I hope you’ll forgive the hiatus … but I am back with good news! English is a language that has a high tolerance for non-standard accents, especially compared to French or Japanese, for example. This takes pressure off budding speakers of English, up to a point. But let’s start talking about our tolerance for accents.

Accent and our tolerance for ambiguity

Both speakers and listeners have different attitudes towards foreign and non-standard accents. Those demonstrating high-tolerance attitudes are less critical of deviations from the norm and, interestingly, less bothered by ambiguity (a consequence of deviating from the norm, whatever it may be). Unsurprisingly, multilinguals also show greater tolerance towards ambiguity, either because of their confirmed language skills- or perhaps, because they have a higher threshold for ambiguity which may contribute to their willingness to learn more than one language.

Justifiably, a lingua franca—an international language that connects and enables communication across the world—cannot be focused on “the right pronunciation,” “How did I sound?” or “That’s not how we say it…”. Although the international English-speaking community isn’t quite giving non-native speakers the green light for “anything goes,” it does indicate that meaning and understanding are generally placed above accent and pronunciation.

The power of tolerance towards ambiguity

I will address accent bias another time—we all know cases where individuals have been very much held up by accent and pronunciation (as a speaker and/or as a listener). Yet, there are nearly twice as many non-native English speakers as native English speakers in the world, proving that, in practice, people persistently use English to get their message across, all around the globe.

French, on the other hand, has a lower threshold for ambiguity. This topic definitely needs an article of its own … but in the meantime, I’d venture to say that:

• The Académie française is a French board that issues the rules on good and proper usage of French—while English tends to admit its international character and does not impose a single authority to decide what’s 105% proper and what isn’t.

• French has more grammar traps than English does, which means more opportunities to sound “wrong.”

• The sound of the spoken language is less forgiving in French than it is in English. What does that mean for speakers of English?

All these factors combined increase the power of English as an international language.

But there’s still a “good accent,” right?

A tool is still a tool whether it works for you, or not. You’ve changed a flat tire (with a jack) and regularly manage to hang your favorite painting on the wall (with a hammer), but have failed to fix the washing machine, the latter because the hammer and jack were useless and, at any rate, you didn’t have the right the skills to do so. In the same way, a “good” English accent is part of your English toolbox. You use it well although it depends on the 5Ws: who, what, when, where and why. Who are the speakers and listeners, what is being conveyed, when and where, and for what purpose.

In my nearly twenty years of teaching English, I’ve come to believe that the “right accent” the one that serves your needs and gives you enough satisfaction, or even fulfillment.

English serves a purpose to the 743 million non-native and 378 million native speakers of English worldwide: it enables us to communicate beyond borders. As a matter of fact, would you believe that 4% of all English conversations in the world today take place between native speakers of English? Let me reformulate, 4% of conversations in English involve only native speakers. The remaining 96% of conversations are shared between non-native speakers of English or a combination of native and non-native speakers of English.

Wouldn’t you agree that this kind of diversity makes it increasingly difficult to talk about the “right accent”? The better questions are:

1. Does English serve its purpose (in my professional and social life for example)? Does it serve my needs?

2. If not, why and how can I fix that?

First, let’s see how teachers and researchers break down and explain “accent”. Remember, if you want to “squash your enemy”—meaning that you feel like your accent is your enemy and hurts your overall skills—a deeper understanding of what it means will help you overcome such hurdles.

Accent, intelligibility, and comprehensibility explained

A mouthful, isn’t it! On a good note, this jargon means that native accents are overrated.

Accent

Accent is what we hear when you deliver your message. As a listener, I’ll note that it’s native or non-native, or something I’ve heard before, or not. I’ll define it by country, region, continent, nationality, and so on. I might find it esthetic, or less so. Accents are a series of sounds and patterns (this kind of R or L, long and short sounds, word stress, speed of delivery, rhythm, etc.). Interestingly, music changes those patterns because the singer defers to the stronger pattern that comes out when the rhythm, the tune and the lyrics come together. You might sound like Lady Gaga as you sing her songs but lose her American accent when the music stops.

Intelligibility

Intelligibility is how much I understand your message. I might not be able to understand the lyrics of a song because I can’t make out certain words or phrases. I’m sure you’ve found yourself listening to a song and wondering what the singer said. What happens when the lyrics are too loud, too soft, garbled, too fast or words are stressed differently, and you just don’t get it? You may frown (with anger, frustration, impatience, or boredom). Then, you may either switch songs or replace unintelligible words/phrases with something more familiar that fits the music. We react the same way in conversation. More than that, we further lose tolerance, especially when expecting skill or expertise from the speaker, or if we are expected to respond well. This lack of understanding is terribly frustrating and results in feelings of inadequacy.

I might find your accent or pronunciation difficult to understand because I can’t convert your words into sounds I know or can relate to. They are unintelligible (to me at least). But it would be wrong to say that non-native accents act as a communicative barrier.

Subgroups such as native French speakers speaking English understand themselves better than other groups who need to get used to what characterizes an average French accent. Keep in mind, it’s even attractive to keep a cultural “je ne sais quoi” instead of unsuccessfully mimicking the Queen of England or Barack Obama. Unfortunately, there is less tolerance for perceived accents of speakers from some English-speaking countries such as Scotland, Kenya, or India.

Intelligibility is both a hindrance and a tool to wield with grace; proper training for both speakers and listeners increases mutual comprehension. Remember that intelligibility is dynamic and relative: the listener’s skill or bias plays a hand in settling on what is intelligible or not.

Comprehensibility

Comprehensibility is defined by the effort it takes for a listener to understand (to comprehend) your message. Like a reading comprehension exercise, we are looking for meaning. When learning a second or other language, we learn sounds through listening and speaking, we put sentences together, expand our vocabulary, test new words and strive to communicate and be understood. From the tourist to the academic, we desperately seek understanding, our message needs to get through.

Culture, education, context, needs and much more influence how we structure our message and determine its reach. The bottom line is that accent—even a perfect accent—does not ensure understanding.

Linguistic relativity

This should be a relief for learners and speakers who feel obligated to duplicate native speaker pronunciation. Yet it also shows that communicative barriers and pathways are complex and relative.

Remember, the first goal of communication is functional: get that message through to your listener(s). Admittedly, getting there, especially as we seek more in-depth communication, is a road littered with doubt and dissatisfaction.

The feeling of “not good enough” touches everyone

Listeners

Our fear as listeners is “not getting it” and being viewed as incompetent, slow or even immoral, simply because the message didn’t through. As much as clarity empowers listeners who then choose how to respond, seeds of dissatisfaction grow when something obstructs understanding. This insecurity can grow to fearsome proportions, especially when responding becomes next to impossible, inevitably casting doubt on our skills or values.

Speakers

Common speaker fears include: “Is my accent ok?”, “How do I sound?”, or “Did I use the right words?”? This translates as: Do people understand what I’m saying or am I losing credibility? This sense of insecurity is even worse if you read and write better than you speak—you almost feel like you have to earn the right to speak—you’re taking up people's time.

As successful speakers, the more invested we are in feeling good about our speaking and pronunciation skills (rewarded by peer response, better relationships, increased sales), the better and more fluently we speak. Positive reinforcement.

Don’t forget that speaking is a physical act, too—better command of your mouth, tongue and throat muscles in tandem with ear training, lead to improved speaking (and listening) skills. Why? You’ve identified your enemy—that awful “R” dare I say—and through listening and speaking practice, you learn how to fix that issue so that your pronunciation works on your behalf.

Is your message getting through?

Effective communication is fulfilling! Professionally, this is especially true for entrepreneurs and the self-employed whose line of work and values are often intertwined, for better or for worse. Delivering a speech or persuading a potential client to learn more or make a purchase validates entrepreneurial raison d’être. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true and compounded when English is yet not at the entrepreneur’s service.

I am shamelessly giving a plug for the English Fluency Sprint—a 4-week intensive English course this July—because it tackles “not good enough” through intensive practice in natural situations: we’ll be networking in English and getting peer and teacher-led feedback, in addition to running live lessons and providing fresh interactive online content every day.

The English Fluency Sprint is effective, measurable—there is a definite before and after effect—and only takes four weeks to make a difference. Email me at maude@ohyes.ch, get the programme and see for yourself!

Thanks for reading, or listening, and see you next time.

Maude Vuille
Oh Yes, Languages and more!
maude@ohyes.ch

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More on the English Fluency Sprint

Sources

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/abs/is-multilingualism-linked-to-a-higher-tolerance-of-ambiguity

https://lemongrad.com/english-language-statistics

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/0023-8333.49.s1.8

University of Michigan Press, Pronunciation Myths - Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching, by Linda Grant et alia.

https://ohyes.ch/english-sprint-cours-intensif-anglais/

This week is about our human need to connect, because it’s cold out, the future is still more uncertain than usual and I’m reading Brené Brown with our weekly book club (details below)! Let’s get cracking.

February is often called as the coldest month in the northern hemisphere, but given the popularity of Mardi Gras carnivals around the Christian world, it may be the rowdiest!

Groundhogs likely retreated this year, especially in Texas

Legend met reality when groundhogs peered out of their holes on February 2nd and probably rushed back in, smelling the upcoming cold fronts that have recently hit parts of Europe and the United States, as far south as the state of Texas. Texas is called The Lone Star state because it loves to shun federalism and court self-sufficiency - the famous Texan do-it-alone independence. Texas likes to connect with Texas.

In the recent years, Texas’s stand-alone stance has been tested by extraordinary natural disasters - extraordinary in the literal sense of the word - out of the ordinary, once-in-a-century events. Now outlier events happen several times per decade.

This February, deadly winter storms took down the state power grid causing blackouts that deprived Texans of electricity and heating while boil advisories* were in place. People have died from the cold in their beds, cars and yards.

It is important to realize that there are three power grids in the United States: the eastern one, the western one, and the Texas power grid created to dodge or avoid federal regulations. On this “electricity island”, infrastructures and prices are deregulated and strictly based on supply and demand. Electricity cannot be imported or exported. The Texan vision of self-reliance makes it an outlier as well.

Meanwhile, next door in Louisiana, Mardi Gras was on the line.

Sunken Hopes

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, was on Februrary 16th this year. Before many of these parades were canceled, crowds of revelers had hoped to rush the streets to celebrate the end of winter and mark the beginning of Lent*.

The Mardi Gras countdown begins months in advance when social organizations called krewes and specialized businesses carefully design and build floats. Floats are elaborate, eye-catching displays mounted on some means of transport - from horse-drawn carts back in the day to gigantic moving platforms with lots of high-tech features. Their fabrication and design rely on multidisciplinary teams of floatbuilders who cover everything from hydraulics and pyrotechnics to props and live performances. They appear to float above the ground, hence the name.

Float fever was nearly sunk, however, when New Orleans had to cancel its Mardi Gras parade which would have created a super-spreader event. But this cross-cultural and multilingual city was not to be defeated.

How to Break Rules Without Breaking Them

Throughout the ages, the human species has sought to connect and belong, to be part of a greater whole that aspires to provide stability, protection, social and other opportunities. We also have been wise and institutionalized, or ritualized, our need to disconnect from rules and constraints of social contracts. Does this explain in part the power and popularity of carnival traditions across the world?

They give us the opportunity to anonymously step out of normalcy as we engage in satire without consequences through floats, masks and costumes. It is (relatively) safe to dance, feast, drink and parade down the streets with friends and strangers. We’re free to connect differently.

Not willing to give up on the holiday made to break rules, the city of New Orleans, one of the best-known Fat Tuesday capitals of the world, turned the situation around by going from street floats to house floats.

House floats

This year, floats remained stationary and crowds traveled to see them. The idea is astonishingly simple: turn facades and front yards* into colorful, artistic - and immobile - floats. House floats allow merrymakers to social distance, visit in small groups or follow the itineraries from the safety of their cars.

Mardi Gras was renamed to Yardi Gras.

In the meantime, here is another example of pandemic-driven creativity striving to connect people, this time in Singapore.

The Safe Bubble, or Making the Most Out of the Rules

While Yardi Gras is about a temporary break from the rules, a new business hotel in Singapore is about compliance - seamless compliance. You may think I am comparing apples to oranges but this juxtaposition showcases our complex need for connection.

A pilot hotel has managed to provide a safe and contained environment for international and local business travelers to connect and conduct business through a highly controlled “test-stay-work-meet” ecosystem. After a negative Covid test, international travelers are transferred to/from the hotel/airport and enter what can be described as a fairly exquisite hotel bubble reducing physical contact to a minimum.

Meetings can take place behind air-tight glass panels, meals are delivered to the rooms and guests have access to gym pods, vending machines and a “lush garden” to relax in, among other amenities and services. Despite the whiff of science fiction, this environment does its utmost to safely connect business people in uncertain times.

Data- and people tracking are at the core of this kind of business and they’re high stake issues sure to remain so in the coming years. Inequalities around the world will prolong travel restrictions; data tracking and collection of all sorts will be a prerequisite for international, “face -to-face” connection. Even the language has changed. Live meetings were like live concerts - being there - not to be confused with a “Zoom live.”

Metadata, Traces of Ourselves

We leave traces or metadata wherever we go, online and off - just think of archeology and trade routes! Getting dressed-up and changing our appearance is woven into our origins and dates back to thousands of years. Something about wearing a mask and hiding our facial features, or putting on an Italian suit, allows us to embody a new identity and set of behaviors.

Metadata is defined by Wiktionary as data that describes other data, serving as an informative label. For example: Most websites contain metadata to tell the computer how to lay out the content on the screen*. Santa’s metadata tells us his beard is white and that he is warm, generous and beloved.

We can’t escape metadata: your business suit and language express trust and credibility, even more so when your picture and its metadata are online.

Another key point about meta: it is self-referential and infinite. A song about a song, a book about a book, and if a genie grants you three wishes, you may make a meta wish by wishing for infinite wishes.

We use the Internet to enhance and feed our need for connection. Depending on the context, much like carnival or a serious business meeting, we take on avatars, pseudonyms and brand ourselves. Virtual suits and masks.

But when it comes to virtual social play and collaboration, online gaming communities are forerunners. They are not only effective places for the younger generation to learn English but also perfect environments to design virtual identities.

Metahumans

Metadata lets us define metahumans where technology gives us the power to create infinite human likenesses. I urge you to watch the video. I found it more chilling than thrilling, but if I played role play games, I’d probably enjoy slipping into one.

Metahumans are terribly impressive, yet, I hope you’ll agree, something is off. How will this technical breakthrough affect us? At some point, metahumans will break out of gaming communities and step into “real world” transactions.

In a sterile world, could a metahuman could be your mask as you dance at an international online carnival, or kindly take over your Zoom self as you leisurely get a coffee? Could my metahuman help me be a better English language coach? How about if you had to quarantine in your hotel room and instead sent your healthy metahuman on a video conference with the other guests? Robots are different but they somewhat feel needy and passé in comparison.

How would you feel about your own properly designed metahuman and its connecting potential?

Thanks for reading and listening. See you next week.

Maude Vuille
www.languagesandmore.com

Links and idioms

*a boil advisory: the need to boil house water before using or consuming it

*Lent: In Christian traditions, Lent is the 40-day period of fast between Ash Wednesday and Easter. It easily blends in with non-religious traditions celebrating the end of winter sobriety and ushering in spring joy and renewal.

*front yard: the American English term for front lawns/gardens

English Book Club - René Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection - enjoy great conversation once a week to perfect your English skills and read a good book. Last-minute booking until 23 February: https://learn.ohyes.ch/courses/step-up-book-club-january-2021/preview

A groundhog in February: https://unsplash.com/@rkatieb

Vintage Mardi Gras Procession photographs

The Alchemists Float

Vintage Mardi Gras Processions and Crowds

It was a sunny day - umbrellas are out. On the left, hatted young men climbed up the utility pole to get a better look!

A Modern Float

www.connectatchangi.sg : Language-wise, the website below is beautifully written and I would urge you to read through it as a business English exercise. Read it aloud for even better practice.

Metadata on Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/metadata

Metahuman:

Putting the Toothpaste Back in the Tube

Rod Ponton, Texas lawyer and Internet celebrity, gracefully accepted his viral fame over what can only be catalogued as a Zoom filter blooper that changed his appearance from man to cat minutes before his court hearing.

As Mr Ponton says with a sigh, “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.” In other words, it’s too late to backtrack and reverse a situation: you can’t unsay or undo what has been said or done.

This idiom lightens the mood and highlights how relatable an unexpected, awkward moment can be, especially when it's happened very quickly.

On the other hand, it’s cringeworthy when describing a situation that's hard or impossible to reverse because of time passed. Just think how fast toothpaste can run out of the tube. A huge amount of hardened toothpaste (combination of the time factor + a horrible situation) is impossible to reverse squeeze back in.

For example, have you heard about the Welsh man who threw away the hard drive on which was stored his Bitcoin password? He realized he’d lost access to 275 million dollars. Saying “There’s no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube” would sound rather cruel. As a matter of fact, he is willing to dig up the landfill and give his local council a 25% cut if permission is granted and the drive found.

A Deadpan Audience and Delivery

Calm conversation, problem-solving, no great guffaws of laughter. Would anyone know how these gentlemen did it?

Deadpan means keeping a serious face, even a poker face, when laughter is a more than viable option. Comedians use this strategy, and so do the British.

Word Play on the Clawyer’s Mishap

Here are some uncategorized mewels, uh, jewels. Notes are in the links if needed.

1. It was a purrfect video.

2. The clawyer is a clawschool graduate. Do you know anyone who’s been to clawschool?

3. That’s a kitten, not a cat! The lawyer has commited purrjury! Perjury is the act of deliberately giving false or misleading information under oath.

4. In a similar vein, this could make case claw or jurispurrdence.

5. What an amewsing video (Cats meow and the sound sounds like “Mew, mew”).

6. This lawer is an advocat. What is he advocating exactly? Perhaps, don’t let the kids use your Zoom account? Keep calm and tell the truth - I am not a cat?

7. On the other hand, he may be district Cattorney

8. He couldn’t find the mouse fast enough, could he!

9. Lucky he didn't have a stroke! Stroke has several meanings. We stroke a feline when we run a hand on its fur to show affection. A stroke is also a brain hemorrhage. In casual spoken language, it means that someone is embarrassed, shocked and surprised. “I nearly had a stroke when my Zoom filter came on!”

The Cat’s Meow

You may safely say this when something is outstanding, top of the line. The outcome from Schrödinger’s Cat's Zoom Filter experiment is the cat's meow. The lawyer is both a cat and a human at the same time*.

The Treachery of Images and Words

What would renowned artist René Magritte have said, though?

The Treachery of Images is actually the translation of the title of René Magritte’s realistic oil painting of a pipe with the caption, This is not a pipe. As the artist quipped, it is the representation or the image of a pipe - you can’t stuff it, smoke it, or use it.

The clawyer was quick to tell the judge, “I am not a cat” but he was “ready to go forward with it,” meaning the court hearing via videoconfurrencing.

An altogether refreshing bit of mews.

Let me close by emphasizing the importance of humor when learning another language. It creates a bond because communication goes beyond grammar and vocabulary, especially if you're unsure of your choice of words and delivery.

I trust you'll avoid catastrophic humor… that's a topic for another time.

See you next week!

Links

Meet the Texan behind the cat

1) Clawyer is a pun: claw (the long, sharp horny nail at the tip of a cat’s “toes”) + lawyer).

2) Happy cats purr - sound to describe the soothing vibrations and sound that echo from their chest area.

Lost Bitcoins: https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/man-offers-council-70-million-dig-up-bitcoin-hard-drive-2021-1

René Magritte, The Treachery of Images: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images

*Inspiration and two pilferings from The Guardian's comments section: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/11/lawyer-cat-funny-texas-rod-ponton-judge#comments

If you'd like to work with me: maude@languagesandmore

Headlines, prefixes, technology, and handmade Italian pasta have drawn my attention this week. Language takes us down many roads, each of which plays a role in reactivating, maintaining and growing vocabulary skills all the while enjoying good reads and videos!

Patently Untrue

A patent lie is a plain lie. Patent insincerity denotes a complete lack of sincerity. So you may ask, what’s the connection with patents and intellectual property? Interestingly, it has to do with royal written orders and keeping official information public, out in the open.

“Letters patent” (from the Latin litterae patentes) were public orders written on a letter bearing the monarch’s royal seal. The document would announce the granting of rights or a license of kinds to individuals, families, corporations, etc. Because the seal was added to an open, unfolded letter, there was no need to break it in order to access its content, unlike a folded, closed and sealed letter, whose intended recipient would presumably break the seal to read its confidential content.

A patent is now defined as a “declaration issued by a government agency declaring someone the inventor of a new invention and having the privilege of stopping others from making, using or selling the claimed invention”. The notion of public order remains as government bodies issue patents through patent offices. The information remains accessible and open, protecting the rightsholder(s) who otherwise might find it in their better interest to keep their work under the shroud of secrecy.

A patent lie is an open, public lie. Patent insincerity is visible. Something patently untrue is not true, suggesting there is evidence to prove the lack of truth.

A Quick or a Close Scan?

We can closely scan a landscape, our eyes moving in a careful, linear pattern to look for a bird nest or elusive animal life, or we can place a document into a scanner to make a perfect, digital copy. In contrast, we can quickly scan the bus schedule or the sports page to get important details, such as when the next bus is coming, or who won the latest match. Medical scanners are large, foreboding machines that minutely scan and see deep inside our bodies to detect illness and other medical issues.

When university students scan a text, they read to find specific information and skip over much of the content - it is a time-saving reading strategy. In the field of language teaching, a common reading comprehension task is asking learners to scan a text for specific information, like names, numbers, keywords, even if the student does not understand every word. It is a technique to encourage learners to find meaning whatever their level of English may be.

In all of its forms, scanning entails a linear, structured movement - that of the eyes or the machine - to capture information in an organized way: you find the bird’s nest, you find the date in the text, the machine spots and highlights a tumor and so on.

Digital microscopes are powerful scanners that capture microscopic information with such precision that by stitching up millions of images, they reconstruct the whole.

Girl with a Pearl Earring under the Microscope

Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring dates to circa 1665 and was donated to The Hague’s Mauritshuis art museum in 1902 by a wealthy benefactor who had bought the painting in 1881 for the equivalent of 24 euros. He had taken the heed of one of the first Dutch historic preservationists who urged him to preserve Dutch heritage by buying this small, little-known portrait. It was carefully restored in 1994, selected as the most beautiful Dutch painting in 2006, and finally in 2018, it was scanned under a 3D, high-resolution, digital microscope.

Historic preservation, or heritage preservation (US) or conservation (UK) seeks to conserve and protect architectural structures, landscapes, objects and other tangible forms of heritage. Cultural and culinary traditions are part of our intangible heritage.

The scan reveals the unseen: The girl in the portrait has eyelashes although I’m not sure I’ve found them; Vermeer used the expensive ultramarine pigment made from Lapis Lazuli exported from Afghanistan; and her lips are colored with cochineal red, a dye made from the cochineal insect found in Latin America. You’ll also find it as E120 in the list of accepted food additives.

The scan uses focus stacking to create a 3D image by taking lots of images of the same surface but using different focal points. If you’ve tried macro photography or even taking pictures of a cat, you’ll know how difficult (impossible) it is to get everything into sharp focus. A petal is half-blurred for an artistic look while the cat’s whiskers perfectly stand out in front of its unfocused eyes. Focus stacking layers (stacks up) perfectly focused shots of the nose, whiskers, hairs, eyes, etc. into one, making one sharp cat. This is what the human eye does, when we focus on one part of an object but still see the rest well.

This imaging technique reveals the painting’s surface, or topography, including dust, clumps of paint and crackles. The result is absolutely stunning and a delight to the eye and I urge you to visit their website.

This same website is also a tool to learn about painting techniques - we can compare light effects, shadows, splotches of color, and lines by changing our viewing distance, from the perspective of a normal museum visit to highly magnified close-ups of abstract surfaces few will ever see in person.

The video in the links explains the scanning process and trains your ear to better understand a French accent.

Are you making this mistake in English?

What’s the difference between flammable and inflammable?

This is a trick question, isn’t it! While correct and incorrect, or justice and injustice are antonyms, or opposites, flammable and inflammable are synonyms meaning (something is) capable of burning. Flammables, or inflammables are nouns and describe liquids, textiles and other materials, chemicals, etc. that (easily) burst into flames.

The prefix “in-” often means negation, much like “un-” in unimportant, or the “il-” in illogical, but there was another “in-” in Latin, meaning “into”. In today’s example, “in-” intensifies what comes next and gives a stronger than “flammable”.

An inflammable liquid or material not only catches on fire, but it easily catches on fire. This notably created havoc in the textile industry several decades back, and I still recall the confusion I felt as a child the first time I read my brand new nightie’s label!

Nighties

There was a time when thin, shimmery polyester-cotton blends were trending nightwear fabrics because they were seen as practical, light and more “breathable” than pure polyester. These blends were also much more flammable, making nightwear highly flammable, or inflammable. During a house fire, a nightgown could burst into flames on the wearer. A strong heat source, such as a fireplace or stove, or even a single spark, from a candle or gas stove, could set off a disaster. This is why the warning label on polyester-cotton blend clothing read, at that time, “Inflammable material.”

You may see where this is going: the word inflammable created much confusion even among native speakers of English who were persuaded that their night apparel, or their children’s nightwear was nonflammable. Manufacturers began adding chemical compounds called flame/fire retardants, to slow down the spread of flames, or to temporarily reduce the degree of inflammability.

I can’t tell you how many times I read nightgown labels as a child before working out the intricacies of these words that sounded like “flame”. First, I was highly impressed that my nightgown couldn’t catch on fire. I argued with my mother - why would anyone believe that flammable and inflammable would mean the same thing?! Why would anyone sleep in something that could burst into flames? And what about fire retardant? If it isn’t woven in, then logically, it washes out like dirt and stains. To tell you the truth, I thought it was kind of disgusting that it wouldn’t wash out, either. Who doesn’t want a clean nightgown? More importantly, how long would a retardant delay flames… None.of.it.made sense!

A Cool Prefix!

But now, I like the leveraging power of this prefix, especially how it pushes the original word’s meaning into excess! Think of valuable and invaluable, estimable and inestimable, where worth is too great to name and calculate? What about the famous and the infamous, where the individual behind the name is remembered with either respect or horror?

Over the years, language was simplified. Industry terminology now favors flammable over inflammable, while international pictograms illustrating properties of hazardous materials and goods provide further clarity. Consumer-friendly labels, such children’s White and Red safety labels in New Zealand read, “Warning: Keep away from heat and flame,” and for inflammability, “Warning: High fire danger. Keep away from heat and flame.” (see links below)

Recipes - Two “Pasta Grannies”

Wholesome, heartwarming and interesting videos abound on the Pasta Grannies YouTube channel, but Feni’s use of lemon juice in her pan-pizza dough intrigued me. I couldn’t not include Letizia Favuzza, a 101-year-old retired teacher who has a Facebook account, writes poetry and still makes handmade pasta.

Pasta Grannies showcases Italian grandmothers who make delicious, traditional, handmade pasta. As the British producer says, she is “saving skills and sharing traditions one recipe and Granny at a time!”

The grannies speak Italian but the interviewer provides explanations in English along with the subtitles, so this is a fine and enjoyable way to step up your reading and listening skills!

We would love to hear about your favorite pasta recipes - do join us Tuesday, February 9th in our free conversation class at 7.30 PM Swiss time (UTC + 1). (see links below)

We know language is passed on through generations, migrations, social activities, music, literature, school, family and more… some words remind you of a beloved mentor or family member, or you find yourself using the latest trending words, not sure they’ll still have meaning down the line. As much as we may have sweated and toiled over native and other language arts at school, we know language is lifelong education.

As cultural treasures and generational educators, adorable “Pasta Grannies” have made it down the line and thankfully, their knowledge has a broader reach through social media. Their knowledge - much to our delight - is literally more nourishing and substantial than words, although it is said that words nourish the soul, and I dare say, if you take the time to enjoy a good read, it’s probably got substance.

Notes and Links

If you enjoy stimulating discussions, check out the English Book Club, a nourishing international experience to grow and maintain your language skills over a good read! If you are concerned about “not being good enough”, don’t be, and remember that the English Toolkit is there to help you with pronunciation and overall skills!

Book Club: https://learn.ohyes.ch/courses/step-up-book-club-january-2021/preview

Free Conversation class: https://www.facebook.com/events/432748068173922/

Patent, Wiktionary: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patent

Girl with a Pearl Earring, 10-Gigapixel interactive scan: https://www.micro-pano.com/pearl/

UNESCO’s World Heritage List: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/

Intangible heritage: https://en.unesco.org/news/blending-our-past-cultivating-our-future-unesco-world-forum-underscores-culture-food-and

New Zealand product safety standards, children’s nightwear: https://comcom.govt.nz/business/your-obligations-as-a-business/product-safety-standards/childrens-nightwear

Picture of White and Red Labels, NZ children’s nightwear: https://comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/image/0024/86523/Childrens-nightwear-2-Labels.jpg

Irresistible Pasta Grannies:

It’s been a wonderful week language-wise, starting on Monday with the “skunk at the picnic”, doomscrolling, Bon Jovi, an update on genius dogs, phrasal verbs and more.

The skunk at the picnic

On Monday, major newspapers such as the New York Times and The Guardian featured Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and advisor to the president. He has advised 7 presidents over 40 years on infectious diseases such as AIDS, Ebola, the SARS bird flu and Covid.

Dr Fauci graciously explained how he did his best to keep the voice of science alive in a reluctant Trump administration. While Dr Fauci was further sidelined as the pandemic spread throughout the United States, he began to use the power of his presence as a deterrent. Indeed, few feel comfortable spewing unscientific aberrations in front of an eminent doctor. This strategy made use of an open joke, no less, demonstrating the power of humor in a sea of disagreement:

So there was a joke — a friendly joke, you know — that I was the skunk at the picnic. (Dr Anthony Fauci)

What would you do if you encountered a skunk at a picnic, or at a business meeting? I bet you would keep still to stop it from making a stink.

When asked if he had ever thought of stepping down from his responsibilities (he is 80 years old, after all), he replied:

I always felt that if I did walk away, the skunk at the picnic would no longer be at the picnic. (Dr Anthony Fauci)

Dr Fauci has just given us a terrific recipe on human relationships - sometimes the weight of presence, of just being there, speaks louder than words, knowledge or rational thought. Better yet, turn it into an open joke to “sugar the pill*”.

Doomscrolling, doomsurfing

Have you ever found yourself reading dark news (like much of 2020) and scrolling down the page, clicking article to article, on the endless web? This is doomscrolling (using your mouse to move down the page) or doomsurfing (surfing the vast web). Unsurprisingly, doomsurfing has negative effects on mental health.

Doomsday is another word for the Apocalypse while doom is a synonym for destruction, death, negative outcomes and/or failure. Yet, doom is also a synonym for success in the movie and game industry, with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or Doom, one of the most popular video games, demonstrating incredible longevity, from its start in 1993 to 2020 releases!

Pooch Update - Learn Through Play

There is an update from the Genius Dog Challenge research team (see Good to Great English, vol. 2). As it turns out, genius canines learn fast through play in a social context with their owners. Like children, genius dogs learn by associating a new word with a new object. But the same dogs then failed to learn the names of objects in exclusion-based tasks. Does this remind you of multiple choice questions? You know A and C are false, so B sounds good, but you don’t know what B is and wouldn’t recognize it if someone said it after the test.

So far, both kids and dogs learn fast but more research is needed to discover whether the mechanisms behind rapid learning are the same for genius dogs and toddlers.

Bon Jovi - Lower the Flag

Rock singer Jon Bon Jovi’s band, the Bon Jovi band, has been around since 1983. Their 2020 album includes Lower the Flag, a song on mass shootings and gun control (See Good to Great English, vol. 3). The lyrics are powerful and set contrasting emotions side by side. This topic is so unusual for a popular mainstream artist that Jon Bovi was asked if he wasn’t afraid of alienating some of his fans over the song. He replies,

There are men on my stage who see things differently, but I don’t let our differences come between us. (Jon Bon Jovi)

Lyric language tips: A flag lowered or flown at half-mast marks mourning that affects the whole of a nation. “Joe” is a generic name for a man - in this case, the one whose job is to lower the flag, or to pass the order on. “The brass” refers to people in authority and comes from the brass buttons and medals/insignia traditionally on a uniform.

Grin and bear it (smile and endure)

A final chapter on the verb “to bear” (issues 2 and 3, Good to Great English) - grin and bear it - smile and read on!

• to bear a grudge: to have rancor, resentment towards someone, often for a long time : John still bears a grudge on me because I won our tennis championship 10 years ago.

• to bear fruit - come to fruition, to bear results, to succeed and benefit from the outcome (both literal and figurative meanings): Our strategy finally bore fruit after months of teamwork.

• to bear someone ill will - to actively wish for something negative to happen to someone: In fairytales, stepmothers and stepfathers often bear ill will towards their stepchildren.

• to bear the burden - to carry a heavy load, to suffer consequences: My parents bore the burden of their debt in silence. They kept it from us.

• to bear witness to - to serve as proof, evidence: Worldwide protests to save the planet bear witness to the young generation’s concern for their future.

Some phrasal verbs

to bear on - to influence, have an effect on: Doomsurfing is one factor that bears on mental health.

to bear up - to bravely, cheerfully endure hardship: Anna is bearing up remarkably well since her car accident.

to bear with - to be patient: Please bear with me as I sort out my audio on Zoom.

What is the Power of this Trend?

An eye-opening incident over Wall Street traders losing out to individual traders leads me to think we will see more of this in 2021. Reddit users in the 6-million strong group r/wallstreetbets were able to reverse a short trading* event and they have so far caused a 5-billion-dollar loss to Wall Street. Short trading is selling stock and later buying is back at a lower rate. It’s complicated, but the key message is that a huge online group decided to leverage the power of small investors and change the course of a Wall Street trading bet.

In layperson’s terms, a trading bet takes place when hedge fund investors, lined with deep pockets, purposefully zoom in on a company, start some kind of short trading event, reduce the value of its stock and buy it back at a lower price, making a quick profit. The business may well collapse but the trade bet is won. It sounds unfair, especially if you are on the losing side. But then r/wallstreetbets happened, and small investors won the bet.

In simpler terms, a pool of online investors, people like you and me, joined forces through Reddit, defended a cause and won the trading bet. As “the Internet says”, they have succeeded in making Wall Street accountable in ways the Federal government never has. I would love to see this kind of power harnessed to enact large-scale environmental change.

Will 2021 see more individual investors joining forces to make massive investments for the common good and counter trading bets that characterize unfettered capitalism? How will Wall Street react? (Hint: Wall Street dislikes regulation yet is suddenly interested in regulating the power of small investors - that will not come easily.)

Recipe - Crêpes

Thin crêpes are not only February favorites but they beloved throughout the year. Grand Marnier is optional but gives a light orange flavor to complement toppings ranging from sugar to jam, or Nutella.

Practice speaking with Online English Book Club

Details on https://learn.ohyes.ch/courses/step-up-book-club-january-2021/preview

Thanks for reading and/or listening to the Good to Great English Newsletter and Podcast where English teachers curate content worthy of your time and give you insights to step up your English language skills.

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Are you making this mistake in English? (not on podcast)

We often hear *“explain me”* instead of explain to me. (*…* indicates the English is incorrect.) For example,

Mistake: *Can you explain me the story.*

The right way

The italics show what is being explained.

• Can you explain the story to me?

• Can you explain it to me? Can you explain it to him?

• I tried explaining that to my colleagues.

• The presenter unsuccessfully tried to explain the process to us.

• He unsuccessfully tried to explain it to us.

Describe and recommend also follow this pattern:

We described the project to the team members. —> We described it to them.

This is because we explain/describe/recommend SOMETHING to SOMEONE. Something is the direct object - what is being exlained/described/recommended. A direct object never has a preposition. Also, it can be a person, but make sure that this is clear from context:

The police asked me to descibe the robbers. I described them (to them/to the police).

Finally, to me - to them - to the police are called indirect objects. In the simplest of terms, adding an extra word, the preposition “to”, makes verb-object relationship indirect, you’ve got a word blocking the way: verb-to-object.

From a practical point of view, the “to” needs to be there for clarity. In the above police example, I’m sure you’ll agree that *“I described them them”"* is totally unclear and incorrect.

If you find that you do make this mistakes, remember that practice is the best way to get rid of old language habits.

Our Speaking Club meets on February 9th, feel free to join us for a complimentary class by registering to this newsletter.

Links and notes

Anthony Fauci, the skunk at the picnic: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/24/fauci-says-he-was-the-skunk-at-the-picnic-in-trumps-covid-team and https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/health/fauci-trump-covid.html

*sugar / sweeten the pill: make something disagreeable more agreeable, easier to accept

Good to Great Newsletter and Podcast, vol 2: https://english.languagesandmore.com/p/good-to-great-english-vol-2

Good to Great Newsletter and Podcast, vol 3: https://english.languagesandmore.com/p/good-to-great-english-vol-3

Lyrics, Lower the flag: https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Bon-Jovi/Lower-the-Flag

Interview Jon Bon Jovi: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/25/jon-bon-jovi-on-wealth-love-and-his-ugly-tussle-with-trump-it-was-seriously-scarring

Lower the Flag, lyric video:

Wall Street Bets Reddit group: https://new.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/

*short trading: selling securities because a decrease in value is expected, then buying back these same securities later at a lower price

French crêpes: https://www.casseroleetchocolat.fr/en/les-crepes-de-la-chandeleur/

While we looked at definitions and examples of the verb to bear last week, this week’s focus is on its impact on the American Constitution, gun ownership and legislation. Then, we’ll ease into BAD Brownies for a lighter (yet heavy and rich) finish and an interesting stroll around London, with a tweak!

Listening to this podcast as you read or take a walk is a great way to step up your English listening and pronunciation skills - and it may contain a bit more information than the written version.

Word Superpowers

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. (United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, 2nd Amendment,1791)

You have just read the thorniest* sentence in the American Constitution’s Bill of Rights, a series of amendments later added to guarantee the civil rights and liberties to the individual. The Second Amendment has inspired heated debate around three main issues since its ratification* 230 years ago:

• the extent of government powers

• the definition of Militia

• the meaning of to bear arms

The wording is clear yet remains flexible to stand the test of time. More importantly, it reflects the US Constitution’s system of checks and balances where the executive, legislative and judicial branches establish the best framework between opposing “forces”: 1) the government vs the people, 2) rights/liberties vs legislation, and 3) freedom vs constraint or repression.

Let’s have a look at the range of meanings and interpretations of these words.

Militia vs Government

The definition of militia, and consequently who would have the right to bear arms, has remained open to interpretation since the very beginning over 200 years ago.

From a historical perspective, the Militia referred to the whole of the people: our right to self-defense/protection. The drafters of the American Bill of Rights were adamant in proving that, unlike the failed English Bill of Rights which was skewed towards the wealthy and a power-hungry ruling class, the Constitution was for every man, regardless of birth and wealth. Interpretation was, of course, completely biased compared to today’s world but more progressive than Old World law. When it came down to the right to bear arms, the English Crown imposed so many exceptions that it was, in fact, nearly impossible for the “common man” and dissidents to carry firearms and defend themselves, despite “having the right to do so”.

The concept of self-government is deeply embedded in the concept of militia.

The Self-Defense Mindset

Life was rife with violence as the North American continent became the stage to build a new nation. Violence was inextricably fused into everyday life and took on many shapes, from personal survival to systemic injustice, from the settler eking out a living to genocide and enslavement.

In this context, any individual was a militia-in-waiting, either to make a federal army redundant (thus minimizing the power of government) or to take on its role in times of crisis. The right to keep and bear arms became as much an unalienable right as an essential need.

This self-defense mindset is one of the strongest values that lies at the heart of American individualism .

Historical Context

Yet, even 230 years ago, there was a forward-looking interpretation of the term militia based on the belief that words and worlds would change and become intertwined into historical events and contexts. This perspective opens the way to modern laws on gun control.

I’ll add that similar “language wars” do take place. Linguists (and some English teachers) who follow prescriptivism are said to place too much value in “good, proper and correct English” to the detriment of the living language. Learners of English may find themselves lost in perfectionism and fear of making a mistake, unable to express themselves well, especially when communicating with fluent or native speakers of English.

My Gun, My Business?

Finally, what does to keep and bear arms imply? Is my gun stored under my pillow, in a gun locker or at the shooting range? Can I carry my fire arm in the open, or conceal it in my handbag? Is a permit needed, and if so, under what conditions? Are militias legitimate in 2021? Isn’t it safer to shoot an aggressor and save lives instead of doing nothing but calling the police? Are we all entitled to carry a fire arm?

To compound the problem, to bear arms carries too many potential definitions and nuances to fit into a one-size-fits-all solution, resulting in an unimaginable mess of freedoms and restrictions around gun control. And like Americans 230 years ago, today’s Americans hold many different opinions on the subject.

It seems to me that, ultimately, these differences reflect a blend of individual realities, expectations and perceptions. I came up with a little scale of gun ownership logic to help me understand this American question and the intense emotional debate generated, especially over the last 30 years:

• I have a gun and no one can restrict my freedom - if I feel threatened, I defend myself (“stand my ground,” kill or be killed)

• I have a gun for self-defense (the world is dangerous, never know what will happen) and/or for my livelihood (hunting in Alaska)

• I accept or refuse regulation (gun permit, storage rules, acceptable use, open/concealed carry…)

• I’m a responsible adult, my guns are none of your business (privacy)

• I do not own a gun because the society I live in protects me (I am safe)

• Redo this exercise and replace I with you.

Originalists and Textualists

If this weren’t enough, the interpretation of historical documents is a science unto itself. Originalists believe that meaning must be found in the original understanding of the law at the time it was adopted, while Textualists focus on present-day interpretation/meaning, detaching themselves from the initial intent of the drafters.

These are several Modes of Constitutional Interpretation and they have become essential and strategic tools wielded to obtain distinct and desired results in court.

Commentaries on the Second Amendment proliferated in the 20th century and leave behind complex arguments, opinions, and precedents - there is no simple, unified solution in sight. Yet a simple sentence preceded and followed by centuries of debate and case law sets United States gun control laws apart from most nations on earth.

How many???

In 2018, the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, reported that there are over one billion small arms distributed globally. 857 million, or about 85 percent of gun owners are civilians. In the United States alone, civilians own 393 million (about 46 percent) of the worldwide total of civilian held firearms. 

Bad Brownies

Wait, don’t go, we’ve finished with the Constitution! BAD Brownie is a London brownie brand that apparently makes BAD, gloriously delicious, gooey and decadent brownies, where BAD=good, of course! This is THE website to keep in mind if you’re ever in London.

I urge you to brush up your culinary English, read mouthwatering product descriptions and a lovely About Us page. Do email us your best brownie recipe for next time.

But before then, have a look at the video where BAD Brownie founders successfully pitch investors to scale their business. They are tremendously likeable in this episode of the Dragon's Den, a British series about entrepreneurs wooing investors with or without success. The video link is below but I forgot to mention it in the podcast!

Augmented Reality Visits in…London

Until the 9th of February 2021, download an app that “aims to transform the city into an immersive augmented reality (AR) art gallery”. The concept shares some similarities with Pokémon GO as you’ll be on your phone and seeing one of 36 digital sculptures hovering on the screen.

I jumped on the opportunity and soon realized that… unless you are in London, you won’t see London. I tested it on my cats in the living room and it was highly entertaining. My next step is to try see Geneva as an art gallery.

I am assuming that despite the numerous permissions requested on installation, the app is safe as it was featured in London’s biggest public festival of AR art. If you are brave enough to download and install, let us know how it has transformed your city or your home into an AR art gallery!

Book Club - New Meeting Time

With interested parties from Asia, our book club discussion sessions will take place around noon, UTC + 1 and we have delayed our January launch to accommodate Asian participants!

Sign-up and share

No spam, no ads, just a weekly email, podcast link, bonuses here and there, all delivered to your email. Thanks 😍

Links

The Second Amendment, Commentary: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Scholarly_commentary

*a thorn - Sharp spikes on the stems of roses, blackberries or other bushes; thorny (thornier, thorniest) - difficult and complex (like cutting the stem of a rose in a dense bush without drawing blood, or hurting yourself)

*to ratify (ratified); ratification - To give formal consent to; make officially valid, sign off on; to approve (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ratify)

*Modes of Constitutional Interpretation include textualism, original meaning, judicial precedent, pragmatism, moral reasoning, national identity, structuralism, and historical practices.

More on Modes of Constitutional Interpretation, summary page 2: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45129.pdf

Bad Brownie: www.badbrownie.co.uk/pages/about-us

Bad Brownie pitching their product to investors:

Book Club: https://learn.ohyes.ch/courses/step-up-book-club-january-2021/preview

Unreal City at Home: www.acuteart.com/artist/unreal-city

I was flabbergasted* to hear about the Genius Dog Challenge led by researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. Their focus is to understand basic language-related concepts in family dogs and miniature pigs.

Genius dogs

We know that dogs learn commands such as sit, stay, down, shake, get… and even nouns like leash (to prompt going outside) and Vet (when your dog’s behavior swiftly changes), but the Genius Dog Challenge focuses on vocabulary learning. Most “gifted” dogs in this international challenge know between 100 and 200 words in addition to commands.

Yet, they haven’t gone to training school. Instead, they’ve learned through play and other interactive exchanges with their human. Incidentally, this is why we encourage you to leave comments and engage in discussions. The more you engage, the more you practice without realizing it and the better you’ll be at remembering your English!

On a personal note, I love these dogs’ sharp eyes and the way they seek out an interactive relationship with their owner.

How did the Genius Dog Challenge work?

Owners received toys and their dogs had 6 days to learn the names of up to 12 items. By the end of the week, the dogs had learned new item names and could 1) listen to instructions, 2) go fetch the right toy in separate room and 3) bring it back to the owner, out-of-sight and unable to help out or give hints to their dog.

The YouTube finals between Gaia and Max, two Border Collies, raises a variety of interesting points on dog training, vocabulary, language learning, and the warmth and potential of human-canine relationships. It’s good, wholesome fun.

I tried to understand how the dogs vary their approach: some scan the toy area, or sniff around, while others dive in “for the kill”. In this multimodal approach, dogs use several senses like sight, smell and touch to find an item. Not surprisingly, dogs rely more on smell in the dark.

Sorting information is essential. How do you approach a text in English or a foreign language? Do you scan it quickly, finding names and numbers first? Can you skim it for general information or do you focus on the words you do not know and find it hard to get ahead? Are you methodical, reading one line at a time?

Challenges for the researchers

Toys: between the six of them, these clever pooches had hundreds of toys. The researchers had to find unique new toys to make sure all doggie participants had an equal start.

Toy names: the researchers came up with fresh toy names - these had to be short and not too close to words that dogs might already know.

Toy names issues: Some dogs already knew a word but associated it with a different item. For example, one family had to rename a plastic newspaper toy because their dog had already learned the command “Newspaper” with the real thing.

Something similar happened to my cat, Georges, and my neighbor, Georges. Georges the cat was very responsive when the neighbor came for supper.

I am sure we can find similarities in our own language-learning experiences.

bear - bore - borne/born (verb)

Last week we spoke some about the verb to bear found in “The facts bear me out,” meaning “The facts support me.”

(to be) born

Have you ever seen the well-known movie with Tom Cruise called Born on the 4th of July, or told someone where you were born? The final -e of borne drops out in the passive form and becomes:

• I was born in February

• He was born with a green thumb

bear - bore - borne

Think of a future mother carrying her unborn child in her womb. This does give clues as to why to bear has so many shades of meanings such as: to carry, to endure/suffer, to be responsible for, to have, to support, to transport, to be visible, to produce…

Importantly, to bear conveys meaning both literally and/or metaphorically.

• They came bearing gifts (They came and carried/brought gifts)

• The cost is borne by the employer (The employer pays)

• Our plans bore fruit (were successful)

• The doctor was the bearer of good news - dad’s cancer was in remission. (The doctor was a giver of good news)

• The old stone bears a mysterious inscription. (Old writing is visible on an old stone)

• The boxer’s eyes bore a look of defeat. He soon gave up. (The boxer’s expression showed he was losing)

• High-risk accounts often bear a higher interest rate. (have/produce higher interest rates)

• The current situation bears a resemblance to past events (be/produce something similar)

• Both sides bear responsibility for what happened (both sides carry responsibility)

• For years, journalists have borne witness to the events shaping the world (keep records as evidence; leave a testimonial of)

• The predictions are borne out by the data (The data supports the predictions)

The above examples are more common in written English or in settings that value using a richer language.

However, to bear is very common in informal language when it means to endure, to tolerate:

• I can’t bear the heat! I can’t bear the noise! (It’s too hot/noisy for me)

• I can’t bear the sight of animal cruelty and suffering. How can you bear watching this movie? (It’s too painful to see animal suffering, how can you sit through a movie about it?)

• They can’t bear to listen to the president (They can no longer listen to the president, it’s too awful)

• He can hardly bear to speak to his ex-wife. They are engaged in a tough custody battle. (They don’t like speaking to each other as they are in court over their children)

• Don’t sit in this old chair, it won’t bear the weight! (the chair will break if you sit on it)

The visual thesaurus provides visuals to help you tame (domesticate) this word’s wide range of meanings.** Next week, I’ll discuss common phrasal verbs using bear and the American Constitution’s use of to bear arms and its consequences on gun ownership in the United States.

Recipe: bagel pizza

The most difficult part of this recipe is to know that January 15th is National Bagel Day… or, depending on where you live, getting your hands on some bagels! Salmon, cream cheese, avocado, or ham and cheese are popular bagel sandwich fillings.

You might even want to turn bagels into mini-pizzas and choose your toppings. The first step is crucial: make sure the bagel hole isn’t TOO big, choose the chubbier ones! Then, add your tomato sauce, meat and/ vegetables, sprinkle or slice up some cheese and finish up with herbs and spices. In the oven. Pita bread works as well but it is a different experience.

Book Club starts on January 21st

We are reading Brené Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection. Join us!

Links

*flabbergasted: to be very surprised

Finals, Genius Dog Challenge, race start

Gaia the dog: geniusdogchallenge.com/gaia

Max the dog: geniusdogchallenge.com/max

**bear - bore - borne in the Visual Thesaurus: www.visualthesaurus.com/app/view

English Book Club: learn.ohyes.ch or email: info@languagesandmore.com

Bonus: Dogs searching for an item:

Here were are, 7 days into the new year and 51 more weeks to go! May 2021 be a year of health, possibilities and opportunities for us all!

For us, this means curating the Good to Great English newsletter to step up and maintain your English skills. Week by week, we dig out words, expressions and stories to bring you English worth remembering. Our English is alive and well, in keeping with the times.

Your participation and feedback will make it even more relevant and interesting to us all, so feel free to comment. A podcast will accompany Good to Great English once we get a hand on the process. Bear with us! Thanks!

Out with the old, in with the new!

There are lots of traditions around the world to celebrate the passage from December 31st to January 1st. Some are dainty, like eating 12 grapes, others are loud or explosive, from popping bottles of champagne to exploding fireworks.

My mother used to ring a set of Balinese bells - sparkling sounds loud enough to shake time itself, sweep away deadwood and bring in new hope and growth. This year, billions of us are preoccupied with the pandemic - health, immunity, vaccines, work, school, the economy, politics… and wondering when it will be safe to cross borders and visit loved ones.

At the very least, the old year swept certainty out the window.

Sure!

Sure also means "certain", like I'm sure, or It's a sure thing, or Let me assure you that… It finds its origins in French (sure) and before that in the Latin "securus" meaning "free from care". Bringing us back to greater certainty are "secure" and "security", feelings we crave in 2021.

On the bright side, the Orthodox Christmas is on January 7th and makes the jolly season last a little longer.

A custodial president

Although Joe Biden hasn't made an official pledge, he almost certainly won't be running in 2024. This should make him a single term president by choice. His mandate is to rebuild democratic institutions, alliances and human relationships, tackle the pandemic and the economy, etc. In other words, over  four years, he'll take care of the country and (try to) fix problems already out of hand.

As a transitional and caring figure in these times, he takes the role of a custodial president which is a rather agreeable way to be remembered! His four-year term begins on Inauguration Day, January 20th.

custodian - custodial - custody

A custodian is a caretaker, a guardian who protects and maintains something.

For example, school custodians take care of school grounds, clean common areas and classrooms, remain in charge and available 24/7 while a janitor is a cleaner with set working hours. 

In a prison setting, the custodian has custody over detainee matters, in theory “in theory balancing authority, compassion and empathy” as explained in the purpose of the job in the 2016 English job description below.

Children are under the shared responsibility of their parents. After divorce or separation, legal custody is awarded as joint custody or single custody. Strong disagreements lead to custody battles.

Two Quotes from Joe

“You always put yourself in the other person's position, and then also to understand where they're coming from, whether it's a major foreign leader or a friend whom you have a disagreement with. And it's also being willing to share credit, give recognition, and share in the benefits as well as in the losses if you're in an endeavor together.”

"Today … we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world at peace,’” Biden said. “To live together and work together. That’s how I see America. That’s how I see the presidency, and that’s how I see the future.”

The Facts Bear Me Out

By no means is this a political newsletter, but this week's news is giving us lots of hard-to-refuse fodder*. Donald Trump's Twitter account has been blocked but he did issue a statement through his communication advisor:

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless, there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. "

I had to laugh! Who hasn't been reminded of an unpleasant experience when someone "agrees to disagree," grudgingly accepts to do something AND tells you it is all wrong?

From a language perspective, the facts bear me out means the facts support me. We'll have a closer look at the verb "bear" next week. It is a language goldmine that finds its roots in Indo-European, and has survived millennia through Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, and many others since. Consequently, you may find words that sound similar in your own native language as 46% of us across the world are native speakers of a language from the Indo-European language family.

As a teaser:

Please bear in mind we are still working out details on podcasting - to be mindful, keep in your thoughts

The Queen bore a son - give birth to

Bear with me - be patient with me, be tolerant

Recipe: Homemade eggnog

To end on a holiday-tinged note, this eggnog recipe was made from scratch, tested and met with great success over the holiday season. The alcohol-free version is just as good. Ironically, if you follow the link below to discover this recipe, you'll get a pop-up for a "5-week healthy meal plan". This means we are either 5 weeks before summer or in January, doing penance after holiday feasts or embarking on a New Year's Resolution.

Book Club and Speaking Club

The Book Club is a speaking experience and opens on January 21st (after Inauguration Day) with Brené Brown’s Gifts of Imperfection. We read around 20 pages per week and then talk about the book and address language issues if any, with participants from across the globe.

The Secret Garden Conversation Club meets every two weeks until mi-February, and then weekly.

Zoom fatigue and dull online learning exist, but this is different experience! I love connecting with people around the world through great conversation. We bring a bit of ourselves, take from others, and bring it all back into our daily lives. It’s about meaningful sharing and enriching our lives with valuable perspectives (and improving/maintaining English skills, levels intermediate and above).

What about you?

Choose 1 topic: For example, tell us about your holidays (or lack of). Have you got a favorite recipe to share? Have you made any new year's resolutions? Do you have any language questions? What book(s) are you reading now? A favorite song?

Links

Biden quote 1: https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/this-11-word-quote-from-joe-biden-shows-why-empathy-is-a-leadership-superpower.html

Biden quote 2: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/27/joe-biden-quotes-fdr-goal-heal-pandemic-political-divisions/5989076002/

Fodder: (figuratively) Stuff; material; something that serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour. From https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fodder

2016 Job description: Prison Custody Officer: https://community.sodexojobs.co.uk/members/modules/jobV2/fdownload.php?j=e5187aa2f885eb4c&f=9b8ac01b132c2bc2

Donald Trump statement:

Eggnog recipe: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-eggnog/

Book Club: https://learn.ohyes.ch/courses/step-up-book-club-january-2021/preview

Secret Garden Conversation Club: check out our Facebook page for updates, or email us at info@languagesandmore.com.

Here were are, 7 days into the new year and 51 more weeks to go! May 2021 be a year of health, possibilities and opportunities for us all!

For us, this means curating the Good to Great English newsletter to step up and maintain your English skills. Week by week, we dig out words, expressions and stories to bring you English worth remembering. Our English is alive and well, in keeping with the times.

Your participation and feedback will make it even more relevant and interesting to us all, so feel free to comment. A podcast will accompany Good to Great English once we get a hand on the process. Bear with us! Thanks!

Out with the old, in with the new!

There are lots of traditions around the world to celebrate the passage from December 31st to January 1st. Some are dainty, like eating 12 grapes, others are loud or explosive, from popping bottles of champagne to exploding fireworks.

My mother used to ring a set of Balinese bells - sparkling sounds loud enough to shake time itself, sweep away deadwood and bring in new hope and growth. This year, billions of us are preoccupied with the pandemic - health, immunity, vaccines, work, school, the economy, politics… and wondering when it will be safe to cross borders and visit loved ones.

At the very least, the old year swept certainty out the window.

Sure!

Sure also means "certain", like I'm sure, or It's a sure thing, or Let me assure you that… It finds its origins in French (sure) and before that in the Latin "securus" meaning "free from care". Bringing us back to greater certainty are "secure" and "security", feelings we crave in 2021.

On the bright side, the Orthodox Christmas is on January 7th and makes the jolly season last a little longer.

A custodial president

Although Joe Biden hasn't made an official pledge, he almost certainly won't be running in 2024. This should make him a single term president by choice. His mandate is to rebuild democratic institutions, alliances and human relationships, tackle the pandemic and the economy, etc. In other words, over  four years, he'll take care of the country and (try to) fix problems already out of hand.

As a transitional and caring figure in these times, he takes the role of a custodial president which is a rather agreeable way to be remembered! His four-year term begins on Inauguration Day, January 20th.

custodian - custodial - custody

A custodian is a caretaker, a guardian who protects and maintains something.

For example, school custodians take care of school grounds, clean common areas and classrooms, remain in charge and available 24/7 while a janitor is a cleaner with set working hours. 

In a prison setting, the custodian has custody over detainee matters, in theory “in theory balancing authority, compassion and empathy” as explained in the purpose of the job in the 2016 English job description below.

Children are under the shared responsibility of their parents. After divorce or separation, legal custody is awarded as joint custody or single custody. Strong disagreements lead to custody battles.

Two Quotes from Joe

“You always put yourself in the other person's position, and then also to understand where they're coming from, whether it's a major foreign leader or a friend whom you have a disagreement with. And it's also being willing to share credit, give recognition, and share in the benefits as well as in the losses if you're in an endeavor together.”

"Today … we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together in the same world at peace,’” Biden said. “To live together and work together. That’s how I see America. That’s how I see the presidency, and that’s how I see the future.”

The Facts Bear Me Out

By no means is this a political newsletter, but this week's news is giving us lots of hard-to-refuse fodder*. Donald Trump's Twitter account has been blocked but he did issue a statement through his communication advisor:

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless, there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. "

I had to laugh! Who hasn't been reminded of an unpleasant experience when someone "agrees to disagree," grudgingly accepts to do something AND tells you it is all wrong?

From a language perspective, the facts bear me out means the facts support me. We'll have a closer look at the verb "bear" next week. It is a language goldmine that finds its roots in Indo-European, and has survived millennia through Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, and many others since. Consequently, you may find words that sound similar in your own native language as 46% of us across the world are native speakers of a language from the Indo-European language family.

As a teaser:

Please bear in mind we are still working out details on podcasting - to be mindful, keep in your thoughts

The Queen bore a son - give birth to

Bear with me - be patient with me, be tolerant

Recipe: Homemade eggnog

To end on a holiday-tinged note, this eggnog recipe was made from scratch, tested and met with great success over the holiday season. The alcohol-free version is just as good. Ironically, if you follow the link below to discover this recipe, you'll get a pop-up for a "5-week healthy meal plan". This means we are either 5 weeks before summer or in January, doing penance after holiday feasts or embarking on a New Year's Resolution.

Book Club and Speaking Club

The Book Club is a speaking experience and opens on January 21st (after Inauguration Day) with Brené Brown’s Gifts of Imperfection. We read around 20 pages per week and then talk about the book and address language issues if any, with participants from across the globe.

The Secret Garden Conversation Club meets every two weeks until mi-February, and then weekly.

Zoom fatigue and dull online learning exist, but this is different experience! I love connecting with people around the world through great conversation. We bring a bit of ourselves, take from others, and bring it all back into our daily lives. It’s about meaningful sharing and enriching our lives with valuable perspectives (and improving/maintaining English skills, levels intermediate and above).

What about you?

Choose 1 topic: For example, tell us about your holidays (or lack of). Have you got a favorite recipe to share? Have you made any new year's resolutions? Do you have any language questions? What book(s) are you reading now? A favorite song?

Links

Biden quote 1: https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/this-11-word-quote-from-joe-biden-shows-why-empathy-is-a-leadership-superpower.html

Biden quote 2: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/27/joe-biden-quotes-fdr-goal-heal-pandemic-political-divisions/5989076002/

Fodder: (figuratively) Stuff; material; something that serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour. From https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fodder

2016 Job description: Prison Custody Officer: https://community.sodexojobs.co.uk/members/modules/jobV2/fdownload.php?j=e5187aa2f885eb4c&f=9b8ac01b132c2bc2

Donald Trump statement:

Eggnog recipe: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-eggnog/

Book Club: https://learn.ohyes.ch/courses/step-up-book-club-january-2021/preview

Secret Garden Conversation Club: check out our Facebook page for updates, or email us at info@languagesandmore.com.