You probably know the television show “Ready, Steady, Cook!” Competing against the clock and each other, contestents have to produce a delicious meal using random ingredients. Practising my Hindi was like that, too. After 1.5 years of lessons I had a few seemingly useful items in my linguistic shopping bag: some vocabulary, a selection of tenses, [...]
So many hand expressions... But there's one German one that isn't used that way in English: das Handy! That's either a mobile (or mobile phone) in the UK or a cell (or cell phone) in the USA. PDF version to print or [...]
It’s that time of year again! In February, as I’ve mentioned before, I take part in FAWM (February Album-Writing Month), which is an online challenge where musicians, composers and lyricists from around the world attempt to write 14 songs in 28 days. Not only is February a lot more fun when you're making music with like-minded [...]
How many of these 'leg' idioms do you know? 'Leg it' is quite colloquial, so you might not want to use it in a business meeting. If you can think of anything other sayings about legs (in any language), feel free to share them in the comments. And click the button below for a printable [...]
The world may go round and round, but the economy is still mostly going in a straight line. This week the Ellen MacArthur Foundation published a set of policy goals that aim to help us move more quickly towards the circular economy. But what is the circular economy and why do we want to move towards [...]
It's idiom time again and this time I've got some expressions to do with feet. The first one, 'the game is afoot' is known to many from the Sherlock Holmes stories, but did you know it was first used by William Shakespeare in Henry IV Part I? If you know any other foot expressions - [...]
2020. What can I say? As others have noted, it’s almost become difficult to recall what happened before we went into the first lockdown in mid-March, or even what has happened since. In my mind, Covid-19 looms over everything. Our family is fortunate in many ways but 2020 was not the easiest year. And that’s a [...]
Jennifer was asking about pins on my Facebook page... so here are some English expressions that include pins (or needles!). Let me know if you think of any others. PDF version to print or download
Just squeezing this in following the Halloween weekend, with phrases that are connected with Halloween themes. If you can think of any others, let me know in the comments! And click the button below for a printable version. PDF version to [...]
Still doing loads of walking, and I have to say I'm very proud that I've managed a daily average of 10,000 steps since the beginning of July! Hurrah! It'll be interesting to see whether I can keep it up as the days get colder and darker. One of the great things about doing the same [...]
