The English Blog

Vampire Weekend—California English

One of my favourite albums of the year so far is Contra by Vampire Weekend. There can't be that many songs with 'English' in the title, so it seemed like a good excuse to feature this one. You can read the lyrics here. Don't ask me what they mean—I've no idea. But it's a great song all the same. You can watch the complete Pitchfork session here.

READ MORE
• Vampire Weekend: An ivy league hero is something to be… (Guardian interview)

Newsy Video: PETA Pulls Tiger Woods Ad

PETA cancelled plans to post a controversial billboard using Tiger Woods' image after his lawyer threatened to sue. Read transcript.

READ MORE
• PETA won't use Woods image after talk with lawyers (USA Today)

COMMENT
• That's a brilliant marketing coup. All that free publicity without even having to put up the ads.

Newsy Video: Greek Debt Threatens Global Economy

Financial problems in Greece could spell trouble for worldwide economy. Read transcript.

READ MORE
• Germany and France agree to rescue Greece, with conditions (Telegraph)
• Greece Bailout Plan Takes Shape (Wall Street Journal)
• Goldman Sachs faces Fed inquiry over Greek debt (Telegraph)

Spoof UK Election Posters

In the run-up to the general election, supporters of Labour and the Tories are using Photoshop techniques to hijack party messages and substitute their own attacks instead. Read more >>

Here are a couple of the best spoof posters, one from each side (we're totally impartial at The English Blog!)

READ MORE
• Has the political poster virtually had its day? (TimesOnline)
• The Conservatives' new poster campaign leads to full-scale Twitter warfare (Telegraph)
• Another Tory poster, another golden opportunity for spoofs (Independent)

Cartoon: The Brown Bounce

This cartoon by Schrank from The Independent on Sunday refers to Labour's improved performance in the opinion polls ahead of the general election. According to The Sunday Times, Gordon Brown is on course to remain prime minister after the general election as a new poll reveals that Labour is now just two points behind the Tories. A few months ago David Cameron's Tory party had a substantial lead in the polls and seemed certain to win an overall majority. Now, a hung parliament is beginning to look increasingly likely.

In the cartoon, Gordon Brown is flinging a mobile phone in rage at what we can suppose to be a departing secretary. This is one of the bullying allegations made against Brown in a new book. The trajectory of the phone resembles the line on a graph. David Cameron, looking in through the window, comments: "Oh no ... not another Gordon bounce!" The question is: why is Gordon so angry, if he's doing better in the polls?

VOCABULARY
In the language of opinion polls, a bounce is a recovery, an upward movement.

Newsy Video: French Consider Tags for Abusive Husbands

The French parliament is debating a proposal to electronically tag abusive husbands and ban psychological abuse. Read transcript.

READ MORE
• Violent French husbands 'may be tagged' (BBC News)
• French face jail for psychological abuse of partners (Guardian)

Words in the News: Depressed

Tony Blair descended into such a deep depression after the Iraq war that he told Gordon Brown and John Prescott he would quit No 10 the following summer - only to renege on the pledge within months, the Observer's Andrew Rawnsley reveals in his new book.

VOCABULARY
If you are depressed, you are sad and feel that you cannot enjoy anything, because your situation is so difficult and unpleasant. • Depressed seniors can get relief when they play Wii sports games, according to a new study.

Newsy Video: Tufts University Takes Video Applications

Tufts University is accepting short videos to supplement college applications, yielding more than a few creative submissions. Read transcript.

COMMENT
I've used that Legally Blonde clip in class. The film has several other scenes which are really good for teaching purposes, notably the law lecture.

LESSON IDEA
Students make their own admissions video.

Cartoon: Here Come The Cavalry

This cartoon by Peter Brookes from The Times portrays UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown as an arrow-ridden cowboy who lies dying on the ground in the American desert. The US Cavalry have just arrived. One of them has a flag reading "Recession Over". Brown's speech bubble trails off, "Here Comes The Cava ...", suggesting that he has just breathed his last breath.

EXPLANATION
In Western movies the arrival of the cavalry just in time to rescue the hero is a well-worn cliché. So much so that the expression 'Here comes the cavalry' can be used to refer to any situation in which help arrives at an opportune moment. In Gordon Brown's case, however, the cavalry (i.e., the end of the recession and the improving economy) have come too late to save him from certain defeat in the forthcoming general election.

Sky Video: Luxembourg Sized Iceberg Off Antarctic

An iceberg the size of Luxembourg is created in the seas off the Antarctic after a collision with another massive block of ice.

Words in the News: Farce

The Daily Express claims Met Office staff have been awarded £12m in performance-related bonuses over the last five years, despite repeated and embarrassing forecast gaffes.

VOCABULARY
If you describe a situation or event as a farce, you mean that it is so disorganized or ridiculous that you cannot take it seriously. • A top German bobsleigh official slammed the four-man bob event as a "farce" that should be called off after six crashes in the opening two heats.

Video: GM Considers Hummer Options

Automaker giant General Motors is considering two offers for its Hummer brand after a failed attempt to sell the brand to a Chinese company. Read transcript.

Livedraw Cartoon: Malice in Blunderland

The Guardian's Patrick Blower draws inspiration from the release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie to comment on political events in Britain. Click on image to view.

 

LANGUAGE
The cartoon title 'Malice in Blunderland' is obviously a play on 'Alice in Wonderland'. Malice is behaviour that is intended to harm people or their reputations, or cause them embarassment or upset (e.g., the Gordon Brown bullying affair), and a blunder is a stupid or careless mistake (e.g., rewarding bankers for financial failure).

The butcher, the baker, and the person-centred transition facilitator

The economic gloom means a squeeze on salaries. But employers may try to keep staff on side with inflated job titles by way of compensation. BBC News reports:

Instead of "what do you do?" today this question may be phrased in a subtly different form: "what's your job title?" The answer may be as clear as mud, for 21st Century job titles can be a verbal minefield.

Job title inflation is everywhere. Last week the Plain English Campaign received a local authority job advert from a member of the public for a "person-centred transition facilitator". "We debated for hours what this means. It might be a social worker dealing with disabled children?" says a spokesman.

Other examples from its files include ambient replenishment controller and regional head of services, infrastructure and procurement. Also known as shelf stacker and caretaker.

And in her review of 2009, the Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway awarded job title of the year to a journalism student whose business card read "Life explorer, multimedia storyteller, experience architect". Full article >>

COMMENTS
English teacher sounds so dull. I'm changing my job title to "language acquisition facilitator".

RESOURCES
• Job Title Generator
• JobTitles.org (over 10,000 job titles with job descriptions)

Cartoon: Obama's Intensive Care

This cartoon by Dave Brown from The Independent relates to yesterday's healthcare summit. Democrats and Republicans have very different ideas about health care reform, and President Obama has acknowledged that it might be hard to get past those differences. Read more >>

The cartoon shows Obama in a hospital bed. He is surrounded by doctors, surgeons and nurses, who are examining him, giving him injections, and taking his temperature. At the back, we can see an angry-looking elephant dressed as a butcher. He is wearing an apron and hat, and brandishing a meat cleaver. Obama looks on in horror.

EXPLANATION
The elephant is the traditional mascot of the Republican party. The butcher metaphor is clear: the Republicans want to kill off Obama's healthcare reform bill.

MORE CARTOONS
Daryl Cagle (msncb.com)
Nate Beeler (Washington Examiner)