This Week's Vocabulary Idea

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This Week's Vocabulary

Is he waiting for a phone call? Expecting a phone call? Hoping for a phone call? What's the difference between "wait", "expect" and "hope"? Find out here.

This Week's Vocabulary

Words are essential for effective communication. Check out this vocabulary site; it's fun!

This Week's Vocabulary



This Week's Vocabulary

Check out this stimulating link by the Macmillan English Dictionaries webzine which focuses on false friends.

This Week's Word

WASSAILING

Wassailers in England singing to the apple trees

In class, we learned about the Engish tradition of "wassailing", where people, (wassailers), visit the apple orchards on Twelfth Night - January 5th - and sing to the trees there and beat them in order to ward off evil spirits.

But "wassailing" can also refer to the tradition of going from door to door singing carols. There is a very well-known carol called "The Wassail Song". Curiously, unlike other Christmas carols, it does not celebrate the birth of Christ. Instead, it makes direct reference to the hugh social gap that exists in the land between the rich and the poor. Listen to it here. You can read a variation of the lyrics here.

This Week's Word

When talking about minor offences in class on Friday, reference was made to the dog pooh (excrement) on our streets. (Note how there are two spellings for this word.)

This Week's Vocabulary

Most of Britain enjoyed magnificent bonfires and fireworks last weekend. (Why? See "Festivals".) In English, we have many onomatopoeic words to describe the sound of fireworks going off. Here are some of my favourites:

bang, crackle, swirl, burst, hiss, whizz, whoosh, fizz, whistle, sputter

Next time you watch a fireworks display, listen out for these sounds!

Peoples of the World

An Armenian, a Belgian, a Cuban, a Dane, an Egyptian . . . Revise your nationality nouns and adjectives here.

This Week's Word



"We got rid of the kids: the cats were allergic!"



hug

If you hug someone you put your arms round them, usually to show that you love them.

• When Anne saw Tom get off the train, she ran towards him and hugged him. She was so pleased to see him after all these months.

It can also mean to hold something very close.

• It was freezing, so she hugged the hot water bottle close to her chest.

Check out the things that we can hug

• hug someone you love
• hug an old friend
• hug your knees
  (= pull them up to your chest)

Compare hug and cuddle

Cuddle also means to put your arms round somebody to show you love them. However, we use cuddle to describe a gentler action.

• You cuddle a new-born baby.
• You cuddle your girlfriend or boyfriend when you are feeling romantic.
• Two men, who are old friends, hug each other when they meet.
• A father hugs his adult son when they say goodbye.

Check out these expressions

• If you hug the wall, you stay close to the wall as you move round the room.
• If a boat hugs the coastline, it stays very close to the coast.
• If new clothes hug your body, they fit very well but very tightly. It's a body-hugging outfit.
• It's lovely to see you, son. Give me a hug!

Check out related words

• hold
• cuddle
• squeeze
• embrace

Source: http://www.oup.com/elt/global/products/headway/wordzone/

This Week's Word

Spinster: an unmarried woman

Las Hilanderas or The Spinners by Diego Velazquez

By the 14th century, a woman whose occupation was spinning thread (hilar) to be woven into cloth was called a "spinster." Over time, the term came to be used for unmarried women of any occupation - many of whom engaged in spinning as a respectable way to earn income. It also began being used in official legal documents to refer to a woman who had never married. Today, to say that a single woman is a "spinster" has very negative connotations, unlike its male equivalent, "bachelor". Is this also the trend in Spanish?