The English Blog

Video: Halloween Shopping Trends 2012

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: When it comes to Halloween, it seems consumers won’t be afraid to dish out a little extra cash this year. The National Retail Federation estimates the average American will spend $79.82 on costumes, candy, and decorations for the holiday, up from $72.31 last year. Every fall, specialty stores like Spirit Halloween move into their temporary locations and get ready for holiday shoppers. Although Halloween is still weeks away, they’ve already seen a steady stream of customers and say it will only go up from here.
CHASE LOFTI, STORE MANAGER, SPIRIT HALLOWEEN: “Our business next week will triple and it’ll just keep going that way until we get to Halloween.”
REPORTER: And it’s not just specialty stores already seeing the traffic, Target clears out a number of aisles and fills them with candy, decorations and of course costumes. So just what are the hottest costumes this year? Movies like The Avengers and Batman have made superhero costumes fly off the shelf. Lofti says another hot trend for both kids and adults are skin suits that come both puffy and skinny. 10-year-old Dominic seems to agree with that choice.
DOMINIC, 10: “I’m wearing a morph suit. I’m wearing it because I’m going with my friends as it.”
REPORTER: Traditional decorations like skeletons, ghosts and pumpkins continue to be a top seller, but at Spirit Halloween, it’s their creepy animatronics that they can’t seem to keep on the shelves.
CHASE LOFTI: “The number one seller that we have this year is the jumping spider which is new, and it’s a big spider, it sits on the ground and when it’s activated it jumps up at you and they’re very popular and another item that we have trouble keeping in stock.”
REPORTER: While some people are getting in the Halloween spirit, others are skipping ahead a few months and getting ready for the Christmas season. They don’t have the entire selection out yet, but Target already sells a few winter holiday classics. The National Retail Federation expects winter holiday sales to rise 4.1% this year.

LESSON MATERIALS
I used this video with my EM Normandie final year marketing students this morning and produced a questionnaire which you can find here. I also did a PowerPoint with Halloween images, statistics, and a data presentation activity, which you can download here. Happy Halloween! 

Cartoon: Independence Day

BACKGROUND
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States. (source: Wikipedia)

THE CARTOON
This cartoon by Bob Englehart from The Hartford Courant shows the mascots of the two main US political parties: the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant against the backdrop of the Declaration of Independence. They begrudgingly wish each other a "Happy July 4th" — a comment on the hostile relations between the two parties in this crucial election year.

VOCABULARY
Ya is used in writing as a way of showing the way people sometimes pronounce the word ‘you’ or ‘your’. • How's that workin' for ya?

ALSO SEE
• Independence Day cartoons (The Cagle Post) 
• Clay Bennet cartoon (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Happy Father's Day!

Amidst all the momentous events happening in the world (Greek, French, and Egyptian elections, the Syrian conflict, England's success at Euro 2012), it would be easy to forget that today is Father's Day. So, to mark this special occasion, here's a roundup of Father's Day cartoons. This one's by Bob Englehart, staff cartoonist for the Hartford Courant. You can read Bob's commentary on his cartoon here.

MORE FATHER'S DAY CARTOONS
• Slide Show: Father's Day Cartoons (The New Yorker)
• Father's Day 2012 (The Cagle Post)
• Father's Day Cartoons and Comics (CartoonStock)
• Cartoons about Fathers (Randy Glasbergen)
• Fathers Day Cartoons (Mark Parisi)
• Google Images

ALSO SEE
• Appreciating Fathers on Father’s Day 2012, by the Numbers (TIME)
• Father's Day celebrated in Google doodle (The Guardian)

Cartoon: Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day, and in this cartoon from the Daily Express, Paul Thomas connects the lovers' holiday with the drought warning which made the front page of the same paper today (see previous post).

A man is giving a bouquet of flowers to his loved one. He tells her, "I'd put them in some water before it all runs out."

VOCABULARY
If something runs out, it becomes used up so that there is no more left. • Some people predict that all the oil will run out before the end of the century.

VALENTINE'S DAY RESOURCES
Over the years, The English Blog has featured a number of Valentine's Day resources. Click here to see them.

Reuters Video: World gears up for New Year

People around the globe prepare to celebrate the coming of a new year. Katharine Jackson reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: As the clock ticks closer to 2012, New Year's Eve organizers flip a switch, illuminating the famed crystal ball set to drop at midnight over New York's Times Square​. Weighing nearly 12,000 pounds, the crystal-encrusted kaleidoscope of 32,000 LED lights dazzles even in daylight as it ascends into the air for a test run. Also well before midnight's strike, confetti rains down on New Yorkers as workers test how the colored pieces of paper float through the air.
JESSICA ARROYO: "It's awesome. I thought it was snowing for a second, but it's exciting to know that there is going to be tons of confetti for New Year's Eve, real excited."
REPORTER: In Rio de Janeiro, tons of fireworks are loaded onto rafts bound for three locations. Most will explode over famed Copacabana Beach at midnight. The beach is already attracting devotees of the Afro-Brazilian goddess of the sea and fertility. They cast flowers, floating candles and their wishes into the Atlantic before carrying the goddess' figure into the water. Across the globe in in India, women construct intricate chocolate bouquets by wrapping chocolate around a stick and molding it into chocolate flowers bound with ribbon. The chocolate treats are New Year's gifts for friends and relatives meant to begin the new year with cheer. In the Philippines, colorfully wrapped firecrackers draw a crowd looking to stock up before the celebrations begin. Despite some towns' campaigns to stomp out fireworks for safety reasons, many Filipinos practice the Chinese tradition of setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve...a bang said to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck for a Happy New Year. Katharine Jackson, Reuters.

ALSO SEE
• Top 10 places for New Year's Eve traditions (The Guardian)

Cartoon: Screen Time

This cartoon by Brighty from The Sun is a comment on the the fact that watching TV is not as popular as it used to be, especially at Christmas time. A man suggests watching telly (ie, watching TV or watching the television), but the rest of his family are more interested in other types of screen: the grandmother is using an iPad, the son a laptop, and his wife (or daughter?) a mobile phone.

LANGUAGE
The pattern 'Call me a _____ but ...' means 'You may think that I'm a _____ but ...'. For example, 'Call me a male chauvinist, but I'd still say that women are not suited to top management positions.' You can also use an adjective: 'Call me old-fashioned, but I think children should respect their parents'.

Cartoon: Cameron's Christmas Pudding

In this cartoon by Dave Brown from The Independent, we see a surprised UK Prime Minister David Cameron spitting out a euro coin which was in his Christmas pudding.

COMMENTARY
When people used to make their own Christmas puddings (rather than buying them in supermarkets), it was common practice to include a small silver coin in the pudding mixture, which could be kept by the person whose serving included it. The usual choice was a silver threepenny piece, or a sixpence. The coin was believed to bring wealth in the coming year. However this practice fell away once real silver coins were not available, as it was believed that alloy coins would taint the pudding. The practice has largely stopped for reasons of safety and liability (source: Wikipedia).

Although Britain does not use the euro, the euro zone crisis has been a major source of trouble for Cameron's coalition government (most notably following the last euro summit), and poses a serious threat to the British economy. This explains Cameron's reaction at finding a euro in his pudding.

ALSO SEE
• Christmas pudding recipe
• History and Tradition of Christmas pudding

Video: The Queen's 2011 Christmas Broadcast

Her Majesty speaks of families, friends and communities in this year's broadcast to the Commonwealth.

Merry Christmas to All Our Readers

Reuters Video: Rent a Reindeer for Christmas

Nothing says Christmas like renting your own reindeer. A British couple rents reindeer to individuals and businesses for the holiday season. Even the prime minister rented one. Andrew Schmertz reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER If you're in the reindeer business, this is your time of year. Who, exactly, is in the reindeer business, you ask? Besides, Santa, of course. Well, meet British farmers Angie and Martin Flint, who started their own reindeer rental business six years ago. That's right-- they rent reindeer through their company "Real Reindeer."
MARTIN FLINT: "I think it's a growing awareness. It's a new business, having reindeer and renting them out for events and for marketing and entertainment and I think there's just a growing awareness of it and more people wanting to have it."
REPORTER: Individuals and businesses rent the reindeer for holiday parties and events. The company even rented one to the British prime minister for a children's party. Sam Hutchins, who owns the HoneyKitten baby shop, rented reindeer Matty and Ingar to help get their customers into the holiday spirit.
SAM HUTCHINS: "Nothing says Christmas more than reindeers and we needed something that would be enough of a draw or something that was going to be a bit different rather than have a Santa or an event with mince pies or hot chocolate. We needed something that all the children would come along and see and we wanted to make it an event that everyone could get involved with as well. So it's going to be reindeer for Christmas"
REPORTER: The kids certainly appear to like the caribou, which rent for as much as 500 pounds. And the business is growing. According to the Flints, rentals are up 25 percent and they are fully booked through Christmas. So if you're shopping for an accessory this holiday, you could trade up from the tree ornaments and have your very own, real, reindeer Andrew Schmertz, Reuters.

ALSO SEE
• Rent-A-Reindeer for Christmas (Reuters video—longer version)

Reuters Video: Famous "poopers" in nativity scene

Famous politicians are among those depicted in the nativity scene figurine known as el caganer (''the pooper'') in the Spanish region of Catalonia. Andrew Schmertz reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: When we think of Christmas decorations, we think lights, trees, and nativity scenes. But in the Spanish region of Catalonia, this nativity scene has gone, well, into the toilet. These figurines known as "the caganers"- or "the poopers"- are seen by many as the most popular figurines in the nativity scene. Sergi Alos is the manager of the workshop behind the scatological festivities.
SERGI ALOS: "We've always based our creations on the saying 'the King poops, the Pope poops, and everybody who eats, poops.' We create a lot of characters because we all do it. It is something we just need to do, therefore we create it."
REPORTER: And no famous person is safe from becoming the butt of the popular nativity scene. There's everyone from French president Nicolas Sarkozy to U.S. president Barack Obama depicted. One American tourist thought it an honor to have the American president part of the scene.
U.S. TOURIST: "I think it's funny because I think everyone, especially people in power need to have a sense of humor about themselves, so I think that with the culture and with the meaning of the story, that it is not so much, you know, making fun of Obama and saying that he is a bad person or anything, it is just another part of them accepting him as a leader."
REPORTER: The pooper is said to have been around since the 15th century and has been included in nativity scenes since the 1600s. The rise of the pooper coincided with the peak of the Baroque style, which show cased extreme realism. British tourist Will Green says these figurines may be part of his holiday shopping.
UK TOURIST: "I would definitely get a figurine of Elvis pooping. I think it would be awesome."
REPORTER: The manager of the workshop sends the figurines to the poopers he depicts, though he admits he rarely gets much of a response. Many families here think the figurines represent good luck--- symbolic manure to fertilize the year ahead. Andrew Schmertz, Reuters.

Reuters Video: British retail avoids 'fright Christmas'

UK consumers will set aside their economic worries during the Christmas shopping season according to John Lewis CEO Andy Street, but challenges loom for retailers in 2012. Nigel Hilditch reports.

TRANSCRIPT
VOICEOVER: London's West End. The busiest shopping destination in Europe. Never more so than during the Christmas period when some 600 retailers look forward to a one-billion pound spending bonanza.
REUTERS CORRESPONDENT NIGEL HILDITCH: "But British shoppers are a beleaguered bunch. People's purchasing power is under pressure from high inflation, low wage growth, job security fears, stagnant house prices and government austerity measures."
VOICEOVER: The latest data shows retail sales in November fell more than forecast, reversing some of October's surprise gains as consumers cut back spending on computers, mobile phones, watches and jewelry. Retail analyst Richard Perks of Mintel believes the economic climate augers badly for the crucial Christmas trading period.
RICHARD PERKS: "I don't think it will be that good. I think people are reluctant to increase their borrowings. In fact this year they have been paying off their borrowings. They've been saving a bit more. I think they will make sure they have a good Christmas but it's not going to be a fantastic one."
VOICEOVER: Pre-Christmas cheer has been in short supply on the high street after disappointing profits from billionaire Philip Green's Arcadia group, Marks & Spencer and French Connection. Recently Blacks Leisure has put itself up for sale and shoe shop group Barratts has collapsed into administration. But footfall figures may give the pessimists food for thought. The latest data from Synovate Retail Performance shows shoppers hit the high street in force during the first week of December. And with the 25th of December falling on a Sunday this year, consumers have a full week to purchase their presents before the big day. John Lewis is Britain's biggest department store group and traditionally a retail bellwether. Last week it reported takings of £123.5 million - the most it's ever taken in a single week Managing Director Andy Street remains optimistic.
ANDY STREET: "In terms of the overall outlook we have to again be realistic about this … this is not a disaster … I suspect that most retailers for December will probably match last year's sales given the snow effect we had from last year … so this is not like 08 when sales were falling off a cliff …clearly its tough to grow sales, very tough to win market share but it is a stable environment …"
VOICEOVER: If Christmas does persuade consumers to set aside their worries and live for the moment, what does this mean for retailers in 2012?
ANDY STREET: "As we move into the New Year, we'll back to an emphasis on the big ticket purchases which are very much related to the housing market and they're obviously much, much, more fragile so I think we will obviously see sales weaken as we move back into the New Year."
VOICEOVER: Christmas success for retailers this year remains on a knife-edge. And as the countdown to the New Year continues, it seems there may be more storms for them to weather in 2012. Nigel Hilditch for Reuters.

The World's Weirdest Christmas Traditions

It's difficult to understand how diving into a freezing body of water on Christmas Day ever caught on, but it has become an annual custom in Britain (brave Londoners leap into the Serpentine on Hyde Park or, pictured here, Brighton beach), Ireland (where many head for the chilly Irish Sea), and France (there's an annual dip in Nice). Discover more weird Christmas traditions in this Telegraph picture gallery.

Reuters Video: The year’s most popular holiday gift

80 percent of U.S. shoppers plan to buy gift cards this holiday season, and according to the National Retail Federation, Americans are spending the most per card since the recent recession. Bobbi Rebell reports.

TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: Gift options galore this year- but with less than a week to go before the Christmas holiday gift cards are increasingly the thing to give and to get.
SHOPPER: "For my older nieces and nephews really I don't know what to get for them so I get the gift cards."
SHOPPER: "I can make use of any card I get so it's always fun"
REPORTER: More than 80 percent of shoppers plan to buy gift cards this holiday season- and they are expected to be the top gift this year according to the National Retail Federation. Consumers will spend an average of $155 on cards- that's the highest amount since 2007. Bruce Bower is the CEO of Plastic Jungle, an online gift card reseller which says it has seen triple digit revenue growth so far this year.
BRUCE BOWER: "Gift cards are the number one requested gift and they are the number one given gift, so I think between consumers who want to receive them and consumers who find it very easy to give them that's really driving the growth. This year it's expected that store issued gift cards will be around $100 billion dollars. So it's a really huge market."
REPORTER: Some gift cards have become gifts in their own right. Target offers ones that light up and play music, and another that come complete with Lego kits to build its bulldog mascot and other toys. Mobile or electronic cards are also becoming popular- stored on smartphones- and eliminating the need for a physical card at all. Retailers are also using gift cards to create loyalty with their consumers.
BRUCE BOWER: "Several retailers are saying if you buy $100 of gift cards you might get another $20 or there are retailers who say if you use a $25 gift card in a restaurant you might get a free desert for instance and what they are trying to do is create more value around gift cards."
REPORTER: And gift cards are expected to boost holiday shopping in another way- according to American Express 22 percent of Americans plan to cash in gift cards the day after Christmas. Bobbi Rebell, Reuters.

COMMENT
In a January 2011 study, Plastic Jungle, which buys and sells gift cards, reported that all-told, the U.S. market for them is about $90 billion annually. And of that, about 5 percent to 7 percent go unredeemed and unclaimed each year. Read more >>

Video: The Beatbox Nativity

A vicar has become an internet hit after posting a video on YouTube of himself rapping the story of the Nativity.

ALSO SEE
• Vicar raps the Nativity play in YouTube video (The Telegraph)
• Beatboxing vicar raps nativity story to Devon churchgoers (The Guardian)
• Rapping vicar rhymes the story of Nativity and becomes internet hit (Mail Online)