The English word alien‘s claim to fame mostly dates back to a Sci-fi movie of the eighties, with an lizard like extraterrestrial coming to life in some kind of splatter Cesarean section which still today instills quite shock, even on the battlehardened horror fiend.
For English as a second language learners it is interesting to know that alien in its actual meaning means more something like forein, respectively foreigner.
Sting: I’m an alien I’m a legal alien
I’m an Englishman in New York
Most of you already know, that especially Americans make a bad habit out of shortening almost anything to an acronym, only comprehensible for insiders. Two examples are YEO and YOYO, both of which, leave the user pretty much on his own.
YEO is for the classic James Bond fan and, therefore, very secretive, i.e. Your Eyes Only
YOYO is more for the dispassionate couch potato looking for not too exerting physical activity = You´re On Your Own
The lips are an important part of the human body, so it is only logical, that they also form part of every day colloquial English.
to pay lip service = only to agree with words, not with actions
e.g. Don’t just pay lip service, do something about it.
to keep up stiff upper lip = showing persitence in the face of adversity
e.g. Don´t let this get you down, keep a stiff upper lip.
to give sombody a lip = being disrespectful verbally
e.g. Don’t give me no lip, show some frigging respect.
loose lips, sink ships = careless talk can cause damage
e.g. Just shut up, don’t you know that loose lips sink ships.
Autumn winds, with a winter whisper right behind them, strip trees of their cover, using it as a marvelous landscape’s colorful paint. So it´s no wonder, that leaves also made their way into colloquial Englisch to brighten it up a little:
to turn over a new leaf = start all over again
Let bygones be bygones let´s turn over a new leaf
a fig leaf = to cover up something shameful
The War on Drugs simply provides a fig leaf for covering up drug traffickers’ dirty practices.
to shake like a leaf = to be very nervous or afraid
Johnny was shaking like a leaf when he had to go to the job interview.
Im Englischen wird im Relativsatz unterschieden, ob die darin enthaltene Information das Subjekt das Hauptsatzes nur nebensächlich beschreibt, oder ob diese zu seiner Defintion unbedingt notwendig ist. Im ersten Fall, wird der Relativsatz durch Kommas abgetrennt, im zweiten Fall wird darauf verzichtet.
George Bush who was the 43rd President of the United States lived in Texas. (restrictive clause)
Es gibt zwei George Bush, und in diesem Satz dreht es sich um den 43. Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten.
Johnny, who liked fishing, lived in Texas. (non-restrictive clause)
Die Information des Relativsatzes ist nicht unbedingt notwendig, um zu wissen um welchen Johnny es sich handelt.
Als Bauernregel gilt, wenn der Satz Sinn macht, wenn man den Relativsatz wegstreicht, muss man Kommas setzen.
The dog is a contorversial animal. Asians make a stew out of it, Americans send it to a shrink or feed it Xanax (R) when it´s depressed. No being could represent more the bipolar dualty of human cultures. No wonder, it has made it also into English everyday colloquialisms.
to be in the doghouse = the husband has to sleep on the couch after a matiomonial dispute
e.g. Johnny shouldnt´t have contradicted his wife, now he´s in the doghouse and has to sleep on the couch.
to make a dog´s breakfast of something = to make a real mess of something
e.g. The author really made a dog’s breakfast out of this article.
to give a dog a bad name = to blemish someone´s reputation by his wrongdoings of the past
e.g. Let bygones be bygones, don’t give a dog a bad name.
Obesity is a big problem all over consumer countries, often it is due to excessive sugar laden softdrink abuse.
No. 1 one in this context is, hardly surprising, the birthplace of Coca Cola, namely the USA.
An attempt to come to grips with this problem is the prohibition of sale of saccharine enriched thirst quenchers in XXL jars.
Countries Amount:
# 1 United States: 216 litres
# 2 Ireland: 126 litres
= 3 Norway: 119.8 litres
Die zwei Vokabeln der Überschriften haben für Englisch lernende Deutsche ein nicht zu unterschätzendes Verwechslungspotential.
To spend heisst auf Deutsch Geld ausgeben, während das deutsche spenden dem englischen to donate entspricht.
Wer jetzt erleichtert ist, weil er jetzt endlich weiß, was der auf vielen Webseiten beliebte Button “donate”, bedeutet und froh ist, dass er ihn nicht angeklickt hat, kann sich auch darüber freuen, dass er seine Organe behalten kann, denn der deutsche Spender ist der englische donor.
War has rules
Mud wrestling has rules
Politics has no rules
Ross Perot
For those of you interested in politics, here a brief summary of how the US election system works, enjoy:
Alphabet City is not a town of preschoolers, but a neighborhood in New York’s Lower East Side. Its name originates in its being New York’s only quarter with single letter Avenues. (A,B,C and D)
Alphabet City used to be home to Spanish speaking, German, Polish and Jewish immigrants and had been a problematic area for a long time. Today it is a hip and upcoming neighborhood.
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