English All The Way - EATW

Grenville Cross : “ Hong Kong must bite the bullet and enact the remaining parts of Article 23 within 12 months “ ( SCMP 22 Feb 2023 )

bite the bullet = to start dealing with an unpleasant , dangerous or difficult situation because you cannot avoid it anymore
Other sayings using ‘bite ‘ :

1) bite off more than you can chew = try to do more exceeding your capacity and capability
2) ‘What is biting her ? ‘= why is she upset?
3) bite the dust = to die ; to fail miserably
4) to put the bite on someone = to ask someone for money

5) the bark is worse than the bite = someone is not as unpleasant as they seem and their actions are not as bad as their threats

6) bite someone’s head off = to speak to someone in a harsh angry way without a good valid reason
7) to bite the hand that feeds you = to be ungrateful and badly treat someone who is helping you or has helped you
8) a second bite of the cherry = another opportunity to do something

Linguistic humour, The English lesson www.ling.upenn.edu
We'll begin with box, and the plural is boxes;
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But the plural of vow is vows, not vine.
I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
If I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular is this and the plural is these,
Why shouldn't the plural of kiss be named kese?
Then one may be that, and three may be those,
Yet the plural of hat would never be hose;
We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
The masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim!
So our English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the craziest language you ever did see.
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat;
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Or dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose,
Just look them up, and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go, then thwart and cart.
Come, come, I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Why, man alive,
I'd learned to talk it when I was five,
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned it at fifty-five!

Department of Linguistics - Home | Department of Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, from the sounds of speech and the gestures of sign language to the organization of words, sentences, and meaning. Linguistics is also concerned with how languages are learned and used, how they vary and change, and the relationship of language t...

“ Royals spitting feathers over Spare “ – BBC ( 14th Feb 2023 )

spitting feathers --1) To be very thirsty, usually for a nice cup of tea (or cuppa). A metaphor for the mouth being so dry it feels like it's full of feathers.

2) To be very angry - foaming at the mouth. (to froth at the mouth especially in anger; to be very angry )

‘Spare’ here refers to the book released by Prince Harry titled “Spare” . According to leaked excerpts of “Spare” in the Guardian, the then-Prince of Wales made the hurtful dig to the since-deceased Lady Diana on Sept. 15, 1984, the day Harry was born. “Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare — my work is done,” Charles said, according to Harry’s book.

“ An Indian politician says men who die drinking moonshine have only themselves to blame. “ (SCMP 21 Dec 2022)
moonshine – alcohol drink made illegally
moonshine – nonsense , silly talk
moonshine – intoxicating liquor : illegally distilled corn whiskey

Other words featuring ‘moon’:

moonstruck – slightly crazy, especially because you are in love
moonstone – a milky white stone to make jewellery
moonwalk – to dance gliding backwards while appearing to make forward walking motions
moonlight – to have a second job in addition to your main job especially without the knowledge of the government’s tax department

Some idioms seen in the newspapers to share:
“ short shrift “-- rapid and unsympathetic dismissal; curt treatment receiving little or no attention

“ in a jam “– in a troublesome situation

“cut some slack “– to be less critical of someone’s behaviour or performance than usual because you know they are in a difficult situation

“steal someone’s thunder” -- to take credit for someone else’s work or to take limelight where it is not deserved

‘all mouth and no trousers ‘– to talk about doing things but never doing them

Sir Gavin Williamson has resigned as a government minister to PM Rishi Sunak after allegations of bullying. Nick Timothy - a senior adviser to Mrs May - described Mr Williamson as an "excellent" chief whip, who was "a shrewd tactician" and "a judge of character".
"Even MPs who don't like him admit that he was the best chief whip the party has had in decades. BBC News (9th Nov 2022)

whip -- a whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology or the will of their donors or constituents. Whips are the party's "enforcers".

shrewd – marked by clever, discerning awareness often shown through artful and wily ways of dealing resulting in an advantage

tactician – one who is skilled and clever in planning or manoeuvring to accomplish a purpose

“Far from crestfallen “– SCMP 25th Oct 2022
‘A redesign and replacement of the CUHK crest with a new one has been shelved after drawing deep criticism from lawmakers and alumni, accusing the institution of poor governance.’

This heading is a play on the word ‘crest’.
crest (noun) -- 1) the top or highest point of something e.g. a hill or a wave
2) a special, formal picture used as a sign of a family, an institution, a town, a school
3) a coat of arms
4) a coat of feathers, fur, or skin along the top of heads of some animals
crest (v) – to reach the top of the mountain
crestfallen (adj) – looking disappointed or upset; gutted
- incredibly sad because of an unexpected failure
- feeling shame or humiliation; dejected
riding the crest of the wave – to be very successful over a limited period of time

Send a message to learn more

“But behind the bonhomie, both France and Germany know the EU's central relationship is under strain as rarely before.” BBC (26th Oct 2022)

bonhomie (silent ‘h’, pronounced BON-na-mee ) – good-natured friendliness amongst a group of people

other words with a silent ‘h’ :
exhaustive – extremely thorough
exhausted – very tired
exhilarating – enlivening; refreshing; invigorating
silhouette – a dark shape seen against a lighter, brighter surface
vehicle – an agent to transport / carry something e.g. a car / a train / a bus / a truck
ghastly – unpleasant; terrifying; most unpleasant; fearsome
ghetto – an area esp. for the poor to live separately from the rest because of social, legal or economic pressure
ghost – a spiritual figure that people regard as the soul of the dead
khaki – a dull greenish brown colour
rhinoceros – a large animal with thick coarse skin and a horn on its nose

“ … it became obvious that the penny has dropped for Penny Mordaunt “ ( The Standard – 25 Oct 2022 )
penny has dropped – someone has now understood what they have not understood before

some more sayings using ‘ penny ‘ :
1) penny wise and pound foolish – be extremely careful about small amount of money but not careful enough about larger amounts of money
2) be ten a penny – to be very common
3) in for a penny, in for a pound – since you have started doing something you are involved in, you should complete such a task even though it is getting more difficult or more complicated than you initially expected
4) not to have two pennies rub together – to be very poor
5) a penny for your thoughts – asking the person what they are thinking, as they have been very quiet for a while
6) turn up like a bad penny – someone you dislike or don’t want to see turns up when they are least wanted
7) penny ante ( pronounced ANN-tee ) – involving very small amount of money and therefore not important

“Cross-harbour race goes swimmingly for a change” – The Standard ( 24 Oct 2022 )
Swimmingly (adverb) = very well; splendidly

“Balancing a Boris bounce back “ – The Standard ( 24 Oct 2022 )
this is the use of alliteration in the letter ‘b’ , i.e. the repetition of usually consonant sounds in two or more neighbouring words or syllables. This is also called ‘head rhyme’ or ‘initial rhyme’

“How long can wet lettuce Liz romaine?” --- Daily Star, UK (15th Oct 2022)
Wet lettuce -- a weak person, a wimp, a lily-livered individual who has no strength of character. Presumably a wet lettuce is about to become soggy and inedible, and, therefore, thrown away.
Here we see the use of ‘malapropism ‘ in ‘romaine’, that is supposed to be ‘remain’.
Malapropism is a figure of speech that intentionally uses the wrong word that sounds similar to create an amusing effect.
Other examples of malapropism : “ Let us dance flamingo ( flamenco ) “ ; “ We have electrical votes ( electoral ) “

wimp (n) – someone who is not strong, not brave and lacks confidence
lily-livered (adj) – lacking courage, cowardly

“How a hung parliament could help stabilise Malaysian politics”
SCMP – Wong Chin Huat 16th Oct 2022
hung government -- unable to reach a decision or verdict; not having a political party with an overall majority

“Archbishop of Canterbury takes aim at Liz Truss's trickle-down economics” The Telegraph (17 Oct 22)
Take aim at – to criticise someone or something

“Al Jazeera staff allege harassment and bullying went unchecked”
BBC 17th Oct 2022
unchecked --- something harmful, unpleasant, undesirable is continuing without or despite any attempts or limits to prevent it