The English Blog

More Halloween Cartoons

This cartoon by Mike Smith of the Las Vegas Sun needs no explanation. You can find a lot more Halloween cartoons here.

FOOTNOTE
Lexiophiles has a good article about Halloween in France.

Halloween Cartoon

More Halloween Cartoons by Andertoons

Halloween Safety Educational Film

COMMENT
Scary stuff!

Cartoon: Trick or Treat

This cartoon by Martin Rowson in The Guardian refers to Tony Blair's fading hopes of becoming EU president after Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel decided not to back him.

Appropriately for Halloween, we see Blair trick-or-treating. According to Wikipedia 'Trick-or-treating is a custom for children on Halloween. Children proceed in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as confectionery, or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" is an idle threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.'

Blair is shown as a monster dripping with blood (a reference to his role in the Iraq War?). He's holding a pumpkin under his arm. The pumpkin has the face of Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, who backed Blair's EU candidacy. Blair is holding out a bag with the words 'In the bag' on it (if you say something is 'in the bag', you mean that you are certain you will get or achieve it). However, the EU door has been slammed in his face, a clear metaphor for his rejection by EU leaders. The Brown pumpkin comments ironically, "Maybe you should have made more of an effort and dressed up."

MORE BLAIR CARTOONS
Christian Adams, The Daily Telegraph
Dave Brown, The Independent

Words in the News: Foresee

Three weeks before he died in Afghanistan, a senior officer warned in an email that a shortage of helicopters was putting him and his men at risk from roadside bombs, the Daily Mail says. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If you foresee something, you expect and believe that it will happen. • Abraham Lincoln, who is said to have foreseen his own death, is reportedly the most frequent ghostly visitor. The prefix "fore-" often has the meaning "before" or "prior to". Examples include forecast, foreshadow, foreplay, foresight, foretaste, foretell and forewarn.

British lemonade causes US alcohol row

The Daily Telegraph reports that Fentimans, a traditional Victorian lemonade enjoyed by British drinkers for more than a century, has caused a row after an American teenager had a bottle confiscated in school for its tiny alcohol content.

The offending bottle of lemonade was taken from the school pupil after he confessed to his school principal that the bottle contained 0.5 per cent alcohol.

Following the incident, the school Principal of Houlton High School in Maine contacted the police, leading to a series of complaints from subtance abuse programmes in the state, who argued the lemonade should be classed as "imitation liquor" and not sold to anybody under 21, the legal drinking age in the United States.

But the soft drinks company, based in Hexham, Northumberland, is set to benefit from an unexpected sales surge as enquiries from US wholesalers across 30 states have increased tenfold following the incident.

Fentimans has argued that the 0.5 per cent alcohol level means the drink qualified legally as a soft drink. Full story >>

COMMENTS
An interesting example of how a random incident can have a spectacular effect on sales. You couldn't buy that sort of publicity. The Guardian also reports this story.

CUSTOMER REVIEW

Cartoon: King Tony

This cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun refers to Tony Blair's candidacy for the presidency of the EU, one of the matters discussed by EU leaders at their latest summit in Brussels.

Blair is shown dressed as a king. He is wearing a blue robe and carrying a crown and sceptre. He asks the doorman, "Well? Are they ready for me yet?" A footman sticks his head out of the door of the room where the EU leaders are meeting. We can hear a chorus of 'Yes' and 'No' in different languages, suggesting that opinions about Blair's candidacy are divided.

FOOTNOTE
According to The Guardian, Angela Merkel sank Tony Blair's bid to become EU president.

Words in the News: Sink

Tony Blair's hopes of becoming the first president of the EU are fading as he fails to win the backing of France of Germany, reports The Guardian. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If something sinks, it disappears below the surface of the water. • An object will sink if it weighs more than the water it pushes away.  Here the word is used metaphorically to describe Tony Blair's receding chances of becoming EU president.

CNN Student News: Friday 30 October

Here is the CNN Student News for Friday 30 October. Click on the links to see a transcript.

• Explore the details of the House of Representatives' heath care proposal
• Hear about some of the struggles facing Pakistanis displaced by violence
• Huddle up for a football game between Congressmen and Capitol Hill cops

Video: No More Happy Meals for Iceland

Iceland is to lose its three McDonald's outlets after the country's financial crisis made operating there too expensive. The restaurants import almost all of their ingredients, but the collapse of the Icelandic krona has almost doubled import costs. Melanie Wray reports.

READ MORE
• McDonald's pulls out of Iceland (BBC News)
• The Big Mac's Currency Lesson (Wall Street Journal)

COMMENT
A good illustration of how a company which imports its raw materials can be fatally damaged by a change in exchange rates.

Slideshow: Halloween Ads

Here's a slideshow featuring a selection of Halloween ads I put together to use with my students. See here for a great collection of classic Halloween ads.

Halloween Ads

View more presentations from jeffreyhill.

FOOTNOTE
For more Halloween resources, check out Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day. And this article from BBC News reports that Halloween is growing in popularity in the UK.

Cartoon: Mona McDonald

Great cartoon by Steve Breen from the San Diego Union-Tribune in response to the news that McDonald's plans to open a restaurant in the shopping mall under the entrance to the Louvre museum in Paris, home of the Mona Lisa (or La Joconde, as they call her in France).

READ MORE
• McDonald's restaurants to open at the Louvre (Telegraph)
• French outrage as McDonald's moves into the Louvre (Daily Mail)

CNN Student News: Thursday 29 October

Here is the CNN Student News for Thursday 29 October. Click on the links to see a transcript.

• Hear one official's challenge to militants after violent attacks in Pakistan
• Launch into the details of NASA's new space program and its Ares rocket 
• Look back at a day that many point to as the start of the Great Depression

Daily Discussion

Words in the News: Thug

The Daily Express leads with the killing of a puppy - apparently stamped to death by yobs. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
You can refer to a violent person or criminal as a thug. • Two thugs who kicked a man unconscious in a violent attack at a train station have been jailed for 12 months each. The English word "thug" is a truncation of 'thuggee'. It is one of many Indian words borrowed into English during the British colonial period.

Video: Supermodels Against Climate Change

For some unknown reason, I completely missed the International Day of Climate Action on October 24th. So to make up for that unforgiveable omission, I thought I'd share this with you—strictly in the interests of saving the planet, you understand. (Click through to see the HD version. It's worth it.)