house made entirely of discarded newspapers. (See below)



















House made of newspapers


Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds without the use of gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper. Experts can make really elaborate and detailed models of animals and objects. Eric Joisel, a real master of paper folding, created a masterpiece with a less conventional version of this technique. You can see a video about it on Youtube.






Well, I admit it is not for beginners. However, there are some much easier origamis as well. If you feel like trying this art at a beginner level here is another video. In this one, you will be taught how to make an inflatable paper cube from a single square sheet of paper.


When I was a child, I made a lot of airplanes from paper. I knew a few different ways of folding them and I experimented with them. Sometimes I threw the planes from higher spots to see how far they would go or how long they would stay up gliding in the air. Now, it looks as though some fanatics are going to take it up a notch. (Do you know the meaning of this phrase?) Japanese scientists and origami masters propose to launch a flotilla of paper airplanes from space! The launch is planned for early 2009 from the International Space Station. The journey is expected to take several months and the planes will be made with a special covering to withstand the heat. There is no way to track the planes or predict where they might land. Instead, there will be messages on them in various languages asking any finder to contact the Japanese team. So, if a very special paper airplane lands near you now you will hopefully know what to do. For more information visit the site of the Ultimate Paper Airplane.

Why not do some exercises about the language content of this entry?