Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos is home for abandoned, orphaned, and other at-risk children who live in conditions of poverty. Currently, there are nine different homes throughout Latin America. For more information about NPH check out http://www.nph.org/.
Celebrating the craziness of English in all its forms, and sharing some of the funny, witty, and amusing anecdotes that arise from its teachings. If you’re bored and would like something pithy to read, you've come to the right place!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Little Kids Trying to Learn English
This is a short clip from a Kindergarten class practicing their English at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH). On this day the kids were going over fruits and they were very animated.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos is home for abandoned, orphaned, and other at-risk children who live in conditions of poverty. Currently, there are nine different homes throughout Latin America. For more information about NPH check out http://www.nph.org/.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos is home for abandoned, orphaned, and other at-risk children who live in conditions of poverty. Currently, there are nine different homes throughout Latin America. For more information about NPH check out http://www.nph.org/.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Hemingway's Best Work
The story goes that in the 1920's, colleagues of Ernest Hemingway bet him that he couldn't write a complete story - with a beginning, middle, and end - in just six words. Hemingway surprised everyone by turning out what he later considered to be his greatest work.
For sale: baby shoes, never used.
Friday, September 14, 2012
10 Fun Factoids about English
- Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".
- The most common letter in English is "e".
- There are only 4 English words in common use ending in "-dous": hazardous, horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.
- The longest English word without a true vowel (a, e, i, o or u) is "rhythm."
- The shortest complete sentence in English is the following. "I am."
- The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.
- The only word in English that ends with the letters "-mt" is "dreamt" (which is a variant spelling of "dreamed") - as well of course as "undreamt" :)
- The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "fear of Friday the 13th". It also means "superstition about the number thirteen" in general.
- A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".
- More English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter.
Monday, September 10, 2012
My Favorite English Joke in Korea
There was a car accident on a main road in downtown Seoul. The
driver of a vehicle swerved off the road and crashed into a tree. A
foreign tourist, who was passing by on the sidewalk, saw the whole thing
and ran over to assist the driver. He opened the door, concerned for
the driver’s safety, to see if the man needed immediate medical
attention. The foreigner asked the driver, “Sir, how are you?”
The driver, badly shaken up, looked over at the foreigner and said, “I’m
fine, thank you. And you?”
Why is this joke funny? Simple...rote learning! What is rote learning? Go teach in Korea and you'll find out.
Why is this joke funny? Simple...rote learning! What is rote learning? Go teach in Korea and you'll find out.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Inappropriate English - Music to My Ears
A long time ago I taught English in Daegu, South Korea. I remember walking into E-Mart – Korea’s version of Wal-Mart
– about two months after I arrived.
As I strolled down the grocery aisles my ears detected something
unusual. When living in a foreign
country your ears tend to hone in on familiar sounds. The music that was playing throughout the
store was in English, and perhaps a bit too loud for the backdrop of the milk
and cheese section where I currently stood.
In addition, the type of music being played was extremely peculiar. It
was the song, Closer, by Nine Inch
Nails.
Now I don’t know if you’ve heard the song but the chorus alone is inappropriate enough not to be played throughout a public area frequented by families. I looked around the store to see if anyone else took notice of the explicit lyrics. You let me penetrate you. A mother and son passed by mirthfully, pushing a shopping cart. I want to f- you like an animal! An elderly couple ambled over, smiled at me, and grabbed a carton of milk. It’s your sex I can smell. A young female E-mart employee bobbed her head to the music as she offered cheese samples to shoppers. I want to f- you like an animal! Nobody seemed to care about the songs profane sexual content. They just didn’t understand. And Daegu is a conservative area by Korean standards, so I could only imagine E-Mart patrons would have been up in arms if they knew what these lyrics meant. Yet everyone pleasantly carried on with their shopping as if they may have been listening to the lovable lyrics of Barney and Friends.
Comprehension
of the English language is a challenge for many Koreans. Not just listening, but reading comprehension
as well. You don’t have to look far to
find inappropriate English. Even on some
of the country’s national products. For
example, there’s a food snack in Korea that’s called a Dick Stick. It’s a cookie stick that’s covered in
chocolate. Of course some may proclaim
that it’s just a name. Why does it have
to have perverted connotations? Truth be
told, it doesn’t. But then again, why
choose a name for your product that implies a double entendre? A Dick Stick would certainly give a whole new
meaning to the, ‘melts in your mouth, not in your hand,’ slogan.
Answer to Last Post:
Floccinaucinihilipilification - noun. the act of describing something as having no value
Now I don’t know if you’ve heard the song but the chorus alone is inappropriate enough not to be played throughout a public area frequented by families. I looked around the store to see if anyone else took notice of the explicit lyrics. You let me penetrate you. A mother and son passed by mirthfully, pushing a shopping cart. I want to f- you like an animal! An elderly couple ambled over, smiled at me, and grabbed a carton of milk. It’s your sex I can smell. A young female E-mart employee bobbed her head to the music as she offered cheese samples to shoppers. I want to f- you like an animal! Nobody seemed to care about the songs profane sexual content. They just didn’t understand. And Daegu is a conservative area by Korean standards, so I could only imagine E-Mart patrons would have been up in arms if they knew what these lyrics meant. Yet everyone pleasantly carried on with their shopping as if they may have been listening to the lovable lyrics of Barney and Friends.
Comprehension
of the English language is a challenge for many Koreans. Not just listening, but reading comprehension
as well. You don’t have to look far to
find inappropriate English. Even on some
of the country’s national products. For
example, there’s a food snack in Korea that’s called a Dick Stick. It’s a cookie stick that’s covered in
chocolate. Of course some may proclaim
that it’s just a name. Why does it have
to have perverted connotations? Truth be
told, it doesn’t. But then again, why
choose a name for your product that implies a double entendre? A Dick Stick would certainly give a whole new
meaning to the, ‘melts in your mouth, not in your hand,’ slogan.Answer to Last Post:
Floccinaucinihilipilification - noun. the act of describing something as having no value
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The LONGEST Word in English
English Fun Facts:
People will debate this issue, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the longest word in the English language is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis . It’s a 45-letter medical term referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust. I know, I say this word all the time too.
Perhaps medical terminology is not fair, and we shouldn't count that. Then the longest word becomes floccinaucinihilipilification. This everyday, 29-letter word means...GUESS! I'll post the answer later this week.
People will debate this issue, but according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the longest word in the English language is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis . It’s a 45-letter medical term referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust. I know, I say this word all the time too.
Perhaps medical terminology is not fair, and we shouldn't count that. Then the longest word becomes floccinaucinihilipilification. This everyday, 29-letter word means...GUESS! I'll post the answer later this week.
What does FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION mean?
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Regardless vs. Irregardless
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